The Lovely Spotted Flamingo

Merry + Happy, we made it!

Congratulations, we made it to 12/27/2020! For me as I write this, the clock starts at 11:09pm (almost but not quite the magical 11:11).

Today I was out and about in Orlando, FL running errands with my mom when we decided to pop in to The Mall of Millenia. Valet was back, people were back and it was good and scary at the same time. If we did not have masks, it would almost be normal. And yes we are crazy careful about washing hands, being distant and the masks.

My mom was having a bad knee day and not able to walk so I went off to the concierge desk to get a wheelchair. I lucked out and asked if they had motorized ones and they did……….. as I was waiting I was chatting with the younger lady helping me. She was happy to be busy and I said it’s great we made it to this day. As I said that she was teary-eyed yet happy too. Hopefully she did not lose someone one or too many to the 2020 big event……….she really wanted to come on hug me I could tell, but we hugged with our eye exchange…………..later when we were leaving I mentioned to her at the desk that I would bring the chair back once I got the car from valet and my mom was seated.

That wonderful concierge, showed up at the valet to get the chair from us so I did not have to drive it back inside. What a nice and wonderful surprise!

Among the craziness of the world this year, we have had wonderful conversations and interactions with people. Everyday, I can feel people happy to have made it this far. Today was really the first time I discussed it with anyone about making it this far, and it is true. I definitely feel like a celebration is in order for making it this many days, and am appreciative of what I have and what this experience has brought me.

The time span for me like many is all a blur. So blurry that saying we have been doing this for 10 months feels like a really long time, like a decade of time instead of less than 1 year, And I am in the group that was never in sync with the time change. This year was slug inducing, and then before I knew December holidays were here and over super duper quick.

I work in the home and gift industry so we are always busy and open in December and prepping for our wholesales markets in Dallas, Atlanta and the rest of the gift markets during the month. While everyone is fa la la’ing, I am still filling wholesale orders, doing on-line sales, inventory, making catalogs and doing lots of updates for the upcoming markets. This is my every year. So it is very nice to have made this far with hope for a good January and new things in 2021.

If no one else tells you, I am proud of you for making it this far in the 2020 pandemic. Hopefully you were not sick, did not lose anyone, and were somewhat ok in your mental health because of 2020’s unique stressors. Celebrate that during this weird in between week and time. We all earned our gold stars this year. Happy and healthy for all of us in 2021!

My favorite photo of me ever!

This is one of my favorite photos ever of myself.

At 53 years old the words have finally come to me on Veteran’s Day 2020, the year of the absurd.

The smile, the glasses, the body language are all hopeful………… the best part is the plaid in the dress ……… that plaid and all the colors symbolize to me that we are ALL God’s (insert your own word if you believe something else) gifts to the world.

So many colors, numbers (R G B color science thing), stripes and more all going into making a plaid a work of art.

And me being me, I would have to have a plaid dress with red trim ’cause I lean toward fancy and OTT.

I have made a million plaids in my lifetime in so many different ways. I learned the complete tech side of textiles in school. 4 years in a science lab. I had artists who painted by hand and air brush and masking tape plaids, I hade hand weavers in Russia make me samples, picked yarns and worked with mills in the US, lots and lots of very creative technicians and artisans in India and I made madras, and cray burnouts, overlays and other things, worked hands on in mills in Mexico with the technicians who spoke no English, learned and taught textile German software and helped them develop their programs, designed loads of plaids for so many clothing brands and crafts stores……..it’s been a colorful wonderful career.

Of course my ancestors hail from lands where tartans, kilts and textiles are part of their rich history …….I will keep calm and plaid on!

Textiles are very complex and date back to the beginning of time for humans. Pretty much all textile things are metaphors for life pretty much the same way nature or even construction and building are. Each component plays a very important part of the success of the finished product.

When the world turns crazy, I will stick to textiles, nature and critters and find the calm in the storm.

Kindness Day

Today Friday the 13th in the year of the bizarre 2020 is #worldkindnessday. I had no idea until I saw a few social media posts.

I did wake up today with thoughts about the grass being greener, filters, misconceptions and similar thoughts….. kind of close. Then I go on FB for my daily bit of happy from writer writer friend Kathleen and below is what she put up for today.

today’s daily chalkboard sign by my brilliant and wonderful friend Kathleen Mendelin Marchbank in London, Ontario, Canada (she has been at this all year with a different msg every day and water for the neighborhood pups)

There’s the grass and a powerful message that coincides with my thoughts today.

No matter what you see on the outside, there’s something big going on on the inside. EVERYONE has a story. Some of us just have different skills that allow us to manage with everything looking flawless.

At the end of the day we all are in our houses and off comes all the things and we can just be.

Life is hard for all of us, we all have our own levels. Be kind every day and be respectful of others and what you don’t understand. The biggest part of being kind is to not judge others, we have no idea what their story is and what they are capable of.

We are all works in progress, getting life experiences that make us ready for the next thing. The good and bad will ebb and flow like the ocean. While your on your journey try to be kind and not add to people’s burdens. Lend a hand when you can, yet allow people the space to grow.

xo, Tracy Lynne

The Bright Side

The bright side is my thing. I never really realized it until the last 2-3 years. It was kind of hidden under being a Taurus, then life happened, things came to the surface and I realized I had the power to choose bright, dark or partly sunny.

Bright sides don’t mean you ignore what is there, it means YOU decide how you are going to life with the reality of any situation.

When stress comes up, I learn to take a time out. time outs can be 5-15 minutes of music and dance around to shake up my brain, it came be a walk or it can be a day off and doing something…. whatever takes you out of the moment and gives you a chance to re-charge and re-think. I am always more productive with timeouts. I have even left my computer at home for a weekend and unplugged. That one is often very hard for entrepreneur types to do. FOMO and a negative impact on your business.

Of course in FOMO , that F word is there and that is what is holding you back in most things. I have learned to trust that I need the mental timeout to create new ideas for whatever I am working on.

This bright side thing is a long time coming. I have WFH ever since 9-11 when my NYC textile company closed after years of struggling. it was a big life event, but something that was for the best.

I am happy to see so many other ladies embracing the bright outlook too during this stressful year where planning was not possible. Lots of ladies out there making lemonade in 2020! And that makes me hopeful.

Ok some maybe be adding a bit of vodka or tequila, but it’s all good. CHANGE only comes when you do something different! Doing the same old in everything, yields little or small successes. Change is where the biggest results are and where you find light.

All the reds are my energy, happy colors.
Birds and nature are my next biggest inspiring things and life lesson teachers!

Venus in Overdrive

Today is the 17th anniversary of my miscarriage. Most people have no idea. I don’t talk about it except when I am with women and the subject comes up and then it’s #metoo. In my lifetime, more than half the women I know have gone through this loss. It is an all over the place emotional sisterhood. We just support each other in silence as our stories are very different on this one.

My necklaces came to me oddly and they are not real. Something in each aside from the bling that spoke to me.

The T is my initial by coincidence-ish. Tracy and Tracy are a given.

The most important part of the T is TRUTH and TRUST (trustworthy, trusting and the rest of list.) All subtly different but all powerful.

The other one is me, my lost child and the sparkle I have to share with the world. I have been drawn to wearing these 2 non-stop for a week now. It was a spiritual security blanket as mentally I knew a sad time was coming with that moon and all that Venus energy. I am a Taurus (that T is always there) so Venus is my ruler.

Today my wonderful friend who writes msg signs on a yard chalkboard each day with a doggie water bowl for her community to enjoy hit me with the perfect one to make this sad anniversary better. She wrote about another child Sahara who died of cancer on this same day in 2009. Sahara was a special young lady who left us too soon. She was special to all and touched RS’s heart too so much that he wrote 2 songs for her on his Venus in Overdrive album.

That album out of now where played on my ipad the other day and I was reminded of how great the album was. Good stuff and it brought so many friends my world. Then I remembered on Saturday I was putting a face on one of my mom’s crochet girls. The doll had no hair and the knit cap kept falling off and I immediately thought of cancer children, survivors and a few hopeful ideas. Now I know it was Sahara taking care of my lost child and looking over me.

In my lifetime, there are no coincidences. Things may not make sense in the moment, but for me there is always a bond to something beyond. When that happens, I know all is ok.

I go with the energy flow and what makes my soul feel right at this point in my life.

Thank you always RS! You may live with Mr. D., but your spirit is always angelic for me. And thank you Sahara and the other souls for watching over me.

Venus in Overdrive ……. by Rick Springfield

Alone in a world of 6 billion
I was feeling my soul rust
Yeah I saw that everything was broken
Everything was ashes, everything was dust………………. here’s me thinking love can never survive, you showed up Venus in Overdrive.

Saint Sahara

Rick Springfield

Come on, close the book and turn out the light
Put your plans aside tonight
Yeah I know it’s not wrong but it sure isn’t right
An angel bids a last ‘goodnight’ to us

Come on Sahara, give us a smile.
You’ve walked this far with us lets walk one more mile
Hey Saint Sahara, beautiful child.
You left us all wanting, you left us beguiled
Mi Ma Mi
Mi Ma Mi
Mi Ma Mi
Mi Ma Mi

You take your solace where you find it
Dress the wound and tightly bind it
You so want the past but you can’t rewind it
And she sleeps with angels tonight

Come on Sahara, give us that smile
You’ve walked this far with us lets walk one more mile
Hey Saint Sahara, beautiful child.
You played you best hand but the Joker was wild
Mi Ma Mi Mi Ma Mi Mi Ma Mi Mi Ma Mi
Come on Sahara Hey Saint Sahara

Come on Sahara, you fought the good fight.
Baby let go, everything’s all right

Come on Sahara Hey Saint Sahara
Hey Saint Sahara Yeah Come on Sahara beautiful child

Songwriters: Springthorpe Richard Lewis, Bissonette Matt