A few years ago on a trip back to Minnesota, I stopped by the outlet mall for a bit of shopping before heading up to Fargo for Homecoming.  I managed into Nine West (a personal favorite…..) and found this amazing pair of brown knee high boots with a gold buckle around the ankle.  Jokingly I said to my friend Stacy, “These are definitely on my Best of 2008 purchase list.”  Since then I’ve made that comment about a few of my purchases (the Mackage coat I got in the Meat Packing District last year, my house, etc.).  This year, I actually decided to publish my ‘Best of 2010′ list.  Kinda like Oprah’s favorite things, but my readers don’t get any free stuff (sorry!).  So….. here goes!!!

3. Kenneth Cole Reaction Wool Coat - I'm a sucker for wool coats. Seriously.

4. Silver Star Gravity Iron System - how did I live without this?

6. Pamela Norris Designs rose quartz necklace - I love this woman, and she's so talented. pamelanorrisdesigns.com

7. Albino Me - My second original artwork purchase. This painting encompasses pretty much my entire living room, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

8. Trenta Tre - I discovered this wine at Trader Joe's earlier this year, and haven't looked back since! It's a 33% blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Montepulciano, and Merlot. At $6 a bottle - you really can't go wrong!

Most of you know, I’m a sucker for movies, music, and books as well…..  So here are some of my 2010 favorites in these areas.

Movies:  I don’t go to the theater often, so when I do – you can be guaranteed that it’s either for Johnny Depp or the movie looks really good.  I found a nice mix of both this year……

Music:  I tend not to listen to a lot of mainstream music.  As I was preparing this post, I came to the realization that of all the albums I bought this year – none of them were made in 2010!  Most recently – Gorillaz ‘Demon Days’ 2005, Jem ‘Finally Woken’ 2004, Air ‘Moon Safari’ 1998 and ‘Premiers Symptomes’ 1999, Elton John ‘Caribou’ 1974, and Frou Frou ‘Details’ 2002.  Fortunately, my family assisted me with this!  Here are the three CD’s I got for Christmas – all made in 2010!

I haven’t had a chance to listen to them yet…. but I did ask for them so they can’t be too bad, right?

Here’s wishing all of you a prosperous 2011!

Hm… so I wasn’t kidding about having more serious blog posts.  Here goes ‘Deep Thoughts with Bri Seeley’ Part II.  ha.

There is a large amount of myself and my life that I keep private – even from those that are closest to me.  I’ve been presented with some opportunities to share these pieces of myself recently.  Specifically, I received an email from someone who visited my website about a week ago with an invitation to participate in a fashion show in April, 2011 – Speak Beauty.  I didn’t think much about it and responded with my standard questions (model coordination, theme, timelines, etc.).  I was given more information and tenatively committed to participate in the event.

It took me a few days (usually does…..) to identify the synchronicity with this particular invitation.  The group who contacted me is Cut the Silence (http://www.cutthesilence.com/), a nonprofit dedicated to suicide prevention.  My father committed suicide nearly 12 years ago.  Wow, right?  Life works in crazy ways.  But I do not believe in accidents, so  I found the invitation to be a chance to apply my talent to benefit an issue that significantly impacted my life.

After another few days, I decided to contact the organizer to lend not only my talent – but also my voice.  This is a piece of my past that I don’t share with my closest friends.  And now I’ve been inspired to open this part of myself – not only to all of you….. but also to a room full of strangers (of unknown quantity!!!).

I haven’t yet figured out what I’ll say or how it’s going to look…. but I’ve put my intention to the Universe to heal this experience within myself and provide inspiration to others.  So now I wait for the words.  I’m excited, and nervous, and terrified, and jittery all at once when thinking about it.  Along with waiting for the words, I’ll also be working on my confidence and strength (and practicing enough so that I don’t cry – not attractive).  I may be asking to practice on some of you, and I may be asking for support at the actual event….. so be prepared :-)

Kitty helps me blog post

So most of my blog posts to date have been pretty light – no real substance, just updates on where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing in relation to my designs.  Turns out, I have more to say to the world.  I plan to start posting some more personal and wordly things – mostly in the hopes that I can inspire others in various ways.

Here goes – serious post #1……

The past week or so on Facebook has been a collage of cartoon character faces.  At first people were just changing their profile pictures to this with no real reasons except “let’s remember what it was like to be a child.”  Awesome.  Let’s do that.  After about a day the changes were met with “let’s raise child abuse awareness.”  I decided to not change my profile picture – mostly out of my standard stubborn and pain-in-the-ass self…. but the more I thought about it I realized that I wasn’t changing my picture for a very specific reason.

I’m going to take a moment to fully acknowledging that it raised awareness.  And now I’m going to say – What good does changing your profile picture do?  Who does it help?  How does it impact the lives of children being abused?  At the end of the day – ones changing of their profile picture to raise awareness of a cause is a complete waste.  How many of you actively participate and give back to causes that you truly believe in?  Be it volunteering, serving on a board, or donating financially to organizations…..

It’s the holidays, and I’d say that all of you reading this post are more than blessed in your life.  Unfortunately, not everyone in the world can say that they’re so blessed.  I challenge you.  If you don’t already participate and/or contribute to any organizations – use this time to do so.  Someone out there could use your support – in a way that’s more than just taking two seconds to change your profile picture online.  I dare you.