Can I Still Say Happy New Year and a Preview!

This is my first post for 2012, so...Happy New Year :-).  And boy has it been a new year.  After almost two years, I am no longer a member of the unemployed class.  That's right, I am officially one of the many under-employed, which I have to say, despite the fact that my financial situation hasn't changed much, I'm grateful for.  In the meantime, however, I needed to put some things on the back burning like blogging and this until I figured out what everything meant in the grand scheme of life.  The bad news is, I'm still not sure about the meaning of life.  The good news?  This is coming back in full force :-) Here's a peek:

If you're still following, thanks for hanging in there!

To Outfit Post or Not to Outfit Post...That is the Question.

...or, how I've been inspired by others for the third time while blogging.  Lately, I've been inundating myself with style/fashion blogs - blogs by everyday, regular ladies who want to share their daily or weekly outfits with the world.  Literally, everybody and somebody's grandmother has a "style" blog.  I started "reading" these kinds of blogs while looking for some where to submit my jewelry for a quick feature and thereby generate some sales.  These days, I've gotten to the point where I'll read blogs that the bloggers are reading.  That's how I came across Style by Santina and this outfit.

via Style by Santina

Now, I haven't been following this blog for that long, but I do enjoy this outfit - the sweater, the printed tee she's wearing underneath, the flats are crazy, and the roll in the jeans.  As one who prides herself on "originality", I filed the image in my mental file cabinet and kept it moving.  And then I got dressed - jeans, a cardigan sweater, skinny jeans with a roll, flats, and a printed tee! Dammit...I was inspired by someone else yet again :-) I've also been thinking about adding outfit posts to my blog because if Alissa of Stylish Curves can do it...oh here's my version of the outfit in question. Not exactly the same, but definitely in the spirit :-) I'm still a little meh on whether to make outfit posts a regular thing.

Please excuse the chubby, exercise-less, belly :-)

 and here's a close-up preview of the tyramade necklace I'm wearing (more on that soon).

Happy Birthday Daddy

Today is my father's birthday...he would be 74.  He's been gone for a while, though I can't remember the exact date it happened.  This is one of his paintings (my brother has one and there's at least one more that my mother has; there are large scale wood carvings as well).  Despite his troubles, he was a jazz lover, a true artist, and the reason for my own creativity.  I miss him today more than ever.

The painting depicts my grandmother, niece, and me at my grandmother's house.  My grandmother's house was the center of the family.  It was where we all gathered - funerals, family reunions, whatever.  So, it is a natural scene to show my grandmother on her front porch, cleaning turnip greens while my niece and I look on.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was a teenager when my niece was born, which makes the proportions just right.

I'm pretty sure this is him tending a garden on the side of the house (He actually did this once; he had a garden in our backyard almost every summer when I was little).  I think he may have still been working on it because the male figure's face is undefined.  Having his artwork around helps me remember good things about him (like how he catered my wedding), which in turn, causes me to miss him dearly.  Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Husband, Brother, Father?

Just showing off a few more of my wax print, Honestly, WTF inspired, DI-Ty bow ties.  I'm not sure if I'm going to sell them in my Etsy shop, because I sort of want to wear them all myself.  If I did sell them, in order to keep up with my naming-things-after-loved-ones theme,  I'm thinking about naming the above two after the husband, since they are a bit...ahem...larger.  But then so is the brother kinda, so maybe I'll eeny-meeny-miny-mo it!

I'm pretty sure, however, that I will be naming this one - Tyrone -

After my father and the person from whom my own name comes.  I mean, if you knew my father, then you would understand how cool this bow tie really is :-).

Singing or Laughing?

Either way, my shoes seem to be in a good mood, which I couldn't help documenting (I swear, I did not stage this photo).  It's taking some doing to follow their lead, however.  Happy Monday!

Boys on the Side?

This post marks the second time I have showcased something I've shamelessly copied from someone else.  Then again, as the cliche goes, there is nothing new under the sun.  At any rate, when I saw this bow tie tutorial on Honestly, WTF, I could not get it out of my mind (not an exaggeration; I kept going back to the posting).  Since I had some wax print fabric remnants that were too small/short to make into necklaces, I knew had a project on my hands. Here's another pic of this cute pink and green one (there are about 6 or 7 more - and counting).

I am a self-proclaimed tomboy and love how the fabric makes the bow tie perfectly feminine What do you think? Would you wear a bow tie or do you think they are strictly for the boys?

The Namesake

Tselane, Palace Queen

After much trial and many errors, I've finally uploaded some new items to my Etsy shop.  I'm calling my new collection of wax print necklaces with copper pendants and lace/brass earrings The Namesake.  With Etsy's new "relevancy" search criteria, sellers have to be more descriptive with items to ensure that customers will find exactly what their looking for.  So, that means I can't give my items clever titles (like the names of my female friends and relatives) for fear they will get lost in the shuffle.  But, I manage to add my preferred titles in my descriptions.  Case in point: if you click on the link below the photo, you'll discovered that these are "Chandelier Earrings - Purple Lace and Copper Beads", but I call them "Tselane, Palace Queen".  Tselane is my middle name, hence, The Namesake.  There are three pairs of chandelier earrings and five wax print necklaces in the collection.  Following, is a brief preview.

Tselane's Indian Summer

 Tselane, Princess Bride

Full disclosure, I hated my middle name growing up.  There's the weird spelling with the silent "T".  It sounds weird when pronounced, which caused a lot of my classmates to resort to calling me "salami" ( I made the mistake of telling my niece about this).  It's African in origin, but no one really knows what it means (I was born in the 70s in the Midwest).  It wasn't until I got to college and met a girl from Kenya who could pronounce "ts" together so melodically that I began to appreciate my exotic middle name.  A few years after my husband and I moved to NYC, I found an old book (published in 1961) called "Tselane" in which the title character is a South African princess (and I'm pretty sure the inspiration behind my middle name; from one of my mother's coworkers at the time - I think).  Although I use my maiden name as my middle name since getting married, "Tselane" is still The Namesake.