it seems that people in these here parts really get into christmas lights. we took a drive on christmas night and little did we know, that lights are just the tip of the iceberg for these folks.  these are high tech lights that involve hours of programming, days of installation, and transmissions of their own FM frequency.

we discovered that any holiday song by the trans-siberian orchestra gives these folks an opportunity to shine... literally.  see below.



and this... this place just took the cake. it's like christmas in a gay disco!

xmas canoe

click below to embiggen:

ah... the holidays

there have been family, presents, and food galore around here.  all in all, it's been a nice christmas.

oops!

dear colleague/friend/family member,

in an effort to be super-efficient with our annual holiday card mailing, i printed out address labels for each recipient.  impersonal, yes, but the need for speed won out this year.

unfortunately, some postal worker out there, who was undoubtedly in a mad holiday rush, managed to knock off the label from the front of your envelope. said envelope was returned to us yesterday - faceless and sad, "insufficient address."  no duh, usps.  we apologize and hope that you understand that we did not mean to omit you.

happy holidays!

annie & dabney

holiday greetings

wishing you much holiday chair cheer!

-ann and (especially) dabney

holiday thrifting

santa weeble wobbles

dabney's latest thrift store find...


they also jingle when they wobble.

i guess it's possible to rock too hard sometimes

last night, i did it. somewhere between "mississippi queen" and "hard to handle," i managed to pound a little too firmly on the foot pedal and broke the thing in two.

i took it home with me and attempted set the fracture with the help of a shim and jewelers' glue.



i'll keep you posted on the patient's progress.

another happy mogo customer

doesn't little miss s look great in her mogo balloon dog t-shirt?



the tights are the perfect touch! (thanks, pica, for sharing.)

bust craftacular

catch dabney this sunday at the bust magazine holiday craftacular.

me? i'll be eating leftover turkey soup on the couch while watching martha. that's just the kind of girl i am.

house envy

i love this house in our old 'hood that was recently featured in boston magazine. the furniture, the palette, the kitchen, the DOGS... perfection.



see the rest of the place here.

just in time for the holidays

mogo ornaments!

 
on sale at art star gallery & boutique @ philadelphia

make it a QUADRUPLE

mogo will be at four shows over the next ten days. while i am in chicago this weekend for the renegade holiday sale, dabney will be in minneapolis, boston, and nyc at the no coast craftorama, bazaar bizarre, and bust craftacular. why does dabney do four away while i stick close to home for one, you ask? i like to think of it as payback for the warm weather hawaii-los angeles combo she did a couple of weeks ago, while i froze my buns off in detroit.

click the images below for more info:

thanksgiving weekend

man, was it great seeing ashbloem over thanksgiving! it felt like old times, except this time in the midwest, in the 'burbs, and oh yeah - with rock band.







four of hours of rocking and what got stuck in our heads? the rolling stones "gimme shelter" and in particular the portion of the song that goes "rape... murder..."  how's that for a cheery thankgiving tune?

and no day holiday in my family is complete without tons of food.

being the guest in the house, ashbloem had endure the pressure my family can apply to the sport of eating.  to them us, it's a sport alright.  all weekend, we had to face the mountain of traditional thanksgiving and filipino fare.  from turkey and stuffing to pancit and balut, it was a marathon of eating.  with only one minor catastrophe...

brother-in-law had a standoff with a hot burner. 


we did manage sneak away from the dinner table on occasion. one night, we caught a polka band at a local bar and did some goofy dancing with beers in hand.  the polish santa sax player was kind enough to pose for a picture.



we went on a tour of the anheuser-busch- and now, inbev brewery, where we learned how they make the stuff and then patiently waited for our final stop in the hospitality room.



the true highlight of the tour is the stables in my opinion.



at this time of year, the place and the horses are decked out in holiday decorations.  we were lucky and got a glimpse of mickey, the clydesdales' dalmation sidekick, who had decided to park it in a stable and chew on a bone. so cute.



more pics from the weekend:



i just love this shot of ashbloem in front of the arch.


the stupid photo booth wouldn't accept our crumpled up dollar bills, so we just took our own picture. i think it turned out pretty nice.

the rape of europa

has anyone seen this documentary? i got sucked in last night and couldn't take my eyes off the screen. look out for it on you local pbs station. see the trailer here.

The Rape of Europa tells the epic story of the systematic theft, deliberate destruction and miraculous survival of Europe’s art treasures during the Third Reich and the Second World War.

In a journey through seven countries, the film takes the audience into the violent whirlwind of fanaticism, greed, and warfare that threatened to wipe out the artistic heritage of Europe. For twelve long years, the Nazis looted and destroyed art on a scale unprecedented in history. But young art professionals as well as ordinary heroes, from truck drivers to department store clerks, fought back with an extraordinary effort to safeguard, rescue and return the millions of lost, hidden and stolen treasures.

The Rape of Europa begins and ends with the story of artist Gustav Klimt’s famed Gold Portrait, stolen from Viennese Jews in 1938 and now the most expensive painting ever sold.

Today, more than sixty years later, the legacy of this tragic history continues to play out as families of looted collectors recover major works of art, conservators repair battle damage, and nations fight over the fate of ill-gotten spoils of war.

hellogoodbye

the thoughts that give me the creeps

best birthday card

dabney's birthday was on sunday. poor thing was working in LA, but when she returned, she had received the best birthday card from her dad.

click the image to embiggen:



not only is it adorable, but he chose to portray us in the best light - thin and long-legged. the bottles of (what i presume is) beer in the wagon are a very life-like touch. :)

o new england

here's a new one from, our faves, the decemberists. the fact that it's about our old stomping grounds makes us feel a little homesick. sigh...

snowy day in detroit

i got back from detroit late on sunday night. it was good. the show on saturday wasn't gangbusters, but i made a tidy profit and saw some fellow crafter-friends.

i had all day sunday before i had to depart for the airport, so i spent the day driving around detroit in the snow. yes, there was snow and it's only november.   as a result, my original plans of driving around with the aid of design*sponge's detroit guide had to be scrapped, as did my hunt for the lafayette park area featured in this month's dwell magazine. what to do on a nasty cold snowy day in a city you're not familiar with? head to a museum, and that's exactly what i did.

i spent most my 3+ hours in the detroit institute of arts inside michael graves-designed expansion that houses most of their contemporary art, where i was amazed by this life-sized motorcycle meticulously constructed of wood. (forgive me, dia, i didn't catch the artist's name). 



i was also particularly impressed with the special exhibit devoted paper artist jane hammond who works with rubber stamps, copy machines, silkscreens, etc. to create the most elaborate (and inspirational) collages.  this show made me swear to myself never to send another naked postcard.  embellishments will always be a must from now on.  i'll just have to travel with a glue stick and scissors.

i also spent an inordinate amount of time staring at the enormous murals of industry by diego rivera.





he sure can pack a lot of symbolism into a work and if it weren't for the dia's free hi-tech handheld computer tours, i wouldn't have figured out an ounce of it.



thank god for museum technology.  it turns out that rivera's masterpiece is not only a depiction of the power of technology and industry in american society but also a cautionary tale of its potential harm. yeah, i might have figured that out even without the computer, but what the hey... 

mogo x 2

while i am here this weekend:


dabney will be here:


click the images for more info.

we're a little bit country, part 2

mogo is in the december issue of country living magazine.





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