Designs in Bloom

I am so excited that less than one month after writing my Thirty for 30 list, my Etsy store is up and running! It has all happened rather quickly, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. The week before my birthday I was in a production of The Vagina Monologues in Hartford, CT. As part of my “costume” I wore a red and zebra print fleece flower in my hair. I made the flower the night before our dress rehearsal while watching tv and thought it would complement the rest of my outfit nicely. Once I was at rehearsal I had a couple of women ask me about the flower and where I got it. The questions continued both nights of the show from other women in the show and from people in the audience. This was very flattering.

The night of the second show, there was a BYOB event called “Uncorked” prior to the show where vendors were selling different things and people were welcome to peruse the products and snack on hors devours. During this event, one of the vendors (www.etsy.com/shop/poorandpretty) asked me about my flower and whether or not I made it. When I said I did make it she said I should think about selling them. This was the comment that started the process that I now find myself in the middle of. I then made a couple more flowers in different colors and with different buttons with the plan of eventually starting an Etsy store.

This past weekend, I found myself talking with a local store owner (www.brazenbetties.com) who also showed an interest in my flowers. We talked about pricing and she gave me some great suggestions to help me in starting this venture. If the vendor was the first seed, this store owner was the water, and my excitement was the sun that got this little crafting flower to blossom. I went into a full flower making frenzy while my husband took pictures of the finished products. Now the flowers are online and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Even if I don’t sell a single one, it’s still a success because I believe in myself enough to post something I made online. What a feeling…

I have to also give a lot of credit to my husband because without his support this would all be a lot harder. I have also had 2 very supportive friends cheering me on at every step, and I love them for that. Everybody needs a little cheering squad, even if you don’t make the touchdown. Thanks Kevin, Jenn, and Ramona!! <3


Etsy Store: www.etsy.com/shop/LoveInBloomDesigns

New recipe of the week: Beef Stroganoff

Book: The Help

Time travel

I would love to go back in time and yell at my younger self for wanting to make time go by faster. We spend so much of our youth wishing we were older and more grown up, longing for more responsibility and less homework and chores. I used to go to sleep hoping I would wake up all grown up with a husband and a house and nobody telling me what to do.

Bah! Silly younger me, what was I thinking?? Now that I have surpassed the age that I was wishing to be and am at a point that younger me would undoubtedly call OLD, I realize how crazy those wishes were. You always have homework, chores, and somebody telling you what to do. These are things that never go away.

I remember sitting with my friends talking about what we were going to do when we “grow up” and how we would never be like our parents. As time goes on, I realize that being a little like my mom would be a wonderful thing. My mom is a strong woman who was able to take care of a home and a child on her own for many years. I was not an easy child do live with and didn’t even like living with myself most of the time, but somehow she did it. She put up with a lot from me and every morning I still knew that no matter what I said the day before, she still loved me. I don’t know how, but she always loved me. When I was in my early twenties and out on my own, trying to make that teenage me proud, I remember apologizing to my mom for how horrible I had been during those younger years. Things were not as easy as I thought they would be and I still had people to answer to and more chores than I could shake a broom handle at.

Now I find myself wondering how that 15 year old Dee would feel if she could see me now. I’m sure she would be shocked at the fact that I am 30 and not a millionaire, or at least married to one. I like to think that she would sit and listen to me explain how stupid a lot of her behavior is and that she should just buckle down and get her grades up (now who’s dreaming?). We spent some time this weekend with my husband’s niece who is 13. She was telling us about “nuggeting” which apparently involves turning someone’s backpack inside-out and then putting all of their stuff back in it before zipping it up. The way it looks flipped around like that makes it look like a nugget, hence the name. This conversation made me think there would be no sense in talking to 15 year old me, because we all have to go against the grain at some point, we just have to hope we have someone there to love us through it.

At this point I’m not wishing the years away, I’m begging the seconds to stay. My wishing isn’t working, but this list is forcing me to try to enjoy at least one moment of every day. I say try because it isn’t always easy, as anyone with a pulse can tell you. There are days when I don’t feel like going to work or I don’t want to make dinner, when I wish I could be that 15 year old girl again. In those moments I often look at my husband and he brings me back and takes some of that angst away. I may be well beyond the rebellious stage of 15, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still have my moments of defiance, but there he is in the morning wiping our slates clean and showing that he loves me as my mother did before him.

5 days in!

Here I am 5 days past my 30^th birthday and I have come out mostly unscathed, with the exception of a mildly injured knee which is currently in a brace. This is unfortunately common for me and could have been predicted by a near stranger. I should have put “don’t get injured” on my list!

I was fortunate to have Thursday through yesterday off from work, as did my husband. My birthday weekend was very fun and filled with surprises. “Birthday weekend”…does everyone do this or is it just me? How does one day suddenly turn into multiple days dedicated to one person? Oh well, it was a wonderful weekend at any rate. 

On my birthday, my husband and I went to Bristol, RI where we stayed at a cozy little Bed & Breakfast. On the way there, we stopped at two wineries which was a great way to kick things off! After checking in to the B&B, I was swept off to Providence where two surprise stops awaited me. First, we went to a record store that I didn’t even know existed (I used to live in the capital city) to browse the vinyl in search of something released in 1982. To my excitement, we found a Pat Benitar record that met the requirements.

Our second stop in Providence was to my favorite bakery, Pastiche, where there was a birthday cake awaiting our arrival. This was such an unexpected treat, major points for my husband!! After picking up the cake we made our way to this little Irish restaurant, RiRa where we split a delicious dinner. Our next stop was back to the B&B for some R&R. It was such a great day, but I was exhausted!

On Saturday I had a few girlfriends over for a relaxing afternoon of cocktails, movies, and manicures. This might not be everyone’s ideal birthday party, but it was just what I wanted and it was so much fun. I was even surprised with a unicorn balloon from my friend Ramona who is always telling me “you’re only as old as you feel.” I love my friends! 

I am pleased to say that through all the hustle and bustle of the weekend, I was actually able to kick off my 30 for Thirty list with some real gusto. I managed to read most days and am hoping to finish The Help by Kathryn Stockett before the end of the month. In the interest of full disclosure, I had actually started this book at the beginning of February, before I created the list. In addition to the reading, I also made two new recipes; buffalo chicken dip and chicken salad for sandwiches. I got the buffalo dip recipe from my friend Ramona and it was a big hit, as was the chicken salad which I kind of just threw together. 

I was not able to always stick to my goal of being honest with my feelings and I am beginning to see that this will be a very challenging one for me. I have a couple of close friends with whom I have recently lost contact with for one reason or another, and I was really missing them. I found myself wanting to reach out to them but each time I started to, something stopped me. 

Typically birthdays are times when people reconnect, but that was not the case with these friends. I realize that the need to reconnect and hold on to these relationships may very well be one sided and my desire to keep relationships from dissolving is something I have always struggled with. This is all part of the journey, it just might be one of the larger hurdles. 

“If you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you, it’s yours forever. If it doesn’t, then it was never meant to be.” ~ Unknown 

This quote makes me wonder…what if I’m not here when it comes back?

The List

Since today is my birthday, it seems as good a time as any to debut the list. 

1.       Be honest about my feelings

2.       Do at least one thing every day for me

3.       Go someplace new and unexplored

4.       Make one new recipe each week

5.       Make one new friend

6.       Rediscover someplace old

7.       Read one book per month

8.       Make jewelry again

9.       Create an Etsy account

10.    Buy a house

11.    Ride a ferris wheel

12.    Lose 20 pounds

13.    Commit to an exercise plan

14.    Explore alternate careers

15.    Only use reusable bags at the grocery store, no plastic

16.    Go to a haunted house

17.    Go ice or roller skating

18.    Enroll in a class

19.    Go kayaking

20.    Make a kite and fly it

21.    Do something for charity

22.    Paint pottery

23.    Avoid malls

24.    Make soap

25.    Hike in the White Mountains

26.    Dance in the rain

27.    Audition for something

28.    Attend a concert

29.    Visit Niagara falls

30.    Write a blog

This will definitely be a journey of self discovery and amusement. Some of the items on my list would seem silly to others, like riding a ferris wheel or going to a haunted house, but for me those things sound terrifying and will take great effort to accomplish. Some things will be checked off and easily measured right away, like doing something for myself each day, others will be better known at the end of the year, like making one new friend. All are significant to me, and I will make my best effort to cross them all off and I will document those efforts here.

I am very excited and nervous to be starting this list and I hope that those who choose to follow along with me are entertained at the very least.  

It was just an idea...

Just like many who have gone before me, I was not excited about turning thirty. It’s not that my twenties were all that good to me, in fact there were a lot of very hard times in that decade. It wasn’t that I was afraid of getting older, that had never phased me before. There was just something about the number that was bothering me. It is such a big, round number and these decade markers always get so much pressure put on them. For months I was watching online as people I knew were preparing for their “dirty thirty” parties and celebrations. I participated in some of these and found people to be divided between excitement and sadness about the decade change. 

So, as I was dreading the big 3-0 and thinking about just ignoring the date all together, I got an idea. It stemmed from the realization that I tend to let things happen to and around me without always expressing how I feel about a given situation. It could be as simple as a sales clerk treating me poorly but I don’t tend to confront friends and family and I don’t write reviews for poor service. To be fair, I don’t typically write reviews for good service either. A friend asked me how I expected things to change if I didn’t do anything about it, if I didn’t share my feelings.  

That idea to share my feelings got me to think about other areas of my life that I would like to change and things I would like to try. I started to think of thirty as a good time to take control and become a stronger, better person. I have heard of bucket lists before, things people want to do before they die, and I thought this could be a great way to take control of thirty and a productive way to enter a new decade. It certainly has to be better than wallowing in self pity remembering the days of youth gone by. 

So from that simple idea came the Thirty for 30 list. Here’s to a great year!