CITIZEN SHOPS: 5 Ways to #SHOPTHECITIZEN This Holiday Season

BLOOM TOWN: we've been busy as bees working on building our online shops, yes you read that right- S-H-O-P-S. As in more than the one. More than just two. While several of the shops are just staring out, we plan to focus our efforts on building them up to bustling little micro-boutiques, rich with vintage finds and treasures, each with a specific flavor and its own personality. It is our goal to not only earn a living but to do greater good in the world, and our eye on the prize is to create an artist collective that seeks to support sustainable practices and creative second-hand re-use of materials. 

When you shop with us, you help us reach our goal, one sassy pant leg at a time. 

THE DETAILS: Flapper Femme

BLOG IS IN THE DETAILS: sometimes your outfit goes to eleven due to a single, stand-out element. I've found that the right accessory in the right place at the right time can take what you are wearing to the next level. That's pretty much how I felt about this topper when I paired it with my art-show outfit (see previous post.) It took a practical pairing of a vintage dress with short jacket and added a bit of bubbly. 

Whether or not you think yourself a "hat person" let me be one among many to urge you to explore your own personal style by trying out head covering as a way to add a pinch of panache to your ensemble. A hat can truly complete a look. Think hats are a bit much for you? I think you'll find that starting with smaller, less overwhelming head gear, you'll have a bit of fun without too much fuss. Think "fascinator," "cocktail hat" or the "whimsy." These are tiny little bits of hat-goodness you fasten to your noggin' and just sit back and enjoy the stream of compliments.

The following are some thumbnail definitions of these easy breezy head pieces: 

OUTFIT POST: What I Wore Last Summer

DRESSED TO EXPRESS: Let's be honest, I haven't been wearing many outfits worth documenting. Unless you folks want to see me in gardening grub and housecoats and pjs, then maybe we'll talk. But I did have a couple of occasions that merited a dress up over the summer, and thanks to local lovely pal, Jade who snapped a couple of shots on her phone, I have this one to show you. So drink it up, peeps, because I was obviously feeling like a tall glass of water wearing a mix of vintage and ethical fashion brands.

Frisky even.

Check me out: 

THE CITIZEN 2.2

It's been a while, you.

While I'd been MEANING to write, everyday
there was just something else to do. 
And I'm not too sure I had any chat of interest. Been laying low,
and possibly just hadn't yet figured
out on how to renew
what this blog's supposed to do. 

Situations change, people change, and what remains
is a residue of done, did, do; the old snakeskin coat gives way 
to baby soft interests and newly born points of view. 

I'm sure you've been off discovering new things too. 

Hey peeps! I am back. Well sort of. But sort of some is better than sort of none. 
Talk at ya soon. 

HOW SHE WORE IT: Funky Upcylced Vintage Rose Cameo Cuff

STILL BLOOMING: This woman ---> naturally elegant, warm and generous Patti. If there ever was a list of "must read" blogs for plus forty something ladies, her blog is definitely one of them. Patti's Not Yet Dead Style is a great source for thoughtful comment as well as real life outfits and it is a hub a a vibrant community of +40 women who are exploring the subject of personal style.

RADIO Silence

I'm going to keep this pithy: I haven't been there for YOU, lately. I've been um, well, my head space is someplace else. It hasn't been here. On the interwebs. But let me confess, I haven't been very present on the blog for quite some time. 

I've been floundering. 

In fact, I'd been feeling a bit set adrift, too busy, too tired and

HOW SHE WORE IT: Vintage 1940s Rayon Ditzy Floral Dress

Blooming Madly: Mrs American Made rocks her Citizen Rosebud Fresh Pick!

Made for Florals: Yeah, that's ethical fashion blogger extraordinaire rocking our vintage rayon floral dress, and how. Ana B, aka Mrs American Made shows how you can wear vintage and make it look contemporary. Case in point, this classic femme frock made from a rayon crepe with an all over floral print. She took the hem up, and paired it with boots, a great way to add some modern punch to a 1940s look. 

PICTURE PERFECT: Fiesta Mama

MAMA Q: Recently my mamacita turned 75 and there was a big family fiesta thrown to celebrate. It was a colorful gathering of family, more family and childhood friends and there were tables of tasty Mexican food, desserts and drink as well as lively conversations. Many of us hadn't seen each other in year, many met for the first time, and it was a joy to see at the center of all the festivities, my beautiful and fun-loving mother. 

Her party dress was a confection that she made from a thrifted lace dress picked up at the Goodwill and embellished with brightly colored crochet flower applique, and she wore a tiara of red silk roses. When she was asked to share her secret for looking young, she said with a relish, "be good but not too good. And wear lots of bright colors!"

Well, if wearing bright colors can extend your years, we are most certainly going to celebrate her birthdays well into the hundreds. And for that, I am very glad.

Here's to many more years of happiness and joy, Mama Q. I'm wearing red today for you.

POV: Somebody Else's Portrait

Bella Portrait by Anthony Rigano

A million years ago, sometime in the mid '80s, I had become accustomed to various photographer types approaching me and asking to take my portrait. I had, I suppose, what you'd call "an interesting face." I was skinny, possessing a fair amount of physical proportion, had bright, clear skin, a good head of hair, and the blunt beauty of youth. I never looked the same in these portraits by others, that I looked to myself, so when I took up the habit of taking my own photos for outfit posts, I really relished the control I had in contriving my own image. I liked the way I made myself look, and I am too this day, really am glad that I got caught up in the blogging blitz during its early fashion heyday. 

Of course I burnt out, and aside from the digital collection of very flattering pictures of myself, grew weary of playing constant citizen journalist, chronicling my every thought and brain fart and somewhat questionable fashion choices. I grew bored of the selfie orbit, but I do miss the piles of pretty pictures of me. 

Since, I've grown considerably fatter, a few years older and couldn't give a live fig about current fashion. Trends, I had barely liked them to begin with but after 5 years of keeping abreast with what was in the now, grew to dread the daily "doll ups." Took to wearing the same day to day uniform of the comfy dress, a pair of slip ons and a terribly unfashionable battered red beanie, firmly planted on my head while I finally grow my  short hair out.

Last summer I paid a Seattle artist friend a visit as he prepared for a big move from the city to go back to college in Olympia. While we sipped beers and nibbled on cheese and crackers, he pulled out an old Polaroid camera and asked to take my picture. A few awkward snaps, and a few months later, he sent me the result, of which is the photo header for this post. 

I'll be blunt: I do not like it,  not one stinkin' bit. It's not that I don't appreciate the artistic composition or the textured ferns in the background, but I don't like the way it displays me. My image reads as chubby: flabby arms, swollen belly, and what appears to be the start of a double chin. Ugh and yuck. So I tucked the portrait away until just now, until I just re-discovered it while nosing around desktop photos folder, unlabelled.  

I should have labeled it: somebody else's portrait. Because as I look at this photograph, I KNOW I am looking at myself, but feel the woman in the picture has nothing in common with the me I know I could capture in a self portrait.

There's no flattering natural window light, no graceful pose, nada, nada, nothing. Just a sun drenched pic of Bella the Q, unfiltered. It occurs to me that there will come a day when I will look at this photo and be able to appreciate whatever fine qualities it possesses. 

Because it does indeed look like me. Exactly like the me that insistently wears those comfy dresses, slip-on canvas shoes and flaccid red beanie that does no favor for fashion.  I am guilty of  those old lady noodle arms, the paunchy middle-aged middle and signature slouch. But also me:  that toothy, goofy yet genuine smile, the happy eye sparkle and the irrepressible dark and wavy hair. People, just look at all those teeth; there's going to come a day when a toothless future self is going to suck in her cheeks and whistle with a lisp: wowth, my thmile thure looked allf right. 

I remember a friend from high school who was a "big boned girl," healthy and curvy but had gotten into her head that she should have been straw skinny. She thought herself plain and heavy until years later when she reviewed her high school photos and could appreciate her youth. "I wasn't fat," she later declared, "I had a beautiful body!" Then a sigh: "How I wished I had that body now!" I guess the moral of the story is to appreciate what you got when you've got it.

Remember, the real you can never be fully captured within the confines of a click of a Kodak. You are NOT your picture or portrait, no matter who took it.

PICTURE PERFECT: The Sourface Portraits

THE SOURFACE PORTRAITS: Recently I was commissioned by some lovely ladies to take some pictures of them. Both, beautiful women; one is in her twenties, the other has just stepped into her sixth decade. It was so much fun to shoot both of them, and they seemed happy with the pictures I gave them, I found it interesting that MY FAVORITE pictures of them were ones they didn't care much for.

BEHIND THE SEAMS: Shots in the Studio

 IT FIGURES: At the start of this year, the Citizens-of-Rosebud downsized and our studio and headquarters were moved into a smaller space. That meant coming up with creative ideas for workspace, photo studio and office. One of the biggest challenges has been coming up with an attractive satisfactory photography set-up; we're still working out the kinks. Taking product shots
for a budding home goods online boutique on Etsy has been a bit easier than taking stylish photos

Good Hair Days: Crochet Skull Headband

THINKING CAPPED: Have I mentioned that I have been growing my hair out for over two decades?

Yup! Right before my 30th birthday, I decided to shave my long and lovely locks (almost always worn up into a librarian-worthy bun) and so I did. Shaved down to the skull, in spite of almost everybody telling me I didn't have "the face for it." Hair style tip # 22: if you love the style, you have the face for it. Once done, I looked a bit like a girl fresh out of an asylum, but I just loved it! I loved the soft fuzzy feel to the hand when I brushed my paw across the top of my head. I love how the breeze rushed through my cropped hair when I rode my bike across the flat grid of Midtown, Sacramento. I felt confident and happy, and while I may not have had the face for a buzz cut, I definitely had the attitude.

CLOTHES + CULTURE: The True Cost, the Movie

If you enjoy wearing clothes, you might need to see this film.  THE TRUE COST is a documentary film that reveals the human and environmental impacts of the fashion industry. THE TRUE COST confronts the fashion industry head on, giving the viewer a no holds barred look into the price we all pay for what's hanging in our closets.

MONDAY MUSES: Education + Mrs Obama

"a truly strong, powerful man isn’t threatened by a strong, powerful woman. Instead, he's challenged by her, he's inspired by her, he is pleased to relate to her as an equal."

                                                                                                         -First Lady Michelle Obama

An inspiring speech by American First Lady, Michelle Obama during last year's YALI summit held at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco is currently making the rounds in my feed on Facebook, and I must say, it moved me. I am moved by the example set by this intelligent, poised and remarkable woman and the cadence in her words, but most of all, Obama's point that a richer society and culture result from the empowerment of men AND women, must include the efforts by both men and women. If knowledge is power, to open windows of opportunity, EDUCATION is key.

The following is an edited transcript of the speech, but if you haven't heard it already, I recommend you listen to this moving speech for yourself. 

Michelle Obama by Annie Leibovitz  (source)

MICHELLE OBAMA: I could give a perfectly fine speech today about increasing investments in girls’ education around the world. 

But I said I wanted to be honest.  And if I do that, we all know that the problem here isn’t only about resources, it’s also about attitudes and beliefs.  It’s about whether fathers and mothers think their daughters are as worthy of an education as their sons.  It’s about whether societies cling to outdated laws and traditions that oppress and exclude women, or whether they view women as full citizens entitled to fundamental rights. 

So the truth is, I don’t think it’s really productive to talk about issues like girls’ education unless we’re willing to have a much bigger, bolder conversation about how women are viewed and treated in the world today.  And we need to be having this conversation on every continent and in every country on this planet. 

POETRY IN MOTION: Chrysanthemum in Silk

Poetry in Korean Silk: a vintage Hanbok cropped jacket in Chrysanthemum Orange. SHOP NOW.

Beside a Chrysanthemum

For one chrysanthemum to bloom

a nightingale

has sobbed since spring, perhaps.

For one chrysanthemum to bloom 

FRANCIS FRIDAY: The Back End

FRANCIS SHOWING OFF HIS GOOD SIDE WHILE PERCHED ON THE SHOULDER.

NEW YEAR + REAR VIEW: Friends this is likely the last Francis Friday. While our favorite black cat is riding high (usually hanging over a shoulder) he can be hard to photograph, and frankly, I'm having more fun hanging out with him than chasing after a photo. So enjoy the back end of Francis Friday- it seems over before it started.

WHAT'S NEW FOR FRANCIS? Well, he's been exploring the great outdoors, with a bit of trepidation on my part, but he seems to love it. He is very excitable about birds and squirrels, and has taken to hiding under a bush across my house to spy on birdies. So far, no luck in catching any! And, in a couple of weeks, Mr Velvet Balls takes a trip to vet to get a snip-snip preventing him from fatherhood, and hopefully will curb any sort of Tom Cat tomfoolery or wanderlust that may put him in harm's way.

We'll keep you posted via Instagram with new pics of my adorable Francis, just not on any sort of time table. You can follow his antics (and a few other kittens) by following the hashtag #francisthecat