March for Life 2014

This was my second go round on the March, it was a different experience but a good experience. I was a chaperone with our parish priest and we were charged with keeping our little group of high spirited teens amongst the larger together. I love these kids, a few are almost ready to go off to college and it was a great opportunity to see them get out of our small town for a spell and focus our energies on a cause larger than ourselves. 

 

It's overwhelming being amongst half a million people but exhilarating, even though it was 19 degrees and it felt like the shuffle for life as we linked arms and tried to keep warm, it was a joyous crowd. This year's theme was Adoption, which was very fitting. Three of my cousins are adopted and they have been such a big part of our family.  

 

I believe every life matters, and it was a joy to stand up and be counted with so many people that I would severely miss if they weren't a part of my life :)

 

Also in the freezing cold and falling snow we saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was a poignant moment as we read the tomb and it said "Here rests in honored glory, an American soldier known but to God." And it just made me think of all the children who are known but to God.

Thrift Stores Are the Bacon of Shopping...

Sorry for my absence, my cousin Carrie and I went on a thrifting road trip and it did not disappoint. We laughed our way through Springfield, the Quad Cities, and Galesburg, IL. We were led on some wild goose chases and experienced lots of bargains, screaming babies, chatty hotel neighbors, one man motorcycle wheelie popping fist pumping shows, PMS ice cream outings, Gumbo Ya-Ya, would-be yogurt bandits, singing horrible 90s music, Bad Girl Video and Fat Cat's Tattoo lounge, a license plate that said WHO AM U, drive-in movies, paying in pennies, forgetting to eat lunch, and Willy Wonka saying "tell me how you're going to try and eat a salad." It was a magical journey.

  

The Sangamon Antique Mall in Springfield, lotsa junking fun.

The Route 66 Drive-In, I highly recommend this!! We saw Fast & Furious 6 (bleh) and Star Trek Into Darkness (woohoo!!!!)

 

Coasting through small towns scouting out garage sales, that is the best way to get deals.

 

Totally misleading, don't always trust the signs, they had a wooden tv table painted like a watermelon for $20. No thank you! Where's the quarter table?!? 

 

Oh heck yeah, ice cream, cures everything...except diabetes.

 

My haul! Lots of fun treasures! I've already listed some in my shop, coleblk.etsy.com. If you want to check out some of Carrie's treasures, check out swankyladyvintage.etsy.com. 

Always remember: "Thrift stores are the BACON of shopping, antique stores are the STEAK!"

2013 March for Life Pilgrimage

My apologies for my absence over the last few days, I've been in DC. I volunteered to be a chaperone on our Diocese March for Life trip. It was a spiritually reaffirming trip, full of lively souls and quiet prayerful moments. It was surreal to be surrounded by 500,000 people all of different cultures and religions, standing up for a single cause - LIFE. Every life matters, and in the words of Dr. Seuss "A person's a person, no matter how small." No matter how a person was conceived, they are a person, worthy of respect and love. Some of my friends are pro-choice and I love them to death though we disagree. They argue that it's better for women to have abortions because our social services and foster care systems are appalling, well I'm sorry but something is seriously wrong with a country where it's better to be dead than be in the system. I also learned that children are a gift, not an entitlement. There were several parents of adopted children in attendance (a few in our group alone) and though they were not able to naturally conceive, they were called to adopt and it changed their lives. Everyone is wanted by someone. Change is coming and I'm proud to be a part of it. We also got to experience a taste of DC, I'd never been there and I already want to go back. The museums are absolutely amazing and we were literally speedwalking through, I about died at the Gemstones exhibit, I LOVE ROCKS! They were so pretty I wanted to spend all day there. I also got to know the youth of our parish a bit better, they are hilarious and creative and they give me hope for our future :)

Inspiration from abroad

Last April I took my first trip to Europe and it was spectacular, I'm itching to back but need to save up some funds and find a justifiable reason to be there besides just having a fun trip. I was a bit under the weather by the time we reached Brussels so I didn't get to experience nearly as much as I wanted to but I did do the main things - like visit the Victor Horta House (in which I died and went to Art Nouveau Heaven!!!) And I went to the Bozar arts store: a fabulous museum gift shop with everything cool under the sun. They even had the movie Electroma by Daft Punk, which I've seen twice and was so very tempted to purchase it because you simply don't see that kind of thing in central Illinois, let alone in the states, but went for something a bit more useful: a design book entitled Echoes of the Future. A wealth of vintage inspired design abounds, and today I got it out and used it. I needed inspiration for an illustration and this is what fell out of my brain on onto the computer screen. Let me know what you think!

Back from Cali

Sorry about my absence from the blog, I spent the better part of last week visiting family in California. It was a wonderfully luxurious trip, and I feel really spoiled by my aunts and uncles. Santa Ana is beautiful and it was a lovely extension of summer! Lots of thrifting, eating, laughing, and walking along the beach :) When was the last time you have been in the ocean? It had been 12 years for me.