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oh, xmas tree

there are years when it's there and years when it's not - the christmas spirit, that is. this year, being so busy with shows and good friends leaving town, dabney and i had to stoke the holiday fire, so to speak. but we knew exactly what would do it - decorating a christmas tree.

not to mention, i found these adorable vintage japanese ornaments combing ebay. so, i had to have a tree.


WARNING TO ALL: don't wait until december 23rd to buy a tree. our local tree vendor had nothing but three scraggly numbers and a giant bushy thing with no top for a tree topper. (mind you, they were still charging about $40-50 bucks for said pathetic trees.) we called all the usual tree places we know, but it seemed there was nary a tree in the boston area.

after several inquiries, we finally heard about a mythic parking lot at roxbury community college where there might be trees. it seemed too easy, too close to be true. but sure enough, we found it and they had received a shipment of trees just the night before.



this being our first christmas in boston (we always usually decorate for the holidays but then head to a set of parents to ring in the day), it seemed right to not cut down our tree in a field, but to pluck it from its ashpalt home just down the road. and never were we so excited to have a tree.

feidler, the big-ass springer

sung to the tune of "rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer," of course:

feidler, the big-ass springer, had a very slimy nose
and if you ever saw it, you would even say "it's GROSS!"
all of the other springers used to laugh and call him names
they never let poor feidler play in any springer games...

then one foggy christmas eve, dabney came to say
"feidler with your nose so gross, won't you stop looking so morose?"

then all the springers loved him and they shouted out with with pee
"feidler, the big-ass springer, you'll go down in history!"

scenes from bazaar bizarre weekend

we had a fantastic, record-settting weekend! thanks to all of you who came out to say hello and buy last minute holiday gifts. as you can see from our delayed post, we are still recovering. in the meantime, here are some pictures:


cupcakes from friday night's BB vendor party (baked by dabney, accessorized by annie)


dab and leah of craftster.org


shoppers line up outside the cyclorama. at certain points, we heard it took 30 minutes to get in the door.


BB has the most awe-inspiring setting. here was our view.


the mogo booth


jon bernhardt on the theremin playing christmas carols - a BB tradition. i loved it and wanted to purchase a holiday cd. unfortunately, none exists yet. jon promised me, next year, there would be one. i am holding you to it, jon. what's a theremin, you ask? check him out here.

buzzcut

mogo on the bazaar bizarre poster

wish we had more time blog, but in the meantime...

check us out in the lower righthand corner!

click to embiggen:

six months, twelve craft fairs, twenty fingers, and one sewing machine...

... and it all comes down to this weekend's bazaar bizarre - our last show of the year. it seems absolutely appropriate; not only is it our last fair, but it is geographically the closest. being a mere TWO BLOCKS AWAY means no tent, no car even, just us with the body bag slung over our shoulders shuffling to our designated spot.

you'd think we'd be sewing until the wee hours of saturday morning (considering our experience this past weekend). but no, mogo will be sponsoring a vendor pre-party friday night, which is much more fun. if anyone wants to come eat cake batter and frost cupcakes friday morning, drop us an email.

fellow bostonians, we hope you will come out and visit us this saturday (december 16th) at the boston center for the arts' cyclorama for -what promises to be- a crazy, shopping-filled, event. having attended past bazaars, we suggest coming toward the end of the day to avoid the crowds. click on the image above for details.

christmas gift to self

after four years of dog shots, self-portraits, and traveling, we decided to bury our beloved canon powershot s200. while the camera is still in working order, we have gotten beyond annoyed with the camera's ever-increasing shutter lag. by the time the camera decides to take a pic, there is no doubt the moment has passed.

a rebate offer for the fuji finepix f30 made our decision easy.

here are the first dog shot, self-portrait, and travel pics from the new camera. click to embiggen.

thank you, bust magazine!

what dummies we are! despite our best efforts to prep for saturday's show and fill outstanding orders, we still found ourselves sewing and packing at 1:00 am on friday night. so much to our chagrin, we left boston at 5:00 am to arrive in manhattan at 8:00, drop off the pooch at girlladyfriend's, and arrive in williamsburg just in time to set up and put on our weary yet cheerful faces for the onslaught.

the warsaw played host to this year's bust magazine craftacular - our first of such events and certainly our first craft fair set in a nightclub. at first skeptical of our placement in an unmarked side room off the main thoroughfare, we quickly realized what a blessing it was to be right next to the main bar - not for us, silly - a blessing in that it lured an endless stream of thirsty customers to our little nook.

the place was packed for most of the evening and business was fantastic (we nearly sold out of every item!). and while we felt sympathy for the customers having to elbow their way around the floor, dabney and i couldn't help but feel a little relieved that we at least had a somewhat clear 2' x 3' area to stand in all day.

and everytime the fatigue began to settle in, a friendly face would stop by and say hello. so thanks to the following friends who muscled through the crowd and made their way to the mogo booth.











in addition to familiar faces, there was some craft royalty in our midst.


hey look! it's matt burke, etsy founder. we had a chance to chat with matt about some upcoming features to the site. keep a look out! it sounds really exciting!


debbie stoller , editor of bust magazine and author of stitch n' bitch and stitch n' bitch nation. debbie seems like a cool lady with an even cooler job.

thank you, williamsburg. thank you, bust magazine! hope to see you next year.

study break

with two more craft fairs to go and a few wholesale and individual orders to fill before the holidays, it's like finals around here: early mornings, late nights, the apartment's a mess, and we keep wearing the same thing over and over again.

but who says we can't have "study" breaks? last night, we had our own threadless t-shirt photo shoot @ ashbloem and davey's place.

just when you think that they can't possibly do any more craft fairs...

this weekend, we'll be back in brooklyn -- this time at bust magazine's annual craftacular. in a way, this is the PERFECT craft fair for us - because it takes place in a bar/nightclub, the event combines crafts and cocktails.

if you're in the nyc area, please come by and say hello. better yet, fetch us a drink, will you? click on the ad below for more details.

weekend list

some things i did this weekend:

• cut, pinned, and sewed
  
  
• played with the dog
• played a video game
• ate meat
• threw darts
• posed with the dog
  
  
• ate noodles
• met a woman named "buttons"
• drank coffee & read the sunday paper
• got the crossword all to myself
• went for walks
• attempted to watch elf... twice*
• did some online christmas shopping
  
• contemplated getting a much needed haircut

*thwarted once by some unknowing houseguest who interrupted my recording 6 minutes in; foiled the second time because of an inaccurate tv guide.

screw sugar plums...

here's what dances in my head each night...

ah, the gypsy life

it's 6:00 in the morning. and i have just returned from the airport where i waved goodbye to a 50 lb. bag of merchandise (dubbed "the body bag," because that is indeed what it resembles), a rolling suitcase, and dabney. if you haven't noticed by now, we have adopted the divide and conquer approach to these craft fairs. dabney flew to milwaukee. i jetted to pittsburgh. and now, dabney's off to seattle. oh sure, it's fair.

flying to shows is a new thing for us. and we are just beginning to learn the good and the bad of such situations. perhaps the winter season alone gives us our main cause of celebration - no tent. the acquisition of our enormous tent caused us to outgrow our sedan and make the move to the new family truckster. now, it's possible for us to travel with stuff, tent, and dog. and despite its name, ez up tents are no small task to unfurl. heavy, awkward, and frequently finger-pinching - our tent is definitely a two-woman job.



now being relegated to world of indoor craft fairs and the limited area of a 6'x 4' table, there is just less square footage to show off merchandise. and this has proven to be our greatest challenge. we've gone to fairs where we've witnessed everything from broom handles to tree branches are used for display purposes.



having done a handful of shows that require a plane ticket, we like to think that we have streamlined our packing, but the truth is getting these type of items fit into a bag without causing the tsa agents to scratch their heads in wonder is always fun.

my sister calls us gypsies. at first, it made us giggle, but now, we realize how true it is.

magic trick

i should say that the magic trick isn't so much that he appears out of nowhere, but that he actually came when called.

thanksgiving

no, we haven't drowned in a sea of gravy. nor has the tryptophan lulled us into a permanent slumber. the last of our houseguests has left and now, we face a mountain of sewing. but, yes, thanksgiving was a blast...

it all started wednesday with a last minute trip to the store, where the task was to find the largest turkey available to feed 14 hungry souls.


why we had a vegetarian pick out the bird remains a mystery.



a traditional, yet the most controversial, dish in our household is always the green bean casserole. people either love it or hate it. this year, it was the first thing to disappear. i think that is testimony enough.

after its arrival home and short getting-to-know-you session, the turkey had to make its last outing to ashbloem's for brining (and additional sauna and massage treatments).



here is ashbloem with turkey in tow.


the gorgeous result.


dinner time.


here was our spread after about midway through the evening. check out all the pies!! why do pictures of food, no matter how delicious the meal actually was, look so awful?


this picture just cracks me up.

homeland security requires mogo passport covers

U.S. to Implement Passport Requirement
By BEVERLEY LUMPKIN via Bud, Associated Press Writer



WASHINGTON - The Homeland Security Department will require virtually all air travelers entering the United States after Jan. 23 to show passports encased in Mogo passport covers - even U.S. citizens.

Until now, U.S. citizens, travelers from Canada and Bermuda, and some travelers from Mexico who have special border-crossing cards for frequent visitors were allowed to show other proofs of identification, such as drivers' licenses or birth certificates.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff disclosed the effective date of the initiative in an interview with The Associated Press. The Homeland Security Department was planning to announce the change on Wednesday.

Chertoff said the change was a crucial next step to helping ensure the nation's security, and urged all citizens to immediately contact mogogoods.com.

paradise? lost?

hawaii is one of those places that you've heard so much about, it's hard to reconcile the actual place with what actually IS.


an overlook on the pali highway.

make no mistake about it, honolulu is a city. a small city, but still a city. when we first got there, there was a mini-assault on our preconceived senses. part of this was fueled by my mom, who, having moved from a very small town in vermont, is still reeling from the packed highways and parking lots. she's still firmly (and vocally) in the what-hawaii-should-be stage.

even when you leave honolulu, oahu is not pristine. there are houses on most every rise. the "protected" snorkeling bay is akin to disney world on the weekends and racks up one million visitors a year. when you take pictures, you inevetably shift the frame a bit to edit out some structure.


this was one of those shots. directly underneath the mountains is a parking lot swimming with tour buses.


hanauma bay in the morning, before the beach opened for the day. usually, it's crammed with people. gorgeous without people though, no?

if i were spending hard-earned money on my one solitary vacation a year, instead of visiting my mom on a free ticket, i think i'd be a little bit disappointed. i'd want perfection. that's just me. (i think ann enjoyed it more than me -- perhaps it was seeing all the beautiful hawaiian wahine.)

but that's also just as a guest. after being there a bit, you start to realize what it would be like - as a full-time resident - to have both worlds at once. amazing restaurants, the chance for an actual career -- all at the same time as being a half hour away from the beach. you most likely won't be the only one on an unpopulated beach, but you can spend every weekend, and some mornings, in the water.


all the little surfer girls just killed us. can you imagine if this was what you were doing at age 6? instead of jazz and tap dancing class?

do i sound negative? ungrateful? i don't mean to. i really did have a great time this week.


there are turtles in this bay! we swam mere feet away from giant sea turtles!

i guess i'd love to live there, but just wouldn't want to visit. does that make sense?

call it "shrimp 'stache in paradise"

yesterday, dabney celebrated her birthday here in the aloha state. we went swimming, watched some surfing on the north shore, ate some garlic shrimp (see picture), and pretty much just had a low key day.

more soon... when we can tear ourselves away from the pineapple and macadamia nuts.