the best laid plans...

(photo by isabel.farrington)


rainy and windy again today and me home sick, napping on the sofa mostly, watching bad movies...and planning a fall lookbook for the dragonfly shop in my mind.





(photo by negzZz)


sometimes planning is the best part of things. thinking about how it can be - how good, how different, how creative, how lovely, how fun, how shocking. implementation, a little harder...and often fails. but then there's always the next photoshoot, party, garden, wardrobe, surprise to plan, and the fun begins again.



 


(photo by me)


are you a planner...or a do-er??

and on the bright side....

and on the *bright* side, I finally got a little photo shoot put together this past weekend, and a really darling model, Justine, was kind of enough to traipse and spin around the woods for me. I was going for sort of a dreamy soft focus flowy end of summer feel. I was a little disappointed in myself - we were shooting late in the day in the woods on an overcast day...and I failed to remember some key guidelines about shooting in low light and ended up with a LOT of really blurry shots. For this sort of theme I do like a soft focus, but some of them were just plain BLURRY! I always feel so bad when I botch a shoot because the models are doing it for pictures for their portfolios, and when they spend a couple hours of their time and don't end up with that many good pictures......eek. I feel really bad. we also did some street style shots back on my street but I didn't get to edit them yet.


so tonight I've been mopping up my apartment from a flood! apparently the upstairs neighbor was cleaning...something...and knocked over what HE says was a 5-gallon bucket of water, but...my daughter had a 5-gallon fish tank for a couple years and this seemed like a LOT more than 5 gallons of water! I've got shoes and clothes and hats and my daughter's artwork hanging up all over the place to dry, as every box (I'm still not done unpacking!) that was on the floor was SOAKED. and THEN I'm getting ready for an ebay catalog shoot tomorrow night...so I have miles to go before I sleep, and mucho work to do! was nice to have a good excuse to sit down for a couple minutes and post this...

i'm in a funk

(photo by Li Gao)


it's a rainy day. it's getting dark too early. 


and i'm in a funk.


my sister is Suzy Sunshine. I...am not. I'm not one to always look on "the bright side." I look at both sides...and strongly feel that every good has a bad, every up has a down...you get the picture. just somehow the dark down sides resonate more strongly with me. I don't know why. but right now I'm feeling very...sort of...unsuccessful with my life. 


let's not even talk about relationships (sigh), I'm more focused on work. I've always had an entrepreneurial nature. I've started one business after another - from sidewalk book-and-toy stands as a child to giving riding lessons, starting a gardening newsletter, doing wedding flowers, then selling on ebay. always trying to find the way that I can work for ME, and not for someone else. And it gets very frustrating to have a good idea, a good product, talent in an area...and still...just not quite be able to get it off the ground and be successful.


there's something that some people have that enables them to cross that line. the line to success. lately I'm feeling I may never know what that "something" is. and yet...I can't just give up. ugh. 


i'm just in a funk. ignore me. 

do you feel lucky??

sometimes you've just got to ask yourself...do you feel lucky? well? do ya??

 

cuz if you do, here are some giveaways hosted by various blogs around the interwebs that you might be able to win this week!

Vintage Red Graflex Camera from Polli - how cute is that?? The perfect fall accessory...

Just in time for Halloween, a Spooky bunting from Sew Home Grown

and a hauntingly lovely movie poster from the new Kazuo Ishiguro movie, Never Let Me Go (which I cannot wait to see!) - from Confessions of a Bookworm

I'm feeling lucky myself, because the model for this afternoon's photo shoot hasn't canceled. Yet. Got my fingers crossed!

flickr faves friday. cuz it's friday. yay.

I'm playing along with Amanda at Here Comes the Sun, with her Flickr Faves Friday.


Here are some of my favorites from this week...(click on photos for source)


 

by Alison Scarpulla


 
by Sensing Owls


 
by Shae Acopian Detar


 
by Thimble & Violet


 
by Laura Gommans

Fall Resolutions

 
(photo by me)

Happy Fall.

I love fall. The air crisps up and cools down...foliage turns fiery bright...cozy knits get pulled out of storage...the holidays are before us.

And it's time for Fall Resolutions. I decided this year that from now on I would make seasonal resolutions instead of annual. I think it's working much better. I've already been through *drink more (ha), *wear more jewelry, *wear more dresses (fail), and *read more. I've done pretty
well except for the dresses (or skirts). I just couldn't bring myself to show these legs in public. But fall brings BOOTS, so I may give that one another go.

But my Fall 2010 resolutions are:

1) Be better about blogging. And look, I actually had a schedule for this week (!),

which I did fall off of a bit due to the return of the pesky kidney stones, but I'm right back to it w some tweaking of the schedule...

and

2) Do more photo shoots! Several other bloggers have inspired me with their amazing photo shoots lately and I've just got to make the time to do more shooting...isn't it funny how sometimes we so want to do *nothing* that we don't even want to do the things we love??

Here's a photo from a photo shoot just about this time last year (in keeping with the fall theme)

 

Does anyone else have any Fall Resolutions they'd like to share??

an important reminder

 

My mother holding me when I was just a baby - 1960, Los Angeles, CA



Me and my father at a college Father-Daughter Dance - 1978, Buena Vista, VA

I don’t know if it’s just my age, or if things are truly different than they used to be, but…and I know everyone dies, but….when I was 20, even 30…I thought “old” people died. Like, 70-year-old people. I feel like in just the past few years so many people that are my age, and even younger, have died. Suddenly. People in seemingly good health. Active people. Happy people. Boom. Dead. Heart attacks, aneurisms, strokes – things that can seem to come out of nowhere and just…change worlds. In an instant.

A parent of a student at the school where I work. She was right about my age, no known significant health issues. And in an instant, she was gone. Leaving behind a devastated family – a husband and two teenage children. It’s heartbreaking.

And it reminds me how tenuous life is. How what can seem stable…is not. It reminds me to just love the heck out of those special people in your life. Take care of relationships. Appreciate people. Be nice. Enjoy the beauty in the world around you. We’re all here for such a short time.
Make good use of it. Don’t waste it.

These are my parents, who both died suddenly (not together). There are so many things I regret not saying or doing when they were still alive. This is a reminder to you today, to be extra nice to those you love…and even to a stranger on the street. There may not be another opportunity.

new auctions this week...

There are some new auctions up in the shop this week - they're ending Thursday night. And as always, there are plenty of Buy It Now items to choose from!


Click on each picture for more information and to place your bid!

80s vintage PINK stripe WRAP jumpsuit ROMPER new wave

80s vintage FLORAL mcclintock DREAMY garden TEA DRESS

SWEET pink chiffon PEEK-A-BOO LACE rosebud DOLLY dress

80s vintage PINK GREEN tropical floral SLOUCH jumpsuit

 

ESPRIT DE CORPS rayon DUSTY RED hippie HALTER dress 7

Thanks for looking!

Best Part of My Day: Not exactly sure. Went back to the urologist...sonogram showed no kidney stones, but still some swelling and blood in the urine, indicating there were still stones. He thinks maybe I've passed the largest (5 mm) one without realizing it, and just the smaller ones are left. So, an inconclusive visit. We'll do "watchful waiting." Which I find "annoying." But at least the big stone that seemed to be causing the pain, looks to be gone.

Worst Part of My Day: Accidentally deleting the boss' ENTIRE email inbox - this is mail back to
January 2010! I don't even really know how it happened. I was sick to my stomach. In the end, for a fee, the IT guy was able to retrieve everything that had been there as of 10 pm last night, so....phew.

i yam what i yam

 


I find myself at an…odd place in my life. 50 years old (ack), divorced, mother of a 19-year-old daughter in her second year away at college, living in a totally new place. It doesn’t feel like others my age are really my peers – as for the most part they have partners, children
still at home, houses and mortgages, LIVES.  I feel like I’m starting life all over again! Ha.


For the first time in my life I am living totally alone, supporting myself (no more child support, waaah!). I was never really the typical suburb Mom…and now…I don’t really know *what* I am! I just yam what I yam, I guess. I find myself drawn to “younger” interests – music, art, movies, fashion. This perplexes my daughter and some of my friends. But…what are you gonna do?? I don’t “pretend” to be younger anymore than I want to pretend that I feel older than I do!


I’m a 50-year-old work-in-progress with my whole life ahead of me.

two days and counting

that would be two days Pain Free. Hallelujah. my little friends (aka The Kidney Stones) have gone into hiding. or they're napping. or something. who cares? they're not torturing me right now.

I've got some new auctions listed in The Dragonfly Shop. Take a peek.

get this look

Sorry for the uninspired title, but hey, it's early...and I've been a little out of it this week (see below). I have a lot of catching up to do!

I really didn't intend for it to be Coco Rocha week here on the blog, but...I just saw this super cute picture of herself in this darling vintage jumpsuit (click photo for source and event info)



and realized how similar a look it was to something I have right now in the shop...(click photo for availability and more information)



Best Part of My Day: It's only 7:14 am but today is the day I will be glued to the computer for the Livestream of the IFB (see below) conference - and at this moment, I'm in No Pain (ditto).

Worst Part of My Day: The fact that I am sitting here at my computer instead of heading into the city to the Independent Fashion Blogger's "Evolving Influence" Conference and Party - the one gift I gave myself for my birthday - because of stupid and cruel kidney stones which have been wreaking havoc on my insides since Monday...trip to the emergency room and everything (NEVER a good time). The excruciating pain can appear and ramp up VERY quickly...you *really* don't want to be far from home when it hits, so...sadly, I opted not to go  :-(  

Maybe next time.

DEFINITELY next time.

fairy tale wedding ~ coco rocha

Ahh, here is a lovely video short from Coco Rocha's wedding a few weeks ago to her love James Cochran. Her Zac Posen mermaid gown is beyond stunning!




click on photo above to go to video.





I just love a fairy-tale wedding!



Best Part of My Day: I learned that my (best) sister (in the world!) and cousin are going to chip in so I can go with them next year on a long-awaited trip to Paris! I'm BEYOND excited! I have been trying to be stoic, knowing they were all going and I just...could not afford to make that trip, so thought I was going to have to pass. But as a 50th (ack!) birthday present to me, they're going to help me go. Yay. YAY!


Worst Part of My Day: Well, the day's not over yet, so who knows what might still happen, BUT...the worst part is that I am STILL model-less after yesterday's canceled photo shoot. It is *just* so hard to find reliable girls who will keep the commitments they make. I've worked with some really terrific young ladies, and they have been a joy. But I'm really at about a 50/50 show/no-show rate, and that's not good. There's a lot of work and time involved in preparing for a shoot, and when they cancel at the last minute, or worse yet, just don't show (!), it's so frustrating to have wasted all that time.

behind-the-scenes

I just saw this little video today, behind-the-scenes of the Alexa Chung/Madewell collaboration photo shoot.



click on photo above to go to video.



to see the Alexa Chung Madewell Fall collection, click photo above.

who doesn't love a behind-the-scenes video??

And something I used to do that I stopped...was each day think of what the best and worst parts of the day were...so I think I'll start doing them again here...and would love to hear what yours are, too.

Best Part of My Day: Caleb catching the frisbee mid-air! Doesn't sound like much...but a few years ago he had a scary bad bout with Lyme Disease...I didn't think he was going to LIVE, let alone run and jump again...he eventually recovered...mostly...but has never *really* been the same...and also being older now (he's 7)...well, anyway...it was such fun to see him leap into the air to catch the frisbee today! I think it makes him happy, too.

Worst Part of My Day: Wednesday is Half-Off Day at the Salvation Army, so if I'm off work, I always make a whole day of it, driving from Brooklyn to Riverhead (way out east on Long Island) and back again. I did this today, went to eight stores. Got SIX things. six. SIX. That's just SAD. The thrifts are def not what they used to be  :-(