Haunting

I am sitting at Mayo Clinic waiting for my aunt to get a CT Scan. They found a large mass on her Pancreas. I am anxious and scared. This just doesn't seem right, but as I have already experienced, life can so quickly turn on a dime.

This place CREEPS me out. I have always had a phobia of hospitals. The smell alone makes me nauseous. I have this weird notion that you get sick just by being in a place like this. I sanitize my hands every few minutes and I refuse to place my purse on the floor or eat anything from the cafeteria. I have real issue with it all.

But maybe it goes a bit deeper. My mom used to work here, at this very campus. Walking these very halls brings back very strange and intense memories. I used to surprise my mom and drive up from ASU and bring her flowers or a pretty plant. Her co-workers loved me and during my senior year of college I ended up interning in Mayo's Marketing department. It was a fabulous experience, however this place is still full of ghosts that are seriously haunting me!

I guess my mind is just on over-drive. I am very worried about my aunt, I am in a reflective surreal state being at Mayo, especially coming on the heels of the 10 year anniversary of my parent's death. After the accident my sister and I had to spend time here, wrapping up their affairs. It is all so freaking eerie.

Furthermore, digesting that 10 years has passed makes me think about how much I have changed. That little girl that used to drive up from Tempe, sure isn't the same! My hopes, my dreams, my goals, my taste in everything from clothes, boys, music, etc has completely done a 180!

Life has changed tremendously in the past ten years! And I am scared it is about to change again.

Couture Water

I had lunch with several of of my creative & artistic friends yesterday at Oakville Grocery in Scottsdale. It was cute place to meet. It felt like an expanded La Grande Orange. They were selling Christian Lacroix Evian water bottles, and I of course had to have it! I am always a sucker for cool packaging design - ALWAYS! Christian Lacroix is one of the few remaining haute couture designers left. He is a master and a genius!

Moreover, the intricate lace-like pattern etched onto the bottle reminded me of dollie-placemat I found at the New York restaurant Falai. Brian suggested Falai when I was in New York last week. It is in the lower east side and it is marvelous! I highly suggest going if you are in the lower-east side and of course New York. It is a very design-savvy, modern-Italian-fusion restaurant. Small portions but everything is art! The platting, the presentation, etc. I asked if I could take the placemat because I had ideas of using it as a stencil.

Last night I spray-painted the placemat onto the back of a black hoodie. It is a work in progress, but it is on its way to being a pretty cool hoodie!

So from couture water bottles to placemats, some of my best inspiration comes while socializing over food or over everyday items!

A Few Of My (current) Favorite Things

I seem to go through periods where I will buy "multiples" of a similar product. If I love something, I seem to want it in an abundance. Right now, I am into collecting pretty cake plates. They are perfect for visual merchandising and displaying my headbands at trunk shows. Kelly gave me a beautiful baby-pink cake platter from Miette a delightful pastry shop in San Francisco.

The other item is boots -- actually, that is a lie! I am not in a boot-phase, I am always addicted to shoes! It doesn't matter how many pairs I have, there is always going to be another pair that screams out to me that it needs a home in a my closet and a place on my toes! I found the cream pair of boots in New York City. They are so ballerina-princess meets sassy New Yorker, I just had to have them....

And lately my lingerie collection seems to be growing. I love the intricate details that come with lingerie.Working with the Aerie designers at American Eagle, I saw first hand the design process behind intimate apparel. It was quite fascinating, and it made want to grow my collection....but I'll leave those pictures off the web :-)

Unwritten

I know I blog a lot about songs and song lyrics. But to me, song lyrics are my poetry. I have so many songs that I feel "fit me" are or "my song". I guess there are a lot of artists out there who are able to capture the thoughts and feelings inside my heart and my head.

2009 set me on a new path and led me to experience some really incredible adventures. When I started this blog I was gearing up for Henri Bendel's "Open See", and all that has transcribed since then is at times mind boggling.

Kelly made me a picture slide-show set to music four years ago when I left Scottsdale for Manhattan. The very first picture on the cd was a picture of when we went to New York to look for apartments, I was standing in front of Parsons. Kelly set that picture to Natasha Bedingfield's song "Unwritten".

And then Brian would play "Unwritten" over and over again on his computer because it reminded him of the opening scene of "The Hills" which made him think of a happy, sunny place -- I know, I know ;-) So the song reminds me of both of my awesome roommates and of course as I re-listen to the lyrics I see how fitting they are for this next adventure and for the fact that it is a new year...

I am unwritten,
Can't read my mind
I'm undefined
I'm just beginning
The pen's in my hand
Ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten, yeah

Oh, oh

I break tradition
Sometimes my tries
Are outside the lines, oh yeah yeah
We've been conditioned
To not make mistakes
But I can't live that way oh, oh

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
drench yourself in words unspoken
live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
the rest still unwritten

(Gospel)
Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open *****
Today is where your book begins

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open *****
Today is where your book begins

The rest is still unwritten