chronologie vintage

Why Are Vintage Clothes So Expensive?

2012-02-14T10:15:00.001-07:00

Vintage Sailor Dress from the 1970s, Chronologie Vintage, $70.

Sometimes vintage sellers are asked why their wares cost so much. After all, vintage clothes aren’t brand new.

The answer is that each piece of clothing comes with a lot of hidden benefits. If you buy from a reputable online seller, here’s some of what you pay for with your purchase.

1. Time spent finding real vintage items. Most selling venues have requirements for what qualifies as vintage. On Etsy, it’s 20 years; on Market Publique, it’s 10. Ebay has no requirement—anything can be sold as “vintage.”

Even when a venue has requirements, the rules are notoriously hard to enforce. The result is that much of what's sold online as "vintage" is not actually vintage--it’s just used, or it’s reproductions of vintage. That's why, if you care about authenticity, you must be careful who you buy from.

Reputable sellers are committed to researching brands, labels, construction, and other factors to date items accurately. This takes time, and lots and lots of digging through trash to find the treasures. Two of the resources I rely on for dating my items are www.vintagefashionguild.org and this book by Melody Fortier:

2. Quality. In addition to being old, real vintage pieces need to be worth saving. Authentic vintage is better quality than most clothes made today—often having better fit, better fabrics, and more creative designs. Some of the fabrics used in vintage clothing are simply too expensive to produce now and are no longer available.

For instance, vintage cashmere will never pill and lasts forever. You can’t say that about most of the cashmere produced today unless you’re willing to spend many hundreds of dollars.

Quality vintage pieces cost more for the seller to acquire than throw-away second-hand clothes, but they’re worth it.

3. Cleaning. With the exception of leather and some dry-clean-only coats, a reputable seller will clean everything she or he sells. For my shop, I wash/handwash/press every item using eco-friendly products whenever possible and the most gentle methods I can.

Good sellers will also tell you how to take care of your new item so you get the longest possible use out of it.

4. Repairing/mending. Many vintage clothes have buttons loose or missing, small tears in hems, or other minor issues. Reputable sellers disclose exact conditions of every item. It is my policy to fix everything I can in addition to disclosing condition.

5. Photographing and styling. One of the great advantages to buying online is convenience. From the comfort of your home, you can browse clothes on a mannequin or person, often with some styling ideas, and detailed photos of construction, fabric, and condition.

Photography for selling is an art in itself, and most sellers invest in good cameras and lighting. Models cost money. But good presentation helps the buyer know what s/he’s getting, and how s/he might use the piece.

Check out these photos of a cute vintage sweater vest for sale in my shop. How much better does it look in the second photo?!

6. Measurements. Reputable sellers will give you exact measurements of the garment, preferably in inches and metric. Vintage sizes are often smaller than today's sizes, so you really need these numbers for proper fit. Of course, it takes more time to provide this information, but it’s worth it if you’re more likely to get a perfect fit the first time.

7. Guarantees. In my opinion, a good seller will always offer a return policy. This costs the seller money in time and re-stocking, but it’s really necessary to a good shopping experience.

So...to sum up, when you buy a piece of clothing from a reputable seller, you're buying a value-added garment, complete with the assurance that it's truly vintage. You're also getting the ease of having it land on your doorstep in ready-to-wear condition, and great customer service.

I hope this has helped explain pricing of vintage clothes from many shops, including my own, Chronologie Vintage.

Love,

sallymandy

How to Clean Second-Hand Shoes

2012-01-07T16:21:00.000-07:00

Among women who love second-hand clothes, there’s a certain percentage that draw the line at used shoes.

I am not one of those women. While I’ve always loved thrifting for clothes, money realities are such that if I want fun new footwear periodically, I need to thrift for shoes as well (I do draw the line at stinky).

To clean my nouveauld (new + old) shoes inside and out, I use a damp cloth and a generous blob of hand sanitizer. Here are a few more tips I condensed from a great post on Vintage Shopping Guide blog—including what to do with stinkers.

1. Use rubbing alcohol to kill bacteria. Be careful not to use an alcohol-based solution with more than 10% water, because this may damage the shoes.

2. Place the shoes in direct sunlight for two hours. This will dry the alcohol and help to remove any germs in the shoes.

3. A bleach/water solution can be used to disinfect the insides, but be sure not to get on the outside.

4. Replace the insole completely.

6. Spray the outside of the shoes with a disinfectant spray. This will kill some germs, but disinfectant sprays will usually only disinfect non-porous surfaces.

7. Baking soda or kitty litter can be used to deodorize the inside of shoes.

8. Air the shoes out for a night. Remove the laces and pull the tongue out as far as possible if applicable.

If you don’t want to go through the hassle of cleaning your new vintage shoes yourself you can always take them to a nearby shoe repair shop.”

Another fungus-killing tip is to put your nouveauld shoes in a plastic bag and leave in the freezer overnight.

If you like vintage shoes, come on over and see the collection of cute vintage and indie shoes in my shop. Love,

sallymandy

Why I’ve taken to wearing skirts, even to go to the post office, buy groceries, or take the dog to the vet.

2012-01-06T09:55:00.001-07:00

In the last six months I’ve taken to wearing skirts several days a week. There’s no socially-mandated reason for this. I work for myself, at home and in a downtown studio. I have no employees or any other people I regularly see for my business.

Furthermore, there’s not much practical reason for me to wear skirts. I live in a small, western college town where “dressed up” means a woman puts on her dress parka and Uggs. In winter it’s usually snowy, muddy, rainy, or some combination of the three.

I’m mother to a teenage soccer player, keeper of two yappy dogs, and occasional cleaner of the house my family lives in.

So why wear skirts? Here’s my short list.

1. I feel like a girl in a skirt. Since I turned forty, my waistline has been steadily going away. This happens to all the women in my family.

I used to feel like a girl no matter what I wore, because my shape was clear. Now,the silhouette is blurred. I don’t have a waist and my pants don’t fit the way I’d like.

However, I still have my legs. They’re girl legs, and I’ve always liked them. In a skirt that hits just above my knees, I can see and feel my legs and remember that, in fact, I do have a gender and it doesn’t involve a Y chromosome.

2. Prints. Say what you want, I think you can express your style more with a skirt. Think about it. How easy is it to pull off paisley, plaid, or florals in a pair of pants…especially when you’re not on vacation? There’s sooo much fantastic fabric out there—so many colors, designs, textures, and other wonderfulness. But they don’t work so well in pants.

I see lots of women of the over-40 set going for luscious fabrics in those jeans-style jackets (and other Coldwater-Creek-ish tops) and putting them over jeans. There’s nothing wrong with this if you want to look like an over-forty lady who shops at Coldwater Creek. Which I don’t, actually. It doesn’t seem very creative.

At the same time, we all need easy outfits because we juggle a lot of duties. For this reason, my tops tend to be very basic. In summer, we’re talking 8 variations of white linen or cotton blouse. In the winter, we’re talking 8 variations of black or gray sweater. I fill them in with loads of scarves, year-round.

If one simply slaps such basic tops over a pair of jeans, it looks like a uniform. For me, this is true even when I change my accessories. However, I find a skirt works almost as an accessory with basic tops.

3. Skirts are easier to fit than pants. They just are.

4. Unless they’re velvet or covered with sequins, skirts can be worn with all kinds of shoes. They are no harder to build an outfit around than a pair of jeans.

My current skirt-rotation includes a short black pencil from Banana Republic, a short gored denim from Gap, a short, blue paisley linen, and a short vintage-y print from Free People. All of them stop just above my knees. All of them can be worn with tights now/no tights in summer; with boots or flats now/sandals in the summer. To fit in where I live, I also, sometimes, sport any of these with black Keen Mary Janes. They feel like sneakers, and keep me going all day.

5. As a self-employed businessperson, I need incentives to work like a professional. “Getting Dressed” makes me feel respectable and serious about my day, whereas throwing on the same old sweater/jeans/bad-hair-day-hat combo is one step above staying in my pajamas. To put it delicately, the latter kind of dressing “encourages sloth” when I indulge in it.

6. Beauty makes the world go ‘round. I’ve been treated for clinical depression for most of my adult life. By and large, it doesn’t keep me down, because I’ve learned how to manage it. My favorite way is to infuse my life with little bits of beauty and refinement. If I make an effort to smile, expose myself to art, and wear something beautiful that makes me feel like the woman I am…my day is better, my life is happier. I give more to the world and the people I love.

So…those are my reasons for wearing skirts. Do you have some of your own?

Have a great day!

sallymandy

Cute Indie Clothes for 2012

2012-01-04T22:59:00.001-07:00

Here are a few of my favorite cute indie clothes for the New Year…items I’ve found on my buying trips that are now listed in my shop.

I hope you like them!

Vintage 70s pointelle sweater, size M, $22.

Vintage 80s Preppy Cardigan by Liz Claiborne, Size L, $32.

Vintage Hipster Sweater Vest, Size M, $24.

Vintage Indie Colorblock Sweater Dress, $58.

Cutest vintage cutoffs, Size M, $26.

Floral cotton jacket from 1970s, M, $28.

Genuine 60s Hipster Plaid Skirt, Size S-M, $24.

Thanks for looking! If you like these finds, come on over and see my whole collection of hipster and indie vintage clothes.

Love,

sallymandy

Stunning Bohemian Jewelry By Marina Shafran

2011-12-03T21:19:00.001-07:00

Marina Shafran creates luscious handcrafted artisan jewelry for women who enjoy being in the spotlight. In a world where there’s an abundance of nice jewelry, I love Marina’s artistry, balance, proportion, and commitment to using genuine materials. As these photos show, there’s no faking the beauty of the real thing.

Marina’s passion for handcrafted designer jewelry comes from her long involvement in wearable art and fashion industry.

Here are a few of my favorite pieces from Marina’s shop on Etsy. CLICK PHOTOS TO GO TO PRODUCT INFORMATION.

Baltic Amber Green Fluorite Iolite Gold Ball Post Earrings, $34.99

Amazonite/Pearl Cluster Sterling Fringe Chain Necklace, $439.99

Genuine Pink Topaz, Rhodolite, Garnet & Pearl Necklace, 259.99

Genuine Carnelian and Goldfill Hoop Earrings, $69.99

Genuine Blue Topaz/Moonstone Silver Fringe Necklace, $239.99

Purple Amethyst and Citrine Gold Multi Chain Necklace, $214.99

Well…was I right? Are these colors, stones, and designs not beautiful? You can find Marina’s complete collection here and here.

Love,

sallymandy

Build A Twitter Following for your Etsy Shop

2011-11-19T00:50:00.001-07:00

Have you ever thrown a party and been afraid no one would come?
Building a following on Twitter is sort of like that. You want a fabulous scene with lots of guests—people who will eventually connect with what you say, do, or sell.
But how to do this? Following is a list of ideas to help you build your Twitter party. Some I’ve made up and others have been given to me. Try a few and see what happens. (Note: If you haven’t set up your Twitter page, go here to learn how. If you’re really don’t get Twitter, watch this.)
Focus on Quantity First
A party in full swing is likely to attract more people. For this reason, I advise getting a critical mass of followers to your Twitter page first – even if those people will never be customers. Build the happening party and your target customers will come.
The basic method for getting followers is to follow people first. To get followers you have to be one. The problem with this is the old idea of “those without experience need not apply.” If you have zero followers, who’s going to follow you? Here are some easy ways to prime the pump.
• Ask people you know. In the search box on top of the Twitter page, type in names of old classmates and weird cousins. Follow them and ask them to follow you. It kind of doesn’t matter who these people are, at this point. Just follow them.
• Visit the the Etsy Twitter teams. These mutual back-scratching societies are a great place to trade follows. Other sites off of Etsy will also have similar teams. Read and follow the rules carefully.
• Follow Twitterers in your town or state. Find them by entering #yourtown in Twitter search. (Note: words preceded by a # are called hashtags and can be used to search for just about any topic on Twitter. More about hashtags later.)
• Lastly, and this is the most controversial, consider paying for followers. There are loads of services online that do this. The upside is that you can get your numbers high, fast. The downside is the followers may not be real people, but rather the service owner’s multiple accounts. Still, social marketing isn’t always pretty. Just as in Japan, families hire mourners to make their dead relatives’ funerals look good, buying followers can be a reasonable strategy for building a foundational mass of numbers. Just be sure you pick a service that doesn’t require you to share your Twitter password.
Invite Your Market to the Party
Now that you have a few followers (of maybe-questionable quality), it’s time to look for people to connect with. Again, the basic strategy is to find people to follow. Now you want people in the target market for your product.
My favorite way to do this is to brainstorm magazines or big websites that cater to same demographic as my customers.   For instance, for my vintage clothing shop I went to Anthropologie and Chictopia, thinking that people who shop at these places might like my products. Once I find a site’s Twitter page, I scan the list of people who follow it, reading the blurbs people write about themselves. I’m looking for people who aren’t obviously selling something themselves—just nice regular folks. Twitter makes it super easy to follow them right there, with one click.
Another way to find people to follow is to search hashtags that relate to what you sell. Remember, a hashtag is like a keyword that people attach to tweets to allow them to be found. Typing #handmadeashtray into the search box will get you tweets relating to handmade ashtrays. You can then decide if you want to follow the people tweeting about them.
The downside to searching hashtags related to your product is you might get mostly tweets from other sellers. But it’s worth a try.
Balance followers to Following
So, I’ve followed a few hundred people but not everyone is following me back. In fact, lots of people will never follow me. That’s normal and should not be taken personally. But, ideally, I want to end up following only or mostly people who also follow me.
The solution is to purge my followers list periodically, unfollowing people who, after a few weeks, haven’t followed me back.
There are lots of online services for this. You want a site that identifies people you’re following who aren’t following you, and unfollows them for you (you can’t do this within Twitter). The one I use is Manage Flitter, and it works with Firefox. Here’s a link to a list of others.
By continually following new people, and occasionally purging your non-followers, you will build up your Twitter following. Which leads us to:
Content, content, content—or What the Heck do I tweet about
You’ll often hear that content – in other words, the stuff you post -- is the key to building a social network presence. This is true, but – you don’t need to be Ernest Hemingway to deliver adequate content.
For purposes of Etsy shop owners, the main point is not to spam people with constant sales pitches. You want to send out several non-promotional tweets for every promotional tweet. A standard rule of thumb is 10 non-promotional to 1 promotional.
The problem is it takes time to craft thoughtful tweets. Moreover, even fascinating people sometimes have nothing to say. Here are some ideas about how and what to tweet.
• Respond. At least a couple times a day, I’ll just tweet back to people I follow (their tweets show up in the Timeline). If someone tweets “Making butternut squash burritos…” I might respond with something profound like “Yum!” It’s just friendly contact, but it all counts. Note: this is engaging with people I follow, who will hopefully also be following me.
• Share ready-made content. Set up automatic tweets from high quality blogs (or news sites, or whatever…) you think your followers will like. I use Twitterfeed for this. I have it scheduled to tweet blog posts from 4 or 5 good blogs, twice a day. That way, I share 8 or 10 non-promotional tweets without even being on Twitter. And I’ve noticed that a lot of these tweets get retweeted – that is, shared by my followers with their followers. This proves at least some of my followers are seeing and engaging with them.
Twitterfeed is pretty easy to use and well worth the effort to figure out. Sharing content this way works. For almost a year I was virtually gone from Twitter, with only my Twitterfeed posts going out. In that time, I did not lose my Twitter followers, and even got a few new ones. While I don’t think it’s a good idea to rely only on automatic tweets, they are a wonderful and time-efficient way to share content. Just be careful to choose good quality sources to share.
• Ask questions. This is a tried-and-true way to engage followers in social media. Asking open-ended yet specific questions gets people thinking and interested. This post has great ideas for good Twitter questions.
• Retweet other people’s tweets.
• Commit random acts of Twitter kindness.
good Promotional Tweets
So now we can think about how to bring people to our Etsy shops from Twitter. How do you make the most of those promotional tweets?
• All the facts, please. As a Twitter user, one of my pet peeves is that many tweets don’t give enough information to make me want to click through. I am lazy; I get tired of clicking all day, and if you can save me some effort I’ll respect you for it. So, when you post a link to an Etsy listing, cram in as much info as you can—item, color, size, and most importantly, price. I haven’t tested this formally but I feel I’ve gotten more click-throughs with my promotional tweets since I started including prices.
• Get to know Twitpic. If Twitter has a disadvantage it’s that it’s not very visual. Twitpic is an application where you download photos and then post links to them on Twitter. Twitter then displays the four most recent Twitpics on your Twitter page. As Etsy shop owners, we would do well to take advantage of this visual aid.
• Download and use bitly. Bitly is an application that shortens long URLs (links) to tiny little phrases. When you only have 140 characters in which to get your point across, Bitly is invaluable.
• Use hashtags. Since people search Twitter for tweets on certain subjects, it makes sense to include a few in your promotional tweets. Which ones to use? I’m not a hashtag expert, but in my opinion the shorter ones are best. For instance, I thought #vintageclothing would be good for my shop, but it turns out that #vintage is used more often.
There are a lot of websites out there that purportedly help you find relevant hashtags, but I find these sites difficult to use. One easy way to research hashtags is simply to think of a word that might be a good one and type it into Twitter search, preceded by a #. Look what kinds of tweets come up, and decide if you want yours to be in this company. Think broad and general.
Note: I’d advise against using #etsy as a hashtag, but this is a personal thing. I’ve heard rumors that non-Etsy Twitterers tend to resent the influx of Etsians on Twitter. I don’t know how true that is, but to be safe I don’t use #etsy as a hashtag. You decide.
A few more thoughts…and more resources
There are many strategies for maximizing Twitter that I have not covered here, including whether to follow everyone who follows you, and whether to thank them personally with a message. And many more, I’m sure, that I’m not even aware of.
For more help on using Twitter for your Etsy shop I’d suggest you take a look at the Etsy Twitter Guide, compiled in late 2011.
Lastly, if you’d like to follow me on Twitter, please do so here! Mention this post and I’d love to follow you back.
Love,
Sally
www.chronologievintage.etsy.com –cute vintage clothes!

Affordable Indie Fashions and Cute Vintage Clothes from Chronologie Vintage

2011-11-01T21:53:00.001-06:00

I’m really proud of the selection of cute vintage clothes and unusual, wearable indie fashions in my shop. Come check them out! I have over 110 items, and these are just a few…..

Click on the photo to go to the entire collection.

sallymandy

Affordable Vintage Jewelry

2011-10-28T00:05:00.001-06:00

If you like cute vintage clothes, you probably also like cute vintage jewelry.

There are thousands of excellent, beautiful pieces available on Etsy’s online marketplace from sellers all over the world. One of my favorite Etsy shops is Pretty Vintage Jewelry. I’m partial to vintage bracelets, and Hollee has some lovely finds, like this caramel Bakelite one.

And this funky, colorful charm chain.

Check out the rest of Hollee’s selection here.

NEXT, you might like these vintage jewelry pieces from my shop:

The most expensive piece is the Native American silver ring ($40), and most of the others are under $10. Clicking on the photo will take you to my vintage jewelry selection in my shop, where you can also find lots of cute vintage clothes (if I do say so myself).

Enjoy.

sallymandy

How to Wear a Modern Vintage Dress

2011-10-26T04:30:00.001-06:00

What can you do with a modern vintage dress?

Easily as basic as a little black dress, this little brown number from the 1970s is cute all by itself. But here I’ve mixed it up with other pieces to show how versatile a vintage dress can be.

There are a few things to keep in mind when wearing vintage to avoid looking costume-y. First, look for pieces that have at least a few classic elements and look timeless. The brown dress is a classic color as well as design.

Second, pair the vintage garment with other classic-looking vintage, or new items.

Above: with a vintage pink scarf. Where would you wear this? On a date? To a party?

With a 1980s-does-1940s yellow jacket and my personal favorite vintage flower brooch. Good work outfit.

With a not-vintage leather jacket.

With a not-vintage cotton cardigan and vintage leather belt.

With a big square vintage silk scarf.

If my dress form had feet, we could look at how SHOES work with a vintage dress. Keeping your footwear modern is probably the easiest way of all to avoid looking like you’re actually living in the past. But that’s for another time. ♥

For more cute vintage clothes and ideas for wearing them, visit my online shop here.

love, sallymandy

Cute Vintage Shoes from Chronologie Fine Vintage

2011-10-24T21:38:00.001-06:00

At my vintage clothes shop, Chronologie Fine Vintage, my mission is to bring you a collection of cute vintage clothes, shoes, and accessories at great prices.

I have one cardinal rule: I sell only things I like. They have to have something unusual or special about them, while also being classic enough to mix with things you already have.

Here’s a selection of vintage shoes that are currently for sale.

80s Vintage Pixie Ankle Boots, Size 9 or 40. $32.

60s Vintage Chunky Heel Green Sandals, size 9.5 or 41. $22

60s Vintage Mary Janes, size 6 or 36. $24.

70s Peeptoe Slingbacks in Dusty Pink, size 6 or 36. $22

Handmade Vintage 70s Granny Shoes, size 7 or 38, $22.

See more affordable vintage shoes and lots of cute vintage clothes at Chronologie Fine Vintage, right here.

sallymandy

The Betty Draper Vintage 50s Dress

2011-10-18T21:06:00.001-06:00

♥ ♥ ♥ I love this vintage silk dress ♥ ♥ ♥

I think Betty could have worn it when she entertained Don’s co-workers (with the Heineken) in the first (or was it second?) season of Mad Men. That was in 1960, and women were still wearing post-war “New Look” designs like this in the real world.

The New Look, developed by Christian Dior, was a reaction to the World War II rationing and frugality mentality. Whereas wartime dresses for women were narrow and conservative to save fabric (and reflect the somber mood of the times), the New Look flourished in the 1950s, when affluence and easy living made a comeback.

This dress is 100% silk and made in Stockholm in the 1950s. It’s a bonus that the color is mustard, one of Pantone’s hot hues for Fall 2011. Beautifully constructed, and shown with a crinoline underneath. It’s sold with a vintage silk scarf in black, white and purple as an accent.

For sale here. $110. Size small. Click here for more vintage dresses from Chronologie Fine Vintage.

sallymandy

The Golden Ratio and Proportion in Design

2011-10-13T07:09:00.000-06:00

The “golden ratio” has been a subject of fascination for artists and mathematicians for millenia. The golden ratio occurs in nature, and is a mathematical formula used by artists, designers, architects, and even musicians in creating beauty.

What is this magic ratio? Technically it’s 1.1688. But for artistic uses it’s often simplified to this: 1:1.5, or a 2:3 ratio.

The Swiss architect Le Corbusier, who applied the golden ratio (as well as the related Fibonacci sequence) in his work, believed the golden ratio naturally appeals to the human eye, and that people throughout time and space are drawn to it whether they know it as mathematical formula or not.

Corbusier’s idea is an intriguing one, and there’s ample evidence to support it. Art and science both recognize that faces and figures considered “beautiful” throughout history have features that relate to each other in the golden ratio. Leonardo da Vinci was intrigued by the golden ratio and depicted it in his famous Vitruvius Man (above).

Architecture, art, and design of all media also use a 2:3 ratio in many applications for good aesthetics. These two diagrams show “good” and “bad” proportion in art compositions—the “good” rectangle approximating the golden ratio.

In addition, well-proportioned clothing has historically been based on the golden ratio. Here’s a picture from a 1926 high school home economics textbook, in a chapter about proportion in clothing construction. The figure on the right captures it; the one on the left is off. The two sections of the dress at right are generally in golden-ratio proportion, and the sleeve divides the girl’s arm into golden ratio sections.

Isn’t this fascinating?

For more about the golden ratio, here’s a site you might like, and here’s one more.

Please come check out my collection of well-proportioned vintage dresses, vintage shoes, and other vintage clothes at Chronologie Fine Vintage! Love,

sallymandy

Evelyn Cameron, Prairie Photographer

2011-10-12T12:34:00.000-06:00

Evelyn Jephson Cameron was a Montana artist and photographer with a remarkable life. Her story exemplifies what women throughout history have always done—created lives for themselves out of sometimes not very great raw material.

Cameron was born to a wealthy British family. She came to rural, remote eastern Montana in the late 19th century after her marriage to naturalist Ewen Cameron. Evelyn initially found life there rewarding and stimulating, for all its challenges and hardships.

Evelyn, ever cheerful, smiling on top of her horse.

According to author Kristi Hager, Evelyn’s early life was one of wealth and luxury. In Montana, everything was different. She and her husband barely scraped by on the meager earnings from their ranch. In fact, while Ewen was way studying wildlife, Evelyn took care of nearly all the ranch work alone.

Some of her chores included: raising a huge garden, chopping wood, digging coal, tending chickens, milking, breaking colts, skinning and butchering animals, branding, dehorning, and castrating cattle, baking, cooking, and keeping house with no hired help and next to no assistance from her husband (source: Kristi Hager, Evelyn Cameron: Montana’s Frontier Photographer).

Somewhere along the way, Evelyn discovered her own passion through photography. Over some thirty-plus years, she shot thousands of images of the landscape, people, and natural world around near the town of Terry, Montana. Her work supported Evelyn and Ewen financially, and left posterity with a stunning record of this remote ranching culture and landscape.

Self portrait with camera.

In addition to her photos, Evelyn recorded details of her life and world in thirty-five diaries. Together, the diaries and photographic record are some of the best resources we have regarding life on the American Great Plains in the late 19th century.

Milwaukee Railroad Workers, 1910.

Marsh School House, 1914.

About forty years ago, a former editor for Time-Life books, Donna Lucey, found Evelyn’s entire collection of work in the basement of Evelyn’s friend Janet Williams of Terry. Lucey later wrote the best biography introducing Cameron’s work to the public: Photographing Montana: the Life and Work of Evelyn Cameron.

For more of Evelyn’s fascinating story, visit this blog entry at Shades of the Departed.

Sources for photographs, in order:

Self Portrait Kneading Bread, Montana Historical Society; Portrait on horse: this one is available several places online and I don’t know the original source; Self portrait with camera, University of Montana Museum; Milwaukee Railroad Workers, 1910, Montana Historical Society; Marsh School House, 1910, original source unknown; Book cover: Mountain Press.

sallymandy

posted by Barbara (aka Sallymandy) at Chronologie Fine Vintage.

Who Loves Jane Birkin?

2011-10-11T09:15:00.000-06:00

Now, I’m not too familiar with Jane Birkin’s music or acting careers. And I know that in her younger years she was often photographed without any clothes at all.

But I love her fashion sense of today.

Here are some photos of her middle-age wardrobe – photos that have lessons for all of us about “appropriate,” yet youthful, clothing.

Neutrals in quality fabrics…

Monochromatic classics with a subtle menswear vibe.

Comfort and playfulness…

And, finally, the best accessories: A wide smile and a feeling that she doesn’t take herself too seriously.

Have a great Tuesday!

sallymandy

doing business as Chronologie Fine Vintage

Stanley Kubrick’s Fashion Photography

2011-10-06T22:18:00.001-06:00

Lingerie fashion shoot, LOOK Magazine, 1949 (click photo for credits)

Before he became a producer of such iconic films as Dr. Strangelove and 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick was a freelance photographer. His early work included fashion photography.

Kubrick was still in high school in Manhattan when he sold his first series of fashion photographs to LOOK magazine. He continued to work for LOOK during his twenties and up until the time he made the switch into film.

Woman Seated in Chair While Another Woman Models a Dress, LOOK Magazine, 1949 (click photo for credits)

On a photo shoot for LOOK, caught in the mirror of showgirl Rosemary Williams, 1949 (New York Times, click photo for credits)

Working for LOOK, 1949.

Enjoy!

Sallymandy

Technorati Tags: stanley kubrick,fashion photography,LOOK Magazine,black and white photography

Plus Size Vintage Dresses -- Gallery of Favorites

2011-10-03T20:54:00.000-06:00

Who doesn't love a pretty vintage dress? They're affordable, eco-friendly, and perfect for your individual style. Check out these great plus size choices from vintage sellers on Etsy.

They range from size XL to 3X. (Note that vintage means older than 20 years.)

click photos for details.

vintage 1950s plus size... thegreedyseagu... $98.00	1950s Dress / Folkloric... SmallEarthVint... $46.00	vintage 70s dress - LAV... MsTips $36.00
vintage 1940s plus size... shesabettie $148.00	Vintage 90s Plus Size D... ChronologieVin... $32.00	Vintage 1960s Plus Size... VivaLaVintageS... $79.00
The Pinstrip President ... threadoverheel... $65.00	plus size dress. belted... brownbagvintag... $34.00	Vintage 1960s Plus Size... iloveswift $54.00
Plus size 1960s Red Pip... sarahblackhear... $28.00	1960s Handmade Picnic D... SpanoVintage $51.00	1950s Blue Day Dress / ... FemaleHysteria $44.00
plaid plus size party d... brownbagvintag... $46.00	vintage 1940s dress // ... thegreedyseagu... $78.00	Autumn Picnic - Dress- ... threadoverheel... $65.00

Thought for the Day August 9, 2010

2010-08-09T11:52:00.001-06:00

"Great is the human who has not lost his childlike heart."

— Mencius (Meng-Tse), 4th century BCE

sallymandy

photo: me and my grandmother, Placid Lake, Montana, 1965. please do not reproduce.

Vintage Shoes on Etsy. It’s That Time Again.

2010-07-27T07:07:00.000-06:00

Orange patent leather slides, vintage, $45, HazeyJaneVintage.

Every few months I do a post on vintage shoes on Etsy—because it’s so fun and because we all seem to love shoes. Last week I posted about second-hand shoes I’ve bought recently. Here are some others you might like, all from Etsy.

I love the variety, style, and originality in these designs.

Above: Vintage El Dante leather platforms, $288, IKAHN.

Above: 70s tribute to Daisy Duke, $28, Star1312’s shop.

Above: Vintage John Fluevogs, $58, from photographicamy.

Above: White leather gladiator sandals from the 1980s, $42, from Atticgoods.

Above: Vintage purple/blue suede shoes from 1930s or 1940s, $125, JustSmashingDarling.

Above: Vintage, never-worn Italian slip-ons, $100, LauroRighi

Above: 1950s nautical deck shoes, $44, Thrush.

Above: Vintage orange –toe 1960s Joseph La Rose snakeskin flats, $60, whitedovenycvintage.

Above: Vintage brown leather ankle boots with straps, $159, santokivintage.

Above: Vintage patchwork wedge heels, $50, 2palmsvintage.

Above: Vintage 1970s tan leather loafers with wedge heel, $32, TheRubyKitten.

Above: Vintage floral go go boots from 1960s, $200, Retrothreadz.

Above: Olive green suede stilettos, $45, SkinnyandBernie.

Which are your favorites? Have you found any second-hand shoe treasures lately?

sallymandy

The privilege of a lifetime….

2010-07-25T08:18:00.000-06:00

…is being who you are.

Joseph Campbell

art by Diane Ducruet. Link here.

sallymandy

Thought for the Day July 23, 2010

2010-07-23T07:19:00.000-06:00

"Don't be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can do it." Walt Disney

sallymandy

Ultimate DIY. Crochet-Covered Car

2010-07-17T09:34:00.000-06:00

Found this morning in Ready Made Magazine.

I just love this. I’d never want to drive it. How would you clean the dead bugs off? What about when it rains? Would you just get this cover out for an occasional, slow drive around the block on a sunny day?

Whatever. It’s gorgeous and incredible and makes me smile. People and their ideas never cease to amaze.

sallymandy

Living in Time: Past, Present, or Future?

2010-07-15T23:16:00.001-06:00

Found a link to this photograph on Twitter—what a popular science magazine predicted a city of 1950 to look like (in 1925).

It would be like us looking ahead to 2035.

I’ve always found it fascinating how some people look ahead and some people look behind. I fall into the latter group—often reminiscing and thinking about what’s already been in my life more than looking ahead to what might be.

What a lesson it is to learn how to stay right in this moment and live it. Tomorrow never ever comes, and yesterday is gone.

Source here.

sallymandy

Marketing in a Recession

2010-07-11T22:56:00.001-06:00

My father sent me this recently and I had to share it.

Happy Monday!

sallymandy

Poetikat’s New Book of Poems

2010-07-11T09:52:00.001-06:00

Finally! Poetry that’s accessible, fun, clever and real.

Many of my followers are also followers and friends of Poetikat’s Invisible Keepsakes. Kat has published a book of poetry titled Shadowstalking, and it’s now available to the public.

Here’s what Kat says about her book:

“My poetry is written for both catharsis (on my part) and entertainment (on yours). There's something for everyone in this collection—a bit of nature, a bit of memoir, some classical forms of poetry, and some more freestyle pieces.

I write with humour generally, but sometimes sadness can creep in too. This book should appeal in some way to anyone who picks it up.”

I just ordered my copy and I can’t wait to receive it. If you know Kat’s poetry from her blog, you know her writing is authentic and honest and leaves you feeling good.

I invite you to visit her website or blog to check it out.

sallymandy

Recycled Tee Shirt Skirt, Custom Made for a Blue Kimono Reader!

2010-06-17T00:04:00.001-06:00

I made this skirt for one of my lovely Canadian readers. It’s a custom knee skirt made from my original design. Thank you, dear bloggie friend!

I used pieces from nine or ten different cotton knit garments for this original design. The waistband is made from a pair of Tommy Hilfiger sweat pants.

Everything is post-consumer, recycled material that I’ve cleaned to within an inch of its life and put together carefully on my thirty-year-old sewing machine.

I made another skirt very much like this—same colors and styling—for a second customer who liked it and ordered on it her size.

My online shop is here: www.bluekimonostudio.etsy.com

Happy Week!

sallymandy

Something Fun for Friday

2010-05-14T05:21:00.001-06:00

Love this! From the Sartorialist.

New Eco Friendly Top at Blue Kimono Studio

2010-05-11T06:27:00.001-06:00

Captain Vegas (hubby) and See Spot Run (daughter) went out Friday night to do “errands” which I’m sure were connected to Mother’s Day. I stayed home and stitched up this top.

It started with a recycled linen/cotton sleeveless blouse from Liz Claiborne. I cropped it and sewed on to a paneled skirt made from recycled women’s and men’s tee shirts (that purply panel was a winter top of mine several years ago).

As you can see, the top is pretty loose and flowy. It has a button-loop doodad in the back that can be used to customize the fit under the bust.

The top is really big on my mannequin, and is designed to have a moderate empire-waist style.

This top is listed in my online store. It’s a size large to extra large, and it sells for $60 USD.

I’m glad my back yard is finally green enough to use in photographs!

sallymandy

photo, copyright Barbara Behan 2010. May not be used without permission.

The Finished Refashion from Sunday

2010-04-29T22:48:00.001-06:00

Needlework is so therapeutic. I put some swirly embroidery around the edges and cuffs of the sweater I refashioned earlier this week. It was more for my benefit than for the sweater’s. But I think the sweater’s better, too.

And finally, Midge gets to stop being a hussy and wear a few more clothes.

It turns out that the sweater’s made of acrylic, not wool as I originally thought. I normally don’t buy synthetics. Still, as the sweater doesn’t fit me, I like how it turned out well enough to put it up for sale in my Etsy shop.

I’m driving over the Rocky Mountains into Idaho tomorrow for a weekend-long, middle-school soccer tournament. May not be posting for a few days, as I’ll probably play dead for a while upon returning.

Have a lovely weekend!

sallymandy

Blogger’s Confession….??

2010-04-28T14:14:00.000-06:00

After sixteen months of blogging, I don’t know what DH means, or DD or DS.

I get Husband, Daughter and Son. But what’s D?

Dear? Dog-face?

Inquiring minds want to know.

No-Sew Sweater Refashion: Crewneck to Cardi

2010-04-25T23:59:00.001-06:00

Here’s a super-fast, no-sew project for the nervous refashionista. We’ll create a customized cardi from a second hand pullover, incorporating flattering design elements.

Materials

felted crewneck or collared pullover sweater
sharp scissors
pins
measuring tape
Kilt pin, available at fabric stores

The sweater must be tightly “fulled” (also called felted) so the cut edges won’t ravel. If your sweater isn’t felted, here’s how to do it.

Start with a wool sweater that’s at least two sizes too big.

One-hundred percent wool is best, but blends with at least 80-90% wool are also good. Pure cashmere does not felt well. Pure merino can shrink up to 50%. A lovely blend is merino/cashmere/angora 60/20/20.

Machine-wash sweater in hot water/cold rinse. Check halfway through for size and felting. The fabric is felted enough when a tiny scissors-cut on a hidden seam leaves an edge that doesn’t ravel—scratch with your fingernail to test. If the fabric isn’t felted enough, wash it again or dry it on high. (This process is inexact, and you may end up with a sweater that’s too small. If so, think “hotpads” or “dog bed.”)

Also, if you’re going to be felting very many sweaters, get a filter for the end of your washing machine hose to capture lint.

Dry the sweater flat. When it’s dry, put it on a person or lay flat on a large surface. Midge the Mannequin is standing in for me.

Step 1

cut front

My sweater has a clear central pattern to follow, but you can also find the center with a measuring tape: measure across the front, underarm to underarm, and mark the center with a pin. Do the same on the bottom hem.

Following your central pattern (as I did), or using your pins as guides, carefully cut straight up the middle front. If your cut edges are ragged, you can neaten them up later.

The sweater will now look like this (put a cami on, Midge!):

Step 2

neckline

This step makes the finished piece look neater. If you’re using a collared sweater, this step will remove the collar.

Trim away neckband, staying close to the seam that attaches the neckband to the sweater. If you want a wider neck opening, trim away more, being careful to be even all the way around.

Here’s the finished neckline:

You could also cut a wide v-neck, like this:

Step 3

hemline

This process is similar to shaping the neckline. You’re going to remove any banding or ribbing at the bottom, and shorten the sweater if you want. You can even take off several inches and make this into a cropped look.

Just make sure you cut evenly all around. Either carefully freehand it as I did, or use your measuring tape and pins to measure up 1”, 2”, 3” or whatever amount you’d like to remove. I recommend shortening a little at first and increasing it as you go, trying on the sweater after each increment.

Design note: Hems that end three inches above or below the widest point of the hips are generally the most flattering.

Next, trim the corners of the front opening to make a rounded edge. You can freehand this, or cut around a teacup or other small circular item.

I removed the hem binding, and about 1” more all around.

Step 4

Trim cuffs

I like sleeves that are the same length as, or shorter than, the sweater’s hem. I took off about an inch of the cuffs here.

Removing the cuffs also makes the entire design consistent, since now all the ribbing has been removed from the sweater.

Design note: Three-quarter length sleeves are flattering because they elongatie the line of the arm.

Step 5

get closure

I love that the easiest way to close this sweater is also the most versatile. Using an oversized safety pin called a kilt pin, you can close the sweater at the neck, bust, under-bust, or lower, depending on what you’re wearing under it. You can find kilt pins at fabric stores. Walmart has some very inexpensive ones.

This way of pinning is my favorite:

Design note: by nipping under the bust, you can create emphasis where the torso is slimmest on many women. This would also be cute belted.

enjoy…!

sallymandy……….

Thanks to Imogen at Inside Out Style for sharing many of these design elements.

Walt Whitman for Earth Day

2010-04-22T00:03:00.001-06:00

EARTH! My likeness!

Though you look so impassive, ample and spheric there,
I now suspect that is not all;
I now suspect there is something fierce in you, eligible to burst
forth;
For an athlete is enamour'd of me--and I of him;
But toward him there is something fierce and terrible in me, eligible
to burst forth,
I dare not tell it in words--not even in these songs.

Give me solitude—give me Nature—give me again, O Nature, your primal sanities!

Walt Whitman

Shaggy Pooch Philosophy

2010-04-20T20:08:00.001-06:00

Clover’s reminder for Wednesday:

Be careless in your dress if you will, but keep a tidy soul.

Mark Twain

I’m Baaack….

2010-04-19T09:40:00.001-06:00

The path of creativity is never direct, never linear.

It’s been over a year ago that I started my blog. I began with an interest in women, personal growth, clothing, design, and personal expression. Through my blog, I was stimulated and encouraged to grow creatively in ways I never imagined. Several weeks ago, I went on hiatus from my blog to reevaluate its future.

Well, I’ve decided I want to keep my blog going. I miss my connections with interesting, vital people from all over the world. I miss the challenge. My mother has encouraged me to keep writing. It’s amazing to know that people actually read what I write—relate to it, respond to it. Who knew such things were possible?

I’ve never met my blog friends in person. And yet, there’s a spot in my mind—a visual file folder, if you will—with your collective image on it. It’s an image of encouraging faces, one I come back to when I feel lost on my creative path and need to remember that sometime, a bunch of really cool people believed I could do what I set out to do.

I’m not alone in this humbling gratitude for the benefits of the blogging community. Do you think we can do this for each other because we don’t see each other in person, don’t clean up each other’s dishes and piles of paper, put up with each other’s crazy driving habits? I don’t know. What I do know is that this unique connection, made possible by the modern technology that I tend to shun, is a treasure and a fantastic opportunity.

That’s a long post for today. I’ll do more soon, but for now, thanks for sticking with me, and I can’t wait to come around to your blogs and catch up on what you’ve been doing.

sallymandy

Please Bear with Me…

2010-02-24T09:19:00.001-07:00

…while I take one of my periodic blogging breaks to re-think, re-strategize and refresh my ideas for The Blue Kimono.

Since starting my blog over a year ago, the creative process it’s fostered me has nudged me into new places. I’ve resigned from my “day job” raising money for an environmental non profit organization, and I’ve started a business creating clothing from recycled fabrics.

I can easily see the progression of these changes back to the beginning of my blog.

I could not have done any of this important mid-life growth without the support of my blogging friends, and I’m so very grateful to all of you.

The original purpose for the blog isn’t really relevant any more and I’m now considering whether to change the focus to more closely match what I’m doing with my “work.”

Thanks, all you dear readers. More to follow.

sallymandy

Everything You Need to Know About Cashmere

2010-02-10T00:05:00.001-07:00

photo, Craftzine, here.

Have you ever bought a cashmere sweater, only to have it pill up impossibly on the very first day?

Have you ever wondered how manufacturers can sell $69 cashmere sweaters, when such products used to run in the hundreds of dollars?

Cashmere—the coat of the cashmere goat--has been a luxury fiber for almost three hundred years. The last ten years have seen an influx of cheap cashmere into world clothing markets.

isn’t she cuuute? Link, here.

The good news is, cashmere is more accessible to many of us. It’s even showing up in thrift stores.

The bad news is, unless we know what we’re paying for, it’s possible to be very disappointed in a cashmere purchase.

Here are some facts about cashmere that can help us make informed buying decisions (see my sources at the bottom of post).

Whereas cashmere production originated in India in the 1700s and had spread to France and Scotland,
Today, China has become the world’s largest producer of cashmere.
Quality varies according to width and length of fibers. Width determines softness, while length determines strength. Long, thin fibers are the best quality and will get softer over time.

Photo from Lookchina, here.

Test for Quality

Rub the surface with your fingers. Poor quality cashmere will pill almost immediately.
Crush the fabric in your hand. Fewer wrinkles=better quality.
Gently pull the garment; good quality springs back to its original shape.
Look for pure fibers or wool blends only. Blends with synthetics can indicate that poorer quality cashmere was used.

Pashmina

“Pashmina” is not a fiber separate from cashmere and is used to mislead consumers into thinking they’re getting cashmere. The word comes from the Persian word for wool—Pashm. A garment whose fiber is labeled as “pashmina” in the U.S. is breaking federal regulations that state the exact content of cashmere must be disclosed.

Care of Cashmere

Knit cashmere should be hand-washed.

If you should buy less-than-great quality cashmere, and it pills up, try an inexpensive battery-powered fabric shaver or a sweater comb.

Recent Problems with Cashmere Production

Mislabeling is a growing problem for U.S. retailers.

In the early 2000s, when luxury items were at a premium globally, cashmere was “democratized” and manufacturers creating all sorts of new, accessible products.

However, increased demand for fiber has resulted in mislabeling and items being sold as cashmere when they may actually be blended with other, inferior fibers. These stocks are being sold to Chinese sweater mills as well to Western buyers. As a result, more mislabeled garments are expected to be found in retail stores.

The quality of cashmere from China is a growing concern. In the mid 2000s it was reported that cashmere coming out of China was not regulated well and there were many reports of crossbreeding the cashmere goats with other goats, and mixing cashmere with wool.

The Bottom Line

Before you drop hard-earned money in any amount on a cashmere garment, know as much as you can about what you’re getting. There’s nothing wrong with a lower-priced, lower-quality garment as long as consumers aren’t misled about what they’re buying.

From: Cashmere and Camel Hair Manufacturers’ Institute FAQ’s and U.S. Better Business Bureau article on Federal Trade Commission Regulations on Cashmere Labeling. Albany Times Union, Dec, 25, 2004; “Italy Faces Mounting Threats to Cashmere,” Women’s Wear Daily Dec. 6, 2005.

sallymandy

“If Hope Had a Scent, It Would Be the Smell of the Air on a Warm February Day.”

2010-01-31T12:43:00.001-07:00

“More than any other holiday, Groundhog Day is the "looking-ahead" holiday, a holiday of transition.

“We're not so much celebrating the day at hand, February 2, as we are a day that is on our horizon, the spring equinox. The spring equinox is simply being celebrated ahead of time, as Groundhog Day, on February 2. Asking us to bottle up our hopes until three weeks in March have passed would be unreasonable, don't you think?”

“…Let's explore the origin of Groundhog Day by taking a look at Imbolc, Saint Brigid's Day and Candlemas Day.

“In its earliest incarnation, Groundhog Day was Imbolc, a pagan celebration associated with fertility and weather divination.

“The word, Imbolc is Gaelic, the language of the Celts. There is a strong association between Imbolc and Brigid, a Celtic fertility goddess. When the pagan holidays were transformed into Catholic equivalents, two new holidays emerged from Imbolc. One, Saint Brigid's Day (a.k.a. Saint Bridget's Day), was celebrated on February 1. Saint Brigid's Day honored an Irish saint, named after the Celtic goddess, who was a contemporary of Saint Patrick's.

“The second holiday deriving from Imbolc was Candlemas Day and was celebrated on February 2 (Groundhog Day). Candlemas was the feast of Mary's purification and was marked by a candle procession.

“But how did a groundhog become the symbol for a holiday that was marked by a candle procession?

“Well, the Romans, for instance, had celebrated a rough equivalent to our Groundhog Day in early February -- only a hedgehog was in charge of the weather divination, not a groundhog. And such beliefs survived the Christianization of Europe (going "underground," if you will), attaching themselves to Candlemas Day as folklore. European settlers in North America kept the pagan tradition alive, but substituted the native groundhog for the European hedgehog. Clearly, Imbolc and the older traditions have won out: today in North America, almost everyone in the general public has heard of "Groundhog Day," while mention of "Candlemas Day" would generally draw expressions of puzzlement!

“Most people have now distanced themselves from fertility rites, purification rituals and weather divination (well, except for meteorologists, perhaps!). Nonetheless, on some level, don't we still intuitively associate fertility and purification with spring? Nor can we help but spend our winters speculating on spring's arrival.”

“If hope had a scent, it would be the smell in the air on a warm February day. “

this post was excerpted from an article by David Beaulieu on Groundhog Day on About.com, here.

sallymandy

New Photography by Jean Albus

2010-01-22T21:14:00.001-07:00

Dark Before Dawn, Jean Albus, 2010

If you were visiting my blog last year, you might remember when I posted some work by Montana artist/photographer Jean Albus. Click here to see those posts.

And now here’s more wonderment from Jean. The next images are from her 2009 collection “What Else is There to Say About Land.”

Jean’s work combines images that speak to me: the often harsh landscape of Montana, where four generations of my family have lived; images of women; the feminine and flowing lines of beautiful fabrics and clothing.

Somehow, these are related.

Even I, not given to conscious stereotyping about my home state, can conjure a cowboys-and-tumbleweed image of Montana in my mind.

But Jean’s work shows a woman here; finding her place in this land….touching, feeling, literally immersing herself in place. In a part of the earth where geography so clearly dominates human movement, I have needed to do the same. I have spent hours and days making my peace with the land: leaving my footprints, ski tracks, tire marks in deep recesses of mountains where I might not be found for days if I got lost. I have needed to lie down, dive in, dig my hands deep into the elements of the earth.

Nowadays this urge is not so strong. I have reached some kind of equilibrium—unconscious, mostly—with these external forms. Always aware of them, always knowing on the edges of my consciousness that they’re there, the mountains and the forests hold me like primeval mothers’ arms. Knowing this, I spend more time indoors, exploring the inner wilderness of line, form, and color.

Jean Albus’ work reminds me of who I am in this place where I came into the world.

sallymandy

You can see more of Jean’s art, and contact her, at her gallery on Flickr.

Use Your Cell Phone to Help in Haiti.

2010-01-16T09:31:00.001-07:00

As of sixteen hours ago, Americans with cell phones had raised $11 million for relief in Haiti through sending text messages to relief phone numbers.

If you haven’t seen these numbers yet, here are several easy ways to donate small amounts of money. Your donation is added into your cell phone bill.

Relief organizers are reminding people—like me—who are tweeting and blogging about this--to actually make the calls themselves. That’s a good point. In my effort to round up numbers for my post, I initially forgot to make the calls myself.

I chose Yele Haiti, which is working with Haitian-born singer Wyclef Jean to mobilize their effort. You can $5 donations up to six times to Yele Haiti.

Text YELE to 501501 to donate $5 to Yele Haiti, which is working with Wyclef Jean.

Text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to the American Red Cross

Text HAITI to 25383 to donate $5 to International Rescue Committee

Text HAITI to 45678 to donate $5 to the Salvation Army in Canada

Text RELIEF to 30644 to get automatically connected to Catholic Relief Services and donate money with your credit card

Text HAITI to 864833 to donate $5 to The United Way

Text CERF to 90999 to donate $5 to The United Nations Foundation

Text DISASTER to 90999 to donate $10 to Compassion International

sallymandy

Non Resolution about Beginnings

2010-01-14T23:05:00.001-07:00

I love New Year’s. I mean, I love January and the deep breath of forward-looking-ness that comes at the end of the holidays.

I love it, love it, love it.

Many blog friends have been writing about the new year. Blissfully absent have been resolutions and promises to do better or be better. Instead I’m finding thoughtful introspections about what it means to go look ahead, to see possibility, and to use the past as a launching pad.

I’d like to share a couple of quotes I found today about new beginnings.

“There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth…not going all the way, and not starting.” Buddha.

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.” Roman philosopher Seneca.

“There is a woman at the beginning of all great things.” French poet Alphonse de Lamartine.

What are you beginning in 2010?

sallymandy

Favorite Etsy Sweaters and My Own New Designs

2010-01-07T12:40:00.001-07:00

Amelie Sweater in Cashmere and Felted Merino, Size M, Blue Kimono Studio

Is it warm yet?

Two hours after taking the dogs for a morning walk, my legs are still thawing out. There’s a blanket of ice in my yard, and the doors on my Subaru are frozen shut.

The stores are stocking bathing suits, but I still need sweaters—wool sweaters!

And I’m still making sweaters for my recycled clothing shop, Blue Kimono Studio.

Here are a few of my favorites sweaters. Some are my own, and some are from other Etsy sellers.

I’m proud of the one at the top of my post. It was featured on Etsy’s Front Page on December 28.

Burgundy Heather Pullover, Size M-L, $75 USD, RagaissanceWear.

Ella Pullover Sweater with Recycled Cashmere, Size L, $168, Foundry Designs

Sara Sweater in Felted Wool and Stripes, Size M, $118 USD, Blue Kimono Studio

Orange Merino Felted Pullover, Size S-M, $90 USD, RagaissanceWear.

Ella Pullover in Felted Cream, Taupe and Cocoa Wool, Size S, $168, Foundry Designs.

Amory Sweater in Wool and Felted Merino, $118, Size L, Blue Kimono Studio.

How about you? Are you ready for spring yet, or are you still pulling out your woolens?

Have a warm and colorful weekend…love,

Sallymandy

Colors of the Montana Winter

2009-12-28T22:39:00.001-07:00

I got a new camera for Christmas. It was a gift from my hubby.

Now, I have to tell a little story. Our friend Greg suggested my hubby be called Captain Vegas in my blog. I like that name, since my hubby currently lives in Las Vegas. But since he’s actually a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, he’s going to be called Col. Vegas.

So anyway, I took my gift from Col. Vegas out on my walk today.

Walks are supposed to calm and center people, but it took me a long time to calm down. I was excited by my recent sales at my store and my head was full of sewing ideas. The Crazy Canyon Trail system seemed like a fitting location.

I have been holing up in the house sewing and winding down from Christmas. My fingernails are stained with fabric dye (see it?):

and I’ve been wearing the same three outfits for two weeks.

It felt good to be outside and breathing cold, fresh air. But I wanted to get back to my wool and colors and thread. Usually the winter landscape doesn’t start bothering me until about February or March, but today it looked colorless already.

So I set myself the task of finding colors. Here’s what I found.

A sort-of color on a ponderosa pine tree. I love ponderosas, which smell of vanilla on a hot summer day. Okay, that’s one color. What would you call it? Burnt sienna?

And of course there’s pine-tree green, like you see in the background above. Somehow, though, the preponderance of white and gray in the Montana winter makes my mind blank out the green. From town, the wooded mountainsides just look black. It’s only up close that you see the needles really are green.

I found a few others. Pale yellow…

Citron green…now that’s a real color!

Orange!

More green…

Teensy little shriveled up rose hip…red!

And yet another cold-looking green…

Finally, a little bit of blue.

My Montana grandmother used to say that if there was enough blue in the sky to make a Dutch boy’s pants, the weather would turn clear.

What do you think? What size is a Dutch boy?

sallymandy

Christmas Wishes for My Readers

2009-12-23T05:55:00.001-07:00

“We shall find peace. We shall hear the angels, we

shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.”

—Anton Chekhov

Season’s Greetings and Best Wishes for 2010.

I appreciate you!

love, Sallymandy

photo by CanadaGirl2000 on Photobucket.

Dog Days of December

2009-12-17T00:55:00.001-07:00

Whatever special day you may be celebrating this December—even if it’s just the coming of winter—remember the lesson of the doggie on the couch who doesn’t care what she wears.

sallymandy

Trapped in a Jail of Love

2009-12-14T00:15:00.001-07:00

My 12-year-old daughter and her friend are in the back seat talking about their futures. About husbands.

The rush-hour traffic is fierce, but I’m straining to hear.

The friend says, “I’m going to be a scientist. I’m going to have a big house and one horse and one kid.”

My daughter says, “Nice. I’m going to be a photographer. But what about a husband?”

The friend (whose parents’ marital situation is stranger than fiction) says, “No husband. I’m going to adopt. Who needs a husband around the house? Seems like it would just be easier.”

I’ve been thinking about this all weekend.

I have a husband, but he’s not around the house. Once upon a time he worked at home, and boy, was he ever around the house. And then he moved away because it was the only way to support his family. That’s the kind of husband he is.

Today I notice things he’s not here to do. Sidewalk shoveling. Decoration-box hauling. Furniture moving. Christmas tree putting up. Car gas tank filling, running-toilet-fixing, doggie-poo scooping. Being the heavy with an almost-teenager.

Since he’s been gone, I’ve missed him and not missed him. I wake up with an emptiness inside that’s tied to his silent office downstairs. I feel sad, remember that this was the best choice for our family, then get up and feel grateful for the freedoms this change has brought to me—freedoms I could not exercise with another adult working in the house.

One day when SeeSpotRun was four, I captured her on the couch and wrapped her in a bear hug. I held her close to me until she yelped “Help! Help! I’m trapped in a jail of love!”

Girls, if I told you something true, would you listen? The you who wants to be free and the you who wants to be joined are going to lock horns forever.

Marriage? Husband? Children? They’re traps…in a jail of love.

SSR and Sallymandy in Death Valley National Park, November 2009.

Speed Cleaning with Sallymandy

2009-12-03T17:22:00.001-07:00

So, today I came home from meetings and errands to a house that would make my grandmother

purse her lips.

Between sending a husband to live in Las Vegas, starting a small business, taking care of 1 cute daughter and 2 cute doggies, impending holidays and now being the only adult in the house, well…let’s just say my housekeeping standards have reached…

…a nadir!!

I’m not complaining. I’m not a neat-freak. I love our lived-in house because it’s proof that a lot of exciting, nurturing, interesting things happen here. But everyone has a limit.

Looking around my kitchen with its corners filling up with piles, I felt a creepy anxiety. I seemed unable to start. All messes seemed equal in importance.

What to do??

A friend of mine always starts cleaning with her sink. I looked at mine, full of dishes. I remembered a trick I used to use on myself. I set the microwave timer for four minutes and challenged myself to empty the dishwasher.

I whirled into action. I stacked up everything that went in the same cupboard and staggered across my microscopic kitchen to unload. I easily threw out details like putting the silverware handles the same direction and I just slammed the silver spoons into their compartment. I scoffed at nesting the cereal bowls large-to-small as is my habit.

Guess what? In 2 minutes 45 seconds I was done. I used the remaining time to stash the dishes from the sink into the dishwasher—foregoing my usual practice of arranging and rearranging until I use every last centimeter of space.

I didn’t quite get the counter wiped down, but in four minutes, I had an empty sink.

how cool is that?

Sometimes the smallest task can seem overwhelming. That’s especially so when there are so many small tasks that they really do add up to one whopping mess.

Here’s a very short list of other messes that frighten me:

The mishmash of dog collars, hair tie thingies, Chapsticks, stamps, paper clips, pennies, batteries, and pen caps swimming around in a big white ceramic dish by my blender.

The National Geographics on the shelf that someone at a school or Girl Scout group could use for a craft and are too good to recycle.

The mismatched-sock drawer.

The bag of papers left from SSR’s last school year.

The four-foot papier-mache dragon left from SSR’s last school year.

The styrofoam salt atom model left from SSR’s last school year.

What about you? Do you have any really scary messes in your house? How do you keep your quarters livable in a busy season?

Do tell!

Love, sallymandy

Blue Kimono Studio Now Appearing on Etsy. Online Coupon for Readers

2009-11-30T22:32:00.001-07:00

cashmere and merino dots chain

Dear Treasured Readers,

Last February when I started my blog, I was interested in timeless fashion for women. I also wanted to explore how women grow and evolve in our creative lives.

Over the past nine months you, my readers, have supported me every step of the way and shared your experiences and lives. That’s why I feel you have in a sense been holding my hand as I’ve prepared to open a shop on Etsy, the online handmade market.

As of today, November 30, my store is officially open. It’s called Blue Kimono Studio. Though I’m starting small and don’t know where it will lead, I’m committed to trying it with the best I can offer. This is a direct result of all I’ve learned in the blogging community with you.

(I’m going to continue my blog too, though!)

I’m going to be selling sweaters and accessories made from recycled clothes in natural fibers. I’m doing most of the work by hand. I’m using everything I’ve ever learned about design, color, proportion, line, and what looks good on whom.

hand embroidered ostrich tee!

As a way of saying thanks to my readers (and to generate some traffic, of course!) I’m offering a 20% off coupon to readers in the month of December. If you see something you like, email me or send me a “convo” through Etsy and use the codeword “blogpal.” Which is what you are.

I’m also requesting your feedback on the store, the merchandise, photographs, etc. I’m uncertain about the relatively high prices, but I’m determined to continue the spirit of experimentation that got me started on my blog. People do actually support themselves with their creative work. I can’t afford to do this as a hobby, so I need to step boldly forward and see if I can get a decent return on my time.

In the coming weeks I’m going to work on listing more items and building up my inventory, to include items in a variety of sizes.

So please…send me your thoughts and comments! And thank you. I couldn’t have done this without you.

sallymandy

twirly girl pocket scarf with blue embroidery

Thought for the Day. I Had to Share This With You.

2009-11-28T16:28:00.001-07:00

Not familiar with Jersey City, New Jersey? A picture paints a thousand words.

Have a great weekend.

sallymandy

Mother/Daughter Support Squad to Las Vegas

2009-11-23T23:11:00.001-07:00

See Spot Run and I have arrived in Las Vegas. Nellis Air Force Base, to be exact, where my husband is starting a job managing airlift operations for a huge military exercise called Red Flag.

We will be here through Thursday, and going home to Montana on Friday. Would you like to come along and see some of what we’ve seen?

First item the list of things I like: The sunshine. There is snow on the ground at home in Montana. But here, we’ve had constant sun and days warm enough to wear sandals with my jeans.

I also like that the air base where my husband is now stationed happens to have the largest solar power plant in North America. It’s easy to find things not to like about the military establishment, but I’m proud of this fact.

Here’s a picture of President Obama visiting the solar array at Nellis in June 2009.

Moving away from the base, we have started looking around Las Vegas. While I generally didn’t like the Las Vegas Strip at all, especially the people handing out pornography to my husband on the street, in front of my twelve-year-old daughter—which caused me eventually to walk in front of both of them and loudly tell the hawkers to leave us alone—I did like the ceiling at the Forum Shops at Caesar’s Palace. Here’s a view of the inside of the shops taken outside Spago, which was not open yet when we arrived there.

We did have delicious salads for lunch at a surprisingly elegant place at the other end of the mall. Oddly, it’s called The Cheesecake Factory. I liked our lunch, too.

Today we visited Hoover Dam, about an hour to the east on the border of Nevada and Arizona. I was especially taken by the bronze sculptures called Winged Figures of the Republic. Whatever you think about the U.S. government damming the Colorado River within an inch of its life for the sake of “making the desert bloom as a rose,” it’s hard not to admire the engineering prowess inherent in this dam, and the artistic vision of the Norwegian sculptor Oskar J.W. Hansen, who designed these figures in the 1930s.

Without the dam on the river, there would be no water for Las Vegas. Would that be a bad thing? I’m not sure. Certainly I wouldn’t want anyone to question the worth of my hometown. I’m doing my best to appreciate this one.

Tomorrow we look at thrift shops and neighborhoods where my husband might find accommodations. I have some work to do and SSR has homework. The next day, we’ll visit Death Valley, California. I’m looking forward to that, as well as Thanksgiving Dinner at Todd’s Unique Dining, a local restaurant that comes with high marks for its innovative young chef.

After that, SSR and I will be on an airplane back to Montana, and my hubby will stay here until Christmas.

As with all situations, there are things to like and not to like about this one. Mostly we’re glad we’re together.

With best wishes to all my American friends celebrating Thanksgiving this week, and international readers who have visited in the past weeks. I’m thankful for you.

sallymandy

Wardrobe Refashion Update

2009-11-18T15:41:00.001-07:00

It’s been almost six months since I took the Wardrobe Refashion challenge not to buy any new clothes for two months.

With one exception—two pairs of Gap pants in July—I’ve done it. It was pretty easy, and it made me really look with new eyes at old clothes.

I’ve posted a few photos of my adventures refashioning my own clothes. That was fun, but after a while I started feeling limited by not liking how my clothes looked on me. And that’s another issue altogether.

Still obsessed with Making Good New Stuff out of Old Icky Stuff, in August I found a book that set me on an entirely new creative path. I posted about it: The Sweater Chop Shop, by Crispina ffrench.

It’s largely Crispina’s fault that my blog has languished this fall, because I’ve found her approach to recycled sewing completely inspiring and fantastic. I needed this diversion. At the same time that I found her book, as most of my readers know, my husband was preparing to move to another state for a job—without, for the time being, me and our daughter.*

Since I can get pretty compulsive facing the Fear of the Unknown, I’ve chosen to throw myself headlong into Crispina-inspired sewing during this time, rather than eating or shopping myself out into trouble. Yes, it pretty much replaced blogging, because…well, mes bonnes amis, I wanted to be really, completely selfish and mess around with fabric and colors and thread and shapes and textures and not show it to anyone, not feel a single bit of pressure, not feel like a Bad Girl for not visiting my blog friends…blah, blah, blah.

Anyone relate to this? I know the answer is Yes.

My other favorite book (besides Sweater Chop Shop) is The Twelve Secrets of Highly Creative Women, by Gail McMeekin. This amazing book has a whole section about how we women who want to create must do this: shut the door, turn off the phone, Be Selfish! So..it was hard, but I did that. For the cost of a couple of therapy sessions, I set up own Chop Shop and gave myself time to try it.

Here are some of things I’ve made. Truthfully, I can’t believe how much time I’ve spent. Like anything one loves, it can be all-consuming. I’m thrilled with how much I’ve learned, and how excited I am to get out of bed and do this instead of write grant proposals for the non-profit group that employs me.

If these items look like they’re being photographed for sale, it’s because I’m opening a shop on Etsy at the end of November. This exercise in creative abandon is making me seriously question my current career path. At the very least, to justify playing with wool as much as I want to, I’d like to get some monetary return for my time.

I’ve noticed that other blogger friends have also stepped back from the social obligations of blogging to devote time to other creative pursuits. If any of you are reading, I’d like to hear how that’s going for you—if you want to say.

*he left this morning, and here I sit, at three in the afternoon, in my pajamas, house torn up with my projects, sad/glad the waiting is over, and knowing good things will come of it all.

Love,

sallymandy

World Kindness Day

2009-11-13T13:34:00.001-07:00

Did you know that Friday the 13th is World Kindness Day?

Neither did I, until my friend Ingrid at Fashion is My Muse told me about it, along with an offer to send me her copy of a book I’ve been coveting. Isn’t that kind? Yes, it is. Thank you, Ingrid.

Here are some other kindnesses I’m thinking of today.

There’s a family in my town whose mother got a brain tumor and died a few years ago. She was forty, and left behind four children under ten. Utterly devoted to them, she was a gentle, creative, and smart mother. I knew her because our daughters went to preschool together.

The family’s father has a substance abuse problem and has been left the sole guardian of the four kids. He has a part-time job and few family resources.

This woman had many friends. Today a group of them have taken on responsibilities of caring for the children. They call themselves the Aunties. Through an email network and daily check-ins, they figure out what the kids need every week and do all they can to make it happen. They take care of nitty gritty needs like dental appointments and clothing, as well as simple kind actions like hosting birthday parties, paying for dance lessons, and taking the little ones to the movies.

The Aunties all have families, jobs, and struggles of their own. Yet they’ve embraced these children, all the while respecting that the dad, whatever his problems, is still the dad.

Soon, the father will be going to court-ordered treatment for his addiction problems, and the children are being taken in by the Aunties and some extended family.

This month, I decided to join the Aunties. I’ve always been a little nervous about getting involved with other people’s lives like this, and I don’t know yet what exactly I’ll contribute. But geez, with kindness like this looking you in the face, it’s hard to sit on the sidelines and watch.

Yesterday a lady at the fabric store let me go in front of her at the check out because I was late for my daughter’s parent-teacher conference. I told her about World Kindness Day, and how much I appreciated her small gesture.

Kindness can be large, like what the Aunties do, or small, like the favor the lady in the store gave me.

Either way, we all need it. Don’t we?

love,

sallymandy

Flowers de la Semaine and Doggies in Winter White

2009-11-07T06:54:00.001-07:00

Clover and Riley/Vanna White Dog are here to say hello and we have not forgotten about you!

The flowers in this photo cost me practically nothing at the florist down the street. They have a fantastic deal in which you get six free roses if you go in wearing your bike helmet. I love that they promote and reward sustainable transportation this way. Aren’t those peachy-pink roses great?

(Clover and Riley think so, too.)

The rest of our family are busy getting Hubby/Dad ready for his impending move to Nevada, which is happening in two weeks. Much scurrying about and travel plans being made. SeeSpotRun and I will spend a week there at the end of November.

Do you think they have good thrift stores in Las Vegas?

In the meantime, I’ve been indulging in a purely selfish creative pursuit that involves lots of second hand wool sweaters, hand sewing, and wardrobe refashioning. It’s keeping me sane to have something in my hands to stab and poke with a needle, something I can control, something colorful and natural and recycled to throw energy into when everyone else is asleep.

More about that in the future, but for now, thanks again to all of you dear friends in blogland who left kind comments to my last post. I’m slowly getting around to visiting all of you and enjoying all your news and thoughts.

XO,

sallymandy

Posting Plan for Next Six Weeks

2009-10-21T07:59:00.001-06:00

Dear Friends,

I’m taking a break from regular posting for the next several weeks.

As some of you know, my husband has taken a three-year job in another state and is going to move there in mid-November.

My daughter and I are not moving with him at this time, as we’re uncertain about many parameters of the job. He may be sent overseas.

We want to spend as much time together as possible before my husband leaves. Then, SeeSpotRun and I will be traveling to where he’s moving to help him get settled. After we return, we’ll be working on ways to stay connected to him and figuring out our own routine here.

I have slacked off my blog quite a bit in the last couple of weeks as we get closer to this change. Instead of trying to keep it going in a half-baked way, I’m going to let it go of regular posting for now and see how I feel about it when my husband has gone.

I expect that either I will want more than ever to connect with my blog friends and have the distraction of writing, or…I will need to rest and focus on things closer to home for a time. Or maybe some of both will happen.

In any case, I may post from time to time, and then I hope to reconnect with you all in some fashion by December. In the meantime, know how much I appreciate you all. I continue to send my encouragement and support for you in your blogging!

Love,

sallymandy

photo by R.W. Behan

When I Grow Up, I Want to Be (a Pole Dancer?) Like Mommy

2009-10-15T12:28:00.000-06:00

Looking for a photo to go with yesterday’s post, I found this funny story and picture on Photobucket (here).

“When asked to draw a picture of what they wanted to be when they grew up, second-grader ‘Sarah’ turned in the lovely drawing shown above.

Needless to say, the teacher was a bit surprised – Sarah’s mother had always seemed like such a conservative woman. So she sent a note home to the girl's mother asking for clarification as to the picture's meaning.

Here's the reply the teacher received the following day.

‘Dear Mrs. Jones,

I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer.

I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we had, and then I found one more in the back room, and that several people were fighting over who would get it. Her picture doesn't show me dancing around a pole. It's supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot.

From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.’

Sincerely, Mrs. Smith”

Thank you, Miss Sarah, for the comic relief.

sallymandy

Mothers Being True to Themselves

2009-10-14T01:36:00.001-06:00

Deborah at The Temptation of Words asked on a recent post: Can Mothers Be True to Themselves?

What a thought-provoking question. I’ve pondered it all week.

Mothering is an awesome and humbling responsibility. We know from our own mothers and Nancy Friday that how we understand ourselves is deeply attached to our mothers’ definitions of themselves.

When you get right down to it, what else do we have to offer our children but ourselves? Whether or not I feel adequate, my daughter has her roots planted in who I am, and how I live my life. She will learn her first and most lasting lessons about how to be a woman by watching me do it. This is basic psychology.

If I want SSR to value her own life and take it seriously, hadn’t I better take a stab at that myself? If I abandon the sacred ground of the life I’ve been given (my own)—tell myself it’s “selfish” to attend to it—I’ve essentially abandoned the soil that contains her roots.

There’s also this. It’s tempting to think that only I can give my daughter all she needs to be an adult; that I must forgo my own growth to tend to hers. But that’s giving myself too much credit. Many, many people will influence and teach and love her.

It’s also, maybe, a way to avoid taking responsibility for my own life. It can seem so much more noble to assign myself the keeper of hers. To hold on to that feeling of being needed as long as I can.

Being needed is a powerful experience and painful to release. Motherhood is the most profound thing that’s ever happened to me. I adore being a mother. I don’t want the active part to be over. I crave and yearn for more children.

Yet, life is what it is. I have one precious daughter. For SSR to grow into an adult, she needs me to get a life. If I cling to being her everything forever, she’s going to need serious therapy.

“Being true to ourselves” can tend to carry a connotation of turning our backs on loved ones—charging off into the sunset alone to follow our bliss. And you know, I’ve done a fair amount of that. I’ve been racked with guilt and self-doubt. But it it’s meant to be, those resistant feelings will diminish. And if it’s revealed that I’ve made a mistake, I can make amends. Few decisions are irreversible.

Today, as SSR approaches teenager-hood, I don’t feel the need so much to get away. I want to be with her more than ever. I know I have something she desperately needs: a loving guide in how to be a woman. In other words, a mother. No one else can give her that.

sallymandy

A Quick Hello from SeeSpotRun

2009-10-08T20:36:00.001-06:00

Hello.

Hi, this is SeeSpotRun. As Sallymandy may has told you on Wednesday I was informed that I have H1N1 (swine flu), and I’ve been out of school for four days, and I’ve been the sickest I have for a long time. I just wanted to say a quick hello and I hope you stay healthy this fall, and here are some quick ways to keep healthy!

Wash your hands often.
If there’s a person near you who has the flu, don’t get too close to that person.

Drink lots of water.
Eat healthy meals.
Get enough sleep.

I hope none of you are sick, and have a great weekend!

♥♥♥

SeeSpotRun

Days of Swine and Noses. Please Stay Tuned and We'll Talk More Later.

2009-10-06T11:48:00.003-06:00

I'm so pleased and grateful for the comments and discussion that my last posts on Women and Happiness have generated. I've spent the weekend thinking about all you've shared, and reading more about these topics.

For instance, here are two titles well worth looking for. "Between Ourselves: Letters Between Mothers and Daughters," in which such creative notables as Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, and Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen tell in intimate detail the workings of their minds and hearts as regards being a woman in a world largely defined by non-women. "Twelve Habits of Highly Creative Women," is an outstanding and thoughtful study--rather superficially named--useful to both genders, of cultivating true freedom of expression and satisfaction in living by one's own lights.

But this week, my daughter, whom some of you know as my guest poster SeeSpotRun, is ill. We're hoping it's not H1N1, of course, but seems like it might be.

I'll be posting again soon, but for now, I'm choosing imbalance in order to throw myself into mothering.

xo, Sallymandy

Final Thoughts on Women and Happiness

2009-10-01T10:28:00.001-06:00

Knowing what I’ve been writing about lately, my father sent me a link to this article about What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently. It’s a piece by Marcus Buckingham highlighting findings from his recent book.

I had seen this article last week. My first reaction had been “What does a person named Marcus know about women’s happiness?” But when I got past this resistance, I realized the author has some very good information.

In surveying women, Buckingham found that the “happiest” among us strive not for balance but imbalance—in other words, leaning toward moments that create happiness while letting go of those that drain us. As my friend Shannon once told me, “Do what makes you strong.”

This is simple, yet not easy. To do what makes us strong means knowing what makes us strong. To know this, we have to commit to finding out. This, I believe, is our path to contentment and connection to others.

A thoughtful and generous blogger friend brought another idea to mind. She commented on my recent posts about how cultural norms can harm us. Then she pointed out my inconsistency in posting, last week, a list of ways French women stay slim. Was I contributing to the problem by bolstering the importance of thinness?

This is a good point. On the one hand, I want the world to take women seriously. On the other, I’ve absorbed many messages about what I think we’re supposed to be. The list includes pretty, thin, and accommodating. As long as I hold myself to these expectations, it follows that I will continue to pass them around.

Twice this week I’ve observed how I unknowingly devalue the “feminine” in myself and other women. At a social event at our house, I found myself taking a much greater interest in the husband’s academic work than the wife’s business selling cosmetics. Why did I? I don’t like it when that happens to me. Now, I think I’m genuinely more interested in history than cosmetics, but still…why didn’t I ask about her work to take an interest in her life?

A couple days later I got my hair cut. In the salon, I became aware that I quietly look down on “women’s” talk about clothes, hair, food, and their husbands, such as I heard in the salon. This time, I allowed myself to join in. My jaws flapped and I laughed freely. In the process, I found that the subject matter was just an entry to the heart of talk that was not shallow. We were sharing, in a way that’s maybe uniquely “female,” how we make decisions, relate to others, and solve daily problems. This is the stuff of real life.

It felt good to let myself join a sisterhood that day. It didn’t matter, really, what we talked about. What mattered was that we were women listening to each other and being kind. I had a good time. I felt part of a community.

I felt happy.

sallymandy

Click photo for link to Photobucket.

Thoughts About Women and Happiness

2009-09-29T00:06:00.001-06:00

The Heritage of Motherhood, Gertrude Kasebier, 1904.

Jane Ussher is a professor of women’s health psychology at the University of West Sydney, and author and editor of several studies on women’s health and psychology issues.

Prof. Ussher believes that the social norms and expectations of being female can program women to become depressed. To put it bluntly:

“…female unhappiness is often an understandable response to the realities of women’s lives…”

She describes a familiar scenario in which we expect ourselves to juggle a partner, children, job, homes, and extended family responsibilities—happily. When we find ourselves in an unhappy funk, we seek help…only be told that we are experiencing a problem that’s probably caused by our bodies.

While many causes of depression undoubtedly are physical, seldom are we encouraged to ask larger questions of the world in which we live, and the myths we’ve picked up about what it means to be a woman.

When I was an Air Force wife in Alaska, I naively visited a military psychiatrist about my post-partum depression. He told me it was my responsibility to support the mission of the Air Force. To do this I needed to parent without putting pressure on my husband. This was my role. If I “failed” I would need to be medicated. If that failed…well, he sort of raised his hands in a hopeless gesture while mentioning electric shock therapy.

This was only twelve years ago.

Another time, when I was a young and single, a woman therapist told me I should slip out the back door of her office at the end of an emotionally draining session. You see, they had a young single man working at the reception desk. She felt certain I wouldn’t want the handsome dude to see me weeping.

Years later, a different woman therapist told me I needed to get a grip on my depression because my husband deserved a happy wife.

Another time, a woman therapist told me I would feel better if I gave more to others…that I should do some volunteer work.

What did all these experiences have in common? People, undoubtedly well-meaning, communicated that I wasn’t being a proper woman. Through my depression, I was failing men and failing other people. Shame on me.

I listened, and I did not get better.

Fortunately, the statistical incidence of depression in women tends to fall off in middle age and later—say, after menopause or thereabouts. Professor Ussher’s research suggests this is because these are generally the years that women can finally leave behind the myths about what it means to be feminine—if we want to; if they’re no longer working for us. It’s the time when we can finally risk saying no if we desire; experiment with being who we are; and figure out what we need.

Whether we come to this place out of desperation or liberation, I believe we need to get there.

Now the question is, how do we do that?

sallymandy

click here to see the article on Jane Ussher’s work that I used and quoted in this post.

Why Are Women Unhappy?

2009-09-25T01:06:00.001-06:00

As reported by Maureen Dowd in the New York Times, “Blue is the New Black.”

What she’s referring to, in case you haven’t heard, is the series of studies covering most of the developed world, showing that as a group women are less happy than our counterparts were thirty years ago.

The freedom to choose that our mothers earned for us has not, apparently, gained us the “happiness” it was supposed to. Even with our greater educational opportunities, careers, and husbands who change diapers, too many of us remain dissatisfied and exhausted.

Why and how did this happen? Commenters blame everything from lack of adequate child care to the incessant media messages to look young. Others with a more philosophical bent cite unrealistic expectations: that young women were, in a sense, sold a bill of goods telling us we could “have it all.” The promise has often become a burden and an impossibly high standard.

In addition to Maureen Dowd’s post, I checked in with Arianna Huffington (“The Sad, Shocking Truth about how Women are Feeling”). Readers of both articles are leaving much food for thought in their comments. I was especially taken by what men had to say, namely that men are “happier” than women because they have mostly known they can’t have it all—that life is a series of trade-offs.

Hmm. Really? It has appeared to me—often—that [white] men could in fact have it all if they wanted. On the other hand, I know from men I love that stellar careers with much advancement aren’t often aren’t compatible good marriages and family lives.

Could it be that for decades we women have been telling ourselves a pack of lies about what we can achieve, and struggling against the reality? I myself have bought into the story line that women ~~could~~ should devote ourselves to significant, sustained professions, while also raising families, while also maintaining households, and remaining happily partnered (oh, and by the way, while also eating right, staying toned, and wearing Manolo Blahniks).

NO WONDER WE’RE UNHAPPY.

When I had my baby twelve years ago, an old friend told me I could have it all in my life, but probably not all at once. Today, finally, I think she’s right.

What do you think?? Could we give ourselves permission to stop this searching and striving? Could we stop apologizing to ourselves and the universe for not measuring up?

sallymandy

French Women Don’t Snack. Words of Wisdom for the Weight Gaining Season.

2009-09-20T15:53:00.001-06:00

Welcome Fall (in the northern Hemisphere), the season when many of us begin to slow down, eat more carbs, and maybe gain a pound or two.

For inspiration and encouragement, here is a list of habits that reportedly help French women keep their weight down—and this, within a cuisine based on butter! The list has been around a long time, passed around from friend to friend. Mine’s stuck permanently on my refrigerator.

I think it’s pretty clearly aimed at American women, pointing out many of our really unhealthy habits.

French women don’t:

Snack

Graze by the light of the fridge

Eat lunch at their desks

Keep a stash of food in their office

Eat huge portions

Have breakfast for dinner

Use bottled salad dressing

Drink sodas—diet or regular

Buy “fat-free” or “lowfat” versions of real products

Eat on the run

Drink alcohol, except wine with meals

Refuse to eat what’s served

Eat popcorn and candy at the movies

Count calories or fat grams

Say no to dessert

Eat cheese before a meal (only after)

Go to all-you-can-eat buffets

Have croissants for breakfast every day

Buy in bulk

Eat in front of the television

Ask for seconds

Eat bread before meals

Is one or more of these a special problem for you? If you could say goodbye to one bad habit on this list, which would it be? (For me, snacking and eating at my desk).

sallymandy

Check Out This Nifty Free Planner From Esther Coombs

2009-09-18T00:36:00.001-06:00

I found this cute weekly planner page free at Modish, a great site with resources for people growing creative businesses. Sorry, I can’t figure out how to show you a full size version, but if you click the Modish link above, you can download the planner (free), then print and just write on it.

(It’s especially fun that she’s made “Nap/Coffee” after lunch each day a permanent feature.)

Here’s a sample of how I’m using the planner this week. The colors and graphics somehow encourage me to think I get to do these things rather than I have to do these things.

London artist Esther Coombs, who created this, is an artist after my own heart. That’s because she refashions old stuff into beautiful new stuff. In her case, it’s vintage china and tableware upon which she works her magic. Check out her site here.

Thank you, Esther! I love your calendar and your work.

sallymandy

Wordless Thursday, Because the Doggies Will Always Help Out on a Busy Day

2009-09-16T23:53:00.000-06:00

woof.

photos copyright The Blue Kimono. 2009.

Patch-worked Levis: Haute Recessionist Style or Post-Hippie Weirdness?

2009-09-16T00:39:00.000-06:00

Opinions were mixed the other day on The Sartorialist when these photos of cut-and-pasted Levis on Swedish model Filippa Berg appeared.

Comments ranged from “Love the jeans!” to “Eeeesh! Are people really trying to bring back the 70s?”

What do you think?

sallymandy

photos used with permission by Scott Schuman.

“We have not come here to take prisoners…”

2009-09-14T23:37:00.000-06:00

“…but to surrender ever more deeply to freedom and joy. “

“Run my dear

from anything

that may not strengthen

your budding wings.”

“For we have not come here to take prisoners

Or to confine our wondrous spirits

But to experience ever and ever more deeply

Our divine courage, freedom, and Light.”

…The Sufi poet Hafiz

Lizzie Miller: “This body is her dulcimer.”

2009-09-13T20:34:00.001-06:00

By now you’ve likely seen this photo.

It’s the model Lizzie Miller, published in the September issue of Glamour Magazine. According to press sources, it’s causing a “stir” because of one thing: Lizzie’s tummy.

I saw this first on The Sartorialist, where 500+ readers commented. Up to now, I’ve never seen more than about 175 comments, tops, on any Sart post.

Several thoughts came to my mind after reading the press.

Number one. Twenty-year-old Lizzie works as a “plus-size” model. At five-foot-eleven (1.80m), she wears a size US 12 or 14 (British 16 or 18, or European 46 or 48).

Lizzie states that

“It’s sad. In the industry anything over size six is considered a plus-size. Pretty much every picture in a magazine or ad is airbrushed... I don’t think the public understands how much smoke and mirrors are involved in making women look like that…I’m not trying to promote obesity, and I’m not obese, but I’m also not stick thin.”

So why are women her size called “plus-sized?”

Number two. Public comments about Lizzie’s photo have been overwhelmingly positive—people shouting, “Finally, someone who looks like a real woman in major fashion magazine.”

But other folks complain that such imagery encourages obesity.

So on the one hand we have photos everywhere of women who appear anorexic. Now we have Lizzie, who appears real but is labelled, basically, a fatty.

I acknowledge that Americans, including myself, are wont to overindulge, and our average weight has crept up dangerously in the past thirty or forty years.

Still, is there gray area in the media between “thin” and “obese?”

Number three. For the title of this post, I paraphrased an ancient poem by Kabir, a 15th-century Indian poet. The original reads:

“Listen, friend. This body is his dulcimer. He draws the strings tight, and out of it comes the music of the inner universe.”

Can a body’s strings be drawn tight, even if one’s tummy is not?

Look at Lizzie’s smile. Do you detect her inner universe?

sallymandy

La Main de Madame Hugo and Other Photos of Women in History

2009-09-12T01:11:00.001-06:00

Two Women Fencing, Unidentified Artist, ca. 1885.

La Main de Madame Hugo, by Auguste Vacquerie, 1853-4.

These images are from the collection at the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, New York. This collection is in the public domain—not copyrighted.

Being a lover of art and women’s history, I had to share some with you. Although the online collection spans years up to the mid-20th century, I picked out nineteenth century ones because, to me, it’s exciting to see photographic images of a time that far gone.

I’ve done a little online detective work to learn about who the subjects and/or photographers represented here were. That information is below in the large fonts.

The photo above, taken by the French photographer Auguste Vacquerie, must be of the hand of that Mme. Hugo—wife of Victor. Vacquerie was connected to the Hugo family through his brother’s marriage.

The image below by the English photographer Henry Peach Robinson supposedly depicts Viola from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. I found that out in a book about nineteenth century photographic theory and feminism, but…I was too tired really to understand what it said.

She Never Told Her Love, by Henry Peach Robinson, 1858.

The two photos below are by John Thomson, a Scottish pioneering photographer whose work among street people of London was a precursor to the field of photojournalism.

Being the passionate thrifter and clothes recycler that I am (I still have not bought any new clothes since last February), I was really fascinated with this one of the old clothes shop. I’ve never seen anything like it.

An Old Clothes Shop, Seven Dials, by John Thomson, 1876-7.

Old Furniture, John Thomson, 1877.

The photo below is titled “Petipa.” I’m quite certain the dancer is Mariia Surovshchikova-Petipa, who was prima ballerina to the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres in the late 1800s. She was married to the choreographer Marius Pepita.

Interesting that in the fifth and sixth shots her arms are kind of at half-mast; not a true fifth position, and an unusual way to hold her hands (by today’s ballet standards).

Petipa, Andre-Adolphe-Eugene Disderi, 1862.

The image below is by Julia Margaret Cameron, a British photographer from the Isle of Wight who found her art when she was 48 years old.

Ophelia Study, Julia Margaret Cameron, 1867.

Girl With Dove, Oscar Rejlander, 1860.

The hand-tinted image below by early Japanese photographer Shin-E-Do looks like it could have been taken yesterday.

Shin-E-Do was known for depictions of Japanese life during the Meiji period (the last half of the nineteenth century)—a time of modernization and increasing status in the world.

I know little about how kimono and obi were traditionally worn, but I find it interesting that her obi is down around her hips, as in most of the images I’ve seen, it’s worn farther up the body. Maybe that was a style of the period? Or maybe her own personal style? Or…?

Japanese Woman With Mirrors, Shin-E-Do, 1890.

Aren’t these photos wonderful?

sallymandy

Vintage Shoes and Boots on Etsy

2009-09-11T01:03:00.000-06:00

Vintage leather patchwork boots, size 8.5 or 9 US. MotherMidnight. $150 USD. How cool are these? And they don’t match—even better! If these fit me, I’d be all over them. Sadly, they don’t fit me.

Beautiful black leather Prada chunky heels. Size 7 or 37.5. Noellerodrigues. $125 USD.

Vintage Armani black leather heels. Size 9 US. Heatergirlie. $75 USD.

1960s Gucci Boots. Size 35 or 5. BackThennishVintage. $195 USD.

Vintage Bruno Magli lace-up granny boots. Size 6.5 or 36.5. Thegreedyseagull. $68 USD.

1960s yellow suede ankle straps. BackThennishVintage. $34 USD.

Vintage Norma Kamali leather wedges. Size 8.5 US. Traven7. $145 USD.

Balenciaga 1970s vintage green leather sandals. Size 7 US. Longagomemories. $49.95 USD.

1970s skyscraper snakeskin shoes, never worn. Size 7.5 US. CosasRaras. $90 USD.

1970s retro leather heels. Size 8B US. RetroLane. $70 USD.

Vintage 1980s neon green kitten heel pumps by Guess. Size 10 or 42. Retrothreadz. $65 USD.

sallymandy

Teenagers and Cell Phones II. Texting Acronyms I’d Like To See.

2009-09-09T23:19:00.001-06:00

As a follow up to yesterday’s post, I figured it’s time parents had some of our own texting acronyms. We don’t need many to make our points. Just a few effective, succinct phrases like:

BISS! YSHMTIOD?! TIATLTMIGTSIMI. YGTBKIMDWWHWASAAR.

(Because I said so! You sent how many texts in one day?! This is absolutely the last text message I’m going to send; I mean it. You’ve got to be kidding; in my day, we were happy with a stick and a rock.)

Do you have any others?

sallymandy

Teenagers and Cell Phones. Learn From My Experience.

2009-09-09T02:02:00.001-06:00

So, I promised my twelve-year-old she could go back to school with a cell phone. That was six months ago, and we are still navigating the waters. If you are new to this situation, too, maybe we can help each other.

Now, it’s not that I want to hide from cell phones, television, or computers altogether. I want a door that shuts on them from time to time, to protect sanctuary in my home.

How to find moderation with a teen or ‘tween, and cell phones? If you can learn from my experience it will make me happy. And then share your insights with me. Here are some of my hard-learned lessons.

1. Buy time. Not cell phone minutes, but as much time as needed to get informed about cell phones and teenagers. If your child is pressing you for a phone, set a date that’s reasonable for you, and then stick to it.

2. Get informed. Learn about phones, services, and payment plans. Learn about your provider’s parental controls. Don’t assume that because you have a cell phone, you know the needed facts. Assume that your child knows way more than you do.

3. Ask what boundaries seem reasonable to your child. Try to discern what he/she thinks cell phones are for. Sit down, and prepare to be educated.

4. Decide what your boundaries are. Do you mind the cell phone being used first thing in the morning? At midnight? At dinner? On family outings, hikes, bike rides, movies? Your child will have seen atrocious cell phone behavior by the time she’s potty trained. She can’t be expected to follow reasonable boundaries unless you make them conscious and clear.

5. When in doubt, start with a strict boundary and ease up later. Explain that this is a work in progress. Allow yourself to evolve.

7. If your child is young enough, start an early rule that a phone at school belongs in the locker. High school teachers report that the cell phone habit is nearly impossible to control in the upper grades—even though schools have rules against them, they are hard to enforce. Discourage the habit of carrying it to class.

8. Let your child have a say in which phone to buy, but pay for it yourself. Ownership = tiny shreds of control. Your child can pay for services if you want him to have a financial stake.

9. Finally, when it all seems too much, look for comic relief. You might try learning some texting language to try out on your partner or mother. Beyond the ever popular “WTF,” there are phrases like:

YRYOCC: “You’re running on your own cuckoo clock.”

SSEWBA: “Someday soon, everything will be acronyms.”

RUMCYMHMD: “Are you on medication cuz you must have missed a dose.”

Do you have any wisdom about teenagers and cell phones?

sallymandy…

photo cartoon from www.photobucket.com. Click on photo for link to page.

Thought for the Day September 8, 2009

2009-09-08T01:07:00.001-06:00

”Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.”

Kahlil Gibran

“Be Not the Slave of Your Own Past…” Words for Meditation

2009-09-05T22:30:00.001-06:00

”Be not the slave of your own past.

Plunge into the sublime seas,

dive deep and swim far,

so you shall come back with self-respect,

with new power,

with an advanced experience

that shall explain and overlook the old.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thank you to Lynds at LandofLynds for posting this quote on her blog, where I found it. Photo from www.photobucket.com; click on photo to see photographer’s information.

♥♥♥

Beautiful Creations from Recycled by Hyena

2009-09-03T23:33:00.001-06:00

Cecile at Recycled by Hyena is taking clothing recycling to new heights. I’m just smitten with these beautifully designed and crafted pieces.

I love Cecile’s ethic and aesthetic of recycling clothing into something better than the sum of its parts. Here are some of my favorite RBH pieces—some for sale now on Cecile’s website or Etsy shop, and some that have already been sold.

(Today, I’m the happy owner of one of Cecile’s pieces. Keep reading to find out which.)

On her Etsy site, Cecile writes of her design philosophy:

“My clothes are made from scratch but not from new materials. They are made with fabric from clothes I purchased in Goodwill stores and non-profit thrift stores.

“I ‘believe’ in the craft revolution and I think it is our future. The handmade and eco-friendly life is the only alternative to the consumerism destroying our planet and the living beings surrounding us.”

I don’t know about you, but these designs are not what I usually envision when I hear the word “eco-friendly.” That they are both very desirable fore wearing, and good for the environment, and handmade, makes me really excited about Recycled by Hyena!

Plus, regular people like you and me can afford them. In times like these, that makes a difference.

Cecile also creates these gorgeous pieces of fiber jewelry.

The last one, the red and cream cuff, is now living in my dresser drawer (when it’s not on my arm).

Go visit Cecile at her Etsy shop or blog!

Sallymandy ♥

all photos are the property of Cecile at Recycled by Hyena and cannot be copied from this site without her permission.

Fabulous New Refashion/Recycle Book: “The Sweater Chop Shop”

2009-08-30T01:39:00.001-06:00

Just released two days ago: this colorful book on turning recycled wool sweaters into new, beautiful garments and useful objects for the house.

The Sweater Chop Shop is my new favorite book on clothing recycling and wardrobe refashioning. It’s well written with clear instructions and illustrations. It has a wonderful balance of introductory information and let’s-get-started enthusiasm.

Ms ffrench’s basic method is to create felted fabric from good quality wool sweaters in your washing machine and dryer, and then using the resulting fabric to create garments and household items.

You can make the Renaissance Top with Bell Sleeves pictured on the book cover. Or a Basic Pullover, or an Empire Vest with Gathers. For the home, how about this:

The processes involved are so simple that one doesn’t even need a sewing machine. All the projects are designed to be sewn by hand; in fact, the hand sewing is a design element.

Also—and this is important—the designs in this book are just cool, fresh, and funky. Having now looked at several wardrobe refashioning books, I’m not interested in another way to cut up a t-shirt or make a halter top out of a scarf. Those might be fine for twenty-something women, but I need something more substantial and higher-quality. I found some truly new, innovative ideas here.

Crispina ffrench photo from her blog, www.crispinaffrench.blogspot.com

Best of all, the designs are adaptable to pretty much any body, personality, age, or gender. The author gives detailed instructions on how to make basic garments, then follows with a chapter on individual elements to personalize them, such as hoods, various pockets, etc. If you don’t care for the rough-hewn, handmade look that’s pictured in the book, it would be easy to refine the designs by using a sewing machine and hiding the stitching.

I’m sold. I have to run to the basement now, to get my four old sweaters out of the washing machine and into the dryer for the next step in the Sweater Chop.

It’s All in How You Look At It

2009-08-28T23:26:00.001-06:00

“Nothing stops the man who desires to achieve. Every obstacle is simply a course to develop his achievement muscle.”

Eric Butterworth

“In the face of an obstacle which is impossible to overcome, stubbornness is stupid.”

Simone de Beauvoir

Songs for Facing the Music

2009-08-27T00:16:00.001-06:00

No more hiding for me.

We knew it was coming but we didn’t know when.

My husband has gotten a job out of state, in Las Vegas. With the Air Force.

The job situation in the glorious place where we live is so dire this offer is too good to pass up. It will be a three-year commitment, at the end of which we’ll have health insurance for life and a secure way to send our daughter to college.

Why am I sad? I usually am when things change, even for the better. I’m also, of course, relieved and a little bit hopeful. Yet sadness is a default emotion. Maybe that’s why I wrote a series of posts about depression a few months ago. Maybe I’m just a sad-sack, a fruit-loop, or a box of instant jello. I don’t know.

We will not, at least at first, be living all together in Las Vegas. More specifically, at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas. SeeSpotRun and I will be staying in Missoula for at least the first of the three years.

This is probably my biggest worry. SSR! What do you need, dear daughter? How will you tell me what your twelve-year-old self needs? How will I know? Is it better to stay, or to go?

Change always brings growth, but it also throws me back into my bad coping habits. I fear more, argue more. If I’m not careful, pretty soon I’m reliving every change that’s ever happened to me, my loved ones, endangered species, the oppressed, and the entire effing planet. This is not good for anyone.

On a solo drive in the moonlight and mountains tonight, I metaphorically placed SSR and Hubby in the hands of a benevolent Higher Power. Next I turned on some old and new favorite music on my iPod. Nothing too serious or dour (Clapton/River of Tears-- definite no). I needed beats and melodies and words and voices. Here’s my short list.

Mix Up, Mix Up…Bob Marley

Near Wild Heaven…REM

Hallelujah…Leonard Cohen

Stay a Little Bit Longer…UB40

Oh to Be in Love…Kate Bush

Seminole Wind…John Anderson

Yo Vengo Aqui…Compay Segundo

Two Princes…Spin Doctors

Paper Gangsta…Lady Gaga

Pocketful of Sunshine…Natasha Bedingfield

Not the Way…Gregory Isaacs

Hardstone—Uhiki (Pinye’s Remix)

Hello Stranger…Emmylou Harris

What about you? What music comforts and grounds you in times of fear or flux?

How to Measure Your Blog Visitors

2009-08-26T01:46:00.001-06:00

“How to Measure” is kind of misleading, because all I’m doing here is giving you two links.

The first link is to Sitemeter, where you can get a free account that will show how many visitors you have and where they’re from.

Sitemeter will also tell you how long people spend at your blog. Don’t be dismayed, as I was, if you see that many visitors stay for 0 seconds. I was told by a service fellow to ignore this. The program can only measure duration when someone clicks over to a second page, thereby giving it a bookended period of time.

At least, that’s what I think he said. Bottom line: Not to worry. No one stays for 0 seconds.

You can also track visitation for the week, month, and year on your free account at Sitemeter. And if you want, you can pay for additional services. Thanks to Hazel at The Clever Pup for telling me about Sitemeter.

You might also be interested in a site called Page Rank Checker. This site checks page rank.

What is page rank? It’s a numeric value that’s supposed to measure “how important” a site is on the Web, as calculated by Google. This is measured by how many sites link to yours.

Page rank appears as a number from 1-10 and shows up like this: 1/10 through 10/10. I don’t know any sites that have 10/10. Maybe Google does. Mine has a rank of 4, which I believe is average to good for a blog as old as mine.

♥♥♥

I’m So Curious

2009-08-25T01:01:00.001-06:00

In addition to my dear followers, I get visitors from around the world whose faces and names I never learn.

On the day I posted after my three week hiatus, I had over 120 visitors in a few hours. Most of you were strangers to me.

Was I happy with all these visits? Yes, I was.

I had expected during that hiatus that readership would fall seriously off. That I’d be forgotten; dropped out of cyberspace; cast off into the black hole of lame-o bloggers who don’t do what they say they’ll do and are self-focused enough to think the whole blogging community cares. Poor me.

But wait! Poor me nothing. There you all were.

I’m somebody!

So please, if you’d be so kind, won’t you say ola or bonjour or g’day or dzien dobry if you never have before? I’m dying to know who you are. Here are some of the mysterious places you are from:

Pretoria, Parow, and Johannesburg, South Africa

Warsaw, Poland

Somewhere in Kuwait

Honolulu, Hawaii (I think you, sly friend, come a lot!)

Seeheim-Jugenheim, Germany

Phoenix, US (I lived in that valley for 18 years)

Salisbury, UK

Moulineaux, France

Castlebar, Ireland

Roswell, US

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Jyderup, Denmark

Surat, Gujarat

Lausanne, Switzerland

Tarjn, Hungary

Trzebnica, Poland

Athens, Greece (are you safe from the fires??)

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Whitley Bay, UK

Edmonton, Canada

Parkes, Australia

A heartfelt thanks to all who visit here…

Sallymandy ♥

To Earthward

2009-08-24T01:44:00.001-06:00

A favorite poem by Robert Frost:

To Earthward

Love at the lips was touch
As sweet as I could bear;
And once that seemed too much;
I lived on air

That crossed me from sweet things,
The flow of -- was it musk
From hidden grapevine springs
Down hill at dusk?

I had the swirl and ache
From sprays of honeysuckle
That when they're gathered shake
Dew on the knuckle.

I craved strong sweets, but those
Seemed strong when I was young;
The petal of the rose
It was that stung.

Now no joy but lacks salt
That is not dashed with pain
And weariness and fault;
I crave the stain

Of tears, the aftermark
Of almost too much love,
The sweet of bitter bark
And burning clove.

When stiff and sore and scarred
I take away my hand
From leaning on it hard
In grass and sand,

The hurt is not enough:
I long for weight and strength
To feel the earth as rough
To all my length.

♥♥♥

Inhabit this moment. You are living a fantasy you dreamed of, or one you will remember.

2009-08-23T00:17:00.001-06:00

Inhabit this moment.

This is the moment we dreamed of when we were ten. When we said to our best friend: “Won’t it be great when we grow up? To get to wear those white go-go boots? It’s going to be like this, and this, and this.”

This is the moment we dreamed of, the day we looked ahead to.

Inhabit this moment.

This is the day we will look back on in ten, twenty, or thirty years. We will see a photograph of ourselves in this moment and think, “Damn, my body looked good then. What was I complaining about?”

Or, “I wish I had that person in my life again.”

We will remember this moment and yearn for what was and will never be again.

Time bends and does not stand still.

Inhabit this moment, for all the selves we have been and will be.

♥♥♥

E-Laryngitis Means…

2009-08-21T18:43:00.001-06:00

I temporarily lost my e-voice, emphasis on TEMPORARY!

Have been gone a long time—more than I thought—and looking forward to grabbing that silly ol’ Muse once again when she happens to stumble on my doorstep.

Help me out and discuss: what do you do when the creative river goes underground for a spell?

love, sallymandy

Reader Appreciation and See You in a Week

2009-08-03T22:58:00.001-06:00

Dear Readers,

I will be on vacation from posting for a week. In the meantime I’m going to come around and catch up on my reading.

Thanks for all of your visits to my blog this summer!

Wherever this week finds you, I hope you’ll spend some time enjoying August and doing some of your favorite things….

…or maybe, you’ll try something new.

Enjoy, Sallymandy

Thought for the Day

2009-08-01T00:55:00.001-06:00

“The years that a woman subtracts

from her age are not lost. They are

added to other women’s.”

Diane de Poitiers

Results of Yesterday’s Reader Survey: If You Do What You Love, Will Money Follow?

2009-07-30T08:34:00.001-06:00

Yesterday’s post generated over 140 visits to my blog. This was the most I’ve ever had. Do you think this topic hit a nerve?

Since I asked for your experiences, I’ll share mine too. Like many of you, it’s a mixed bag. I’ve spent my adult life parenting and working part time jobs that are kind of academic but allow me to write. They deal with interests that matter to me. They pay well enough.

That’s all good. But now I’m reconnecting with passions I had as a child, before money was any concern. Words were there, but also the visual arts. And also, a process was there; an attitude—of exploring, losing myself in a creative activity, seeing where it will take me, and what I can make.

Age has convinced me that I have a contract with the universe, so to speak—or God, or whatever one chooses to call a higher power—to follow these passions. I believe they are there for a reason.

I spend time every day on one or more of these passions; blogging, gardening, flowers, or sewing. The process is almost more important than the specific task. I do love this. However, it only works one day at a time. Controlling outcomes does not work (for me). Maybe I’ll be “led” to work harder at making money. Maybe not.

I deeply believe that “more will be revealed” as to what my passions are for. And in the meantime, I’m keeping my day job….

Survey Results:

In doing what you love, will money follow?

(I’ve deleted some of the personal parts. If you want the complete words, you can read yesterday’s comments.)

Imogen Lamport said...I do what I love and I'm earning a living from it. I think when you do something you love you put lots of time and energy into it, so will more likely make money if you stick to it and keep working at it.

♥

Pyzahn said... I have not yet found my "passion", but I did walk away from a job that made me miserable and I have NO regrets. I still thank my blessings that I'm marching to my own drummer.

♥

Lola said... Yes! Yes! Yes!

♥

Protege said... It is my experience that the most happiest moments in my life have cost me no money at all. However tacky it might sound, the truth still remains - the best in life is indeed free.

♥

Northmoon said... I'm afraid that I don't believe in the "Do what you love and the money will follow." It's a catch 22. I wish that there was one clear, definite right answer for me, "Here you go, you are meant to do this." People who have a calling or a passion are very lucky.

♥

La Belette Rouge said...I keep doing what I love and the money has yet to follow. Maybe the money has followed and it didn't have my forward addressing and it was returned to sender.

♥

Doreen said... well, I like my job, and I make a decent living. I am thankful for my job also and the benefits that come with it. In that way I am blessed. But I would love to not have to work for a living! I would love to just take daily adventure with my camera. I need to win the lottery.

♥

studioJudith said...I'm glad you added the note
"a modest living,” for I would have to say that has been my experience for the past 20 years. I've been a self employed interior designer, choosing to do what I love. It's been quite a roller coaster.

♥

The Small Fabric Of My Life said...After 12 years as a staff journalist I went freelance. I always dreaded the work drying up. But it never did. New opportunities came. I have never had ambitions to earn a fortune but simply to earn a modest living from what I enjoy doing. That is a long way of saying "yes" to your question!

♥

Renee said... What an interesting question. Half the time I don't even know what I would like to do. But I think that if you love something, that money could follow it. But there would have to be balance. You could love what you do but then you would have to market it at some point to sell it.

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ethelmaepotter! said...This is a most thought-provoking question. The simple answer is no, but there is so much to consider. My JOB allows me a bit of time and money to indulge in my passions. And, if made money on my passions, would they continue to be my passions, or would they press upon me with urgencies and deadlines, and cease to become my passions, and rather become dreaded chores?

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Modest Mom said... I always find that when I'm doing what I love I can live on less and not feel deprived.

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drollgirl said...I am not sure about this. I have always loved art, so i have worked in the arts for years and years. Most jobs can be rather aggravating, even in the arts, but I find if I am not surrounded by what I like it is MUCH, MUCH WORSE!

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Sparkling Red said...I do love my job, although the love developed in time, like an arranged marriage.

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Cynthia L. H. said... I have spent years following my dreams...usually the money followed someone else. I also spent a lot of time doing what "had to be done..." and leaving the dreams until last. Now, I have put the dreams first. There is still so much "work" involved. I don't mind the hard work. I just really am ready for the pay-off.

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Lianne said... It's good to read what others have experienced. Maybe the question for me is not doing what I love, but loving what I do.

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Sher said... I say no. If you are lucky to be in a profession you love and it's making enough to live the way you want to live....then you are lucky. Other wise there are compromises.

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tiffany said...Great question. I can't say I love what I do 100%, but a few years ago I wrote myself a list of what I wanted. . My current freelance work landed in my lap a short time later. So I may not adore what I do, but it plays to my skills, gives me flexibility and pays very well. I never forget how lucky I am.

Reader Survey! If You Do What You Love, Does Money Follow?

2009-07-29T00:58:00.001-06:00

I’m really interested in this. Has it ever happened for you that you did what you loved and the money followed? I’m not talking piles of money—maybe just a modest living.

Or, do you need to work to eat, and do what you love in your free time? Tell, tell! This should be interesting. ♥

Flowers de la Semaine and the Age of Aquari-dog

2009-07-26T21:39:00.001-06:00

Hi, Everyone. It’s me, Vanna White Dog. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the cutest (and maybe the only) gender-bending doggie in North America. You can read more about my modeling career here.

For this week’s Flowers de la Semaine, Clover and I channel flower children with daisies from the Motherdog. Most of you know the Motherdog as Sallymandy.

This photo shoot comes from the cabin at Placid Lake that the Greatgrandfatherdog built about fifty years ago. We spent four exhausting days there.

Now. Let’s talk about me.

Is my daisy chain too long? Does it make me look fat?

Clover got some daisies, too.

I think she looks a little funny. Kind of like those people we used to see in Haight-Ashbury back in ‘69.

Here’s another picture of me on the cabin porch. I’m posing with flowers the Motherdog put in the Greatgrandmotherdog’s yellow thingy. Some kind of “Fiesta ware gravy boat.”

I don’t get the fuss about this object. We did not have a fiesta, and there was no gravy. Instead, the Motherdog filled the boat with flowers she picked on a looong walk with Clover and me.

She says these flowers are:

Ox-eye daisies…

Montana harebells…

and…wild onions?!

Gee whiz. Ox! Hare! Onions! Clover and I got pretty hungry on this photo shoot.

The Motherdog gave us a treat when our work was done…

…and that was pretty groovy.

Peace, Love and Understanding….Vanna/Riley, and Clover

The Lake

2009-07-24T14:52:00.001-06:00

The Lake

Lakes are the holding places

For water

As the fireplace

Is the holding place for fire,

As the plaza is the holding place for people.

I know a lake in the mountains.

My heart is the holding place,

My heart is the keeping place,

For the things I know

About the lake in the mountains.

Always will I keep

In my heart

The things that belong there,

As lakes

Keep water

For the people.

……….Ann Nolan Clark

photos from www.photobucket.com. click on photos for links

Feeling Small? Promise Me You’ll Always Remember…

2009-07-21T21:32:00.001-06:00

“Promise me you'll always remember:

You're

braver than you believe,

and

stronger than you seem,

and

smarter than you think.”

A.A. Milne

Do you ever write a post and send it out feeling generous and wise, only to realize you wrote it for yourself?

I just noticed that I do this.

I just noticed that today, I feel like a small turtle on a giant finger. The finger is all the forces beyond my control—those having to do with jobs, security, relationships. These forces could be negative thinking, fear, or blame—all patterns I fall into that bite me in the hiney.

Alternately, the finger could be a big benevolent power greater than myself. God. The dharma. The universe. Whatever one chooses to call it, the hand I sit in can crush and rescue.

Smallness feels like confusion and sorrow. Not understanding where to put one’s flippers. What’s in that water over there? If I jump, will I learn to swim?

I think that I will.

Note to self, and anyone else who feels small: Promise me you’ll always remember. Braver, stronger, and smarter.

How Do You Simplify Your Life?

2009-07-20T01:31:00.001-06:00

What does it mean to simplify?

I wondered this as I woke up from a nap on the couch this afternoon. Not for the first time, it felt daunting to look around my home and behold the dust and clutter. It’s not actually a pigsty—but neither is it the same kind of clean living space I grew up with.

Not for the first time I had a fleeting notion that if I only had a different house—the right house—my life would be more simple. Here’s what this house would have (for starters):

some of those custom designed closets
laundry equipment on the same floor as the bedrooms
a trash compacter
an over-the-stove ventilator
no carpet in the kitchen
many, many other modern conveniences lacking in a house built in 1929

Next I thought about what it would take to get this simpler, more efficient house. First, I’d need more income. That would require a different job. The new job would probably require some new skills. I’d need to shop for an interview outfit, then write a new resume.

The new job would likely require moving to a new city, because chances of finding a better job in this city are next to nil.

Then I’d have to sell the current house—not to mention convincing my family of the wisdom of all this. I’d have to get out every item of crap in the house and do something with it. Handle at least once, if only to throw it in a box. Ideally, I’d sort it, giving some away, taking other stuff to the recycling center.

If I didn’t want to do this myself, I’d need to hire someone.

Will my life be simplified by getting a more efficient house? No. Today, simplest house is the one I’m already in.

I find myself in a quandary. We’re living between value systems—the old one being my mother’s, in which most married women kept their houses clean. It probably sucked, but at least everyone was doing it. Truly, the only people I know with clean houses have other women come in and clean them. Not one of my friends keeps her—or his—house like our mothers did.

The new value system is that which puts work, relationships and family time above housekeeping. This has to be good. Yet the piles in my house reach a critical mess eventually and I find myself not wanting to go home. Our environments do make a difference. Dusting does matter.

How to balance all this out? If it were really as “simple” as getting some new organizers, or devising “staging areas” around the house, or “delegating housework,” or setting up a “family organization center,” don’t you think I would have done that already?

By “you,” I’m addressing people who write those articles in women’s magazines with titles like “Put an End to Clutter Once and For All;” usually freelance writers—of whom I used to be one, so I’m not just pointing my finger at random others—who are coached to “write what you know” and “tell an old story in a fresh, new way,” and “sell to your audience;” and who are themselves probably stressed-out women whose lives seem unmanageable for one reason or another and whose editors advise that it’s easier to write about changing your kitchen drawers than about on getting a grip on your entire effing life, and besides, no one would buy the latter one anyway.

To borrow from the philosophy of Twelve Step programs, I submit that uncontrollable external situations, very often, are inner messes made visible. Things become unmanageable because we try to control forces over which we really don’t have any power.

(Note to self: insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.)

I’ve done some reading on home organization, time management, voluntary simplicity, and stuff like that. It’s all been helpful. I now use an empty ice cube tray to hold my earrings, and store kitchen utensils near the space where they are used. These are victories! They feel good!

But how far can this approach take us? As I surveyed my living room today, horizontally, I wondered: will I ever go through my entire house and devise little systems for simplifying everything, having a place for everything and then keeping everything in its place? Like the paper clips and obsolete computer software? The elastic hair thingies and the recycled ziploc bags?

Well, yes or no?

If my answer’s no, then what? Am I going to throw out all this stuff in the interest of paring down to non-essentials? It sounds really, really, good. I can live without twisty-ties, and clipped out magazine recipes. But what does a simplified person do when she really needs a paper-attaching implement and has thrown out her paper clips and maybe staples, too? At what point does paring down because a royal pain in the ass, counterproductive and complicated?

There has to be a better way to simplify than focusing on external stuff. Maybe if we could get back to basics with our inner lives, we’d find ways to simplify our environments. Or the messes wouldn’t bother us so much.

When all is said and done, it’s simpler—not easier—to do the internal work first. After all, the two are not separate. In dreams the house is a symbol of the self. Is a cluttered house the sign of a cluttered self? Absolutely, in my case.

Some days, the best way to simplify is to start with the only things we can control, that are ours. The body. The mind. The breath.

The breath is the foundation of meditation. It is a continual life force that connects us to the rivers of life and nature and the earth; to that which is bigger than we are. We can learn to control thoughts and actions—but nothing else. I believe that doing this opens the mind to solutions about the rest of the stuff. The key is remembering what we can control and what we can’t.

What do you think? What does it mean to you to simplify?