Blake and Beth, April 17th, 2011

A special friend of mine, Beth, married her best friend on April 17th.  I walked with Beth, through the process of her interest in Blake; the struggle of the unknown and her desire for something she was not sure was God's will.  She prayed and He led her into a lifetime of love with the man of her dreams.  

Which sounds like a fairy tale.  Beth's life is not a fairy tale ... life has been hard for her.  She's told me about her ups and her downs.  God knows all of that.  He knows that her heart is to follow Jesus. And He gave her a second chance.  Our Father God gave her a good man.  One of integrity, honor, devotion and  righteousness.  Her heart was for God, she delighted in Him, and He gave her the desires of her heart.  

Oh! On the way to the wedding my car decided to drop the muffler. The equivalent of breaking a hip for an senior citizen.  Yeah that really stunk!  I was driving two other mutual friends of Beth's and mine to the wedding. When it decided to let go. "Oh crap! What's going on?!" We pulled the car over.  We got out and I got down, in my wedding clothes, on a street in Richmond, and tried to tie the muffler up with shoe laces. I found the shoe laces on a pair of hiking boots in my trunk.  A stranger drove up and offered his assistance.  He tried to help but didn't have the materials to help.

[Later when we came back to rescue the car after the wedding the muffler was neatly tied up.  An older gentleman friend of mine drove me to pick up my car. He asked me if I had tied up the muffler. I ignorantly said I had. Since I'd tied it up with shoelaces... I then got a look at the underbelly of my car and saw that "No!" it was NOT my shoelaces holding up the muffler.  The stranger had come back when we were gone and BEAUTIFULLY tied up the muffler with clothes line. It was gorgeous :) for reals.

(here's proof!)

I felt like I could cry about what the stranger did. God was definitely watching out for me with my car problems.  Did I mention the older gentleman had tried to find the car without me and couldn't. We were wondering if it had been towed. But I went out with him and low and behold it was there where I had left it. He just wasn't lookin in the right place.  God's got my back!!]

One of the girls called another friend who was already at the wedding.  Thank God she came and got us.  We ended up being 10 mins. late or so to the wedding :(  which was sad. But I am thankful we did not miss the whole thing.  

The wedding was special.  Blake and Beth shared communion together.  Pledged their lives to each other and exchanged rings. Each set of parents, Beth's mom and Blake's mom and dad said a blessing over the couple.  Then they marched triumphantly out of the church as Mr. and Mrs! 

We made our way to a lodge in the woods for the reception. We hung out, ate and laughed.  Beth and Blake danced.  At the end of the reception, many had already left. We gathered in a circle around the new couple.  In advance Beth had asked some of her close girl friends, myself included, to pray for her and Blake. Some of his sibling and a close family member also prayed.  It was a special time of committing their relationship and the start of their family into God's capable and loving hands.  

They quickly rushed to their car bedecked in cans, crepe paper streamers and "just married", through a gauntlet of joyous bubbles and attendees.  

They drove off in a cloud of great expectations to an undisclosed, to Beth, location for their honeymoon. It was a secret!!  

Beth and Blake are now settling into a small house in the woods outside of Richmond. With God's blessing, leading and grace I know they will live "happily ever after."  

I love you Beth and am soo happy for the gift God placed into your life, of marriage to a good man.

Little Black Dress

Black Vintage Edith Flagg, size 10 dress. Polyester with shoulder pads and pockets.  Draped neckline. Full circle skirt.  Elastic sequined belt with sequins at the shoulders.  Beautiful, beautiful vintage find.  It's such that it can work with different body types.  There's a lot of extra room in the draped top, and elastic waist. The hips are "free" meaning the skirt is almost a full circle and doesn't constrict the hips.

Of course I modeled the dress and took the pictures, and edited them and posted the listing in "Marie's Miracles", my online shop.  I love this dress!!! (Remember the previous post has a %25 off coupon for my shop!)

And for your gleeful enjoyment here are some awkwardly awesome pics!  FYI, These did not make it to my online shop.  I crack myself up.  I take a ton of pics before I edit and weed out what I don't want to get 5 pictures for my Etsy shop. And whilst taking them I often end up with some STRANGE pictures ;)!  

I've hit 100 (plus one)!!!

On April 29th 2011, I hit 101 sales in my Etsy shop, "Marie's Miracles."  A friend of mine, Marlisa told me about Etsy years ago and said it made her think of me.  Because of her suggestion I opened my little shop on October 5th 2008.  It's been a good experience for me.

Last year I actually sold more directly to buyers than through my shop. But having an online shop is a good platform to sell directly. Because I can say, "do you want to see my Etsy stuff?"

I have been rather busy in my life so I haven't really worked hard on my shop for a long time.  It would be really neat to live off of selling what I create.  Maybe someday.

It's good to hit the 100 sales mark.  Here's to another 100!

 

 

 

This is a smattering of items I've sold in my Etsy shop over the years.  The items I sell are hats made from old sweaters or clothes (all hats pictured are made from re-purposed material), faux beach glass wrapped in wire, earrings, t shirts made with a special bleaching process, and hair flowers.  

I enjoy the creative process of having an Etsy shop. I have to make and create the piece, photograph it then edit it and finally list it. Even in the listing I often come up with a creative name like "Heart of the Ocean" (the green wrapped beach glass piece pictured on the right is called that) to "The Gatsby" (the first hat pictured with a feather poof!) and I often come up with a creative paragraph describing the essence of the piece or where it could be worn etc...

Here's a couple examples of said paragraphs:

Describing blue vintage hush puppy heels,

"These little ladies have many stories to tell. Dancing, running down the street to catch a bus, dressing up a child as she pretends to be a princess. What stories will they tell from your life?"

Describing "Heart of the Ocean"

"Waves crashing, salt air blowing, sea gulls calling, dreaming in dappled reflections off ocean waves...a girl stands eyes out to sea, holding her hands to her heart as she envisions the day her man comes home."

I would like to grow as an entrepreneur, I'm not sure Etsy is the avenue I should stay with. At this point though I will keep my shop open and slowing add new things. I do have quite a stash of vintage that I want to photograph and list.  

I have made a special coupon code to commemorate my  100 sales, when checking out put in this code "100SALES" and you will receive %25 off of your order! Tell your friends and your mother for heaven sakes ;)