Currently Obsessing

We'll call this one 'Currently Obsessing' in which I will share said current obsessions with you fine folks. Because I'm cool and I like cool stuff and you can be vicariously cool by liking the same cool stuff as me. Get it? Good.

I even made a pretty list!

I'm not trying to say I'm like some kind of fabulous trendsetter or anything (kidding! That's totally what I'm saying) but calling oneself a hipster in even the most tounge in cheek of ways indicates a certain confidence in ones coolness. Or maybe I'm just an asshole. I have not quite been able to acsertain that just yet. When I do I'll let you know, but in the meantime, I need to tell someone about all this interesting crap floating about my brain these days.

First up, currently listening to : Angel Olsen. I'm going to continue in bold because she is just that frickin amazing. I'm serious youtube that shit like right now. Here, I'll make it super easy for you.

I do have to admit one thing though. My husband found her first. Which makes him a little cooler than me, but that's okay. We're good for eachother like that.

The album is called Burn Your Fire For No Witness and Pitchfork gave it a crazy good review that says it way better than I can so click that link people! The song Enemy in particular just tears me apart in that perfectly painful way, that pain that is so beautiful because it's so fucking real. It's like (one of) the girls inside my head broke out and put music to all her unwritten poetry. I'm sorry if that makes no sense to you. Please, just listen.

The next two things on my list are colors. Because I'm random like that, bear with me. I plan on dressing pretty much exclusively in shades of white this spring. Well, white plus denim. While my hunt for the elusive perfect white tee shirt has thus far been unfruitful, I will continue my search and wear every iteration of said white shirt until I find it. I will find it, if only because that's all I'm going to wear and purchase. I'm nothing if not stubborn. Now, I'm sure some color will get thrown in there (it's going to be a big season for pastels, but I'm sure you already knew that) but I saw this one picture on Pintrest and I decided that white was it for me this spring.

Gold. I bought this amazing gold foil pen and I'm putting that shit on everything. Plus, this gold wishbone necklace the husband bought me that magically goes with everything I own. I've worn it every day since he bought it, and the only other piece of jewlery I wear every day are my wedding rings. I have quite a few baubles (what can I say I like shiny things) so that's saying quite a bit. What can you take from this? Invest in a delicate piece of 'personal' jewlery. Then you can wear it all the time and call it your signature piece. Who doesn't want a signature piece?!? That just sounds fancy.

The bullets cool too, but it's got nothing on that wishbone xx

I'm still reading The Journey of Desire . And I'm still obsessed with it. But I'm not going to review it
until I'm done (which might be a while, because I am savoring this read. Plus it requires much bible checking and investigating). All I'm going to say is, get thee to Barnes and Noble. We can be obsessed together.

Items 5 and 6 on the list can kind of all be thrown into one category, and we'll call that category creating. Or maybe art. Anyway, I can't stop buying pictures of girls with antlers. Deer girls. I have no idea what's behind this new fascination, but I've always had a thing for the wild and fae. I even have a Pintrest board, girls with antlers .

Art by Prettylittlethieves

Art by GirlandParrot

I have so many new favorites on etsy. It's crazy how many amazing artisans and crafters make their 'home' on etsy. The platform it's given my work has been insane and I've found so many like minded creatives there. Which is pretty much the definition of cool. In case you were wondering.

And that said, I've managed to work my way around to what's kind of been bothering me about my work lately. I haven't made art for the love of making art in... a while. And I feel like the stuff I'm selling in my shop, while it's definitely representative of me as a creative, I'm not sure that it's representative of me as an artist. I'm not even sure who I am as an artist actually. I can certainly make things. It's almost too easy. But I feel like I've been lacking vision. Maybe that's why I'm making lists and searching for inspiration.

I think I just need to get lost somewhere.

Who is your alter ego?

I have a board on my Pintrest entitled 'my alter ego'. I pin things like clothes I would've worn when I was 16 and dressing to shock (and secretly wish I could still wear now, alas, I've made the decision that as a 30 year old mother of three there shall be no more midriff unless one is on the beach). Pictures of brooding young girls, scaling fences and smoking cigarettes, partying with their equally attractive and pouty boyfriends. Beautiful bizarre things, covered in butterfly wings, clad only in slips of fabric. You get the idea. The point is, it's not representative of the life I lead. Except maybe in my head.

Compared to most of collections of pretty things on my Pintrest, this board is quite small. I usually only pin there when I can not find another suitable home for the image. When I just can't make it fit on my style board, or even my Beautiful Loser board (where I collect things of the bizzare and lovely type). No, this board pays homage to another woman/girl entirely. She's not who I am or even quite who I once was, but she is a part of me nonetheless. My alter ego.

Alter ego is Latin for "the other I". It is defined (by Wikipedia) as "a second self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality." And "the role or persona taken on by an actor or by other types of performers." I think the idea of a persona best synchs with what I'm *attempting* to say here. You know how after you have a fight or an argument with someone you sort of play it back in your head? You imagine all the things you could have said differently, done differently. In that imagining you say all of the things you couldn't say in real life, out of fear or anxiety, whatever. You pull on your alter ego's ass kickin boots and make it right.

My alter ego is not afraid of anyone. She speaks her mind with intelligence every time. She makes dangerous things look fun and she always leads the way. Now, I may just have a particularly vivid inner life, but I think we all do this to some degree. The shy girl who imagines speaking her mind without whispering. The mother of four who just wants to hit the open road unencumbered, wind in her hair and a song on her lips. The woman who has got it together, imagining a world in which it's not her job to run the show. No responsibilities, not a care in the world.

Am I wrong? Do you do this? Who is your alter ego?

It's not about not loving who we are are, our lives, our families and our jobs, everything we have built and nurtured (as women we are wont to do). No. It's about that secret bad ass we keep inside. The one that helps us when we need a nudge (or a shove) to step out into the unknown. To do the things that frighten us. That excite us. My alter ego is actually responsible for everything I write and share. Christine can't put herself out there in front of the world, to be criticized or loved (both are equally frightening). But the tough as nails chick inside my head can. I call her the hipster housewife. And she doesn't care what you think of her, or if you think of her at all.


It's incredibly freeing ladies. To BE the woman you think you could be, if only you were braver, or smarter, or prettier. The truth is, courage, intelligence, and beauty are already yours. You just have to own them. Scary sh*% I know. No ones saying it's easy. But certainly doable.


I don't write here claiming to know it all, have it all, do it all. I'm not an expert anything. At 30 years old I am just learning who I am, as a wife and mother, as a friend, and above all, as a women of God. Sometimes I feel incredibly strong, and at others unspeakably weak. I write here to give legs to my dreams. So they can walk out of my head and actually be.

Love Buzz, Baby

Guess what?!

No, really, guess.

Ok, I'll just tell you. I applied to this amazing art show out in Lowell at Mill No. 5 (which is an actual old mill. So cool.) a while back, kind of on a whim. I've never done any vendor shows on any scale and Love Buzz is a rather large scale event.

So, did you guess yet?! I'm in! I'm one of the cool kids! I get to sit at the popular table! I'm so excited I can't stop writing with exclamation marks!

The Hipster a Housewife has her first gig ladies and gentlemen. They like me, they really, really, like me.

It's on February 1st, so I have about a month to get my sh*% together and make a bunch of pretty stuff. It's a valentine/lovey-dovey themed event and my first thought was cards, people love cool cards. And then I thought, well, I'm already challenging myself to make a piece a day, why not make card designs? And then I said to myself, why am I using so many italics?

Totes xx

Nothing like a good old fashioned, tongue in cheek valentine. I think I'll give this one to my bestie.

I also have to figure out how to get some good quality prints done of my work without spending an arm and a leg. Isn't it scary when you catch yourself saying things your mother says? 'An arm and a leg' who says things like that? My mother, that's who. I'm old.

Anyway, I digress.

I have a ton of work to do. But as it turns out, I actually have some time to do it in. I found out this morning that we have no work (that's at my day job, construction, not my fabulous night job in which there is always something to keep me busy). And of course I immediately called the husband and freaked out, because we depend on my paycheck, like big time. He talked me down (like always), we got off the phone, and I just started praying. One of those desperate, please help me Lord prayers that you mumble under your breath as you drive down the street in the snow, or rain, or whatever. I was scared. I am scared, but I have faith that my father in heaven will provide.

And of course he did, almost right away. I got home an the email was there, along with the opportunity to bring in some funds. The whole thing is a HUGE opportunity to get my name and brand out there. I just feel so blessed tonight.

Great is His faithfulness.

 

Who or what exactly IS a hipster housewife?

Well, for starters, I am a hipster housewife. Looking for some hipster street cred?

1. I created and DIYed my entire wedding from scratch on my parents farm.

2. I'm a self professed 'cool Christian'.

3. I cook all of my meals from scratch. And yes, they are mostly organic (when we can afford it). HOWEVER I hate Whole Foods because I always feel so inadequate when I walk in there.

4. So what does that mean? Farmers markets!! And my mothers garden. 

5. We own chickens. 

6. I follow fashion, but only so I can studiously look like I just threw something together and it comes out fabulous. This old thing? Thrift shop, darling.

7. I am that cool mom. My seven year old owns vegan leather pants and hair chalk. 

8. I'm an artist. Why the f*ck else would I be doing this? I want to share my work.

9. I'm a writer. See above.

10. Being so cool, I want to share some of that coolness with the rest of the world, hence, The HipsterHousewife was born. But in a totally relatable, non condescending sort of way. I'm already failing at that aren't I? 

Most of my awesome church friends are hipster housewives too. Those kick ass, do it all, crafty moms, who know just the right moment to send you a heartfelt card despite the screaming toddler attached to their leg. The Hipster Housewife is a women who doesn't just embrace being a housewife, she actually makes it look cool. She could be a Christian, Muslim, Jew, or atheist. She could be any color, any race, be from any country. We aren't perfect moms, wife's, or friends. In fact, more often than not, we couldn't be further from perfect. We just like to dive head first into life and get our hands dirty. 

So here is my open invitation friends, join me on my journey as I continue to figure out what it means to be a hipster housewife. We can make some stuff, cook some stuff, attempt to figure out this whole wife and mom thing, plan the *perfect* outfits, and generally be super cool doing it. You in or what?

***UPDATE*** (edited to add)
I've received some negative feedback regarding this post, and I just have to add - it's SATIRE people! I'm halfway making fun of myself! Of course I take my life seriously, my family, my faith, and all of the eclectic craziness that comprises said life. But if we can't laugh at ourselves, then WTF can we laugh at!