Archive for the ‘life stuff’ Category
for your kindness
…every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end…
semisonic, “closing time”
well, i’m starting a new adventure. seems like forever ago that i set out on the writer’s path, but in reality it’s only been a few years. i suppose i’ve lived a lot of life in those few years: pregnancy, birth, moving, publishing a book, raising a toddler. yeah, that’s a lot.
but now pendrops couture beckons me & i’m thrilled to take these new steps. my feet just seem to fit on this uncharted trail. not that writing didn’t fit or that i’m closing the book on writing, but this pendrops thing, well, it’s the right thing at the right time. & i am filled with such joy in my creating, sewing, designing…even the tedious tasks of packaging & ordering office supplies are a delight.
but what i want to say as i officially begin down this new path…
i have loved – loved – sharing bits & pieces of my journey with you here at krista finch. this is where i shared my book, as is, with you. this is where i wrote about my pregnancy & waiting for jude to arrive. this is where i related the joy & wildness of jude’s early days. i have been humbled by your kind comments, your encouragement, just by the fact that you have taken time in your busy schedule to see what i have to say. that is an honor & i do not take it for granted.
for this season, i am stepping back from writing at krista finch. however, fresh & wonderful stories abound at pendrops couture. i sincerely hope you will visit me there.
thank you always for your kindness.
cheers…
No Commentspendrops couture update
if you haven’t had a chance to check out pendrops.com, please stop by the blog and say hi. i’d love to hear from ya. the official site will be up in a couple weeks, but for now all updates will come through the pendrops couture blog, facebook page and twitter feed.
speaking of updates…
ok, i’m on cloud 9. can i tell you? i mean, this is exciting. it’s just too good to keep secret.
so, you know that the pendrops couture online boutique opens monday, april 25 (mark your calendar!), but what you didn’t know is that pendrops is going to be a vendor at the franklin farmers market starting in may!
that’s right! it’s really happening! i’m so excited i could do a round-off backflip into the splits (and i haven’t done one of those for years). i’m thrilled to make my lovely, earth-friendly cards available locally at the market while continuing to support our tennessee farmers and other vendors i’ve come to know these past several years. pendrops couture cards and the franklin farmers market are a perfect fit!
as the market opening approaches, i’ll let you know my booth location and dates. hope to see you there!
cheers…..
No Commentswhat i’ve been up to
this feels a bit like a “what i did for summer vacation” essay, but i just have to share with you. because you’re my friends. and because i’m on a journey that is so close to my heart i can’t believe i didn’t meander down this path before.
next month, i will open the online boutique doors of pendrops couture, cards with a re:purpose. but before i tell you about all that, let me back up.
several months ago, i happened on an article about shabby chic interior design. i was smitten. i fell in love with the lovely, relaxed, elegant style championed by the inspiring rachel ashwell.
so i set to overhauling our home – painting, sewing, dragging old furniture and bits and bobs out of hiding. and in a few months our home went from cookie-cutter and bland to enchanting and cozy. my creative juices had just begun to flow, but i was out of projects for the most part.
then, one day, at random, i sat down to make a birthday card for a friend and ended up with the first pendrops couture card. a spark had ignited and, fueled by my passion and jason’s unfaltering belief in me, i began the fun and funky work of research and development. could i realistically do this, what materials would i use, who would my suppliers be, how could i offer the best value for these frame-worthy cards, how could i care for creation each step of the way…these were the questions i asked. i found tons of answers. and i’m very proud of the end result!
so now, here we are…several months down the road, and i’m about to swing the doors wide open on this venture. so, let me introduce you to the cards.
pendrops couture cards are one-of-a-kind collections of handcrafted cards designed by me from the stuff most people throw away: vintage fabric scraps, tattered antique books, used burlap coffee bags, old buttons, second-hand jeans…you get the picture. i’m upcycling, trying to keep a few things out of the landfills and creating something beautiful instead. the paper and envelopes are 100% recycled stock. and the pieces of every card are sewn together on the 30-year-old sewing machine my mom and auntie shared.
at pendrops couture, the mission is simple: create beauty & grace of discarded treasure while inspiring you to tell your loved ones how special they are to you. i look forward to bringing you pendrops couture cards in a few short weeks.
in the meantime, will ya follow me on twitter and fan me on facebook? i’d love to keep you updated on the online boutique grand opening, local retailers of pendrops couture cards, and special offers!
cheers, friends……
No Commentsnot that kind of writing
“Are you doing any writing?”
I scrambled for an answer to my friend’s well-intentioned,”I’m-keeping-you-accountable-and-you’ll-thank-me-later” question. I embellished my latest scribbles.
“Oh yeah, I’m working on this thing…oh, and that project, it’s going well…and have I told you about my children’s book idea?” Jude played at the perimeter of my outstretched legs as I lied.
Truth be told, I have fought it. I have grieved it. I have not wanted to believe it, the Type A, can-do go-getter in me doubting to the end. But I cannot deny it any longer. I can’t have it all. It is the bitter fact of the matter. Of course, if I had the means to employ a butler, a maid, a nanny and a groundskeeper, maybe it would be possible. Maybe I could have a toddler and pursue all my dreams while keeping my house immaculate and entertaining friends and family every weekend. But even then, I’m not so sure.
I say all this partly to explain why I haven’t been posting much lately, why I won’t be posting very often for the foreseeable future. Because I’ve tried. Tried to blog, tried to keep up with the cleaning, tried to cook more, have friends over, join mommy groups, put all the laundry away, return calls, keep up with Swerve business, come up with crafty ways to market my book, do house projects… And it has driven me to the point of insanity. At every turn, something has had to give. And that something is quality. Sure, I can do all the things I want to do, but when I’m juggling so much, multitasking my life (not to mention my son and husband’s lives as well), the quality of my investment goes down fast.
The way I see it, I get a few short years of putting in very long days to write the pages of Jude’s early childhood. These are days that science tells us he won’t tangibly remember, but they are in fact the most important days of both our lives. How I engage these mundane moments lays the groundwork for our future relationship, for his physical and emotional health, for the wholeness of our family. It is a full-time job with a daily requirement of overtime and night shift duty. And when I get a few minutes to me – just me – I’m tired. How am I to focus with any depth, devotion or consistency on pen and paper, or house renovations, or entertaining guests, or landscaping projects, or travel, or marketing my book, or…
I’m done trying. From now on, I will be Krista. I will be wife. And I will be mother. I will become exemplary at mono-tasking those few roles. And I won’t apologize for it anymore. Or feel guilty when a friend asks if I’ve been writing. Of course, being me includes things like writing, having friends over, and keeping up with the laundry. But I won’t be very good at any of it. Chances are, for a little while, I will be an unexceptional friend, a negligent writer, a lax church-goer, a mediocre cleaner, a lapsed Twitterer, a lazy cook, a scattered daughter, a forgetful daughter-in-law, a late arriver, a non-joiner, a poor hostess, and myriad other socially unacceptable labels. Nonetheless, I will be me, lover and fighter, no apologies. And the two most important people in my life will get the best of me. I won’t regret missing out on their lives because I had to write or because I had to get the garden planted or because I had to fulfill some banal commitment to a lesser thing. I’m choosing the good part now. I’m choosing relationship. I’m choosing, ultimately, to die to myself.
So, the next time my friend asks if I’m writing, I’ll tell her honestly and without hesitation, yes. I am writing. It’s just not the kind of writing you do with words.
1 Commentour table
As I drove past the farmers market today, I heard a news report that the Corn Refiners Association is petitioning the FDA to rename high fructose corn syrup to simply “corn sugar.” They claim that it’s “the only way to clear up consumer confusion.”
Does anyone else see the trouble with this proposition? Maybe it’s because I recently watched the documentary Food, Inc, but my sense of awareness regarding the foods we eat has hit an all time high. There are countless injustices in this world that enrage me, but when huge corporations and big government get together to dangerously tamper with a commodity that no one can live without, you get my attention.
Since it burst onto the market in the mid-1970s in products like Coke and Pepsi, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has left a deadly trail. The US readily allows – nay, encourages – putting HFCS in hundreds of food products now and leads the world in the use of this “corn sugar.” And guess what: we’re the fattest, most unhealthy we’ve ever been…the fattest and most unhealthy nation in the world.
Of course, back in the 70s and 80s, HFCS was seen by everyone in the food industry as a way to save money. Good intentions, right? Sure. But now that we know some of the dangers of this corn concoction, does the FDA (a government-run regulation agency meant to protect us) really think it’s a good idea to simply rename one of the most controversial, dangerous and addictive substances in our food today? Really? Come on, FDA, we the people are not that stupid. We get it…corn is the most government subsidized food in the US by a long shot, but can you put your pocketbooks away for a second and actually do something in the interest of the American people just this once?
Renaming HFCS is the absolute wrong move on the part of the FDA. What they need to do is connect the very obvious dots and take this toxic product out of our foods and off the shelves of our grocery stores. Or at the very least, put a cigarette-style warning on every product that contains it. (Warning: you are about to consume a chemically manipulated food that has been linked to cancer, liver disease, and insulin resistance, to name a few.)
But since money and a few big industry voices talk very loudly, that probably won’t happen. So we as consumers, the ones who actually hold the power, need to protect ourselves. We can start by being more aware of the ingredients in our food. One easy way to do this is by eating simple foods. You know, the stuff we ate as kids: apples, bananas, orange slices, almonds, carrots, celery sticks slathered in natural peanut butter, raisins…you get the picture.
We can also make a visit to the farmers market, where we see the faces and shake the hands of the men and women who grow the foods we eat. If you think prices are a problem, just stop by…you might be surprised. Many farmers are even taking food stamps at our local farmers market these days. Fresh food that tastes like home is for everyone – not just the wealthy.
Should the FDA decide to change high fructose corn syrup’s name to corn sugar, attempting to dupe the American public once again, we don’t have to eat it. We can vote with our dollars. We can choose to buy foods without HFCS. In May 2010, Hunts took HFCS out of its ketchup because customers demanded it. If these men and women in the food industry and in our government understand anything at all, it’s money. So lets start speaking their language.
And while we’re at it, let’s take back our table.
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