Dreams to reality

Hello!
Long time no post. It's ok life happens and it's just happening very rapidly for me again. This past month has been yet another flurry of activities at work. We were given unexpected notice to vacate out donated gallery space. I won't get into details but Columbus Underground did a good post about it here.  It was inconvenient timing considering it was also during the peak of my grant writing season and strategic planning for the board of trustees. Amongst some other karfluffel that had to do with grant writing.  Not the best situation but overall for the best. It was just very draining and exhausting of course and mentally not very good for my positive vibes.

In other news we found a store front! A glorious store front! My dream of having a yarn store has finally come to fruition! Through all this mess at work and stress I can turn around and smile because I see the progress on my store and can't help but smile at the work ahead of me for my own business.  It probably won't be ready for at least a month. I need to still get my vendors in order and even then it will be a soft opening. I can't do a grand opening till after the next TNNA (The National Needleworks Association Convention) and when I get back from my trip to Korea. Oh did I not mention that the Hubby and I will be going to Korea?! (we'll get back to that in a moment).

Here are some pictures of the interior space as we are working on it.

So this is the view from the back of the store. Big open spaces. We are keeping this counter type thing, especially since it has outlets built into it. That area will be perfect for classes and setting up sewing machines. We'll be painting it all white and adding oak counters for the knitting machines to mount and for the ball winder and swift to be located.

Here is another view of what will be the class area. You can kind of get a feel for the dimensions by the huge cabinetry sitting in place that is waiting to be taken out to the dump.

By the front window there were these built in benches. Lovely but messed with the height for the window displays. We moved them out about two feet from the window to give me some room to work with. I will need to paint those benches and make cushions for them. Brilliant front windows with lot's of light and will be a joy to make visual displays in.  I will be channeling my days working at the 5th ave Anthropologie visuals in NYC.

Finally here is a view from the front door looking in. Tons and tons of space which is both scary and exciting to fill. Lot's of work ahead for me and the hubby.

No for reals this is the last store related thing.  A mock up of what our outside will potentially look like if approved by the Landlord.

OK now that is out of my system let's talk Korea.
So hubby finally agreed that if we didn't go to Korea now when would we go? Certainly not when we have a little one or two. We also didn't know the store would happen so soon. We also booked the tickets before we knew all the work move/grant writing got crazy.  Anyways it's been another beacon of light in my life to look forward to.  I'm so nervous I haven't been back to Korea in 14 years and this is the hubby's first time ever! It will certainly be an adventure. We are staying in Seoul as I don't have very many relatives that we keep in contact with over there. We will mostly be on our own as my bestie over there will be busy with work. I've found a lot of friends that will be there at the same time which will be nice.  I could take a whole other post about just Korea. So I think I will.  OH and we are also going to Japan on the way back from Korea! This will be completely new for me as I have never been able to spend tourist time in Japan. All I have seen of Tokyo is the bullet train and the American Embassy to renew my passport between countries for my brother's wedding in 2000.

I will try my best to be more diligent about blogging.  I miss it dearly and really should make more time to do this and read up on the blogs I used to follow.  For now good night and CHEERS!

Minty Gold - OOTD

I know it's been a while since I've done an outfit. I may have another lag coming up as our house is soon to be a construction zone for a new kitchen. Then again I don't have many excuses since the weather has been surprisingly pleasant here in the OH.

Majority of my clothes were from my trip to Chicago a couple weeks ago.

Jacket - Top Shop

Mint Rhinestone tank - Top Shop

Boyfriend Cropped Jeans- Express

Gold and Silver Heels - Top Shop

Owl Earrings - Thread

Necklace - Dongdaemon Korea

Watch - Baby G

 

I was ecstatic to find these shoes and even better they were on sale for $70, the last pair and in my size. It was like the fashion gods knew we were meant to be together. I'd been lusting for something patent silver or gold since fall and these are hitting all the right marks.

To go along with my current obsession of mint and gold I got my first gel manicure in my proclaimed colors for the season. I went to Elli Nail spa per my friend Amie's suggestion and was very happy with the service and the finished product. My nails have still been flaking since the harsh acrylics I had for  my wedding and normal polish just wasn't cutting it anymore with how tough I am on my fingers. The gel is thicker and stronger so I'm less likely to snag an edge or have chipping.

Hope you all have a great weekend! I have some good stuff lined up to show you next week!
Cheers!

Gifts from overseas

One of my Best friends lives in New Jersey and the other in Seoul, Korea.  We were roommates in College even though we weren't always "technically" roommates, but we spent more time together then we ever did apart in college.  I haven't seen my roomie in Korea for YEARS and it makes me sad.  This summer I am hoping to change that and make a trip out there with the Hubby for our one year anniversary.

Until then we have been sending each other snail mail letters and packages over the years, if infrequently.  Recently my oldest brother has been doing business in Korea again and met up with my roomie to give her my package and to bring me mine.

Seriously no one knows me as well as these two ladies. She got my package dead on.  Kawaii gifts of masks, stickers, decorative tapes, Alice in wonderland and Le Petit Prince related then lastly cat related stationary and stickers.

The overall haul:

Animal Face Masks
Le Petit Prince Fox pen
Decor Tape
Alice in Wonderland Planner
Stickers and more Stickers
Le Petit Prince Post it Notes

A close up of my Post it notes. They are so pretty I'm not even sure where or how I will use them.  It's been a dream of mine to make a knitting Le Petit Prince Universe Mobile. Maybe this is the kick started I needed to start the project.

The Jetoy cat stickers.  I LOVE them, they look so much like my little Rambo kitty. She has the biggest eyes I've ever seen on a cat.

Just a taste

daily, originally uploaded by tornangel012.

This is a little bit of a late post. Tomorrow I promise to begin the real journey.

I will officially put up my rules and such for my continuing person project in making a new dedication to my craft which is Fashion design.

For tonight I just wanted to share a new daily outfit.
I am wearing Coach bronze wooden platform sandals with extra long wrap around cording that starts from a bronze leather lined hole in the middle of the heel of the platform.
American Apparel Tank dress
Turquoise wide elastic belt from Forever 21 for only $4.50
Mint Green damask Bolero Designed and made by me
Toki Doki I love LA watch
Carved wood flower necklace from Korea

I am also playing around with the scheme of this blog. I don't like the way my banner doesn't seem to fit all the way across it and playing with some different color concepts also to make it match and meld better with my real website.

Other things going on is that there is actually a for Lease sign up in my old work place Stitching Post that makes us in Columbus wonder if we really are going to have jobs there again and if it even is going to open up. Not so bad for me just a little annoying to have to find a new part time job but I'm hoping for the best. I have one more full week of workshop to complete for CCAD and then I am off for two months before my CE and SMAC classes start. I am very hopeful for the coming year that I will get more recognition as an excellent teacher and that I am giving more classes and responsibility. I need to work on my skills a bit more though. I really want to get back into painting and learn how to draw better fashion illustrations also.

I'll be really sad if when I start to interview for new part time jobs I am required to dye my hair back to a more natural shade. I love the Blue and I think it is surprisingly one of the best colors of hair that I could have.

Just a little melancholy

For no good reason at all I miss Korea like crazy these days. I am still in touch with most of my friends that I made there during Yonsei-dae but that isn't what I miss. I miss the boutiques, the subways, their versions of malls, the midnight markets, the bad smells, the bargaining. I miss it all. I only have one person in Korea to actually visit which is my room mate from college but still I want to go so badly. I feel like I am missing something. It's so hard when I remember in High School I went so often to visit my Brother. Perhaps it is this High School program that I am teaching that is making me so nostalgic about everything. I definitely want to go with Hyemi sometime before I have a kid so that we can just enjoy it over there and have some fun before we become total Ajumahs. It's hard to also not have anyone to try and speak Korean with regularly. I guess somewhere I am still have some growing pains about being Korean- American. I feel that I need to get back in touch before I have kids of my own. I don't want my kids to be confused with who they are and aren't. It's such a weird thing to think about becoming the world to someone else, being all they look up to for everything. Not sure if I am totally ready for that commitment. Things will happen and I suppose when that time comes I will just have to step up to it and own it.

Enough of the deep thoughts.........

I'm farking tired out of my mind. Classes started today and my kids are WONDERFUL. I have a big challenge in front of me teaching them and setting the bar for this program elective in Fashion. I am doing new things no one has ever done before and I want to set that bar HIGH! They are more focused then my workshop was and some of them are already far better illustration drawers then I am! I will have some pics of them tomorrow.

Speaking of Tomorrow and why I am so tired I have a sudden Photo Shoot in Cincinnati with Adam Leigh-Manuel from Alias Photography. I know him through Model Mayhem and we've been going back and forth for a bit. Finally we will meet and get to work together. He is very good at correspondence so I have a great feeling about this.

I just need to go and lie down and pass out. I still have so much work to do in the morning.........