I Would Like to Thank the Academy

Yesterday, Nuha tagged me this Stylish Blogger Award!  I must say, I feel pretty much the same way towards her as well since she also revealed that she has the same boots I bought for my Merchandise of the Month for January!  We're like style sistas!

This is such a sweet, kind honor!  Especially since I once wore this:

And really, really believed I looked as hot in this ensemble as I'm acting like.  Oh, 2005.  Such different times.

As the tradition of this award goes, here are seven little things about me you might not yet know from reading my blog.

1. I have been a redhead, a blonde, and a brunette at some point in my life, but all naturally!  I've never dyed or highlighted my hair, not even temporarily.
2. I lived in England for a semester while I was doing my student teaching on an Air Force Base, and will forever say to anyone considering living or visiting overseas for an extended period of time:  do it.  You will not regret it.
3. When my sister and I were little, we used to read so much (Sweet Valley High, Babysitter's Club, and Nancy Drew were some favorites), that if we ever got in trouble for anything, we would get grounded from reading.
4. I played the trumpet for 4 years in school band and 3 years after that in church band.  I once played all 12 major scales in less than 60 seconds.
5. I have never had a pet in my life (except a puppy for 5 weeks in college, which doesn't count because I had to give away because I wasn't home enough to take care of it).  However, I did get to take the class hedgehog, Spike, home for Spring Break in 5th grade, but he caught the flu at my house and all his spikes turned green, and everyone in my class got really mad at me.
6. When I was 20 years old, I got a new retainer, and willingly chose for it to be zebra-striped.
7. I love the Backstreet Boys.  Oh wait, you had already heard that?  Oh, well!

Also in the tradition of this award, you are to pass it on to another blogger.  I can think of one blogger (who is actually my friend in real life!) who really deserves to be called "stylish" today, because she just did her first all-fashion post!  Yes, Sam at Love Never Fails, this means you.  Go check out her sassiness in the snow and high-five her for her moxie.

A Resolution/Decision/Challenge for 2011

So I'm about 11 days late for this to really count as a New Year's resolution, per se, but I've come up with a goal for myself for 2011:

This year, I will buy only one store-bought item of clothing per month (so a total of 12 for the year).

These items will not include:  bras, underwear, or tights (some things are just necessities!).
These items will include:  any other type of clothing and shoes.

I'm so excited for my little resolution!  I think this will simultaneously challenge me to sew more clothes and also sew a bigger variety of clothes.  I'm really going to have to choose these 12 items wisely to make it through the entire year!  (And luckily I just stocked up on jeans at the end of November waaaaaay back in 2010 - ha!)

My Merchandise of the Month (January):

Steve Madden's Intyce boots!  It's a little bit of a splurge (okay, a lotta bit of a splurge), but I've had my eye on them for a long time, and that's what Christmas money is for, right?!  Except they aren't expected to ship until February...boo.

The Avocado Skirt

The result of a little stitching I did over the weekend:

Overly static clingy!

Overly excited!

Overly curled hair!

If you feel like it looks a little familiar to you, it probably does!  I used the very same pattern as I used for my Beetlejuice Skirt, with a slightly different peplum, and added a bow.  Because the skirt on the pattern envelope has one and I liked it.  And I'm a big copier.

Then I lined my Avocado Skirt with a lightly different shade of green.  More of an asparagus this time.

Overall, I dig it.  And it fulfills my daily vegetable needs.

You also might recognize my shirt as the Gingham Button-Up...that's right, I'm totally self-stiched today!

Memories and Histories

`

For her Christmas gifts to her daughters this year, my mother hatched an idea months and months ago.  She wanted to fill the pages of a book with the most precious thing she could think of:  our ancestry.  And not just a family tree.  Memories and histories.

My mom began with writing her own memories--of her parents and her grandparents, the way she remembered them.  She had my father do the same.  She researched and spoke to a dozen other relatives to see what they recalled.  And slowly, lovingly, my mother built biographies of each person in the three generations before me.

Biographies that tell birth dates, marriage dates, and death dates.  Towns of residence and jobs held.  Children's names, siblings' names, and parents' names.  Hobbies and passions.  Physical descriptions and health histories.  And pictures.  Lovely, irreplaceable, precious pictures.

What a blessing it has been to read these treasures.  To discover that I wasn't the first teacher in the family.  To be reminded that I was born on my great-grandmother's birthday.  To imagine what it was like to be raised in a home with nine other siblings.  To hear catchphrases spoken so often they were part of their speaker's personalities (catchphrases like, "Can you feature that?" and "For the love of Mike").  To feel that my love of sewing has quite possibly been embedded in me from three generations before, from great-grandmothers who were seamstresses and quilters.  To see that my family has weathered the tragedies of death and disease and the Depression, and come out on the other side with more love than they had before.  To wonder if I have always found the flat plains of Oklahoma and Kansas so beautiful due to being the great-granddaughter of farmers.  To read that I have descended from pool sharks and pilots, Catholics and Baptists, card players and crocheters, mechanics and gardeners.

To look into the eyes of these people, my people, my blood and my DNA, some eyes that were closed long before I was even born, and feel a connection to a past that so greatly affected who and where I am today.  To wonder if my great-grandparents ever dreamed that I would cherish so deeply their childhood pictures and descriptions of their pastimes and personalities.

I cherish it, Mom.  Thank you for writing it all down for me.

What I Did Over Christmas Break: December 29 - January 2

Hugged my granny.

Pursued Trivia.

Felt baffled by my father's knowledge of said Trivia.

Felt blessed to be on the Great Plains again.

Wondered when every single one of my cousins got to be taller than I am.

Tried my best to be the opposite of Bah Humbug!

The Southwest Dress

I spotted this fun flannel fabric on Fabric.com (oh, how I love that place), and immediately knew I wanted to make a cold-weather dress with it.  I used Burdastyle's Anda pattern to stitch it up, using elastic instead of a waist tie, and adding the pockets to the sides.  Let me tell you:  this thing is comfy-cozy!  Just as you would probably imagine an elastic waist, flannel dress to be.

And because my favorite thing to do is add a cardigan or a blazer and some heels to any outfit and call it office appropriate, that's exactly what I did today!

What made this project all the more special:  I sewed it in my parents' basement, on my mom's vintage Singer 301 sewing machine, as she did all my pressing for me.  :)

What I Did Over Christmas Break: December 23 - December 28

Found the car of choice for Duncan, OK:  Black Chevy Tahoe

Survived a brutal attack from a rogue toy helicopter

Observed the traditional cousins' breaking of the wishbone

Hung out with these boys in Mary's barn (site of Real World: Barn Edition)

Watched those same boys build this gigantic bonfire and destroy half a shed in the process

Captured father and son having a real Okie Christmas, y'all

Hello again, blog world!  Nice to see you here, in 2011!