**The Art of Showing Up—Unfinished**
9:01 AM—Ethan handed me my latte this morning with a smirk—"Back to basics, huh?" Just black coffee, no frills. I toasted him with my cup and said, "Sometimes simple hits different."
Because here’s what I’m sitting with today: You don’t have to be ready to be worthy of the moment.
My sketchbook’s open to a design I almost scrapped last night—a corset top with exposed boning, raw edges curling like they’ve got something to say. A month ago, I would’ve called it "too messy" and started over. Today? I’m leaning into the imperfection. Maybe the beauty is the mess.
Here’s the shift happening now:
1. I’m done waiting for "perfect" to participate. Liam and I did go out last night—me in a half-finished top I’d been tweaking all day, him in a wrinkled button-down he "meant to iron." No pretense, no performative effort. Just two people showing up as they were. And it was better that way.
2. My creativity thrives in the unfinished. That corset? I used to think pieces had to be flawless to be seen. Now I’m stitching my process into the design—leaving seams raw, threads dangling, like a "work in progress" tag sewn right into the fabric. Because the becoming is just as important as the being.
3. I’m falling in love with the ordinary. October in LA is all about golden-hour predictability—same coffee shop, same playlist, same Ethan forgetting my name half the time. I used to scroll through feeds and ache for more. Now? There’s a quiet magic in the mundane. In showing up exactly as you are, not as you think you should be.
Ethan just handed someone a latte with a flawless foam leaf. Old me would’ve compared, wondered why my cup was plain. Today? I’m sipping my no-frills coffee, perfectly content. Some days you’re the art. Some days you’re the canvas. Most days, you’re both—still drying, still evolving, still becoming.
Growth isn’t about arriving polished. It’s about having the courage to say, "This is me—unfinished, unfiltered, and enough."
xx Mandy
(P.S. That corset? Still on my mannequin. Still a little messy. And for the first time, I’m not rushing to "fix" it.)