Floating

What keeps me constant these days? The Tiny is growing faster than ever, my schedule book fills the days with events weeks in advance, I am finally getting good at remembering what to bring when we all dash out of the house (backpack with extra clothes and snack and water bottle and pacifier for the Mininsky, her pony purse, my purse, my water bottle, my phone, my glasses, my keys). 

What keeps me steady?

Looking out the window at the sky.

Breathing Scripture memorized to my spirit.

The feel of my guitar under my fingers.

The flowers everyday on my table.

Soft, deep sighs, eyes closed.

Late night talks with my love.

Pausing to savor the moment.

Getting hugs.

And tea.

Lots of tea.

Isn't it funny how the littlest things in life keep us grounded?

These mugs of tea float me through my days. Chamomile, green herbal, Yorkshire black, pomegranate flavor. A spoonful of honey, a squeeze of lemon. A bit of cream, two cubes of sugar. Sipped slowly, gulped quickly, poured into a mason jar to take with me on my travels. According to mood I choose my cup. Maybe one day I'll have a delicate, flowery teacup to drink out of properly, but until then these lovely characters will keep my fingers warm, my tummy happy, and my moments marked with gentle sweetness.

~ Prompt for March 2nd: Float 

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Participating in Write Alm's March prompts, daily words as guides for writing down what is in my head and heart. Entries might be long, might be short, might be posted here on the blog, or shared on my Instagram account. Do join me and many others in sharing our thoughts with these prompts! I love seeing what you write. 

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These Moments

Kaleidoscope fun.

Budding creativity.

Old-fashioned.

Washcloths knitted.

Minimalist flowers.

"The Class": guitarists growing together.

Beautiful mandolins.

Burn's Night concert.

Check out last year's January photo with the same coat!

"Light gives itself freely, filling all available space. It does not seek anything in return; it asks not whether you are a friend or a foe. It gives of itself and is not thereby diminished."
~ Michael Strassfield

"The man who has many answers is often found in the theaters of information where he offers, graciously, his deep findings. While the man who has only questions, to comfort himself, makes music."
~ Mary Oliver

"We are so obsessed with doing that we have no time and no imagination left for being..."
~ Thomas Merton

"Your heart does not have to go through half the trouble it does; you need to know that. Tune into a different radio station and let your ears listen to sweetness, for once. Step off the broken glass and give your feet a break. The world is meant to be up for interpretation, and it's a lot more tolerable- and enjoyable- that way."
~ Carly Kaste, Zauberbear (love ya, sweet girl!)

"I remind myself, 'Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good'. (Cribbed from Voltaire.) A twenty-minute walk that I do is better than the four-mile run that I don't do. The imperfect book that gets published is better than the perfect book that never leaves my computer. The dinner party of take-out Chinese food is better than the elegant dinner that I never host."
~ Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project

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Welcome December, Goodbye NaNoWriMo

November, you gave me a run for my money! The main things I was worried about were preparing for December's musical events and doing NaNoWriMo. So far, I'm mostly on top of all the music stuff, just a little behind. I'm still keeping it at a level where I'm enjoying being a music teacher and a performing musician, thankfully. 

My goal for NaNoWriMo 2014 was to finish my first draft of the story of last year, "The Naming of Fio Re", by invoking the Zukotuo clause, as I wrote before. In the end, I wrote approximately 78,000 words total, which is only about half of what NaNo usually calls for. (The word counter for the NaNo website and my OpenOffice document do not agree with how many words I actually wrote, which is a bit frustrating.) But it was actually WAY harder this year! I couldn't figure out how to wrap my story up, which has always been a huge problem and the major reason I've NEVER finished a novel before. And I almost didn't finish it this year because:

~ I got really sick. I still managed to pull off most of my duties in life, but my writing suffered a lot. There were even days (it might have been about a week and a half) where I didn't write at all because I was so exhausted from coughing and just wanted to sleep when I had free time at night.

~ I seriously couldn't figure out what was going to happen in my story. It paralyzed me that I would sit at my computer and have no clue what to type next.

~ I had all kinds of doubt like "I'm a sucky writer", "this is a sucky plot", "these characters are sucky", etc. 

In the end, I just forced myself to sit down and WRITE, like I kept telling myself I'd need to do at the beginning of the month. My page for NaNoWriMo '14 here is sadly bare for the most part because I was so focused on simply getting healthy and plugging away at my novel that I didn't want to spare time for other writing if possible. 

And finally... it's done. I wrote "THE END" on page 123 last night at 11:50, ten minutes before the deadline. Technically I could have "won" before then, but since my goal was to finish the actual storyline of my novel I wouldn't allow myself to call it an accomplishment until the FREAKING STORY WAS DONE. Now it is : D

*throws confetti*

I'm surprised at the way it turned out. The story, I mean. You'd think that being the author I could predict what was going to happen, but I couldn't. Writing and simply letting the story take me where it wanted was like riding a roller coaster. Yeah, there are some plot bunnies that almost ran away with me, a few loose ends in the storyline that seem unresolved, but in general the story came to a close with  my protagonist in a place I was happy to see her. 

Now, as my friend Brenna (fellow NaNo winner, woohoo!) says, I just have to get over the habit of pressing "control, S" every few words that I write. The urge to frenetically save my work constantly is strong, even when I'm writing emails or blog posts! Ha ha.

Last year I was positive that I was going to edit, revise, and send out my novel to friends to beta read right away. When I didn't even finish my novel (even though I got to 50,000 words), I thought that I would just finish it in January and then begin the process of editing. NOPE. Didn't happen. I was too burned out with November's push for words and December's holiday busyness. So I'm not going to make any huge goals for this novel in 2015, except to say that I would certainly LIKE to get a second draft of "The Naming of Fio Re" completed so I can ask some friends' opinions of it and figure out what needs to be changed. 

What's my ultimate goal for my novel? I have no idea. I'm simply proud of the fact that for once in my life I proved to myself that I can finish a story. I am a more confident writer after this month's efforts. As Julia Cameron posted today on Facebook, "don't confuse the end result with the process". Who knows if my novel is even any good or not. Who cares! I WROTE A NOVEL!

Although, I'd love to discover that it was actually a decent novel ; ) We'll see!

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On to December!

I'm not sure how much I'll be writing here because December is seriously the busiest time of the year for musicians, on top of just being busy with family and friends for the holiday season. I'm going to try to not let the busy-ness overtake the joyfulness. And I want to make time for reflection and quiet both physically and spiritually as we enter Advent, contemplating the true meaning of Christmas. 

One of the things that I loved about November was taking a picture every day of something that made me smile, with Laura and many other people on Instagram under the tag #thedailybon. It made me slow down and notice the little blessings of life. I was able to focus on moments of gratitude even as I dealt with the problems that inevitably threaten to poison our lives with anxiety, anger, or grumbling. 

With that in mind, I'm excited to sign up (for free!) to take a picture a day with Susannah Conway for December. The prompts are wonderful. I look forward to wrapping up 2014 with the community of #DecemberReflections as we reflect on what we love, what made us grow, and what we look forward to in 2015. Do join us if you're on Instagram, because I enjoy seeing what everyone posts there : )  I'm LyssaGirlLovesLife!

Also, I am VERY excited to start on Susannah Conway's "Unravelling the Year Ahead" workbook that she has always offered on her website! I've done it for two years in a row and it has been super helpful as I process the year past and plan for the year to come. The workbook is set to be available for download this week!

Advent started yesterday, but since we were driving back from Thanksgiving vacation with family across the states we didn't do anything to celebrate. We plan to get our tree and decorate this week, start our advent calendar, and plan Christmas presents. December announced its entrance with a layer of ice and beautiful snow in my city. Hopefully I'll be able to post here occasionally and share some of what's going on!

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I Finally Crossed Over to the Dark Side

I crossed over to the dark side: last weekend I got a smartphone for the first time. The main three reasons were that my old phone was slowly going under, we wanted a phone plan that was less expensive than the one we have now, and I really wanted GPS so that I can stop getting lost all the freaking time. Yes, I get lost that much. Stick me in a forest and I'll find my way out, but put me in a car and I'll lose myself in my own neighborhood.

This week has been full of transitions to the pros and cons of having a smartphone. It definitely makes me feel like an idiot; I've never been good with technology, and I've already made many goofy spelling errors with my texting (despite auto-correct). That and a little boy already told me that I looked like his grandmother when she got her new phone. Tech-challenged, much? Yes. That's me.

One of the surprising benefits, however, has been discovering Instagram. Because it's late right now on Thursday night and I'm supposed to be either folding the eight piles of clean laundry on my couch or writing my NaNoWriMo novel, I'm going to make this short and sweet by just writing a list of things I love about Instagram:

~ It is for sharing just pictures. Obviously. But this was the main reason I initially liked Facebook, because I love seeing small moments in people's lives, enjoying the beauty that my friends could capture in a photograph. Now Instagram is like Facebook pictures without all the political junk, advertisements, arguments, and craziness that Facebook has become!

~ With pictures come stories, some that you can see, some that you can only imagine. A picture is truly worth a thousand words! Most folks only post a snippet of a caption for their pictures, some refer you back to online posts if you're interested in reading more, which is great. It's short and sweet.

~ I am able to share snapshots of what I love or find interesting with others who hopefully see it the same way. There is connection, community, in sharing, just as with any other social network.

~ For the first time, I have a camera that doesn't take fifteen seconds to turn on, focus, and hope that the picture won't come out blurry because someone moved a tiny bit. This has been GREAT. Finally able to take candid shots! (Yeah, not really a reason to like Instagram, but a big reason I'm liking my phone.)

~ I am spending WAY less time on Facebook because I only check Instagram out if I have a spare moment. Since it's an app on my phone, that could be anytime, and it only takes a few seconds. Facebook is a time-sucker because I will go on for a minute, telling myself that I'm just going to check something quickly, and then spend the next half hour scrolling through the feed to read ALL THE THINGZ!!! I hate wasting my time for so long on something like this but it's easy to lose track of how long you're on it. And yes, I'm trying to make sure that I'm not getting hooked onto always checking my phone, too, especially when I'm with friends or family. 

~ I have been inspired so much by the creativity I see in many peoples' photos. They help me see the world again with new eyes, and I view my own life with love as I soak in the moments. 

~ Right now I'm participating in taking a photo a day with others under #thedailybon. You can read more about it here! I'm also going to be documenting my pictures from the December Photo Project, which I did in 2012 and 2013, on Instagram this year. It will be MUCH easier to take and share photos on my phone.

If you'd like to join me on Instagram, you can find me at lyssagirlloveslife : )

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Currently, Loving Life

Resting:: from the full weekend. Trick-or-treating with my crazy cat lady, a Halloween party with friends where I took a trip back to my younger days and traded candy with some kids, a home-school group meeting with lovely ladies, an awesome concert by a fellow guitarist, a dinner with a sweet friend, and a road trip to Illinois for two concerts with a guitar ensemble where I filled in for a missing member and acted as co-leader for the group. Oh, and that's my sister in the picture above, being Steve from Minecraft ; )

Loving:: this chilly weather! I love everything about autumn and winter, including the cold. The frost on the grass in the morning, the bundling up in our coats, the sweaters indoors, the knitted garments, the warm tea at all hours, the early darkness in the evening, the cozy lamp light.

Feeling:: disappointed in the mistakes I inevitably make, like thinking we were supposed to go over to a friend's house for lunch next Saturday when it was actually this Saturday (I wrote it on the wrong date on my calendar), failing to play the correct notes in an entrance on one of our pieces yesterday during a concert (that's what can happen when you have to fill in on someone's voice with less than a week of preparation), and STILL not being able to find a new teacher for children's worship at our church after asking quite a few people (is it me? is it the way I'm asking? is everyone just too busy?).

Reminding:: myself that you need to learn from your mistakes, change for next time, and then move on.

Hoping:: that I'll be able to accomplish all the knitting projects I have planned before the end of the year!

Savoring:: soups galore for the season: zuppa tuscana, potato-leek soup, beef stew, and egg drop soup were all on the menu last week.

Planning:: the Christmas music that will be handed out this week to my forty students and the seven-member ensemble.

Seeing:: if I can memorize these five solo guitar pieces all at the same time, because I'm insane. "Usher Waltz" by Nikita Koshkin, the first of "Trois Gymnopedies" by Eric Satie, "Prelude" and "Allegro" by Bach from PFA, "Unruhe" by Johann Mertz, and "Allegro Solemnis" from La Catedral by Augustin Barrios. Oh wait, that was six pieces. I'm insane.

Playing:: "school" with Harmony. I'll be writing about that later in more detail!

Lingering:: in my robe in the mornings because it's warm and fluffy, despite being a hand-me-down with a huge hole in one sleeve.

Hearing:: Harmony listening to the My Little Pony soundtrack on the iPad. She loves to sing along to the songs now; it's pretty cute to watch!

Eating:: cold pizza for breakfast. Soooo yummy! Left-overs from our dinner yesterday with the guitar ensemble group.

Noticing:: for the hundredth time the beauty of the golden light streaming through the many windows of our home. I will never get tired of it after living for four years in our dark, cave-like apartment that faced the north!

Anticipating:: the Turkish coffee I'm going to make very soon this morning. I'll add steamed milk frothed with my French press, vanilla, and a little caramel syrup to make a delicious wake-me-up drink! I need it after getting home very late from the concerts last night, waking up with Harmony at 2 a.m. when she suddenly had a coughing fit (she's in that stage of a cold where she doesn't cough or feel sick during the day, but when she lies down at night she coughs and it's so sad), and being woken up too early by Harmony as she demanded "cheerios and milk, mama" the way she does every morning.

Keeping:: Harmony's nap time as my breathing space, for resting, reading, writing. That's how I'm keeping my sanity.

Writing:: my novel for NaNoWriMo, "The Naming of Fio Re", and documenting progress over on this other page of my blog! This weekend wasn't a very good start, but I know I'll catch up quickly over the next few days. Woohoo! I'll be working much more on my novel this month rather than keeping up with blogging, except for adding to my NaNoWriMo page, so do stick around until next month when I'll be back with lots of Christmas posts here : )

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This Moment: My OTHER Part-time Job...

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no a few words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special crazy, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. ~ Amanda

As I've written before, I am part of a professional flashmob group. We dance Michael Jackson's "Thriller" at various events before Halloween, getting paid for weddings. This year my costume is supposed to be a zombie mime. I'm still working on the make-up, but this is how I looked for my first series of events this season! We have a ton of fun : ) I'll be spending time over the next few weeks in this outfit with twenty-five to fifty other flashmobbing friends, thrilling St. Louis!

And yes, my two year old has seen me like this, but she doesn't freak out as long as I put on my make-up in the bathroom with her watching. If she sees the process, then she understands it's just dress-up! My mom helped me figure out and put on the paint. Harmony cheerfully waved goodbye to me right after this picture was taken, happily ready to play with grandma for the evening. 

Linking up also with Mommy Reality over at Deliberate Mom!

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Currently I Am....

Listening... to Parov Stelar's album "The Princess". On repeat. Over and over and over. Mixed in with a little Prokofiev, because why not. Definitely going to look for a symphonic version with a better tempo than this recording, though.

Eating... watermelon, poached eggs on toast, gross boxed pasta, left-over jasmine rice, potstickers, and corn. Can you tell that I badly need to go grocery shopping?

Drinking... not nearly enough water. And sneaking sips of my sister's huge jug of sweet iced tea.

Wearing... all my favorite summer dresses to beat the St. Louis heat. With boots sometimes instead of sandals, when I'm channeling one of my favorite Miyazaki characters.

Wanting... my guitars to magically change their own strings, rather than me have to do it.

Needing... to return this library book that I desperately wish were mine.

Thinking... about how love can be such an incredible part of our stories.

Feeling... full of things that I want to write, hoping for that 25th hour of the day so I can sit down and write some of it, but also enjoying special moments with my Tiny, as she learns to stretch her wings.

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This Moment: Happy May Day!

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo few photos - no a few words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. ~ Amanda

Every May 1st when my sister and I were young, our mom would help us make May Day baskets to give to our neighbors and a few friends. Once we visited a retirement community and passed out flowers there, too. It was a beautiful tradition to welcome spring and spread a little joy! Now we've re-started this annual event, beginning last year before Harmony's first birthday. 

This year, Harmony was old enough to enjoy playing with the crafting materials, but not quite mature enough to create any May Day baskets of her own yet! But that's okay. We had a lot of fun together : ) My mom sweetly brought the project material and flowers over to our apartment, because Harmony was still cranky from getting over a virus. We spent all morning making the baskets, had lunch together, and distributed them in the afternoon before I left for work. 

The first of May was especially cold and grey this year, so we were more happy than ever to bring a little taste of spring to our friends! 

For more information about the May Day tradition, check out last year's post!

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This Moment: Her Little Ponies

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no a few words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. ~ Amanda

Thanks to her loving aunt who recently graduated from college (where My Little Pony has made a come-back), Harmony is obsessed with equines of all shapes and sizes. She adamantly distinguishes the difference between a "horse" and a "pony", rates them in order of worthiness (yellow figurines get the most attention, while white or blue ones are less desirable), learns all their names (there's nothing more adorable than hearing her talk about "Fluttershy" or "Applejack"), talks to them, carries at least one or two with her EVERYWHERE, and plays endless games of pony-house with anyone whom she can sweetly cajole into playing with her. She looks forward to Tuesday nights when my sister babysits her, because Harmony knows that means hours of playing with her horses and then the treat of watching "My Little Pony" with her Auntie Em before mama comes home from work.

When I say "obsess", I really mean it. I've never seen a twenty-two month old child so enraptured with something like this before. I'm sure it will pass at some point... or maybe it won't. When I was a toddler, I was possessed with a love for music, and now I am a musician and guitar teacher. Who knows what will lie in store for her? It may be that these ponies will be a childhood fad. Or perhaps they will lead Harmony to a lifetime of joy with real horses or work with animals. 

This is the awesome part of being a parent: watching my daughter's dreams and interests begin to bloom!

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This Moment: a New Home!

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no a few words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. ~ Amanda

Yes, that's right: this is a picture of the Mininsky* standing in front of the house we will be moving to in two months! The tiny horses in her hands gave their approval of the lovely backyard already. The house is not very large, but will provide enough space for all of us, including a bedroom for our daughter for the very first time.

While we have enjoyed our time here in the apartment, it's just too small for three adults (my twenty-one year old sister, Emilia, has lived with us for a year) and one toddler. I am THRILLED for many reasons, like...

... no freakishly loud upstairs neighbors blaring music at all hours of the night!

... a washer and dryer in the basement, instead of having to cart our laundry a block away to the nearest apartment laundromat station!

... a fenced-in backyard for playing!

... a sunny porch to grow tomatoes and flowers and herbs!

... more space to have guests over!

... it's only two blocks away from where we're currently living!

... we'll be a few hundred yards away from an incredible local bakery!

... it's at the end of a dead-end street, so there's very little traffic!

... there's a basement for us to escape to when tornado weather occurs!

... we'll be able to have a piano again!

... more space for books, since about a quarter of ours are currently in boxes!

... lots of windows for sunny rooms!

... the chance to decorate a full house!

... wood floors eeeeeeverywhere!

And best of all, a chance for newness, a fresh perspective, a clean slate. I truly love moving, and it will feel wonderful to stretch my wings to a new home.

More updates coming soon!


*The Mininsky is our daughter's Russian mafia nickname. If you know us at all, then you will know that we say this tongue-in-cheek ; )

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This Moment: Memories of Snow Fading Fast

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. ~ Amanda

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This Moment: Where She Always Gravitates

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. ~ Amanda

If you're inspired to do the same, come share your moment with me in the comment section!

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This Moment: Her Favorite Fountain

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. ~ Amanda

If you're inspired to do the same, come share your moment with me in the comment section!

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This Moment: Choosing Her Own Clothes Now

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. ~ Amanda

If you're inspired to do the same, come share your moment with me in the comment section!

Picture taken by her loving grandma!

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This Moment: Fio Is Waking Up

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo few photos - no words a few words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. ~ Amanda

If you're inspired to do the same, come share your moment with me in the comment section!

Here begins the part of this Story's journey that I am most terrified to do: editing. Seventy-seven pages of raw material that needs to be re-arranged, erased, re-thought, expanded, subtly changed, substituted, and more. I'm bringing Fio Re out of her hibernation of the past several months since the intense one month writing session in November with NaNoWriMo. Fio needs to air out for a little while while I (for the VERY first time) read her entire Story all the way through and get out my red pen. This will only hurt a little, dear. We just have to grit our teeth. Time to get down to what her Story really needs to say.

Side note: The editing process will be quite slow! I'm taking baby steps, and making more room right now for writing a postcard every day, finishing up knitting projects, and writing letters. Also, for those who are waiting for a postcard, my post office and myself have run out of postcard stamps this week, so please forgive me for having to wait until next week to continue sending your postcards out!

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This Moment: A Month of Love Notes

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words a few words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. ~ Amanda

If you're inspired to do the same, come share your moment with me in the comment section!

A Month of Love Notes

Everyone gets bills and junk in their mailbox. How about a fun, free postcard? I'm going to send out one postcard every day during the month of February! So far, there are quite a few people on my list to send these postcards to around the United States (and a few overseas), but there are several extra that have not yet been assigned. If you'd like to receive one, send me your address through the contact box that you can find on the sidebar by scrolling down this page! I hope you do! 

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This Moment: The Idea Box

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words a few words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. ~ Amanda

If you're inspired to do the same, come share your moment with me in the comment section!

The Idea Box

My lovely friend Heather gave me the suggestion of having an Idea Box, a place to keep all the story, poem, novel, project, art, future, creative, musical, interactive, family, game, dream, and crazy ideas that my mind comes up with all the time. Rather than feeling pressured or worried that I'll forget an awesome idea that maybe I just don't have time for right now, I can jot it down on a notecard, date it, and keep it safe until I need it again! So I am re-purposing this cigar box that my husband brought home after it was going to be thrown away at his workplace (we do NOT condone smoking, but I admitted that the box was pretty cool) and keeping it in a corner of my desk for all those little lightbulb ideas that occasionally flash into my head : )  The first card went in today. Here's to many more in the moments and years to come!

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This Moment: A Little Edible Paint

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. ~ Amanda

If you're inspired to do the same, come share your moment with me in the comment section!

A Little Paint

{picture taken by grandma!}

*The paints were made with yogurt and Koolaide powder so that they were completely non-toxic, even though Harmony (nineteen months) never put any in her mouth. The colors were so bright and pretty : )

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This Moment: My Sister, The Alchemist

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. ~ Amanda

If you're inspired to do the same, come share your moment with me in the comment section!

Linking up with Soule Mama!

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This Moment: The Tradition of the New Year's Day Coat

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo few photos - no a few words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. ~ Amanda

If you're inspired to do the same, come share your moment with me in the comment section!

Modifying an idea I saw over at Rachel's blog, I will be taking a picture of Harmony in this coat every year on January 1st so we can see the progression of her growth and change. Someday she will fit into it, and when she turns eighteen, we will gift her the coat! It's a beautiful leather jacket which I found (for free) in one of the abandoned houses my stepfather was rehabilitating. 

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