off to vegas...

ann and dabney are headed to las vegas tonight, and will be posting their adventures and discoveries sporadically over the next week. happy new year's to all!

no longer kiddos

once upon a time before ann entered the lucrative world of crafting, she ran an after-school program for teenagers. this was perhaps one of the happiest periods of ann's professional life; she walked to work each morning in her non-business casual attire, arriving leisurely at 10 am, preparing for the arrival of the greatest group of kids from all over the boston area. the goal: to make and talk about media - radio, web, newspapers, billboards, tv, film - no genre was left unturned.

last night was their first reunion in years. ann was a little apprehensive at first - worried about feeling old. after all, these kids were no longer the 15 and 16 year olds from her memory who worried about homework, parents, etc. but full-fledged adults living their lives, attending graduate school, renting apartments, and going to real jobs.


this picture doesn't show it, but there were actually alcoholic beverages on the table. ann found it incredibly surreal to be drinking with this group.


ann with the always cheerful lucia who went on to boston university greatness and is currently climbing the ranks at state street bank.


ann with chris and julie - a.k.a. the cutest couple ever. the always adorable chris is a senior at hamilton college in ny and recently studied in spain. back in the day, julie was a the biggest dave matthews band fan in the world and holds what has to be a record of seeing them in concert thirty times. now, julie is a program coordinator in dorchester. ann is happy to report she works with teens.


the giant with a heart of gold, levi is still the only mormon that ann knows personally. levi went on to make waves at brigham young university and is currently applying to law schools. he is still as handsome as ever.


always wise beyond his years, james was always the thinker of the group. later he honed his entreprenuerial zeal at babson college. james will soon marry his high school sweetheart. ain't that sweet?


ryan and neal (a.k.a. the nealmeister). ever-ebullient teens, now they are irrepressible young adults who light up rooms with their smiles. neal was one of the few fellow filipinos ann knew in new england. he went on to be a notre dame football fan and is currently at suffolk law. always one of the best writers and public speakers, ryan gave brandeis the gift of her presence for four years. she is now a vista volunteer at clark university and an avid knitter.

dreams of straight flushes danced in their heads

no ralphie, red rider bb gun, no bunny suit, not even a sexy leg lamp -- this year, ann and dabney were introduced to the the mouth, the lizard, and the poker brat.


mike "the mouth" matasow

instead of watching twenty-four hours of a christmas story on tbs this year ann, dabney, and dabney's mom opted to indulge in another favorite activity... the world series of poker, which pretty much plays for twenty-four hours straight on espn2.

before this weekend, never had ann and dabney watched and played more poker in their lives. it was a pokerpalooza christmas... just like god intended.

surprise!

just a moments glance at superette over the past week would tell you all you needed to know about dabney's mood lately. there's been some holiday dread, some bad news from friends, some raging hormones. all in all, it hasn't been a great holiday season.

but then, out of the blue, came this, courtesy of ann and dabney's good friends lucy and the tall guy.



meet evan shores johnson, born (a little earlier than expected) on december 22nd and weighing 5 lbs. and measuring 18.5 inches long.

evan, don't you know your remarkable timing will mean a lifetime of feeling gypped each birthday/christmas?

so, tomorrow, on christmas eve, ann and dabney get to go see this new little man. they are both so excited to meet him, and to give his parents big hugs.

holiday projects

dabney has been all a-flutter in the kitchen baking her annual christmas cookies. this year's lineup: rugalah, sugar cookies, congo bars, pecan balls, and shortbread - all made with love.

with all the commotion eminating from the kitchen, ann has been keeping herself busy with her own little projects.

this year's holiday card:



family stocking stuffer... special edition mogo cell phone cleaner with locket:

ann's imovie refresher

View this clip on Vimeo

craftland recap

ann and dabney are happy to report that saturday's craftland was a success and worth the drive down to providence for the day.

did you know that everyone in providence, rhode island knows each other? almost without fail, a person would walk in the door, immediately identify someone they knew, and run off to chat. as a result, ann and dabney couldn't shake the feeling of being the new kids in school. pushing their glasses back up their noses, they sat quietly with their cafeteria trays in the swirling midst of hugging, laughing people.

as one person said, there is a lot of "craft love" in providence (she also said it was so small that she had run out of people to have sex with, but that's her issue, isn't it?)

but some cool kids did come over to chat. in particular, ann and dabney loved the folks from if'n books and marks. erica from coffee drinker and teresa from sewing stars were our booth neighbors, along with derek and his funky salt & pepper shakers on the other side.

an email from dabney to the brandeis five that became a blog entry instead.

hi my friends-

lord almighty, becca, i am so with you on the PMS front. i think the PMS fairy looked around the female population this month and saw me and said "YOU! i haven't visited you for quite awhile and i think YOU ARE DUE for the special brand of crazy that i only can deliver." and lo, she came and she came packing a huge estrogen-laced wollap. so, i bow down to you PMS fairy, because you are worth every penny they pay you, and more even, because you are VERY GOOD at what you do.

so, combined with the holidays, i feel like crap. i dread being around my family this year. i dread gift buying (still haven't really dealt with THAT fully). blah, blah, blah. poor me. i have nothing REALLY to be sad about - i know that on a rational level - but i am still walking around feeling very sorry for myself indeed. seriously, i sat at the dining room table last night and just cried and cried in front of ann and ashbloem after dinner. and then we drank wine, and then we all cried together (okay maybe just ashbloem and i did). you know what it was that started me off? i lost an earring people. an earring. granted, it was an earring i have worn every day for the past five or six years, and i was attached to that earring, but still, it's an earring. and then i cried because feidler is old and won't be around forever, and then i cried when a great song started playing on the ipod, and by then i was just a big mess.

you know what i wish for? an all-friend holiday season, where everyone i enjoy goes off with me somewhere (anywhere but las vegas please) and we spend the two weeks together, and we don't exchange any obligatory presents, and all is relaxed, and no one has bronchitis, and we watch a lot of movies, and it's warm wherever we are. and maybe, just maybe there is ice cream.

that's what i want. and i am pissed off as all hell that i can't have it.

when the going gets ruff

with the holidays looming ever so close, dabney's mood hit rock bottom last night - so much so, in fact, that ann's dancing around in her underwear and socks couldn't even cheer her up. dabney's plan b - call ashbloem. x bottles of wine later, all three of them were feeling down in the dumps about the impending holidays.

that's when they pulled out the big guns.

plan c - the dog.

redefining the phone tree

in effort to create a festive display featuring the best stocking stuffer in the world, ann and dabney outfitted o tannenbaum in their own unique way by creating a christmas cell phone cleaner tree.





if you'd like to visit the phone tree in person, mogo will be in providence, rhode island at craftland this saturday, december 17 from 11-6.

love that gold digger...

the first ever lip dance

the holiday malaise continues.

phase two of ann's christmas campaign to shake dabney out of her early winter blahs continued this past weekend. she pulled out the big guns on saturday with the swedish yuletide festival at the boston center for the arts. there were lots of tall blond people eating waffles and maribou chocolate, drinking glogg, and painting dala horses.


and it was very sweet. and very christmas-y.

on sunday it was handmade crafts at this year's bizaar bizzare. in short, there were great things there, few of which could be seen or enjoyed due to the overwhelming crowds and music. is this sour grapes talking here? no, no it's not. more here and here. dabney did manage to buy a porcupine pincushion from carryBOO!, which she loves. she thought about giving it as a gift to someone, but decided to hoard it as her own instead.

dabney rewarded ann's very noble (and no doubt desperate) efforts by staying up until three a.m. on monday night/tuesday morning watching (very conservative) coverage of stanley "tookie" williams' execution. who is this nancy grace person, and why does she have her own show on cnn? she's horrible.

gone crafting

in search of spirits past

despite the cold temperatures, the jingle bells in the air, and sale signs everywhere, dabney can't seem to catch the holiday spirit and has been down right pissy about the season so far.



in an effort to get dabney out her bah-humbuggy mood, ann thought she'd force a little christmas spirit down her throat by dragging her to the nearest tree farm.

even though its a farm of trees, it somehow always reminds ann of hunting.



every year as they trudge through the fields, it comes down to the same topic of conversation - whether or not they should go for the perfect tree or a charlie brown, sad, and pathetic tree. their past experiences have shown that perfection runs rampant in tree farms due to the year-round mulching and pruning and, as a result, the latter is much harder to come by. so inevitably, the debate begins out of frustration in looking for the imperfect in a field of beauty.

they found this one which was a little straggly, with the added bonus of being a little crooked at the top.



still, they trudged on, hoping to find something sadder. when they didn't, they returned to the tree to consider it again. and then, they found this in its branches:



and that did it. if a little bird thought this little tree was good enough for its home, then ann and dabney thought that it's certainly good enough for their home.

so, they hacked through its trunk with a saw, ripped it from the only home it has ever known, strapped it down to the roof of their car, and stuck it in some water in their living room, for it to die a slow, browning death until the new year.







but first, but first, they stripped it of its dignity by overloading it with metallic balls, handmade garland made from old bingo paper, pipecleaner snowflakes, and lots and lots of glitter.

pope fever

every time ann and dabney turn on the television they see another ad for a mini-series on former pope john paul II. it seems like cbs and abc each raced to get something on the boob tube after his death earlier this year. this week, ann and dabney humbly offer their own tribute, courtesy of one of dabney's favorite poets, sharon olds.

The Pope's Penis

It hangs deep in his robes, a delicate
clapper at the center of a bell.
It moves when he moves, a ghostly fish in a
halo of silver seaweed, the hair
swaying in the dark and the heat- and at night,
while his eyes sleep, it stands up
in praise of God.

to be dark or to be blurry? that is the q.

for weeks now, ann and dabney have been working on their new mogo website: remembering their basic html, figuring out photoshop, illustrator and go live (thanks jeff!), understanding how online shopping carts work, etc... but the thing that has continued to stump them is how to take decent photographs of their product line using their trusty 2mp canon powershot s200 (circa 1999). the poor thing has taken its shares of knocks and blows, and gone around the world with them, but darn it, why can't the thing just focus for once?


too dark. can't see the shirt


blurry! ARGH.

so, the website remains a work in progress. still, they are happy to have something tangible and REAL up at last. check it out when you get a chance.

'tis the season for xmas parties

holiday season kicked off with two fantastic parties. first was a blackcoffee bash at the silvertone bar & grill hosted by these two fantastic brand expressionists.



it was great fun for ann and dabney to mix and mingle with a creative crowd (hell, mixing and mingling with anyone other than the dog is nice for a change).





last night, interravision hosted her very own tree trimming party complete with egg nog, christmas tunes (with a few of journey's greatest hits thrown in for good measure), and childhood decorations. so fun - especially when ann hams it up for the snap-happy host.


santerra

the first of many superette cartoons

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