true

Over the past couple weeks I’ve been trying to identify my truths.  To figure out what it is that is important to me.  Because I tend to put the needs of others above mine.  I keep coming to the old addage, “to thine own self be true.”  And I’ve been trying to figure out what that means to me, who I am, really.

It seems sometimes like truth is always moving, always evolving. Is truth what I perceive? Is it what I can prove? Is it what others think? The fact of the matter is truth, what I know to be true can change and shift and as a person who hates change that is hard.

But if I can just surf the incidents of life I can find my own truths, my own values and the important things in life. At times these can be shaken, but that is only opportunity for new, fresh, real, truth to come about.

And the truth of the matter (see what I did there-so funny) is that I don’t have to think to much on truth, it is or it isn’t, thinking in, out, and upside down what truth is – is that really truth, how do I KNOW it is truth – doesn’t make something less or more true.

Sometimes I have to live it and stop thinking about it so much.

To end this we’re gonna go old school with a little quote that pops into my head when I’m questioning:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.

THANK YOU (now in red)

I’m sure you remember my original blog post about THANK YOU:

The THANK YOU Tee is a tribute and a show of gratitude for the men and women who serve our country in all areas of the armed forces.  I have a brother in the Marines, my father and both grandfathers both served in the Army and many of our family friends have been in one arm of the military or another.

I wanted to use camo colors and a font similar to the lettering for the old MASH tv show.  Luckily, Alternative Apparel came through on the tee shirt colors and the ever-fabulous Aleisha helped me re-create the font.

100% organic cotton t-shirt in moss green (sandstone has been discontinued) with black water based ink.

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Well…  A few of our lovely fans have been hinting at wanting a RED FRIDAY shirt, so we now are thrilled to offer the THANK YOU Tee in red!

100% organic cotton red t-shirt with white water based ink

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nonstopmiracle

Another custom design by Kasey Viles-Luby.  These words are hers:

You are here now.  You are you.  You are exactly who you’re meant to be. The fact that you can breathe, think, live, laugh and everything else is nothing short of a miracle. A non-stop miracle if you want to get technical about it.

Short but sweet.  We’re here, we’re lucky, try to remember it while we’re caught up in the business of being human.

Available in 100% organic cotton ocean t-shirt with water based green ink

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faith

I have a long list of words and phrases of shirts that I want to make.  The list gets longer as people give me suggestions and as I think of new ones.  Some designs for words come to me quickly and others take much, much longer. 

Faith was one word that has been on the list since the beginning and the design came to me very quickly.  I have actually had the design printed and ready to go to screen for a long time, but it just kept getting pushed back due to other projects or designs that needed more time/energy.  When I finally had time to put towards it I was then stuck on colors.  What color to use for the shirt and what color to use for the ink.  More decisions to make!  Sometimes days deciding which socks to wear is too much for my poor brain!  Then my lovely friend Rebecca asked me if Faith was going to be a shirt.  Rebecca has 2 lovely little girls, one of which has a lovely little middle name.  Can you guess what it is?  So Rebecca got to choose the colors for faith.

earth rain 100% organic t-shirt with grey water based ink. 

available in womens short and long sleeve scoop neck and unisex crew neck. 

thanks Rebecca for the push I needed to get this one to screen.  xoxo

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“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”  St. Thomas Aquinas

 



breathe

When I told Aleisha I was going to do a breathe shirt, she sent me a link to the trailer for the movie Ever After with Drew Barrymore, where she enters the ball as Cinderella and reminds herself, “Just breathe”.  It was funny, because I that’s one of the things I was thinking of.

[Aleisha here. For those of you who don’t know go to you tube, find the ‘Ever After’ trailer and at 1:34 there is the second I’m talking about. Some days I just keep clicking 1:34, over and over again until it sinks in]

I must remind myself constantly, to do just that – just breathe – in and out.  soft and low or hard and fast.  just breathe.

[Just one more thing from me – there is something called the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. If I remember correctly from ninth grade you have to get all of the basics before you build anything. A person has to eat and sleep and breathe before they can be any good to other people, before they can be part of a family, part of a relationship, or even to think about their own safety. Literally of course you’re not going to do anything if you don’t breathe, but also on a bigger picture you’re not going to be any good to anything if you don’t take care of the basics. So when everything is a little screwy and I’m this close to loosing it, I start with the basics.

Breathe. Just Breathe.]

available in Earth Natural 100% organic cotton t-shirt with royal blue water based ink.

available in unisex crew, womens scoop and long sleeve

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“Breathe.  Let go.  And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.”  ~Oprah Winfrey

surrender

Some days I dig my hands into life so hard that my knuckles turn white. I dig in and I think that I can ride this out, I can take this and bend it to my will. I think in absolutes, I think that I want this, I think that I know how this is supposed to look. I hold onto this tornado and make it into the image of what I think that it should be.

If I hold on tight, that is all I think about, all I can feel. When I try to control it, that is my only focus and I miss out on the randomness of life. There is something beautiful that happens in the moments that I can’t control. I’ve never been a big one on surprises, I’m a bit nosy, but when the stars align and someone manages to totally surprise me, well, those are some of my favorite moments in life.

That is where the magic happens.

So the moral of the story is that I have pry open my fingers from the vise grip that I have on the chaos I think is life. That is when I can take a minute to take stock of the world around me, let the wind rush around, and exist in the world.

Sadly I’m not able to tell the future, I’m not one to pull the strings of the world, and I’m not supreme dictator.

My job is simply to keep moving forward, and that is when life brings it’s surprises, giving me a life far better than anything I could ever have dreamed.

100% organic cotton earth black t-shirt with white water based ink

available in unisex crew, womens scoop and long sleeve

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“Surrender is a perfectly acceptable alternative in extreme circumstances.”  C3PO – Empire Strikes Back

devotion

definition:  Ardent, often selfless affection and dedication, as to a person or principle.

I want to know what this feels like, truly, deeply.

earth natural 100% organic cotton shirt with gray water-based ink

available in scoop neck, crew neck and ladies long sleeve scoop neck

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design by Jessica D. Bridge and the words above are hers.

FEARLESS

Change.  Life is all about change.  Some life changes we choose, some choose us.  It is when we are the affect, not the cause, that can be the hardest to accept.  However this is usually the place where we grow and learn and solidify who we truly are.  It is what you do with your life that matters, not what life does to you.  How you handle what you are given makes all the difference.  Look ahead, welcome transition, move forward.  That is how heroes are made, that is how kindness is shown, that is how the world changes.

Your life is happening.

Change comes from all directions, look at it, face it, embrace it and stand tall.

Be fearless.

earth natural 100% organic cotton t-shirt with rubine red water based ink

available in scoop neck, crew neck or ladies long sleeve scoop neck

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This shirt was designed by my fabulous mother and the words above are hers.  Thank you Mary Curtis Skelton.

 

integraTees logo T-shirt

Remember the logo shirt I wore to the STRUT fashion show?

Well, now you can have one too!  Of course it’s still the 100% organic cotton t-shirt screen printed by hand with water based ink.  But this time, you get to pick!!  Available in earth black, blue, green, natural pink or yellow t-shirts with black, blue, green, purple, red or white ink. Also available in ladies long sleeve scoop neck or unisex crew.

See sizes and colors: http://wp.me/pXO4K-5b

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B+

Remember our motto, “change your t-shirt, change your mind”?  This fabulous design by Tari Swenson (think be, no drama, live life) reminds us to be positive (B+). This sums up so much of what we here at integraTees are trying to do. We want something positive out there, even if you don’t feel it you can surround yourself with it and get the feeling by osmosis.

Plus its quirky and a bit esoteric. Just like us, just like you!

100% organic cotton t-shirt in earth blue with white water based ink.

Available in scoop or crew neck and long sleeve coming soon!

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Someone told me they thought it meant, “Be More”, which I also like.  And another person thought it was a grade, like B+, meaning no one is perfect.