getting mocha back

I met Kristina almost 15 years ago in 8th grade.  We both played clarinet in band and became fast friends, passing notes between our music stands in the clarinet section.  We quickly learned that we both had a hot and heavy love affair with horses and had even been at the same barn for a short while.  We both had big bay geldings, her horse was named Mocha, mine was named Taco.  Apparently we had a thing for food named horses.  
After graduating high school, both of us ended up having to sell our horses and give up the equestrian lifestyle in exchange for college.  Last August Kristina realized that Mocha was probably nearby, since she'd sold him to a family in Oregon.  She began the process of trying to track him down, finding out that those folks had sold him, and after months of phone calls and emails she eventually tracked him down in Albany, Oregon.  Finally in February she got to drive down and visit him.  What she found was devastating.  His ribs were showing, he was living in a tiny stall, and was clearly neglected and treated extremely poorly.  She immediately decided then and there that she would do whatever she could do to get him back.  More months of negotiating with his owners passed and finally was able to buy him back.  She found a barn near Tacoma where she could board him, and this Sunday he was shipped up.  I hadn't seen him yet and was there when he arrived.  His condition took my breath away. 

The photo above is what Mocha looked like during our Senior year of high school.  The photo above that?  That's what Mocha looks like now.  His previous owners claim they fed him a ton and he just wouldn't put on weight.  Well, surprise surprise, he has a ton of worms that are consuming all the food he eats and barely gets any nutrition from his food.  How someone can let an animal get to that point of malnutrition without even thinking of having a vet come out and see him is beyond me.  Kristina and I spent hours brushing him and it looked like he hadn't been brushed in a year.  He had only two shoes left, was lame in one leg, and one of his hooves is so overgrown I can't imagine he's seen a farrier in far too long.  And to make matters worse, his previous owner, a very large man, told us that he rode Mocha in this condition (and was confused at why Mocha didn't seem to want to do anything when he rode him, I wonder why...).  Mocha's tail was a solid mass of matted hair.  One giant dreadlock.  His mane also had tons of mats.  We soaked his mane and tail in detangler and Kristina spent hours detangling his entire tail.
She had a vet scheduled to come out the next day to assess his situation and see what needed to be done to bring him back to health.  This is the vet's assessment:

"Physical exam and observations:

Mocha is Underweight. A body score of one out of five is appropriate. He has severe atrophy of gluteal muscles, His ribs are prominent.  His top line has minimal coverage with very prominent dorsal spinous processes. His withers are similarly prominent with lack of muscular coverage.
Mocha's right front and left rear feet are highly overgrown. The toes are 3-4 inches too long. These Feet are shod with uneven aluminum shoes. His left front and right rear have more normal angles, walls and toe length. However there is evidence of chipping and wall damage. These feet are unshod.

Mocha has uneven teeth with a mild wave, sharp lateral edges and shear.  Although these teeth need dental work, I do not feel they are so severe to be entirely responsible for the dramatic weight loss.

Mocha has minimal inflammation in his fetlock joints in the front, but range of motion is normal. There is a minimal amount of inflamation in his knees as well, again he has normal range of motion and does not appear painful.

Mocha has a grade 2/5 lameness on his left front.  This lameness has not been accurately investigated due to his poor body development.  However flexion tests of his fetlock and knee aggravated the lameness.  There is no apparent increased vasculature (pulse) to his foot, although the foot remains suspect as a cause of pain and lameness.

At this time nutrition is paramount.  I would advise a good quality hay offered free choice or at a minimum of 2% of his body weight (approx 20 lbs per day divided into 3 feedings).  I would suggest a high calorie grain feed.  I would feed at 2 times maintenance until optimal weight is obtained and then reduce intake to maintenance levels.   It is important to increase feed gradually over 1-2 weeks to avoid possible overload complications."

 

  Mocha in Kristina's senior portrait :: Mocha now
The dedication and tenacity with which Kris has pursued getting Mocha back is unrivaled.  In order to afford buying him back and paying for his board, she's moved out of her apartment and into my Winnebago.  Still, the vet bills, supplements, farrier fees, dental fees, and feed to get Mocha back to a healthy place are bleeding her dry (and to add to her stress, her car broke down while driving out to the barn yesterday and needs hundreds of dollars in repair work done.  When it rains it pours, right?  Ugh).  It breaks my heart to see her precious Mocha in such a horrific condition.  Seeing the photos of him back when she owned him in high school next to the ones of him now make me sick to my stomach. 
Kristina's heart is huge and she's poured her whole self into getting Mocha back in order to save him from spending one more day with people who would let him get to such a deplorable state of health. We've started a fundraiser to hopefully help pay for some of Mocha's vet and farrier fees, dewormer meds, supplements, and other costs to get him healthy.  As of now, the costs have totaled about $1000 and any small donation would help cover the costs to help Mocha get healthy.  He's got a ways to go, but I can't imagine anyone who could love him more and pour more of herself into giving him the life he deserves than Kris.  Thankfully Mocha's bloodwork came back and it looks good, which means that other than the malnutrition and other problems mentioned, he doesn't have any serious health issues.  In just a few days she's noticed that he's already put on some weight and his demeanor is happy, which is great.

If you feel like donating, or sharing on social media, any help would be amazing.  Here's the link to the fundraiser page, and you can also link to this blog post.  Every little bit helps, even just ten bucks or a retweet.  

wizard of awesome

About a month ago, after months of hard work, the Adventures in Oz cast took the stage in front of a sold out crowd at the Temple Theater in Tacoma.  Holy cow, was it an incredible night.  After the first performance where the entire cast was on stage, we all watched the rest of the first act from the wings and I got choked up with pride as I watched every single performer knock it out of the park.  It was seriously one of the most fun nights of my life.  At the time we weren't sure we'd have any prospects of performing the show again, but we've heard back and will be performing the show again in Olympia on September 27th!  We're hoping to be able to perform it in Seattle as well at some point.  I'm so glad we get to perform again.  Everybody worked so hard it'd be a shame to have done only one performance.  Meanwhile, I'm dreaming up new solo acts.  I just went to the debut show at a new monthly cabaret dinner club and got to see some of my fellow Adventures in Oz ladies do amazing solo performances.  It's a little out of my comfort zone to do a solo performance, but I'm really excited about the prospect of doing one!  I have a couple concepts buzzing around in my head for fun routines...

 

I think the performance actually might be available in DVD form someday soon.  We had a film crew shoot the whole show and I saw the unedited version the other day, so if any of you guys want to know if/when that becomes available I'll keep my ears open for more info (here's a little trailer of the show in the meantime!). Being a fine arts student I grew up with a pretty negative opinion of all things rhinestone and glitter (the herpes of craft supplies).  I'll tell you what, though, I'm a huge fan of both now.  Bring on the sparkle.  The day of the show my whole body was covered in glitter.  My headpiece had glitter spray paint, my hair had glitter hair spray, my skin had body glitter, my eyelids had glitter, my lips had glitter, my leotard had glitter, and even my fishnets had glitter.  I don't think I've been around that much glitter in my whole life.  I don't even want to think about how much glitter I probably ingested that day.  It was awesome.  I'm pretty casual in my day-to-day life, so spending hours transforming into a glitterbomb fancy lady was amazing.  I'll probably still avoid glitter and rhinestones in my everyday life, but I'm excited for my next opportunity to spend hours glueing rhinestones to a costume. Another unintended effect of performing as a poppy in the show is that I'm now kind of obsessed with poppies.  I bought a bouquet at the farmer's market on Tuesday mostly because it had poppies in it, and I just got this dress because it was covered in poppies (it's called the "wizard of awesome dress," so I pretty much had to).  I need to get some poppies to plant in my garden too.  Poppies everywhere!

 



top photo by ebony morris :: all other photos/willow's photography +  heather schofner photography + gerry collen + lock & key photography

adventures in oz

In one month I'll be performing in my first burlesque production!  Back in November I was sitting at a bar chatting with one of Dan's coworkers when it came up that she did burlesque with a local troupe.  I got super excited and we started talking about burlesque which is when she mentioned that they were having auditions in a few days for their biggest production yet, a sexy adaptation of The Wizard of Oz!  I decided then and there that I was going to audition, and was so excited about it that I had some serious insomnia that night brainstorming ideas for my audition act.  I hadn't done any kind of dance performance since college, but I was bursting with ideas and thrilled at the opportunity to break into something that I had dreamed about for years.   I was obsessed with pinup and hot rod/muscle car culture throughout high school and into college, but never had the confidence during those years to do anything about it but paint flames, traditional tattoos, and pinstripe designs on everything I owned.  While my style has gone through some major transitions since college, I still love rocking a pin-up inspired look, and my confidence is probably at the highest point it's been in 27 years.  It was the perfect storm and I auditioned four days after I heard about the show.  I came up with my routine practiced my audition for hours and it gave me the perfect excuse to go out and buy some sequined, fringe panties to put the cherry on top of my striptease.
I got a part in the show as a poppy girl!  There are four of us poppies and we do the bidding of the wicked witch, seducing Dorothy and her friends into a deep sleep to keep them from reaching the emerald city.  We're one of the only non-striptease acts in the show, which I actually kind of like.  Maybe someday I'll do a routine going all the way down to pasties, but for my first foray into burlesque I'm happy to do a sultry little dance without the stress of taking off my clothes.  The top and bottom photos in this post are sort of what we'll be wearing but we're in the process of customizing our tops to be ridiculously fabulous with rhinestones, flowers, and petals.  It's been so much fun getting to dance again, do fabulous craft projects, and make tons of new friends I never would have met if it weren't for this show. 

We're in the final month of rehearsals and, you guys, it's going to be off the hook amazing.  There are so many incredible acts.  I'm actually really disappointed we only get one show, but maybe someone will want to bring the show to a venue in Seattle or Olympia after they see how mind blowing all the acts are.  It's been such a treat getting to see the progress on everyone's acts and costumes every week.  If you're local to the area, there are still some tickets left, but get on it because I have a feeling it's going to sell out!  You can also follow the Gritty City Sirens on facebook for little updates. 
One of the fun things about burlesque is having a kicky little stage name!  I'll be performing as Bettie Klondike.  Bettie obviously has ties to Bettie Page, but Bettie is also a nickname for Elizabeth.  Klondike is drawn from Klondike Kate, a famous performer who became famous for performing in Alaska and the Yukon and actually ended up down here in the PNW after she married a man who stole her fortune and used it to open a theater here in Tacoma!  Bettie Klondike it is!
One of my favorite things about burlesque is the incredible variety in bodies.  Every single woman (and man! ooh la la!) in the show has a completely unique body, from slender fit bodies, to big and bodacious, from itty bitty, to tall and statuesque.  And everyone's act is sexy as hell.  I love how burlesque fights our cultures assertion that sexiness and sexuality are only accessible by those who have Victoria's Secret bodies and porn star grooming.  I also love that burlesque invites a humor into sexuality, which is void in so much of the sexuality that we experience in culture, movies, and tv where sex is serious business.  But sexuality is so much more than serious and passionate, and it's so much more than pleasing someone else.  Burlesque gives women permission to be sexy in any way they want, and to do it for no one else but themselves.  Even though it is a performance, and in that way it's for others, there's an ownership over sexuality that the performer has.  She gets to choose how she wants to be and feel sexy, and it's a totally solo endeavor.  I think a lot of women experience their sexuality differently when it's with another person vs. how they feel sexy when they are alone.  Burlesque gives women permission to feel sexy in anyway they want, at any size they want, to any music they want, with any outfit they want.  You can take off all your clothes, you can take off a few clothes, you can do whatever you feel comfortable doing.  Burlesque gives women permission to own their own sexuality and the more women are owning their sexuality the harder it will be for rape culture and sexism to continue.

Okay that got real serious there for a sec, but burlesque!  It's awesome!  If you're local you should come to the show!  You can see the event page on facebook here, or buy tickets here.  Another cool thing about the show?  Proceeds will benefit the Carol Milgard Breast Center!  A sexy night that benefits a great cause, what more could you want?

Photos of me by Willow's Photography.  Hair by Paige Pettibon. Makeup by Athena Renee Artistry

giving back

I mentioned a couple months ago that I wanted to start using this space for more than outfits, recipes, and inspiration.  I've shared a couple of fundraisers in the past, which I've run local 5k's for and asked for a few donations for those, and I may continue sharing those kinds of opportunities to give back, but in addition to that I'm going to start donating a portion of my ad sales to a different cause each month.  These causes will mostly likely involve empowering or protecting women as those are issues I'm more passionate about.  Some will be local to Tacoma or my home state/town, and some will be international.  Since not all of my readers would have a reason to purchase an ad, but still might want to support that month's cause, I'll also include a link where you can donate without purchasing an ad.



For this month I will be donating all small ad sales to Umoja Women, which is an amazing organization in Kenya.  I was introduced to Umoja through Half the Sky, and if you have a few hours to spare and a Netflix account, I recommend giving it a watch.  The following video is a little explanation of Umoja's history and mission, plus some incredible photographs by Siegfried Modola, a Nairobi based photographer.

Umoja is a village of women started in order to escape the violence and control of men. "In 1990, 15 women,allegedly raped by local British soldiers, and led by Rebecca Lolosoli, formed and registered the Umoja Uaso Women's Group with the then Ministry of Culture, Heritage and Social Services. They started by selling beadwork and other goods. After facing threats from men jealous of their success, the members decided to found a women-only village and reside together, thus providing collective security and cooperation." The Umoja village has had over 60 women and has grown to birth new nearby women's villages, such as the Nachami Women's Village, and recently Unity Women's village.  In addition to creating their own financial success and independence through creating beaded artisan jewelry and artwork, they are also committed to informing women about their rights, their health and healthcare, and helping women start income-generating activities, as well as providing a safe place to escape violence from men.


(photos by Siegfried Modola)
In a season when it feels like my culture's obsession with materialism is at it's worst, I feel like doing something to fight back, if only, perhaps, in one small way.  Instead of buying a bunch of things that I know we don't need, I'd rather give a truly meaningful gift to someone that actually needs something I can give.  I truly don't need anything more.  I have more than I deserve.  There are people who have less than they deserve and instead of just being annoyed with all the buy-buy-buy-spend-spend-spend ads on tv and online this time of year, I want to do something more.  
A Small Ad is $50 for 1 month and $80 for 2 months.  At the end of the month I'll tally up all the sales and donate (although I might actually do it throughout the month so we can see the progress!).  If you have no reason to get an ad but still want to donate, click here and you can donate online.
In addition to Umoja, I thought I'd mention that Musana Jewelry, a similar women's empowerment jewelry country supporting women in Uganda, has a two day sale coming up this Monday and Tuesday!  All jewelry in the shop is 20% off!  I've styled a few Musana pieces in the past and also hosted a Musana shopping party at my house, and they're an amazing organization.