Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.   ~Goethe

We've begun!
So to begin, Michele and I needed a name.  Something new. Different. Unusual,but not too unusual. Interesting but not too strange.  And not too hard to say, and not too easy to forget.  And it has to not sounds like something contagious, itchy or otherwise medical condition-y.  And it has to not rhyme with anything that meets those conditions either.  And it has to not bring to mind anything untoward, obnoxious, or anatomical.  Or rhyme with anything that meets those conditions.  And finally, it has to not be already taken. 
These terms are much harder to meet than we expected.  Though we did get plenty of laughs and find some interesting websites during our search for a name.  We found "The Succulent Wife"  (The word succulent is way to easy to steer down the WRONG path, think Succubus, or just "this sucks!")  We learned that Nokomis is  a French pharmaceutical company, a learning center for women and girls in Michigan, a summer camp and a discontinued perfume described as redolent.  I learned that redolent means odiferous.  It makes me think about garlic and really strong cooking smells, like in Indian food.  Which is all well and good in the kitchen, but i don't think I'd like to be described as redolent.  We learned that Nicola Tesla had three sisters, Milka, Angelina and Marica.  We learned that the word fugue does not bring pleasant images to mind, sounds a bit too much like plague.  We agree that plague is unpleasant. 
So here we are with Nokomis Nouveau.  Nokomis is the daughter of the moon, the grandmother of Hiawatha from the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem, and Hiawathat's mother?  Nokomis' daughter.... well I'll let you make that connection if you haven't already.  And Nouveau is a French word, but Michele and I from our first conversation found that we were drawn to the same styles and artists, particularly the Art Nouveau styles... among so many other common ties we discovered upon our first meeting.  So here we are, with a new name, and new decade, a new adventure, a new dream.  We begin!

Well here goes...

As they say, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." It is for us, so to speak, just that! Christie and I, my name is Michele, have started our business together... We are Nokomis Nouveau! I am still having a hard time remembering how to type it out as I say it, it's so new!

We are making objects like purses, clothing, scarves, t-shirts, stationary, and so on. We aren't sure yet how far we want to go down the Rabbit Hole, as of yet! LOL!!! Our combined experience is so broad that the sky is the limit!

I am going to talk about my first day of this process based on my perspective and Christie will based on hers. Let's call today the first day, even though it's really been going on for two weeks or more. First thing I will say: it is 3:38 PM and I have not had a shower! As every day there is always a little crazy needed... we woke up at 8:30 am... My son, Eriq, was already late for school. Chris, my husband, Eriq, and myself rushed down stairs to get things together to ship Eriq off to school. Ironically, I had to make the second pot of coffee this morning... my daughter, Damara, made one earlier and tried to wake me up with a cup at 6:30 AM. I went back to sleep leaving the coffee go cold, this is a travisty in my mind to waste a perfectly good cup of coffee. In our house, we drink robust roasts with cold organic frothed milk with sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top. We gave Eriq a bowl of cereal as he did his homework, which he was supposed to do the night before, and made up his lunch. I jumped on Facebook for a quick check on my peeps, once the necessities were done. My husband walked Eriq to school to sign him in since it was then 9:00 AM. I'm not sure how well that went... hmmm...

I pulled myself away from Facebook's grip at 9:10ish and went up stairs to put on some paint pants, a necessary evil to force me into work mode. I have been re-plastering my old plaster walls for a week for the umpteenth time since we bought the house. I finished in an hour or so, since it's throughout the upstairs hall, down the stairs, through the living room, and the dining room. My walls being a little more plum then yesterday gave me a sense of pleasure! With the new sense of joy and accomplishment on the ongoing travails of home ownership done... I made my way down stairs to the coffee pot! I whirled up another cup and took the dress Christie and I had picked up at Goodwill shopping spree. Goodwill and I have an ongoing history and Love-love relationship!!! Anyhow, I started pinning the red ribbon, I picked up yesterday at JoAnn Fabrics, on the dress. A few of the pins pricked me as I pinned along the edge of the existing Empire waist seam. I realized as I finished up the pinning, I hadn't taken the before picture! Wahh and double dog WAAAAHHHH! So, I took out the pins and went searching for the camera. I found the camera quickly and headed downstairs to the section of the basement that is draped for Ebay sales... I snapped a shot and realized there were no batteries in the gosh darn camera! Wahhh! So I went upstairs to the kitchen to put in the batteries... good thing, because I realized the camera was missing the memory card. The search went on for a half hour before I decided that I would just use my daughter's camera, which was ready to go. I headed down stairs to take the picture. Yeah!

Finally, I was able to resume the reconstruction of the dress. I re-pinned the Empire waste. I pulled out my handy-dandy Brother sewing machine and changed the thread color, only to realize I needed to set up a new bobbin. I looked through my supply boxes and found a new empty bobbin and threaded it. Just before I started sewing the ribbon on I realized I better take out the up side with the seam ripper so the dress wouldn't bind. When de-constructing is involved, a seam ripper is a necessary tool. I pricked my finger a couple of times with it as I am pulling the seams apart to pull out the threads... I am a pin cushion! I then started sewing the ribbon on. That was easy! I then started pulling the seams out for the straps of the dress... this was not easy!!! (more pin cushioning) I reconsidered my original design and made the choice to use the same ribbon with a thinner one for the straps. I cut the to the same length as the original straps and proceeded to pin them. By this time, my daughter came home from school and tried on the dress. She forgot to tell me about a little detail, the original straps were too long. Sooooooo... I took the dress and pulled out some more seams. (more pin cushion) I re-pinned the ribbon straps to their new length and started sewing. Once it was sewn, she tried on the dress. It was perfect! All I can say is, "Thank God!" I took the dress stamp design I drew up and made a template to transfer on the stamp material, which Speed Ball makes! It was 2:30 PM, and I could finally eat lunch! My husband made a new pot of coffee and lunch for the three of us, a turkey, Swiss chard wrap with sauteed garlic! OMG!!! I so love him!

I called Christie and let her know I was on my way to set up the Blog! When I walked in we compared notes and design ideas for the logos. We set up the Blog site after our new email address. I, then, started typing... this is not as frightening as I thought it was going to be, the writing that is! I'm sure I'll get better with time and comfort level!!!

Signing off for now,
Michele

Now it's Christie's turn...