Best event I attended in 2013: Our wedding

I should title this post...

"How to plan a wedding in 6 days."

If we could have done it quicker, I think we would have.

And here is why.

Although I am not proud to admit this, the truth for all to hear is that this is my third marriage.

Having failed at this twice before, I did not want to call attention to the fact that I was going

to try this thing again.  I was a little embarrassed at telling people...I am getting married

for every time I did, I heard in my head their non-verbal response of "Again?"

I had already had two weddings and this time...

all that was going to matter to me was that this brave man was willing to join me

in partnership and union and not one other thing mattered.

Not what people thought.

Not what I wore.

Not what we did or did not do.

Not what we served.

Not where we had it.

Not who came.

I wore something I already had.

Well, actually, I bought something new, but when I put it on an hour before the ceremony,

you could see right through it.  So, I grabbed something from my closet, and that was that.

Lucy was right there with me and I could not have her remember her mom freaking out

on her wedding day because of some outfit that unfortunately did not work.

We got married outside of the architecture building at Rice, where Bob graduated from years ago.

We walked across the street to the graduate student bar called Valhalla, with both our mothers in attendance, thank Goodness. and had a beer with whoever showed up from our Facebook invitation. I think a lot of people thought it was an invitation to an engagement party, which made it all the better.

In front of 14 people, we said "I do" with my best girl and my stepson at my side and Bob's two best men at his side.  Our dear friend Greg Marshall officiated.

We had about 80 people show up to raise a glass with us at Valhalla.

It wasn't glamorous.  It wasn't big.  It was quick.

But it was authentic.

We exchanged vows with rings we already had.  

I designed my last ring and Bob liked his old ring, so no point getting new ones.

We did burn sage over them 30 minutes before the ceremony...you know, just in case.

My flowers looked just like my sister Tara had designed them.

Her old wholesaler did them for me, and that was one of the nicest parts

of the entire day... looking down at them from time to time and remembering her.

Almost six months into this new union, I know one thing for sure...

I have never had a marriage like this one before.  And I am thankful I had the others preceding this one.

I don't regret any union I made, whether successful or not.

I am just blessed that I got the opportunity to do it with Bob.

And Marc. And Lucy.

Having a family is pretty wonderful.

Having someone who always has your back is even more wonderful.

Sorry if you did not get the Facebook invitation or could not attend.

You didn't miss the event of the season

just a sweet memory and celebration of two people who planned a wedding in six days.

Christmas decorating with a definite twist

I helped with quite a bit of Christmas decorating this year.

By far, these pictures and this house were my favorites.

The disco gnome above is from CB2.

At $129.00, a freakin' steal.

Just about the greatest thing I came across this holiday season.

 This garland was filled with Victorian Santas, an artisan made

and hand dyed bunting, a garland made entirely of Kantha beads,

Mexican devils, skulls and babies, religious icons...

and it was delicious.

 This vignette had tinsel trees and ombre votive holders (which were scored from Target last year)

mixed with the owners extensive collection of 

Mexican art.  

Topping it all off are these reindeers from Antrho mixed

with these amazing votives from Eklectic.  That had a mica type 

backing inside, so when you lit a candle inside it, they

appeared to be electric.  Totally beautiful.

These were my favs...hope you got some ideas for next year.

On Sunday mornings, Lucy and I have the ritual of going to Christy's Donuts and heading to Starbucks to eat while we create.  She has an old loved Amy Butler art basket that looks like this...

and we have an even older zipper bag filled with tools we might need...mini stapler, eraser, hole punch, scissors...the basics.

She creates pages like these...which I find fascinating.

I am always amazed at what my pages look like when Lucy is there with me and sans Lucy.

I seem to be more productive when she is not there. More focused.

When she is there, the distractions are numerous.  This child is always in perpetual motion or drawing while standing up. Rarely sitting down, she sometimes opts to use the seat of her chair as her table and then chooses to sit on the ground.  She breaks into song. She starts and she stops.  

Then I started thinking...I think I would like to be more like her.

To have no purpose or intention.

To break into a dance and then color some more.

To be so free.

Just for today, I want to be more like Lucy.

My Life is a Do-Over

Do you remember the movie "City Slickers?" 

 There was a scene where Mitch (played by Billy Crystal) is 

talking to his friend, Phil (played by Daniel Stern).

Phil has just been dumped by his wife, who was having an affair. 

 All of his money is gone, he has lost his job, and life is looking sad, no depressing, really.

 Mitch talks to him about when you were in school and you wrote something on the blackboard, and if it was wrong, you screamed out "Do-Over" and got to erase the board and start over all over again.


Life can be a Do-Over.

In one year, I have not blogged.  Not one time.

Not when I was happy, nor when I was sad.

I remained quiet.


Earlier this year, I took this picture of myself looking at 
myself in the mirror and there in the black and white photograph is a picture of my mother staring back at me.
 Something about this photo made me think.


At 45 years old, I am asking myself . . . 
am I turning into my mother? 


And my answer is . . . I sure as s--t hope so.



My mom moved down to Texas from Greenwich, Connecticut
with 5 children (all girls), a husband, and leaving her son
 in Greenwich to finish out his senior year of high school. 
 All for my dad to take a job with Gulf Oil.


It would take a lot of strength to uproot all your children,  not knowing a single soul in this new frontier called Texas.


This past year, I have lost a husband, my house, a career . . .
which I guess is one way of looking at it.


And I suppose my mom felt the same way after moving . . . 
losing her house, her network and her friends. 
 I never heard her complain. Not one time.


What does it help? If you do look at your life as a Do-Over, 
then can you - -


focus instead on what you have gained?

For me, it is . . .
a new house, a new career, and a new relationship.

And could you imagine by having these thoughts what would happen next time you looked in a mirror and took a picture?

It would feel AMAZING.

Wipe my slate clean dear Universe. Wipe it now.

Teaching a Book Class at Katie & Co.

A picture of the class hard at work

A few weeks ago, I taught two classes in how to make a quick, easy, repurposed book.
I was really nervous, as this was the first time for me to teach this type of class.
My goal was that everyone would finish.
And they did!


If there is one thing I hate when I am taking a class,
it is leaving with an unfinished project that I have no idea how to finish.
And without a skill, that leaves me with the inability to replicate
the process again.
I think everyone could do this again.
And that makes me very happy.


Here are some samples of their work.
When I told some people I was doing this,
their thoughts were, "I'm not sure you should do that.
You don't want to give away all your secrets."


Whatever.
I want to teach others how to reuse things.
How to take nothing and turn it into something.
And they taught me as much as I taught them.

A sample of one of Mayson's page - I just fell in love with seeing their work.

Brenda brought scraps of cyanotype printing to add to her pages.

Laura did these crazy folds that were so cool & really inspired me.

Look what you can do with an old trim from a discarded pillowcase and some buttons!

Mayson's cover of her book - I am CRAZY about the bow

Brenda's book made from a gift bag!

Roberta's amazing stash of stuff that she brought.

Laura's finished travel book. Total serendipity.

And Ms. Roberta (whose book I did not get a pic of!)
who really has encouraged more than I could ever express.
Kisses to you!

Thank you to everyone who came.
I appreciate it very much.

Tuesday Time To Be Thankful

It's Tuesday and dark outside.
And I am alone and working on taxes.

Sometimes when I know it is going to be a gruesome day,
I try to spread a little sunshine throughout my house.

The sunflowers are on my dining room table.
Hard to be sad when you look at them.

And when I know it is going to be a really long day of paperwork
and not the type of work anyone likes to do, I start making a list of all the things
that people give to me to be thankful about.

My mom gave me this whole quite last week.
A man that lives by her asked if her quilting group could do something with it, to restore it.
They could not - it was just too old.

So, I started thinking about what I could do with it to
make it into something else.

And I started cutting it apart, and used it to embellish
some head wraps that I made that are made with felted cashmere.
I like the way they are looking.


And I have gotten so many buttons lately.
It is like everyone has cleaned out their grandmother's stash.
I use these like crazy, so I really appreciate them.


My friend, Saint, just gave me a ton of stuff, stuff she was going to throw out.
Old wine labels, stamps from cool places, foreign postcards.
I know anyone into paper arts is salivating right now.

Thank you to everyone that believes in repurposing and trying to help me along the way.
I really do appreciate all of your thoughtfulness and generosity.
And even on a dark Tuesday, you brighten my day.

I Really Altered My Louis Vuitton Tote

My favorite LV Bag

I am not crazy. I promise. Swear. Cross my heart.
I am brave, though.

Many of you know I worked for Louis Vuitton for many years. I love LV products, because they are handmade. My passion for handmade items started way before I started my current company.

One of the pieces I own is this rather large tote pictured below in an old ad from Neiman-Marcus. I used it as Lucy's diaper bag, which I am sure was ghastly enough for some people. The fact that I would carry something like this for that purpose. But that is what I think things like this are for - to be used and carried and worn out.

One day, I had it behind the seat in the car, and somehow, when the seat got pushed forward, it got caught and developed this terrible rip. The only way to replace it would be to order a new panel for it. And that new panel . . . would be about the price of a weekend trip to Austin at a five star hotel with all our meals included. No, I am not kidding. And since I was the Leathergoods manager, I know how to repair something like this, and I won't bore you with those details, except to say, no shoe place or anything like this could do a better job than what I did.

So, I decided to hot glue it back together (please stop screaming) and then cover it up. At least, I can still use the bag. And if years later, I come into a small fortune and want to get the panel replaced, I still can do it. But here is a LV tip for you . . . if you EVER have a shoe repair place touch your bag and repair it, and then try and send it back to LV, they will refuse to touch it. That's the French for you.

Digging through all my piles of things

The final product is a very happy bag

It looks better in person, I swear.
I cannot wait to go to Paris and sport this around town one day.
I might get stoned, but I will rock this bag. I promise.

Scooter, who I think, watches all this and often thinks I might be crazy