A Valentine

For the delicious truth that we are never the same person twice (and the better for it).

Every texture, every pause, every caught breath…shifts the course of things, and us, with it.

For you, Valentine

For all your ever-wending ways:

For big dreams, true loves, firsts, lasts, and constants –

  Friends of all stripes (and species)

For sidebar revelations and your own best self

         And love, risk, all of it, always.

Our beautiful, Brave life.

All of us, even the most peaceful, passive, seemingly weak of us, have a brave self inside of us, that is usually freed up when crisis hits, or when we feel trapped by what we view as limitations.

Bee Brave Pendant in Rose Quartz

Sometimes we temporarily forget this birthright.  So God gives us (or we create) breakdowns of all sorts, and we either witness them or experience them ourselves, and know again that we are stronger then we think.  And once we taste this bravery, we want it, all the time.

When we design, we are always drawing on our experiences of this living bravery, so as to create reminders, small treasures and markers, of our dreams. The bravest ones, the truest ones. The dreams that are the most authentic expressions of who we are.

Some people are not called to be brave in an overt way, but develop a brave self over time.  Others, like Joshua King, discover this earlier (at 3 years old he was diagnosed with Leukemia).  His story and positive attitude really spoke to my heart.

He has adopted the motto, “Be Brave,” which is an anthem we all love here (and we are in good company with the legions are Sara Bareilles fans dancing in the streets!).  She has connected with him in such a fantastic way… and helped this amazing boy realizes one of his dreams, which is to sing Sara’s song of the same name with her:



Wishing Sara the best of luck at the upcoming Grammy awards this Sunday night… and sending much love and thanks to Joshua for showing us pure spirit and love.  Two incredible, living reminders of this beautiful, brave life we are all living.

Find out more about some organizations that have supported Joshua and guide and help families who are dealing with pediatric cancer: http://bebrave.me/resources.html

#sarabareilles #sarabfans #bebrave #beebrave #sarabgrammys #grammys #theblessedunrest

Dedalian: To loving a little or a little too much

Dedalian Collection

In an attempt to bridge our love of materials and making something new with our love of collage and chance, we found ourselves enmeshed and enacting our own kind of alchemy- fabricating a fantastic (in both the literal/figurative sense of the word) fusion of elements both felt and forged.

Los Olivos Grand Re-Opening

A great time was had by all who attended our Grand Re-Opening Celebration! The weather cooperated, the people were shopping, the band was playing and the food was y-u-ummy!

Hangin' Out at Our New Los Olivos Location!

Off The Grid Gang

The shoppers were out in force!

Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate the Grand Re-Opening of our Los Olivos Boutique!

Congratulations to the Grand Prize winner: Kristi Petitt, a student at UCLA.
And the winner of our Diamond Solitaire pendant: Debbie DeMirjian who celebrated her birthday with us as well! 

Small Hands

Brianna Colburn, my dear friend (and Waxing Poetic’s official poet), performed a sublime reading of one of my most favorite poems during dessert one evening at a small dinner party I was hosting.  Her tender voice, along with the empty space of the most beautiful pauses, echoed the frailty so beautifully rendered here by E.E. Cummings.  The metaphor of small acts and small ways as transformative and powerful… like many, many small drops of rain…  always keeps me conscious of the beauty and potency of the tiny and true.

somewhere i have never traveled, gladly beyond

any experience, your eyes have their silence:

in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,

or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me

though i have closed myself as fingers,

you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens

(touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and

my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,

as when the heart of this flower imagines

the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals

the power of your intense fragility: whose texture

compels me with the colour of its countries,

rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes

and opens;only something in me understands

the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)

nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands

E.E.Cummings

You can also find this beautiful poem in Woody Allen's “Hannah and Her Sisters”… a “wooing” gift (oldest trick in the book I think!) from Michael Caine to his sister-in-law, with whom he is in love:



With love,

Patti

Introducing: The “Think Pink” Survival Bracelet

"Think Pink" Survival Bracelet

Whomever the story is about, it’s an important one. This delicate pink Italian leather wristlet holds our Kristal Miraculous Medal, Awareness and Story of Survival charms, to serve as a marker in your life and tribute to breast cancer survivors everywhere.

For the month of October, Waxing Poetic will donate 20% of all sales of our "Think Pink" Bracelet to The Breast Cancer Resource Center.

Xo,

Patti

THE BRAVE AND TRUE: a dedication to my friend Jen Lippman

Patti and Jen a few months after Jen finished radiation treatment for breast cancer

Since I posted about my friend Jen’s breast cancer last October,  a lot of people have asked me how she is doing.  She probably asks herself this as well, having gone through such a transformation on every level… but I’ll speak for her and say that in a word, she is GOOD.   She is through chemo, through a huge operation, through radiation.  And I am happy to report that the cancer that has thrown a wrench into Jen’s life is also THROUGH.  I would say that Jen is “great,” but a superlative isn’t really the right way to express how good she is, and the goodness in her.   Because the reality is that her life has forever changed (and as a result, she touched so many of our lives in so many transformative ways) but she remains as good as she was before this all happened to her.  I am not so sure that is an easy thing, but my courageous, graceful, accepting,  fearless, and beautiful friend has shown me that it is possible.  And there are still some chapters to finish before this story is over, but the turning point is: my friend is alive and well.  She’s good.

To Jen, for being a vulnerable heroine of so many things, especially the heart…

For being a patient and counselor at the same time

For knowing even when things are unclear

For taking the worry away

For saying what needs to be said because time is precious

(and saying it again because I didn’t listen the first time)

For your mothering and friendship

For your pure joy and intelligence

For showing us how to deal

For really understanding what it is all about

I love you.

For the month of October, we will be donating 20% of the sales from the Rose Quartz Bee Brave Pendant to The Breast Cancer Resource Center of Santa Barbara

To my friend Jen who inspires me in my work and life daily: Waxing Poetic is honored to dedicate our donation to The Breast Cancer Resource Center this month to you.  Stay good, my friend.  You are the bravest, truest heroine I know.

Xo,

Patti

The Author of My Life

Author of My Life Axiom Bracelet

A friend recently shared this photo his daughter sent him.  She was out of the country, and having a homesick moment. She shared this photo with her dad saying that the  bracelet he gave her before she left on her trip provided encouragement, a reminder that she is loved, and a reminder that she has the autonomy to live (and write) her life as she sees fit...  That she is the Author of her Life (as we all are the authors of our own).

Wishing you the experience of this same freedom and, as always, much love.

Xo,
Patti

WAXING POETIC HEROINES: DOROTHY

Dorothy Gale's open hearted, cheery and optimistic outlook all along the yellow brick road to the Emerald City inspired us!  Making friends on her journey, her bravery to conquer that wicked ol' witch and the notion that it may have all been a dream, is wondrous and keeps us hopeful of a place called OZ, somewhere over the rainbow...