Tag Archives: Fashion

Early Morning Fright

19 Monday Oct 2009

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Autumn LeavesWhile driving my Cross-country runner and friends to school I realized I forgot to line my lips. I reached into my make up bag, grabbed the lip liner, and while driving , perfectly lined my lips… with Loreal khol black eye liner. The girls, apparently the only ones in the car who were wide awake, had a good laugh.  I batted my eyes and smiled widely for them in the rear view mirror saying “Girls, what do you think I’ve done?”  Both screamed so hard they could barely respond.

I usually put on Rimmels, East End Snob, or Wild Clover first thing in the morning and Chapstick the rest of the day, but what if we lined our mornings with dark thoughts and dark things?   We’d have a very difficult time shaking off the covers, and greeting the family, not to mention the people we work with and our neighbors as we scoop up our morning papers.

I dropped into my favorite coffee shop and decided to give the barrista’s a good laugh as I relayed my morning misstep — Halloween would come early for them this year.  They laughed hysterically, doubled over and left the front counter.

How do we chase away the ghouls and goblins of October?
We Praise God.
We read the Psalms and Praise God for who He is.
The darkness and light cannot coexist.
The light will bust in and you’ll be in the Almighty’s Zone.
Praise God.
Our days must be lined with hymns of Praise or they will run down to valleys.
Psalm 104 is a great place to rest your soul and refresh your spirit.
I’ve always associated the Psalm with garments, foundation and the face, because those words are sprinkled throughout the text.  I sat down to read my bible and would you believe today’s reading was 104?

Here’s just a few…

Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great.  You are clothed with honor and majesty, wrapped in light as with a garment. v.1

You set the earth on its foundations, so that it shall never be shaken. You cover it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. vs. 5,6

When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath they die and return to their dust.  when you send forth your spirit, they are created: and you renew the face of the ground. vs. 29,30.

Lining up my day in the Lord,

Trish

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Being Too Busy Gives You Nightmares.

08 Tuesday Sep 2009

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Being too busy gives you nightmares.  Ecclesiates 5:3 TLB

Riding to church sunday morning I glanced in the vanity mirror and noticed I was sporting one gold and one pearl earring.  This occurred even with our Sunday morning devotion on “Becoming a Woman of Excellence” by Cynthia Heald.

Clearly I’m still in the becoming stage.

My nightmare is being in public with two different earrings on. 

 Time to slow down.

Trish

Traveling Pants…Make Do and Dye in Blue.

27 Monday Apr 2009

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Lydia, the maker of fine purple cloth in the book of Acts,  closely resembles my life after college where I was privileged to sell exquisite, high-end women’s clothing, the purple cloth of our day.  Loving it so much, even after moving to a fancy desk job at the corporate office, I worked any weekend shift available at the retail store Mandels.  Their clothes were the staple of my business wardrobe.    God is molding me to be more like hospitable Lydia as I interface with my husband. Lydia was known as God-fearing, something I hope and pray comes to mind as you know me…something I aspire toward in my daily walk  

Meet Lydia:

“On the Sabbath, we left the city and went down along the river where we had heard there was to be a prayer meeting.  We took our place with the women who had gathered there and talked with them.  One woman, Lydia, was from Thyatira and a dealer in expensive textiles, known to be a God-fearing woman.  As she listened with intensity to what was being said, the master gave her a trusting heart and she believed!”

 After she was baptized, along with everyone in her household, she said in a surge of hospitality, “If you’re confident that I’m in this with you and believe in the Master truly, come home with me and be my guests.  “We hesitated, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer.” (Acts 16:13-15, The Message)

 I wrote a study for women leaders on Acts, mostly to share all the incredible insights wise men and women had poured into me while in Chicago, and to freshen and cement the teachings into my brain. Fun note… I would sneak into D.A. Carson’s class whenever I could, and sit with all the scholars.   Sticking out like a sore thumb with my faux black fur vest and matching hat…complete with leather gloves trimmed in black fur, who was I kidding?  I’d sit in the back row and glean.  I could only glean from the words spoken in English…the class required both mastery of written and spoken Greek…ouch, that’s why I had to sneak. 

I love dyed cloth like Lydia.  Every 6 months I dye my jeans with Rit dye and they are a crisp, cool, blue indigo much like the water at Lake Travis.  The jeans have traveled east and west as much as my weight.  Just like the girls in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, each girl had a different figure, but the pants miraculously fit each one as the girls shipped the pants around to all the exotic locales the girls visit.  

Make do with blue, and dye your jeans to keep them fresh looking. On a note of interest, Thyatira, our new friend Lydia’s hometown,   was famous for its purple dye. A handful of kosher salt in the hottest water your machine will give you and dye away. Throw in a worn out white top and girlfriends, you’ve got a new look for the weekend…extra slimming when you where the same shade top and bottom. 

We learn so much from the prayerful women sitting riverside on the seventh day…2000 years later.

Rest in Him, Trish

The Town Parade in Pink

30 Monday Mar 2009

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mit-moms-parade-march-28th-2009-001Saturday was our town’s Heritage Festival, complete with a local parade.  I participated, and had a great time marching in my first parade with my neighbor Rona, my new friend and prayer partner with MIT (Moms in Touch), who previously had  invited me to join her every Monday to pray with them. We marched as a group wearing pink one in all.  When invited, my first thought was “Oh my, I don’t own any pink… or do I.”  Most of you would assume my thoughts would be on prayer, but they weren’t.  

On any given day my wardrobe consists mostly of black, white , khaki, and a sprinkling of navy. My husband and daughter rarely see me in anything besides my black and white Nike warmup.   The ladies in the neighborhood probably think the only thing I own is that Nike outfit.  We see each other at the mail box and it is regularly washed, but frequently on.  La Encantada has a wonderful shop called “Lucy”  which sells workout clothing, and upon my move to Tucson 5 years ago, the getup was purchased and been my uniform since.  My dear friend and prayer partner Kim passed on several of her chic yoga sets, and I enjoy wearing them, but I must confess my Nike outfit is my fav. A year ago on my birthday I received several pink additions to my wardrobe:  a camisole from Kim’s daughter Mandy, an argyle sweater from another good friend, Heather,  and a twinset from my wonderful mother-in-law Marilyn.  How does one receive so many gifts of clothing, yet continue to wear the same sweat suit every day? Why do I do this after receiving wonderful gifts of clothing ? The pursuit of simplification is a constancy in my life, and clothing has been the easiest place to simplify.  My goal:  I attempt to keep 100 items in my wardrobe all the time, including shoes, socks, and yes, underwear.  Packing for trips has become a breeze, and whenever I receive something as a gift, or purchase something new, its a replacement, not an addition.  Something has to leave generally. 

Where is this blog going today?    Ann Kroeker’s Make Do Monday calls for making due with what you have.  My challenge from that is for you to whittle your closet to 100 items, and learn to “make do.”   Oh, I hear you’re screams and cries, but let me encourage you to make do, and see what happens.  Why simplify your clothing?  Well, the economy is tough and all your chic threads collecting dust in your closet could give your local Goodwill a serious cutting edge advantage to the mall.  Fashion philanthropy reduces fellow fashionista credit card balances by luring them to a $3.00 rack.  Reducing your inventory will free up your time. Don’t believe me?  Watch and see how much more time  you will free up from not having to decide what to wear.  Astounding!  (I must confess though, that the parade attire was a bit of a decision process given I had three pink sweaters to choose from).  How many outfits do you try on before leaving for work each morning?  Going to small group?  Attending Bible study?  I hesitate to drop the big C, but you know it’s true, and also for church?  All that extra time in the morning can be spent sitting at the foot of Jesus.  He will speak to you no matter what you have on.  He stands at the door knocking and waiting while you dither your time away on which shoes to wear.

“Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch?  Have they made themselves more beautiful in the eyes of God?  Deepened their walk with Christ?  All this time and money wasted on the excesses of fashion.  Does it really make that much of a difference in the eternal perspective of our lives?  Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers.  They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it?  The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them”. 

 Matthew 6: 27-29 The Message.

One side note:  I highly recommend everyone finding and joining a  Moms in Touch group.  These are a wonderful, committed and purposeful group of women who don’t mess around.  You arrive at a given location, ours is at Methodist church near my neighborhood, and pray together in groups for the children and the teachers in our schools in target-ted prayer for an hour each week. 

 

Rest in Him, Trish

Religious fashion shows…

23 Friday Jan 2009

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My glamazon movements be it in the kitchen, scouring the toilets with a pumice stone (spent a large chunk of time making a big splash there yesterday), the car, the line at the post office or waiting on a bench outside Sephora for our daughter have purpose.  God  consistly  guides my day through selected readings from each section of the bible.  I use the YWAM personal prayer diary daily planner.  My first reading  today is Matthew 23 from the Message. 

 Eugene Peterson titled the chapter Religious Fashion Shows.  Jesus is warning religious leaders not to place beasts of burden (my Rolling Stone take on Eugene’s words) on their people.  I found the whole chapter completely intriguing…

I am a “religious leader” who loves fashion shows.  Saturday mornings were filled with excitement, Elsa Klensch came on at 6am with shows from Paris, Milan, Tokyo and anywhere you can imagine. 

 Growing up in Iowa does not sound so chic, but it is.  Women in my home town dressed beautifully, and my mother was and is vivacious and  very, very elegant … extremely funny to boot…. Praise God.  The men were not so well dressed with the exception of my gracious Dad and several others to include Ray and Mike.  The  big joke was that I had to go out of state to find a man to marry who would wear a collared shirt.

  Resting here at the breakfast table my handsome collared shirt hubby has delivered scrambled eggs to my place mat.  Perhaps my days of pudge will fade. 

Back to fashion…the current fashions are stunning for spring and flattering for all.  The traditional 50’s knee length A-line skirt is in vogue and complements all figures. 

Sooo what are religious fashion shows and how can I avoid them. 

Very fashionable prayer…Notre Pe’re qui es aux cleaux, ton nom soit sanctife’e; ta volonte’ soit faite sur la terre comme au ciel; donnenous aujourd’hui notre pain, quotien; pardonnons a ceux qui nous ont offens’es; et ne nous induis point dans la tentation; mais de’livivre-nous du main; car a toi appartient la regne, la puissance, et la glorire a’ jamais.  amen   Impress all your hip peeps with your french, but how will you lead them to Jesus if they cannot understand the language your speaking? 

2006 had a conference “Wake Up Call”…Christianity in America won’t survive another decade was the tag line to hook you to the conference.

  Our Father who art in heaven boiled it down for us in all sorts of practical ways in Matthew 23.  Our pure clean heart washed with our  Saviours blood is the breakout fashion statement for all times.  Gorgeous gold belts and chains are not necessary for this type of hip,  the chains broken from the enslavement of hypocrisy are hip.

  “For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then turn him into twice the son of hell as you yourselves are”  Matthew 23 v. 15  NLT 

 Well ouch and douple ouch…I crossed 15 hours of land to get to Texas, making new converts twice the sons of hell was not what I had in mind.  Our sign of beauty will not be from bejeweled prayer shawls. 

Leading others to the presence of the Lord is all the leading I want to do…

I’ll be leaving the religiousity to those who want to make fashion statements.  My heart is trembling my friends and resting in His peaceful presence all at the same time.

True alive faith in Christ is the only style…Rest in Him Alone, Trish