Sunday, December 2, 2012

For Real

Oh realness...
I struggle with you every day .
Most of my life I have been lectured on my complete abandonment of "reality" and it's various trappings.
As of late I have been particularly haunted by it because my greatest joy at the moment lives in this
strange reality- somewhere between here and the-as I will keep it vague "there"
I have a terrible habit of becoming deeply attached/involved with thoughts and ideas.
The plus of it is it gets to the core of me- my affections are complete, from the inside out.
the minus is that the reality constructed between myself and the object of my affections is a world that isn't always anchored in what's real.
Questions go unasked, answers edited and obscured, details are always selective and blurry.
I fell in to a something in April and it took me til well in to October to DT from the little world we
had constructed.
He brought me words and ideas and I did the same for him-- we would write massive missives and talk and talk about everything- our writing- art- dreams- desires and it because it was what I so dearly wanted was able to look past the fluttering red flags and throw myself in to it full hearted ( only now does our heroine discover that could also be spelled "fool hearted")
There was a lovely month- a lovely month where I felt admired and adored...it felt like love.
However, when the flapping of the red flags in the coming storm start to drown out the beat of one's heart- it's hard to ignore- it feels frightening and sickly-the anxiety and nervousness that comes with all the human feelings suddenly ambling for a home.
My attempts to make a place for myself in his heart were met with rejection and then promises to come around...maybe.
I won't go in to all the gory details but I waited, oh how I waited....and I fell for it again when the maybe became a yes.
This time around the very things I crave snapped in to place- plans to make, create, build, work, share-- every word that just makes me melt were thrown around like confetti, it was a yes, a yes that could last, plans were made and plans mean you can relax, right?
Oh no, because that very "relax" means getting real.
When you live in that space of Champagne, Ether and Mercury- as real as it feels to me ( because it is the thing I value about myself beyond my physical body) it lacks the flesh and bone of daily life, of- for all intensive purposes "showing up".
I want to be above these desires but I'm not- for all the nights full of notes and charts and papers spread out across tables- grand plans,laptops, arguments over fonts and rasterizing with various lovers/collaborators that have turned me on like no physical thrill could-- in the words of St. Morrisey "I am human and I need to be loved".
In this case my desire to be loved ended in a humiliating email exchange where this particular specimen
took it upon himself to berate me for his inability to feel anything for me.
For all the lust and inertia, the voraciousness of speech and text- he was a neuter in his bed and I was to blame- I was "too much" my motives were suspicious and unclear, I was wrought with agenda and my obsessions and sundry madnesses frightened him.
The very intensity that beguiled him was the very thing he rolled up and hit me with the minute I had a want.
My desire to become real-- to transform from the page to a person to bloom from snapshot to a flesh and blood human was the worst thing I could ask for.
"Humiliated" is an understatement.
I went away from the world and stayed away.
Fast forward to now-
I find myself asking a lot of questions about the realness of my current world and circumstance-
Due to heartstrings and history it resembles something more dear and real than any of the other dreamgirl hunters have provided me. However, something has changed;
 for all the lust and intrigue it provides I find myself continually thinking about the simple things like being hugged ( I'm not a hugger, it's hella weird), having my hand held and sitting beside him- all the little things.
Details as always with things that are "away" are blurry- it's easy to blur realities and tell the- as my father called it "truth by omission" and I am constantly asking myself if this is real....it feels real..I want it to be real...but "want" doesn't always reconcile with "is".....
Where do but the tipping point between faith and proof when it comes to these things, I read way too many  stories, watched way too many movies- distance and challenges never deterred anyone from anything worth having.
Oh realness, how does one know?
I will have more to say on this but for now I leave you with someone else's words on realness-
This book ( The Velveteen Rabbit) and The Little Prince teach a good many adult lessons on loving someone,allowing oneself to be loved and the hard work that goes in to both of them.



What is REAL?’ asked the Rab­bit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nurs­ery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. ‘Does it mean hav­ing things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?’

‘Real isn’t how you are made,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘It’s a thing that hap­pens to you. When some­one loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.’


‘Does it hurt?’ asked the Rabbit.


‘Some­times,’ said the Skin Horse, for he was always truth­ful. ‘When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.’

‘Does it hap­pen all at once, like being wound up,’ he asked, ‘or bit by bit?’

‘ It doesn’t hap­pen all at once,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t hap­pen often to peo­ple who break eas­ily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Gen­er­ally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.’


‘I suppose you are real?’ said the Rabbit  And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse only smiled.


‘ Someone made me Real,’ he said. ‘That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can’t become unreal again. It lasts for always.’











.










Friday, July 20, 2012

Breaking with tradition

last night I made a list of all the things I wanted to cover in a long overdue update to this blog- a vacation, an adventure, more loss,weightloss, employment,unemployment and heartache have all unfurled since I last signed in to this damn thing and "PROMISED" I would write every day.
Thus proving the long believed theory  that the sure fire way to get me to NOT do something is to make me promise to do it- ultimately this is a reflection of what a challenge I would be as a prospective Wife- I've always said the proper phrasing to win me would be "I dare you..."
Still- I had this list of funny anecdotes,pictures of purses and nailpolish, tales of my recent makeover and a bunch of snarky nonsense about the ridiculous employment go round I have suffered through. Oh how I wanted to make you laugh- Oh how I wanted to delight you.
However, I woke up and logged on to a world full of sadness and fear.
A gunman decked out for slaughter massacred 14 people ( as of 1:10 pst-7/20/12) and wounded many more in a movie theater in Colorado.
My heart just snapped in two.
This was a late opening night screening. You know who go to those- people who have been looking forward to it with everything in them.
I have few words right now and quite frankly I wish to be spare because the last thing I want is this catching the eye of any gun nut who takes it upon themselves to make a presence on my page.
I have never been adverse to responsible gun ownership and use- However, seeing yet another incident like this leaves me at a cross roads with my ethics and I have to say I can no longer condone it, it doesn't make us safer as a people or a nation. 
It makes us fear filled and reckless- each person feeling they have the right to play g-d and law. I don't care if it is just a "hobby"- for hunting or some self aggrandizing need for "protection"-- this must stop. It is time to say NO- I am tired of arguing the point- I will not listen to contrary viewpoints anymore- I will not waste another day attempting to reason with zealots and fools it is time to say NO, you are WRONG. I think many of us who feel this way but have felt considerate of others beliefs need to speak up and do the same. There are enough bullets in this country to kill every American many times over.
So no anecdotes, nail polish or handbags today-- I just find the need to be silent  awhile. Sometime life needs to not "go on" for a few minutes so we can let the gravitas that we often escape due to inertia hit us full.
Kiss and hug everyone and everything you love all the time.
It's all you got.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Life Changing Experience.....

The tears hit this morning...
I'm not going to get in to it but the final wave of some loss and rejection passed over and through me this morning.
I'm not going to parade my sadness around but in the words of Mick and Keith- "you can't always get what you want...." but also in the words of Mick and Keith "but if you try sometimes....you get what you need..."
Truer words were never spoken.
I was sitting in a Starbucks drinking  tea and wham- the mounting pressure of the feelings I had been shoving to the back of my head collapsed the levy and I was left flooded. I am not a fan of crying in public, I am less of a fan of crying in Starbucks @ 7:30 in the morning.
I miss my father...honestly- all these other feelings are unsettling and irritating but all of them hardly belong to themselves,they all take root in missing Dad. The closer we get to Bree's wedding the more it starts to hurt.
We just wanted to make it that far, I wanted him to be in the sun and happy one more time before he died. We didn't make it and I feel so deeply sad about it.
All week I have found myself absolutely starved for one of his hugs, the last time I was at the house I sat on his beg and hugged his pillows. The longing is the wrenching part, I want- I want- I want.

However- the good thing is that even in my sadness I am staying on track- my
food indulgences yesterday were still all good for me and I tried on my Joanie dress that was to be my goal dress for New York and BOOM, 3 weeks ahead of schedule IT FITS!


I still need to lose about 15 more for it to look superfly, but man, I needed the boost today.
Yesterday I went to Pilates and man, did it kick my ass.
I can officially say I prefer Pilates to Yoga. No bullshit spiritual practice heaped in with me cursing the gods due to muscle pain, I know it works really well for some people so I won't knock it ( too much) but I prefer my spiritual practice over here....and my exercise over there...
I am going to the gym every single goddamn day til I leave for Florida/NYC and absolutely determined to return to where I left off in November.

Nothing. Not. One. Thing. is going to get in my way this time.
My health, discipline and self-esteem are absolutely VITAL to the other goals I have set and unless I exhibit the same obsession towards them that I do every other thing and person that crosses my path I will always wind up in the same spot.
I am done, I have exited this sadsack station where i sit and have sat waiting for something wonderful to happen, waiting for my life to arrive I have exited the station and I consider myself 86'd, no longer welcome there because I am not resigned to waiting anymore.

In the midst of the tornado yesterday I fully failed to see something that was put in front of me for what it was- and after my tears today it finally registered. One of my dreams is coming true.
I am going to be working for/with one of my IDOLS - Miss Dianne Brill.
When I was 17 I found a book called Boobs, Boys and High Heels.


It changed my life and made me in to the girl I am today.
I feel like I forgot my Brill-iance somewhere in my late 20's and now as I am 37 I am FINALLY remembering it-- there is a huge correlation to who I was at 17 returning to my life right now, it is powerful-- I loved that me, she was pure, powerful and shimmering. I see her peeking through a lot more these days.


Long of the short,- she owns a cosmetics company and I have been dying to rep for them for over a year- maybe even 2 years now-- well, wish granted . 
The wheels have started turning and all I can hope is that I get to meet her. When I was creating my vision board for this year I taped up all the packaging from the goodie back the North American Distributor sent me.
I didn't know exactly what it mean when I put it there since we had been out of touch for SO long but it meant something to me, she means something to me-- I'll type up a few passages from the book soon to show you why-- she liberated me at a time when I needed to be liberated the most. I just pulled my copy out of the bookshelf, it's time to be re-libbed.

So there's some thoughts for today--- I hate the sadness my life has contained but somewhere in it I found release- release from not just the present pain but the great big sorrow that has been holding me  down/back for nearly 20 years-- I look at this as being released, I have served my sentence- the gates are open- the time has come.






Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Freshly Squeezed

"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. 
And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost.
 The world will not have it. 
It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. 
It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. 
You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. 
You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. 
There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others."
 -Martha Graham

A dear  friend posted this on his facebook feed the other day and it served as a binder to many of my flailing feelings about what the fuck I am doing 
these days.
Many, many changes are happening in my world and at long last I am taking myself by the reins and changing me.
I'll get back to the whole point of the quote in a bit but I have to start at the point of origin so that this can be candid and not just talking around the truth.
The last month of my life has been incredibly difficult- somehow in the midst of great adventures and great joys the pitch black place started calling me again and I knew that this was it. It was time for the showdown.
All the sudden it came sweeping through my life blacking out my happiness, erasing my confidence and absolutely torching the ground underneath me. I haven't had one of these episodes for over 2 years, they are terrifying, paralyzing and beyond unsettling. I cannot sleep, I cannot stay awake everything is uncomfortable and I walk around feeling like everything touching me is 2 sizes too small...
I hit the wall.
This time there was nothing to do but face it.
My lack of self control has been staggering in the last few months, the grieving process leading up to and after the loss of my father has affected me in ways I could never expect. I lived 4 months in constant fear of something happening to him and after it happened I shut down entirely- I hardly cried, I talked about it like it happened to someone else...it wasn't til a couple of weeks in to April that  I actually felt the ache kick in and to be honest, it hasn't really stopped. 
I miss him deeply.
I feel like I am without a harbor,audience or warden. 
All things I have been used to having and made the wild assumption that I would always have.
There is a hole in my world and when Dad quit chemo I sensed the deepening of this hole and began filling it mostly with food but my obsessions became more acute and my high strung nature went in to overdrive.
I won't go in too deep to where I was then  but I take you to where I was 2 weeks ago, hardly sleeping - waking up in fits and starts, crying, gorging myself on food only to feel ravenous, my need was endless...
It's odd because some other points of my life have been so very pleasing - and when I am in those pools it is as if the other things did not matter, or even exist but the minute I was left alone with me I began to terrorize myself. All the sudden I was fat and hideous, a slob, a fake, a failure- All things I KNOW are not true but I was more than willing to whip myself with for the sake of letting this  anger flow to the surface.
I have been stagnant and it feel like a death.
I have 20 projects I wish to create a company that I am very proud of and I want to see thrive but I have sat on my hands for a month....waiting for them to wake up, waiting for them to finally link to my brain and make something. It has been a sad time for me, the one thing that truly links me to my father is my ability to do and make- When I can't do that I feel dead inside, dead inside and a million miles away from the energy that 
has fed me my whole life.
So, I consumed...I consumed and consumed- nothing has been enough.
No affection anyone could give me could be enough, no food could keep me fed, no applause loud enough...my need had become so monstrous that nothing felt good for very long anymore...so I kept hitting the lever and hitting the lever and hitting the lever.
The lever snapped.
I sat with myself a week ago Monday and I looked at myself. Despite the pretty dress and hair, I looked like I was falling apart, my body pulling at the seams of my largest sizes, my eyes looking blacked out and dull- not a stitch of joy in my face when I was alone. 
This had to change.
Last September I started a juice reboot inspired by the film "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" It really changed my way of thinking about how I was   feeding myself and caring for my machine ( my machine being *me*) 
I quit coffee and went on a 30 day reboot and lost nearly 30 lbs in a month, I felt incredible. Then October happened. I stayed pretty true to my regime but started slipping here and there but because I was hitting up the gym I managed to lose another 10 lbs- down 40 out of a 75lb goal in 2 months-- The November happened and it all fell apart.
Dad gave the rough news that he was stopping treatment and I dedicated my time to him. In all the sorrow and sadness I completely forgot all the hard work I did and in 4 months time gained back everything I lost.
Grief binging, I do not recommend it.
I was halfway there and I gave up on myself.
I was halfway there and I absolutely abandoned all my hard work.
In retrospect, I'm not even sure why- it wasn't like I had to in order to help take care of Dad. In truth I think my old sabotage abilities are always on the scan for a means of tripping myself up and rejoice when they see a window left unlatches or a loophole left dangling.
The first 3 days were hell, in fact such hell that I think I totally alienated a very dear friend by a major meltdown over the dinner table. 
One wouldn't think it would be so hard but all the coffee, sugar and starch loading I had been doing to keep myself awake/not lethargic left a huge gap in my chemical makeup when I took them away. 
It is now approaching week 2 of me making these cuts and setting myself on a healthier track- there is 11 lbs less of me according to the gym scale and i am feeling a lot more sane/stable/reasonable/reliable than I have felt in a while. It all has to do with self control, something I have never really been good at.

I posted the quote above because it resonated with me, deeply resonated.
I have decided to take this month off from my usual time wasting routines and spend it working on my goals, my body and my art.
I have far too broad a lens right now and I need to narrow it down and figure out what I am really good at.
I have received some hints and signs a long the way recently-- and now I have to create space to DO-- not just talk, think or dream but DO.
My favorite old goat said it best "Don't Try"
You spend your whole life trying, you'll never do anything.
That is why I have it tattooed on my spine.
Because there are days I feel beat down, weary, burdened by my oh so public failures and I whine and I cry and I say I am "trying" 
I am sick of my crying- I owe myself the right to shine.

Now, off to shake these pin curls out and go spin some Tom Waits.
Happy 1 year of not getting bored and giving up on something to me and The Raindog Revival.

I'll be writing here in long form as much as I can and if you like my quippy non-sense hit me up on twitter http://www.twitter.com/missnicobella




Sunday, April 29, 2012

Strange Fascinations.

I have 2 major obsessions.
Now I have minor arcana obsessions too- usually a shade of nail polish or a pair of shoes.
I make detailed list about the things I seek to acquire and I feel a real sense of complete when they are
slid in to place among my collections.
However there are 2 major, unwavering, unswayed obsessions and they are The Titanic and The Black Dahlia.
These 2 things have followed me since I was a small child and teenager respectively.
As I am preparing for the centennial of The Titanic  ( we're marking it in Portland  with this event: 100th Anniversary of The RMS Titanic @ The Hollywood Theatre )
I am pulled back 5 years ago to my preparations for The Black Dahlia show in Los Angeles.
It ushered in one of the darkest most fucked up periods of my life and yesterday in doing my research  she sprung up and tapped me on the shoulder again.
This last weekend I enrolled in a storytelling class taught by the wickedly talented Lauren Weedman.
I always hate when people say something was "cathartic" but fuck it, it was cathartic. The process of boiling down  bits and pieces of hilarious and heartbreaking stories about my father and the less than spectacular genetic inheritance that I received from him.
I learned how to say a lot by saying less and how to narrow down this great big story so it is linear and listenable.
I have a tendency to interject in to my own conversation and use the "but that is another story" and it truth - you have to cut it and stick to the story you are telling. It can be varied and all over the place but it has to be linear.
It was a strange process for me, I went in the first day and felt very confident, day 2 however- I felt wobbly, wobbly, frightened and not at all certain of what I was doing.
This lack of certainty has stalled me a lot in my life.
I feel like I need to be perfect before I walk in the door ( isn't the whole point of a class to learn?)
So I run away from things I do not feel I am perfect enough for or where I feel I am held to rules.
It's not rebellion ( as I have claimed for so long)
It's fear.

I finally sat down and did the work, I bitched and complained the whole time and said some truly terrible things to myself regarding myself and my talents but , I did the work.

We took our raw work in to the workshop and made tweaks, cut the chaff and got down to the story. I realized a lot about how I work and where I want to go as a writer. It is always a constant and hefty pull between my fairy tales and my actual fictions

Little things I discovered via this workshop:

1.) walking in to a room full of women causes insane amounts of nerves and nausea in me.

2.) I can get on a stage and say anything, but put me around a table and my voice shakes and my reading goes to hell.

3.) I am a better writer than I let myself believe I am.

4.) I love performing but I feel like I need to take it away from myself for awhile.

5.) having someone's affection and support is a hefty drug.

So I started this post way back at the end of March--- shows how diligent I am in my goals to keep writing. I have so much I want to express but when left to my own devices, with no deadline, no fear- I sit around and dick around on facebook writing witty updates and keeping myself "so busy" doing nothing.

I am taking some steps to correct this laziness and I intend to post DAILY in May. I am going to commit myself to at least a piece of a story or essay every day, some may go nowhere, some may be the beginnings of new work but I am not going to force the magic. I want to go where my mind wants to go-- not go where I think will be pretty or win me the affections of the world...

More on this soon.

  




Tuesday, April 3, 2012

I haven't seen you in ages...

Oh my grand aspirations of the new year - to write more , were waylaid by life.
It seemed rude to offer a play by play of my father's last days, it was his story to tell.
On March 7th he left and I have been a little shipwrecked ever since.
I feel like life comes in waves of long drawn out stretches and sped up starts.
I promise I will be better about posting and bring the world up to speed on all that is happening  in the NB Andromeda.
if you are curious about happenings you can always check out
www.fleurdelethal.com
or
www.mischiefmayhembooks.com
 or visit my DJ page at
http://www.facebook.com/bourboncore


Sunday, January 22, 2012

The Inaugural Post....

I fully intend to keep this blog PERSONAL- I want to write freely about my personal passions without it turning in to a place for promotions, marketing or trying to sell what I do- if you are interested in my projects there are a ton of links on the sidebar for you to check out all the fun I am having in the world. 

Life has been a challenge this winter.My beloved father Richard has reached a really challenging stage with his Cancer and i have done my best to be present for him. Because as it stands this is his story, not mine  I will keep it quiet out of respect but to say my heart has spent a good deal of time being broken as of late- is a gross understatement.
I started "making" again. I feel like since I slammed the door on burlesque once and for all my passion for making things trickled out of me.
I have fallen in LOVE with costuming and makeup again-- I blame it on my mane of ruby red hair that I LOVE. 
I started growing it out and going red in anticipation of a late fall start for Mad Men, since I want to do a Joan inspired look this year. Well their date kept getting pushed back, and back so I decided to amp up the auburn and go RED. I had been seeing more permanent options for red that didn't involve a bleach up so the experimenting began- I have found my process and am very happy with it. I will share a hair process with you soon. Never to hesitate to ask me a question, I am not a hairdresser but I have been doing my hair for nearly 20 years and really- when have you seen it look bad?




Photo evidence of the roux do:
As always Moulin Rouge inspired me to start taking creative baby steps ( of course my initial overblown waxed and pleated newsprint  creation never came to be but hey, there's always next year) I couldn't find anything resembling a red and black stripe that I liked so I revisited the black and white poly satin stripe from JoAnn's 
and went for my old friend idye- I love their stuff, the colors are unpredictable at best but with a little trial and error the proper red was mixed 7/8th crimson-1/8th black and the hideous pirate stripe was transformed in to 6 yards of stunning blood red and black satin.
As always, my inability to plan actual TIME to do anything sabotaged my desire to sew the piece I really wanted but ironable fusing saved the day and boy oh boy did I make a bustle.It was destroyed by the end of the night but it was good while it lasted.
 I also made myself a custom set of clip in extensions- I bought them pre made on the clips and between the coupons and a decent sale price I got a nice set of the remy human hair clip ins - The dyeing process was intense to say the least. I think next time I will go with a darker blonde just to give the color a little more heft initially but after several layers of color ( Manic Panic's Pillarbox Red, then l'oreal hi-color hightlights with a no lift activator, then special effects Nuclear Red) I have them just right. I have to give my hair a color rinse at least a week before I wear them so we match but overall  they are perfect.
The extensions thing has been a little challenging- I love wigs but I DO NOT like it looking like I have fake hair on my head. In fact, I HATE it. in my 20 + years of wearing wigs I have always worn 3/4 wigs so at least part of my real hair showed so feeling all the bumps and seams of the clips is a little off putting. It has taken me awhile to get the hang of them and getting them in well is a slow process that requires 2 mirrors. I find that they are much more real looking when I wear hats so I keep my sequin berets and satin ribbon close at hand, there are few hair crimes these two cannot cover. 


As a maker of things I have continually botched my ability ro enjoy the process because i am ALWAYS doing things last minute. I am hoping i can change this this year. One of my many goals is to learn to create in a steady state and not in sheer panic. It has affected the quality to which I believe I can do my work and always made the process so exhausting I wear myself out and make it un fun for me.

My girl Marsina ( M.A.C. goddess and all around incredible lady) made one of my makeup dreams come true for Peep Show in November. I finally did the Lichtenstein girl make-up and did a whole performance piece around it-- the stage shots are lousy ( Red Cap, please invest in lights) but the backstage shots are good. - I had all my word bubbles for the opening piece and then I sang Julie London's Cry Me A River- I have been stretching my muscles as a performer and it is TERRIFYING- but I have such a good support team around me that I no longer feel foolish or like a failure.I really want to do a full length show in this style- the brain is working on it.


Here's Miss Pop:
The Wizard of Oz brought about the opportunity for me to plan and make one of my lifelong dreams come true. I had PROMISED myself that this year for the Sing Out! screening I would be Glinda The Good Witch. Now due to not having the MGM wardrobe department at my disposal and being oh, what is the technical term? Oh yes "broke as hell"- I had to make what I could find for 100.00 work. It was a real O'Hara ( by this I mean made from curtains and linens) of a dress and not authentic but I really liked it.
I will write a detailed account of the making of it ( in particular the hat and the shoes ) for a.) posterity's sake and b.) I will need something to write about the next time i am avoiding feelings.
 for the time being - here are a few photos to please you:









So yes, I have been having some sort of fun, it's my job and it is work but damn if it isn't fun work and I am quite excited that 2012 hold a lot more of this kind of fun for me. It is kind of difficult to feel excitement knowing that my worst year with be happening concurrently with my best. It is hard to process all the progress and joy when I every day I am very aware of the heavy sorrow that is hanging around. It is awful to watch someone you love hurt and even more awful to know that they are going to be not only leaving you behind but SO many unfulfilled dreams and regrets. I wish I could stop the clocks or somehow strike a bargain with the powers that be to give up 5 of my years to him. Sadly, it's not that easy. I try to only cry once a day and keep myself optimistic - but the far reaching sorrow wins more often than not.

The rest of my life remains decent- my animals are loving, hilarious and good for me I have been making strides to take better care of my body and mind my diet and I have managed to only minorly involve myself with the men folk. My last 3 ventures out in the dating pool have managed to be so strange that it makes me question exactly how people do this couple thing- seriously, they look normal-ish and do the most jacked up creeper things. Oh to find a sexy, ambitious gent my age and do sexy and ambitious things together....A girl can dream can't she? 

I am gearing up to start screening movies at The Hollywood Theater, more on this marvelous muse filled location soon and my next designs are Usherette Uniforms for The Oscars, a Havishamble gown for the February Peep Show and new number for God Save The Queen...fun stuff all around!

It has taken me a whole day to write this ( mind you this is after 20 days of swearing I was going to do this) I expect the next ones to not be so painful. I will keep you posted. If you want to keep track of me:
follow me on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/missnicobella
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Last but not least- New Years was a wonderful turning point for me for reasons I don't quite yet feel like explaining but I snapped a photo of myself that captured a moment of contentment that though rare, was deep.


I keep this close because I need a constant reminder that with some dedication the beauty and pleasure I felt at this moment can be sustained. Today it is Chinese New Year, maybe this 20 days of treading water has been me figuring out directions-- I feel like I got nothing done but when I look at my "to-do" list and see all the crossed off boxes I see that simply isn't true. That being said I have another press release and many emails to write so I will bid you adieu-- 

**I am filtering comments so if you have something nice to say DO , and if you don't it won't get published so don't waste both our time.