You Are Beautiful

The fantastic day in Bainbridge Island with Mom last weekend started with my outfit.  Newly bought raisin colored Clarks with walking on roses killer socks.  I bought and wore right out of the store.  Short shorts that were army green, white top, pearls, new army green Michael Stars camp shirt and of course my red Cabela's ball cap.  If they didn't say it, they were thinking, those are cool socks.  Washington has cool socks. 

Seriously, this day trip was so fun and memorable.  Can I bronze this day with Mom forever?  I felt like I had a really big prize to show off to Mom that day.  You see she had not explored Bainbridge yet.  I first explored this island during my Color Workshop taught by Leatrice Eiseman two years ago.  This workshop transformed me.    

Mom and I woke up super early, had breakfast at OTC, Oak Table Cafe. The most amazing thin Swedish pancakes, Lingon berry sauce and thick bacon.

Even when we were buying truck loads of shoes I was thinking of Leatrice.  I said to the shop owner "Well I will take the raisin colored shoes." They liked how I described the color as raisin.  Anybody else would have said "duh...brown".  Color buying power is in the name.  Would you prefer a baby poop green lap top cover or this lime peel green.  Same color, different name.   Well you do know Eiseman lives on Bainbridge?  Well get this, just as Mom and I are leaving the farmer's market I see a beautiful woman in a gorgeous coordinated pink linen day trippin' blouse and pants and totally drop dead accessorization and it was Leatrice Eiseman in the parking lot.  I am telling you, it just gets better.  Have you ever seen flowers in olive oil canisters at a farmer's market? 

This electric transformer box *scary how I know so much* was placed in the parking lot as we said goodbye to Lee.

There are no bad stops in Bainbridge. Eagle Harbor Book Co. book store where I picked up Catcher in the Rye.

Random Playmobil pirate adhered to car that looked like an orca whale.

  No, I am not showing you the car.  Stop it.  And yes, of course I took a picture of the car.  Ok, I will think about it.

The most amazing coffee house I have ever stepped a rose sock covered foot in.

I just stumbled onto this.  It was just one of those days.  It was the socks, I am telling you!  Look at the perfect light fixture.  This is an example of 25% yin and 75% yang.  The dark wood and casework is yang and the white ceiling is yin.  If the ceiling was dark this would have really pissed me off.

Our favorite art gallery on the Island.  Wouldn't it be great to have these as your everyday glasses to use for drinks?

Happy?

Flowers and Purple Haze

"Hey what is that wet stuff on my toe?" That's really what I said out loud as I was taking a photo just a couple of days ago when I was standing on this cool gray sun dappled sidewalk in Edmunds, Washington.  Yes, that is where my Mom lives.  Turns out it was dew.  Wow dew, really?  It was great to be surrounded by islands, ferries, tall evergreens and neat coffee houses.  The minute I was there I wanted to wrap myself in evergreen.  Not a big surprise I know since you and I already know that I needed some army green long sleeve tops to go with my army surplus skirt that I made.  Did I show you that?  Way to go tangents.

That skirt. Will you let me just continue now. Come on now people.  So I found some awesome Micheal Stars army green long sleeve tops that really kick all ass. No I am not going to show you. 

This is the kind of thing you find in Edmunds.  Sweet.  Safe, wooly socks in the winter, shops with floral napkins that you put in your powder room only when guests come over, and a movie theater with only one movie with 2 showings.

Elegant and cozy homes that I want.  The best one I didn't have my camera with me.  The one time! The one time.  THE ONE TIME!  It was mint green and kind of looked like the one above. The sun was setting over the bay, there were tons of pink roses growing along the white picket fence and when I looked inside the house there were huge paintings of roses.  The house had this magical glow to it.  It really did.  Can you tell I have been reading Catcher in the Rye. That book is sick.  But now I have to finish it.  I do like the way Salinger writes.  I can totally imagine Ackley picking a big ol' booger, like really digging to China over it or cutting his crummy toe nails on Holden's desk.

 

Cute flower boxes as I was walking around.

Flowers all the time.

I literally wanted to drink coffee all day.  One day I drank a macciato or what ever the hell it was and was so wired I couldn't sleep until like 3am or something.  That's when I decided to meditate on Mom's toilet in her bathroom when I couldn't find the light switch and I was too tired to look for a good chair.  Man I went totally deep that time.  It was a... well listen to it already. 

Mom's house is seriously just down and to the right of this street. This is Walnut Cafe coffee house in walking distance.  I totally had dinner too late.  I have like a giant ball of spaghetti and meatball in my stomach. Now what the hell am I going to do?  Nice to be back home.  Night cats.

Meditate, Levitate and Navigate with Mom

Thought I would visit the abandoned cow farm before taking off tomorrow.

I am packing to go see Mom in Washington State tomorrow morning.   I am escaping the heat.  We will shop, eat, meditate, levitate and navigate.  Did I tell you that whenever my Mom and I get into a car together we usually pass our destination.  We never stop talking.   This should be really interesting because Mom doesn't know her way around Seattle and Uh, thats where the shopping is you know.    Jeffrey's favorite time for me to shop is when the stores are closed.

We will eat raw veggie healthy food.  We will eat the foods that are creative and weird.  We will pet cats that are named Moo Moo and drink strong tea. Or at least I will.  I want to see the Jimmy Hendricks exhibit at the Music Experience.  I would love to go on the underground Seattle tour too.  Just walking outside will be nice and seeing animals other than bull snakes, quail, desert hares and squirrels that look like hamsters.

Maybe I will sit next to a crotchet expert on the plane ride over and he or she will give me all the insight I need to finish the trim on my jacket posted in Totally Tweed  post.  Honestly, I want to learn how to crotchet so I can do that trim thing.  But now I want to crotchet because I want to make some cool sweaters so I can wear them to see Mom.  I do wish I finished my jacket for this trip but it is only about half done.

Seriously, you think the airline would mind if I just bring my dress form onto the plane so I could finish my shoulder pads.  Could you just see me, "Um I am just forming my shoulder pads here, just set my drink in the aisle love..".

Bing! You are free to move about the cabin!

What I plan on wearing in the friendly skies tomorrow morning.

Robert Clergerie wedges, Elie Tahari seersucker trousers, Floral Belt Danese Creations, Ellen Tracy jacket, Cosabella green tank, Silpada pearl necklaces and most importantly a Sam Harvey bag.

Photos by Eva Serbin and Lara Serbin

Yielding Yarns About Yardage

Some expensive silk YARNS I bought in Laguna Beach from Strands and Stitches.  I don't really know what I am going to do with them. I make this up as I go.  The marine green fabric is the pocket fabric for my jacket.

You remember the one, right?

I am teaching myself each step of the way.  Chanel would only use tweed and silk lining.  Boucle, which I am using is really soft and likes to move about. To give it body it needs stability.  I quilted the silk lining to the boucle with veritcal stitches all 1" apart.  The amazing thing is that you cannot detect the quilted stitches on the finished side.  Most couture jackets have lots of stiffeners and reinforcing added inside the construction but over time any silk lining tends to slump and sag.  My jacket is beautiful inside and out.  No slumping will happen here! 

Only the boucle is machine sewn together.  The silk lining is hand sewn to the boucle seam.  This task took me about 3 weeks to do.  Hand stitching each seam together was like dancing with Yule Brenner.  At first there was hesitation.  After about the 4th seam I started to waltz through it.  I would start with each stitch, following the Y-COORDINATE,  to the right, the left and down to the center. I like how the seams became tighter and cleaner with each try.  After finishing a seam, I would want to do it again and again.

4 seams coming together at the shoulder.

The orange thread is a basting stitch, to hold the silk down in place so I can hand stitch it down. YEAH, the basting is just scaffolding!  The black and while pattern is YING and YANG.  Too bad nobody will see it when I finally wear this jacket.

This was taken before I even started to hand stitch the silk down. See the seam on the right buckle, well it is all smooth and beautiful now.

I made this YESTERDAY, but it needs to be 1" away from the neck line.  Need to take out the YARDSTICK for the next one.  YES, this is the first time I ever made a shoulder pad.  Good thing I have lots of horse hair canvas YARDAGE. 

Rubber Necking Over Peeled Paint Again

It was thick 112 degree heat in the air.  I had some roller skating songs playing in my Prius while heading out of Historic Buckeye, Arizona.  Fruit stand people, cats and pack rats were standing in the shade.  I saw something out of the corner of my eye that made me want to stop the car on the side of the country road for a closer look. 

It was a wonderful old bus sitting all by itself baking in the Arizona sun.    The photo above is a lazy snap *photo taken with just hanging the camera out our car window*.  I thought to myself,  "It would be better if I could get closer."  The bus was wonderfully aged with patches of blue, gray and rust.

I pulled up the drive and just decided, "What have I got to loose?"  Nobody is going to shoot a woman wearing a black silk binocular print dress in the middle of this still late afternoon.  A gentle looking aged woman answered the door.  I was relieved.  I had this.  I gave her my card and just asked if I could take some photos of the wonderful bus in her back yard.  She smiled behind her paper mouth cover that Micheal Jackson used to wear.  In her dark house I saw a man sitting with his back to me.  I had clearance.  My heart raced as I scuttled to the dust bowl of a back yard.

Red cat was laying under the shade of a big cotton wood tree.  I said hi to her but she walked away.

What year do you think this bus is?  Isn't it fantastic.  It is so perfect.

I love it because....well why do I love it?   Maybe because I see the past as being more pure and innocent than the present?   Because I can see kids with slick vaseline hair boarding this bus listening to the bus driver's Motown?   I just get excited over history's trinkets.  I rubber neck for peeled paint.

Proof that the 50's weren't really in black and white?  Oh the simplicity of this light fixture.  You just replaced the light.  You didn't have to take apart the car to reprogram the lighting systems.

As I was walking back to my car, a man about 90-ish in an electric wheel chair appeared.  I could sense he wanted to chat.  I found myself engrossed in conversation with Thomas Stocks who moved out here in 1950.  He is a jack of all trades working as a plumber, electrician and water engineer for all the Buckeye wells back in the day.  He told me it was his idea to paint his house pink.  I asked him if he told his 'man friends' this; he smiled and boom, we were friends.  When I asked him how involved he was with Historic Buckeye, he told me proudly told me how he was a Whisker Champ during the Helzapoppin' Rodeo of 1954.

Images of America, Buckeye page 60

Honestly, I think Thomas is the guy second to the left.  I think I will pay him another visit when the weather is cooler with our Model A.  He can't ride in it but he would like if somebody knocked on his door again.

I bet he had a brewski at Garza's back in the day.  Totally.

My world slowed down talking with him.  We shared personal stories.  I put my dark shades in my purse and stooped low so that I was looking up at him.  I was sweating in the broil mode of weather and my feet were wanting to bust free from my black wedge Taryn Rose heels.

I shook his soft skinned hand and was on my way.

Have you knocked on somebody's door lately?

Just Add Tri Tip

Louis Jordan and Buckeye.  This is what I have been chewing on lately.  Louis sings a mean lick from the 40's. You should give him a listen you know. Go on. Do it.  Today seemed like 3 in 1.  I took this shot from Monroe Street in the historical downtown of Buckeye, Arziona.  We have been awarded the Buckeye Park n Ride so of course guess who is going to do a bang up job on it.  You know how I love to sponge the history of a place.   This is only 15 minutes from my house!

This is the coolest corner on the whole ghost town street that you could miss if you sneezed like 3 times in a row or checked out the UPS driver's shoes.

Honestly, I cropped and sliced the best for you.  I didn't include the boarded windows, dumpster divers, bbq joint that tastes like propane, jumble of crap in the front yards.  I didn't include that OK.  Just trying to keep the best and get inspired.  It is working, I am seriously in love with this town.  It is so raw and authentic.  There is surplus of boarded up possibilities.

At this point, I think I know more about the historical landmarks than most locals.  That's just how I am.  Buckeye starts in 1888 with the digging of a canal that connects the Gila River to the Hassayampa River.  They hand dug the thing with wood scrapers and horse power.  They used to baptise folks in it.  The town was built on cotton and alphalpha.  Go agro dudes.  The historical museum has tons of Hohokam Indian pottery.

Look at me, I am alphalpha!

I want this house.  Just relocate to the alphalpha crop above. Copy and paste, there you go now.  Show off.  This treasure used to be a chicken farm and now it is surrounded by nastiness.  Really low grade.  I can't believe this little town is segregated.  There is a sharp difference between houses to the south and north of Monroe Avenue.  Just sayin.  Why can't I ever have a short blog?

Hobo Joe statue at the entrance to the main drag.

I arranged a tour of this Eastman Cotton Gin today at 8am.  It is glorious.  There is nothing better than knowing the history of a place before a tour.  This is one of the oldest cotton gins still around since the 19th century.  The crazy thing is that about 5 years ago it was sold and all the gin machinery was taken out and scrapped in Mexico.  They decided to cut trusses and other major structural supports to get the machinery out. We couldn't go inside but walking around outside was good.  I looked in the windows and it was a broken cathedral full of perching pigeons.

I have to find a way of incorporating some of this into the Park n Ride.

    After Buckeye I changed into my Scottsdale dress.  Wrap dress, pearls and chunky wedges.  I found just the right fabric samples at Kravet for some runners I am designing for a client in Paradise Valley.   I want to go for this bar code design thing with pieces of fabrics sewn together.  After Kravet showroom I bought 2 pounds of English Breakfast at Souvia Tea in Phoenix. 

I took myself out to dinner at this place called Market Bistro in Phoenix.   Are you still reading this.  Really?  OK.  This place was a made to order salad bar.   I just stood behind the plate glass and picked my 7 toppings.  Of course I ordered the large size.  After my salad looked like Cheops pyramid I thought I needed to add some protein.  Grill master was next to salad mixer. All I mentioned was "Give me steak".  The salad mixer goes *I am not kidding here* "Add Tri Tip!".  But she had this weird voice inflection going on. Then the meat man repeated this command by saying "Add Tri Tip!"   I was thinking "Gawd, do I get a frickin prize or vacation package? What in the hell are you people about?  By the end of the salad I was almost laughing to myself outloud.  "Add chicken *major inflection insert*, add 4 sides, add slice of pie".  If I was salad mixer I would mess with grill master and say "Add oreo cookie, add cookie dough...add dinosaur...add hot mess".