Too Much

With the holidays, updating my status, tweeting, pinning, knitting and crocheting...I barely have had a moment to even breathe!  But I am working on all that.  I know we are already more than a month into the new year, but I am working on my New Year's Resolution, which is really more my motto for the year, to live effortlessly.

Missoni-Adventure

It was one month ago today that I woke up extra early on a Tuesday morning to get myself to a Target before 8:00 am to grab the few coveted items from the Missoni for Target collection.  I was really not prepared for what I saw and what I endured!  My adventure was well planned out days before, All I really wanted was the glass serving bowl and maybe a sweater, but it was the bowl I really wanted.   I decided to go to the Target closest to work, since there are 3 all within 10 minutes of each other, I could hit all 3 before work, which is exactly what I did, I just didn't bargain on showing up to work early and empty handed.  


I got to the first Target at 8:07 am and there was not one piece of Missoni left anywhere in the store other than in someone's shopping cart!  I left immediately and drove down the street to the next Target, arriving at 8:20 am to the same fiasco! I pulled into the parking lot of the 3rd Target at 8:35 am and didn't even get out of the car, people were walking out with no bags and I over heard a group of them telling the group walking in that it was all gone...
I had been texting my fabulous friend Eddie during all of this, he was at his 2nd Target in Orange County.  I called Eddie on my way to work to let him know I was giving up, but Eddie had found my bowl, he was holding it as we spoke!  I could quit now, Eddie had my bowl for me and that was the one piece I really, really wanted, mission accomplished!  Of course that was not the end of it for me... as soon s I got to work at 9:15 am, I tried getting on Target's website to see what was left there!  I got on about an hour later and by 11:30 am I had purchased a cardigan sweater and a skirt, it was to arrive the next week.  The End, right?  Of course not!  I hit 4 more Target's on my way home to see if I could find anything left!  I hit many more Target's the rest of the week, until I saw a sign saying Missoni for Target will not be re-stocked.  Now that I had put the quest behind me, I received 2 emails from Target letting me know my shipment will arrive later than they originally told me.  I sadly resolved myself to the fact that my sweater and skirt may never arrive, but my faith in Target was validated when my shipment arrived on the original arrival date they gave me back on September 13!


I am very pleased with my purchases, the bowl is even more beautiful than I imagined and surprisingly, I really like the cardigan sweater.  The colorful throw is the only item that got away, but it was online only and now selling on eBay for nearly $200!  Jason Wu for Target is next spring, but I don't think that collection will ever reach the frenzy of Missoni for Target!

An Epic Visionary

The world lost a very remarkable human being today, a man who's legacy is truly amazing! This post would not even be possible without the existence of Steve Jobs. I am composing this on my iPhone, sitting in a bar feeling quite sad, yet very inspired by what Steve accomplished in 56 short years. I will always Think Different.

Aunt Bebe Day 2011

Last year my nieces and nephew surprised me by having Aunt Bebe Day, a holiday on the 2nd Sunday in August to celebrate me, the best Aunt EVER... seriously! (at least that is what they wrote on my card).  
This year we had a whole day of feasting on my favorite foods (taquitos with runny avocado sauce and cupcakes), we painted wine glasses (each of them painting one for me) and they made a CD of all the music that reminds them of me!  As I was listening to the music and having fun with my nieces and nephew, now in their 20's (except Ruby who will be 9), I realized the impact I have had on their lives.  How many other Aunt's have a special day to celebrate them and all they do for their nieces & nephew?  They have turned around and showed me the love I have showered on them from the day they were born, that is VERY special, that is what the BEST AUNT EVER does, seriously!

Jackson Five ~ ABC

Jet ~ Are You Gonna Be My Girl?

B-52's ~ Rock Lobster

Harry Connick, Jr. ~ The Bare Necessities

Katy Perry ~ California Girls

Jamiroqui ~ Canned Heat

The Waitresses ~ Christmas Wrapping

Tom Jones ~ Delilah

Madonna ~ Into the Groove

Muppets ~ Christmas is Coming

Jackson Five ~ I Want You Back

Elvis Presley ~ A Little Less Conversation

B-52's ~ Love Shack

Justin Timberlake ~ Rock Your Body

Madonna ~ Santa Baby

Justin Timberlake ~ Senorita

Tom Jones ~ She's A Lady

Technotronics ~ Pump Up The Jam

Katy Perry ~ Teenage Dream

The Go-Go's ~ Vacation

Fifth Dimension ~ Wedding Bell Blues

A Visit to My Past

My one of my first jobs was working at one of our local fabric stores, Fantasy Fabrics at the Whittier Quad.  When I say one of our local fabric stores, it is because I eventually starting working at the other local fabric store, Maxime's Fabrics in Uptown Whittier.  I love fabric stores!  One of my favorites was Fabric King that I would always visit with my Grandma.  This was a different kind of fabric store, where all the fabric was flat folded on tables, no bolts to knock over and try to get back where it belongs.  And the fabric was cheap!  You could make a cute dress for $2.00!  

I learned to sew on a sewing machine at a very young age, as soon as I could run the machine I was off!  My Mom taught me how to work the machine and read a pattern, but like most things, I taught myself the rest!  I picked patterns that challenged me to learn more, but mostly I picked the things I wanted to make, and that was my inspiration to learn how!  When I got to Junior High I was way beyond the wrap around skirt everyone made in Home Ec class.  I was given permission to make a jacket with a hood matching plaid.  By the time I was in High School I made most of clothes. My junior year I had to fill in a time with a class and the only one that looked fun to me was Advanced Sewing, but I had not taken Beginning Sewing.  I had to ask the teacher if it was okay to join her class, she had to test me to see my skills, I told her I had made the pants I was wearing, which were baggie jeans.  I was let in the class.


I have continued to sew, though I admit not as much as I'd like to in recent years... I sew mostly crafts nowadays.  But back in the day I visited at least 2 fabric stores a weekend, sometimes 4, if I was on a mission!  I made most of my clothes, even while working at Nordstrom.  My niece Sydney was the best dressed child around!  I made most of her clothes and the rest I bought at Nordstrom.  I made all of my Mom's dresses, I made clothes for my friends, I made our Bridesmaid dresses for Jennifer's wedding and I was the Maid of Honor!  


Sadly there are not many Independent fabric stores around anymore, but yesterday I visited one of my favorites that is still going strong, M&L Fabrics.  I had not been there for a couple of years, but it was pretty much still the same... lots and lots of fabric everywhere!  At first I was overwhelmed and had noticed all the prices had gone up, this was a place I could find great deals at $1.98 a yard!   It is still a deal at $2.49 a yard and I did walk out of there yesterday spending $25.00 for 3 dresses and a new cover for my ironing board, but more important is how spending that hour in the fabric store jump started my creative juices and inspired me.  I am completely at home at a fabric store, a real fabric store, not a Joann's Super Store, it is my "candy store" it is my past, and I am happy when I visit.

Amigurumi

Amigurumi, a set on Flickr.

Just a few of the little friends I have made...

Muggle Born

I have been spending my summers with Harry Potter for 12 years now.  It was the summer of 1999 when I first heard about this Boy Wizard, Harry Potter.   I picked up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone at the end of summer and could not put it down, I never wanted to leave this world of wizards and magic.  I have read all 7 books at least 3 times each, I read each book before he movie was released and read Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix one more time because they were my favorite books of all 7.  I will admit, I enjoy the books much more than the films, but the imagery in the films do capture the world in my imagination!

As I was driving home on Thursday, I could not stop thinking about the midnight showing of the last Harry Potter movie being shown at midnight everywhere... I made a last minute decision to go see the movie at midnight!  Why wouldn't I?  I was at Borders when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book was released, why would I NOT see the movie at midnight?  I am SO happy I was there at midnight for both, they are experiences that you can only have once.  I actually saw the movie again a few days later and the theatre had no buzz of anticipation from everyone, and no one clapped and booed at the appropriate parts.  The fans who have embraced Harry Potter by dressing in their robes, carrying their wands...that is what made my midnight experiences so special!  I am finally, after making so many for others, making myself a Gryffindor scarf.


It is pretty amazing how these books and films have become such a huge part of our culture.  I introduced my nieces and nephew to Harry Potter right after I read Book 1.  They were 13, 12, 11, 9 and 7 when I gave them Book 1 to read.  We had a Harry Potter themed Craft Day in 2000, making magical snow globes, drinking Butter Beer wearing lighting bolt scars on their foreheads.  A couple of years later I was thrown a Harry Potter Birthday Party where all the guests wore glasses like Harry and I even got a wand! (Thank you Simone & Nicole!)
  
I am sad that there will be no new Harry Potter adventures, but like Harry is told at the end, everyone is always with him in his heart.  For me they will always live in my heart and imagination to be shared and revisited forever.