New webbie page and Meetup.com sign up page for local chickie poos!
http://www.meetup.com/NORCAL-FASHIONABLE-CHICKY-POOS/
http://www.wix.com/ninoparks/norcalfashionablechickypoos
Get to the Meetup.com page and sign up - we'll be announcing the Spring NORCAL Chicky Poo TOUR of SOCO - kinda like the bike tour of California (Amgen or something) but way more girly. There may be some crashing into each other as we run to the awesome red dress on the sale rack, but other than that, it's nothing really like the bike tour! He he!
Currently, me and my Chicky Poo Chicks, Astrid and Amberino are launching the website, getting sponsors for the new shopping (recyclable) bags and the silicone cool wristbands with our logo on them (all red of course). I'm researching the coolest and the best consignment stores with the best store owners who are allowing major discounts for OUR LITTLE TOUR weekends this Spring!
We also have some coffee spots and eateries who want to serve us Chicky Poo special drinks and lunch specials - no chain stores, all LOCAL stuff.
Working with local studios for an 'eye and lip' spruce up during our shopping trip with discounts at their locations too...it's gonna be a day or two FOR YOU to spring into Spring 2011 and get your glam on!
Mom Jeans? Fugly shoe issues? Wear the wrong bra? Do you live in your sweats? No problem, after you come on a tour with us this Spring, that will all change once you get the fashion 'bug'.
Our most recent 'swap' went really well and the leftover clothing (which was faboo, clean and nicely folded up by size and item type by my volunteers (thank you ladies!!!!) will be going to the local women's shelter called 'The Living Room' that we all adore. Girl power!
In the meantime, I'm also looking for a good place for a pink, blue and green wig - like Katy Perry's - for our TOURS. This way, our Chicky Poo Fashionistas will be easily spotted doing our tours with the groups and, well, we love Perry, so it's a benefit. Sparkly Chicky Poo shirts are being designed for the event and interviews in local publications are forthcoming.
Busy little Chicky Poo!
Summer 2012
BibeauArt of Santa Rosa
Saturday, February 05, 2011
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Winter 2011 Clothing Swappie Poo!
The racks as we started up...The tables on one side of the room...
A table at the end of the evening - maxed out!Girls just want more clothes!
Silly me at the end of a swap - I try everything on at once but did take that sparkle dress for date nite!Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Chicky Poos need to back each other up!
A random thought that's been speeding through my brain as of late. Why is it, that as women - in general - we don't support one another in the workplace? Why is it that some women just don't want to 'manage up' (as they say in the biz) one another? Why is it that instead of mentoring younger women and supporting them to the best of our ability, that we cut them down, supress them?
I'm not saying that working with men is better, but at least they support you and help you along your path. I've had more MEN mentors in my corporate life than I can count, but not too many women. You'd think, since we're the same sex and feel that pressure of getting on in the corporate realm, that we'd HELP one another more often.
Well, I'm here to report that I've had possibly two real mentors who were female in my LIFE - meaning, older than me, more experienced than me, who actually gave a crap about who I was and where I was going in life. As for the men that we were told 'supress' and 'keep us back' because we are women, um, I have a TON of them that I can say are/were my mentors that helped me to succeed in life and the corporate world.
So, I ask again, where are these mentor women? Why are most women so spiteful and bitter when it comes to helping another woman out? Maybe I'm just being silly, but when asked to help or mentor any young lady or woman MY age or whatever, I'm IN! I truly enjoy passing on what I have learned, ideas I have and celebrate their accomplishments with them. To me, that's the joy of life - sharing what you know, what you have, who you are - to others.
Call me old fashioned, silly or just plain stupid, but that's how I view things and that's what I do when asked for help or when someone is younger and looks like they need some help - professionally or not.
Sigh. I just wish others would help out willingly and as much with young women in the professional realm - share best practices, be there for them and allow them to experience some of what we do in the office.
I was allowed to mentor a college student recently and LOVED it. I cannot wait to see what she does with her life - and keep in contact with her! I just wish every woman who is accomplished and/or has a talent to share would pass it on to a younger gal who could use it.
Try to pass along something YOU are great at today - share some of your light to someone and watch how it enhances YOUR life as well as theirs!
I'm not saying that working with men is better, but at least they support you and help you along your path. I've had more MEN mentors in my corporate life than I can count, but not too many women. You'd think, since we're the same sex and feel that pressure of getting on in the corporate realm, that we'd HELP one another more often.
Well, I'm here to report that I've had possibly two real mentors who were female in my LIFE - meaning, older than me, more experienced than me, who actually gave a crap about who I was and where I was going in life. As for the men that we were told 'supress' and 'keep us back' because we are women, um, I have a TON of them that I can say are/were my mentors that helped me to succeed in life and the corporate world.
So, I ask again, where are these mentor women? Why are most women so spiteful and bitter when it comes to helping another woman out? Maybe I'm just being silly, but when asked to help or mentor any young lady or woman MY age or whatever, I'm IN! I truly enjoy passing on what I have learned, ideas I have and celebrate their accomplishments with them. To me, that's the joy of life - sharing what you know, what you have, who you are - to others.
Call me old fashioned, silly or just plain stupid, but that's how I view things and that's what I do when asked for help or when someone is younger and looks like they need some help - professionally or not.
Sigh. I just wish others would help out willingly and as much with young women in the professional realm - share best practices, be there for them and allow them to experience some of what we do in the office.
I was allowed to mentor a college student recently and LOVED it. I cannot wait to see what she does with her life - and keep in contact with her! I just wish every woman who is accomplished and/or has a talent to share would pass it on to a younger gal who could use it.
Try to pass along something YOU are great at today - share some of your light to someone and watch how it enhances YOUR life as well as theirs!
Monday, August 02, 2010
Painting for a cause
Today I was asked to paint something, anything, for a local charity auction by a good friend of the family. I used to work with her hubby at HP back in the day, and know that these people are the most generous and kind folks in the world, so of course I said 'yes'. Saying 'no' would be a sin and totally selfish.
It's for the American Heart Association's local chapter and it's a good organization that our hospital partners up with for heart disease each year. It's amazing how many women are affected by heart disease - way more than you'd think and way more than men are. There is a co worker who is the picture of health, beautiful, smart, a go getter, goes to the gym, eats right and all that but had a stroke one year. We were stunned. How did this happen to her???
Looking back, she sees the 'signs' that she ignored and realizes that she was a prime candidate for this all along. Friends, co workers, people I know through associations here and there have all been hit with some type of heart issue - and sometimes it takes them away forever.
I'm hoping that my painting will raise enough funds to help with research or education or both with the AHA this year and protect my friends, family and co workers who might be touched by heart disease. Being asked by a woman with a compassionate and loving heart to donate some art today made me remember all those I know with heart disease or those who are already gone because of it and of course, their families left behind wondering if it will happen to them.
God gives us talents to use in this lifetime - I'm hoping that my little talent can help others this year.
It's for the American Heart Association's local chapter and it's a good organization that our hospital partners up with for heart disease each year. It's amazing how many women are affected by heart disease - way more than you'd think and way more than men are. There is a co worker who is the picture of health, beautiful, smart, a go getter, goes to the gym, eats right and all that but had a stroke one year. We were stunned. How did this happen to her???
Looking back, she sees the 'signs' that she ignored and realizes that she was a prime candidate for this all along. Friends, co workers, people I know through associations here and there have all been hit with some type of heart issue - and sometimes it takes them away forever.
I'm hoping that my painting will raise enough funds to help with research or education or both with the AHA this year and protect my friends, family and co workers who might be touched by heart disease. Being asked by a woman with a compassionate and loving heart to donate some art today made me remember all those I know with heart disease or those who are already gone because of it and of course, their families left behind wondering if it will happen to them.
God gives us talents to use in this lifetime - I'm hoping that my little talent can help others this year.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
The revised 2005 blog entry on Knitting for Dyslexics
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Knitting for Dyslexics (revised 2010)
Forget the Prozac or your prescribed 20 minutes of 'sun time' outside each day or the damned "happy lite" - the answer is Knitting, folks! You see, as I learn the ancient art of knitting, this skill has kinda taken over my life and my home. Wherever there's a nice sitting area on the couch you'll probably find some yummy yarns strewn around attached to a pair of 'needles'. Don't worry, they won't bite - they are pretty dull. Wonder why they call them 'needles' - they are more like 'chopsticks'.
For one to begin a knitting project, one must find a pattern for their skill level in order to purchase the correct yarns, the correct 'chopsticks', and any other accessories one may need for their desired item. I noticed the 'advanced' designs, the 'moderate' designs and the 'easy' designs, but what about the 'dyslexic' designs? You see, I'm the person in your Sunday morning Yoga class who goes left when you are to turn your body into a pretzel going 'right'. I'm also that person in your Zumba dance/fitness class who will sashay right into you when not recalling in a split second where my 'other left' is and land on top of your manicured toes.
Even my normally very supportive husband looked at me with my new project and all it entailed and sighed, deeply. No matter, I was determined to learn this skill of women of the frontier, women of the Victorian age, women of the craft! Heck, men used to knit their own socks, so why couldn't I learn this?
Knitting my first project with my sister in law started out well, until I noticed that her knitting was perfect and even and mine looked like a screen shot from a bad Tetris game I had just lost. My edges were ragged, uneven and not at all like the perfect little photo in the knitting book I had just purchased.
"Frog it," she would say without looking up from her knitting project, meaning: unravel that horrible mess before someone sees me helping you. And frog it I did, and fast. I became really good at frogging and rolling up the balls of yarn for their next project while watching everyone else knit.
At the local library I found a book called 'Freeform Knitting' and my heart leaped for joy. Just reading this book confirmed what I thought was a dyslexic defect in my learning of the skill of knitting - not everyone goes by a pattern...or maybe they start off that way, but then find their own style and let it flow into something beautiful. There was no math in this book, no measurements, no real instructions actually - just visualise what you want to create and knit it! I'm a creative person with a need to do something with my hands every ten seconds, so why not? I could do this!
My first few creations were horrible and amazing creations - but I did get the hang of this Freeform Knitting thing and rather enjoy it and came up with tons of interesting ideas, some better than others. It was the joy of the actual knitting that kept me going, and of course, the occasional item that someone would ask me for once they saw me wearing it.
Now, as I knit, I think about the ladies who write down the patterns as to what they are creating for contests, calendars and published books about how to knit. My goodness, that sounds like torture - like an Algebra pop exam - the annual visit to the doctors - just not something that's fun to do or even remotely appealing. But, even now, as I knit myself to sleep tonight, I think of these ladies who must count all of their stitches. Mark their stitches, drop every fourth stitch on the alternating rows. Picking up a stray stitch after frogging away most of their creations, using a computer to compute the most accurate pattern for their dog sweater.
I think of them AND their perfect little worlds, the clean bonus rooms, clean and polite children lined up properly at the dinner table waiting for the freshly made nutritrious and wholesome meal and the newly brushed cat sprawled out in the sun on the family welcome mat near the front door (that was knitted with recycled Safeway grocery bags) and wonder if they ever do anything 'not by the book'.
I'm certainly not a 'by the book' kind of gal and neither is my home I keep or my knitting. I rather like it this way, a bit backwards, thrown together with some creativity and the results are one in a million - amazing, fun and most of all, a part of me given to someone I love.
There, that's my 'pattern' for knitting and for my life. Hope you can understand it and maybe enjoy it.
Knitting for Dyslexics (revised 2010)
Forget the Prozac or your prescribed 20 minutes of 'sun time' outside each day or the damned "happy lite" - the answer is Knitting, folks! You see, as I learn the ancient art of knitting, this skill has kinda taken over my life and my home. Wherever there's a nice sitting area on the couch you'll probably find some yummy yarns strewn around attached to a pair of 'needles'. Don't worry, they won't bite - they are pretty dull. Wonder why they call them 'needles' - they are more like 'chopsticks'.
For one to begin a knitting project, one must find a pattern for their skill level in order to purchase the correct yarns, the correct 'chopsticks', and any other accessories one may need for their desired item. I noticed the 'advanced' designs, the 'moderate' designs and the 'easy' designs, but what about the 'dyslexic' designs? You see, I'm the person in your Sunday morning Yoga class who goes left when you are to turn your body into a pretzel going 'right'. I'm also that person in your Zumba dance/fitness class who will sashay right into you when not recalling in a split second where my 'other left' is and land on top of your manicured toes.
Even my normally very supportive husband looked at me with my new project and all it entailed and sighed, deeply. No matter, I was determined to learn this skill of women of the frontier, women of the Victorian age, women of the craft! Heck, men used to knit their own socks, so why couldn't I learn this?
Knitting my first project with my sister in law started out well, until I noticed that her knitting was perfect and even and mine looked like a screen shot from a bad Tetris game I had just lost. My edges were ragged, uneven and not at all like the perfect little photo in the knitting book I had just purchased.
"Frog it," she would say without looking up from her knitting project, meaning: unravel that horrible mess before someone sees me helping you. And frog it I did, and fast. I became really good at frogging and rolling up the balls of yarn for their next project while watching everyone else knit.
At the local library I found a book called 'Freeform Knitting' and my heart leaped for joy. Just reading this book confirmed what I thought was a dyslexic defect in my learning of the skill of knitting - not everyone goes by a pattern...or maybe they start off that way, but then find their own style and let it flow into something beautiful. There was no math in this book, no measurements, no real instructions actually - just visualise what you want to create and knit it! I'm a creative person with a need to do something with my hands every ten seconds, so why not? I could do this!
My first few creations were horrible and amazing creations - but I did get the hang of this Freeform Knitting thing and rather enjoy it and came up with tons of interesting ideas, some better than others. It was the joy of the actual knitting that kept me going, and of course, the occasional item that someone would ask me for once they saw me wearing it.
Now, as I knit, I think about the ladies who write down the patterns as to what they are creating for contests, calendars and published books about how to knit. My goodness, that sounds like torture - like an Algebra pop exam - the annual visit to the doctors - just not something that's fun to do or even remotely appealing. But, even now, as I knit myself to sleep tonight, I think of these ladies who must count all of their stitches. Mark their stitches, drop every fourth stitch on the alternating rows. Picking up a stray stitch after frogging away most of their creations, using a computer to compute the most accurate pattern for their dog sweater.
I think of them AND their perfect little worlds, the clean bonus rooms, clean and polite children lined up properly at the dinner table waiting for the freshly made nutritrious and wholesome meal and the newly brushed cat sprawled out in the sun on the family welcome mat near the front door (that was knitted with recycled Safeway grocery bags) and wonder if they ever do anything 'not by the book'.
I'm certainly not a 'by the book' kind of gal and neither is my home I keep or my knitting. I rather like it this way, a bit backwards, thrown together with some creativity and the results are one in a million - amazing, fun and most of all, a part of me given to someone I love.
There, that's my 'pattern' for knitting and for my life. Hope you can understand it and maybe enjoy it.
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