1949 Skirt Re-Pattern Giveaway (closed)

Laura on Sew Retro has re-patterned a gorgeous 1949 skirt with bow (above) and is giving away a copy of her pattern. To enter the giveaway visit the Sew Retro blog.

MP3Rockabilly.Com

I just visited the Rockabilly Hall of Fame to see what is going on in Rockabilly music lately and discovered that they sponsor a webpage with tons of rockabilly songs that you can listen to for free. It's called MP3rockabilly.com. They also have it set up to buy albums online to help support the page. This is a great way to become familiar with the music if you are just getting into the scene, or to explore some older or more obscure tunes.

Here are some suggested tunes to listen to on the page:
Baby, Baby, Baby - Joe Allen & the Alley Cats
Dirty Dishes - Jeani Mack (make sure and see the video too!)
Move it on Over - Rose Maddox
Rock the Joint - Bill Haley & the Saddlemen (obviously they recycle their guitar solos)
Stranded in the Jungle - The Cadets
Twenty Flight Rock - Eddie Cochran

Coincidence or Karma?

So after posting yesterday's post about losing my Mojo, I just happened to get an article link emailed to me by sparkpeople.com called Going Through the Emotions. If you don't know about Sparkpeople, it is an online resource to help you get healthy, including a great nutrition tracker. I found it is very similar to weightwatchers online- but free! Anyhoo, the article touches on the very thing I posted on- feeling overwhelmed and undermotivated.

Elvgren "Well Built" taken from thepinupdictionary.wordpress.com

While the article is geared towards health, it stresses being aware of taking control what you can when your life seems out of control. My favorite line in the article is "You can be the hammer, making things happen, or you can be the nail that sits there and gets pummeled over and over." I felt it was a little bit of a sign that it just happened to come my way after I finally posted on my blog after my "hiatus."

Obviously I want to be the hammer! So off I go to workout (TurboJam!) and start putting together my list of construction projects. This might actually be fun ;) Speaking of lists, don't forget about my pin-up To Do lists I posted for Viva. They are free to print out as many times as you'd like so you can get organized in style!

Mojo

Ever get the feeling that you lost your mojo? I am feeling it right now. It's not that I haven't been doing anything, I have been doing plenty. More than plenty: I just finished a huge fundraiser for our local PBS station with my vocal trio Bootless Betties where we did a staged old-time radio show with a friend's theater group Wisconsin Hybrid Theater.


For the show I had to learn how to play accordion, arrange Old Black Magic in a Spike Jones style, do sound for the show and generally keep everything together. We raised over $3,000 and performed in 80 degree weather with no A/C- that is devotion! Bootless Betties also came out with our first CD "Good Time Whoopee" and I started teaching classes for my library internship.

Obviously I have been busy, but I feel oddly empty. It feels like I am creating for everyone but me, even though most of the above stuff was my idea. I'm not sure how that happens, but as a perfectionist I tend to get caught up in details and never give myself a chance to really enjoy what I am doing. I feel burnt out, which is pretty scary considering I have a paper to write in the next 3 weeks and I start my Music History thesis in the fall. I started working out because I thought it would give me energy, but all it does is give me one more thing to try and schedule in (although I will say I enjoy it while it is happening).

So I ask you this (for those of you who have hung in with me during my blogging drought) - what do you do when you need motivation to finish things you have to do, but have no motivation to do them? Do you take an extended break (for me that would mean a semester off, which is unlikely)? Do you dig in and force it? Do you do little things? Do you do an about-face?

On a more pleasant note, J. Peterman is having a magnificent sale and I purchased these 2 dresses to wear on the Rockabilly Vacation my husband and I are taking in a few weeks:

They still have some left up to size 18 (43" bust) for both, so grab 'em up while you can! I hesitated on another dress and it was GONE in a wink. I actually shed tears... but I think I picked pretty good substitutes.

Time Off

So sorry, but it looks like I have been taking some time off of blogging for a while! I was hoping that I could be more consistent during the summer, but I have been totally swamped with gigs and the first CD for my music group Bootless Betties (including a fundraiser for our local PBS station). I am also trying to finish an incomplete paper for a graduate class, as well as get started on my Masters Thesis (comparing and contrasting Rockabilly singers Janis Martin and LaVern Baker), working and trying to stay on top of my Tart Deco etsy store. I am also hoping to take a short vacation before my final semester of Grad school and the thesis madness that I am sure will ensue.

Whew! That's a lot!

I will still try to pop in a blog post when I can. I am sure I will have more to say when I get into writing my thesis because it will be about Rockabilly music and the culture of the 50s. I may even ask for your input on some passages :)

Thanks for reading so far!