Tag: rings

Why We Love: Mercedes Rivera

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13312847_10107673365930013_7394803996112528617_nI am so excited to talk to you guys about Mercedes. She is a goddess. She is a queen. She is the coolest chick to ever come into my life. I literally  gaze at her in amazement when she speaks, because everything she says is the epitome of cool… yet she has no clue how fucking cool she really is, which, again, makes her the coolest chick ever. If you are lucky enough to meet Mercedes a few things go through your brain.

First off, you truly feel like you have just met a fairy. A real life, wings about to come out of her shoulder blades, glittery fairy.

Secondly, within seconds, you realize, “Wow, I think I am talking to the most genuine human to ever exist.

And lastly you think, “Did I just make a new best friend?” because she makes you feel that special. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. YOU. TALK. She is simply incredible!!

Okay, now that I have gushed over my girl crush, let me tell you what makes her even more amazing: HER JEWELRY! That is right folks, Mercedes makes awesome jewelry and you should all go to her pages (listed below) and buy all of it. I was honored that she wanted to sit down and talk to me about herself and her art. So here ya go…

So, tell me a little about yourself? My name is Mercedes, I was born and raised in the County of Dade, Florida.  I don’t like to read or watch TV. I have a Ninja Turtle obsession and think I was a mermaid in my past life. My ultimate life goal is to have a sick treehouse with a view and until then, enjoy the journey.

How did you get involved with jewelry design? My Mom loves to create jewelry in her spare time, she got really into beads when I was in middle school and started making buddhist prayer necklaces.  I thought the beads were super cool so I would steal a few at a time. Started my own collection and eventually had a shit ton of beads I wasn’t doing anything but hoarding. Took them along with me to college and eventually got bored one day here in Atlanta and made some bracelets. Made one for a friend as a thank you gift.  It received a lot of attention when she posted it on Instagram and the rest was kind of history.  Opened my Etsy for fun, won Best of Atlanta in Creative Loafing in 2015 and took that as a confirmation to follow my heart.   

Have you always been an artist in some way? I actually just started admitting it this year. Mostly because I can’t draw worth a dime. I can admit I’ve always been creative.

You are also writing a children’s book? What has that experience been like? I have always had the desire to write a kids book since I’ve worked so closely with them my whole life.  As a nanny I read dozens of kids books a week and I just get tired of stories with weak plots, or no plot at all.  I also can’t stand a wordy, lengthy kids book. I’m sure most parents can agree with me on that! I happen to be best friends with an artist, Roger, who specializes in character design. He also happens to be a KICK ASS tattoo artist (visit his site here). Funny story, we would always talk about doing this book, I spent months doing research on writing and publishing, so much that I never got to the actual story.  Roger one day kindly bribed me to sit down and start writing the book saying that he would make my logo for Heart Mercedes.  So that night I did just that. I wrote half the book in a little over an hour. It just kind of poured out. Showed Roger, I couldn’t believe how excited he got (the main characters are his kids that may have had a little something to do with it; they’re awesome).  I finished the book that night. He is currently working on illustrating the book and in the process we lucked out on an opportunity to pilot an animated series. Writing a book has now turned into working on episodes for a plausible series, its been an unbelievable journey with so much work ahead of us.

If you could be any children’s book character yourself, who would you be? Ramona Quimby. I loved reading her books growing up, Ramona happens to be my middle name and I can be a bit of a brat at times, felt like we related well.

What inspires you to create? Everything. Music, people, nature, travel, culture. Life is beautiful, it’s inspiring.

Describe your perfect date? I’m a simple girl. I like thoughtful surprises and random adventures. Bonus points if it’s outdoors with a killer view. The best dates end with ice cream.

Who is your favorite artist? My mom, she approaches life as one big art project, our house, the food she cooks, the garden, and of course in her jewelry.

I ask all of my guests this… what is the shittiest move you have ever made? When I was in 7th grade we had a teacher that no one liked.  She was just always mad! She happened to like me but she was still mean to all my friends.  One day she asked me to fill up her water bottle and my friends saw me at the water fountain asked me whose it was and when I told them it was hers, two of them spit in it. Ah!!!! They shook it up and gave it to her. I watched her drink it and felt like shit. She didn’t get any nicer to say the least. Never told her but even retelling the story I feel like a douche.

Where can readers purchase your designs? I have an Etsy shop but the easiest way to find it is on my website: HeartMercedes.com

Shameless plug….social media info/website/etc.

@HeartMercedes for my Jewelry on IG. If you want a glimpse at my personal life and all my selfies you can follow @YokoOnoBenzo. Like my facebook page: Shop Heart Mercedes

Every please go and check her out. Follow her journey because she and it are amazing!

xoxox

The Shitty Housewife

Jan O

Wife Life

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Wife VS Girlfriend…

So I have been a girlfriend a lot longer than I have been a wife. In fact, I only recently got married and became a wife.

I became a girlfriend for the first time when I was 20 years old. Currently I am 36, so I have a ton more girlfriend experience. I honestly don’t think girlfriends get enough credit. Yes, when Matt and I exchanged vows and made that step, things did change. MAJORLY. But that is for another blog. Prior to that I was his girlfriend for almost 5 years and most people did give me that respect of importance in his life, but some did not. And sadly, the people who did not were mainly women. Most of the time, not openly, but females were the ones who asked the questions like “Do you guys talk about marriage?” “Don’t you want a ring?” “Isn’t marriage important?” “How do you know he is committed?” HHHHHMMMMM, how do I know? Because I fucking know.

At the time he was my boyfriend and we had committed to that and that was enough. That was major. We lived together. We had kids together. We discussed major life issues together. We planned a future together. The wedding and ring did not solidify our relationship as a couple. Our open love, respect and loyalty is what made us solid.

When you get married (especially when you already have children) society is so much more accepting. You don’t get sad eyes saying “Oh, you aren’t married to your baby daddy?” But my role has not changed. Our commitment hasn’t changed. I was just as much a committed girlfriend as I am a wife and the same for Matt. I was so proud to call him my boyfriend. I was even prouder to call him my baby daddy.

Being in a long term committed relationship should not only be accepted if a piece of paper and a piece of jewelry are involved. It should be fine with zero questions attached to it when you are deeply in love and in it for the long haul.

I did think about marriage and if we would get married. I wondered if Matt would at some point propose to me. I remember my friends asking me when we were going to have a wedding. But looking back, I kinda regret those thoughts. Because while I was wasting my time doing that, he was building a life with me. He was working on his future with me. He wasn’t concerned about creating a title for me. He was only concerned about creating a life with me.

Society and it’s so called acceptable standards get in the way of every aspect of our lives. If you are a girlfriend, do not let it get in the way of that. That shit is AWESOME. Someone wants to be with you, for a long period of time, and love you! I promise…THAT IS ENOUGH!!!!

Now trust me, I ADORE being a wife. But I don’t consider myself A wife. I consider myself HIS wife. With love and respect Matt asked me to be his wife. It wasn’t because it was time, or because we rushed, or because I pressured him. It was simply because it felt right to us to change our title.

Be proud to be your role. Whatever it may be. And be proud to tell someone you are not married yet. Don’t let them take that special feeling you get when you are a girlfriend away. You never know when your role will change and it will happen at the perfect time, with the perfect person and with the perfect piece of THEIR HEART.