Stress Breakdowns, Short Stories, and My Fabulous Fashionista

 I Will Not Stress Out Art by Kathy Jeffords

www.thedreamygiraffe.etsy.com

I'm not sure if having stress breakdowns can be considered a skill, but it's something I am REALLY good at. Outwardly, I appear normal, I'm sure (although Will might argue that point), but inside.... man. You know those gag toys which look like a can of mixed nuts, but when you open it, a snake made of springs pops out? Yeah, that's how I imagine my brain looked last week. The result: I'm sporting a zombie eye, as stress isn't kind to my eyeball's blood vessels.

Annelie took one look at my eye the other day, scrunched up her face, and informed me that "Ewwwwww, it's gross and red."  (thanks for the love, kid)

But on the bright side - I think I'm coping with my kids growing up waaaay too fast just fine this week!

....although last night, I took the preschool library story time schedule off the fridge, and...   *sobs*

Baby steps. Funny that I've been counting down the days till they are both away at college for YEARS. After last week, I'm pretty sure I'll be that super embarrassing crying mom, who needs to be escorted from the dorms.

In other news, I wrote a short story and entered it into a contest on Saturday, which is definitely where part of my stress comes from. Back at the tail end of December '11, when I was getting all motivated by New Year's resolutions, I went a little overboard and made one of my resolutions: Write 3 short stories, and post them publicly. I'd meant for this to be a way to get over my anxieties when it comes to people reading my creative stuffs, but if my zombie eye proves anything, it might be that this plan is CRAZY.

However, I really really really wanted to enter the Defy the Dark short story contest, and as the rules state that everyone's entry needs to be posted on Figment.com, ie, PUBLICLY, I decided to suck it up and be a big girl. Which means, if you're curious about what a short story by Marisa Hopkins might look like (besides the Princess and the Pea retelling on my sidebar) you can find my story HERE.

(after I posted my story, I found a few typos, which means GAAAAH!!! But as I can't fix them because of the rules of the contest, I shall pretend they don't exist.)

And, saving the best for last, my fabulous fashionista:

 Gracie made this shirt for her first day of school last week, and has since been on a shirt-making rampage.

I found an old size 4T long sleeved turtle neck the other day, and gave it to her to work her fashion design magic. She's really into scalloped edges, flowers, and the Eiffel Tower, so I helped her cut out the neck, scallop the bottom of the shirt, and shorten the sleeves (the shirt is really stretchy, so by cutting off the neck and sleeves, the 4T size fit her size 7 self  perfectly).

Then she helped me adhere iron-on adhesive to the backs of the fabric she cut, so I could sew it on the shirt.

Gracie has been talking about being a fashion designer since she was four. I keep expecting her interests to change... I mean, aren't kids supposed to change their When I Grow Up I Wanna Be plan at least 30 times before age five?

Not this 7-year-old. 

She's pretty cool, if I do say so myself. I think I'll have her design a few shirts for me!

Hope you have a fantastic week, folks! 

xoxo,