It’s altogether totally inappropriate for a proper cat to do the following:
-watch you draw a warm, relaxing bath at twilight
-continue watching as you get in, and say ‘ahhh…’
-continue watching as you reflect on the crummy day that’s almost over
-continue watching as you finally relax
-jump in the litter box, make a stinky poo, and leave the room quietly and quickly
true story.
gift wrap, smith street style
Gift-wrap. It’s usually best if you use things that you have lying around the house, which in our case clearly is some kraft paper, sharpees, a leftover Christmas bow and a patriotic gingham ribbon used to dress up one of the presents we brought to the birthday girl’s Minnie Mouse themed party on Sunday. Presents are about three things: anticipation, surprise and usefulness. Nothing like a sweet wrapping job to get ‘em excited!!
party favors for little mickeys
H. did an amazing job at decorating the house with Minnie decorations. There was also one little boy at the party and his gift bag looked like Mickey’s characteristic red underpants. So awesome!
and for little minnies
And these, for all the little girls (sooooo many little girls!) little Minnie favor bags. Cute little presents inside, too! My niece wouldn’t put her Minnie stickers down until the coloring book, coffee table and two cats were covered in them. It certainly brightens up the place.
making Portland beautiful, one flyer at a time
Also, J. and I spent Saturday walking around downtown Portland and flyering for The Big Thaw (May 12) and the Pussy Riot benefit show (tonight, at SPACE Gallery 538 Congress St., Portland) he and his band are playing. You should go – oppression stinks, and seeing Metal Feathers for the first time in a few months in order to fight it is a pretty win-win situation.
time to start practicing
Lastly, Bath Salts (that’s me, Tara and Jason) have a show on May 12 at Bayside Bowl. That’s the same day as the Big Thaw. May 13 is gonna be awesome and relaxing. Also cause it’s Mother’s Day, and mine is lovely. Wait – focus. Bath Salts has a show, and that means we need to start practicin’ big time! I wrote a song about the summertime and we have a bunch of other new songs, but if you want to listen to the ones we already recorded you can do it at our Bandcamp page by clicking here.
espresso-sized tea cup candles, click for listing
I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time… is it because I have a bad habit of turning old things in to new things? Or is it my insatiable search for the perfect vintage tea cup? Whatever it is, I don’t mind. The kitchen is covered in wax and now I have a bunch of new, pretty things to share.
this tea cup is everywhere
These are retailing from $8.95 to $12.95, and will be listed in my shop over the coming days. The tea cups and saucers are enhanced with an unscented soy wax and wick, and are suitable for washing and reusing for tea time once the wax is gone.
my favorite so far
Each one of these is different, the one just above is my favorite so far. Navy blue and orange tones are so nice, and contrasted with the whiteness of the porcelain and the wax. Simple pleasures!
All of these are now available for sale in my Etsy shop for $6.50 USD. $25- if you’d like it framed with white mat and black frame! Click on the picture to view the listing.
Basil, by Little Eye
Strawberries by Little Eye
Shallots by Little Eye
Cash and Jason surveying our seedlings, mostly salad stuff like cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and mesclun mix. But we've got some summer squash and basil in there for good measure. Yum.
Jason and I finally learned how to use the Yudu. It's definitely a machine meant for soccer moms, but to burn a screen and make a decent print for beginners is pretty sweet. Next task is to learn how to mix our own emulsion so we don't have to pay for those ridiculous sheets. Still! Bath Salts t-shirts are on their way!
Little K turned 3 last week, but we celebrated tonight. She is so interesting at this age - learning how to be shy (finally) but also regaling everyone with her sense of humor.
Ice Cream Cone Shaped Cake. Deliciously sweet, I think we all crashed about 10 minutes after each having just one teeny bit of it!
My favorite photograph this week: Cash blisses out on tissue paper under the coffee table and the excellent dinosaur print 'tablecloth.' She's a crowd pleaser while the other darn cat runs away and hides, which is fine because he smells a little funny most of the time, so it's probably better that way.
Spending unusually large amounts of money on unusual tchotchkes at the Prides Corner Flea Market
Perfect little objects, like this 4 inch tall kerosene lamp, perfectly usable and perfectly in tact, are definitely worth $10, even for a cheapskate.
We've been eating remarkably well, and almost entirely from the international market, Mittapheap, on Washington Ave. in Portland, ME. Neighborhoods need to support their international markets, frozen crickets and all, because where else will you find plantains, rice noodles, nag champa, sriracha, Vietnamese coffee supplies and pocky under one roof? Nowhere else.
This weekend was a sweet, little one. The boyfriend and I walked towards India St. on Saturday morning to meet extended family for brunch: with rumors of Snoop Dogg craving Good Egg Cafe treats (he was staying in the hotel where once stood the famous Jordan’s defunct hot dog factory). Excitement all around when the waitress told us so.
Although Snoop failed to show, we had a lovely breakfast. Saturday afternoon was spent making arrangements with Grammie for a ‘ahead of time’ birthday party for the wee one, she’s going to be three soon. It’s very cute. We also swam in the pool at the Marriott residence inn which was refreshing, even though it was basically kindergarten soup when we got in. Much less the hot tub. It’s good we aren’t picky people!
Sunday came, and off to Two Fat Cats to pick up the cupcakes (yum) only to be greeted with the road blocked off. Bomb scare. Entrance to Two Fat Cats not interfered with, so we got the cupcakes anyways while Dad and Ki sat waiting in the car. Small towns and suspicious packages aren’t the best combination when it comes to common sense.
Red Velvet Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting. With complimentary candle by chance - they are the BEST.
O.K., Firstly: Two Fat Cats is my favorite indulgence this week. You don’t really have to buy anything when you go there, but you should – the experience of walking in alone is enough. The pies cool on open, wooden racks within licking distance of the cash register. An airpot of freshly brewed, proprietary blend by Coffee By Design is always available. Also cookies. And whoopie pies: and not the disgustingly sugary kind we Mainers are so well known for. No. These are soft, velvet-y, melt in your mouth whoopie pies. They come in pumpkin, too. A coffee and this will cure whatever ails you, unless it’s diabetes, but even then as long as you’ve got your insulin with you it’s totally worth it.
We also popped down to Commercial St. to the new Rosemont Produce market that has just opened up. Word to the wise Portlander: you do NOT want this place to close. They’re open 7 days, so I suggest some additional trips here instead of the weird produce section at Paul’s if you’re strictly a peninsula grocery shopper. Many local options, big door that opens up to the sea breeze on nice days: win win win.
Coastal Girl
We walked around down by the Ocean Gateway Terminal. It’s post-apocalyptic when the cruise ships aren’t in, there aren’t even any seagulls there. We tried bring a shopping bag full of sweet potato fries leftovers but ended up leaving them on the sea wall for any future gulls, pigeons or starlings who might happen by. We did play on the rocks for an unusually long amount of time. Rocks suddenly because super-toys, even for a 28-year-old, when a three year old is calling the shots. Games such as “pile of rocks” or “toss rocks” or “throw rocks in to the ocean, count the splashes” passed the time. Aunt Audrey got tired when the game became “Get Aunt Audrey to lift me on to the really big rocks so I can jump off of them in to her arms,” and we headed back to the hotel room for pizza, cupcakes and ice cream. Mmmm the holy trinity of birthday food.
Grammie was a librarian in a middle school in Northern Vermont for a good deal of her professional life. There’s a patience she has in communicating stories to children that is so familiar to me, because maybe when I was three it was the same tone, the same measured patience in waiting for wee one to understand all the excellent things those pages held. In a very concrete way, wee one is my niece. But in a more fluid, experiential way she is my little, little sister, too.
Stories
The adults in her life are the same as mine, only this time I am one of them, even if I drastically underestimate my ability to belong to that team. The vibrations of my father’s voice when I hear him calming her after some kind of harrowing, toddler run-in with the corner of a coffee table; the welcoming, unconditional hug of my mother’s arms and that very disarming and familiar smell of her freshly washed L.L. Bean button-down shirts. Ki will know the things I know when she’s older, plus more.
Maybe I am just sentimentally finishing up my Monday, with a long to-do list and not much patience for it, I’d rather sift through pictures of the people I love and reflect. Sometimes temptation is so good to give in to.
Goodnight!
Alas, apartment-living. You are the best when it comes to not mowing the lawn, replacing the water heater in an emergency, and requiring a down payment. But you are the worst when it comes to gardening! With little or no yard to speak of, and a hesitance to share my seedlings with grabby neighbors who might think our porch is their property, too – or worse, think it’s really fun to chuck terra cotta pots around at 2 a.m. on a Saturday night – I have to settle for a little kitchen garden until I get my own backyard. That’ll be a victory garden, indeed.
love grows where my rosemary goes
I started the rosemary and the oregano seeds at the end of January, and in full sunlight on the counter all day they’re doing famously. I need to read up on how to care for these so that they bring the most productive herb-age to our dinner table. I think the oregano will be easy, but rosemary seems like a testy bitch. Already all the seedlings are just growing on one side of the pot and the soil is turning white. Hrm.
hello, wildfire
Here is the oregano. It’s already plentiful and the leaves look like proper oregano leaves, just junior sized. I hope I don’t have to replant it, just tear bits mercilessly from this little pot and it will grow back as tenaciously as it already has in the last two months.
welcome to the world, little basils!
I’m a terrible basil failure, or at least I have been in the past. Of course, in the past I’ve kind of just sprinkled some seeds on some dirt and hoped for the best. I watched some YouTube videos and ready some WikiHow articles and feel relatively confident that I can follow some easy instructions. Growing basil from seed, you basically need to thin them out as soon as they’ve grown about 3/4″ high – then when they’ve grown their second set of leaves you have to pinch those off. When your basil flowers you need to get rid of those. Pulling sprigs off the outermost growth will help keep the plant bushy. One time, I had a 7-inch tall basical that was only a stalk and a couple of leaves at the top. I hung on to that thing for a year before I gave up… until now. I can’t wait to see how they do this year – I will be vindicated.
Hi, Baby: Click on this image to download a .mov file of the lullabye
There’s a tradition in my family of never being too young to know something. Honesty is tantamount.
Somehow the thought process led to a place where lullabies were slipping out of me… they are sad, a bit, and nostalgic, and this is one of them -
–
Hi, Baby
Hi, Baby
Hi, Baby
Oh
Grow, just grow
Night farmer is pulling starlight
from the night sky, so
Glow, just glow
Flower fields are blooming daisies
The summer sun goes down lately
Grow, just grow
Waves are salty, they wash on the beach
The sand on our feet flows
Flow, just flow
Hold your hand just as long as I can
Until you have to go
Go, just go
Hi, Baby
Hi, Baby
Hi, Baby
Oh
Grow, just grow
–
The audio is obviously not where it will be one day – cheaply recorded through the desktop’s built-in microphone but I will figure out this four track one day, I’m sure. I’d like to get some strings on here, and maybe a little kid to sing the repetition with me.
Pink Turkey ink drawing by Robynie on Etsy, $35.00 - Click to view listing.
I don’t think I’m officially qualified for days like today. Mind you: it’s only 7:23am and I already feel completed blindsided by all the good things and the not-so-good things in life. Observe:
At 5:15 this morning I got a text from my coworker (and friend) that her baby had arrived an hour earlier! She wouldn’t be in to work today. ;) I could barely get back to sleep for the remaining 45 minutes before my alarm went off, but somehow I managed after fighting extreme joy and also a little sadness that I hadn’t quite come to terms with spending the next few months without her hanging out with me all day. Apparently I’m 4 years old and don’t understand that being pregnant ultimately results in an actual baby. Regardless, the happiness was way bigger so I finally snoozed until the cats were scratching the crap out of the bedroom door (which they do exactly 5 minutes before the alarm goes off).
At 6:50 this morning, my usual ‘get in the car and go’ time, I exited my apartment only to see all the CDs that had been previously stored in the car’s console were now all over the street. Serves me right for not joining the 20th century and having a nice portable iPod. Hmm. And my window, which was previously stuck about 1-inch open (damn motor broke, haven’t fixed it yet but now I’ll have to) was gaping wide. Oh good! A stranger was in my car, rooting around, stealing stuff. The only thing they took was was the iPod-to-Cassette adapter that boyfriend put in the car when his was hit-and-run a month back, also right outside our house.
Some people cry when they’ve been violated, some people get angry: I do best when I really try to see the irony in things. ”O.K., Guy (or Girl): You got the rush of adrenalin when you broke in to my car and ruined my window, but it wasn’t like I was going to fix it anyways. Also you had fun rooting around in the trash, food containers, and receipts I leave in my car. Did you see that 50-lb tub of bottle caps in the backseat? Thank you for not screwing around with that. So basically you committed a felony for an iPod-to-cassette adapter which probably won’t even work in your car if it was made after 2001. Then you threw my crappy CDs (all our good music is on records) all over the road in a grand gesture of frustration that there wasn’t more than trash, bottle caps and receipts in the car). Good job, kiddo, you win the prize.”
I wasn’t even bothered on a logical level, more of a philosophical, boundaries-related level. Anyways I’m getting renter’s insurance today because if people don’t mind smashing in to boyfriend’s car or breaking in to mine it’s only a matter of time before someone tries something even more ridiculous. I’ll also probably get an “ADT” sticker for the door, I think that’s a deterrent, right?
So then I get to work, only after stopping at Tony’s Donuts for a creme horn and a coffee… because I was celebrating… and licking my wounds… all in one pastry. The guy there was like “Have a great day!” and he really meant it, so in my head I thought “Yes, OK, I will, regardless,” because it had already been 50% wonderful and 50% horrible, all before the sun really rose.
And I get to work, park in my spot, and saw a meeting of turkeys (that’s the proper noun of assembly, p.s.) walking across the golf course that abuts our parking lot. Oh! I cut the engine so I could hear them. They were talking, and one was making a real ruckus behind the neighbor’s fence. I counted them as they moved across the wet asphalt, I see them walking this path sometimes in the winter but not the Spring. They were big, adolescent turkeys: their talons clicked against the ground and several of them rustled their feathers, wet from the morning mist. 7..8..9..10. They made their way in to the thicker woods when all of a sudden a loud screech and the beating of wings brought two more turkeys flying over the fence to join their friends.
Because I’m a dork, and just slightly on the perimeter of believing in ‘new age stuff’ I had to search animal totems since it was such a poignant ending to such a strange morning. Apparently, after searching several slightly sketchy web sources, the turkey reminds us that things are ever-changing, of the value of ‘having enough’ and of course, sacrifice for the greater good. Having watched that PBS documentary about the guy who ‘imprinted’ unhatched turkeys and raised them through a year I think those big birds were just a reminder of the forward movement that we must inevitably take. They all walk together, slowly, on an invisible path that cuts through industrial parks, golf courses and deep forest. This morning my path was a big rocky, with ultimate highs and lows, but what else can you do except keep on walking it?
Bath Salts (the band)
Hey internet, how’s it going. I have been on a brief hiatus from posting new Etsy listings, making “Little Eye” products and being a good businesslady. That’s okay: the ebb and flow of the creative process shouldn’t be fought. In fact, to do a good job sometimes you have to act like an anti-business to maintain your happiness and freshness – that’s what I’ve been doing.
What’s been keeping my hands busy:
Big Thaw applications just closed, so now begins the process of learning everything about the vendors and posting article after article online. I love that part. I think we’ll be doing some raffles/giveaways through the site this year and I’ll try to amp up marketing. Anyone know anything about that? I sure don’t! Well actually I know a little… what I really need to know is someone on TV or someone who writes for local press. Hook it up!
Also, I’ve been chugging away at a large wholesale order for a lovely wine and beer supply company out of Seattle, WA. There’s nothing like filling your kitchen with a stockpile of bottle caps, washing them, poking holes in them, beading them, packaging them and shipping them to really get your heart racing! Actually, it’s fun and totally satisfying to complete a huge order and to do it with some kind of process. But it’s definitely taking up some serious creativity time!
Lastly, our band Bath Salts has been writing, recording, practicing songs like nuts since September. It’s so much fun. We just get together, make loud sounds, work until the sounds are good together, then find some people who want us to play at their venue and pack it up in the car and go there. You can view a couple of our songs here on Bandcamp, but there’ll be about 6 more in the next coming weeks. Check back!
