Italian for eggplant
I’ve never had a blog before. But, I think it might be fun to have one. Maybe it will help me find my voice or something like that. Hopefully someone other than myself can get something out of it too.
Thanks for reaching this part of my website; I hope you’re taking time to explore. If you have any comments or bugs you might see, shoot me an email below. I’m so excited to finally share my creations with the world through this site. I can’t wait to see what happens next. I already have some fun projects in the works.
This week, I started a new job as a sewer for Melanzana. They are a hoodie/outdoor apparel company in Leadville, Colorado. I’ve only been there three days, but I am so excited to keep sewing and gaining experience in a factory setting. I can call myself a professional sewist now! Isn’t that exciting. Big thanks to my high school Fashions teacher for guiding me way back when. I feel really lucky to be here in Leadville and to be able to take advantage of this opportunity to really hone in my sewing abilities.
While I didn’t set out to move to Leadville at first, I’m glad that this is where I’ve landed. I did the whole liftie gig at Copper Mountain for a couple winters when I got to CO and had tons of fun skiing every day (BTW, I will trade tie dyes/crafts for comp passes!). I bounced over to Silverthorne for a bit, back east for a summer, and then moved to Leadville for the cheaper housing. After being here for the better part of a year, I have learned to love it two miles high. Still a tourist economy, but much fewer people than Summit County and Copper. It’s just a few blocks away for a quick escape to the forest. The houses are old and crooked and bright pink or teal or Christmas colors. You can see some of the tallest mountains in the country from almost anywhere in town. There’s even a beach! Best of all, you can walk all of Main St. in 20 minutes or less. Hasn’t been since my college days that I was in a walkable community, and even then I had to drive to the grocery store.
About 15 minutes down Hwy 24 is Camp Hale, now a National Monument. It’s where the 10th Mountain Division of the US Armed Forces trained for mountainous combat during WWII. My grandfather was among those who trained here. I vaguely remember doing a family history project for school and writing “Camp Hale, Leadville, Colorado” underneath a photo of him pasted into paper doused with tea bags. While I’m not a member of the elite ‘CO native’ group, I feel a connection to the area and community. My dog is from Arvada.
I keep using the word ‘community’, and I love it. I feel like a part of Leadville, at least at this point in time and space. Even more so now that I work in town instead of in Summit. I vended at a Community Market at Freight last month and it was so awesome to see all the different kinds of artists and their crafts and meet new friends. Alec (my partner) and I started getting people together to play ultimate frisbee each week (Wednesdays at 6pm on the turf field across from C4!!!). We don’t get crazy numbers, but it’s so much fun to play frisbee with new friends overlooking Elbert and Massive as the sun sets. Come join us sometime if you can!
Sorry if this is a bit ramble-y but it’s how I’m feeling right now. I’m really grateful to be in such a beautiful place surrounded by weird and wonderful people who appreciate the landscape around us. Summer is short but sweet and I’m trying to enjoy it as much as I can, hope you are too. Much love if you read this<3
-Abby