{stretch}

April.  

Yes, that was a month that expired 15 whole days ago.  I have been tardy.  I am well aware of my absence in this space here that I love.  

Shew.  April.

Stripes are very symbolic to me.  I am mesmerized with the way they succinctly have their own status side-by-side-one another.  Be it a pinstripe, a chevron or just a plain ole-strip-by-strip pattern, I am hooked by their repetition.  And, crazy enough, you can stare at stripes in any venue long enough and find the two as one collective pattern.  Two entirely separate color ways partnered together to create a complete look.  

For those just joining my year of rhythm, go here to understand just what the heck is going on.  For those already with boarding pass in hand and a warm seat by the window, here we go:

Ensemble statistics:

undershirt:

Merona brand
Goodwill $.25

• has a huge rip in it right on my left breast from a pin removal gone terribly sour (thank goodness for padded bras or I potentially could have had a handmade tattoo right on the breastical.)  
• I wear it anyway as an undershirt because well, it is the absolute best undershirt.  Perfect length, perfect give to it, but not total suction to where all you are doing is tugging at it to stretch it out.  {Ever met anyone that has that habit of pulling at their shirt because they are self conscious of it being too snug and it showing areas of their body they are nervous about?  I have.  I want to longingly pull them aside and tell them that pulling at their shirt obsessively only draws attention to their insecurities of a form fitting garment.  I also want to remind them that the tugging is most often unnecessary and a good dose of posture would totally kick that habit.}
• This shirt also has that super smart mid-bi-cep length.  I am not gonna lie.  I feel all kinds of cute in this cut.

sweater:

Boden
$1.25 Goodwill
THAT'S RIGHT.  I SAID BODEN BRAND.

• This sweater is rocktastic.  {Yep, totally just made that word up.}
• I adore the color.  It's all a cross hybrid of coral and salmon.  Now, that.  That's my happy place on the color wheel.
• Shut the front door.  IT HAS A BOW TO TIE.  Totally stylish and all the trend right now. 
• It also has HIGH END hidden hook-n-eye closures just down the front.  Love the versatility of closing this bad boy up if I wanna.  
• Love the boat neckline.  I have worn this sweater with tanks and with a strapless dress and "gawded" up my neck with chunky jewels.  Bare skin + chunky jeweled necklace + boat neck line + bow tie = A WHOLE LOTTA PARTY.  And, the outfit hasn't even made it to my waistline yet!
• The length of the sweater is tricky.  It's that "Hmm, is it too short? Or, am I still loitering around in the early 2000's with this fashion choice?" {Remember the short sweaters that just wrapped around your back and stopped right under your chest?  Yeah, like those.}  But the color and bow tie totally trumped that fashion insecurity and I went for it.

pin:

• My Mom's.
• vintage
• It's glossy pink jewels and green jade intertwined to make a floral design.
• I can remember being a little girl and going not once, but three times to the local antique shop in Tullahoma, TN {Ole World Antiques, I think} for her to gape at this pin behind the glass case.  
• It was $36 then in 1988.
• My mom would never pull the trigger.  My Mom-Mommie bought it for her.
• I love that my grandmother bought it for my mother.  I love wearing this pin and recalling my little girl eyes watching this pursuit of beauty and this transaction of love from a mother to a daughter.  I love that my grandmother and my mom were such wonderful examples of seeking out the unique and finding the beauty there too.

pants:

• Tommy Hilfiger
• $2.25 Goodwill
• There a stone washed navy and white pin stripe.  
• They have a boat leg bottom which totally is stage for "Wear some killer cute shoes, okay?".
• Being 5'9", it is difficult nearly impossible to find extra long length in pants at GOODWILL.  
• These pants can only be worn with a heel.  That's how long they are on my stature.  

shoes:

• I have spoke of these bad daddys here once before if you will recall.
• Nashville Goodwill $4.00.
• That's high price in my world, but totally worth it with the WOW factor these puppies provide.
• Now who puts a stripe with a stripe?  Um, I do.  And, who thinks that's rocktastic?  I do.  
• A lot of times I will wear my ensembles and get some sideways looks.  My best friend can gladly attest to this when I went through my late 90's phase of wearing socks with my capri pants in the dead.of.winter.  Ask her.  She'll tell you.  Sideways looks.  
• You have 2 choices when it comes to sideways looks if you ask me.
• You can shrink back and do the proverbial pull-at-your-shirt {see above} or you can stand up and LOVE the choice you made.  I choose the latter.  And, I like to think, that my latter choice may just help someone else find the you in their unique and stand up just a little taller too.  Don't make me break out my capri pants and socks.

bracelets:

• I've said it before, I'll say it again.  I am the Mr. T of bracelets.  
• I borrow from the Lay's potato chip ad: "Betcha can't eat just one."  Only I like to replace eat with wear.

earrings:

• These were my great-grandmother's.  
• They're clip-ons. 
•  These babies are chunky rhinestones that create a floral design.  
• I was given her costume jewelry box after my aunt had the opportunity to go through it.  
• My aunt loved all the necklaces and took those.  I really loved the earrings, so it worked out perfectly.
• I kinda lose lobe feeling about hour 3 of wearing them.  
• Ole school clip-ons don't mess. 
•  It's all good though; beauty is pain sometimes, peeps.

my hair:  

• Riding the day 2 wave of washing/drying/straightening/fixing.  
• Men will never know nor fully comprehend the work in preparing long hair from start to finish. 
•  It's sweat.  It's labor.  
• It's fully worth a good 3-4 day wear before washing in my book.

Total outfit investment:  $7.75 (not counting the inherited items)

April 2012

My word:  

My personal word of growth for April 2012 was stretch.

My mission:

My business:

I wanted to take more of my ideas for products and see them into reality on the retail platform.

I wanted to work more on my advertising avenues and define the k.Mac brand a little clearer.

I wanted to push myself to meet deadlines and greet new cliental with energy and enthusiasm.

 My boys:

I wanted to stretch them into more self prompted learning.  

I wanted to step away from them more as they are learning to become writers/readers and watch them create and decode more phonetically on their own.

The business & the boys:

I wanted to see more of what it would look like with a FULL load of designs and creating with a FULL time job of teaching too.

My Kenny:

I wanted to have more time to just be with him more.  Sitting beside him.   Talking with him.  Little things, you know?

My family:

I wanted to surprise them with some little things.  Things not anticipated or expected.  

My mom:

I wanted to stretch my feelings out to remember her passing.  It was important to take the time to re-visit my past and remind myself of the hurt in losing her.  For, it's within that hurt that beauty of now grows.  A lot of times, I think, people shy away from painful memories as they are so very hard to sit in.  But, they're real.  It was my hope that this unwanted realness of my past would prick my heart more for the hope of my now.

My God:

I wanted to love on Him more.  I wanted to give Him what He deserves from me.

My status:

* * * 

3 out of 5 stars

My memories:

My business:

It grew.  I gained so many new clients.  It was so unbelievably awesome to see product ideas in my head turn into cliental purchases.  It validated my designing eye.  It warranted my place as a one who creates even more.  Meeting deadlines is tough when real-life-unplanned-for-situations arise when you are the sole employee of a small business though.  

My boys:

Casey is reading.  Reading unseen material!  As in, he no longer reads just the books we have re-visited through repetition.  He writes on his own (no longer having mama write what he wants to say and then him copy it) and does a stellar job of using word chunking and phonetic rules to create his sentences.He officially will be considered kindergarten age this Fall.  Eli is fluent in a 6 sentence story.  Above average in his spelling and word choices as a writer.  He is reading on a 4th grade level entering into 2nd grade this Fall.  They both groan and moan when it comes to writing, but I am proud as punch when I see them lost in their story and watching their words move from their minds to their papers.   

The business & the boys:

THIS IS TOUGH.  I am pulling off 2 FULL time jobs under one roof.  These 2 professions are ones that I am equally passionate about.  I want to be sure to give my best to both.  There are several mindsets to consider here. The whole flexible homeschooling schedule is a perk, but I want to be sure my kids are getting just what they need and deserve.  The month of April had me working into the wee hours of most mornings to be sure that designs were complete and so that days of learning were carried out too.  I am watching something I love as a designer grow, and I want to be sure I don't slight my kiddos in the process.  Kenny and I are taking this summer to mindfully pray and decide what the best route for the boys is as far as their learning structure.  I do still want to homeschool as teaching and my boys is my heart.  {insert a heavy heart and hopeful mama here}

My Kenny:

I miss him.  We have always operated as an independent couple.  This has been our strength and our weakness.  With a full plate of teaching & creating these past few months, I have realized just how much I want him just for me.  The few times he mandated my bedtime the same as his or coerced me into sitting beside he and the boys as they watched "a little bit of Ope" {as we like to call it in our non-cable home}, were times that reminded me of just how much I don't want miss out on enjoying one another.  Definitely room for improvement in this area of my life.

My family:

I surprised my sweet sister-in-law with my niece Mallory's diaper bag and baby bundle to match!  I was all covert and sneaky calling on a wonderful k.Mac client of mine to help me out with delivery.  I loved doing this!  Now, if I could only get her nursery bedding done.  My niece will be 3 months old in 2 weeks.  ACK!  I also tried to love on my mother-in-law and Larro a little more.  We had them down for dinner and dessert 3 out of the 4 weekends.  The boys and I also did a hit-n-run treat drop off to her at their home where the boys dropped the goodies, rang the doorbell and took off!   I even tried squeal tires as she appeared at the front door.  Super fun!

My mom:

Done.  The proof is documented here.  The pain of reliving these moments that turned into my now was so grief stricken as I wrote this.  I am glad I did.  The fresh look at what I lost has only propelled me more to live for what is right before me.

My God:

He needs more of me.  More of me in mind, heart, and spirit.  I fail Him in living out His love on many levels.  My mindset is most often His greatest disappointment in me I would imagine.  Much work for me to do for Him is before me.  

                      

Stretching myself down to reach is good.  I just gotta remember to look up and out too when I do so.

Much like the love I have for stripes with the way they succinctly have their own status side-by-side-one another, I am stretching my own passions to do just the same. My hope is that this collective, striped look of me is aesthetically pleasing to God's will in my life.  

.mac :)

{photo credits:  Eli G. Cobble}