Title? Do I have too?

melli@melliinc.com
      I swear when last I wrote, I had no idea it was literally going to be a "scorcher".  Really, though I'd very much like to know what is going to happen, and to whom, and when, usually, I don't.  That was plain and simple luck I suppose.   So, in trying to keep my sanity, I've downloaded a Martha Stewart "App" onto my iPhone...I'm very excited and yesterday, I even made dinner with a recipe I found there.  My chicken doesn't look nearly as good as my Pearl bracelets though, so I think I'll just stick to the creative side of things.   I can bake a mean cake, as long as the shape is circular...go figure, I've no idea why I cannot bake in a square, but I just absolutely cannot seem to get that one down.   It makes clean and perfect sense though, that out of everything in the world, of course, my passion is for Pearls...  The round ones.  :)  Just a little hello world I'm still here.  Despite the flu earlier this week, and my older son impaling his eye on the tip of a flagpole, I have survived the ridiculous California-ness...   I'll be back later with something interesting to say...Well, I'd hope.  I did see a once was rocker dude at the market yesterday...but being me and my puny self, I'm not sure who it was.   Had I known, I would have probably fallen over in awe.   Anyways, I'm here, working my butt off to make it into the fashion world, the Hollywood world, and/or any that I love that will have me.   Hoping you are all well...   Quite Kindly Yours, Melli D.

"Do be careful..."

melli@melliinc.com

"Do you know how helpless you feel if you have a full cup of coffee in your hand and you start to sneeze?"
Jean Kerr 

       It's inevitable, you will sneeze.  The (likely) hot coffee will spill...and from there, a number of ramifications will take place.   What do you do?   Furthermore, what do you do  when the person handing you the coffee is also the person that teases your nose with pepper?   Another name is a "no win situation". A "no win" life, would be somebody who has lost all hope completely.  I am not that person.

    "Hope may be lost temporarily, but it won't ever be truly gone".

      Throughout every trial and triumph no matter where my life is or was, my forever goals, dreams and wishes haven't wavered.    As my memory unscrambles itself, and re-organizes all the experiences that make up "Melli", I'm stunned, and proud of myself.  As part of my "healing" process, I've been forced to look back and process my past.  Being abused, hurt, and literally kicked when I'm down, really has just made me a stronger person.  I'm proud to carry "Little...But Oh My" not because it's cute or endearing, but because it's true.  No I don't go around kicking people's asses... though I could.  The force captured in those four words has almost nothing to do with my physical make up.  It's the power and the passion,  I hold inside the depths of my soul.   "Melli Oh My" is the new and improved version.   My strength is in my character.  So starting right now, at 8:45 PM on 10/9/11, anybody that feels the need to give me that coffee is invited to do so...   Nobody ever said it would be ME, having to deal with the consequences of it spilling.  ;)

Quite Kindly,
     Melli Oh My...
PS~  Do be careful, (Darn weather is so startling sometimes!!) tomorrow could be a scorcher.

             

Put one foot in front of the other ~ AND GO.

melli@melliinc.com

Dear World -

A zebra is an exact balance of black and of white, yin and yang, of plus and minus, fire water etc.  Perfection.  If I am good at something, I'm the best at it.  And if I'm not, I'm the worst.  I don't pretend to do things, though I've said "fake it till you make it".   If said "it" is something completely foreign, then that "it" for me isn't an option.  I don't fake the know-how...maybe just the experience or rather the confidence I have in the doing of a task.    If I agree/accept a gig,job,offer, it's because on some level, I know I can kick it's ass...in the very best and most gracious of ways.

Fake It Till You Make It-

“Meticulous manipulation of the mind,

 in order to properly complete a task, that

 one already has the inherent ability to master”.

Melli Clarification 

Right now,  I'm so grateful the ever so gifted for Kevyn Aucoin.  Despite the classes I've taken in design, color, costume, make-up, theatrical effects etc etc etc... His book "Making Faces"has taught me more than any of them.   It's also helped me elaborate my own thoughts and methodology in refining the gifts that I've naturally been given.   So, I'm not panicking.   Well, ok maybe a little.
I'm doing the make-up for a video shoot tomorrow.   A "Sizzle~Reel".    Until yesterday I was the "assistant" to the "professional" artist, who has since, backed out.  While my heart is now beating out of my chest...if indeed it still is beating, the only way to move forward is to actually put one foot in front of the other ~ AND GO.  So I'm going.  I'm going to Los Alamos, I'm going to do the make-up for the film.  I'm going to rock it.  And of course I'll be doing it in Pearls.  
 I'm absolutely bringing my books from  Mr. Aucoin.  To be a legend is wonderfully bittersweet.  He was taken from the world at such a young age...and yet even in death, is teaching so very much.  Not just that, but he is also guiding me  through,  reminding me of all the things I did learn,  do know, can do ... and giving me ~ again ~  the confidence to move ahead in doing them.    How inspiring he is to me alone, without even being here.  Now THAT is magic if I've ever seen.  
So yes, I'm nervous, but that's not a bad thing really.  It's energy building...and energy can be positive.  It can bring smiles to peoples faces, and it can turn a hum~drum day into the best you've ever had.  Terrified?  Ok, a little...but I'm human.  If I couldn't do this I wouldn't try.  But I can... so I will.
Anyway, my forever motto is worded a little different every time I say it,  however...

"On the inside, have passion enough 

to rival the wildest of any storm.  

On the outside though ~ forever do your best,

to instead resemble (ALWAYS) 

the calm just before."

Quite Kindly,

 Melli D.

Bummer? Maybe Not…I Do Feel Like a Fire Work Though.

melli@melliinc.com

Bummer?  Maybe Not…I Do Feel Like a Fire Work Though.

        “We only need you for three days and only to do a guys face…supposed to look like he’s been beat up…bar type fight etc…requires detail but nothing permanent sorry if I’d gotten your hopes up kid”.

         Hearing this reminded me immediately of an interview I’d seen with Margaret Hamilton.  (FYI to those of you that were in fact born yesterday, she might also be known as “The Wicked Witch of the West”).  The interviewer asked about capturing one of the most prestigious roles in history…in a movie of equally epic caliber.  Miss Hamilton went on to describe the buzz, the gossip, and the hype that surrounded the making of 1939’s “Wizard of Oz”.   

         Her response was something like this..."we'd all heard about the making of the film… MGM was looking to make it one of the biggest productions ever. … and it was everywhere...word was out that the role of Dorothy had been filled...and there was talk that Billie Burke was in negotiations to play Glinda... so naturally when my agent called me, I was a little confused and a little excited ... I wondered to myself did somebody back out?  What could they want me for?  My agent said then, “well...The Wicked Witch” ...to add insult to injury he then added...”what else”?!".  

You really never know…that role made her famous and unforgettable, a legend.  She’d been an actress for seven years I think before it, but it was “the break” that so many of us are looking/hoping/even praying for.  Not just in the movie industry…in the plumbing industry…a big break would be some water pipes bursting in the Mall of America  or something…   We ALL have dreams and aspirations.  And it’s difficult when even for just one split second we feel like we’re sooooo close…then oops…the Mr.Malfoy reaches his hand out with all his magical might…and still, the prophecy drops and shatters into a million katrillion little tiny piece’s.  

I feel like a firework. 

Over the course of my life, I’ve taken every ounce that makes up me, and stuffed it away into hiding.  I know very well, as does anybody that truly knows me…that one day soon I’ll be set off…like a firework.  Boom Melli!!!   And just like on The Forth of July, you’ll hear the whistle of the concoction and then…BOOM it’ll blast the ass outta you in a beautiful array of striking white and silver lights…sparkles in the sky…like the most beautiful and vivid dream you’ve ever had.  Boom, explodes Melli and each of the small but bright sparks will be a different aspect of me.  The make~up artist, the fashion designer, the stylist, the sketch~pad darling, the soft spoken but vibrant voice, the meticulous eye for color, the passion for all things jewelry…specifically pearls…the desire to make the world smile AND the ability to change the world for the better…This one firework among so many others…the one flower growing in a field of weeds…Boom.  Melli.  “Little…But Oh My”.   The difference in my lights and the others?  I’m not going to fade out.   Ever.  I feel like a firework…and it’s very very very cool.  Peace, Love Rock,Pearls, & Roll. 

Quite Kindly, Yours Truly, Angels Angels, and All Good Things... etc etc etc...

Mell

     

Margaret Hamilton (December 9, 1902 – May 16, 1985) 

Fake~Up. I rocked~ I rolled~ and I did it in Pearls.

melli@melliinc.com

        So, after a kick~ass photo~shoot where I nailed the wardrobe, nailed the make-up and nailed the accessories ...(heck even the hair ~ but did not nail anybody involved)  I've been asked to do the make~up on a web~series...hopefully one in which I'll be noticed for my skills in make~up, as well as being seen for my real expertise, styling/wardrobe/etc etc etc and all things glamour not to forget hello, my own jewelry collection, and design ability.   My very first thought when asked?  "Melli baby, "fake it till ya make it"."   I am not actually a make~up artist...although slathering shadows, puffing bronzers dusting colors, or lining finely somebodies eyes seems easy enough, there is a science to this form of art...as any true artist can tell you.  The good part, is that as a designer, as a creator, and as a free~spirit when it comes to anything profoundly stylish, I like many, should be able to fake it up.  Just at the very same time I'm making it up.  Much like being a dancer, if you know ballet, you have the rhythm down, you understand the basic comprehension of how your body moves, it's not too terribly far off from bouncing it up a bit quicker, jingling your brains a little harder, and pouncing a tad stronger in going toward tap...and once you've got those two, well there's nothing you can't do...except maybe gymnastics.  
          Anyways, I should tell you this part because it's part of the charm of the very beginnings of me...of Melli...  There's one for sure, possibly two bodies...one face absolutely, not sure what colors, what era nothing...the photographers were very un-certain.  That's not my issue...my job as the in charge of everything else, was to in fact have everything else ready to go for the old west, or fifty years from now. Seeing how fashion does run in circles, you just never know.   Anyway, I'm pretty sure I brought with me every single item that CVS sells...a handful they don't...minus some of the Hallmark greeting cards...Scotch tape, ( lots of closing thingy's so as not to ruin any clothing I did have...however seeing as this wasn't an haute couture catwalk, having to use a seam ripper ( had that) or needle and thread myself(had every color) or even using actual duct tape (yup) wasn't out of the question.  The cute part was my set-up.  Though I did get lucky in not having to buy or bring a clothing rack, the person that was going to bring it didn't.  So this is what my set-up looked like.  My Black and Violet Jeep Wrangler, with the back open all the way, gave me just enough space to stack two sets of drawers containing (again) everything), a small place for one tush at a time, AND the kicker?  It also acted NOT ONLY as a hanging rack for the clothes once I'd aid a sheet over it, but also as a make-shift changing room, as the models were almost all totally new to this...even though they were all completely perfectly adorable.  Anyways, so I've got then on the from passenger seat two open books ( hanging accessories cases) propped up so that I could bounce around to the front and snag the proper accessories, and on the drivers side seat, I had the set of drawers with the hair supply.  I was completely efficiently organized, I even had a trash bag...and when things are moving so quickly, I suppose it's when the term "suck it up" or even 'grin and bear it" or possibly even "oh for fucks sake just rip the damn tag off" would be thrown in.  So off came the tags, out went the receipts (along with most all of my bank account) and any prayer of returning any un-used items...etc...however one phrase then that really does come into mind and play, "Ahhh The Price of Beauty".  ;)   I rocked, I rolled, and I did it in Pearls, with of course...the eighties music blaring right along side the sun...in this ever so desolate, haunted and rambunctiously scary setting...deep in the heart of Ventura County, where even the Ravens may have been afraid to go.
          Happy note though, today I saw two huge, blacker than night, and devastatingly (almost drop ~dead" dare I say?) gorgeous ravens in front of my car this morning...  I came home from an early morning trek to pre-school...and saw that I had "The Rachel Zoe Project" recorded on tv...I donated my monthly to the animal charity, clicked on the give for free Children's Hunger Site, Save the Rainforest's etc...and had my green tea... Now what could possibly make the day any better?  







PS:  Any and all wording on this blog, does come only from my own un~drugged, un~drunken, and completely sober brain.  IF anybody reading it cares to share their thoughts/idea/etc in any forum, I would kindly ask you to ( rather than friend me on facebook two seconds after your husband  almost  kills  me in a car accident that he is now trying to hide from an lie about) leave a comment here as I promise that would suffice.  Thank you though for your immediate interest and thoughtfulness in requesting my friendship via facebook within 24 hours...before the insurance company actually (legally) even had any idea who I or you were.   Hmmm...

The Magical Styling Ability of Melli~Oh~My

            Dear World...  I am Melli...and I rock.  :)    


           I DID TOTALLY SUPREMELY AWESOME!  I wasn't even nervous!  Even after preparing for two models, (that was likely one) and three outfits each, plus two additional each just in case...AND HAVING SIX SHOW UP???!!!!!!   I DIDN'T PANIC IN THE LEAST!!! So totally, rad dude!!!   Still a little eighties rocked out.  Sunday, after so many years of wanting to do this sooooo much, I was IN CHARGE of the entire look of the shoot!   I've styled friends, family etc...Never done make-up, never even tried doing anybodies hair...except for the occasional slumber party, but even then I wasn't that interested in it.  But wow...OK, so the photographer is thinking early 1900's.  GREAT!!!  Then maybe the 20's or 30's...PERFECT!  Then he gets to the 40's for a second and moves on to the 50's...um...OK still COOL!  Then he skips completely the 60's & 70's and goes straight, head first, full speed,rock on bitches ...to THE 80'S!   NOOOOOO!!!!   Awesome music...but the clothes?  Neons, loud, gaudy, obnoxious and completely all that is NOT Melli?   HOWEVER IT IS FOR THAT VERY REASON THAT I AM SO FRIGGING PROUD OF MYSELF!   I really did kick ass.   Good news, the 80's are all you can find in the mall.  Bad news?   Well, I really don't shop all that much in the mall, but if you do?  I guess be happy with spandex and "Sassy Grass Green".  Good news, love the lace...  AND if it's already everywhere in the mall, that means the highest designers have been over it for at least a couple years, next down on the list, the high end boutique's are over it and have been about a year, the smaller but higher end boutiques got rid of all that crap six months ago, and the mall will be over it well... as quickly as trends go.   "Fashion fades ~ Only style remains the same"  Coco Chanel.
                  The BEST NEWS is that if I can do the one era I didn't want to do...AND DO IT BETTER THAN AWESOME ... I CAN DO ANYTHING!!!   It's like being at "camp".  ...Oh my goodness talk about the seventh circle of hell!   What those people did to me on a daily...no, not daily, HOURLY basis?   The staff was just as bad as the campers...Talk about abuse...holy smoke stacks!   BUT I GOT THROUGH IT AND CAME OUT ALIVE...   If I did that, I have to believe I can get through anything.    Having that really makes me see that whatever doesn't kill you can actually make you stronger...if you so choose it too.  It ALSO gives you EXPERIENCE!   So, I kicked butt on the eighties shoot.  ALL BY MYSELF with SIX models not two...or really one...  And I did  it calmly, and happily, and if anybody can deal with a challenge it's me...these girls all happen to have been sweet as pie...little tipsy but sugar coated all American sweet-hearts with good souls.  Anyway, I did it.  I LOVE styling people,  and I'm good at it.  I'm really really great at it.   Make-up, I faked it through...and it worked!   Hair?  Whoa, but hey, 80's?  Punk it up grab a bow and we were all good.   The wardrobe though...wow.  Not huge giant wowy zowy oh my goodness...just simply wow.   It's my passion...putting clothing together, pieces from here and there and everywhere, matching, combining this, that and every other thing, and finding the right colors, fits etc...then the jewelry?   Simply Wow.   I was on cloud 22!  Way above cloud 9.  I wasn't talking non-stop, I wasn't obnoxious I was just doing my thing getting it done and I was awesome...not nervous nothing that you (or even me) would have expected...Partly because I was in charge of it...but the photographers were in charge of me...it was costly because I wanted it to be awesome and so I bought every thing you could think of...from the clothes and accessories to the clothing tape, hair spray for static, and to get wrinkles out...every cosmetic ever offered, towels, puffs, potions, lotions, oils, removers, needles, thread, sharpies, safety pins, thimble,measuring tape etc etc etc etc etc...2300 dollars later, well I have a lot of stuff...from my least favorite clothing era...but hey, this is what I do.  I can make it work now for anything, and it was awesome.  I'm posting a handful of photo's, some that I took, and some the photographers took.  So have a peak and join me for a temporary blast from the past, and rock on to your favorite "hair bands"...Welcome to 1985 baby!

Some of these were taken with my iPhone (back to 2011), the photography credit goes to Mike Miller and Sarah Browne.  Some of the jewelry is part of my Melli collection, the rest of the clothing and accessories are from Hot Topic, Claires, Forever 21, Express, Toxic, and a combination of odds n ends from CVS & my closet.  ;)   Quite Kindly Yours, Melli D

Sparkle & Fly... Dedicated to Holly.

           In my last post I was a little...agitated.   So many things have happened that are just so ...well...agitating.   However, I don't feel that way any longer.   We all have our days.  Some would admit even to having their weeks or months...I've not said ever "year".  This last spring wasn't easy.  After the head trauma from the car that wasn't there...and the tumultuous ups and downs any relationship encounters...well, I got tired.  "For better or worse" only goes so far.   Think of it like a drive down Decker Canyon.  Seriously.  That's how life seemed to be for me.  Every time I came out of a twist, boom there was another turn.  Thankfully I have some very good friends that helped me push through.    Some that didn't even know they were doing it!   Simply by making me laugh rather than cry, wow...you just never ever know what somebody else is thinking.   Somebody may grimace at you simply because you are next to him on the stair-master.  Not because it's you, rather because of how shitty he feels.   You never know what somebody is really struggling with.   At the very same time, this is a two way street.  Holly, not knowing me from a tile on her ceiling, made me laugh, and said "hello"  at the moment I was reaching for the tissues.  
            Anyway, yesterday, after finally trudging my way back up through Decker Canyon, and into my enchanted home...something really amazing happened.   An epiphany!   I love that word!   I was about to hop into my car, and noticed a beautiful yellow and periwinkle butterfly.   So graceful and poised, sailing on the back of the wind.   She landed.  I took more photo's than I can count.   And really this was one of the most beautiful creatures I've ever had the honor of seeing.   After twisting myself into a pretzel, I fell...on my bum.  Ka-Boom...poor little babe was scared and flew away.   This magical little carrier of wisdom actually made two circles around me.   Ridiculously, I picked myself up, dusted myself off, and said out loud, "oh no please don't leave, please let me take just one more picture"?  And do you know what this  tiny ( but mighty) butterfly did?   She landed...so close to me I was tempted to pick her up.   I didn't though, it's disrespectful...She came back and landed and didn't move one teeny little half of a half of a tinier half of herself...and I took another handful of photo's.   What an outstanding and magnificent beauty!   The second set of pictures shows the truest colors in such measure...it was stunning.  
       This little act reminded me of something, and enlightened me to another.  I've always said, in my life's goals, I wanted to make the world smile.   Holly made me smile...and insists I do the same for her.  I've also always wanted to have two boys.  I do.  And always, I've wanted to use this voice of mine as a performing artist...I'm working on that.  I've also wanted to design.  Am I the Queen of a Fashion Empire?  Not yet.  But I will be...am I an Emmy winning comedian?  No, but my voice will get recognition.   I'm not Mary Poppins, but I'm Mommy, and I do the very best I can.   AND even though it took me forever to see it, I do make the world smile.   The butterfly made me see ME.   Flying around and graceful, but not yet gleaming in the sun...and then after the ka-boom, when she landed in front of me, and the colors just sparkled and radiated all this powerful good energy, I saw that I've always been here.   I just couldn't sit still long enough to see myself sparkle.  
        Dearest Puncher of all things Junk...  you didn't even know how much I needed the smile.   Thank you ever so kindly for helping me find my sparkle...and for being another "Little...But Oh My".
                                                                         PHOTO #1

PHOTO #2