Be Your Own Beloved #19

This is my 100th Post! Yay!

Every day, I am taking a self-portrait in conjunction with Vivienne McMaster's Be Your Own Beloved e-course. Sometimes it takes me longer - like a week or more, but I'm dedicated to finishing this project!

Crafting my "Lady Pope" costume for the Brides of March 2013

For our next assignment Vivienne asked us to capture ourselves savoring a moment. I imagined I would capture myself laying in the grass with the sun on my face, or reading my favorite book (I'm deep into the A Song of Ice and Fire series, y'all!), or snorgling my kitty's furry belly, or eating my favorite gluten-free sundae. But I just couldn't seem to find the time to capture those moments. I certainly had them, but the desire to capture them on "film" just wasn't there.

Fast-forward to today - Some background information: my husband and I will be participating in the Brides of March, this Saturday in San Francisco. My husband had an amazing wedding dress made (he's such a girl!), but I was stumped about what I wanted to wear. I have no interest in wearing a wedding dress. I toyed with the idea of being my husband's "groom" but then I realized - I WANT TO GO AS A LADY POPE!

My husband in his new wedding dress -
you can't see his big, frothy beard, but it's there!

I've always been fascinated with the Pope, which I believe comes from me being a little hippie, interfaith child watching Father Guido Sarducci on TV. Add the fact that the Catholic Cardinals literally chose a new pope TODAY. Then sprinkle it with the fact that I am an ordained Interfaith Minister and have held a spiritual leadership role for over 10 years, and the result is a deep desire to become "the Lady Pope" for one day. (Extra credit: Learn about Pope Joan, the first and only [secret] Female Pope in history!)

So, with the hopes of crafting a beautiful Lady Pope ensemble, we hit our favorite local costume store, Disguise the Limit (great name, right?) and the smart ladies there helped us put something together for less than $50. I was so excited to try on my new Pope hat, I was literally bouncing off the walls! And that's when it hit me. This is my moment! Savoring moments doesn't have to be calm and quiet and serene - they can be bawdy and loud and fun. And I think this photo captures this moment perfectly - it's fierce and weird and silly and most importantly, happy.