You never know when a knight is going slay an evil lion on your behalf.
**No kitties were injured in this melee.
Vacations are awesome. It is hard to top a vacation. Getting a care package for a vacation is pretty awesome too. I think it just may top a vacation.
What do you need when traveling to Las Vegas? False eyelashes and plumping lip gloss, of course!
None of these packages are for me, but I’ve decided it is just a fun answering the door for a package whether or not said package is for you. These are awaiting the arrival of a few special visitors.
Eric’s out and racing today. Take that, leukemia!
This post could also be called Tunnel Vision, Pessimistic Patty, or Deep in a Funk.
You know how when you get a new car, everywhere you look you see that car? My week has been like this. I’ve decided it is a cruddy week and everything I experience proves that it is a cruddy week.
I see and re-play my imperfections and mis-steps: coming up a little short on planning Easter lunch, forgetting to do something I said I would, focusing on what someone else might do to make me happy.
In reality it hasn’t been so bad. Instead I should be thankful for a fabulous Easter lunch that others super-graciously helped out with, that the thing I forgot was super tiny and it worked out just fine, and acknowledging the ways others are loving me in their own way.
Sometimes I find calling a spade a spade helps things turn around. Other times I realize I just need to walk through the funk. Here’s hoping it comes to an end soon.
In honor of the royal nuptials, I made a fascinator. Fascinator is the fancy pants term for the crazy, zany little hats that many in attendance will be wearing.
My photos don’t do it justice. It is fun, whimsy and totally impractical. Hopefully I will have an opportunity to wear it besides while watching the royal wedding at home. I’m certain I’ll have a spot or two of tea as well. Will you be watching?
Somehow, Eric found the few lilies that weren’t destroyed by hail and picked them for me Easter morning. As soon as they came in, I called Scotch over to see what would happen. Immediately he licked them. The sad lilies were put out on the back porch.
Thankfully we were able to share them with a friend.
4. Put sloper on tag board. (small goal)
Last Spring, I took a class to learn French Pattern Drafting or Moulage. Since then I’ve had a custom fitted block to work with and I haven’t. **Hang head in shame.**
Knowing I wanted to sew more for myself, I knew if I put my sloper on tag board, it would at least be more useable. Ultimately, I hoped it would help me sew more. Little did I know how that would come to pass.
I thought a bit in the back of my mind about making a dress for Easter. The task seemed daunting and I some sewing projects on my 30 before 30 list already, so I was concerned about adding more. I was checking out pinterest an addicting and awesome collection of beautiful images from the web and saw this dress.
I went to look at my fabric stash and spotted a two-yard bit of pre-washed silk noil in dark green that I found for free a few months earlier. I took the fabric and worked with it, still unsure of what would come. I cut a strip lengthwise and pressed it. The design idea was still very much percolating in my head, but I was thinking of the ruffles for sure. I tore another strip, but this one was unintentionally crosswise, and therefore much shorter in length. Then I tore a third strip lengthwise. I pressed all of the strips and worked with my serger to get a nice stitch on six thicknesses of fabric.
I was off and creating. Next I pulled out my newly traced tagboard slopers and used chalk and the tagboard directly onto the fabric and traced out a nice shaped front and back. I added a bit of flare for kicks.
I sewed them together at the sides and shoulders with a beautiful French seam and tried the dress on. I had pressed the dress a few times and all traces of chalk disappeared, so I tried it on one way, then the other to determine what I’d use for the front and back.
I added elastic around the middle. Eased the back neck and attached the collar. Finished the collar and added sleeves (excess after finishing the collar) and hemmed the dress. Needless to say I had a super-cute dress to wear for Easter. Now, if only I had gotten someone else to take a photo of it!
Catherine Zeta-Jones has been on a lot of headlines lately. As a spouse of a cancer survivor, I can relate. I don’t have Bipolar II Disorder, but I have had a lot to slog through. My life was paused the day I heard the doctor say leukemia. My legs froze parallel like the pause symbol on the remote control. The dreams and hopes I had for my life, as well as for our family disappeared. They slowly slipped away because I realized they could never be. Not in the way I had imagined. I didn’t realize I could have other things, though. Different things. I was afraid to dream new dreams. The pain of losing the first dreams was too real. Why set myself up for pain that intense again? I couldn’t bear to have any new dreams taken away as well. So I existed. Rarely satisfied with anything.
Food lost its luster, but I ate hoping to find the one taste that would bring it back. Work weighed heavily. My shoulders visibly slumped from the weight I allowed to accumulate. I was paralyzed from searching out things more meaningful to me. Afraid. Fear had crept in. Its familiarity confused for comfort. Its unchanging ways confused for safety.
My head ached from years of clenching my jaw. During seasons my body relaxed—once it was massaged with yoga or challenged with triathlons. Once I forced my body to work harder than it ever has before, harder than it thought it could, like biking 60 miles in an afternoon, it began to realize that challenges aren’t so scary. My body learned that it can face whatever life has in store. Then I got overwhelmed and forget the importance of physical exercise. My clothes felt smaller and tighter. Sleep became less refreshing. These are symptoms that I have stopped moving. The effort to begin again felt overwhelming.
I do well with deadlines. I do well with structure. My goal is to use the last 6 months of my twenties exploring ways to move on. I want to learn to make new dreams and then live them. I may not be able to cure Eric’s leukemia. I cannot always comfort him when he feels shitty. I can’t always understand why things happen. I can choose to start living again.
So I have this list of 30 Things I’d Like to Do before I Turn 30. Instead of listing them all out up front, I thought I’d blog about them as they happen. I broke up the list into 5 BIG goals, 10 medium goals, and 15 small goals. Gotta love being anal, hun? Some of the goals I am currently working on are:
1. Plant a garden and eat from it (BIG goal).
As evidenced by the photo below, our garden is growing really well. I am super excited and can’t wait to cook with more than just the herbs from it!
2. Continue to track what I eat (small goal) and lose weight (BIG goal).
I have been tracking what I eat with pretty good consistency for about 2 months now. I use The Daily Plate on LiveStrong and really like it. Happily, I have lost a few pounds. Unfortunately, I have only lost a few pounds. I realize weight loss isn’t rocket science, so I know where I can improve and what I currently do well.
3. Blog at least 3x a week (medium goal).
I’ve missed blogging.
Eric will soon be participating in his 4th triathlon. He’s had to downgrade to a shorter, albeit not short course, due to his health. Despite the set-backs he is very excited about the event.
He wanted this on the back of his jersey, so I whipped out an old training jersey of my own, cut off a sleeve, painted on his requested text, and attached it to his race jersey. The blue lines are disappearing ink, so they will go away. I plan to outline it all in black too.
I can’t wait to see him cross the finish line. As he’s always said,
“I always get emotional at the end of each race, because I believe that each race completedis a victory for me a defeat for leukemia.”
Here, here!