more junk in the trunk

crisscrossing the atlantic seaboard in a medium-size sedan with 300 baby t-shirts, 100 baby bibs, 100 craft cases, 75 modular bags, 200 passport covers, 300 cell phone cleaners, 1 EZ up tent, peg board, 3 folding tables, and 1 very large springer spaniel has been taxing to say the least. it's a wonder we are able to cram everything in each time.

so much so that, after a seventeen hour road trip, stuffed into a 2 foot square space, feidler often ends up looking like this:



so, here it is. we give up. throw in the towel. very soon, we will be driving around in our very own...gulp...station wagon.

at the premature age of 15, ann began her driving career in a chevy caprice - an auspicious start.

to this day, she can parallel park a mack truck, if wants to.

but honestly, she's always been jealous of claire's station wagon/hearse on six feet under.

can you just imagine us pulling up at the renegade craft fair in this bad boy? all it needs is a HUGE spool of thread and a needle on top, and we'd be good to go.

easy come, easy go

just when we thought it was safe to sit back, roast marshmallows, and watch the leaves turn red, orange, and yellow...POOF. as easily as the vacation house came, it went. yes, folks, my mom's house in vermont has been rented for the next few months.

in preparation for the dreaded take-over, and because i love my mother, i spent forty-eight hours this past weekend getting the house ready for its new tenant. this meant sorting, tossing, and organizing my mom's belongings. she didn't expect anyone to rent the place, so the house looked like she had merely stepped out for the evening instead of moving to hawaii.

hello, my name is dabney, and my mother shamelessly hoards hotel soap and shampoo. it was everywhere. in baskets. in closets. in drawers. in ziploc bags in drawers. totally unopened. halfway spent. days inn. westin. sheraton. i swear they were breeding.


this was just ONE basket. there were more. oh, there were more.

other accumulated things that merit mention (but fall just short of grey gardens crazy-lady hoarding classification):

1. soap (regular bars, not hotel size). i was able to fill an entire drawer.


2. jumbo-size cans of tomatoes. my mother doesn't cook. and when i say she doesn't cook, that means she does not cook. ever.


3. orange jello. i threw a tower of boxes before thinking to snap a photo. tell me, what adult eats orange jell-o?

4. anything and everything from the christmas tree shops. if anyone just loves a bargain, it's my mother.

when in doubt, post cameraphone pictures

sometimes blogging is a bitch.

today, superette will tell the tale in pictures.


this week, we bid adieu to interravision


carrrrrrmen, dabney, and american boy embarrassing themselves in public


ashbloem and interravision hamming it up


over the weekend, i spent a lot of time in the back seat with this little guy. since we couldn't necessarily carry on a full conversation, i entertained him with the shiniest thing on me - my cameraphone.


click - click - click - click - click - click - click -click - click


once again, we sailed on lake champlain. it was a gorgeous day. notice: the glassy surface of the water in the background.


some gauge that i felt the need to photograph


our captain


superdabney


hanging out wasting time

mogo in the wild

last week we got an email and photo from our friend dave, who had an actual sighting of mogo goods in the wild at magpie in somerville.

sssh. if you are real quiet, you'll be able to just spot a mogo baby tee. the shirt's white background helps it to blend in with other t-shirts - to escape notice - but its distinctive blue markings and mogo label give it away.



mogo goods can only been spotted in precious few locations throughout the country, so we feel lucky to have had this rare opportunity to see it in its natural habitat. many, many thanks to dave for sharing.

new mogo cell phone/nano bag

and voilá, from the deep, dark recesses of dabney's mind springs this - a new mogo item - just in time for the upcoming renegade craft fair.

a cell phone/nano bag


we just hate digging around our cluttery bottomless bags looking for our cell phones. with this stylish and functional pouch, we can just barely disguise our inner geek. works great for a nano, too. available on etsy.

fred flare cameo

our favorite guys at fredflare.com have just released part one of their FOUR-part podcast focused on the renegade craft fair. if you don't blink in the first five minutes, you'll see a shot of the mogo banner.

but please, please, ignore the shot of us dancing in the final minute of the show...


your hosts, keith and chris

see it here.

we fear future episodes.

dabney's turn

dabney's familia had its own wedding to celebrate this past weekend. this time, dab's own dad was the groom. after a solo wedding in maine last month, dad and his new bride brought both sides of their families together for a casual picnic at the home of some good friends in central mass. we spent the day outdoors eating italian food and wandering around their land, with its turkeys, sheep, chickens and bunnies.

of course, we didn't get the memo (thanks again dad) that all the other attendees would be in shorts, so there we were playing horseshoes and whiffle ball in our full wedding attire, complete with make-up and strappy shoes. even feidler went dressed in his finest bow-tie.

we think feidler had the best day though. when his new step-dog walter took off deep into the woods on a little adventure, feidler followed, and both dogs had to be chased and led back by their collars. poor feidler was so worn out after his jaunt that he passed out for most of the rest of the afternoon.



it's not every wedding celebration that you walk away with farm-eggs and maple syrup, but that we did, courtesy of our lovely hosts. we think that's the best wedding reception favor we've ever received.

a sign from above?

last night while putting out the trash, i noticed a book sitting on the sidwalk as if it was left there for me.



is it a sign?

then i thought someone put it there as a joke, like those fake dollar bills on fishing line, to be whisked away as soon as i bent down to pick it up. but i looked around to see if someone was watching me, and no one was there. dabney was inside the apartment, and certainly not giggling behind a nearby tree, waiting for me to take the bait.

now, dabney and i have found the odd thing here and there on trash day, but that was no sign. at least, i hope not.

nope. it is all clear. i ought to be playing more golf. much. more. golf.

toot, toot, toot...

this week, we welcome two retailers to the mogo family.

if you are in the delaware area, you're in luck. mogo can now be found at the delaware center for the contemporary arts. located in wilmington, the dcca has seven galleries and twenty-six artists studios on site. this is mogo's museum shop debut and we couldn't be more excited.

and secondly...

mogo can now be found in its own backyard! yes, fellow bostonians, mogo can be purchased in davis square's magpie. lucky for us, magpie provides an alternative to shoppers where they can buy cool stuff while supporting artists, crafters, and indie designers. if you haven't been, it's worthy of checking out.

saeng il chuk ha ham ni da, girlladyfriend!

mogo invades the midwest!

mogo will be at the renegade craft fair CHICAGO!
september 16 + 17 in wicker park from 11am-6pm.

ann's cousin got married this weekend...

while at ann's cousin's wedding in pennsylvania this weekend, we were very surprised to find out that much of ann's family are superette readers, some on a daily basis. (hello aunt carmelita and uncle napoleon!). of course, we automatically did a mental catalogue of everything we've written in the past year to figure out if there was anything overly incriminating, illegal, or just plain naughty.

ann's large clan (seen ALL above) has gathered together for a couple of weddings lately. it's been nice for ann to see them all, and they've all been so welcoming to dabney, which gives both of us the warm fuzzies.

why everyone needs a mogo cell phone cleaner

click to embiggen:

introduce thyself, vegetable.

we love super 88, our local asian supermarket, for its totally affordable produce and herbs (cilantro, 50 cents a bunch! mint, one dollar!). so we happily ignore the fact that we can't read some signs nor ask most staff for help. it usually works pretty well, but every once in awhile we come home with foodstuff that we thought was one thing, but turned out to be something else entirely.

like this:


it looked like a sweet potato, it felt like a sweet potato, but now we're just not sure it is a sweet potato.

because of this:

white interior, not orange.

cassava? i think not.
regular potato? not an option.

can anybody name the tuber?

testing out our new vacation home

we escaped the city over the weekend and headed north to dabney's home state of vermont. since dab's mom flew the coop to hawaii last week, we "inherited" her house while she's away. it is no understatement to say that we plan on being there as much as is humanly possible while the weather is nice. this weekend was the test run and ashbloem, lucy, gotham knitter, and carrrrrrmen all joined us at different intervals for what was a sun and swim-filled couple of days.

during each of our excursions to the green mountain state, we have been diligently searching for a the perfect swimming hole. below is the frontrunner, the narrows - complete with big rocks for jumping. too bad dabney wouldn't allow ann to test them. (note from dabney: some ding dong had jumped off the bridge and died a few weeks ago. ann stubbornly dismissed this story as pesky rural legend. she was, and remains, wrong.)





feidler, lucy, and dabney hanging out in the grass.


stockbridge - tubing capital of vermont



yes, dabney and ashbloem are smiling here, but little did they know, they'd come out of this experience a little crisper and nearly matching the color of their tubes.

carrrrrrrmen - newly returned from cabo and lusciously-tan - just laughed at their predicament, but look what later happened to her.

a run-in with the king of country

the other day, while on one of our regular trips to the fabric shop, we had a little brush with greatness. make that - country, quaint greatness. dabney spotted him next to the upholstery remants and made a quick covert call to ann, who was in another part of the store checking out the microfiber.



if any of you are familiar with the tlc show trading spaces, you'll recognize the jolly looking man above as frank bielec, known as ts's "king of country" designer. apparently he is in town working on an epsiode based in worcester.

while dabney was at checkout, ann shuffled off and found him at the cutting table waiting in line for what was undoubtedly some wheelbarrow or cowboy boot motif laden fabric. after apologizing for his stinky coffee breath he agreed to have his photo taken. little did he know that ann's own espresso-laced breath was about to bowl him over.

no, that isn't vaseline on the lens in an attempt to make him look dreamy; our phone camera lens was really dirty that day.

as we were getting ready to leave the store, we could hear him - in his distinctive high-pitched voice - saying to someone, "paris? you want to go to paris? have you ever been to paris? it's like philadelphia but with really rude people and a lot of smoke."

dressed up dogs... we love 'em

yes, we are those type of dog owners. never to miss an opportunity to dress up our lovable pooch, we are always putting stuff on his head: hats, glasses, underwear, you name it. its usually just for our amusement though (and occasionally, yours).






but we were so happy to stumble upon this. check out costumedogs.com.



yes, we can proudly say that feidler has received 4.5 out of 5 stars! ok, fine, only four people have voted (and two them were us) but whatever.

as much as we love our sushi boy, we gotta hand it to this little guy.

meet oompa loompa dog...

BIG blog announcement

beginning today, ann and dabney will no longer refer to themselves in the third person. it began as a way for them to co-author this blog anonymously, so no one would know who was in fact writing it. so they started using she, they, ann, dabney. was it ann you were hearing? or, was it dabney? but after a year of writing this thing, they realized that they just. don't. care. furthermore, they are so sick of correcting their first choice of pronouns in the editing process. they hate sounding pretentious. so, no more bob dole impersonations.

beginning.

right.

now.

WE are so happy about the change. WE can't even stand it.

renovation update

ann and dabney's renovation is inching closer to completion. and, oh, what a difference! their m.o.: keep it simple and when in doubt, paint it white.

here is a pictorial update:

remember this dirty dingy and very yellow bathroom?

bathroom before


bathroom now

this basement kind of reminded them of the last scene from silence of the lambs.

basement before


basement now


basement now

oh, and did a & d mention that they have a wee little crush on their construction foreman? he might just find himself on a certain fantasy sperm donor list any day now.

and more babies

these days, everywhere ann and dabney turn there are adorable children. and more often than not, it's their friends who are multiplying at not-so-surprising rates. which brings them to this little cutie, sofia, who just a few short weeks ago was living in the tummy of this gorgeous woman with whom ann and dabney happened to have lunch the day she was born. (while mom says it was the stimulating company that sparked her labor, ann and dabney are convinced it was the delicious gourmet sandwiches that did it.)

this weekend, they had the opportunity to attend miss sofia's post-birth baby shower.


baby sofia and brand new mama


brand new papa and baby sofia

with all these infants popping up, not a week goes by without someone asking ann and dabney whether or not they are going have kids anytime soon. their answer: until one of these generous men steps up (hello there! please, oh please!!!), it's not likely to happen anytime soon.