Greetings from Tennessee!

At the local Tar-zhay.  C'mon Chicago, show the local schools some love! :)

collaboration

lately, i've noticed a lot of collabrations...  mentions of artists inspired by/collaborating with other artists...  finished products or completed works by two or more collaborating artists, bloggers collaborating on other blogs, etc...

i was just thinking how funny it is that so many creative people i know are really introverted and yet have no trouble/little trouble opening up to collaborate with other creative people.... or maybe some of us do... (?)  i dunno... i swear we are the most confusing people evar.  :)

i recently started working at a local fabric store and with fellow columbia alum, jen beeman.  if you haven't visited her blog yet - go. now.

jen is really funny and fun to work with and i look forward to picking her multifaceted brain about possibly developing some downloadable patterns of my own in the future...

lastly, the dance weekend that i am DYING (DYYYYYING!!!!) to go to someday happened over the weekend...  it's where WCS dancers can meet up with Lindyhop dancers...  it's amazeballs.  i especially love the crossover dances, even funnier this year, the WCS dancers dressed up in vintage inspired gear and the lindyhoppers are dressed in modern day wear:







ennyhoo...  although i'm juggling a couple of new projects in the air - figgy's sunki pattern for paloma, a bowling shirt for porkchop and possibly throwing my hat into the collette patterns laurel sewing contest...   i'll be leaving later this week on a spring break road trip from chicago to hilton head, sc - passing thru nashville, tn and savannah, ga...

hope this short post finds you well and warm! (it's 36 here!)

thanks for coming by and reading...  :)

read: the handmade marketplace: how to sell your crafts locally, globally and online

The Handmade Marketplace: How To Sell Your Crafts Locally, Globally, And Online by Kari Chapin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

if you (like me) have ever considered getting serious about selling your garments or projects/crafts, this is the book for you....

it's written for crafters by crafters - easy to follow, understand, relate to and best of all very very encouraging...

the author and her panel of crafters cover everything from very basic business tips, marketing and branding including using social/online as well as print media, and selling - either online, in a store or a craft fair or all of the above...

i especially appreciate all of the tips and recalled experiences from the various crafters and creators... it's reassuring to know that these very successful people were once in your (my) unsure shoes. it's very thought provoking too - re: online sales and craft fairs... i really didn't put much deep thought into anything outside of pricing and selling (which scares me to death). the book made me consider a reasonable return policy as well as the methods of payment i should accept.

admittedly, i skipped the portion about podcasting because i doubt i'd ever use that as a marketing tool... additionally, i was a little lost during the press kit portion of the book as well... again, another tool i don't think i would use...

i absolutely LOVED this book and am so thankful to the author, kari chapin, for writing it!! since reading the book, i feel more confident about trying to sell my own garments online and at craft fairs...

thanks so much for coming by and reading...  :)

View all my reviews

p.s.  our youngest cat, rascal says this book just put him to sleep....  (owner note:  everything puts rascal to sleep except between the hours of 3am - 6am)

godspeed...

i received an email from our school that a father of two students (a 3rd grader and a kindergartner) passed away over the weekend...

i didn't know the dad personally, i knew who he was and that he was a very jovial, friendly and popular dad amongst our mutual friends/parents....

despite not knowing him, i'm so sad to hear the news...  i can 't even imagine the kind of grief they must be experiencing...  i pray for him, his wife and their children, family and friends...  i pray that God helps them in their sorrow...  sheltering and embracing them through the stormy and weary days ahead...

i just learned that the dad was also very connected to the chicago music scene as a musician for a very popular local band and as a manager of many bands - local and elsewhere...  he wrote the song below about his life and his children, it's performed by the band, kaiser cartel...

please join me and leave a light on for this family tonight...

Learn how to make a free Electronic Press Kit

revolutions & friday dance

yowza...  it's been a whirlwind couple of weeks....

the first week of march, we celebrated paloma's 10 revolutions around the sun (and shortly thereafter, my 41 revs... ay caramba!  yes, you have to say it like bart simpson...)

paloma asked for a studio ghibli/miyazaki birthday party/sleepover...  she basically wanted to marathon movie watch and dance battle her friends on wii...  we also planned to have a cake featuring miyazaki characters... (Haru & Baron from Cat Returns, Haku and Chihiro from Spirited Away, Howl and Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle, Totoro, Satsuki & Mei from My Neighbor Totoro)

(no, i didn't cut the cake with my rotary cutter, sassycrackers...)  O_o

and paloma also kept asking if i could make her this dress from The Cat Returns.

*insert boisterous laugh track here* (although, this cosplay of Haru is OFF THE CHAIN. holla!)

eventually, we settled on me making a totoro t-shirt with a pale yellow tutu skirt inspired by that dress for her and matching skirts for her friends... *whew*

 

sadly, all of my grand pinning of miyazaki party ideas on pinterest (i love that that search actually yielded results! *fistbump* pinterest! )  failed, because i caught another Emperor Virus McSicklypants cold....  i finished making the shirt and skirt for paloma but i didn't get a chance to finish her friends' matching skirts...  they're close though...  all in all the young ladies seemed to enjoy themselves... evidence there was much rejoicing...

a few days later, i celebrated my birthday in chicago:

and then i flew out to new jersey to celebrate my bff, corey's birthday with her beautiful family:

corey also has the teensyest tinyest rice cooker i have seen....   ever...   it looks like a toy!!

there were many highlights during the trip including getting lost in princeton...  seriously, who knew we'd get lost on campus...  

princeton is a lovely college town.  i geeked out and saw einstein's house...  but i was too chicken to take a picture, since it's still a residence...  there was signage everywhere exclaiming "Happy Pi Day!"  and "Happy Birthday Albert!"  clearly, corey and i were in very good piscean company...

we had breakfast at pj's pancake house and  lunch at triumph brewing and checked out a bunch of local shops...  and then we caught "silver linings playbook" at the princeton garden theatre.  it's a lovely theatre with a very friendly staff.  and i highly recommend watching that movie... it was SOOOO GOOOD!!!!!  :')

we stayed at the westin princeton at forrestal village...  where they surprised us with complimentary drinks in their latitude lounge and we found  this when we got to our room!

then, we capped off our birthday weekend with massages and facials... it was a short but very sweet visit...  corey said she hadn't laughed as hard as she had in a very long time...  best. compliment. evar!!!  :)

 ennyhoo...   hopefully, i'll finish the remainder of the birthday skirts and i'll update this post with pics of them all together...  :)  

i saw these amazeballs dance videos on my birthday - so you've prolly already seen them elsewhere, but they're so great - you won't mind seeing them again...  and again...  :)

i love that in this video, some of the dancers are *airquotes* RETIRED *airquotes*...  bwahaha....

oooo...  this video just makes me wanna break out all my 80s pastels....  *doublesnaps*

thanks for coming by and reading, i hope march is treating you well, weather notwithstanding.... :)

facebook fast - update

so, it's been almost three weeks since i started my facebook fast...  and it's been a tough go of it...  facebook may have it's warts but for me and my family and friends who now live in different time zones and continents, it really is a wonderful way to stay in touch, even if it is only through a status update...  personally, i find some status updates truly intimate and genuine...

anyway, i'm glad that i've been able to keep my lenten sacrifice so far...  i tell you this now, because tomorrow is my birthday and i will most likely break it...  i just think if people take time to send you good wishes, the least you can do is thank them....

i have definitely noticed in the past three weeks that i'm my more observant self.   i have re-opened my eyes to the world around me that was often obscured by my phone and my facebook wall...

although, i've failed thus far to write any letters, i have blogged more and have read more and am still planning on writing letters....  one of the hidden gifts of being more observant is how something mundane or coincidental will rush memories of someone and bring them to the present and the need to communicate with them becomes a priority...  i've also noticed that i've struck up conversations with complete strangers more often than before.  and they've been very funny and productive interactions....

not too recently, during one of our chicago snowstorms, i noticed an elderly man struggling to free his car from the middle of an unplowed intersection.  eventually, after he'd managed to back up onto the street corner,  i helped him to move his car and asked a couple of construction workers to help me.  we released the car and the man waved weakly from his window.  i bought my fellow helpers hot chocolates at the cafe.   we joked a bit about the man and his mercedes and what could possibly be so important for him trek outside on a stormy day like that day.

late in the afternoon, it was still snowing...  and while tromping home thru snow with the kids  from school, we spied a lovely old sewing table (sans machine & retrofitted with a new top).  The metal legs were in very good condition and the pedal still moved the large wheel.  i couldn't let the table languish in the alley, so i started to half drag/half carry the heavy table home...  which was only a half block away...

the two construction workers from the morning saw me.  they came to my rescue this time, and carried the table the rest of the way home and up our front steps...  i am so very thankful for and humbled by their generosity.  it was a good day.  i was thankful that i was present to help the man in his car and thankful i was present to see the sewing table....  :)

fwiw, these three weeks have been an excellent reminder of how absent i have been in other parts of my life...  and that i should endeavor to balance my online life and my off line life... and be more present and observant in both....

chicago is currently hiding under a blanket of snow...  she's quite pretty nonetheless....  i hope you are warm and safe wherever you are...  thanks for coming by and reading...  :)


 

read it: the girl who fell beneath fairyland and led the revels there

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

i'm surprised at how lukewarm i am about this sequel to "the girl who circumnavigated fairyland in a ship of her own making" - especially since i really enjoyed the first book...

i didn't hate it. i was glad to see some familiar characters again...

however, it was odd... i wasn't nearly as compelled to read this book as i was the first... it felt like i was involved in a poorly planned scavenger hunt...

poor september seemingly goes from unresolved quest to unresolved quest with new character after new character... and is constantly unsure of herself... which seemed very out of character for her, considering the triumphant & bittersweet end of the first book...

and speaking of completely out of character - what's up with maud? clearly, she was much more interesting when she mirrored the marquess - i would have preferred her like that the entire time....

and this book was much darker than the first... and generally i like dark, one of my favorite books is gaiman's bittersweet and somberly humorous, graveyard book. but this journey was dark and sad and seemingly without redemption.... which is fine, i guess.... i was just baffled that we'd traveled this arduous journey with september for so long on a very sad road and then *poof* everything's hunky dory.... ???

i just think if you're gonna go the "empire strikes back" route... just go all the way with it... not sure why the story turned so fast at the end....

i did enjoy reading about the landscape and history of fairyland below... it is just as interesting if not more so than fairyland itself... the author is a master of describing that world and immersing/captivating the reader.

fwiw, i'm still looking forward to the next fairyland book. i hope it's better than both of it's predecessors. :)

View all my reviews