aerobedhead

having long suffered from chronic insomnia, ann has decided to take the bull by the horns and do something about it. for the past two nights, ann has been conducting her own little sleep clinic in superette's craft room. in it, she has her firmly-inflated aerobed, a stack of furniture and design magazines, and her ipod loaded with lullabies and relaxation tapes. the biggest adjustment, however, has been eliminating her favorite way to wake up each morning - a piping hot cup of coffee - opting instead for dreaded decaf.

it ain't pretty but here are the results.

and there was a really funny character in the second act

this past weekend really was a great one (and gk, they don't say that just to torture you further because you did not come). friend rana was in town visiting her own relatives, and then swung by the south end to spend the rest of the weekend at superette. so, what could have been a stress-filled holiday with parents and the like instead became a very relaxed weekend with good, good friends. as a result, dabney had another one of those prolonged dewy-eyed experiences, where she spent a lot of time gazing fondly at her visitors and thinking to herself, "these really are my friends." this is totally unlike ann, who just slaps them on the ass to show her affection.

rana is one of the most hilarious people that ann and dabney know, and they know a lot of funny people. her specialty is turning the most innocent, everyday phrase into a sexually charged delivery whose implied raunchiness would curl even the toes of howard stern. back in the days when she used to get drunk with them, she would become what ann and dabney lovingly call "beligerently affectionate." she'd be all sloppy and shit, and would lean over and point an accusatory finger at them while saying, "no, you don't understand. i fucking LOVE you. i know you don't love me like i love you, but i want you to know that i would pull my fingernails out for you, that's how much i fucking love you. so fuck you." rana is the *only* person to which it feels absolutely appropriate, nay expected, to send photos of their boobs taken in the bathroom of j.j. foley's via cell phone.



so it was with rana (and ashbloem, although you knew that already) that ann and dabney played darts and poker, went to the mfa and dim sum (joined then by lauren), and to the ashmont grill in dorchester (to get our boston tara fix) this weekend.

this will have to be a play in several acts

too much happened this holiday weekend to cover in one post, so ann and dabney will have to write several installments, perhaps today but most likely today and tomorrow. the first order of business this monday is renewing dabney's driver license, which expired on her birthday, what? almost two weeks ago now?

but you can be certain that a lot of food and wine will be involved in each of them.

and matching pajamas.



and perhaps a few hats.



but no mustaches. NO mustaches.

okay, maybe a few mustaches. because were there is wine, there are mustaches.



thanks to the lovely ashbloem, dabney's parents, and a host of friendly faces (some new, all flushed with a little too much wine), superette played host to a thanksgiving feast complete with turkey, stuffing, mash potatoes, stuffed squash, green bean casserole, asparagus, cranberry sauce, three pumpkin pies, two apple pies, and one pecan pie. the eating marathon began at 1:30 and lasted until 10:00 pm. and that was just the first day.

and the games, oh the games they played. pupil (you remember pupil, don't you?) proved to be a master at most, including balderdash and pic, which is kind of like scrabble on speed. but not cranium, oh no, not cranium. ann, dabney and dabney's mom diane were the masters of that domain.

and there was the traditional watching of home for the holidays, jodie foster's thanksgiving opus. god, ann and dabney. love. that. movie. except that this year - thankfully - diane didn't give birth to a small cow in her heated defense of embarassing parents everywhere.



the only sadness was the absence of girlladyfriend, who has spent the last five? six? thanksgivings with ann, dabney and diane. this year she went to florida instead to spend the holiday with her REAL family. which meant that ann had the take over the really rough task of opening a can of cream of mushroom soup and spreading it in a pan with some green beans and sticking it in the oven, but not before she had to open YET ANOTHER can filled with fried onions to spread on top. and which ALMOST meant there wasn't the traditional thanksgiving argument about whether to stuff the traditional thanksgiving bird with the traditional thanksgiving dressing. thankfully, ashbloem was there to take her place.

nothing says "holiday" like ample parking.

the mass exodus has begun. ann and dabney have spent this morning inside, watching everyone outside pack up the turkey platters and pies into their cars and drive out of town. soon the superette household will be full of turkey day visitors, but, until then, they are enjoying the pre-holiday feeling of calm. ann and dabney did their food shopping earlier in the week, so no last minute runs to trader joe's for wine or dried fruit are needed. the cooking duties will be distributed among guests, so they aren't stressed about vast amounts of food that needs to be prepared in advance. they don't even have to dread a long drive to some distant relative's house. instead, boston has a downright peaceful bent to it. there's no hustling for spots for the cars; folks are smiling at each other. quick, to the south end! there's a thanksgiving cornucopia of parking for all! why, if they wanted, ann and dabney could get in their car and drive around the block, and wind up at the curb directly in front of their house. just for shits and giggles!

and for that, they are truly thankful.

2 cakes and 256 cubic ft. of wood

armed with cake, ann and dabney took a short trip to vermont to wish dabney's mom a happy birthday. little did they know, this would happen:


faced with only one full set of "happy birthday" candles, they managed to eek out a "party dab" for one cake and one solitary "yip" for the other.

after eating all that cake, they needed to work off their sugar high and, since the weather was delightful, they enjoyed a short hike up mount tom and did other vermonty things like stack firewood - which is sort of fun for the first fifteen minutes, but when faced with two whole cords of wood (that's 2400 copies of martha stewart living or 15 million toothpicks' worth depending on how you look at it) it was absolutely backbreaking.


this is the wood "before"

new and improved organized wood

it turns, it swivels

ann and dabney finally finished their shelving project. it took a handful of visits to the hardware store, a few of shouts of frustration, and a couple of calls to technical support, but it is done (except for some wires that ann will someday hide away). oompa loompa tv... R.I.P

these are a few of her favorite things.

everyone deserves to feel special at least one day a year. yesterday superette celebrated all of dabney's fabulousness with heartfelt cards, gifts, a massage, poker, and of course, cupcakes.



adorning these cupcakes are a few of dabney's favorite things: from left to right, traveling, ice skating, books, white wine, pineapple, harry potter, tv (or if you turn it around - vt as in the state), cherry blossoms, lauryn hill, feidler, crafts, toni morrison and louise erdrich, the color blue, chubby hubby ice cream, diet coke, bbq sauce, twilight, pad thai, polka dots, and old school bmw 2002s.





thanks to all of y'all who came to wish her a happy birthday. she couldn't have spent the day with a better group of people. turning *26* never felt better.

happy birthday, dabney!

file this under "things all museums should get on the bandwagon and do"

ever since traveling to the netherlands five or so years ago, ann and dabney have considered europe the mecca for educational programming in museums. the things they do there are just out of this world interesting for nerds like a & d. for example, the anne frank huis has this software that allows you to navigate the living space where anne and her family famously hid during the holocaust. the rijksmuseum lets visitors go inside rembrandt's night watch, for one, and see a three-dimensional view of where subjects would have stood, or see the sketches that were the foundation of the painting. really interesting- and a view of art that you don't usually get.

ann and dabney recently read on supernaturale that helsinki's museum of modern art opened a place for folks to access vintage fabrics, buttons, ribbons, needles, sewing machines, badge-making machines, etc... that they can use (for free!) to make things.



it sounds like there are also folks on hand to provide some instruction on sewing, silkscreening and other techniques. the workspace is part of the helsinki museum's belief that museums shouldn't be stagnant entities. rather, they can be "more than just the memory of a nation, they can be centres of civic action in an increasingly ahistorical world."

don't you just love it?

handmade arcade recap

ann and dabney are back from the handmade arcade this weekend, where they debuted their new business name and logo. so, what was once superette, is now....drumroll please....



they will continue the blog under the name of superette, but all crafty dealings will be mogo. you can see the development of the new website, as it progresses, at www.mogogoods.com.

a view of their wares: pencil/crochet hook cases, passport covers...



modular bags (customers can design their own bag by picking which colors and sizes they want, and choosing the strap color), tissue cases, journal covers...




a customer with her one-of-a-kind modular bag.


two customers with their cell phone cleaners attached to their phones.


the long drive to pittsburgh (nine hours each way) was worth it, and fun was had by all. it was held at construction junction, which is an amazing place in pittsburgh that resells recycled building materials like doors for $20, toilets for $35, and so forth. it's like home depot meets goodwill. brilliant. the only downside to the venue was a lack of heat, which meant that ann and dabney (who were stationed downstairs near the door) stayed bundled up on scarves and jackets all day. luckily, it was pretty warm on saturday, so they weren't too cold.



plus, everybody in pittsburgh was so frickin' nice!

ann and dabney's favorite co-crafters and artists were (hands down) etui and sapling press. etui makes these FANTASTIC silkscreen prints and cards. you can see her whole line here, but here are a few cards that ann and dabney bought from her over the weekend.





ann and dabney can't show you what they picked up from lisa at sapling press, as it will become a gift very shortly for someone we know reads this blog. it was WAY too easy to shop from her table of beautiful letterpressed goodies, as she was seated right next to them all day.

after the fair, ann and dabney didn't have enough energy to truly explore the city, so they poured themselves back into their car and wound their way to ray's marlin beach bar & grill for dinner. the joint was recommended by old wellesley friend melea and her boyfriend hal, who dropped by the fair (and who were also carrying around a spindle from their bannister in the hopes of finding a match at construction junction).



the food was great, the drink selection was extensive, and ann and dabney are forever thankful for the recommendation.

co-ed naked crafting

you'd think it's finals around here: late nights, early mornings, no leaving the house, late-night snack breaks, sweatpants for days on end, and excessive caffeine. ann and dabney even contemplated pulling an all-nighter last night. no finals here, just another craft fair.

the sound of silence.

wait. do you hear that? no? because that's the sound of post-election phone silence.

superette was the grand central station of politics-related calls this election season. the city of boston had two mayoral candidates, eight city councilor-at-large hopefuls, two south end district councilor wanna-bes, and a partridge and a pear tree. they all called the house repeatedly over the past month (which became a crescendo in the past week) to talk* to either ann or dabney. the superette household regularly received between six and ten calls per day, from either candidates themselves, pollsters, or lobbyists. bill clinton even called. add that to the regular on-going fundraising calls from their four alma maters, and that's a lot of solicitation.

election calls do serve a purpose. there's no doubt. they get candidates name recognition, garner funds, and (hopefully) increase voter turnout. as a former non-profit fundraiser, dabney understands this. there has to be a way to do it without the turn-off, ire-inducing factor. is that answer the internet, like howard dean's efforts in the last presidential race? no idea. personally, ann and dabney would much rather look at an email - or ten, or fifty - on their own time, when ready, than stop what they are doing (remember, they also work at home) to answer the phone ten times a day.

*and when they say talk, they mean those automated messages that give no opportunity to tell candidates that they: 1) aren't interested in voting for them, and such and such reason is why; 2) they already have their vote; or 3) to please stop peppering them with phone calls. messages went something like this:

"this is -insert white irish male candidate's name here-. i know you receive a lot of these calls, but i am hoping you will vote for me, -insert white irish male candidate's name here- on tuesday's election. i believe in making rents even higher, and further gentrifying this beloved city. i also firmly support the skyrocketing costs of the big dig. let's make this city the best it can be. so be sure to vote for me, -insert white irish male candidate's name here-, on tuesday. go pats! now get back to your dinner."

what ann and dabney watch when they aren't making things this week

watch out, james blake, david letterman and jeremy piven. with this, jon stewart rose a few notches on ann and dabney's well-curated list.

the weekend of pure magic.

on saturday, superette ended a full week of houseguests during which ann enjoyed a delightful meal and conversation at one of her favorite restaurants (the franklin), dabney hustled everyone in a game of texas hold 'em, darts were played at j.j. foley's, and they received a set of these:



sweet, no? thanks elaine!

heloise and her friend tyler came for a visit at the end of the week. tyler, who, in addition to being a real theory wonk with an inexplicably apocalyptic world view, is also a pretty amazing magician. despite the fact that he could make a queen of hearts disappear into thin air, he was no poker ace however and wound up dealer for the evening after being the first eliminated in a drawn-out game of hold'em. (why they let a master of sleight of hand deal, ann and dabney aren't sure; they still don't know if he was secretly dealing heloise pocket aces throughout the night.)

after plying tyler with a good amount of magners cider and gin & tonics, ann and dabney finally got him to levitate in the middle of their living room. it must of been magic, because there is no way that man could have balanced himself with all that alcohol in him. if you've ever seen david blaine's street magic, and can imagine all the spectators hooping and hollering on the sidelines, then you just got a good picture of ann and dabney that night.

attention! very important news to follow!

superette will follow up the handmade arcade in pittsburgh with craftland in providence, rhode island. look for them there on december 17th.

which means that...

bazaar bizarre, you are dead to ann and dabney!!!!!! (ahem. until next year - right before application time - at which point they will love you yet again.)

hi-tech sushi

ann and dabney love their sushi, as one can see by this past week's events. but look at these beauties! they *heart* the designer of these gems. the ikura and the uni make ann's mouth water in particular.

a love note (or, for lucy at 3:00pm on a workday)

the most valuable thing that dabney got out of her graduate degree (no offense to the heller school) is a set of friends she affectionately calls "the brandeis five." in the past few years, the brandeis five have become dabney's touchstone, a grounding influence who she first bonded with over social justice work. on the surface, they are the kind of people that make you popcorn balls for halloween and attend rubber stamping parties. the joke in the superette household is that when ann comes home from a night out with some of her friends, she's all like "let's do ecstasy!" and when dabney comes home from a night out with the brandeis five, the suggestions run towards "let's go organic!"

you get the initial picture.

of course, they are all complicated, fully-realized individuals trying to negotiate long-term roles and friendships within a larger group of people. these snapshots will never do them justice: jk can and will coach you through any situation, asking all the right questions to guide you to an answer. she is also one of the most competitive people dabney has ever met. bt, often the source of much humor due to her malapropisms, never lets it get to her. she is incredibly energetic and only slightly less competitive than jk. she also never reads this blog :) dpw is whip-smart, a model parent, and has a wicked sense of humor that belies her serious/shy exterior. be's heart is huge and tries so hard at everything she does, often ignoring her own needs and desires in the process. lwj never shies from saying she is compelled to perfection, yet she harnesses that drive into always, always being the first to offer a ride, a meal, or some other kindness. she hardly ever asks for anything in return.

where dabney fits in, or how they see her, she doesn't know; she suspects she is viewed as the creative, slightly flaky - or perhaps irresponsible - and mildly amusing one, with a touch of the narcissistic (witness this website). she often thinks that, of all of them, she is the most removed from the rest of the group. as someone who is fairly hard to know (as dabney herself admits to being), and who, in the past, has too easily let friendships fade, she always wonders/worries if she is squandering an offered chance at intimacy.

but lately dabney has felt a shift in their relationships. whether or not the rest of them have felt it, or if it even exists, she isn't sure. maybe because it is fall and this season always prompts a fresh eye. it might have something to do with the fact that one of them (the first of them since they all met) moved three and a half hours away earlier this month to start a new life with her growing family. others are talking about moves of their own. the last of them just entered her 30s (happy birthday b). but dabney has noticed that they have begun saying i love you to each other. there have been confessions at the end of shared car rides home late at night. there is less of the polite and more of the honest.

it's very possible that these things existed all along, and it took dabney until now to notice (flaky and removed, remember?) what was already there. still, despite - or maybe because of - all the recent change, she has felt this friendship slide and click firmly into place.

doggie-style sushi

never ones to know when enough is enough, ann and dabney decided to recycle their sushi costumes from fright pint the previous night and enter themselves - ahem, their dog - into a halloween parade and contest.





over 200 dogs marched through their neighborhood in full regalia.


hot dog dog


princess leia


yoda and leia


mohawk pup


rudolph and friend


prima ballerina (she would stand on her back legs and twirl for treats)

it came down to the wire for "most outrageous" costume - a contest between sushi feidler and a jewish rabbi pooch.

ann and dabney's sweet egg


while the crowd voiced their craving for a japanese victory, the judges thought otherwise.


the "schmuck" that beat feidler