random thoughts on postal uniforms

you ever notice how freakin' adorable mail carrier uniforms are? last week while skimming one of boston's many free rags, i saw an advertisement for opportunities in the postal service. and i have to admit, the vain side of me made me linger over the page a little longer than the average reader thinking, "oh, at least i'd get to wear cute outfits!"

i have always been a fan of the blue-grey zippy cardigan and tuxedo-stripe shorts. it just so happens that today's spring-like temperatures inspired mike, our letter carrier, to choose this ensemble.


but c'mon! what other regular job (ok, fine, other than explorer or superhero) would allow you to wear a pith helmet, a fur cap, or a cape?

halloween is such good stuff.

this weekend was our second annual fright pint!

as of wednesday, we had no idea what our costume would be. on thursday we did some quick craft shopping and recruited jb and girlladyfriend. and on friday and part of saturday, we made these little beauties. no, we're not coptic red riding hoods - we're matryoshka dolls!



it wasn't a fun process, i must say. the four of us had a bit of a collective meltdown making them. no one knew, or could agree, on how it should be done. at more than one point, ann and jb checked out of the process and worked silently on their computers (and making this hilarious photo as a result).



but i think the end result, costume-wise, was really good. and the four of us are totally fine and had a good time that evening.

as usual, everyone else made us giggle with their costumes. some favorites:

the king and queen of hearts:


the greatest american hero, with his date carrie:


publishers' clearinghouse winners:


and salt 'n pepa:

moo

we had been waiting for weeks for them to arrive and when they did last week, they didn't disappoint. from moo.com comes these fantastic mini-calling cards culled from our flickr pro account. we just love their cute size and matte finish. you can get them, too. 100 cards (100 different images, if you want) for $20.

here our our ten freebies:

be prepared to be scared...

for all of you within screaming distance of boston this weekend...

click here (and make sure your volume is turned up)!

scaredy-cats

dabney and i hate to be scared. we avoid horror movies at all costs. in fact, the last one we got suckered into seeing was the blair witch project. after which, we slept with the lights on for three nights straight. hell, we'd probably hate halloween if it wasn't for the costume opportunities. as a result, it's amazing that we're friends with jeff, who ADORES all things creepy, gory, and spooky, but we won't mention the fact that he faints at the sight of real blood.


it's this love of our friend that lured us to gloucester, massachusetts, home of the castle of the damned. its name should have said enough. we don't know what we were thinking. despite dabney's recent malaise and our shared scaredy-cat tendencies, we found ourselves in line for a haunted house on a cold autumn evening.


this creepy man, who claimed he was hannibal lecter (with business card and all) scared the bejesus out of dabney. davey and jeff got a kick out of him, as you can see.

despite the company of friends, dabney couldn't relax after that.



fake fear while waiting in line


post-castle terror

feeling funk-y

i am in a funk. i am avoiding friends, driving ann batty with all my moping, and definitely not doing any work. it would be fine if there a reason, but there's no good cause for the foul mood, which makes me even more frustrated.

ann made a good call and got me out of the house on saturday and we had a great day at the arnold arboretum. it was beautiful out, and feidler had a great time.

now, my body seems to have taken a cue from my mind and got itself sick. i slept until 11:30 today.

dog in therapy

if you didn't know by now, feidler, our beloved springer, is over 14 years old. due to his arthritis, we must now pick him up to put him in the car, lift his back end as he trudges up the stairs, and even hold him by the tail while he poops. ah, the life of an old dog. poor puppy. not to mention, poor us.

in an effort to stave off the effects of old age, we've recently begun to investigate some therapies for his tired old bones. when someone mentioned water therapy to us, we knew he had to try it. he's a spaniel after all, a water dog through and through.


here he is contemplating his fate. that purple thing he's leaning against is the water therapy contraption. it looks like an instrument of torture, but it's really kinda cool. don't worry, he may look sad, but he has no idea what's about to happen.



there's nothing like a pre-swim massage to get your muscles all warm. surprisingly, feidler was quite indifferent to this treatment.


therapy in action:



after the tub is drained, feidler thanks his physical therapist.

techno tim

in honor of last night's project runway finale...

techno tim!

mogo @ the sneakery

one again, we'd like to welcome a new store to the mogo familia - the sneakery - seattle, washington's newest and hippest shoe store. if you live in the pacific northwest and you're looking for some cool kicks, go check it out! and while you're there, pick up a cell phone cleaner or two or three...

a shout out to our dear friends, jb and isaac, who attended the store's opening last week. here, they stand near a glass case replete with mogo goods.

big drawn-out sigh.

byot! was another really disappointing craft fair. elijah and rhonda, the organizers, were sweet enough and did a fine job organizing the event. i think this was just a classic case of poor fit. the folks in town for salem's bizarre bazaar (never to be confused with this bazaar bizarre) weren't really an "indie" crowd. they were far more interested in the witch-themed sweatshirts and crystal balls being offered at the street fair. it was marketing 101, and this craft fair failed the class.

but, there was some pretty good people-watching, which kept us entertained for part of the day. a good number of souls roamed the streets in the capes and costumes, soaking up the pre-holiday vibe, in what is surely the halloween* capital of the world. oddly, we ended the day with only this photo:



too bad they weren't about to buy what we were selling. while on a break from the fair, ann was discussing our dismal day with a local store owner, who said, "oh honey, i know. unless they can put it on their heads, or in their mouths, they just aren't interested."

i think i know what she meant:



a big shout out to molly, who was our neighbor during the fair. the mogo booth was positioned near the front door, and we were the first line of defense in fending off the peeps who came to our booth looking for either the bathrooms - or someone named pastor phil - all day.

anyway, molly sells these lovely necklaces, bracelets, and earrings with beads each made by hand. if you are in the market for some nice jewelry, you should check her out.



so, now we know. we've learned our lesson twice so far this year. we are definitely going to be a lot pickier when finding events in the future, and will do some more rigorous questioning of organizers. we'll start with no more fairs that are just tacked onto other events.

*the curmudgeon in me thought it was a little sad to see a town with such a rich history being cheapened by all the plastic toys and crappy costumes being sold on each street corner. i don't think it's sour grapes doing the talking here.

something hairy this way comes

as you might have guessed, there's nothing we love better than a good fake moustache. so we thought we'd make our own - just in time for halloween.

if you'd like one of your own, visit us tomorrow in salem, massachusetts - home of all things witchy and this weekend's BYOT craft fair.


dabney sporting the barbershop style - always a favorite.


here, ann shows off the "mark twain"

we just love sweden...

we just got back from a lightning-fast ikea run in our swedish car. we returned a few things that have been hanging around our apartment for months and had some swedish food for lunch. of course, we couldn't leave without picking up a few more things, including this new sewing table for our workroom:


if only we could rent a little (or not so little) swedish man to put it together for us...

illicit goods

we forgot to mention the other thing that we smuggled out of canada along with our mogo merchandise:

this little cocoon of goodness is dragon's beard, a mixture of peanuts, coconut and sesame seeds, wrapped in finely spun sugar. they have a bit of the crunchy, a bit of the melt in your mouth quality, and they are all tasty. the story goes that it was a much-loved delicacy in the chinese imperial court back in the day.

we would have been fine if they had confiscated our handmade items, but thrown a hissy if they'd discovered these in our glove compartment.

pukes pop crap fair

we headed up to canada this weekend for the puces pop craft fair in montreal.



it wasn't a great weekend. the fair was incredibly disorganized, sales were down the toilet, we were physically crammed in with the other crafters, and it was a really long drive up there. but we can't blame others entirely for the experience, as we made a few key bad decisions that contributed to the crappy crappiness of the weekend.

mistake #1: leaving boston on a friday afternoon at 3:30pm.
mistake #2: leaving boston on a friday afternoon at 3:30pm on a long weekend.
mistake #3: leaving boston for vermont on a friday afternoon at 3:30pm on a long weekend that also happened to be during peak foliage season.
mistake #4: forgetting our passports (needed for the canadian border) before leaving boston for vermont on a friday afternoon at 3:30pm on a long weekend that also happened to be during peak foliage season, and having to turn around 45 minutes into our trip.
mistake #5: leaving boston for a second time on a friday at 4:30pm...

let's just say thank god for friends lucy and the tall guy, who put us up on friday night and fed us wine and good company. and thank god for priceline, which put us up on saturday night at the intercontinental hotel in downtown montreal, for about the price of a red roof inn. and lastly, thank the heavens for that kind and nameless customs agent, who, after searching our trunk and questioning us about the contents, didn't make us pay a duty for the items we shamelessly smuggled into the country.

we wound up taking an alternate route through the canadian and vermont countryside on the way home, to avoid yet more traffic and the lines at the main border crossing on the way home. it was a beautiful drive as a result, with no other cars, and totally worth the slight detour.

and just when you thought they couldn't put more miles on the mogo wagon...

we're off to montreal to sell our wares at puces pop. or we should say, nous allons a montreal a vendre nos marchandises.

mogo: bonjour, madame. comment allez-vous?
customer: qu'est que c'est?
mogo: c'est une cell phone cleaner pour essuyer votre téléphone portable.
customer: non! c'est fou, mais je l'aime! combien coûte-t-il ?
mogo: seulement six dollars!
customer: je voudrais deux.
mogo: voila... merci, madame.

(that's high school french, ya'll.)

on another mogo note: we're featured in this month's boston spirit magazine. thanks, jeannie!

click to embiggen:

mogo on fred flare podcast

our half-dreaded day has come... we say "half" because, of course, these are two of THE NICEST guys around and free publicity is always a good thing, but dabney and i can't help but stare at our sweaty bodies and humidity-flattened hair. eh. we know. we know. shut up.

so without further ado, here is the most recent episode of the fred flare show:

crafty bastards report

we just gotta give props to the organizers of crafty bastards. they put together a marvelous day, complete with bands, dancers (of the breaking and belly variety), and puppets. from a vendor p.o.v., they got it just right - they had a great location, staggered set up times, people to help us unload our wagon, a hospitality area with plenty of fluids and snacks, and generally a warm, friendly "how can we help you" attitude. all of it was much, much appreciated.

thousands of people showed up to enjoy the glorious sunshine and the unique handmade goodies offered at every booth. we are happy to report that mogo had a stellar day, and as always, nice neighbors to boot - shout outs to the nice folks of cleo dee and 60 bugs.

of course, we were too busy to take photos of the day - a mistake we so regret. as a result, we raided some flickr albums. luckily, the day was very well-documented. here's a look:


giant balloons welcomed visitors


bellydancer


breakdancing. i'm not sure if breakdancing is one of those things that is back in vogue or one of those things that never went away and i am just too out of it to know.


here is a shot of the crowd. it was like this all day. that's our tent in the back right.

not only did we not have time to take our own pictures, we didn't even have time to shop - a good thing really. but we did manage to pick up one free souvenir. i used to love these squished pennies as a child. i turned the crank on this one myself! how's that for DIY?!