Being Fantastical

Headed out to the Beer Garden last night for a few end-of-the-season drinks. It was raining and windy as hell, but we all huddled under a humongous tent with a pitcher and all was well in the world.

As usual, our apt is Grand Central this weekend. A friend who just finished Ranger School is crashing for a couple nights en route to Hawaii, then my parents will be stealing my bed on Saturday night, and as they're leaving, Elsie Q should be arriving. She'll be staying for about a month, as we prep for Bizarre Bazaar Austin.

My roomies and I love having Elsie Q in town; she's really the fourth roommate. Plus, she does our dishes.


In honor of Mikey D's birthday tomorrow, I'm posting these "classic" pics from last years festivities. Here's the "before" pic:




And the after:

Nice!

Don't know where I'm going but I'll get there...

So, it's a BIG weekend. So big that I've got to start talking about it on Thursday.

My favorite band, Assembly of Dust, is playing NYC Saturday night and my entire family is gonna be in town to catch the show. I don't know if going to a bar to see a band with my mom, dad and little brothers should be considered weird, but, quite honestly, there are no people in the world I would rather see this band with.


Mikey D and I have invested god knows how many dollars and how many miles in our quest to take in live AOD shows. There have been some highs: numerous New Years Eve shows, camping out at the Vermont Alternative Energy Fest, and catching super long sets with other die-hards at the New Real Rhythm Revival. There have also been some lows: namely, Mikey D drinking a gallon of rum before a show. Suffice to say, we made it to the front door of the venue, but never actually saw the show. I'm STILL bitter about that one.

Anyways, here's the lead singer, Reid Genauer, at NYE last year:


And here's lil C at his first NYE show, with a look a pure joy on his sweet little face (and some weird dude in the background)


On top of the joy that comes hand-in-hand with seeing a live show, it's also Mikey D's birthday!! (Hence the arrival of my parents). It will be nice to have the whole fam reunited again....

Taxing and Relaxing

I'm starti ng this entry off with a pic of my roomie dancing with an ear of corn. For no reason other than it makes me smile:


I got sucked in by the glitter and glitz of Bigcartel today, and signed myself up for the "Diamond" level. Goodbye $20 a month! But I've been wanting to offer sales and promotional prices for "preferred" customers (friends, family, anyone on the mailing list...) and Bigcartel offers that feature, which is key. Plus, the $20 is a flat rate, with no fee-per-sale charges. Nice. Of course, Etsy will always be my first love.

So, according to the mandates of the NYS sales tax gods, today was a day meant to be pretty much wasted -- spent holed up in my room, completing my quarterly sales taxes and cursing Microsoft Office. Turns out my "Trial Edition" expired this morning, leaving me unable to open an excel file which contained all my sales records for the quarter.

Alls well that ends well I guess. Clomped off to the post office in my new red clogs, and got the tax paperwork (and a bunch of orders) on it's way 10 minutes before USPS closed for the day. Whew!

Every week I read the Modern Love column in the Sunday Styles section of the New York Times. This week, it was particularly touching. Read it here.

I found a friend in Sven

Got a message from my boss on Friday that, due to a paperwork glitch, I won't be getting a paycheck this week. Whoops!

Granted, I only work 10 or so hours a week, so the paycheck isn't much to speak of. But still, it's frustrating; this happens at the beginning of every semester. Thank God that I sold at Artists & Fleas this past weekend. It was a lovely sunny day in NYC, and the Williamburg characters were out in FULL FORCE. I made my "rent" back after a few hours and left at 7:30pm having sold enough pieces to get me through the week. I met a lovely cast of sellers, including Alice, a recent college grad who was selling funky feather and bead adorned accessories, and Tracie, another Etsy full-timer.

After that, headed out to the Fillmore East to see the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, with Trombone Shorty opening. Nice. Trombone Shorty just gets better and better every time I see him, and the Dirty Dozen are a great band too.

This morning, I did a little brunching in A-town, then headed out to the BK to see lil Wyatt and buy an awesome pair of funky/clunky/strange red clogs, which I've been eyeing for a few months now. Probably not the best time for a shoe purchase, but, oh well. Put it on the credit card!

Here is Wy, eating his shoe:

We hung out in Staples FOR-EVER while Jenny screwed around with a busted copier.
Here is Wy looking bored, in the printer aisle:

Why We Love Astoria

Reason #682

Lil C lives down the street!


We went for breakfast yesterday morning at our favorite (weekday) breakfast spot, Grand Cafe.
The food is dirt cheap and delish and the outdoor seating is plentiful.


Spent yesterday running errands ---> (another 200 bucks at Metaliferous)
Then dinner with Michael Borders at Cookshop. I had lamb.

Happy Friday!

Cleo, Part Two

Still decompressing from Chicago. And still unpacking, augh....

After the less-than-stellar turnout at Renegade, I'm swimming in inventory.
So I'll be at Artists & Fleas this Saturday, pimping my jewelry and hangin' out with some hipsters. Whoo!

Heres a new ring:


Yay! I love it and I'm wearing it now.
Maybe someone will want it this weekend.

Duct tape saves the day!

Chicago: The Post-Renegade Wrap-Up

The Not-So-Great

• The rain, endless rain
• Lugging no less than 6 bulging, massive suitcases from NYC to Chicago
• Hanging out in the basement of Juantae's apartment at midnight on Sunday, running endless cycles of soaking wet clothing through the dryer
• Trekking to Target in the rain to buy tarps... only to discover they were sold out.

The Totally Fantastic

• Hanging out with Juantae, Chris and Adam... oh and Elsie Q
• Enjoying an endless lunch/dinner/cocktail hour -- for free!
• Wandering around Chicago (pre-deluge)
• Checking out the Chicago Art Institute - wow
• Chicago-style pizza, a lobster dinner, and a fantabulous Mexican meal
• Meeting other Renegaders from around the country!
• A GREAT brunch at Milk and Honey Cafe on Division street
• The people of Chicago, who braved flooding, endless rain and just downright miserable weather to come out and support us!

All and all, well, what can I say about the weekend? It was disappointing, for sure. The potential for an awesome two days was just crushed by the totally crappy weather. Still, I definitely had a great time!

Lobster says "hi!"

Adorable babe snuggled up to an Elsie Q crocheted cupcakes and a crocheted banana
(artist unknown)

In the park. Juantae kept reminding us that the umbrellas were $50 each.
Money well spent.

Sprout display- looking kinda pathetic and picked over, cause it was Sunday night at 9:30. And cause our back "wall" is garbage bags and duct tape.

Me and Corky St Clair

Poor Elsie Q got suckered into being responsible for waking me up this morning. Little did she know....

It only took her an hour of repeatedly coming into my room, and bribing me with coffee to get me to sit up in bed. Success!!

In my defense, I was up until 4am last night, working on a couple of new pieces, sending some work emails, and watching Waiting for Guffman. Hilarious. "I got off that boat with nothing but my dancers belt and a tube of chapstick!"


Lots of work to do today. Too much to even try to describe or sort out in my head, so i just need to dive in.

Goin back home...

This youtube clip is slightly cheesy, full of both hope and nostalgia, and just really makes me happy. And I'm posting it to celebrate the fact that I BOOKED MY FLIGHT TO JAZZ FEST today. Yup. Last year, I waited waaaaay too long and ended up paying more than $400.




Coincidentally, a Fest Friend sent me this pic today:

This was taken on the last night of the Fest, which is why we all look exhausted, happy, dazed, and sunburned. Ahhhhh.


In other news, one week till Renegade Chicago. I've been working like a fiend, yet it seems like I have nothing to show for it. It seems like as soon as i start to build an inventory, it sells on Etsy. Not that that is a bad thing, but I'm starting to get terrified that all i'll have to display in Chicago is a bunch of empty neck forms.... Ok, back to work.

Family Fun Time

So I hopped a Greyhound bus Thursday night and headed upstate for some quality time with the family. It was my cousin's (godsister) bridal shower, and it was great to see her. Plus, we got to watch our mothers run around like lunatics in preparation for the party.

Here we are trying to act like grown-ups:


And here we are realizing that adulthood is still an elusive thing:


I also went to the GREAT NEW YORK STATE FAIR with my parents. For anyone who lives within a 20-mile radius of Syracuse, the NY State Fair is a HUGE deal. It's a chance to eat tons of food on sticks, pet some animals, hurl your guts out on the midway rides, and definitely see a mullet or two. As a kid, I used to go to the Fair at least 3x during the 10 days that it was in town.

Here are my lovely parents enjoying a sandwich:


And here I am, rapt with joy after WINNING at a game of "I Got It!" I selected the most ridiculous prize I could find, a photo night light. Awesomeness.

Cleo?

Woo! Got a haircut today in Brooklyn at the always-fabulous Beehive Salon. The stylist left a section of hair on the left side of my head a little longer than the rest of my hair, to create some kind of asymmetrical look. Love the cut, not so sure about the single strip of hair.... but I'm gonna try it out for a while.





So I just finished a NEW bracelet. It's so freaking fantastic... I took some pics today and will be getting it up on Etsy as soon as I can dream up a name for it. Its kind of dark and industrial, so a need a dark-sounding name. It took me two days to make this piece, so it's not gonna sell for cheap. But I think that, for whoever comes to own it, it will be money well spent.

Leaping

Foolishness or adventure? Or both... Elsie Q and I just had a little "business meeting" and decided to do craft shows in both Chicago and Austin this fall. Both shows are only a few weeks (and thousands of miles) apart. So the vendor fees have been submitted, the plane tickets are (partially) booked, and the search for lodging has begun.

I'm feeling excited, apprehensive and slightly overwhelmed. It definitely gonna be a crazy September....

She Returns!

After three weeks wandering around Morocco, I'm finally back in NYC. And honestly, it has never felt so good to be home! Morocco is an amazing country; its full of contrasts and contradictions. It's gorgeous and crumbling, noisy and serene. And though I had an amazing journey, I am so glad to be back in a place where I can let the sun hit my bare arms without worrying about local customs, and enjoy a cup of coffee in an outdoor cafe without being the only woman in the place.

So after trekking through the Atlas mountains, riding my trusty camel Clementine over sand dunes as tall as buildings, and taking in gorgeous mosques and ancient ruins, I'm full of ideas and inspiration for new jewelry designs!

Back to work.....

On and On

This morning I woke up to 6 new convos in my Etsy mailbox. Strange. I figured maybe I'd been on the front page overnight, prompting a little bit of extra traffic to come my way. Then I checked my Yahoo mail and lo and behold, Google Alerts tipped me off to what really went down: My Crescent Earrings got featured on Indie Fixx! Woo hoo! I don't know what i was more psyched about, the Indie Fixx feature, or the fact that Google Alerts actually directed me to a Sprout shout-out I never would of known about otherwise.


So, the plan for today is to go to the gym, finish up some orders, bring 'em to the post office, stock up on supplies at Metalifferous, then head out to Park Slope for a few days with my favorite girls and my little nephew, Wyatt.

Upstate

Theres something really comforting about a weekend upstate at my parents house. And it's not just seeing family and friends, though that's a big part of the equation. It's also a chance to DRIVE A CAR and wander the aisles at Target without getting mowed down by thousands of over-aggressive shoppers.

So this weekend was punctuated by lots lots LOTS of food -- my mother really knocked herself out when it came to cooking. Saw my BFF, went swimming, laughed my head off with the fam.

-----

Also got an email from Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago; Elsie Q and I are IN for the show!! We are so excited. I've never been to Chicago before, so I'll be making a long weekend out of it for sure. Woo hoo!

Chicken and Wine

This past weekend was the first time I really had a moment to catch my breath in months. But I fully believe it's gonna be nothing but chicken and wine from here on out. Elsie Q hightailed it to Maine for the summer, but the Housegirl is back in our lives, so it (as always) a full house here in Astoria. I highly recommend obtaining a housegirl (or houseboy), if you ever have the opportunity. For the past three years, my roomies and I have had at least one of our siblings live with us for the summer. In exchange for rent, they are responsible for all the cleaning, emptying of trash, running of errands and -- in my case-- modeling of jewelry for Etsy pictures. For example:


I put a few new (and some not-so-new, but newly photographed) pieces up on Etsy this weekend. This one is my favorite:


It sort of reminds me of the insides of a computer or complicated piece of electronic equipment. Like you disassembled a CPU and then hung it around your neck. Only prettier. Regardless, it's available in my Etsy shop.

Brilliant

A sampling from Sunday's photo shoot with Elsie Q and Michael Borders Photography:

Mikey D wanted no part in the photo shoot.... Until we began shooting the blanket.

Then he suddenly was ready to jump right in!


Lauren was such a trooper, even though we decked her out in a
frilly dress, apron and fancy hairdo.


Keaton wanted to spend Sunday watching soccer.
Instead, we made him model an Elsie Q blazer and sample crocheted donuts.