Art in Any Form

I don't talk much about my family here, since this IS a stitching blog, after all...but bear with me.

Today my little sister is in Italy. Yeah, color me jealous...the "new man" has family there, and he planned a short trip to celebrate her new job (finally, and in her field even!). When I saw them on Saturday, I can honestly say that I've never seen her so happy and comfortable in a relationship. I probably shouldn't be surprised -- after all, she IS almost 27, and I got married when I was her age. The man she's dating is mature, self-confident, thoughtful, and gracious (or at least he appears so at first glance). I'm trying not to get my hopes up, since it obviously isn't MY relationship, but I do hope this lasts for a while...

Now, my sister is quite hip and metropolitan. She knows her way around wine and good food. She loves clubs and concerts. She is a fashion diva, without the snooty attitude! So sometimes I feel rather grubby next to her....with my jeans and t-shirts, hair in a ponytail, minimal make-up, a country music CD in my car stereo, and nothing more than ice water or Diet Pepsi in my glass even at the classiest of restaurants.

On Saturday, Sis wanted to do my make-up. She is an INCREDIBLE make-up artist, IMHO....at one point she wanted to go to cosmetology school (Dad made her feel bad about this, and she decided - under his urging - that "real" college would be better). She did my make-up on my wedding day, and I was thrilled with how it looked -- both in person and in the pictures. So when she opened her gigantic tackle box of a make-up case Saturday night, chock full of Bobbie Brown, MAC, and other pricey facepaints that I don't even know, I was perfectly willing to let her have at my face.

Sis often laments that she doesn't have a hobby. But as I sat there in Mom & Dad's bathroom, letting her experiment with different eyeshadows, it occurred to me that she has her own art. I started to giggle, as I thought about how many beads, charms and flosses I could pack into that giant make-up case of hers. Maybe cross stitch and cosmetics aren't so different after all!

She glared and me and told me to stop fidgetting. LOL