In all honesty, I'm brimming with desire to post, but I'm not sure where to begin... The rally was an incredibly positive and unique experience that I consider myself lucky to have been a part of. My husband and I went into it (like many people, possibly including even Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert themselves) not sure what to expect.
We don't have cable, but we used to. And when we did, we were huge fans of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report... I don't even remember how I first heard about the rally, but I do know that I immediately HAD to attend. We bought plane tickets before even seeing Jon's "call to reasonableness" video online.
A wee bit early for full leaf-change.
This was a rather unreasonable act for me and Josh because we almost never splurge on anything or make a decision that quickly. But we did it. I don't know why we were so eager. Was it just an exercise in personal spontaneity (Yep. I know.), or was it a reflection of how completely fed up we are with the loud, obnoxious attention that loud, obnoxious extremists are granted by the media at large?
In the weeks leading up to the rally, it seems like America was wondering the same thing: is the rally just a comedy show for anti-establishment slackers who want to thumb their noses at the immensity of the problems in our country? Or is it a serious political movement and a loud message to the media and government that we're not gonna take it anymore? And when I asked myself what I was hoping to get out of it, I came to realize that what I wanted changed from moment to moment. Finally, I just resigned myself to, "Hey, at least I'll get to breathe the same air as Jon and Stephen, and that's pretty cool."
We got on the plane on Friday and found six other passengers in our immediate vicinity that were headed toward the rally, too! My hopes definitely rose. I mean, honestly, I haven't met many people in Houston whose favorite activity is exploring their own beliefs and encouraging others to do the same. So, yeah, I was thrilled!
We got a better idea of how many ralliers were there while riding the DC Metro, but on Saturday morning a quick peek at the morning news showed the National Mall filling up four hours before the start time. It looked like we weren't the only people who believed in... well, something...
We believe in a lot of different stuff!
We followed the masses to the Mall and found the most distinctive crowd ever. It's incredibly rare to have hundreds of thousands of people in the same area and have them all act right, right? Well, not these folks. I've never seen so many people NOT pushing, NOT shoving, NOT jockeying for position... Most people actually said, "Excuse me" if they had to scoot in front of you to get to where they were going! And we were packed in like sardines. It was like rock concert/subway rush hour proximities. No one smelled bad. I only saw two people smoking (and they were on the outskirts of the main crowd). People even allowed shorter people they didn't know stand in front of them if they couldn't see!
It was astounding!
At one point, there was a large sign that was blocking the view of me and many people around me. The guy behind me shouted, "Hey! Guy with the big sign about bears! Can you lower your sign please?" And he did, and we all shouted "Thank you!" No animosity necessary....
Can it be? Are these my fellow non-extreme 80% of the nation? Are they really out there?
In a way, the rally was a failure in terms of "rally excitement" because it was full of people who don't really like to clap along to songs, or shout things back at performers who ask you to shout things during their songs. But, like I said, that's MY kind of people and they're awesome!
There were a handful of people that didn't keep with the spirit of the rally. Some chose to dress as teabags or in general ridiculousness, while others made signs that specifically attacked certain political figures. I wondered if these few individuals were unable or unwilling to understand the point. Maybe it was just a Halloween thing.
Then again, it was the leftist organization MoveOn.org who were the douchebags who brought those annoying beach balls (printed with the website name) and unreasonably bounced those around the crowd. Seriously guys, no one likes those.
Another thing I noticed about the crowd was the diversity... Not just racial and ethnic diversity, but also age. My 20-year old cousin drove down from Massachusetts for the rally (sorry I didn't meet up with you, Becky!), and apparently the very elderly Mexican-American man I sat next to on the subway flew in from Seattle. It was great to see that sanity is not the property of one segment of the population.
The signs were the real stars in a way. They covered a large breadth of humor from the silly:
to the satirical:
to the ones so simply true, they make you laugh:
All in all, the rally was a huge success and an essential show of positivity for America, all accomplished while walking the fine line of satire and silliness achieved every weeknight by the Daily Show and the Colbert Report.
Jon Stewart did an amazing job of summing up the goals of the rally himself, so please watch this unedited video of his speech.
It's really wonderful and it echoes my final thoughts of the day.
There has been SO MUCH going on in the past month, I've had zero time to tell you about it... but now I can!
First of all, to all those awesome traditional and Offbeat Brides who have been asking about calla lillies I have good news - THEY'RE HERE!
These ivory calla lillies were created for Lika and Joe's November wedding. The bridesmaids will be wearing a beautiful jewel-tone blue and will have pops of brilliant orange and stately silver.
I plan on featuring the full details of their wedding after the big day, so if you want to see how the whole lovely affair comes together, stay tuned! (Also, I can't resist giving a shout-out to my alma mater right now - Go Gators!)
Another piece of big news is the grand opening of my sister shop on Etsy - The Bionic Buttercup!
I created the shop as a side project for myself (because I'm apparently not busy???) because I like arts and crafts of ALL kinds - not just posh paper florals.
The Bionic Buttercup is a place of whimsy, ridiculousness, and goof-ballery of all kinds! Each visit to the shop is an adventure where you never know what you're going to find... Don't forget to "like" The Bionic Buttercup on Facebook here.
I recently completed a rather fun paper flower project for charity:
Bra art!
Charity Chicks Houston is a local organization of gals (and a few dudes) that come together to raise money and do other charitable work for needy non-profits! It's highly altruistic - no one gets paid and no one is affiliated with any specific organization. It's just a group that helps others for the fun of it!
Last year, the Chicks helped the Save The Tatas Foundation by asking creative folks to create a piece of art out of a bra. The BRAtober event raised over $11,000 for the foundation!
This year, BRAtober proceeds are going to help Bright Pink, a group that enlightens and empowers women about their breast AND ovarian health!
The title of my piece is "Paper Petals, Steel Will". Obviously, I was inspired by my first official Offbeat Bride Pam's wedding flowers. I also wanted to incorporate pink for obvious reasons. I wanted to use my paper flowers to show the juxtaposition of ornamental beauty vs the beauty of the determination to live.
I hope mine gets chosen to be one of the 50 that goes on display and goes up for auction at the main event on October 1st! It would be quite the honor, especially given the stiff competition that showed up at the BRAtober event last year...
I'm very pleased to announce that I have completed my first wedding order for an official Offbeat Bride!
A number of people have contacted me since the Robot In Bloom ad came out on Offbeat Bride, but Pam's is the first complete order! Whee!
The bridesmaids will be wearing grey and the whole feel is classic minimalism, so Pam asked for 80 individual Oriental Poppies in black and white. I usually use tissue for the poppies, but I opted for parchment to make them a tad more substantial - and I liked how natural light passes through them in person.
In case you haven't seen on Facebook, I've been stricken with an infection in my arm that makes it incredibly painful to move it. So, if you have contacted me by email in the last few days and I haven't gotten back to you, that's why. I am returning emails as fast as possible, so yours should come soon!
In the meantime, here are some more pictures of paper flower pieces I will be showing off at The Dallas Flea this Saturday!
These are daisies and abstract flowers made from my Ikea catalogue!
This arrangement was planned and purchased by my friend as a surprise for his wife.
It wasn't her birthday, it wasn't their anniversary, he didn't screw up... Take note, couples of all types - he did it for her just because! Can you believe it?? I LOVE happy surprises - especially when I get to help surprise the surpriseee.
Apparently they were a huge hit. What a guy, eh? Tomorrow, though, I'm sure it's back to him belching and scratching as usual...
Gimmie three good reasons that you're not going to come to The Dallas Flea!
See? Exactly! You can't! It's impossible not to come to this totally awesome, totally interesting, totally rad craft fair extravaganza!
The Dallas Flea has become a huge event in a very short time in the DFW megaplex. It's an upscale craft fair for those who love buying handmade.
Check out this KADF video interview with Brittany Edwards, curator of The Dallas Flea. The video is from a prior iteration, but she does a great job explaining what you can find there:
I create posh paper floral designs for all occasions. I love crafts, dance, music, art, literature, movies... all sorts of snooty things. I also love robots, Star Trek: TNG, my Wii, and other decidely un-snooty things, so it evens out.
Please click on the links above to learn more about my flower skills!
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