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So since my wrist has been giving me troubles, I've had a chance to catch up on other things; like gardening, reading, butter churning. You know, vintage pre-computer things. I even got out my old design binders. Those glorious files of tear sheet after tear sheet stuffed into six (yes six) binders. Basically the paper version of Pinterest.


And while searching thru my old piles of inspiration I found this.

source

An image from one of my all time favorite articles on Fran Keenan in Cottage Living (hand over your heart. How I miss that magazine). I have been looking for a way to spruce up my plain white curtains in the dining room since, oh the day I got them. I'd even toyed with adding ribbon along the leading edge of the curtains, but it just looked dinky so I never went thru with it.

But this looked more... substantial. And big key, simple(ish) enough to attempt. I tried several different sizes of ribbon from my stash (c'mon, like you don't have a ribbon stash?!) to figure out how big the ribbon needed to be. 1" was too thick and 5/8" was too small, leaving lucky 7/8". Before I knew it I was putting the girls in the car and we were off to Michael's to buy a 20 yard roll of 7/8" navy grosgrain.


This project went down so quick I didn't take many pictures of the process but I will tell you it is as simple as making an X with two ribbons, repeating it about 50 times and then trimming the whole thing with more ribbon. I just tried out a few different size Xs to see what I would like best and then once I found the right length, I cut 24 strips in that length to make the Xs. I glued down each one and then finished them off with trim at the top and bottom of the X and along each side of the drape. One thing to note, this takes A LOT of ribbon. My 20 yards wasn't enough and I had to go back and buy another 13. Crazy, I know.


Very simple and a great detail against the white curtains. I knew I kept all of those old magazines for a reason!




Can't show you the right side of the dining room as there are some other projects over that'a way that I'm finishing up. Soon enough my friends.

So spill it. Have you been so inspired by an image that you needed to create something right away? Is there an old magazine article that is burned into your brain? Have you ever used 33 yards of ribbon?

 Just a mini break from my New York posts to show you this WHITE outfit c/o Lulu's.com.
With Memorial Day approaching soon, I use this as an excuse to dress head to toe in white. This Summer I plan to wear all my white garments for sure. If you are thinking the same and you want to add some new pieces to your wardrobe, I have for you a VIP code to use on Lulu's.com website: they have great sales and with this code:VIPMemorial you will have another 15% off the sale on sale prices. This code is valid until the 23th, so hurry up to catch some goodies!







                                                                              Sweater: RD Style thanks to Lulu's.com/ Here
                                                                              Jeans: Makers of True Originals thanks to Lulu's.com/ Here
                                                                              Sandals: Chinese Laundry, thanks to Lulu's.com/ Here
                                                                              Bracelets: thanks to Lulu's.com/ Here and another great version Here 
                                                                              Rings: thanks to Lulu's.com/ Here

IS THIS STILL AMERICA?
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
**************

Texas Republican Congressman Kevin Brady asked during the IRS hearings last week:  "Is this still America?"

Good Question.  It is a question we have asked with great frequency for a number of years now.

As much as I despise having to say it, we are witnessing an America in decline today. We can sugar-coat it, we can parse it, we can ignore it, all at our peril. 

To fix it, we must face it.  And it is a painful thing to look, objectively, at our country today. 

For so many of you who have been born and have attained maturity in America since the 1950's, I can understand your wondering what I'm prattling on about. 

See, you have never experienced a free America.  You have never experienced  that "shining city on a hill" as Ronald Reagan so loved to describe America.  Reagan knew THAT America.  He had experienced that America.  Many of America's so-called senior citizens living today also remember that America.  I do. 

Looking back at the America I was born into before the Second World War -- I grew up in a land with unlimited horizons. It was a "can do" country.  It was a land where citizens were not afraid -- nor ashamed -- to love their country and to defend her.  It was a land where declaring oneself a patriot did not make one an enemy of the state. 

Unlike today's America, my America was a land unafraid -- period. 

Why was America unafraid?  It was not arrogance.  It was, in fact,  a solid belief that America was under the protection of God.

Agnostics will no doubt, question this.  Atheists will, also no doubt, get a chuckle at my quaint belief in "magic."   But it is a "truism."  Therefore, it is a fact and stands as such.

From time to time, this old Pharisee is wont to turn his collar around and climb into his scribe's pulpit and sanctimoniously deliver a, uh, sermon.

Fair warning:  I'm about to do it again ... only ... this time I will deliver the sermon of someone else.  It is a sermon that, I believe, all Americans should hear.

Where did Reagan's "shining city on a hill' reference come from, anyway?

Well we have to go a long way back to before the country was actually founded.  John Winthrop is credited with introducing the phrase into the American lexicon in the year 1630.

John Winthrop (12 January 1587/8 – 26 March 1649) was a wealthy English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the first major settlement in New England after Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led the first large wave of migrants from England in 1630, and served as governor for 12 of the colony's first 20 years of existence. His writings and vision of the colony as a Puritan "city upon a hill" dominated New England colonial development, influencing the government and religion of neighboring colonies.

In 1630, Winthrop delivered a sermon entitled:  "A Model of Christian Charity."  The
colonists were still aboard the ship "Arbella" as Winthrop admonished the future Massachusetts Bay colonists that their new community would be a "city upon a hill", watched by the world---which became the ideal the New England colonists placed upon their hilly capital city, Boston.  SOURCE:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_upon_a_Hill 

It is noted in the same article referenced above that Winthrop's sermon gave rise to the widespread belief in American folklore that the United States of America is God's country because metaphorically it is a Shining City upon a Hill, an early example of American exceptionalism. 

Understand that Winthrop drew inspiration for his description of America from the teachings of Jesus Christ.  To be specific, Matthew chapter 5, verse 14:  "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden."

Even before Reagan, John F. Kennedy in 1961 (then President-elect), speaking to the General Court of Massachusetts said the following:  "...I have been guided by the standard John Winthrop set before his shipmates on the flagship Arbella three hundred and thirty-one years ago, as they, too, faced the task of building a new government on a perilous frontier. "We must always consider", he said, "that we shall be as a city upon a hill—the eyes of all people are upon us". Today the eyes of all people are truly upon us—and our governments, in every branch, at every level, national, state and local, must be as a city upon a hill — constructed and inhabited by men aware of their great trust and their great responsibilities."  SOURCE:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_upon_a_Hill

So.  What DID John Winthrop declare on the windswept decks of the Arbella way back then?  As we said above -- every American ought to take the time to read Winthrop's words. They are relatively short but clearly define the mission of the new country. 

Here are Winthrop's words as written and delivered by John Winthrop in 1630:

John Winthrop's City upon a Hill, 1630

Now the onely way to avoyde this shipwracke and to provide for our posterity is to followe the Counsell of Micah, to doe Justly, to love mercy, to walke humbly with our God, for this end, wee must be knitt together in this worke as one man, wee must entertaine each other in brotherly Affeccion, wee must be willing to abridge our selves of our superfluities, for the supply of others necessities, wee must uphold a familiar Commerce together in all meekenes, gentlenes, patience and liberallity, wee must delight in eache other, make others Condicions our owne rejoyce together, mourne together, labour, and suffer together, allwayes haveing before our eyes our Commission and Community in the worke, our Community as members of the same body, soe shall wee keepe the unitie of the spirit in the bond of peace, the Lord will be our God and delight to dwell among us, as his owne people and will commaund a blessing upon us in all our wayes, soe that wee shall see much more of his wisdome power goodnes and truthe then formerly wee have beene acquainted with, wee shall finde that the God of Israell is among us, when tenn of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies, when hee shall make us a prayse and glory, that men shall say of succeeding plantacions: the lord make it like that of New England: for wee must Consider that wee shall be as a Citty upon a Hill, the eies of all people are uppon us; soe that if wee shall deale falsely with our god in this worke wee have undertaken and soe cause him to withdrawe his present help from us, wee shall be made a story and a byword through the world, wee shall open the mouthes of enemies to speake evill of the wayes of god and all professours for Gods sake; wee shall shame the faces of many of gods worthy servants, and cause theire prayers to be turned into Cursses upon us till wee be consumed out of the good land whether wee are going: And to shutt upp this discourse with that exhortacion of Moses that faithfull servant of the Lord in his last farewell to Israell Deut. 30. Beloved there is now sett before us life, and good, deathe and evill in that wee are Commaunded this day to love the Lord our God, and to love one another to walke in his wayes and to keepe his Commaundements and his Ordinance, and his lawes, and the Articles of our Covenant with him that wee may live and be multiplyed, and that the Lord our God may blesse us in the land whether wee goe to possesse it: But if our heartes shall turne away soe that wee will not obey, but shall be seduced and worshipp other Gods our pleasures, and proffitts, and serve them, it is propounded unto us this day, wee shall surely perishe out of the good Land whether wee passe over this vast Sea to possesse it;

Therefore lett us choose life, that wee, and our Seede, may live; by obeyeing his voyce, and cleaveing to him, for hee is our life, and our prosperity.  SOURCE:  https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/winthrop.htm

Three hundred and eighty-three years ago America was warned that we would become what we have, indeed, become should be disavow our mission, as a nation, and turn away from Divine Providence. 

We, as a nation have done that -- and more.  And we have only just begun to experience the consequences.

© J. D. Longstreet

By Findalis
Monkey in the Middle

Or How Common Citizens Removed A Corrupt Government From Their County.



The Battle of Athens (sometimes called the McMinn County War) was a rebellion led by citizens in Athens and Etowah, Tennessee, United States, against the local government in August 1946. The citizens, including some World War II veterans, accused the local officials of political corruption and voter intimidation.

Here is what happened:

Following World War II in 1946, violence erupted when returning American soldiers discovered their Tennessee county had been taken over by political corruption. Their plan to take it back involved bullets—lots of bullets—and dynamite.

Why Athens in McMinn County, Tennessee became a battleground was due to Paul Cantrell, a Democrat running for sheriff in the 1936 election. He won over his Republican opponent, although the victory was tainted by rumors of fraud. Cantrell was a corrupt sheriff—for example, since state law allowed his office to collect fees for each person booked, jailed, and released, deputies boarded buses passing through the city and arrested passengers on bogus charges of drunkenness, forcing them to pay fines. Prostitution, gambling, and kickbacks from illegal drinking establishments were commonplace.

The tide began to turn in 1945 when GIs returning to Athens were subjected to arrest on the flimsiest excuses and heavily fined. When the fed up soldiers attempted to support their choice for sheriff against Pat Mansfield (by then, Cantrell had been elected to the state Senate and backed Mansfield’s bid), matters boiled over into direct conflict on Election Day 1946.

Mansfield hired several hundred armed “deputies” to patrol the voting precincts in Athens—and no doubt to assist in the typical ballot stuffing and voter intimidation. The volatile situation escalated when Walter Ellis, an ex-GI and volunteer poll watcher, was arrested by Mansfield’s deputies and held without charge. A black resident, Tom Gillespie, was refused the right to vote, beaten, and shot. More GIs were arrested and threatened with violence. By the end of the day, the former soldiers had enough.

They broke into the town armory for weapons and besieged the jail, where Mansfield and his deputies had taken the ballet boxes. Battle continued sporadically throughout the night, resulting in wounded on both sides. When the GIs ran out of bullets around dawn, they began throwing dynamite. The deputies inside the jail surrendered.

The highly publicized Battle of Athens not only ousted corruption from one county in Tennessee, the lesson learned would ultimately lead to great reforms in Southern politics.



**************************************************************************

This is a part of American history that all elected official should learn and remember.  When the government forgets whom they serve and dictates to the American People what to think, do, say, read, and how to vote, it is incumbent upon the citizens of that town, city, county, state or nation to rise up and remove (By force if necessary.) the dictator.

What happened in Athens, Tennessee was the most extreme example of citizen action.  The last resort of a desperate people.

In such desperation the American people will do anything to return their rights to them.  Something every politician in this nation should remember.

IRS To Administer Obamacare
Be Afraid.  Be VERY Afraid!

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
**************

From ABC News we learn the following:  "The Internal Revenue Service official in charge of the tax-exempt organizations at the time when the unit targeted tea party groups now runs the IRS office responsible for the health care legislation.

Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012. But Ingram has since left that part of the IRS and is now the director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act office, the IRS confirmed to ABC News today."  SOURCE:  http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/05/irs-official-in-charge-during-tea-party-targeting-now-runs-health-care-office/

That bit of news ought to scare you to death!

I find it incomprehensible that anyone, I mean ANYONE, is surprised by the antics at the IRS.

Conservative commentators, conservative groups, conservative political groups have been complaining for years that the IRS was really leaning on them.  Now there is irrefutable proof.  Heck, the IRS even admitted it!

Now we have the added horror of knowing that this same government agency will be administering our healthcare.

THIS is a NIGHTMARE!

I sincerely hope that all the folks who have joked and made fun of those of us on the right side of the political spectrum as a result of our distrust of big government will finally see exactly what we are afraid of from a strong central government. 

All last week, I  asked myself this question:  If the government is willing to admit THIS overreach, just how deep IS their overreach and what will we find if we continue to dig especially into the depths of the agencies under the direct control of the executive branch of the government. I shudder just thinking about it.

In the same article from ABC News we also learned:  "Sen. John Cornyn even introduced a bill, the “Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act of 2013,” which would prohibit the Secretary of the Treasury, or any delegate, including the IRS, from enforcing the Affordable Care Act.

“Now more than ever, we need to prevent the IRS from having any role in Americans’ health care,” Cornyn, R-Texas, stated. “I do not support Obamacare, and after the events of last week, I cannot support giving the IRS any more responsibility or taxpayer dollars to implement a broken law.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also reacted to the revelation late Thursday, stating the news was “stunning, just stunning.”  SOURCE:  http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/05/irs-official-in-charge-during-tea-party-targeting-now-runs-health-care-office/
Look. We can thank God that the AP scandal became public at the same time as the IRS scandal.  Had it not, I feel certain we would not have the participation of the leftist Mainstream Media in coverage of the IRS mess.  They are heart broken and outraged to learn that their messiah, Obama, could do such a thing to them -- especially them -- as they have worked so diligently to whitewash the Obama administration. Their lapdog-like adoration of Obama either blinded them to his feet of clay, or they have deliberately chosen to drop their facade of unbiased reporting of the news and throw their considerable resources toward advancing Obama's Leftist/Progressive/Marxist agenda for America.

The past four and a half years American consumers of news have been subjected to a gusher of leftist propaganda unlike anything the country has ever known.

Now, however,  the low-blow by Obama may, and I say that reservedly, MAY have knocked some sense into them.  But it will take some time for the MsM to regain the confidence of their consumers ... if ever they do.

The investigations in Congress will continue and will intensify.  This is only the beginning.  Whether the end result will be the deconstruction of the Obama presidency, or not, remains to be seen.  But investigations of this type have a way of snowballing touching off other investigations by other congressional committees until someone -- somewhere -- breaks and spills the beans.

We have warned of the overreach of Obamacare.  Many of you are not going to believe just how deep into your personal affairs the government is going to delve under cover of that monstrous law we call Obamacare.

Hopefully, the hearings on the IRS will bring Americans to their senses enough to bring pressure to bear on the Congress to repeal that godawful law.
This is why the election of 2014 is so important.  To repeal Obamacare we will need a Senate AND a House of Representatives to even have a CHANCE of repealing Obamacare.  And then, to seal the deal, we must win the Oval Office.

So -- please pay attention to these hearings and learn just what the Obama administration thinks of the American electorate.

This is important, dear reader.  America is on the cusp of a constitutional crisis.  It could be the crisis that brings America down. 

It is imperative that Americans reclaim their country -- before it is too late.

© J. D. Longstreet  

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny

Perhaps it is just me. I think not.

Some might say I've lost my mind. I really don't concern myself with others view of my politics.

Personally I have little use for the mystics of religion or the mystics of muscle (read state in regards to the latter). Any questions bring em on, I;m ready.

I have for the lions share of my adult life (40 years or so) been a fiscal conservative and social moderate. For many years I sincerely believed the Republican party represented the principles of liberty, freedom of speech, the right to dissent against public policy and politicians based on factual evidence of errors in judgement, the right to believe and act in accordance with civil law and the Constitution, that if you worked hard and kept your nose to the grindstone you would succeed and prosper, that reason rather than emotion is what should guide ones life and decisions. The list goes on.

Today it has become quite clear the rEpublican party is no longer the party of liberty, reason, or what (ideals) this nation was founded on. It has come time for this fiscal conservative and social moderate/libertarian to acknowledge the rEpublican party is too far gone to think it will ever change.

Now, having said this I will also acknowledge (for the hopeful conservative rEpublicans) the dEmocratic party is certainly not much better. But when a party is as stupid as the following not much else can be said...

BuzzFeed - Obama clearly has Muslim sensibilities. He sees the world and Israel from a Muslim perspective. His construct of “The Muslim World” is unique in modern diplomacy. It is said that only The Muslim Brotherhood and other radical elements of the religion use that concept. It is a call to unify Muslims around the world. It is rather odd to hear an American President use it. In doing so he reveals more about his thinking than he intends. The dramatic policy reversal of joining the unrelentingly ant-Semitic, anti-Israel and pro-Islamic UN Human Rights Council is in keeping with the President’s truest – albeit undeclared – sensibilities

Those who are paying attention and thinking about these issues do not find it unreasonable to consider that President Obama is influenced by a strain of anti-Semitism picked up from the black community, his leftist friends and colleagues, his Muslim associations and his long period of mentorship under Jeremiah Wright. If this conclusion is accurate, Israel has some dark days ahead. For the first time in her history, she may find the President of the United States siding with her enemies. Those who believe as I do that Israel must be protected had better be ready for the fight. We are. NEVER AGAIN!

No proof, but for the rEpublican party proof is not a prerequisite apparently.

Via: Memeorandum

Second day in New York has started early in the morning with a private VIP tour at the Met Museum seeing  PUNK: Chaos to Couture exhibit with a great company: Polyvore team and members, Taylor Tomasi Hill, Haley Bloomingdale and Danielle Prescod.
The guide gave us so many interesting informations about Punk and the big impact on high fashion, that make me seeing now everything with different eyes... but still my favorite part will remain the DIY handful use in this trend.
The day has continued with a visit to the Moda Operandi new location, studios, offices and the great team along with Lauren Santo Domingo. We learn so many inside details during the brunch and also we saw the fabulous punk inspiration pieces available now at www.modaopreandi.com.

I want to say Thank You once again to Polyvore and Moda Operandi for this great experience!




                                                                                     Jacket: Aryn K/ similar style Here
                                                                                     Top: vintage
                                                                                     Jeans: Mago/ similar Here 
                                                                                     Shoes: Zara/ another great version Here 
                                                                                     Bag: 3.1 Phillip Lim/ option Here 
                                                                                     Ring: vintage

Missing America