Wow I have been BUSY! let’s see what has happened since I last posted here, well I got married and went on a fabulous honeymoon(I have pictures somehwere!!!) I’ve been knitting a lot… and oh yeah I started a yarn dyeing business Grrrl Shaped Yarns overall life has been good to me.

It’s weird looking back now it seems like so much has been happening i don’t know where to begin or what I should talk about, maybe I’ve gotten a bit rusty as blogger, I feel rusty.

I can’t believe it’s 2010, 10 years since I was in high school come thus June,  8 years since I transitioned come this July, 2.5 years since I moved to New Zealand to live with my husband. I still remember the feeling of being unsure of where I was going, getting lost often, and in general being confused about my surroundings.  Wellington is so big that there are still parts of it I have never seen and parts that confuse me, unlike the relatively small San Francisco I used to live in.  Still doesn’t feel like home, and I still miss San Francisco at times, but things will change. A New year, a new decade, it seems like just last year we were all panicking about Y2K, or in shock over 9-11. It’s amazing looking back at how much I have changed in these past 10 years.

One thing that new years always bring along with them are resolutions, I haven’t made any resolutions so much as a few goals. and in the effort to help me stick to them I guess I shall share them with you.

1. become a bit more fit and healthy(if this helps me lose weight than so be it)

2. Expand my business to the best of my potential

3. Finish at least 12 items this year(after realizing last year I completed one super simple scarf and shawl and that’s it ALL year)

That’s it just a few simple goals, nothing to earth shattering. I like to think I’m doing good I’m eating healthier and participating in the Couch 2 5k challenge even though i am a bit stuck right now… I’m plotting and scheming business plans. I have finished one item already this year that’s my wedding shawl( yes it was 3.5 months late what you wanna make of it?)

In general I think life is good, and although I am busy it’s a good busy I’m enjoying it! I have so many plans for the next year I hope some of them pan out. and with those thoughts I would like at say, I’m thinking of starting an online crafting magazine, if you are at all interested in submitting a project  or article or review please let me know via email Zine AT brooklynnemichelle DOT com

I have been meaning to write about this for a bit now, but it was just too early for me to talk about and write about.

There a few people who come into your life that really leave an impact on you that last forever. Del Martin was one of those people as was Phyllis Lyon. While I was still living in San Francisco I got the great honor to meet and get to know these amazing women.

They are what I consider to be the front runners for the lesbian advocacy the work they did was amazing and brave. In the mid 50’s they started The Daughters of Blitis the first lesbian advocacy group. Together these two who have been together for 50 years campaigned endlessly for Gay Rights, and especially their right to marry. In their work they also created the Lyon Martin clinic One of the first health clinics specifically for women, that was open minded and acceptining of lesbian women.

I cried as I read of their marriage on June 16th, thinking finally they got what they were fighting for. Those would not to be the last tears shed for Del, I got a call from a mutal friend August27th(tech it was the 28th here). The voice on the other end was choked up and soaked with tears “Brooklynne, Del died today.” I was stunned I couldn’t believe it I mean yes she was 87 years old but for some reason I thought she would live on forever, I mean she was Del lesbian superhero. As I hung up I was struck with grief over the loss of her and with concern for Phyl, I couldn’t imagine losing a partner after 50 years together. I realized how lucky I was to meet these wonderful women and have them in my life. I am so thankful for the times we shared together the dinners we had the stories they shared with me of being a lesbian in the 50’s and the stories I shared.

The Potawatomi believe that when a person dies they pass onto a greater place, a place where they join nature and can be heard in the rustle of the leaves and felt in the whisper of the wind.

Del I can feel your hugs in the wind and hear your laugh in the trees, thank you for enriching my life and sharing a piece of yours with me.

Sorry I’ve been busy, busy, busy! I hope you all are doing well. I’ve been meaning to post here for weeks now! I really will try to post more often, but between getting the site all sorted and actually starting a business I barely have time to blink. Life is good, it’s December now and I don’t know how that happened… I do know that it’s hot, almost too hot to knit. It’s been 75 all this past week, and I’m starting to look at cottons for nice summer dresses, something long and with at least 3/4 length sleeves but made of a thin fabric. I really love this fabric from this website and want to order 10 yards to make the perfect summer dress!

I have to wear a lot of long sleeves in hot weather because of the sun. I burn really fast in places with an ozone layer so I burn even faster and and worse in this country without the ozone layer. which brings me to an interesting point aerosol is banned here everything like that in a can is some other gas that is ozone friendly!

I think I’m finally starting to blend in some, I pick up lingo fairly fast so that’s helpful, already I’m used to ordering a burger with chips(not fries), I have a mum now(not a mom), I stopped pronouncing Seatoun as Seatown and now as Seatoon. I still have trouble with some of the words that are or are based on Maori words. I really like it here and in general things are good. I do miss San Francisco and Micah and Sarah.

Well I guess that’s it for now!

This is your warning this post is going to be very very picture heavy…

So yesterday I spent all day taking things to thrift store, putting them on the sidewalk for free or giving them up on freecycle and this is the fruit of my labor:

BEFORE

Before 1

Before 2

Before 3

Before 4

Before 5

AFTER

After 1

After 2

So it’s 13 days until I head off to New Zealand and I’m already starting to miss San Francisco. I have been realizing all the things in SF that I wanted to do and haven’t done, now that I don’t have time to do them. Not Just SF but California in general, I really wanted to goto Disney Land(or World whatever one is in Anaheim) I’ve never been to either of them, I wanted to goto Hollywood and see Audrey Hepburn’s Star and Graumann’s Theatre. In San Francisco I wanted to goto the top of Coit Tower, see Alcatraz, do the Vampire Tour, goto the Dickens Fair, and so much more! I guess I will just have to come back sometime and do it all as a tourist!

Today is the Folsom Street Fair and I just don’t feel like going down there to do all that, instead I’m staying home and sorting through more crap and getting things ready to head out to their new home in thrift stores. I don’t feel like I’m going to regret not going to Folsom, I went for 4 years straight and have experienced it and all but I don’t really feel the need to to go this year especially when i have so many better things to do. It is exciting that I remember being 12 and watching Real Sex on HBO late late at night and seeing Folsom on there and going that looks fun, and i actually end up living in the city that hosts it and have gone 4(maybe 5) times in a row…

Well That is it for today I leave you with some pictures of San Francisco

The vampire Tour Guide