I cannot believe I am already at a sporting event of my child’s!!! Wasn’t I just playing sports?
Yep. In fact, he watched all my tennis this summer. My turn.
Robby and 3 buddies…..aren’t they the yummiest?
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Soccer Mom
Calling 12 Women
I am getting cold feet, I have to admit. And it’s not about coldness, it’s about heat. I think Summer time will be the hardest time for me to wear one dress. I love to dig in the dirt, run around with my kid, play in the sandbox and just kinda sweat like a pig. A dainty, feminine swine, if you will. (No one has ever described me as dainty…..just threw it in there)
I get dirty and hot and playful and wearing a dress is not conducive. Thoughts?
I am pretty determined to figure out how to do this for one year….so your ideas are super helpful. AND I’m all about community on this one.
So I would like to call forth 12 women who will take a month of the year (first come first serve, I suppose) to wear one dress with me. I will take the year. You just tagalong for a month. Anyone?
I still plan to launch this Mid-October – maybe earlier if I can get the dress pattern in decent time and then sewn. It’s ordered. 
And I am really leaning toward raising money for The Daughter Project – which just got land yesterday! They plan to build their home Habitat for Humanity-style and get it up and running quickly.
In other news – today is Milkshake Monday as I mourn another month gone by for no baby. All I really want is a milkshake. And a good cry. And to punch somebody in the face. (Did I just write that?) All true. I’ll try to stick to the first two.
Maybe I’ll ask Robby to play me a sad tune on Uncle Sean’s borrowed mandolin….(what a rockstar)
Biking It
Thanks for all the fun thoughts/advice on the One Dress project. If you look on her website from my blog you can see that she set up a place to give and support her conscious effort to use fashion as her medium – countering consumerism, using sustainable clothing and creativity, and overall to give, instead of take.
I would set something up on my site to raise money toward an organization and to support me – and also ask anyone to help me out by borrowing when I need a little lift to my wardrobe. 
I am going to go hunt for material this week. I need to find a breathable yet sustainable poly-cotton blend. It’s out there.
And then here we are, biking it around town. The Autumn plus our small town – where we can get to virtually anywhere we need to be via bike – priceless. Add some shades and you’re a rock star.
Mid-October. One Dress. One Year….
I am seriously thinking about it. Like 96% sure. I ordered the pattern today. I put in the call to my mom:
“Mom!”
“Yes?!”
“Will you sew a dress for me that I will wear every single day for 365 days straight?”
“Sure….it sounds…..fun.” (Note the you-might-be-kinda-crazy…but I love you and I’ll help you in her voice)
Call to my sister:
“Hol!”
“What?!!”
“What if I wore the same dress for every single day for an entire year?”
Long pause.
“That’s….disgusting.” (Note the what-the-H-is-wrong-with-you? in her voice)
Later on my sister said: “Ok, if you do it – go Navy. Super hip right now. You look great in Navy Blue. (Not black) Goes with everything. Check Vogue…..you weirdo.)
Ha.
The 4% (in no order and selfishly rooted):
-What if I get pregnant? Do I keep wearing it until I explode and bust it?
-I will miss strapless items in the summer – well, I can’t swim in it – so a swimsuit will be good for sunkissed shoulders. The dress is her cover-up for swim times.
-Will my husband, after, say, 78 days of the same dress still say: Man, this woman is so attractive!!! Eek….nervous. I like being cute for my man.
-I will have to make some exercise rules for this: when I am exercising (daily) like running and playing tennis – I will shed the dress. But as for “Hmmm….what am I wearing today…” it will be the dress. Every day.
-Practical barrier: I will have to wash it every 2-3 days, right? That’s pretty often….when will have time to do that?
Anyone want to join me? Erica is really thinking about it…..I know that the Uniform Project loves the sustainability and wants to spread it to others on this idea.
They also have a One Month. One Dress. One Cause. Idea….that seems like an option many of us could take on.
I think I could start Mid-October. And considering doing 2 causes: a local and global cause on Human Trafficking:
The Daughter Project (a Bowling Green/Toledo Safe House for those recovering from the I-75/I80-90 Sex Trafficking Industry and The India Project (Aruna Project). Our ministry has a partnership in Mumbai and spent some time with the women in the slums of India this summer partnered with the Aruna Project.
Any thoughts or wisdom or advice?
Uniform Project
I’m kinda obsessed. This is really fun.
Anyone want to cast a vote for me to do this? Kinda superdeduper want to. (Fashion challenge meets minimalist meets raising funds….so fun.)
Like how I wanted to take all of my clothes and only have enough to pack in a suitcase, like THIS. She did a similar project but is on to having one suitcase of clothing in her life.
Or I looked in our studio/office the other day and wanted to give it all away. Just pack it up and send it off.
Or can you believe I picked up two fantastic chairs off the side of the road (would need to recover…but hey, their form is great…like the Vintage Vulture that I am) but thought: I just don’t need them and am seeking to give them away?
I would love to give children in the slums of India a chance to be educated through Akanksha. That is awesome.
And – talk about a conversation starter! “Didn’t you wear that dress….like for the past 3 months?”
I also really resonate with what the Brown Dress Girl said about the lie that our culture says the only way to “express ourselves” as women is through fashion and clothing. I do think that’s crap.
Anywhoooo…..wanting to make more babies, fashion dilemmas and a real desire to just save the world all on this lil blog. Hey, you there – please step off my Wonder Woman cape. You’re holding me down.
A New Thing
“Behold, I will do something new,
Now it will spring forth;
Will you not be aware of it?
I will even make a roadway in the wilderness,
Rivers in the desert.”
-Isaiah 43
Maybe you’re not the Bible-readin’ kind. Maybe so. Either way, the above is a little ditty from Isaiah in God’s voice that can give you hope.
I read it this morning and was caught by: “something new” and “rivers in the desert.”
Does anybody need God to do something new in their life? Does anyone want a river in their desert?
I haven’t touched much on our wait and fertility journey in awhile; I really do feel like I am resting in the state of our family and the portion God has given us right now. But if we are in a desert (the drought of infertility) then I still would like a river.
A real, flowing, wet, sloppy, slushy aqua-blue river. A river that brings life to dry ground. And something new….like a brother or sister for Robby.
So that set of words from Isaiah came as a prayer for me this morning. May a river come in your dry ground…..something new to replace the old.
Bathroom, Where art Thou?
It’s coming….but we are on to week three of zero tub. What an adventure. I have used at least 7 other showers besides my own and Robby and I have had some fun being orphan bath-timers together. Rob? He just told me he really prefers the outdoor hose. Yikes. Don’t get too comfortable, babe. Keep it movin’. (He TOTALLY is)
Have you ever noticed, as a married woman, that your attitude toward a DIY house project can make or break it? We’ve got a lot of power, girls. And as Spider-Man says: with great power comes great responsibility.
Rob tiling….I’d say only 3 more days and then we are back in shower land!
The Discipline of Playing with your Children
Texts, emails, facebook – any technology that forces us to leave our present task or company – has invaded the family life, hasn’t it?
I know my mind is often very divided as I put together a puzzle with my son with one hand and answer a text in another. Not fully present. The practice of “presence” is gone. And I know Robby is aware; he knows and even asks me to stop texting and help him out, read to him, play with him.
Does anyone have this problem, or is it just me? I have forgotten how to just play with my son. To just Be.
Recently I have decided that I will play for some set uninterrupted increments with Robby (and they end up going longer). I will not answer my phone in anyway (b/c I can get everything on it) and I will be a mom. He is only this sweet, malleable age once. I want to simplify my time and my life in my job of mothering.
So – I apologize to you now, dear friends. If I am not as quick to answer my call or any other ping – I am practicing “presence.”
And if you really need me, you’ll just come on over and join my family. You are quite welcome.
(Robby wanted to wear his goggles to the park…)
Tennis Season comes to an end
We took the Gallup Poll’s StrengthsFinders test with our staff team this past year. My number 2 strength came back Competition. Hmmm. Sounds about right.
Rob and I took up tennis this past Fall (Rob is excellent and his father, about his age, won the Policeman Olympics in Racketball in Cinci). We took 6 week lessons and then joined the USTA and played the tail league this Summer from the first week of May until this past weekend twice a week.
I LOVED it. I mean, LOVE. I loved improving. I loved serving. I loved finally holding the racket right and seeing major ground stroke wins. I loved running to the net and getting the angle right. I loved everything about it in a different way than any other sport. I think because my match was my match – and I had to strengthen my mind and mentally choose to play my best. Something about this kind of challenge.
I went my first season 12-1. Our team made it to the District Finals yesterday which was very exciting! I won my match, but our team lost overall – with a great ending.
May you find something that feeds your strengths. Maybe you have tried something new lately that you LOVE – care to share?
More redemption
is happening ’round here.
Next up: our second floor bathroom. We are back to the olden days. One downstairs toilet right now. The whole upstairs bathroom has been gutted and now is fully rewired and updated. The plumping is done and the ceiling is in. The new window has been applied and we are going to work on the tile around the tub. How could we EVER do this without friends lending their time, talent and service? Thanks Matt, Steve, Mike, Josh…a Dairy Queen blizzard is hardly a thank-you, I know. We are awash in your generosity.
It is now day 6 of no shower/tub. Whatsagirltodo?
I keep a well stocked trunk of shower items, towels, change of clothes for whomever will take us in our neighborhood. We are vagabonds, lurking around the streets of Bowling Green, pining for soap and water. Our backyard pool has been the best $20 we’ve spent this summer – now functioning as a tub for Robby.
Naked boy running around at night in our backyard? You’ve seen worse. No biggie.
Our bathroom is small, but was such a horrible layout for two people to try to be in at the same time. When the dust settles….we hope for something along the lines of this (with tub/tiled shelf and window in this position)

