Good Times and Bad Blogging

The day before Thanksgiving:

These Red Velvet cupcakes were the first in a 9 hour Soul food cook off!

The morning after, not a creature was stirring...

I hope you all had a joyous Thanksgiving- last Thursday, if you don't partake. My day was replete with all of necessary fixin's: food, friends and folly. While I'm sorry that I didn't take my usual host of holiday gathering pictures, I'm thrilled to say that rather than behind the scenes and lens, I was right in the thick of the celebration, and it was a a thoroughly enjoyable change for me! Yes, I engaged in pleasant social interaction sans anxiety and regret-for this among many other things I am grateful!

Peace and thanks

Sammy, Michael & Katt

Creedits: Images stolen from Google search

Sammy Sosa lightened his skin, we've established this. Personally I think skin lightening creams produce an odd- for lack of a better word, complexion when used for any purpose other than blemish removal. Medically, they are unsafe, so Sammy's decision is odd all across the board, to me. Initially, my thoughts are, well why you wanna go and do that, love?

The Favorite Guy and I start in on the topic and immediately I say, "It kinda sucks since he came here [US] made a name for himself as a prominent athlete and there are I'm sure, hosts of dark-skinned Dominican children who had someone to look up to". Then, I reflected on Michael Jackson and how the Black community lauded/condemned him based on his personal choices and the changes he made to his physical appearance and felt saddened by my flippant rush to cast judgment and place such heavy responsibility on this person whom I do not know. Sure, he has chosen a profession that puts him in the public eye, but keep in mind, their contracts don't have a role model race/gender/social responsibility clause.

For a moment I thought, "Hmm imagine if my chemically straightened hair, excessive consumption of imported beer and favored, frequent use of the F-word were the only things people referenced when formulating an opinion about my worth, both self and societal". Oh the pressure, the pain, the horror.

Katt Williams (I'm a fan.) said something about self-esteem that really resonated with me. He said, "self-esteem is called [such] because it is the esteem of yo' motherfuckin' self". Vernacular aside, this is a heavy, poignant statement and a virtue of sorts that we should all aspire to make our mantra. When each of us is working within, our best face is put forward and in turn we see only the best of those around us. It's ignorant to believe we're all the same, it's enlightenment to acknowledge that being different is a cardinal commonality.

So what, the voice within someone who once looked like me or you has chosen alternate packaging and your voice says stay in the skin/features/gender to which you were born, it's all the same difference.

Disclaimer: I'm not blind to hegemony, I'm not naive to the beauty standards of the west, I am however completely ignorant of the reasoning behind any of the aforementioned celebrities' reasons for altering their appearance and as a result of that ignorance have opted to form my opinion based solely on aesthetics, "packaging" if you will.

Peace and self love

Meet Minerva

The owl is a superb animal, a master of physical presence, grace and alertness. She relishes physical reality and takes delight in sensation and movement. She lives in her body and listens to the music of her own metabolism. She feels the waxing and waning of the living energy that pulsates in every cell.

"The Way of the Owl", Frank Rivers

Minerva is a red-haired, olive-hued Gemini.

She likes sweet tea and strong lovers

She reads with the radio on

She dances to silence and sings with her eyes

She wears short-sleeved sweaters and sneakers with heels

Her words are few, her tales many

And, she just won't have it any other way

Peace and wisdom

Einstein Didn't Sew!

The Shortest Distance Between Two Points is Anything But a Straight Line:
and Other Truisms on Amateur Sewing

Catchy isn't it?! Honestly, I'm rather enjoying my sewing adventures y'know now that I've figured out clockwise, versus counter clockwise and stopped breaking needles! Needle breaking was getting costly. Between us here, the trick to stitch length and depth and subsequent needle preservation is to use measurements, not a random combination of your two favorite numbers between one and five! I'm glad I got that all worked out!

What else? Oh! I've learned to respect the pedal, no more Danica Patrick type acceleration. I am also quite happy to report I am stitching at a comfortable even pace. Well, except for when I veer off course and have to straighten up again. The reverse stitch function thingie is for reverse stitching; it doesn't remove crooked stitches. Yep, I learned that too.

Anyone else working on anything new?

Peace and NEW! crafty endeavors

xoxo, Tameka

Don't ask about the cookies, if I tell you...I'll have to kill you (unless you share).

The funny thing about humans...

Just when you think, that's it, I'm done a pox on all of 'em- the special ones make themselves visible. This impeccable timing is undeniable even for an aspiring misanthrope like me.

After my "Drunk, again" post, the beautiful humans weighed in; in the comments section, in e-mails, on the phone, on Facebook!, in person...and gratefully all in small well-timed spurts. Winks. They've...you've all reminded me that without the occasional ugliness that is the human condition, I'd forget or otherwise overlook the beauty that exists in all of us, in all of you. Thanks, friends.

Peace and love

Drunk, again...

I've done it again-I got people drunk, and now I'm paying with a hell of an anxiety-laden, what was he/she thinking, what did they really mean by "x,y,z", she looks sad, he looks distant, he lied, she lied, I lied...collapses and faintly whispers, hangover.

I know what you're thinking (which is a big part of the problem), so why do I do it? Well, I don't do it intentionally, and even try to avoid it by dulling the senses with fine lager. Nevertheless, it happens. My receptors get all fired up and here I am in this human-filled room hearing all of their conversations, comparing and contrasting their eye and body movements against what is being said; picking up on their secrets, shame and demons, and before you know it, I'm on overload. Now, the party is over, they've gone on with their lives and I'm unwell.

Yesterday was the hardest day, I imagine it's like waking up next to someone whom you don't know well enough. Blink blink...my brain starts to awaken and the discomfort sets in. I bring my forearm up over my eyes to...I don't know what it's supposed to do, I saw it in a movie I think. Cerebral radio begins to play the random hit of the night; tonight's hit is the Black-Eyed Peas, Meet Me Halfway. Figures, I hated that song not 5 minutes before we left home.


I feel, I don't know how I feel. I feel open, fearful, anxious. I feel I've been made privy to too much and in that exposure I too have become weakened, vulnerable, fragmented. I feel-in short, like I need repair. So, that's what I'll do, as I've always done. I'm going to reach in and fix myself, clear my head, straighten my back, recoup and rehab, and I'll undoubtedly fall off the people wagon again, but hopefully not too soon.

Does anyone out there experience these same sensitivities after social situations?

Peace and solitude

Random Thought Thursday: On Dreams and Dreaming

Oftentimes I have these dreams, vivid, fascinating dreams (a regular occurrence for the HSP) that end all too quickly, and often incomplete. I often wonder what- if anything, to make of these fleeting moments.

I have this dream- a rather vivid and fascinating one; one that is also most certainly incomplete. I wonder about that too. Perhaps, my understanding or lack thereof is limiting. Perhaps the dreams and dream are indeed complete manifestations of fleeting incompletion.

An artist never really finishes his work, he merely abandons it.
-Paul Valery

Young Men & Old Books

Jordan turned 18 on Friday, we haven't seen very much of him since!

In celebration of my giving birth day we headed over to the Arts Festival in nearby Litchfield Park and found a vintage and antique book sale going on in a very old school building. What a treat! I wanted to buy it all, but I settled on these: (Top to Bottom) Four Shakespearean Comedies, The Little Prince, Guy de Maupassant's Selected Short Stories, Gertrude Stein's 3 Lives, The Highly Sensitive Person, The Size of Thoughts , The Joy of Lex ( I almost passed it by mistaking it for that other joyful book!) The Book of Virtues, an old dictionary for altering, a book that didn't make the photo because it's already tangled up in my comforter (The Prodigal Tongue) and the piece de resistance...

This dusty little unsuspecting wonder is a 1953 copy of Albert Skira's biographical and critical studies of Pablo Picasso's work! I'm in heaven.

Peace and good times and books and stuff!

Idyllic

Gaia & Nirit : Pretty in Peace Fall 2009

Gaia, the Hebrew word for earth and Nirit for flower, these pieces are representative of the delicate symbiosis that exists between a mother and daughter. My grandmother's failing health has given me pause to consider and reconsider these relationships; hers and mine , my mother's and hers, and ultimately my mother's and mine.

Gaia (background) & Nirit : Pretty in Peace Fall 2009

I've used heavily oxidized and raw brass to symbolize the fusion of age and youth, stone and glass for fortitude and pulchritude and a large copper floral focal on Nirit for growth. Idyllically these would meld as nicely in life as they do in design and theory, but what fun would that be? Smiles.

Peace and love

30 Days...

Thirty days to primp and prep 'til I pack my wares and head down to Crafeteria 2009 in Phoenix! Yes, dear friends in art and life, I am in the building (er um parking lot). I made it, me and 29 of Phoenix's hottest indie artists will make our works available to the public this December 4th.

The pressure is on this year because: 1. Last year's debut garnered rave reviews from craft show veterans and patrons alike. One of my bracelets even had a write up on the local paper's fashion blog! 2. Phoenix or (NoPho) is quickly becoming the place to be for art and artists and Frances Vintage (home of Pretty in Peace designs) is the New Times boutique to beat when it comes to handmade goodness. I've got my work cut out for me.

While I toil away with the wire and beads, the postman has been coming through with all manner of display goodness. Feast your eyes above on these darling trays by Etsy seller Iktomi. I'm big on texture and contrast and can't wait to rest shiny baubles atop their earthy goodness.

I'll be posting periodic updates as the Pretty in Peace art and design table comes to life.

Peace and art

Halloween 2009

Sprinkled cupcakes, the staple food of happy gatherings

Fruits, veggies and other carnivorous goods...

My Wild & Crazy Favorite Guy and Mae West
(who ONLY quoted Mae West for 4+ hours!)

An 80's version of Yael, I still can't believe I actually wore some of this stuff!

Monique the hostess and mother to Niqqi the girlfriend

Me with fairy wings (I wished they worked by the end of the night),

Jordan Inmate#6311...Officer Niqqi & Yael

The arrest

The winners

The End

Happy November