Voila la BellaDarling (Darlingdone?)

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted!! Guess what I made?  It's a challis thing. hahaha i love challis.



I mish mashed the bust flattering Darling Ranges bodice and the pockets and coolio flair of the Belladone.

you could totally see my bra if my arm weren't there. wah wah.

It was a massive pain, the skirt is off center, and the dress is, well, kind of dumpy in the rear. :(

hi low hem? why not. 

that is Olive the Benefit dog. love her. 

but it is verrry comfortable....

where is my waist? ?? ? can you find it? 

and it is eaassssy to play in!  i even dressed it up tonight with some heel-ish sandals and lipstick for a glass of wine with my new favorite sewing neighbor Meg!

So i think it's a win, but, as she and I discussed, different fabrics do yield very different results. So my lightweight, but my crisper poplin-like Belladone looks like a distant cousin to this super drapey rayon challis version.

That is the way it goes, chickens.

catch! 

NOW FOR SOME BUSINESS. It's almost
 !!!!

soooooo

I, Rebecca G of the superstardom at superstarbecca, pledge to wear me made goodies 4 times a week. I want to make it 5, or everyday, but seeing more seasoned sewists pledge so sensibly makes me think I might  be served to listen to their wisdom. Four days a week! I hope to wear more than unders, but me-made unders will do in a pinch.

Yippee! No flakeys like last year- I had just gotten a crazy sewing bug, and then had to abandon ship almost immediately when "life" and a career change intervened. I'm looking forward to success this year!

xoxox
bex

only so much

friend! family! project! photoshop.

isn't it a bitch that you can't work full time, spend loads of snuggle time with your kid, see all of your friends, have a good relationship with your sweetie AND sew a whole new wardrobe? if you say you can, you're lying.

luckily, my boy is blessed with excellent style.

i've been doing all of those first things, and even though I blocked out a day to sew, i still went to yoga and had coffee with a friend. I love my people. *Probably* more than my clothes :).

HOT crafts

i made this for my bff so she doesn't burn her hands. or so i don't burn my hands when i'm cookin at her house. i'm also working on a coffee snuggie. maybe this is the labor of love that will make the man and I RICH. still in development, like our relationship.

The potholder contains
repurposed:
1) flannel bits from my auntie's "you're pregnant here are some giant pants" xmas gift (from 2008)
2) my office mate's hand me down cowgirl shirt that i really like but was just too short
3) tie silks from EBay Center for Creative Reuse (which is stocked with zippers for $.25!)
and new:
1) bias tape
2) Insul-Brite or whatever that insulation stuff is

(oh- props: i used Martha's recipe!) 

whoa dude, that's a bunch of layers! Hence the lovely wabi-sabi wonkiness of some of my seams.

stay cool, hand-os.
xo bex

just an excellent day

i slept in. i slept in so sweetly in a dream i didn't want to leave, in a soft fluffy bed with a phone turned off.

i didn't make it to yoga (there was a sub).

i went through the bills pile and cleaned it out. i did a load of strange laundry and hung it out to dry. i ate a breakfast of champions: coffee, cake, and prozac. it was perfect.

deposited a check, bought quickie sushi, sang songs and told stories on the way to breathe deep in the clean air, eat melons, tomatoes, peppers straight from the vine. art and love and therapy talk with a friend who's heading towards "old friend" and how sweet is watching friends turn from silver to gold? so sweet.

also sweet- pasta sauce* with no added liquid, which starts as a full pot and boils down to half that, bursting with fresh tomato brightness! shared beers in the hot summer sun and bean chili** with home garden zucchini and tj's carrots. yum. yum yum.

and then! after a stunning sunset and well deserved yawn, a fresh coat of lipstick and toenail polish (over the farm grime, with some body spray because HA!) out for another round of lovely and deep conversations about compromising at work and not killing ourselves for meaninglessness and laughing so hard my sides hurt.

because the neighbors thought her dog's name was "pimpin"

because my kid learned at day care to say "black is beautiful"

because our neighborhood's real life drama is too racist for TV

it's a beautiful day and i'm a lucky mama, even without my little man next to me.

*(recipe: one small onion, 3 cloves garlic, one half poblano, salt, fresh ground pepper, 3 bell peppers diced, fill the pot with peeled and coarsely chopped tomatoes, cook til thick)

** (recipe: one large onion, 6 cloves garlic, one large poblano, 2 carrots- disc'ed, 3 large tomatoes, 4 c pinto beans. not so much water, maybe an inch to cover. chili powder, salt, fresh ground pepper, 2 bay leaves. bring to boil, cover, simmer til beans turn the whole pot brown. eat with gayfritos, cheese! and cherry tomatoes.)

before i forget: i am thankful

for my friends. who watch and love on my kid, and seem to have endless patience for me.

for my parents, who still support me so much it's humbling, most especially with this stupid law stuff I've been through this year. but also for the heater, which my mom had installed when the little boy was less than a week old. 

for unemployment, which is keeping the heater on and the bills paid, so far. 

for my neighbors, who are always just right next door, and also love on the boy. 

the internet, which keeps me connected even as i'm alone in my house.

the library, where we can go and sing songs and get new stories for little man to tell me, surprising me every time. 

the sweet california sunshine. even in the surprising cold, that sun shines.

for prozac, which has softened the last 10 days. thanks, big pharma. also for the other thing that's kept me mobile for the past 5 years. that one is pretty great too. 

for the guy at the party who listed "avocados" number 2 on his list, and reminded me to do my own. 

Thanks. 

first mothers day

i got up early-ish and skipped yoga to walk through the park with my main [man], got some basic clothes-care stuff done with mom, made it to the city for lunch at the deyoung cafe, a destination of my obsession for a good year now, spent the whole day with baby, mr todd and momma, checkin out arts and fresh air.

i hugged and kissed my baby goodnight, had a bowl of ice cream, and talked all manner of topics with my own mom til bedtime. check!

the proof in the pudding

this just came in from one of my new friends.

my new friends are a little "marina"-flavored

I've been hanging out with work people lately, right? well i have to admit that when i went to the Very Beautiful one's house for her housewarming, her friends struck me as Marina. I think they actually live there.

they were talking about drinking all day the next day (it's hot! they're single! why not?) and i just assumed Dolores, but no, they were headed to Crissy Field. That's not necessarily an indictment, baby boy was there just the other day with his favorite "birthday mama", but it is an indication. They were also not quite as pretty as the people i usually surround myself with. because i am shallow. and have high expectations!

haunted house

i woke up, with a start, at 3:20am, knowing that i really need to exorcise my house. i read for a while and went back to sleep. that's when i dreamt that i and my family had a new house.

it was gorgeous, but kind of remote. and one of the rooms was like a kiva type thing on a fucking cliff above the sea, and seemed like it might get a little cold. we got a good deal, or it was free, or the main house was marvelous or something. so we went for it. i don't know who "my family" means, in this case.

so some people came over (family friends? members?) and then we all went to bed but they seemed to pass out in the pool and oops they drowned. fortunately they drowned on top of the previous owner/resident of the house, so all three bodies were in the pool.

in the morning, with some buddy of mine, i pulled out the drain stopper to reveal the disaster, and all three of the drowned people in the tub awoke.

"oh," i realized, "the cost for this house is immortality." and then kept replaying that 'drowned people waking up' image.

"I hope we have investments," i thought, "because this is going to be expensive."

Postscript:
Lydia came over for dinner the next night and I told her about this dream. And then we went out and bought sage on Telegraph and sage'd the crap out of the house. With an Irish blessing and some Hebrew to finish. It's much better now!

it's all beyond comprehension

i ran into a friend at a show yesterday and i was so freaked out i couldn't even look at her.

then her girlfriend kissed me hello and asked for help with her dress and i thought "wow. really? thank god." because i really missed them, but because of the troubles with the one, i thought maybe they were out of my friend loop forevers.

and then after the show, they both came over and hugged me hello and we laughed a lot. a lot. and it was really nice. but it's hard to tell what motivations are, and so i hedged my bets with "show etiquette" and went on my way, all nostalgic.

and then she wrote me in the chat box today and i was afraid to read it and it was totally nice and i think we are ok.

and that is two in a week for old friends with awkward silences that are clearing up.

sometimes life is just too much to understand and i just have to breathe and be grateful and sometimes, you know, just miss the train because i went back for my lipstick. and let it all fall into place.

WOW!

baby "peach" was born this morning. we had just gathered to give anjie all of those final items- a changing table pad, a car seat, loads of darling clothes...and the next morning her water broke.

anjie gave birth almost exactly one month "early" of her due date.

when i found out Anj was preggers, i felt awful- she was stronger and better than i was, she could take an accident and make it hers. i was pregnant at the time, but found out weeks later. she and i have found strength in each other through this weird time. discussing baby dad's involvement, hopes, fears, etc etc etc.

so the fact that anjie moved in with her married friends on the same day i did, and that anj and i are taking similar if not exact maternity leaves, is putting the fear of god in me right now.

i would enjoy an excuse to quit working, but i have a lot of prep to do before this baby comes. last night i found myself a little rudderless, so it's time to make a list:

re-upholster that great bassinet. paint it too?
inventory baby clothes from the Gabors
wash the car seat/stoller linens
ditto baby bouncers
list for announcements
baby shower
birth prep class- get both coaches in there? crossing fingers....
baby CPR class.

Dear. I am busy again, eh? Thanks, Anj, for paving the way.

Flat tire! bras! and why are my friends so weird?

oh right, i realized, 11:30pm, green muck on my face, a shoelace around my head, sewing my friend/housemate/family member's purple silk wedding sarong, wearing a paint by numbers cowboy shirt with a sick, too-sensitive-for-this-world friend sick in my bed. Oh, and a purse full of underwear and beauty products (new ones! payday!), with my car 3/4 of a mile down the street, flat-ted out.

It's cause I'm pretty damn weird myself. Then I went to sleep on the couch. And called AAA in the morning, because I didn't pay that annual membership fee for nothin.

I hope my reasoning holds for the "hot friends" question too!

Today I will fix the tire, replace my windshield wiper, buy a pregnancy test, and try to get a little rest. Or yoga.

Let's apply all this knowledge

Things I need to work on:

1) Photograph better (learn some good poses. make those faces a lot.)
2) Eat better> Ok, just eat less.
3) more exercise
4) less driving
5) More creative pursuits
6) Less telling other people what to do
7) Winking


Things I'm okay with for now: Either they're in fine shape or I'm not going to overwhelm myself with taking on more. This is known as "knowing my limits."
1) level of meditation (but don't slip!)/prayer
2) smoking
3) sex
4) relationships

Things I'm really happy about now:
Eating local/home grown veggies
my new room design & cleaning (photos to come)
brazilian! (um i'll spare you)
best friends ever! (see right! plus the ones who are unphoto'd!)
and my new friend Tala. Which means "baby palm tree."

love R

hi todd!

We have a new reader today. "out" readers now = 2! somehow, 40-50 others are sneaking in & out through the week. I'll find you out eventually!

btw the photo below is from my visit with emls & bootsy this weekend. a delicious road trip that had me walking crazy tall & strong on Monday. what a difference a whole bunch of air, sunshine, tall trees & cute friends can make.