Transcript:

Hi there. My name is Jackie Morreale and I am the host of Wisdom for Wannabes. I am joined today by a firebird artwork that found me again.

This Christmas 2025 has already come and gone. Like every year, it carried with it a familiar warmth of giving and togetherness and reflection.

But this year, I received something completely unexpected, a gift that didn't just make me smile, it allowed me to revisit the past. Not in that nostalgic, "wasn't that so nice" kind of a way, but as a living time capsule.

A message from the person that I was 20 years ago, arriving precisely when the person I am today needed it most.

My mother brought me a framed painted silk piece that I created two decades ago. Back when I was a young designer in New York City, fresh out of school, painting silk in my parents' basement. Back when all I wanted to do, literally all I wanted to do, was paint whichever visions lived in my head.

Selling to stores came later, business plans came later, expectations came later.

At the beginning, all there was was silk, dye, movement, and instinct.

I learned a silk painting technique in school and it felt magical. Applying it to these scarves made for wearable artwork that someone could actually live inside. But seeing this piece now, 20 years later, framed, hanging on the wall, I'm reminded that it was always more than just fashion. The watercolor blending, the motion, the way the colors breathed life into each other. It was just meant to live.

The piece had originally been purchased by my grandmother, who's now 99 years old. (Hi, Grandma!) My mother found this silk painting in her possession, a firebird that I had created all those years ago, and she decided to frame it.

The image is striking.

It's a firebird with three red feathers emerging from its slender head. It has long, powerful wings layered in warm red hues and glowing tones. A dramatic curling tail feather rising from the flames beneath it. Behind it is a sky washed in cool rainbow-like hues.

Twenty years ago, it may have just been something "pretty," but today it feels prophetic.

Because here I am after two decades of trying to figure out who I am as a businesswoman. 

A designer, a mother.

A human standing in a moment of pause, a moment of surrender, a moment of following life's current instead of treading against it. Back to being an artist, into new waters as an entrepreneur, a writer, and someone who thinks outside of the box, just like that young woman painting silk in the basement.

Back then, we didn't document everything. We didn't have iPhones. We didn't have endless photo libraries. Files were saved on CDs. Computers came and went. And every single silk scarf that I made during that time was either sold or given away at flea markets, house sales, small boutiques, trunk shows, even department stores.

I didn't keep one.

So to have this firebird returned to me, something that I made with my hands, with my imagination, and with my whole a year of enormous change, healing, and transformation, it feels intentional.

It feels like timing.

I'm grateful for my mother who has always had an eye for art, always supported my creativity, and for thinking to bring this piece back to me now. (Hi, Mom!) She's the best at giving a subtle nudge, a window opening, and a reminder that maybe this artist path is not behind me but ahead.

I look at this firebird now...and I see myself.

Not just emerging from the ashes, but remembering who I've always been.

I was pretty scrappy back then, literally "material"-istic. Every dollar I had went into fabric, trim, samples, creation. I showed collections in New York City. I pitched lines to department stores. I sold pieces to buyers out of a room that I rented off of Fifth Avenue, more like closet, but it was a room.

All made by hand, with my family.

And when I committed to fulfilling an order, I fulfilled it no matter what. That same determination lives in me now, in my books, these three that 2025 has brought me, and more to come. In my deadlines, my promises to myself.

The difference has been wisdom.

I'm the same person but now with experience, perspective, motherhood, and a deeper understanding of putting others first.

My mother and I don't always see eye to eye. But she shows up and she always has. She understands the artist in me and has always supported that part of who I am.

I don't exactly know why I'm being led down this path right now. I just know that I am.

Maybe that's why I painted the firebird 20 years ago too. For this moment, now, for this remembering: who I was, who I am, and who I'm becoming.

No matter what, I'll always emerge from the ashes.

Looking ahead to 2026:

• What part of yourself have you forgotten?
  
• What's waiting to find you again?
  
• What's your firebird painting?

Reflecting on a wonderful 2025, and wishing you the best year yet for 2026.

Become new by remembering who you are.

Hello, my name is Jackie Morreale and I am the host of Wisdom for Wannabes. Today I am tuning in with some very special news: It is October 31st, which means it is Halloween. Happy Halloween to everybody out there! It is also the last day of Dyslexia Awareness Month. That is why I have this extreme clash of an outfit on. We wear red in October. We also wear orange in October.

I want to share some great news. I have published my third book! 

My first two are Princess Tessa Meets Luc the Duke, and Princess Tessa & the New Look. Today I am publishing Princess Tessa & Luc the Duke: Trick or Tiara Halloween Surprise. This can be found on Amazon in paperback, soon to be hardcover and eBook.

I'm very excited to also say I have added a coloring activity book to the fun, so that little hands can also make the Halloween surprise reflect their own trick-or-treating experience.

This is my new Halloween surprise story, appropriate for ages three to eight, and their parents to read to them.

Without further ado... read-aloud storytime:

Princess Tessa and Luc the Duke: Trick or Tiara Halloween Surprise, written and illustrated by me, Jackie Morreale.

Dedication. To our Trick or Tiara friends and family from over the years who helped us make the best Halloween memories. Sending love. To the grandmothers, especially Nonna Maria and Glama Lorette, who always make the holidays more fun. October is Dyslexia Awareness Month. To all my superheroes out there, keep thinking big.

Page one, in Tessa's voice.

Halloween is my favorite time of year. Why? It is the creepiest and also the most fashionable time of year.

We dress up however we want to. We see all our friends. We walk through the neighborhood late at night. But the best part? The candy! Some houses in my neighborhood even give away full-sized candy bars!

But this year is different. My little brother, Luc the Duke, is one. Talking a little, walking, well, practically running most of the time.

He's ready for his first real Halloween to join us trick-or-treating, or how I prefer to call it, trick-or-tiaras.

I think and I think about what I want to be for Halloween this year. A puppy? Too silly. A ghost? Too scary. A pumpkin? Too babyish. An artist? Maybe.

Or just me, Princess Tessa, as a snow princess. I have all the sparkle I need and third time is a charm.

And for Luc, mom has the pumpkin suit.

"Not the pumpkin suit," I groan.

"You looked so cute in it when you were little," she says and smiles.

Poor Luc the Duke.

"Luc can be the pumpkin prince and you'll be the snow princess. Better together."

I am not so sure, but it does sound kind of cute. I like when my mom thinks like a royal.

At five o'clock, we meet our friends at the corner. It is a Halloween fashion show. The twins are dressed as love bugs. Rachel and Zoe are an angel and a devil. Michael is a superhero. Evan is a robot. Charlie is a cat and her big brother is a monster.

The pumpkin prince is riding in style.

A blow up dinosaur and a wolf in flip flops arrive.

"Roar, roar," says Luc the Duke.

"Roar, roar," echo the dads underneath. The Halloween fun has already begun.

Our parents (always) want pictures. Smiley ones, scary ones, silly ones. But we're a little distracted. So off we go. Mom and dad follow with a wagon in case any of the little kids get tired, of course.

House number one. We run to the door and knock. No one answers. Luc spots a candy basket. Take one or else, the sign says. We all take one apiece.

Luc the Duke tastes his very first chocolate bar. It's already the best day ever.

House number two, a cat lady. "How do you do? Take two," she says. Two nutty buddies each.

House number three, a skeleton man. "Look and see, take three," he says.

House number four, a ghost guards an enormous bucket. A sign says, "Take four, no more."

That's 10.

Then House number five, with the full-sized candies.

We ring the bell. A dim light flicks on. The door creaks open... and a queen appears, but not just any queen. She has fangs and nails and a crown bigger than mine! Plus, a whole tray of full-size candy bars.

---

If you would like to hear what happens at house number five, six, and seven on Princess Tessa and Luc the Duke's Halloween Surprise adventure, check Amazon or make it your own with the new coloring book version.

I want to skip ahead and give you a sneak peek of the end of this story. There is a look and find, where you can go back through the book and answer questions with your little one as to how many pumpkins there were, how many times we saw the black cat, et cetera.

But what I really love is that there's a little bit of fun history added to this story,to those who might experience Day of the Dead in different parts of the world. This is new for this story and I'm excited to include: A Note from Nonna.

Princess Tessa and Luc the Duke's Nonna and Nonno (Grandma and Grandpa in Italian) come from Sicily, which is an island in southern Italy. While they didn't grow up trick or treating on Halloween like Tessa and Luc do, they would celebrate Il Giorno dei Morti, the Day of the Dead, every year on November 2nd.

The day is a celebration of the memory of family members who have passed away. Families gather over stories and of course delicious foods, especially sweets as gifts for children. including Pupi de Zucchero, which means sugar dolls, and Ossa di Morti, which means bones of the dead, which are cookies.

Thank you so much for your support. I'm very excited to share this new Halloween Surprise book with you all. Have a wonderful day, and Happy Halloween!
​

​Let's talk a little bit more about fit in terms of the technical standards of apparel. Since this is a suit, it's pretty standard in terms of how we measure the fit.

When we're talking about a jacket like this:

1. A jacket should round around your neck and shoulders.
2. There should be about 1/4 - 1/2" of protruding collar from your shirt.
3. Your sleeve length is going to go to your wrist bone and from there a little bit of your cuff of your shirt, 3/8" will show and protrude from there.
4. There should be no pulling at the button.

Nothing should be too tight. Nothing should be too loose.

Wrinkles always show where something is too tight or too loose. If there's a big wrinkle on your button, it is likely too tight.

That's the very traditional version of what a women's or men's suit jacket should look like when it fits. No wrinkles, smooth lines, fitting the curves of your shoulder, fitting to the wrist bone, a little bit of protrusion around your neck as well as your wrist to show the shirt underneath.

It's a very traditional, centuries old way of measuring fit.

Again, nothing off the rack is going to look like that on you unless you are the fit model that the design was built around.

If you have that fit model body, you are in luck. Find your store and buy it in every color.

​Either way, make sure you customize the fit of special pieces as things change with your own body to make it an investment piece.

Let's talk about the style. I'm no longer a pinstripe suit wearing kind of gal. I've been there, done that, and looking for more creative ways of expressing myself through clothes.

I love to take it down to three basic questions, to determine if it is fitting me:
​

• Is this fitting my body?

 

• Is this fitting my style?

 

• Is this fitting my lifestyle?

​​​

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​I also do a lot of reading, and I was reminded of one of my favorite authors / illustrators of all time, Eric Carle, and this wonderful book that he wrote for children.

Eric Carle not only is a talented writer, illustrator, who changed the industry of children's books, but he was also a 40-year-old when he first published his book that everybody knows, 50 million copies have sold worldwide, his bestselling book, The Hungry Caterpillar.

Many books later, we have this wonderful book, A House for Hermit Crab.

As we go through the pages of this book, we find that it's about a hermit crab, who keeps outgrowing his own shell.

As he's physically outgrowing his own shell, he needs to then find new shells to wear, right?

But maybe it's not your style, so you're going to customize and make it your own.

Then by the time you have this beautiful shell, your body has again changed or your career goals have changed and you need a new sense of style and by the time you've built up this beautiful fit and home and second skin and even built a little rock wall around it... you realize that you are not growing while you're wearing this non-fitting shell.

Or jacket, in my case.

Maybe you find a friend who still has some room to grow and it's time for this to stop taking up real estate in my closet and it's time for me to move on.

​It's time for the next person who has those goals to take over and do what they want with it.