Each morning when I open my eyes, I look out the balcony door attached to our bedroom and see if the sun is out. If it is, I will ,naturally, have more spunk toward "encouraging" my butt out of bed. I waiver for a bit- but I'll get up. If it's overcast or rainy, though unlikely in Santa Barbara, I will nestle further into my pillow and pull the blankets closer to cover my eyes. My lingering sleep doesn't last long, as my excessive guilt wins. Those twelve years of Catholic schooling my parents paid for (for six kids, no less) surely infested my pathology with five lifetimes worth of guilt. I'm up and- if before my husband and dog (which is rarely the case)- I will make the boy a pot of coffee and ready some tea for myself. Throw in a solid seven and a half minutes of yoga and I'm ready to begin my day.
I'll log into my trusty email, check for online orders, respond to inquiries, do some online promotion and saddle up for making a couple of hair flowers or a piece of jewelry. Jewelry was a no brainer as far as a product for starting my own business was concerned. Back in the day, I was a full on dichotomy of a cheery little Western Massachusetts goth girl skipping around in my combat boots weighed down with a rather offensive amount of jewelry. I went through undergraduate school earning my Social Work and Psych degree in these sorts of ensembles; and then went onto graduate school in Boston studying Art Education and nannied (is that a word? Can I make it a verb, like "antiquing"?) my way through school wearing these outfits.... and always with a large ring on every finger, bracelets and a necklace or five. I felt naked without my jewelry. But these days- after teaching art with young children for several years- I had to do away with the hoards of accessories; and what was left was the flower in my hair.
THIS is where the story of how I came to make the hair adornments emerged. I rarely ever wear jewelry anymore- though still love making it- and have replaced the weight of the jewelry with the flowers in my hair each and every day. Since their introduction into my company's collections, I have made hundreds for brides, rockabilly and burlesque gals, and little miss Janes who just want to perk up their stylin' selves for a day.
So this, then, informs that my morning routine for the past many years has been to wake up, drink tea, check emails,etc. and pop a flower in my hair. I feel like a nudie without it and, well, my red lipstick.
