(Inside A Black Apple)

Don't F*** with Love

This is not one for the children, or for the faint of...cursing, I suppose, but this short film is just too beautiful to be believed. I saw it the other night at the event aptly entitled "F*** the Backrow" (put on by Amanda of the Dresden Dolls , which was an evening of vaudevillian antics, men in blackface, short films (half were beautiful and haunting, half terrible and ridiculous). This film was the best of the best, in my opinion.

The song, and also the film were made by the Sad Little Stars, a NY based band who have an adorable website. Alright, enough is enough:
This seems to be the most reliable place to watch it: See the Film here!

Sorry I have no Work in Progress shots (I totally adore that idea!), I'm just trying to stay on top of the shop, until things calm down around here. I wish I was sewing or painting, I really do...instead of being one with the computer. Happy Weekend and Happy Days-off-of-Work, for those who have leaving-the-house-kinds of jobs!
xoxo,
emily

My Goodness!

Well, today and the last few days have been busy, busy, busy with the shop...so much that I can hardly keep up with combining invoices, tending the store, and the like. I vowed to myself that today would be a work day, so I did tear myself away from the tempest in a teacup that is my store today long enough to get in some quality painting time (thank god!). When it gets very busy seems to always be the times when I'm itching to make new things...oh, irony.

I'd like to present you with the product(s) of my working today:

They're both safely in the shop now, and I think I'm about to dust off my little paws and call it a day. Off to dinner with Liz, and then to see some sort of Dresden-Dolls-Amanda-Emcee'd short film recital. On with the goth girl clothes and stripey socks (wink)

I heart you, whoever you are!

2 Wee Originals

   

 

here & here

Tuesday Redux

Here I am, back again to report to you about my afternoon. "Why?" You ask. Well, it's because the P.O. was even more of a hellish zoo than usual, and I've got some pretty things to show you. (Note: Hang in there post-rant...I promise there are pictures!)

Item 1: The Post Office
So, just to set the scene for you here, I live about 3 blocks from a Post Office. That post office, however, is actually another circle of hell. It's horribly crowded, badly kept up, just very depressing. The main strike against it, though, for me is that they don't have a robot. I mean an "Automated Postal Center". These things are amazing...I am just so happy that there are enough old people that are afraid to use them that the line is always very short for it. If I ran the world/the post office, I would keep one real employee, and then have 10 Robots. That's right, U.S.P.S worker's union, I'm coming for you. The reason that they'll never have 10 Robots is the union, I'm sure. Their union is so strong that they are the ones who made it so that UPS/Fedex and the like cannot offer the equivilent of Regular Good Ol' First Class Mail. They are only allowed to offer "premium services" (that way they are only really competition as far as priority and parcel post go). Isn't that sad? This is why there are so many terrible and hostile Post Office Ladies (and men). The gov't. has a complete monopoly over our mail service, and they do a really crummy job alot of the time. I have about a 1/20 "failure" rate on my packages I send out for the store. Meaning that for ever 20 I send out, usually 1 will go missing. Ugh.

Anyway, so I've been literally humiliated and yelled at to tears by P.O. ladies before, so now I choose to use only the Robot (unless I can't avoid it). Today I got on the train and rode to 1st ave. to use their nice, civilized post office, and the line was unbelievable (for the regular windows, that is). So I hobble over holding about 10 larger packages in my arms, with about 20 more mailers/smaller things in my tote, and start at it. I'm kind of a pro with the Robot, so I'm pretty darn fast. People kept forming in the line behind me, and eventually were all whispering audibly about me. I mean, I know it's frustrating to just want to use the robot to mail your one little thing, and theres this crazy girl with a bazillion things to ship in front of you, but I really do have as much of a right to be there as you do.  I tried really hard to stay calm with all of these folks breathing down my neck and cursing the back of my head, and finally when everything was be-postaged, I turned around and said "I'm very sorry about this wait" to the lady behind me with an unbelievable New Jersien accent. She gave me an "eat sh*t and die look", so I bolted for the door. Hallelujah! I was done (for the day, anyway!)

Item 2: Forever 21 (or 23, in my case)
My afternoon continued with some returns in Union Square, where I wandered into "Forever 21". What a store! It's so SO cheap, and yes, the majority is very trashy and made out of horrible, itchy fabrics, but I found some adorable things there! Here's a little detail of my purchases...

Can you believe how in-style polka dots are? Holey moly, I feel like I'm in heaven. I'm always really excited whenever things that I love come into style, because then I can buy tons and for cheap... (Thank GOD that the boho trend is over and has been replaced by stripes and polka dots and faux vintage!)

And this represents the rest of the afternoon's work: Packaging up 50 Postcard Samplers ...

So I better get to it. Those stacks aren't gonna un-stack themselves! Happy afternoon darlin's!

Samplers 4 and Hello to new faces!

Hello, hello to all of you who have found The Black Apple blog through the sweet and generous Lisa's wonderful blog. Just a little note...the 4 Samplers for the week are now up in the shop! Have at them :) What was that? About 20 minutes? Thanks, Girls!

I may be back with more substance later on...for now it's off to the P.O. to mail all of the stuff you little peaches order!

<---This is me...feeling greatly loved by you & by Lisa & by, oh...lots and lots of kind, kind people.

Thank you, thank you. You make my world go 'round!

Happy Monday!

Hello my lovelies! We had a rainy weekend here in Brooklyn, so sadly there wasn't much going out and about in search of fun (aka, the "Pirates and Mermaids" parade on Coney Island, etc.). Liz and Sarah and Greg and I went out to dinner at a wonderful resteraunt in Little Italy on Friday night, in honor of Elizabeth's birthday. Exciting things did come in the mail on Friday afternoon, however...after much pacing and waiting for the UPS man, he came circa 6:30 (so late!).

One was the A/C unit you've heard to much griping about! Hurrah! It's so wonderful...we're real people now. Ironically enough, the weather shifted drastically back to the 70's for the weekend, so I haven't really needed it that much. But still. I feel so much better about the 90's that will inevitably follow! The more exciting and lovely thing that came were these babies:

they are so comfy and i love them. If I were a rich lady, I would have
real trouble restraining myself from snapping up 5 more pairs of Fluevogs. Actually, if I were a rich lady, I will do just that with no reservations whatsoever!                      

I finally got my room...er...shoebox whipped into shape. Just as the state of my office/workspace declines (isn't that always the way?). Everything is lovely and hanging and shelved and there is absolutely nothing touching the floor except for things that are supposed to.

 

I am so in love with all of this modular shelving. Part of it is mine, part of it came in the room. I mean...it's pretty much absolutely essential in a space this teeny, but I still like to think of it as a swell plus.

I adore having little shoe cubbies. So fancy!

My dresser-top. I love these colors of red + green + blue so much! I also love dresser-tops. Don't know why. Irrational Object Love (I.O.L.) affects many of us.

Ooh la la...nic nac shelves. Complete with one of Stephanie's (sorry for crediting your lovely sister earlier, Stephanie! I get the talent in your family confused...) beautiful bunnies perched on top.

Last, I just want to show you guys these little ones, as they were a gift from my sweet Sarah, and they are pretty much some of my favorite possessions. (They're out in our living room, p.s.)

They are original plates taken out of a victorian children's book called "The Bird Children". Aren't they so wonderful? I should put in some nice scans for you guys, so that you can see them close up. They are beautiful, and have little verses about the individual "bird children".

So that's the place! Thank you for allowing me to show you around...and also show you my new pretty shoes. In shop news, there is a new set of postcards, a Postcard Sampler if you will, containing a variety of 5 images! Hooray! I know somebody out there will be excited about that. Also, a new batch of Black Apple Samplers tomorrow circa about 2 pm. Adios!

Salt, Meet Pepper

Umbrella Girl for Liz

A sun-bleached self-portrait for this Friday. The necklace I'm wearing is one of my favorite possessions, and certainly my favorite necklace. I bought it from Snapcrafty, and I wear it almost every single day!

The cupcakes mentioned yesterday were tested (to make sure they weren't...ummm...poisened, of course) and they are amazing. I can show you Liz's present tomorrow, after she gets to open it today!

Happy Friday my dears!

Little Marla Singer

"Marla's philosophy was that she could die at any moment. The tragedy, she said, was that she didn't".
-Narrator (Jack)/Fight Club

Feeling crummy makes me want to paint a little Black Apple version of my favorite fictional character...don't be sad that she's not a hedgehog. I've gotta paint outright sad girls sometimes.

I don't even like Fight Club that much, just Marla. I think her character is hilarious and strangely endearing...and I love Helena Bonham Carter (affectionately known as "the HBC" to friends in the know).

She lives here. She flew the coop!

And my copy of Hilllary's Pattern Book ?  Ordered and good to go, happy to say!

PS: Thank you for all of the sweetie pie comments on the new pins! I loved the square ones, but they are a bit of a change from what you normally expect in a pinback button, so thanks for the reassurance that they are cute. Also, never fear you Sampler lovin' gals, there will be 3 (or 4) back up in the shop next week. I promise. Thanks for caring about The Black Apple's cute curiousities, and about me. You have no idea how much it means. Well, maybe you do... (wink)

It's my darling Elizabeth's birthday tomorrow, so I think I'm going to make the amazing Magnolia Buttercream Frosting for the cupcakes. I also need to tie up the loose ends on her gifts this afternoon, and run some errands (ooooh the Office Supply store, my other favorite home away from home...the other being the P.O. of course). Liz, if you are reading this, you know nothing about cupcakes. Nobody said anything about making anything for you or the birthday that you aren't having tomorrow.

Pin! Buttons! Samplers!

I don't think that I can describe to you guys how dorky I still get over ordering things for the shop. Anything mailordered is fun to me...books for my own personal use, Great. Zappos.com cute shoe order for me, Fine. But things for The Black Apple...things mailordered for my own little cottage industry just make me so giddy!

I know Hillary knows what I'm talkin' bout. In case some of you don't read Wee Wonderfuls regularly, Hillary's pattern book will be available starting tomorrow! I'm so excited both for her and myself...I will be patiently waiting in line behind softie zealots from all over the place.

I've been awaiting a button order from Busy Beaver Buttons for about a week, and I just had a feeling they would come today. And they did! Along with about 20 much needed canvases from Dick Blick! Hurrah! Here they are:

The Design for the 1.5" square (these are so neat, no?) badges is the beloved Telephone Girl image in 4 different colorways.
The little 1"-ers are the bird "Carousel Rider", and the green third of the Three Trees print set.
The first Black Apple pinback button set is available Here, for a mere 6 clams.

In other shop news, The Sampler is back! This is the nifty new design I came up with to denote the Sampler listings:

<----This is the listing you'll look for from now on, when you'd like to purchase el Samplerino. Pssst...there are 3 going up in the Shop right now! Gone for today, i'm afraid! Next week there will be more...I suppose Wednesday is the new Sampler day?

I'm such a dork for my shop, I know. You can go ahead and say it. As excited as I am for the buttons/new Samplers... I actually might be more excited about that new A/C (please come today! please!? do you want me to continue to look like a lady from ye olden pioneering days for fear of setting foot near the blow drying? do you? DO YOU? no. nobody wants that.)

In other dork news, I ordered these lovely babies last night from Zappos. It's my first pair of Fluevogs...lets hope they agree with me. Because I adore them. Thanks so much to the sugar cookie Missy for reminding me that John Fluevog's amazing shoes even existed! Alright, enough is enough!

Happy Wednesday my petite turnips!

I wish I was the moon tonight

Hello sweet peas!

The weekend was very fun...we went to Renegade on Saturday, and I got to meet so many internet buddies in real life! I was very excited about seeing the wonderful Kate Black in person, and she was so sweet and also very pretty. Heidi of My Paper Crane was there, and she was also such a cutie and a nice-y in person, which of course I expected. Her little moldy toasts were a-mazing, and I love that she used real bakery equipment (clear lucite donut boxes, tongs, etc.) to display on her table. So profesh.

Of course, it was wonderful to see Small Object Sarah again...she was being swarmed, or I would've stayed and played with her adorable stamps for longer. I also met Marilyn of MPatrizio, who is sweet and has an adorable accent. Something very adorable, and that I was very flattered by, is that Kate said "I recognized you before you introduced yourself because you look like your work! You're adorable!" Several people said things along those lines, which made me feel a little funny, but happy. And Whew. I was actually so overwhelmed by getting to meet all these folks, I actually bought almost nothing! I know, I know...but after about a mile of cute-cute-cute, I hit T.C.O....Total Cuteness Overload. You know what I mean, that "if-I-set-eyes-on-another-pink-felt-baby-deer-I-just-might-puke" feeling.

I did buy one little trinket, which I think Lisa might covet:

That's right...it's my Pirate Bling.

In The Black Apple Shop, there is a whole lot of fun new stuff. In addition to the new Isobels, Dunce Gals, etc., there are several new (and lovely, if I do say so) originals, including this one:

Annnnnd, Postcard Packs are back! I did a reorder of the Curious Birdplane packs, and got two new designs: Typewriter Girl, and Tea for Two. I spent the afternoon painting and packaging these babies up...so nice and quiet and fun.

Also in the works for this week:
The Return of the S A M P L E R ! ! !

I'll fill you in on when that will come to pass soon.

In other NY news, it's really f'ing hot here. Yesterday it reached 95 degrees...yuck. I mean really. And we have no air conditioning, so I'm sweltering. I've never looked so forward to anything mailordered coming than I am my new window air conditioning unit from Target.com in a few days. Oh my sweet potato, will I be one happy clam.

xxx! ooo!

Sleepy Tree

(here)

Magic Things that are making me happy this Friday

My two wonderful, wonderful foxlets came from Kristy yesterday evening! They are so perfect, and made me so happy.

Their little tails are my favorite things! I'm happy to see that, from her "progress friday" post, it looks like there are more in the making! Thank you so much, Kristy!

Today, Elizabeth and went to Giant Robot NYC, to see the Souther Salazar show before it comes down next week. It was so, so wonderful. We wandered around in the little gallery shop for what seemed like hours, and bought some tees and etceteras. Liz bought one of those adorable little "seedling egg planters", and some shirts. I got this wonderful Marcel Dzama tee:

I like to think of these guys as a "root head" band. To elegant-ify the tee, I used pinking shears to get rid of the constricting neckline, etc. I like it. Quite a bit. I'm mostly over teeshirts at this point, but this one was quirky and elegant enough to make the cut.

I also got this  lovely card set. They are beautiful, and I can't wait to  both dazzle and mystify the people I send them to. I think I'll frame at least 3 of them.

And last, but not least, I also got some adorable Cram Cream tape! Hooray! I finally join the ranks of people who have decorative tape!

Cute, cute, cute. I think that a good source for more Cram Cream stuff is Juice Planning , at least as far as online retailers go.

Well, off I go for the day! I'll have a report of the day's Renegading tomorrow.
Hearts away to you guys!

The Family of Duncies Grows Larger

Hello to all you sweeties! Thanks for the sweet comments on the new Isobels...I can't tell you how thrilled I am that so many people have loved and embraced those simple little ones.

In the spirit of everybody's "progress shots" (P.S., don't you love the little "trends" that sweep through our little community? I love it & it cracks me up), I thought I would show you some little piles and such of my own...and, since I've been a lazy little blogger for the last few days you get to see the final product(s) as well!

Here are the gals in piles...I used a very charming blue marker for my pattern tracing, so excuse that tacky element.

Here's my sweet little sewing machine circa yesterday evening...I loved the way it looked!

And....Yay! The fruits of my cutting + sewing!
From the left, we have Pinky, Jane, Clover & Silvie, the newest dunce gals.

They'll be in the shop shortly!

Elizabeth (dear college friend #2 that I get to spend this special NY summer with, and also a pretty regular commentor on this blog) and I went with Sarah to take some of her kids (7th graders) to see "Akeelah and the Bee" today, which was an experience! That movie was very sweet and heartwarming (just like you knew it would be...) and I wouldn't have ever seen it on my own, so I'm glad we all trekked over to it. Another movie I have seen in the last few days is Al Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth" , which was very sad and maddening the way you knew it would be, and also informative in a very conversational way. I heart Al Gore. Even if he is batty. When I heard that he was doing these slide shows all over the place, I got this adorable image in my head of him travelling door to door with a suitcase and a slide projector, just trying to tell people about what he cares about: global warming. So endearing. And, lest we forget, we are talking about the man who invented the internet, after all...

I hope everyone is peachy and plummy.
xoxoxox

PS: Bagel Bread

For "Brown Tuesday". That's right, it's "Bagel Bread "! Bread that is Bagelesque. It was quite good, too.

More Isobels, Please!

Hello, friends! I'm having banner-changing-anxiety right now, as you may be able to tell! In the mean time, there are 7 beautiful new Isobels up in the Shop! You might notice that they've all got some sort of sweet little hat/head-dress action going on. Also, I ordered lots of new fun Black Apple-ish things, so in  a week or so there will be trinkets ahoy.
xo,
emily

Iron Artist

Yesterday, Sarah, Greg (Sarah's boyfriend & a comedic genius) and I went to PS1 for an afternoon showdown/spectacle they called "Iron Artist" , which was a funny parody of "Iron Chef", the amazing TV show. Like Iron Chef, they gave the artists a "secret topic" (instead of a secret ingredient) and then the two artists and their assistants went to town with limited supplies (in this case, gigantic blocks of Styrofoam). The secret topic was "Love and it's Discontents". It was very crowded, and there were many babies, hip people, and old people. And hip babies. And old hip people.
It was a beautiful day, as you see here with the incredible sky:

That formation in the background with all of the wooden structures is part of a separate installation (?) that is being built.

Soon there was a flurry of Styrofoam "snow", as the artists began chipping and sawing away with chainsaws and things. It was quite a sight!
Here Sarah and I are, covered in the aforementioned snow (with hilarious, Microsoft Paint-looking hearts drawn in...have I ever told you people how much I love my Sarah? Well I do. Big time. In fact, she deserves a post all of her own. She's my best friend in the world).

One of the artists ended up constructing a rather unfortunate and very inelegant "solar system" accompanied by some poster board signs:

thar she blows
<----

The winner (which I was very satisfied about, as were Greg and Sarah and probably everyone else in the audience who wasn't a dummy) sculpted a strangely lovely snowman, which was held upside down by some wooden supports:

If this sculpture doesn't truly capture the theme "Love and it's Discontents" I don't know what does.

All in all, it was a hilarious and enjoyable and absurd way to spend the afternoon.
And this guy was there,

and I definitely thought he was just that tall until Sarah pointed out that, sadly, he was sitting on a ledge, and is not, in fact, a mustard sweater wearing giant.

The Magic Sock (s)

Socks. I love them. Like obsessively, almost painfully love them. It's one of my most acute inanimate object-loves. In light of this, why didn't I find Sock Dreams earlier?  I remember always seeing their ads in Bust and thinking "wow, what a cheesy font/design that ad has", which made me immediately forget about the fact that it might be the answer to all of my years of travelling around department stores, Target, and kitschy specialty stores I.S.O. quirky, amazing socks. Lo and behold, people...it was. I mean is. Overlook the cheesy font/design... and Holy Moley, I felt like I fell down the rabbit hole to my perfect, perfect place.

I made a small testing-the-waters-with-one-little-toe order (just in case they were ultra tight, or un-comfy, or whatever) and got 4 pairs, and one for Sarah. I have always had kinda big calves, so sock fitting is a specialty process. I bought several pairs of striped over-the-knees , and (as I suspected) they hit me at about the middle of my knee. But oh they are comfy... a nice thickness, they stay up well. So, so happy. 

They also have free shipping! These socks were ordered on Saturday, and dropped on my doorstep Wednesday. Wonderful! The Sock Dreams folks are highly recommended. If you are a sock fetishist, you will spend an unbelievable amount of time just perusing the huge inventory, drooling. Clint referred to it as "sock porn", because of some of the sexier leg shots.  I call it sock porn because...well... it makes me so darn happy.

My little corner of the Great Room

Hi! Hello!
I've got a few little pictures for you of my new studio-corner. I know it's modest, nothing at all to Alicia's new studio, or many others with lovely, big workspaces. But you must remember where I am living now. As teeny as it is, I'm actually really relieved to have my work-things segregated from my personal affects. In my (albeit gigantic) room in Clint's wonderful house, the setup we had going was a combined "bedroom"/studio for me. And though that space is big and lovely, I really like having my little office totally in it's own bubble. Away from my clothes. Away from cd's and novels and the like. And I'm glad to have those things no longer intermingled with the very exotic office supplies, paint, fabrics, etc. It just feels nice. Here it is:

I've consolidated space as best as I can...big boxes of mailers/shipping supplies (from U-Line, the best and speediest in the world) are under the sewing table. That chest of canvas drawers that my scanner is sitting on top of is full of neatly folded fabric. You're also getting to see here my gigantic moniter, which makes me feel so very fancy indeed. I would never have such an indulgent, fancy flat-screen moniter if it hadn't been free, as in totally free with my new computer. How the Dell do they do it?

I'm also really happy about that desk chair, which is actually just about the swankiest folding chair I've ever seen, and was gotten at the Brooklyn Target for under $30.00. And it's pretty comfy. And it's a stylish folding chair, which I kinda thought was like a unicorn.

This is Eliot, Sarah's sweet/sour little kitty (she makes a nice friend for the day time when I'm all by my lonesome).

I think she's nesting those bubble mailers, maybe.

It's a miracle that this space is up and running for quite a few reasons. In addition to  the expected wierd/stressy/settling in time, I've also had some personal/emotional issues monopolizing my days...but I think they're on the mend. I do hope so. I can't be productive when it feels like my heart is caving in. So my studio/office is all ready now, and Sarah and I trekked out to do a massive mailing of all of the last 2 week's orders. It was traumatic. But it's settled now, and I'll save that story for another day! Right now I'm going to go eat my first take-out Thai dinner in NYC by myself, and watch Transamerica. And make things. My fingers are itching.

The Black Apple gets cozy (in The Big Apple)

Hello my dears. I've missed you! That's right, I missed all of my grownup penpals & blogging friends a whole bunch, and I hope that you missed me, too. At least a little.

I'm in the process of settling in...my bedroom (which I like to think of as "cozy" and "nookish" rather than oppressively tiny) is almost ready for reasonable habitation, and then there will be pictures of the rather elaborate (for me, anyway) organizational-living system I've got goin' on. My studio/workspace (aka half of mine and Sarah's living room) is almost up and running as well.  I'm so eager to get back to working, but settling in is time consuming. Especially when you've got a wandering eye...and feet...that want to distract me from getting done with the task at hand.

The story of the move (itself)
The move itself was wonderful, I really couldn't have asked for a more lovely trip. The near panic-attack (I'm really not exaggerating here, it was very scary) on Wednesday night circa 11:30 pm was really horrible. Thankfully, super-Clint got home from work just in the nick of time to rescue me from the depths of despair in the most graceful and sweetest of manners. The next morning, Mama and I got on the road around 9:30 or 10, and had a nice leasurely trip up the eastern half of the country. I fell completely in love with the southwestern part of Virginia...really. No really. It's all I can think of. The rolling, foggy hills. Baby goats. So much green. Good lord, it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever set eyes on.

We stopped for the night at the toppermost of the poppermost of VA, and then headed out the next morning.  Why I didn't take any pictures in the car, I'll never know. It's probably because my camera was packed in the back of the Tahoe, and was absolutely inaccessible...dummy me. We arrived in the city right in time for traffic, and rain, both. The rain was actually probably a blessing in disguise, though, because it made Sarah, Greg, Me & Mom rush around unpacking the car like crazy decapitated little chickens. We had a nice dinner that evening at this wonderful Italian place that seems straight out of the Godfather...it's very delicious, in addition to being unassailably cool and, as Greg says, "hipster-free".

This is rare in this neck of the woods, as I find out more every time I venture out of the house. Just today, in the super cute little heart of Bedford Ave., I went down to Spoonbill & Sugartown (an art bookstore that is absolutely wonderful...it's really the only place that is a real danger for me. more than Anthropologie. or maybe the same). Anyway, there is a little boutique called the Mini Mini Market that probably lots of you have been to, or heard of, or have consigned with, etc. It is definitely cute, but way on the "deer and lightning-bolts and plastic hearts" side, if that makes any sense at all. They had this amazing Princess Tina top in this print, and only one size out. I asked if there might be one size larger anywhere, but alas and alack, I was informed that it was the only one there. In a slightly snotty way, might I add.

Anyway, I wanted to share 5 things that made me happy a today (it was kind of a hard day, my first day flying solo all day with Sarah gone). So here they are, and some are illustrated!

1.) An adorable little Mexican mini-me who was about 4. She had cute little black pigtails, and stripey socks. Oh, and was holding a soda from the same restaurant as me! So cute. No picture of that little one, though.

2.) The sweetest  curtains featuring little cutie dutch children with stripey socks! They seemed very Netherlands-by-way-of-Japan to me. They were $10 for the pair at a sweet new/vintage housewares store right down the street from me.

3.) Memories of playing weird vintage Chinese bingo last night with Greg, Mary, and Sarah (thanks to that sweet devil Shannon, who sent the game to me!) Mmmm... Red Stripe. It's definitely one of my top 3 favorite beers. And it's certainly the cutest.

4.) This Couch:

It was sitting there on the sidewalk, just being cute and just a little ugly. I put down my book acquisitions (Marcel Dzama and an out of print Henry Darger monograph!) to photograph it. I wish I could've shrunk it to fit into my pocket and taken it back to the apartment. Our couch is ugly. Real ugly.

5.) The sounds of Midlake, a bunch of guys who seem to be obsessed with late 1800's pioneering life & Fleetwood Mac. So basically a band of my perfect husbands. And Clint's perfect husbands. Their new records is called "The Trials of Van Occupanther". They remind me of a Marcel Dzama drawing set to music. Except maybe a little more "wholesome" (without all the penises & decapitation).

Well, there we are. I know this was a long 'un. But, like I said, I missed you guys. I needed to chat. Happy Monday!