"This just in...."
Dayna Jean declares 2010 the Year of the Fleurs......
In that the lovely Ms. M is living gorgeously the Year of the Skirt, I have been inspired to enact the Year of the Flowers.
why ? you ask...well....let's just say I needed more Aphrodite up in my grill.
"Dayna Jean" you say.."Why do you speak in such enigmatic riddles? Can't you just tell a gentle reader the straight up? jeeeez..!"
ok..ok...here is something about me you may not know...(yay storytime!!!)
Long ago, in a far away life, Dayna Jean met her friend Amy at Lane Bryant. This sassy matched pair of Midwestern farm girls shared a love of clothes, and all things pretty. One day, when Dayna Jean was particularly sad because she realized that despite many years of hard work and dedication to the retail joys of selling plus-sized fashions (of which she was VERY VERY good at) she would never be made full- time, or given a manager position, because her DM, tho lovely, had a thing about age...and our Queen-Diva- in -the -Making was not "old enough" to be given such responsibilities....regardless of how much of it she was already doing...so....Amy decided to show Dayna Jean the joys of the flower shop she managed. (despite her being the same age as Dayna Jean...take THAT Ms. DM...hhhhrumpph!) Dayna Jean embarked on her first day of being a florist helper by sitting in a scary storage room in the bowels of Calhoun Square making fifty million (yes million) Mother's Day corsages out of alstromeria lilies...a flower at that time she could only GUESS at how to spell. After much tutelage and training, Dayna Jean had head over heels fallen in love with all things flowery and was being introduced to the rigors of Valenetine's Day sales, irrational and insane Bridezillas, and gorgeous European floral design....and sooner than she imagined possible, Dayna Jean left the realm of plus -size fashion (with much sadness) and lived in the fabulously glamorous world of Floral Design and all its drama. She learned form some of the best, and craziest...seriously...crazy...florists in the Land, and even got her management experience there. (ha..! vindication !) Dayna Jean became (and remains) a very talented and kick ass floral designer. ...and for the most part...she was happy. Look, documented proof is here...Dayna Jean LOVES Scabiosa...it's fan-TA-stic!
But alas, the glamor eventually swallowed our heroine like that whale that rammed that ship in that story with the angry men written by that guy who got his leg bitten off by a whale who was trying to swallow him because he was trying to kill the whale guy....yeah...that guy. SO.... ...Dayna Jean found the need to escape the crazy world of Fabulous But Crazy Florists and Irrational, Insane Bridezillas, and embark into her "Monkey-Cow phase " adventures wherein she had convinced herself that the only way to be deemed successful and valid was to work in the drone hives of Corporate America, becoming a sheeple/zombie like creature that craved Potluck Day like crack cocaine, proudly bore her permanent scars from her call center tether like a Maasai warrior, and gained 100+ more pounds....
Thank GODDESS she woke up and got the frak out of that gig....tho she ALMOST did not....But that is another story...
Since her departure from the Land of FBCLAIIB, and her narrow Escape from the Sheeple Ventures...Dayna Jean found it hard to be around fresh flowers as it reminded her of what she missed most...the aching beauty that flowers gifted her with every time she processed their sweet faces, or arranged them in some assemblage....how Gerbera Daisies always screamed their "hellos!!" at her with such fierce joy, the soft, soft primal sweet scent of the Acacia puffs and their kiss on her cheek, the intoxicating smell of chocolate orchids, the grace of a Gloriosa Lily from South Africa.....and countless other "flora unt fauna" joys...even the inky black, scary alien Heliconia bugs and their life cycle within the pods of the flower (shudder)...She missed it all so much.(ok mabey she did NOT miss the Heliconia monsters...) Dayna Jean found some half way point in doing much work with silks and took an occasional freelance gig with real flowers here and there...but there were no longer any fresh, thriving petals to grace her abode...she even let all her gorgeous houseplants wither and die..(hello Depression..tho art my nemesis...)..and she found a part of her soul shut off into a little, teeny, tiny box...back in the closet...pressed like a forgotten bloom in a book...found only when its color was so faded and brown...no one could remember what it once was.
Oh...holy crap....pardon me, but that was so sad...had to get a tissue.
Fear not, dearhearts...this story does not end there....so sad and depressive..it does not...
After a rather disturbing, joyous,frustrating,scary, glorious,growth inducing, soul breaking and intense section of her recent life we'll call "The How Much Can You Withstand Before You Get It, You Dumbass Diva" decade (2000-2009) Dayna Jean found herself in a Cub foods this week, on a cold winter's sub- sub- sub zero -It -Might- Even- Be -Too- Cold -For- Mighty -Repressed-Minnesotans night searching for marscapone cheese and chocolate.....(like you do).... when low and behold...there...quietly waiting...the sweets smiles a bunch of multi- colored, piñata-hued spray roses ambush her...and take her hostage...her heart bursting in happy sweet sighs of "PRETTY!" oooohh...and what a deal at $3.98 for a bunch!"
So Dayna Jean grabbed the blooms, clutched them to her ample bosoms, and then grabbed a fiery bunch of orange and yellow tri-toned beauties for her dear Angelina-friend...and so began her Year of the Fleurs...and a joyous return of a long, long, long lost piece of her Soul .
Documented here is a commitment ......(declaring to the world of Me)...A minimum of once a month, I will gift myself with blooms and place pictures of them here..blather how I am feeling about ...whatever...and remind myself who I REALLY am...
And luck you...you get to watch..lol.
So last but not least, the little sweetums that started the Awakening...enjoy...I know I will.
P.S. This entry is dedicated to those in my life who constantly challenge me with their fierce love and commitment to being my friends....despite my asinine foibles. Without you, the DaynaLand is barren and yields no Love. I am truly Blessed. Namaste'
In that the lovely Ms. M is living gorgeously the Year of the Skirt, I have been inspired to enact the Year of the Flowers.
why ? you ask...well....let's just say I needed more Aphrodite up in my grill.
"Dayna Jean" you say.."Why do you speak in such enigmatic riddles? Can't you just tell a gentle reader the straight up? jeeeez..!"
ok..ok...here is something about me you may not know...(yay storytime!!!)
Long ago, in a far away life, Dayna Jean met her friend Amy at Lane Bryant. This sassy matched pair of Midwestern farm girls shared a love of clothes, and all things pretty. One day, when Dayna Jean was particularly sad because she realized that despite many years of hard work and dedication to the retail joys of selling plus-sized fashions (of which she was VERY VERY good at) she would never be made full- time, or given a manager position, because her DM, tho lovely, had a thing about age...and our Queen-Diva- in -the -Making was not "old enough" to be given such responsibilities....regardless of how much of it she was already doing...so....Amy decided to show Dayna Jean the joys of the flower shop she managed. (despite her being the same age as Dayna Jean...take THAT Ms. DM...hhhhrumpph!) Dayna Jean embarked on her first day of being a florist helper by sitting in a scary storage room in the bowels of Calhoun Square making fifty million (yes million) Mother's Day corsages out of alstromeria lilies...a flower at that time she could only GUESS at how to spell. After much tutelage and training, Dayna Jean had head over heels fallen in love with all things flowery and was being introduced to the rigors of Valenetine's Day sales, irrational and insane Bridezillas, and gorgeous European floral design....and sooner than she imagined possible, Dayna Jean left the realm of plus -size fashion (with much sadness) and lived in the fabulously glamorous world of Floral Design and all its drama. She learned form some of the best, and craziest...seriously...crazy...florists in the Land, and even got her management experience there. (ha..! vindication !) Dayna Jean became (and remains) a very talented and kick ass floral designer. ...and for the most part...she was happy. Look, documented proof is here...Dayna Jean LOVES Scabiosa...it's fan-TA-stic!
But alas, the glamor eventually swallowed our heroine like that whale that rammed that ship in that story with the angry men written by that guy who got his leg bitten off by a whale who was trying to swallow him because he was trying to kill the whale guy....yeah...that guy. SO.... ...Dayna Jean found the need to escape the crazy world of Fabulous But Crazy Florists and Irrational, Insane Bridezillas, and embark into her "Monkey-Cow phase " adventures wherein she had convinced herself that the only way to be deemed successful and valid was to work in the drone hives of Corporate America, becoming a sheeple/zombie like creature that craved Potluck Day like crack cocaine, proudly bore her permanent scars from her call center tether like a Maasai warrior, and gained 100+ more pounds....
Thank GODDESS she woke up and got the frak out of that gig....tho she ALMOST did not....But that is another story...
Since her departure from the Land of FBCLAIIB, and her narrow Escape from the Sheeple Ventures...Dayna Jean found it hard to be around fresh flowers as it reminded her of what she missed most...the aching beauty that flowers gifted her with every time she processed their sweet faces, or arranged them in some assemblage....how Gerbera Daisies always screamed their "hellos!!" at her with such fierce joy, the soft, soft primal sweet scent of the Acacia puffs and their kiss on her cheek, the intoxicating smell of chocolate orchids, the grace of a Gloriosa Lily from South Africa.....and countless other "flora unt fauna" joys...even the inky black, scary alien Heliconia bugs and their life cycle within the pods of the flower (shudder)...She missed it all so much.(ok mabey she did NOT miss the Heliconia monsters...) Dayna Jean found some half way point in doing much work with silks and took an occasional freelance gig with real flowers here and there...but there were no longer any fresh, thriving petals to grace her abode...she even let all her gorgeous houseplants wither and die..(hello Depression..tho art my nemesis...)..and she found a part of her soul shut off into a little, teeny, tiny box...back in the closet...pressed like a forgotten bloom in a book...found only when its color was so faded and brown...no one could remember what it once was.
Oh...holy crap....pardon me, but that was so sad...had to get a tissue.
Fear not, dearhearts...this story does not end there....so sad and depressive..it does not...
After a rather disturbing, joyous,frustrating,scary, glorious,growth inducing, soul breaking and intense section of her recent life we'll call "The How Much Can You Withstand Before You Get It, You Dumbass Diva" decade (2000-2009) Dayna Jean found herself in a Cub foods this week, on a cold winter's sub- sub- sub zero -It -Might- Even- Be -Too- Cold -For- Mighty -Repressed-Minnesotans night searching for marscapone cheese and chocolate.....(like you do).... when low and behold...there...quietly waiting...the sweets smiles a bunch of multi- colored, piñata-hued spray roses ambush her...and take her hostage...her heart bursting in happy sweet sighs of "PRETTY!" oooohh...and what a deal at $3.98 for a bunch!"
So Dayna Jean grabbed the blooms, clutched them to her ample bosoms, and then grabbed a fiery bunch of orange and yellow tri-toned beauties for her dear Angelina-friend...and so began her Year of the Fleurs...and a joyous return of a long, long, long lost piece of her Soul .
Documented here is a commitment ......(declaring to the world of Me)...A minimum of once a month, I will gift myself with blooms and place pictures of them here..blather how I am feeling about ...whatever...and remind myself who I REALLY am...
And luck you...you get to watch..lol.
So last but not least, the little sweetums that started the Awakening...enjoy...I know I will.
P.S. This entry is dedicated to those in my life who constantly challenge me with their fierce love and commitment to being my friends....despite my asinine foibles. Without you, the DaynaLand is barren and yields no Love. I am truly Blessed. Namaste'