Today's Thought...

I will call into the past far back to the beginning of time and beg them, my ancestors, to come. I will reach back and draw them into me and they must come. For at this moment I am the whole reason they have existed at all.

~ Amistad

Still Breathing....

All Images © Simone Rene 2011

Sorry readers (those of you still out there), I find myself less inclined to consider trends and bargains these days. Instead I am trying to be in the moment with those who choose to share their moments with me. I am still knee deep in sorting the continued journey of my life. I continue to cull and let go of things and people with intent and purpose. And because of this continued effort life has taken on a bit of the simplicity that I have been yearning for; I am grateful. 

Of course I am not totally free from the complexity and drama but for some reason I am more willing to remove myself from the craziness that can overshadow and distract me from the act of doing and being. Instead of being part of the play I am learning to say my truth, stand or leave and let what will come of it come. And it isn't easy. I am constantly "talking" to myself, reminding myself that it is OK not to buy that item just yet; it's OK not to allow someone in my life for more than the moment shared; it's OK to  just lean into the moment in solitude and silence; It's OK to just be.

Enjoy Your Day!

Still Sorting...

All Images © Simone Rene 2011

Since moving to the Bayridge area I find myself taking 3 mile walks along the water way off of Shore Road at least 5 days out of the week- see photo from tonight's walk. Exercise aside moving along the stretch of space aside the ocean is helping me to keep my mind clear. And that clarity is allowing me to focus on my intent - to create and live a simple and fulfilling life.

Writer's Who Inspire

Our lives are stories waiting to be told. They are memories waiting to become words on pages to be read. Following is a short list of writers whose stories have inspired me through the years.

Octavia Bulter

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octavia_E._Butler )

Jorge Amado

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Amado )

Cristina Garcia

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristina_Garc%C3%ADa )

Amy Tan

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Tan)

Herbert Selby Jr

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Selby,_Jr.)

James Baldwin

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Baldwin )

Nora Neale Hurston

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zora_Neale_Hurston ) 

Louise Erdich

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Erdrich )

James Joyce

 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joyce )

My Inspiration

Lately I have been thinking alot about the solitary process of making art and when I think about art I find myself considering those visual artists that inspire me to work.

Following is a short list of those whom I adore. Rather than show you their art I thought I would share with you their person and let you choose to investigate their gifts to the world.

Be careful, you may fall in love.

 

Fritz Scholder

(http://fritzscholder.com/)

Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson

( http://www.aminahsworld.org/ )

Hundertwasser

( http://www.hundertwasser.at/english/hundertwasser/hwueberhw.php )

Romare Bearden

(http://www.beardenfoundation.org/index2.shtml )

Lenore Tawney

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenore_Tawney )

Wilfredo Lam

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wifredo_Lam )

William H Johnson

( http://www.whjohnsongrant.org/whjohnson.html )

Waiting for Spring...

Chrystie Street, February 2011

Laying in bed February 2011

All Images © Simone Rene 2011

Net Yogi's

I love yoga. After a few years of studio practice with some amazing teachers I now pratice on my own at home. I prefer the solitude and the opportunity to stay in poses as long as I like or can. I have no desire to achieve perfection. I just enjoy being able to silence myself and be in the moment. I try to mix it up and keep my practice as fresh and challenging as possible. I read books and magazines about yoga but like all constants in our lives lately I have been having the blahs about my time on the matte, that is until a friend turned me onto Yogaglo. A mimum monthly fee gives you access to a variety of yoga sessions that can be accessed based on teacher, style, level and/or length of session. They even offer a trial membership that gives you enough access to truly enjoy the site.

click on title to go to site.

Namaste

Inspired..

Frey Wille's 2011 Cuffs have totally inspired me!

This weekend I purchased the following

Now where did I put those black wooden cuff bracelets I purchased from the 99cents store??

If you don't want to bother click on title to go to the FreyWille's site

Remembering...

Martin Luther King, Jr. on his birthday

(January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)

Thank You

(click on title to hear the speech that moved/changed us all)

En Joy!

(All Images © Simone Rene 2009 - Houston & Avenue A)

One of the most amazing things about a child is the way their face willingly expresses true emotions.  Without a social filter in place they, children, wear their hearts without sensor. The light on a child's face when they are experiencing the pure joy and wonder of a moment is beyond compare. It is rare to see such unabashed emotion on an adult's face so when I do I take it as a gift.

Yesterday I had such a moment.  I happened upon a man so enjoying a pure and humorous moment with his shoes and two plastic bags that he decided would serve as protective covers for his dress shoes that he neglected to hide the unabashed joy and humor in the experience. There was no embarassment. There was no fear of ridicule and there was no shame. Instead this man sat himself down and with intent and obvious humor meticulously tied a bag around each shoed foot, stood up and allowed a belly laugh to spread across his face without a sound escaping his lips. In that moment he shone and I was in the path of his light. When he caught my gaze he did not shut down, instead he beamed and in that moment we were en joy. My being part of his experience did not deter him from his experience, instead his joy spread even wider and with continued grace and humor he smiled deeply and explained "well at least they match".

It is moments like this that keep me going. I seek them out on a daily basis, looking from face to face for the signs of the children we were and still can be. And by seeking I am reminded to allow myself to let go and be in the moment of emotion as well because it is only by being in the moment that we can experience such freedom.

Ashe' my friends, Ashe'

Happy New Year

Happy 2011 Good Readers.

I hope this entry finds you all in good cheer and good spirit.

There was a time when I stressed the end of a year and the celebrations that surrounded it. Panic always set in after the candy cane dust of Christmas settled and the last week in December arrived. This last week of the dying year reminded that I had left much of the previous year's resolution undone.  Instead of seeing the week between winter celebrations and the new calendar year as a quiet time to reassess and reaffirm my direction and intent I saw it as a reminder of opportunities and time wasted and as an exercise of transferring many of my goals and resolutions from one year’s list to the next year's list. Somewhere along the way that changed. 

I no longer stress the New Years Eve celebrations. Give me some family, a few close friends, good food and wine and a warm room and I am happy to welcome in another year. In the end I think that all the parties, pretty dresses and dancing until dawn were a search for what had always been with me - the love of those I cherish and the reassurance that they had the same desire to move forward with me in their company and them in mine.

I no longer see reviewing the to-do lists of the year gone by as a reminder of what I have yet to achieve. It is because of these yearly assessments that I have come to know myself in ways I am extremely grateful for. And it is that gratitude that allows my ego to accept that many of my goals are long term and without true time constraints and that many of my achievements are small incremental steps towards those full life goals. And even when I decide to let go of a specific intent I am not lost because the yearly review has allowed me to see the me, myself and I while still maintaining a view of a journey that far out sizes the scope of my expectations. Because I have been given this gift in the end I understand and accept that regardless of what goals I set or what resolutions I fail to achieve I am as I need to be in this here and now. 

Here's to a New Year of opportunity and knowing that despite a list of resolutions and goals that you are perfect as you are!

Welcome 2011!

New York Marathon 2010

All Images © Simone Rene 2010

At the Desk

This Desk was on Ebay.

I fell in love with it.

Of course I want to change the colors a bit.

Unfortunately it was a pick up only bid and I am no where near where it's located.

Into my Maybe-One-Day folder this image went.

There are no less than 5 desk images in that folder.

On day one of those desks will materialize.

Everyone should have a Maybe-One-Day folder. It allows us to dream and more importantly direct our intent so that we come to know ourselves.

Every 3 months or so I sit with my folder and review the things that have manifested and those things I no longer desire. I love to edit. I find a sense of satisfation in letting go of things that no longer seem to be must-haves in my life. It allows me to direct my attention and gratitude towards the things I do have. It makes me feel that I have progressed in some way. And more importantly it helps me see the themes in my life so that I can avoid acquiring things that don't support those themes. This doesn't mean I don't experiment or go in directions that seem to be a journey, but by holding onto ideas and images of what I desire those journeys just seem to bring me home.

In the end we are who we are and though who we are is always evolving it is at our core we are always the same.  Knowing your self takes effort and honesty and dreaming and sometimes it takes a Maybe-One-Day folder.

Fall Has Arrived...

All Images © Simone Rene 2010

5 Women & A Bottle of Tequila

and talk of men is bound to happen.

This weekend we talked about men that reflected the diversity of our group and the following selection was considered -

Boris "speak German to me" Kodjoe

Russell Wong

Lenny Kravitz

Adam Beach

Wentworth Miller

and Viggo Mortensen thrown in for good luck

(when considering men you have to cover all bases)

Slow & Steady...

Organizing and sewing a wardrobe rather than making individual garments is like creating a line. All the clothing and accessories should to be a cohesive presentation of your taste and style. Doing that involves culling, revising, more culling and really addressing the whole of the wardrobe while giving each garment the individual attention it needs to become something really wonderful to wear.

Some of you may recognize more than a few of these images and patterns from an earlier post that shared my inspiration boards. These photos show the next steps which involve editing the photos and coordinating them with patterns and fabrics so that the picture of and process become clearer. You may also see that you have repeated the same shapes and styles, which is good because those repetitions are an echo of your desired style.

 

I rarely drape or make a pattern from scratch. Everything has been done before and it is much easier to adjust an existing pattern to meet my needs. Of course knowing how to size is important but the good thing about using existing patterns, photos and a simple sketch showing the changes you want is that you can seek outside help from seamstresses and tailors that know their art.  

Once you have the outline of the all the garments you want made you can address each by truly considering fabrics, lining and notions needed for construction. The back of the pattern is useful in determining this.

The key to maintaining the concept of a wardrobe rather than the making of an individual garment is to regroup all the sketches, pictues, fabric swatches. I ususally place each "garment" into a large plastic freezer bag. Doing so allows me to see images and fabrics and often the fabrics will cross polinate to other items, for example the quilted bags below introduce themselves to a hat. I then re -pin each bag to the inspiration board in an order that feels right to me - accessories (hats, bags), blouses, suits, pants, skirts, dresses, coats - so that I can see the individual projects as a whole.

Making a wardrobe is an investment of time and resource. Forgive yourself for not getting it all done at once because unless you're designing a line for the season you have as much time as you need to determine your own style.

All Images © Simone Rene 2010

Speaking in Art Noveau

Frey Wille is an Austrian company founded in 1951

They have boutiques world wide and produce fine enamled jewelry and accessories

Their pieces are beautifully enameled and definitely collector items.

click on title for more details

(I am inspired to be creative)

Oooohh Great Pumpkin...I Love Thee

All Images © Simone Rene 2010

Something Different

I am soooooo tired of the long flowing hair trend. I am ready for some retro reaching. These photos of Sophia Loren from Marriage Italian Style make me want to layer my hair, get a perm, sleep in row and rows of hair rollers and tease, tease,tease....sigh..the other day I did pull out the pin strip jacket, ankle wrapped heels and gold hoop earrings but I wasn't ready for the false eyelashes, liquid mascara.. I need the hair first..

Sigh...

All Images © Simone Rene 2010