Moving on Up

Change is good. Moving is exciting. Check out my new digs at:

http://www.chikahisastudios.com/blog

Come visit.

Search for Spring: Step 12

And finally.

12. Dreaming of Paris.

But learning to accept the Spring I'm in.

Search for Spring: Step 11

Lest we forget:

11. Sorting out who left their holiday lights up as a fun, festive winter thing.

And who is just too lazy to take them down.

Search for Spring: Step 10

A wee bit more:

10.Recognition.

Freed of winter armor, I see you, and you see me, and we are all together.

Hello world.

I no longer need to remember your coat of arms.

I can see your face and we can exchange a smile along with our customary nod.

Garance Doré: Kirna + Zabete

Search for Spring: Step 9

More thoughts on my Spring treasure hunt:

9. Wind that doesn't hurt and make me cower.

The Sartorialist. University Place, NYC

Search for Spring: Step 8

Looking for Spring, and finding:

8. Putting winter away in a closet

and

unearthing all that I had squirreled away with hope

and faith that Spring would come again.

Cherry Blossom Necklace ~Japan Earthquake Fundraiser

Want this??

I've started a small fundraising campaign for the people of Japan.  This is my humble way of trying to help with the tragedy that has struck Japan.  Tsunami, earthquake and now radiation.....

I chose this flower necklace because it reminds me of the beautiful cherry blossoms of Japan.  Large white petal pearls are used for the petals and 3 small sterling silver balls are in the center of each flower. These 2 large flowers are attached to 3 strands of fresh water pearl and it has a sterling silver clasp and chain.  The necklace is approximately 15" long. The flowers are placed off center to give an added visual effect.  (value is $375)

Make a donation of 10.00 or more and your name will be entered into the drawing on April 30, 2011.   There will be one winner.

Please pass this on to your friends and family ~ post it on your facebook, twitter and email!

Thanks for your help!

Search for Spring: Step 7

Even more signs of Spring:

7. Desperately wanting to be outside.

Contemplating the hypothetical virtues of camping.

Eager to tear open the shutters and throw up the sash.

Fighting back the urge to skip lightly.

Finding myself squelching through mud.

Spring is a sloppy exuberance.

Search for Spring: Step 6

Still looking:

6. Having my soul crashed because it snowed again.

Spring, you are a merciless flirt.

For shame.

Search for Spring: Step 5

Still looking:

5. The return of cling. The return of transparence. The return of full disclosure.

Hello stretch jersey, hello cotton draping, hello knee length skirts.

Oh bulky, cozy sweater, I will miss you my old friend.

Winter is an enabler. Spring peals it all away.

(Glanz Dress, Anthropologie)

Search for Spring: Step 4

Still looking for Spring:

4. I reintroduce myself to my toenails.

I think it is safe to say, it was an emotional moment for all of us.

Search for Spring: Step 3

In my search for signs of Spring:

3. It suddenly dawns on me. Uggs are truly the ugliest boots imaginable. I cannot believe I have worn them for so long.

I put on shoes without the benefit of a think interior pelt and think to myself,

wow my feet are so tiny.

Search for Spring: Step Two

The search for signs of Spring continues:

2. Guilt.

Once again I failed to plan ahead. Failed to think it through. Failed to brave the late Fall so that I may rejoice in the early Spring.

And my neighbor did.

She has Crocuses and I do not. She will have Tulips, and Hyacinths, and everything else quite wonderful and perfect and beautiful, and I will not.

She over-achieves. I over-believe. I buy my spring flowers and shove their stubborn steams into the still frozen ground.

Spring has outed my procrastination.

My search for Spring: A 12 Step Program

How do I know thee Spring, let me count the ways.

1. My daughter will no longer wear her winter coat. And yes it is still 30 degrees outside. And yes it is still cold. And yes there still is snow on the ground.

But you have come March. And, Snow Coat, we can no longer speak your name.

Adieu.

Spring Blues

You know what spring is before it's green. It's blue.

Sharp, crisp, with a bit of a cool edge to it. A perfect denim blue. A slate, steel blue of a deep pool of water as the surface begins to warm and thaw. A blue harbor after the winter storms of white, and grey, and black. A return to deep color.

I welcome it.

The Satorialist: Blue London, Part 1

Pink Turned InsideOut

Just get one.

Just get one fabulous pink dress to feel fabulous in.

Surprise yourself. Be extraordinary.

Pink Turned Out

In this season of black. In this season of elegant sameness. In this season of fashionable practicality. Perhaps not.

Instead, perhaps what every woman needs is a perfect Little-Pink-Dress.

Life is too short for predictable. Let's be extraordinary.

Oh Valentino, extraordinary.

Pink is Called to the Carpet to Account for the Past

Given all that Pink. There are some things I can neither forgive, nor forget.

1. Your long sordid, sappy affair with Barbie. I could have forgiven the boa as youthful extravagance. But the Corvette? That was just silly.

2. Your insistence on having a role in every product manufactured. Really? Pink bicycles? Pink hammers? Pink cameras? Pink plungers? Really. It's not all about you.

3. Some really, really bad and quite regrettable one-night-stands with satin and sequin. I can understand one perhaps, but both? The less said about this the better. Let's move on.

4. Your brief flirtation with hair dye. I think you owe us all an apology.

Ok. I just felt if we are going to build a new relationship based on mutual sophistication and a modern sensibility, better to honest about our past.

Best Thing About Winter

Getting to wear my low fashion fabulous fuzzy pink socks under my ultra chic, these-boots-weren't-made-for-walking black boots. Delectable fashion transgression.

Ode to Tourmaline

The name is hard, formal, scientific. Fierce.

Elemental minerals. Aluminum. Magnesium. Iron. Sodium. Potassium. A semi-precious integration. Color resulting from chemistry and crystallization.

Green at one end, pink at another. Or green on the surface, pink beneath. Sometimes, pure pink from eons of exposure and decay. Iron into pale stones creating pink.

You are a pink with power, with edge, with structure and form and strength.

Tourmaline, you are pink all grown up and ready to take on the world.

Take me with you. Together we are a force.