SharedBliss: Luci Daum, Creator of Party in My Pants

Party in My Pants (PIMP) Gang:
Luci, Lydia, Tristan

Listening to: The skill in this piece is inspiring and the music itself is energizing.

Bliss: Do I even need to fill this in? After last night, what is there about your own life that you could possibly not believe in? What dream no longer seems too far? What wish no longer feels too fragile? Did you feel that...you...growing...possibility...growing.

Oh, endless, infinite, sweet hope...welcome back.

BlissChick is obviously very targeted toward a female reader, though I know I have some wonderful male readers out there. (Hello, BlissBoys!) But take heed, today is definitely a girl post...though you guys could tell your girlfriends or sisters about this!

A while ago, I wrote a post which ended with the question: what are some of your favorite "green" items? In response, I got a lovely email from a woman pointing me to her own business and am I ever glad she did this.

Luci Daum is the creator of Party in My Pants. First of all, major points for the name of her company/product. The name is not only sassy but it also makes you think differently (many of us, anyway) about what it is that she makes: a cotton, reusable pad.

So many of us have been raised to hate this part of ourselves, to see our "monthly visitor" as an enemy, an inconvenience, a (literal) pain, and this affects how we approach it. We try our hardest to hide it -- from others and even from ourselves. We fight it when it does arrive -- with pills and whining, mostly.

And we say things like "I certainly won't mind menopause."

All of this is in denial of the beauty and mystery and utter magic that is happening in our bodies month to month. We are creators. (Let me point you to Lisa's writing; she's been working through her own feelings about all of this and has made me do a lot of thinking.)

Instead we fear of our bodies, see them as dangerous -- just think about all the pink ribbons every where you go, in every magazine, and the pressure to get mammograms earlier and earlier (though many physicians are now saying this is a very bad idea), and the stress of the yearly visits and tests...suddenly, the very thing that makes us strong and amazing is the thing we are told could very likely kill us.

We no longer trust ourselves about our bodies; many of us, I think, find them rather...well...gross.

I have been one of those people. Let me come out of that closet right away.

So the idea of using a cloth pad was beyond me. Until I met Luci and her product. First of all, they are totally cute! The fabrics! They are well made. They are well thought out. They are super, super soft.

If anything, think about giving their lightday version a try first. I think you'll be surprised. (And right now, Luci has informed me, they are having a 10% off BLISS sale! So another reason to give it a try.)

Describe the PrimaryBliss of your life. How did you come to know that this was your PrimaryBliss?

My PrimaryBliss are fabric, thread, seam, and pattern. Sewing has been part of my life for so long, I hardly remember a time when I wasn’t doing it and loving it. My mom had a really nice sewing machine (which I still have and use). She made clothes – hers and ours and would make whatever costume we wanted for Halloween. I must have stamped my little foot and insisted that she teach me how she did it, because I started using the sewing machine when I was 3 - not the first thing you think of teaching a small child. I was so little I had to stand up to sew. I’ve always loved transferring ideas into 3D with any medium, but fabric is my lifelong love. My motto is "wear your art"! Even as a little kid I thought I would grow up to be a fashion designer – or an astronaut. Astronaut didn’t work out, but that’s ok – it was my second choice anyway.


What types of choices and sacrifices did you make to be able to craft this bliss-filled life?

If I’ve made sacrifices, I haven’t noticed. I’ve never had a “stable” job with health benefits and retirement plan. Lots of people get to a place where they have to choose between a steady paycheck and the work they love. I’ve been fortunate that my parents and family encouraged me to live my craft from the get go. People think I have a lot of discipline - maybe so - but I think if you’re doing what makes you happy then you do it automatically. I don't feel I've plotted out "here's what I'm going to do," I've just done it.

How does your PrimaryBliss radiate out into the rest of your life?

I think people are inspired when they see others doing something out of the ordinary – something that looks fun and relies on creativity as the sustaining component. If you like what you are doing it transfers into your work. Nowadays, people are thrilled to find things made in their own backyard. Industry undermined a lot of crafts and skills – like making your own clothes or growing your own food. I think people respond to handmade things out of a deep respect for these lost skills. Handmade has its own energy and people really pick up on that right away. I get fan letters from people who put one of my hats on their head and didn’t take it off until it was just a thread of its former self. Somehow it made a difference in their lives even though it was just a hat. But to them it was something more personal.

Most of the things I make, I started making for myself. When I first started sewing cloth pads it was out of desperation for something that worked better. (The last thing on my mind was that I needed another project!) The first time I used them I was a little blown away by how different the experience was. While I was hoping to make something better, I wasn’t expecting a revolution. I made more for my sisters and girlfriends and after a few years those same women badgered me into selling them in stores. I think even the smallest idea or project can bloom if it’s the right one for you at the right time.

What are some other activities that also give you this sense of bliss? Things that make you lose track of time?

I love simply hanging out with my family and friends. They’re all so creative and inspiring and just really amazing souls. They kind of recharge my battery so I can jump back into my projects. I love my yoga practice and a nice sauna with a good book is pretty great too.

What is your daily or weekly spiritual practice?

It varies from day to day - from a few minutes of ego eradicator to a 2.5 hour early morning Sadhana. Usually it's about 30 minutes of yoga or meditation. As long as I do something, I feel great. When I did the Level 1 KRI Teacher Training immersion course we did 30 days of nothing but yoga and meditation. That was definitely bliss for me. Before I took teacher training, I never thought of myself as a teacher. I thought that I would be too shy in a classroom setting. Lots of people take the training to deepen their own practice and I was thinking I was in that camp. But through the process I discovered I loved teaching and now I give a class every week.

What music is your bliss?

I don’t have favorites when it comes to music, but I constantly have something playing. I put my iPod library on shuffle and call it good. It's about ¼ Mantra Music, ¼ Singer-songwriters, and the rest is totally random mix of everything from electronic to soul. I’m always stoked to hear new artists. That’s one of my favorite features on BlissChick. I just love hearing something new and different – which is probably why shuffle and I are such good friends.

Name books or authors/poets or people who are your bliss, who influenced your bliss.

My siblings are gold. I don’t even want to imagine where I’d be without them. We've worked on lots of creative projects together over the years and supported each other through so many things. Right now my sister Lydia and I are working really closely, running our business. Our brother Tristan helps out with our website, doing coding and IT work. The three of us live and work together in an old school building in Northern Wisconsin. We have plenty of space to host friends for weekends or weeks at a time. I love it when friends come to stay. Visitors breathe new life into our space and I think our creative ideas feed off each other.


What advice would you give to someone who feels they have not yet discovered their PrimaryBliss?

I don’t believe that there’s anyone who doesn’t know their bliss, only those who haven’t owned it or given in to it. Often people think that unless their bliss fits neatly into a career, they can’t live it. Or they think they have to love every second of what they’re doing, or they’re doing the wrong thing. Even when you’re living your bliss you run into challenges and heartaches. I think living your bliss is less about perfection and more about a deep sense of pride and satisfaction. That’s what gets you through the difficult or not so fun parts. If you really feel like you don’t have a clue, try bringing more presence and awareness into your everyday routines. Observe how you feel in different situations. Ask yourself questions. Write about it or talk about it with someone who you respect.

Do you have a favorite quote you would like to share?

My favorite quotes are funny or silly things my friends and family have said over the years – inside jokes. Each person in my family has a quote that says volumes about them. Sometimes my siblings and I have a blast remembering them one after one – it’s like we have our own private arsenal of comedians. When I was a kid and my older sister and I would get into “arguments," my mom would always lilt, “Children, is that love?” Here we were at each other’s throats and she was appealing to our sense of humanly affection. I love her for her sense of optimism.

Luci is such an inspiring soul. She reminds us to go with the flow, to do what comes naturally, and not to fight it. I love how she admits (a lot of our egos would not allow this) that some days she only does a few minutes of yoga and other days a few hours. She is responding to a deep well of intuition in all aspects of her life.

And I think you can see the beauty and joy she feels in that last picture -- whose shipping area looks like this?!