Hello world! Here comes my hats

Few of us are blessed with the hat head. Hat HEAD, not hat hair. Yes, when you have a hat head, practically any hat looks great on your head. At an early age I fell in love with hats. The Easter bonnet that we would by every year. The sun bonnets that became so popular with Little House on the Prairie and Holly Hobby. Shopping at Harold's for wedding hats, an entire floor of hats! I would choose a hat & pick an outfit to go with it.

I love watching vintage movies just for the hat design. I love walking through markets & having stall owners go into their special stash for hats that work only on me. It was only nature that I would be drawn to make my own. I exhausted myself in trying to find instruction or workshops or even a textbook. Bless old ladies that pass on information. Eventually I got the knack of it started wearing them out and the weirdest thing happened- people liked them. My most memorable experience was at the Cherry Creek Art Festival. I went into a milliner's stall to look at her hats, put mine down on the table to try one on, a lady came up next to me, tried on my hat & asked the milliner's price! I was overjoyed and embarrassed at the same time.

My year of 'why not' all came with direction this summer. A thirty requests for my hats plus a friend lending me free studio space plus the Holiday Handmade equals action. I started with a few proto-types that I thought the general public would like. This way I would have something to muddle around in my mind while I worked on the Pret-a-Porter outfit. Once that was done I would do final designs for the Holiday Handmade submission...it was in the end of October like the last year.

Pret show was September 16th; September 17th I downloaded the prospectus for the show & I was in shock- the submission date was moved up to September 26th!! I spent every night in the studio working, not on final hats but mustering the proto-types to be presentable for photos. Good photos were a must, the prospectus laid out that the submission would be better if I had an Etsy site. So I hired a photographer & started searching for models. Oh models....I could only get one scheduled by the deadline...so we got creative and I too had to do some modeling:) These are some of the proto-types that are on my Etsy shop. My sister joined me & created some knitted baby hats that are adorable!

Pret-a-Porter 2011

Third year on the Women In Design team for the IIDA (International Interior Designers Association) Pret-a-Porter competition. Each year has been a different experience. The first year I was part of the team through a proxy. We discussed the design over phone & visit. I came up with sketches for the headdress & the team chose which one I would make. Then I worked in my cabin in Estes Park. Didn't see the final couture outfit until it was coming down the runway to win Best in Show.
2010 year was a devistating year. I was one foot in the team and one foot out. The outfit was in constant flux. I made some paper flowers but that was all for that year. The show was two weeks after my father's death. We didn't place that year.
2011 is my year to be involved. Its my 'what worse can happen' year. I'm glad that I did because this year the IIDA upped the anti. The competition still only allowed 25 teams but the attendance to the show has increased so it had to be moved from the Exdo Center in the warehouse district to the Denver Center of Performing Arts (DCPA) Ellie Caukins Opera House. We were expected to create outfits that would fit the bill of an opera house. On top of that, the IIDA wanted 70% of the outfit to be in the Pantone colour of the year- Honeysuckle. I love designing in warm colours...but the Pantone colour Honeysuckle is not honely-like at all- its hot pink!
Our distributor was Kimball Office Furniture. Hot pink office furniture! Tough but the WiD team figured it out. We did our digging and not many operas have good female role models, not something that WiD wanted to put our name on. So we did some reinvisioning in our design Steel Awakening as Madame Butterfly with empowerment. A form exposing dress with stylistic kimono sleeves. The base of the dress was representative of female sexuallity in Japan. Only female ghosts got to have a libido (as a demon) ancient Japanese could only tell these women were ghosts by the lack of feet; they moved around on a cloud. The obi belt made from braided macrame was to be holding a torso encompassing lotus that was formed from wood veneer. My headdress was formed out of task chair seat cushions.
Six weeks before the show the materials we chose for the outfit were still coming in. The main piece was the lotus cage that needed two 4ft x 8th sheets of veneer. What showed up us a stack of 8in x 10in sheets of veneer. A phone call was made to the IIDA & they allowed us to come up with an adjusted design & sketch. A couple days later we had a new design and we won the bronze.

Day Three A Day at Home

I now understand all the complaints about teenagers. They really do only think about themselves. I had plans for Friday, but on no, they went by the wayside when they informed me that there was no school today. (Yes I did check with the school. I'm no substitute teacher!)

Thank goddess for the track coach. He still had practice at 7:30am. Which meant after picking up the girl from practice I raised the dead (the boy) and we went out to brunch at IHOP. Then to the DMV to get the driver's examination manual then back to the house.....for the boyfriend's arrival. Yup, the 15 yr old girl is dating...a senior. My first thoughts as he came through the door- I can take him down.

So while the big brother chaperoned them watching the LOTR. I got to spend my afternoon going from my perch in the kitchen to checking on them to make sure no hanky panky was taking place. It was miserable!

Atleast by 6pm their father came to pick them up and take them for the weekend. A whole weekend free to wander the state!

Day Two Downtown

After the kids went to school I hung around the house for a little bit. To my discovery, its good to do this because the sun comes out around 10 and it puts you in a cheerful mind to start the day.

For some reason I remembered something being in Bellevue. So with my trusty Prius and GPS, off I went. There is the Museum of Doll Art in Bellevue but I had already been. Then there's the high end mall- not my bag. The only place that I would go into would be the Din Tai Fung restaurant, pricey though. I was hungry & this excursion was seeming meaningless when I saw the smoke billowing out of a nearby Airstream.

The Skillet Street Food is yummy. It travels around to different parking lots daily. Edgar & I argue weither or not these are just gentrified roach-coaches but I liked Skillet. They serve Duck Burgers!....but I just wanted the Poutine. Poutine for those have never had it is Cheese Fries Canadian style. This was the first place that I had seen it in the lower 48. What you get is hand cut fries; herbs; a gravy that has chedder & parmasean tossed over it. You have to wait a bit for the fries to cool down so the cheese can melt into the gravy. YUM! I also bought a gift for my brother-in-law from them, Bacon Jam. You can see where they are at daily at their website: www.skilletstreetfood.com

Next on to SAM! I had never been to the Seattle Art Museum. Mainly because my visits were short or business related or with friends and those situations don't coexist with long, quiet strolls through museums. The SAM though is not really a big museum so what takes the longest is trying to find parking. Its really near the Pikes Place Market so there's plenty of lots. The old GPS lost my confidence when it told me to go right onto a one way street!

The exhibit to go see is the Nick Cave: Meet me at the Center of the Earth. Its not THAT Nick Cave of the Bad Seeds legend. Its the sculptor/performance artist that made costumes that represent the sounds that they made when dancers moved in them.

I loved the fur suits. They were the coolest ones in motion.

But I have to agree with the remainder of the visitors. The sweater bear was awesome! I got this picture shot done right as the guard told me, "No photos in the special exhibition."

This exhibit had an adult colouring book that I wanted to get for a friend who was just diagnosed with cancer, but $36 is too much for a COLOURING BOOK. So I went across the street to a little paper store call de Medici Ming. A awesome fine paper store where I got her (and myself ofcourse) some brillant metallic watercolours. On the walk back to my car, I popped into another new store called Paper Hammer which is an independant printing press shop.

Wish Trip to Seattle came True

I've been desperately missing the Pacific Northwest with my only way of quenching would be a walk outside with wet hair followed by a viewing of Twilight or Northern Exposure. Simply LAME. I have no options to go on a vacation in this economy unless by a miracle......and one happened.

My friend Jessica's husband works as an audio engineer for a radio station. The station decided to broadcast from Ireland for St. Patrick's day. They paid for the two of them to go & needed someone to watch their teenagers to make sure they didn't go feral. Someone with no ties, that could up and come at a moments notice, that LIKE their children.....me.

I've never lived the mommy lifestyle but aparently from 7am til 3pm I have all the time on my hands to do whatever I want. With a Prius and a GPS I have the chance to see the sights that I wanted to see that never had the chance to in previous visits & to visit old favorites.

I'm in part blogging & also listing some things plus places for my friends that will be coming to Seattle in the weeks following. This is recon baby!

Day ONE:

I would fly into Seattle just to go to their International Market. A Nipponophile like me goes gaga over Uwajimaya. A supermarket focused on Japanese products. Most 'asian' markets are Korean so this is special. Based downtown, near the King Train Station, it is centrally located and near to Pioneer Square. If you are going over to the Underground Tour. Walk a couple blocks for lunch in their market. You know when you are in the neighborhood when you see the dragons climbing the telephone polls.

http://www.uwajimaya.com/

You don’t have to eat there or buy any of their cool bento goodies (like I did). You could go just to spend hours in the attached bookstore- KINOKUNIYA!!!! I wanted to buy so many books. But I bought the Christmas issure of Gothic & Lolita Bible…was tempted by a wall of fashion & music magazines…then theres the tons of craft books! Sigh, the temptation is great there.

www.kinokuniya.com

Pioneer Park is not as interesting as it used to be. Most of the stores have closed due to the economy. There are two together that I worth popping into. On the corner is Diva Dollz. You can’t miss the great windows. www.thedivadollz.com

The inside is a scrumpsious as the windows.

Inside they sell vintage inspired shoes & dresses with fabulous corsets to put over them. I didn't have over $128 to spend on a pair or a dress but I did have the amount for a fantastic Burlesque inspired cocktail hat. Its a heart with an arrow through it. Ofcourse my battery died when I went to take a picture:( Another time I presume when I have the entire outfit done.

Next door to them is Utilikilts. Kilts for the construction work. Or like their motto goes, "We sell Freedom."

www.utilikilts.com

What caught my attention is the New Rocks. Every goth man this day owns a pair but I had never seen them in brown & tan. Apparently you'll never see them either unless you shop at their store. The owner knows the owner of New Rock & only makes them for Utilikilts. Their like the usual New Rocks but with a suede like on construction boots.

That was my couple of hours. Until tomorrow!

The Break down of Break up

There's that feeling that something is not right in your life. I haven't had the best couple of months. My Dad's illness has been solid. He was getting better in the hospital but then he was having secondary illnesses. Kidneys took him to the ICU; sleep medication made him sleep walk then slip & crack his head open; infections; getting out of the hospital for four days only to go back in. I want him to get better! There was still that feeling... the airport that I worked on in Alaska won an AIA Honor Award & was published in Architectural Record only to not have my name on it as one of the designers. There was still that feeling...driving home one icy night, my truck fishtailed & a kid in a car behind me hit me & spun my truck around on the highway. He was constantly calling me to not report it so he didn't get in trouble with the parents. There was still that feeling..

I went away for a couple days to the mountains to help my sister with her wedding planning. I told the boyfriend where I was but he seemed to have no concern. When I got home I decided to go out that evening. He was out at the same club but one of his friends asked me why I was there when he told him that I was not coming out. I was standing 10 feet away from him. I let him know that I was there but it was almost like I wasn't as I watched him holding every other woman than me. It sucks when you realize that you're the only one in the relationship. So I called it off with him right there. What a sad evening to be escorted home by a gay man who buys you flowers in an attempt to make things better.

Other then your own depressed feelings is having to tell the mutual friends. The ones that know you both as a couple. I only told a few so they would be in the know, but they always tell others like it was a wildfire. They do say two things, either they have been waiting for you to break up or they are sad too & don't want you to be. MY friends are of the later & were saying consultations like, "That's really sad Victoria, I knew you really liked him." HIS friends were awful! HIS friend's were making comments like, "You should of known when you started dating him that he was the bimbo of the crowd." or "You deserve better. Your like Yale & he's not even stupid." or "Tie down your girlfriends, he's single." or the worse being "Its sad that you broke up because one of my favorite personal traits about him was you." His FRIENDS! And I feel even worse because every comment that came out of their mouths I was defending HIM.

The reaction from friends is annoying but common. I was sitting at a table of girlfriends who were regaling me on how bad their own boyfriends were in bed. Freudian but point taken, I won't even talk to their boyfriends. The 6am text messages from girls wondering if their boyfriends were flirting with me. The questionable texts from men. The phone calls from other men wanting to take you out on a date even when they know that your feelings for the ex are not dead yet.

The only good thing about breaking up is finding out which friends are the good ones. The day after we broke up I went out with a girlfriend. We were eating a late dinner when in walks the ex..with a girl. General break ups involve an armistice period in which neither of you date to let emotions cool. Its not even 24 hours & he's onto the next girl. They're meeting up with mutual friends of ours. One of the friend's comes over to my table, he & my girlfriend are the crying & I'm numb. Terrifyingly numb. Like-I'm-Dorian Grey-&-scars-inside-will-be-revealed-to-revert-me-to-a-flesh-eating-zombie-kind-of-numb.

Obviously the lack of sleep has given me too much time to think. I have reviewed past relationships to discover that my recovery time has a mathematical formula. Take the time that I was in that relationship & divide it half to get the sum of time that it will take be over him. So could someone save a dance for me in six months?- V

Cakes, cakes, cakes, cakes

Back story- This summer I was the baker at the Cheley Camp's Boys Camp. One of my varying baking duties was to bake little cakes for the campers on their birthdays. This included the frosting & decorating. Not really in my bag of tricks & I felt mounds of guilt when it came time to give them the cakes. What is more dissapointing to a child away from home on his birthday than an ugly cake? They tasted great but I would have accidents like my "Peach Detox" cake. The kitchen only had three colours of food dye so if I wanted to get exotic I would need to mix my own colours. One day I decided to make a peach & lavendar polka-dotted cake. I accidentally grabbed the wrong colour when mixing the lavender & made drab green.

I was determined this winter to take a cake decorating class at Michael's to learn SOMETHING that would make my cakes better. My sister, over booked already, decided that she really wanted to take it too. So we signed up and had our first class on February first. In just that one class I got all the answers to my common mistakes without even having to ask them. Our instructor is fabulous! (I dread courses that take up half of your evening during the work week & then leave you with unanswered questions.) The first week was all about the three consistencies of frosting, how to properly bake a cake and torte it, and how to frost a cake...all of which I had been doing wrong.

The second week we needed to purchase our tools & prepare either a character cake or an 8 inch cake. The beauty of taking a class with your sister is that we each can do one of the projects & share supplies. Let me tell you, cake decorating is not cheap! $12 for a cake tin the shape of Wall-E!? How many Wall-E cakes are you really going to make? You can tell that I was going to do the character cake, so I wanted a tin that I would use various times. I ended up purchasing the sphere mold. My plan was to do a fishbowl.

We tag team shopped for an entire week, every evening. She would print up 40% coupons for Michael's and Hobby Lobby & we would each buy one thing at that store at a discount. Then there were all of the cake baking & frosting ingredients. Frosting is a foreign food to anyone that was raised by a mother who was on Weight Watchers in the '70s. She & I hovered over an freshly opened container of shortening like children raised buy wolves around a telephone ringing.

The next problem with cake decorating is who in the hell is going to eat all of this cake?! My sister volunteered us to deliver our week two cakes the next day to a Bake Sale for Haiti. Wonderful way to get rid of cake & help the survivors EXCEPT THESE WERE OUR FIRST CAKES EVER! That meant we had to perfect what we learned in class that very evening. To top it off, my sister promised one of the ladies at the bake sale that I would make a gluten-free cake for her to buy. Catastrophe! I added too much water to the batter so it bubbled while it baked removing all of the cake release. I beat the shit out of those molds trying to get my cake out & ofcourse one side broke. I was scurrying to get another cake mix & character tin....luckily I have a compulsive shopper as a sister & within the first week had purchase 10 cake molds. I just grabbed the star & had a slightly warm cake ready for class. In all we stayed up til midnight decorating the cakes with star tips. I did three cakes- the star cake & two halves of the spheres. One was broken so that one we gave to my sister's coworker for free.

The star cake
The broken cake that I did as a flower cake.
You can't have a star without a moon, perchance a quarter moon?
My sister did the torted 8" cake that was a lesson how to transfer images with piping gel. It has a rainbow on top- aww:)

My sister is more intense about this class than I am. She has the crazy notion of doing her own wedding cake! In search of practice she volunteering to do the birthday cake of her friend's 7-yr-old's birthday. She said she wanted a Penguin from the Littlest Pet Shop. I did the design & drawing, my sister made the cake & the crum layer. Then we frosted it together.
It was a smash at the party. So much so that were asked to do another...FOR MONEY!

Miss you more than buttercream on the lips- V

Shit I'm Diggin'

New Year's Eve is swinging around again. I cannot spend another NYE at home, I must get out! So sweet to hear that my old friend Tim is DJing at a club that night PLUS there's no cover charge. Yes! One hitch, its a masquerade ball. I get my duckies in a row & make some phone calls...voila! I have my Rococco dress back. (What? Don't you have vintage costumes laying around in various cities at friends' houses?)

I'm thinking about revamping a powder white wig that I have & start surfing the web for inspiration. I told Jingles that I would never do two type of wigs, stacks & afros. (Ofcourse, guess what most people ask for..) Today I found inspiration o'plenty. Kathleen Marie, you are a goddess! Her Antoinette Atelier blows my mind.







Yes. I love the 'pirate' wig the most too. Though on a tangent, the eye patch disturbs me. Everytime I see sequins hearts I think of the birthday gift of pasties that Jason sent me that I regrettably opened at the office. *Cringe*

At the Antoinette Atelier site she also sells wrist cuffs, couture outfits, and shoes. Here notes on this pair were "Never wear in the rain while fleeing a revolution. Leave them as your legacy."
Miss you more than $454 wigs & $2000 dresses, V