A Day On The Strand

A Few Things: For Brandon

**Away at my market, chasing my dream. I thought this would be appropriate. I wrote this almost a week ago**

The last week and a half has been a whirlwind. We went on vacation together, I went on a vacation without him and then I got back and we spent the whole weekend seeing each other only a few times. In that time I have missed him a lot. But I think it does us a lot of good to have time apart because it makes everything better when we are finally together again.

I love that guy with all my heart. We’ve grown so much since we first started dating and it’s amazing to be able to do it together and learn more about each other and life in general as we go along. He is so strong, and honest, and beautiful inside and out. He’s got a really good heart and a lot of passion. He pushes me to work harder and brings me back to reality when I get carried away. We don’t have a lot of really deep conversations but when we do, they’re really good. And today was one of them. He told me that he had a self-realization about his fears in life and thinking about his future. Basically that he wants to find passion in something and not be afraid to go for it but it’s not as easy said as done. And it was something I can really relate to a lot with my business and trying to make it work. I absolutely love what I do. “Fashion” to me is an art. It can be so beautiful. But making art is scary. It’s vulnerable. You’re prone to failures and it can be disheartening. I’ve always tried to be a positive person. I always try and try and try. Yes, it’s scary but it’s passion that compels me and the thrill of creating and the excitement when you finally make something you can be proud of that keeps me going.

A lot of the stuff I first started sewing was really bad. And some of it now is still not AMAZING but I’ve gotten so much better and learned so much that I really can be proud of my work. And I try to put that same effort into blogging, photographing, and designing in general. I try to project my style into the “look” you see on here and on my store website.  I want it to represent my character, my beliefs, my attitude, as well as my mood. And that goes for everything I create, I try to materialize all of that, me basically, into my products.  Not exactly an easy thing to do, it just takes a lot of time, practice, and dedication.

This is a huge part of my life. Creating. Passion. The scary-ness of it all, trying to make a living out of it with no stability or reassurance of a solid monthly pay check. But it’s all worth it. My life is so much richer and I love it.

I’m so proud of Brandon. I’m so grateful that he gets up and goes to work at 3 in the morning so that we can live in our apartment. I’m so grateful that at the end of the month when I have hardly anything to contribute to rent that he still loves me and supports me. I appreciate it so much because all of his hard work allows me to have the opportunity to do what I love. I know he’s not happy with his job and he does it anyways. And for so long he’s been kind of wandering what he wants to do for the rest of his life and trying to find passion in something he can make a career out of. For a while he was kind of lost but I think he has finally found his way and is on a path that will get him there.  I want so much for him to be happy. I want him to be able feel the sheer happiness and sense of accomplishment that comes from creating.  I love to see him pour his heart into making something. It makes me so extremely happy. It’s something we can share. I can know what he’s feeling because I have felt it too. And that’s the best feeling to share. Whatever art form he may choose, it means so much to me that we can relate on something that is such a big part of my life. And I hope someday that he can follow his dreams and make it a big part of his as well.

On an ending note, here are a few words that are close to my heart. For my dear boy:

Believe in yourself. You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face… You must do that which you think you cannot do… The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste, experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

I love you Brandon. 

Haley in Wonderland

I love blogging. I get to meet so many awesome people, including this gal that turns out to also be from Houston! Her name is Haley and she is an AMAZING photographer that is going to school in Montreal. So she asked me to feature her shop on the blog and once I saw her work, I was MORE than happy to oblige. Seriously, I may be a little obsessed. Here is a little sample of the photography you can find in her shop:     Store- Haley in Wonderland. Also, 15% of all profits go to an organization called children of promise which she volunteers at in Kenya. 
And if you'd like even MORE, you can visit her blog here: Haley in Wonderland

Good luck Haley, you got a good thing goin' there! (: 

Sponsors & Readers

Sponsors: I tried to email most of my "swapping" sponsors about expiring ads however most didn't respond. If your ad has expired and you would like to continue swapping, email me at samwish3@gmail.com! Oh, also, I have set the ads to rotate with every page load so that everyone has a chance to be seen!    And Readers: I have to apologize about my frequent changing the layout/header here. There's no real excuse, I just can't help it! I hope you can forgive me and I hope that you like this current one. Hopefully it'll be here to say a while. 
 That said, I'd like to share with you how I added the background image to my tabs! You can follow the link here to see the little tutorial.
Have a good weekend everyone!
 

Self Portrait

For some reason today I had the urge to create some self portraits. Nothing fancy, just me. The thing is, I took these pictures two days ago with the intention of them being "outfit" pictures. But they're more self portrait pictures than actual outfit pictures. So it kind of worked out and that's what I'm going with. So here are some self portraits. Just me.  And if you're interested ;) Top-forever 21, Necklace- DIY, Skirt-Thrifted, Shoes- Target
The past week I've been a busy little bee trying to prepare for a fashion market this Saturday. So I'll be closing shop tomorrow morning until Monday while I'm away. Can't wait for this weekend, it's going to be a fun one! 
Oh and P.S. I responded to all my awesomely, great, fantastic comments soooo if you wanted to go back and read them (:

It Gets Better

So I have this best friend that is an amazing singer. I've been wanting to share a video of him for a while but was waiting for the right one and the right time. 
His Grandmother died on Tuesday and his mom posted this video afterwards, It Gets Better, expressing that this song always lifts her spirits. It is an amazing song, I hope you will listen to it. Jackson is the first male singer, btw.
 
To my best friend Jackson, my heart is with you and your family. You are and will always be my best friend. 

Gustav Klimt

While in LA, we visited The Getty museum and saw an exhibition on Gustav Klimt. I'm not into really into "fine art" per say but I've been a fan of Gustav Klimt for as long as I can remember. When I was little, my mother had "The Kiss" painting hanging around our house (you know the one) and I remember I would just sit and stare at it sometimes, becoming completely mezmerized. I mean, that probably only lasted about 2 minutes tops (I was just a kid!) but needless to say, that image is finely engrained into my brain  Without knowing anything about Gustav Klimt, I knew that he was the artist behind that painting and he became my absolute favorite. Because honestly, I didn't know any better. But to this day, he is still my favorite. Perhaps because it reminds me of my childhood? Or maybe because he is just so familiar to me? Or because I haven't learned enough about art history to find a replacement! But anyways, the exhibition was really special to me and actually made me love him even more! I got to explore the "studies" (aka the rough drafts) of what led up to all of his final pieces and it was really, really cool. And I got to see some art by him that I've never seen before. It was great. So in my love for Gustav Klimt, I've put together a little post for/about him:   source True relaxation, which would do me the world of good, does not exist for me. -Gustav Klimt Amalie Zuckerkandl  "A leading exponent of Art Nouveau, Klimt is considered one of the greatest decorative painters of the 20th century. His depictions of the femme fatale and his drawings treating the theme of female sexuality have assured him a place in the history of erotic art" -source
I am strangely drawn to the picture above... I think it's the colors? I don't know, want it.    Fish Blood "Gustav Klimt was such a brilliant draftsman that he occupies a unique position worldwide. The central subject of his more than 4,000 sheets is the human – particularly the female – figure. From 1900 on, he revolutionized the depiction of the nude: his sophisticated erotic studies blazed the trail for the Austrian Expressionists’ uninhibited depiction of the human being, particularly for Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka. "  -source Fritza Riedler   source And of course, the most famous one of them all! The Kiss
"Even though Klimt saw mankind as caught in the inexorable grip of the endless cycle of life and death, he found solace in the life-affirming forces of love and procreation, whose sacred character he celebrated with astonishing poetical force in such highly ornamental, modern icons as The Kiss." -source
"Just as the "Mona Lisa" has an enigmatic smile, "The Kiss" has its own curious expression. It's hard to tell if the woman welcomes the embrace. She almost seems asleep, perhaps dreaming of a perfect love and a golden wardrobe.... The ropes signify the love between the couple. It's hard to tell where one person stops and the other begins. In this moment, they are one." -source
"Canadian artist Charles Moffat backs up this first impression. He says that "The Kiss" is "widely considered to be the greatest painting ever, better than even the Mona Lisa." -source Standing Couple Embracing (study for The Kiss) "In this study at right (the one above), Klimt explored a standing pose, which was to signify the apotheosis of the union between man and woman in The Kiss. Resplendently ornamented cloaks bind them into a single unified column. Silhouetted against the blank page in the drawing (the glittering cosmos in the final painting), they stand on the edge of the world, as symbols of the love that redeems humanity from its suffering." -source "The Virgin"  "The Three Ages of Women"   source source   Floating Female Figure with Outstretched Arm (Study for "Medicine")  "The practice of daily drawing after nude or clothed models remained crucial for Klimt throughout his life. The artist produced innumerable studies of women and men of all ages, as well as of children, in the context of his painted allegories of life. Untiringly exploring his figures’ poses and gestures, he fathomed the essence of specific emotional values and existential situations. As if in a trance, his figures, anchored in the picture plane, submit to an invisible order, whether in states of dream, meditation, or erotic ecstasy. It is the idea of a fateful bond between man and the cycle of life determined by Eros, love, birth, and death that provided the background for this kind of representation. The numerous studies for his portraits of women convey an air of majestic enrapture." -source   source   source   source Girl with Long Hair, with a Sketch of "Nuda Veritas" (see it on the left?!) Adam und Eva
source
Any other Gustav Klimt fans out there? Who's your favorite artist?