My O-town.

Necklace - Ume Boutique, red dress - Deseret Industries, skirt - Chic Style Box

Chez Ray has been a teeny bit chaotic since last we chatted. The time has come, after much prayer and tears and more prayer and immense peace, to bid farewell to my O-town.  I didn't think I would ever say it, but the chain of events that have led up to it are nothing short of obvious that it's time.  The show must go on and I'm stoked for new adventures and new friends.  A lady can never have too many friends, now can she?

As I reflected back on my time in Ogden I was reminded of the immense blessing it was to be sent here.  I still remember the utter shock that people voiced when I told them I was moving to the 'hood. From the minute I parked my car in front of my new home, I knew it was home and for that I was grateful.  Kelsey and I set out to find urban art in Ogden for our last photo shoot.  The charm that Ogden has because of the incredible urban art is never-ending.  There is some serious talent in this awesome town.  My favorite is a mural that is located on the wall of a local eatery called The Pizza Runner.  It is a joint collaboration of two artists: Chris Kiernan and Rich Ramos. Chris' work can be seen in the Ogden location of Lucky Slice Pizza and I LOVE his style.  I swoon over his fonts.  Like for reaslies.  I mean check this out:

I asked Chris to share some of the backstory on his portion of the mural and this is what he said, "I was asked by my friend Rich Ramos to paint part of the Pizza Runner wall, he had painted the previous mural and this time he wanted to share the space. The beautiful female face on the wall at this time is his work. Dayton is the skater featured on my portion of the wall, he has grown up skateboarding in front of my camera so I decided to base part of my mural on a photo of him doing a crooked grind in downtown Ogden as a thanks for all the good times out skating. The previous mural also featured some Otown lettering and Rich always got good feedback on it so he wanted the new mural to carry on that theme. The lettering is my classic style that goes back more than 20 years, simple enough for everyone to read but still graffiti."

This location was insanely fun to shoot with as a backdrop.  LOTS of color and contrast, but also a bit of random matchy matchy.  Who hearts my nails and jewelry?  ALL handmade by amazing artisans.  As we shot this outfit, I had a chance to look at the lovely lady up close.  She is GORGEOUS.  Red lips and a look of peace on her face.  My kinda chick.  I may have said to her, "it's you and me against the world, lady!"

I found many treasures while I lived in the 'hood.  But, most of all I found me. I found the Ray that is supposed to be where she is meant to be.  I found a woman who loves deeply with all her heart, wants the small business owner to succeed even in the crappy times, wants the at-risk kids to be safe and wants every single female on the planet (and the men in their life) to know that they are of great worth and value no matter their size, financial status, skin color, mental health state, religion and sexual orientation.  "Let It Be and Celebrate" became my life.  Celebrate on the shitty days.  Celebrate when you really just want to cry yourself to sleep or punch the stupid boy in the face or simply give up.  Keep. Going.  Keep. Loving. Let. It. Be.  

Top & skirt - Macy*s, shoes - Endless Indulgence Retro Wear, location - Ogden Union Station

In Ogden I learned how to face my own shadow and look forward with faith.  I learned that some of the greatest adventures come to us in the midst of what we think is our greatest storm.  I lost TWO jobs in 2015 and not because of anything I did. Taking chances failed TWICE for me in a year. That meant I had to look at myself in the mirror every day for more than half of the year and say, "you did what you could and God will bless you during all of this."  That is NOT easy, my lovelies. Just ask my empty savings account. My shadow was my constant companion and I had to set the guilt aside and trust in God's timing and BREATHE. 

 This quirky railroad town stole my heart because it was FULL of history that included my family.  Ogden was home sweet home for many of my ancestors and I got to learn about them first hand and see their homes and visit their graves and gain courage from their struggles while living here.  I also learned that in the early days of Ogden you had to come here before you could go anywhere on the train.  I feel like that.  I know that I had to come here before I left Utah so that I could learn to love again and bust out of my shell for real.  I had to live post-therapy like a boss and learn some critical life lessons while I was at it.

One of the number one lessons I learned from Ogden is that good people who believe in a community can change the world.  This town is renowned for it's view and it's snow, but did you know that it is also known for the non-profit work that goes on?  We have one of the BEST homeless shelters in the country and my view of emergency housing drastically changed when I got to know the director.  We have NO idea the struggles that people face and why they are homeless. I learned to have compassion and look out for others who have it way worse than I do. 

 Ogden taught me that it's not always black and white. Sometimes we have to go against the grain because it is the right thing to do.  A seemingly wrong choice still has a lesson, thereby it is still a good choice because it has taught us that valuable lesson.  I learned to give people a chance, but to stand my ground when I had reached my limit.  

O-town was a good town for this lady and I will forever be grateful for the stones that were turned over because I took a chance on moving to the 'hood of Utah. Everything happens for a reason and I know that this next chapter will be just as amazing.  In the meantime, pray I don't go batty while packing up my house or send it all to Goodwill because I've had it with packing boxes. Pray that Mother Nature plays nice while I'm trying to drive a moving van with my life in it in the dead of winter. The struggle is real, believe me. Which reminds me, I should be sleeping...it's only 1 am.  Sigh.....

So now as I start my last week in Ogden and wait for the next chapter to begin, I thank my lucky stars that I have found my flair, my sass and affinity for red lipstick (and shoes) in this hippie, snowy, GORGEOUS, sometimes dog-food-smelly, quirky railroad town.  I'm a changed woman because I took a chance and followed my heart.  2016 is going to be amazing.  I know it.  How could it not be after this wackadoodle year???

The moral of the story: faith changes everything and in 2015 it did just that for me.  

Until next time, my lovelies!

-R

The Road Less Traveled.

In the poem “The Road Not Taken” Robert Frost penned the following, “two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler, long I stood and looked down one as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth; then took the other, as just as fair, and having the better claim because it was grassy and wanted wear; though as for that the passing there had worn them really about the same.”

This poem has always spoke to me and this year I have felt some aftermath of taking the road that seemed fairer because the grass was greener and appeared to have less wear.  This year has been intense and emotional behind the scenes. Don’t get me wrong; I have been immensely blessed, but the challenges have kept their front row seats for a good chunk of this year.

Two months after my granddad passed away, I was thrown in to the darkness of unemployment and it was a really sad and challenging reality to face.  I loved my job and my boss was one of my best ever, but the timing was off for a number of reasons and it was decided that I needed to embark on a new adventure.  Sword to my heart, but what do you do?  When I took this particular job, I left an 11 year career in an industry that nearly sucked the life and love out of me.  I thrived in it, made great money, had awesome contacts and friends, but the stress was so astronomical that I made the choice for my family of one to join an industry that was much more my forte and made me happy.  What transpired in my next job was a true experience of growth, acceptance that it was for a short time in my life path, but it also had a list of blessings that were added to my life. I was given a task that was challenging and tedious, but equally rewarding.  I felt like I was doing the right thing by taking this road. I took a risk in my career and chose the road less traveled after having been on the grassy, fair path. It was hard, but it was happy and successful as well. 

In the midst of all my adventures, I decided that when I finally came out of the forest of unemployment sadness and stress, I would reward myself with a grand costume adventure this Halloween.  In my last post I talked about geekery and its beauty and this is where mine comes in to play.  I LOVE HALLOWEEN. When I was a kid, my siblings and I looked forward to Halloween and always had fabulous costumes.  This has carried over in to my adult life and Utah is the mecca of Halloween celebration so this feeds my love.  Last year I purchased a pattern with the hopes of being Red Riding Hood.  Life happened and I ended up putting it on the back burner for 2015.  Then I lost my job, was poor indefinitely and didn’t know if I was going to work for someone who even celebrated the holiday.  Fast forward to September when I was presented with an offer with a company that not only celebrates Halloween, but STOPS all business to party for an entire day. I am in heaven.

I was lucky enough to have an awesome artistic posse this year to create my dream costume also known as #RayRidingHood2015.  My costume was custom designed (a joint collaboration) by me and Crystal from Anubis Creations in Salt Lake.  I did NOT want a cape.  I wanted it as a lace-up bodice and all one piece and the “Lord of The Rings” massive hood in red velveteen.  That is exactly what I got.

I also wanted to have a petticoat and was lucky enough to find a black number that is made in the USA from Endless Indulgence on Historical 25th Street in Ogden.  In case it wasn’t cool enough already, I decided that I needed bad ass red shoes and I picked those up at Endless Indulgence as well.

Last, but certainly not least, was the mask.  I STRESS about never having a male counterpart for Halloween.  It’s so insanely dumb, but it’s a total girl moment that I have almost every single damn year.  I briefly voiced this concern to my friend Amanda from Artisan Maskers and she said, “um I will make you a gorgeous, one-of-a-kind wolf mask and you will be both.”  Sold. Feminist independence for the win!  She is so talented and I am honored to wear such a beautiful piece of artwork on my face.

As Kelsey and I were shooting the photos at Union Station in Ogden I got very introspective and borderline emotional when we looked in to the sunset and dual train tracks and the choice of paths before us.  This has been my life this year!  It has been a constant battle of choices, mistakes and heartache, but then getting back on track and finding happiness and my zen again.

The last paragraph of Robert Frost’s poem is powerful and inspires me.  It says, “I shall be telling this with a sigh, somewhere ages and ages hence; two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference.” 

It truly made all the difference in my life to take the road less traveled last July when I made the choice to leave a toxic situation and move towards my ultimate happiness in a new career.  Even though there was still sadness and struggle, the end result is the RIGHT result for me and that is the difference that matters.  We can do hard things, my lovelies.  We can achieve goals and trudge through trial even when we think it is UTTERLY IMPOSSIBLE.

The moral of the story:  Fear not to take the road less traveled.  It is the road that leads to personal growth and a whirlwind of adventure.

Until next time, my lovelies!

-R

Bringin Homemade To The Yard.

Happy November, my lovelies!  This is the third and final fashion feature that is the result of a last minute photo shoot with Kel-Z Photography.  Kelsey is a local photographer from Ogden and we had a great time capturing some of my favorite outfits for themed posts that also bring out my random fashionista side!  I hope you've enjoyed my posts on Mandatory Metallica 

and Polka Dots in The 'Hood

Enjoy!

I've had an INSANELY busy week in day job world and my brain is pretty much shot.  Part of the reason I decided to do an entire month of fashion features is because I knew this would happen the minute November 1 hit.  Tis the season for back-to-back events and weather changes (sickies creeping in) and lots of adventures here in the 'hood.  Fashion features are easy peasy pie for me to come up with because that's how my brain functions so it's been more of a reward to me than a chore.  Selfish, much?  Not really.  This outfit is probably in my Top 5 Favorites.  It's comfortable, classy and different....oh and HANDMADE!  Yep, you read that right.  Not by me, but by an incredible designer from Pennsylvania named Sarah Clemens.  She designs each of the pieces herself and then sews in the wee hours of the night after her sweet babes have gone to sleep.  She is also a home school mamma.  Pretty incredible lady.  I found her randomly through Etsy and I fell in love with her work.  The link to her Etsy shop can be found here. 

I love this picture.  It definitely gives you all a good solid idea of the genetics I was blessed with in the calves department.  And I'm not ashamed to bring your attention to it.  It's not going to change and I have learned to dress with it.  Aren't the tights to.die.for?  Shopko, baby!  ON SALE (bonus round)  And the shoes are a thrifting find that are a staple.   

The necklace.  Here's the sentimental part of my post.  You know, right in the middle so I FORCE you to read it.  This necklace was purchased at a boutique here in Ogden called Ume Boutique.  It is also handmade by an artist in Ogden and I wear it with EVERYTHING.  But, here's the best part...what it says on it.  The words are:

• live for today
• keep your promises
• say I love you
• be grateful
• smile

It doesn't get much more applicable to my life than those five statements.  I've been so overwhelmed with gratitude and love for the people in my life that I have met since I changed careers.  As you might recall life was HELL ON EARTH and I really had no idea what was going to happen next.  If I knew that this big change would include knowing some of the most loving, selfless, intelligent humans I've ever known, I would have not believed it.  But, it is true.  I want to tell each of these people how much I love them every damn day!  Seriously!?  YES!  Seriously!  I spent a lot of my career having people tell me to smile more and to live in the moment.  I am happy to report that I really do live for today, keep my promises, say "I love you" to all who I really feel it for, am infinitely grateful and I have lots of reasons to smile.  And so we move on to the next photo....

Happiness and peace.  No color needed.  That is all. 

In each of the outfit locations we shot a photo of my shoes.  I included that on last week's post, but not the Mandatory Metallica post.  This week's shoe photo was a last minute thought and I'm so glad we took it.  Earlier in the spring, I wrote about how much I LOVE trains and Union Station.  This photo is going to be framed in my house and included on the Ogden Wall because it encompasses so much of what I love and why I'm so happy to call the 'hood my home. 

I love love love this shot!  I also found some interesting history about this structure.  Taken from Wikipedia, "The passenger shelter along tracks 1 and 2 is the only remaining canopy of a series of five. The other four canopies were demolished in April 1969. It was built in 1928 to Southern Pacific plans and is similar to canopies at the Sacramento Station in California, and is 23 feet wide. During the peak of passenger train travel in 1927, a tunnel was built under the eleven tracks with stairways to the surface at each platform. Called the passenger subway, this tunnel allowed pedestrians to access all eleven tracks from the Grand Lobby, bypassing those tracks that were occupied by trains."

 

Next week's blog post is my review of my crazy friend, Sarah's (aka Ethel) book "Becoming Beauty."  It only seems appropriate that I share one of my favorite quotes from the book because it applies to this post too.  The book is a re-telling of "Beauty and The Beast" and the quote is, "When roses bloom, they reveal their beauty petal by petal."  Such is life, my lovelies.  We are ALL a work in progress!  And some days we may feel a little wilty or prickly, but we are still roses.  Gorgeous in every way and revealing our beauty in our own special way. 

 

The moral of the story: Keep on living, keep on loving and have gratitude for your MANY blessings.  Cuz they are all around you. Yes, yes they are. 

 

Until next time, my lovelies. 

 

-R





Fashion Feature and Two Bits to Boot.

This weekend a big event took place here in the ‘hood.  The Ogden Marathon was on Saturday.  Because Ogden is awesome and the race is a Boston qualifier, our little home sweet home entertained a lot of people from all corners of the country and world in the course of 48 hours.  I decided that Friday’s fashion feature needed a little O-town history and I upped my game on the photos for my outfit to support this effort.  Historical 25th Street is the road that runs directly in front of Ogden’s historical Union Station.  When the railroad was in full force, H25 was called, “the red carpet of Ogden.”  Because of that it has always been known for its eclectic group of shops, galleries and restaurants.  And you don’t have to dig around too much to find out that it has had its fair share of “good stories” including bootlegging during prohibition, prostitution, and a myriad of other dicey events.  But, it is our history and our story and there are some incredible business owners on the street who do everything they can to preserve the culture, history and natural beauty of our “red carpet.”

This week’s feature outfit is one of my new favorites (I feel like I say that each time).  And the top reason is because it made me laugh when I realized, in the dressing room at D.I., that the very best way to dress this vintage moo-moo up was by coupling it with a Michael Kors belt and Calvin Klein wedges.  Bet ya money both of those incredible designers wouldn’t see that coming.  But, ‘tis so and it is just FUN!!!!  Similar to last week’s feature, this outfit is also epic because it went from total grandma to total awesome with some good accessories and sass.  That is the beauty of repurposed fashion.  Additionally, I feel very strongly that if a piece of clothing can stand the test of time and be modified at any given point to mesh well with the current styles, then it is worth buying and holding on to forever.  Along with that, one of my “tricks of the trade” is asking myself how many outfits I can create with a piece of clothing before I purchase it.  I know lots of women who shop in outfits because they’re afraid to try new things.  Or they just don’t ever shop because they don’t know what looks good on them or can’t think of ways to wear stuff when they are in the store overwhelmed with all the choices.  I get that, but it’s really limiting.  It’s kind of like picking a hairstyle that only looks good when the hair dresser does it and then looks semi-mullet or perma-bedhead when done at home.  If we focus on buying pieces of clothing that stand the test of time and can be coupled with at least 5 things that are already in our closet, then the return on our investment is worth it.  Obviously, there is always an exception to the rule (a hot pink pair of Jessica Simpson cork wedges come to mind), but overall, if we can shift our way of thinking to “how many outfits could I create with this?” it will save us time and money and we will be happier.

The details on this outfit are as follows:
Dress: Deseret Industries (Made in Hawaii)
Necklace: Deseret Industries (Handmade)
Earrings: 8th Avenue Thrift (Instagram Shop)
Belt: Michael Kors (purchased from TJ Maxx)
Shoes: Calvin Klein (purchased at Macy*s)
Bracelet: Chic Style (South Ogden, UT store)

Last, but not least, I want to sincerely thank my fabulous friend Sarah Boucher, future published authoress and educator extraordinaire, for humoring me and going with me to Union Station on Wednesday night and snapping these photos.  She’s a pooped inner-city kindergarten teacher by Wednesday, especially this close to the end of the year, and I really appreciated her getting off her couch to help.  It didn’t hurt that I fed her, but truly, she is such a good friend and sport.  And if you think I’m funny, look her up on Instagram @sarieboucher and on her blog/website www.saraheboucher.com.  We were blessed with good lighting and I didn’t have to do too much editing to make something simple, yet awesome for all of you.  Good friends are my blessing right now.  Well, always, but especially now, I have felt the unconditional support as I’ve had some frickin awesome curveballs.  Even last night we were an hour late for leaving because I needed a mental time-out and then I dropped an earring down my goopy bathroom sink drain.  UGH.  Life.  I tell ya.  And no offspring to blame it on.  But, lemons to lemonade and we made it and had lots of carbs and tasty dishes at Union Grill afterwards.

Moral of the story:  Ogden kicks ass, moo-moos look cute with fancy accessories and I have great friends.

Until next time, my lovelies.
-R