One hour from Utica

Spent the day on the train, from NYC up along the Hudson, past Albany and deep into Central New York. Watched the sky go from piercing electric blue as we sped out of Manhattan to dismal gray outside of Albany. By the time we pulled into the Syracuse station, it was raining and frigid.

All is well though. A few glasses of wine, some awesome horseradish dip and my fam around (for the next 24 hours at least).

A prelude to the insanity that will kick off exactly a week from now:


Next weekend I'll be selling in Seattle, while Ang holds down operations on the East Coast -- four shows in Brooklyn over the course of next weekend. Yeek!

Something Smoky and Sweet

Mikey D has got me totally hooked on this version of "I'd Rather Go Blind." You must watch this (over and over again.)


Something Sad: Michael Borders is leaving NYC for Atlanta. We got together for some BBQ tonight for his "farewell" dinner. I met Michael in a kinda bizarre way: Years ago, I put a post up on Craigslist because I was looking for a photographer to take some shots of my jewelry. Michael responded to the post and offered to shoot my jewelry - for free! I discovered that he was not only a wonderful photographer, but an amazing person too. Me and the Astoria crew are truly gonna miss his presence at our parties, where he'd commandeer our blue arm chair and demonstrate his quirky "talent" of following multiple conversations at one time. Then he'd pass out on our couch.

This pic of me and Michael was taken at about 2am on the night of our White Trash Christmas party a couple years ago. I think we were both tanked at this point, although I do remember being thrilled to receive Michael's gift for the white trash gift exchange: a Steven Segal movie. Good times, good times. We'll miss you, Michael Borders!

Merry Christmas to Me!

I want this!


It's so totally ridiculous and wonderful! A blanket that you can wear!!

The Snuggie website looks like it was created by a kid in a high school graphic design class. Plus the logo/name is a blatant rip-off of Snuggle fabric softener. The commercial is equally bizarre, with a Snuggie-clad family taking in an outdoor sporting event.



And I'm feeling a little disconcerted by the fact that you get two snuggies and two reading lights for twenty bucks. I almost feel like I'd prefer to be over-charged in this case. Lie to me, Snuggie! When you pile on tons of "freebies" it's basically like admitting that your product is crap.

Actually, after doing a little product research, it seems that the Snuggie is the red-headed stepchild of the Slanket -- the rolls royce of blanket attire for the lonely and hopeless.

Unfortunately, it's always second-best for me --- I can only dream of one day being able to afford the Slanket. So for now, I'll be saving my nickels for the Snuggie and dreaming of the day when I can prance through the streets of Astoria, toasty warm in my Sunggie!

We are Golden

This morning I finally figured out how to upload my MP3s to iTunes. Yup. I've been using Winamp all these years cause I just couldn't get iTunes to work for me (though I do listen to a zillion podcasts a day. That much I managed to figure out).

It's a sad accomplishment, but an accomplishment none the less.

I hired a fellow Etsian to create a logo and marketing materials for me, and she did a wonderful job:


I'm really happy with the funky, kinda unusual color scheme and the overall aesthetic.

Yesterday I spent the ENTIRE DAY working with the new logo, creating new postcard and business card designs for Sprout, which I'll need for Seattle and other holiday shows. I couldn't believe how long it took. Sigh. At least I'm getting better at Photoshop.

Yesterday, I caught "Almost Famous" on HBO. How freaking great is that movie? Somehow that movie manages to make me nostalgic for things I've never even experienced. I think it's the soundtrack:

Halloween Run-Down

So, I'm proud to report that, contrary to expectations, I did not ass-out on Halloween. It actually turned out to be a fun night!

At 4pm Friday, I dug a pair of devil horns out from under my bed, where they have resided since the last time I wore devil horns for Halloween. Creative!

At 6pm, I joined the rest of Astoria at The Party Store, where everyone in the neighborhood was frantically trying to buy a last-minute costume. Fake eyelashes? Check? Long red gloves? Check. Disgusting $10 wig? Yup.

I went home to piece together this mismatched array of accessories. The wig looked like I was wearing a hairball as a hat. Into the garbage it went.

Everything else however, looked pretty awesome for a last-possible-second costume.

Some pre-party pics:

We hit the town. Our crew looked great and the weather was spectacular. The parade was a chaotic, crazy spectacle. We took in all the madness, then ventured into the West Village to find a bar. Everything was packed (duh) and we wandered further and further downtown.

We passed the Washington Square Park, and the arch was all lit-up and glowing bright white against the black sky. It was one of those {sigh} I-love-this-city moments.

Finally found a manageable bar below Houston. Drinking, shots of Jameson, Mikey D taking over the jukebox (loved the Dr John, Mikey, but Otis Redding is NOT party music!) more drinking, and eventually being joined by Lil C. Awesomeness! C regaled our group with some fine dancing, adding a few moves to his impressive repertoire. The die-hards left to find a party, leaving C and I to linger a bit longer over a few blueberry ales, then stumble our way to the subway.

The only casualty of the evening was Mikes "plastic" coat, which we bid farewell to at Queensboro Plaza as it jetted off into the night, spread out on the seat of an N train.

The next morning, I woke up to a spinning head and Mikey D barging into my room, announcing it was time for brunch. Excellent!