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I don't know when it happened. It crept in like dust, or the post-collegiate 15lbs, or maybe like the roommate's boyfriend who stays over "but only on the weekend" then the weekend starts beginning on Thursday, then Wednesday, then one day you find his boxers mixed in with your laundry. However it happened...it did.

What am I talking about?

My horrible-lousy-bad-no-good attitude. I don't know when it happened, but I'll be damned if it's going to stay. I need a restart button.

This has been a great weekend. I got tons, and I mean tons done. I processed somewhere around 100 plastic bags into sheets of upcycled plastic for wallets, I started a website for one of the markets I am participating in this holiday season. I even sent out emails to local shops to get them to carry my work (one replied yes within 12 hours!) and I had 2 sales on etsy. This should have been an awesome, bad-ass, party down weekend. But somehow it was ruined as soon as I got up and left the house today.

The metric butt-load of bags awesome people have sent me to make into wallets :)

I had (by most accounts) a good day at work. I met with a designer about the next show I am working on. She is lovely. Her designs are clear and beautiful and will be fun to build....but somehow between 5pm when the meeting ended and I got home at 7:30-today went to crap.

It started, or rather ended, with a slice thru my finger with a fresh x-acto blade. Not bad enough to need stitches, but bad enough to hurt like heck, bleed like crazy, and send me home without finishing my project. Oh, and why did I slice my finger? Oh yeah, because I was preoccupied with how I just knew this week was going to be a let down after the weekend. (If that's not a PSA for shop safety I don't know what is) So I packed up and left for home. I got on the train....and it was broken. Yup. Broken. Simply-broken. We sat halfway in a tunnel for 30 minutes, when it reached the platform and I got off, it broke again. Instead of waiting for someone to get out and push, I walked to my transfer station about a mile away.

Proof the United States was founded by dudes

The walk was lovely. I walked past the national mall on a clear cold night. I should have been reveling in the beauty of our nation's front lawn...but instead all I could think about was that this was going to be a long week, and my flippin' finger hurt-WTF??! I couldn't even take a moment of joy feeling with every ounce of my being that soon Barack Obama will be the president of the United States (I'm gonna go work for him this weekend to be sure).

Our Nation's front lawn

I got home, my roommate asked how my day was, and it took most of what I had left to not burst out in tears. If I didn't know better I would blame it on PMS, or seasonal affective disorder, or depression, or some other perfectly good explanation....but that would be too easy, and a total lie. In reality- things here in our nations capitol haven't gone how I wanted them to go, and I'm getting caught up in wishing it was something else. I'm not sure how, but I need to find someway to make my time here more than just a stop-over in my life. I need a new way to look at it all. I need a restart button. I need a reboot. Or at least a good defragmenting.

Or maybe just a swift kick in the pants. As a friend in Hartford used to say to me.... Do I need to slap you upside your head? Or are you gonna do it yourself?

I'm working on it.

Enough with the politics!

What about the crafts?????

Okay. Yes. It's true. This blog has gotten rather political and personal and not so crafty. So here is a blog about some of the schmancy new crafts I'm a workin' on.

The Back story (because everything has one) :

I've been working on trying to find something I could make that wasn't sewing related. I feel like I have been sewing at work and home and it is becoming something that is happening sew much (I couldn't resist) that my hands are exhausted and I am slightly bored with myself. So I started looking at other things I could make. I also started looking around my room and realizing I have amassed a small collection of vintage paper goods- with no real way to display or use them.

Then I started thinking about things I do at work and how I could use those skills in my everyday craftiness.

The thing that really sticks out....toxic chemicals. I use them everyday. I do all kinds of stuff that should be preceded with the warning "this is a trained professional, do not attempt this at home". So I used some of that training and started messing with polyester resin.

Note!!! If you don't know what you are doing- this can be some REALLY dangerous stuff. Read: KILL YOU DEAD, or at least make you have a square-headed-baby**. But luckily! I am a trained professional, and understand how to read an MSDS and know there are things you DO have to read the instructions on.....

So I took my craftiness added some vintage ephemera and poured on a heaping helping of resin and voila!

Ephemera Belt Buckles are born!!!!!!!

They will hit the etsy store at the beginning of November, and will hopefully* be making an appearance at the BUST craftacular December 13th in NYC! They are going to range from $35 to $50.

*Oh man, I am so excited about this show. I might be unbearable if I don't get in. I will be unbearable if I do get in!

** Note: Resin is not toxic once it is fully cured. I DID follow the safety warnings, and I would encourage all of you to get an MSDS on all your craft supplies. Only you can keep you safe.

Air Quotes.

This week I've been called a starry-eyed idealist by a few people. I'm sure there are loads of people who are sick, sick, sick of hearing about "change" and listening to me and all the other "starry-eyed idealists". I know there are lots. I've been hearing all about it this week- at work, on the train, in the media, on facebook...

Since I will only have a few more weeks to keep flogging you with my liberal elitism-

I would like to remind you of a few people who were supported by some "starry-eyed idealists" and through movements that started as ripples, then splashes, then waves that have changed many lives.


Martin Luther King Jr.- starry-eyed to many, changed the lives of millions.

Rosa Parks- could have been called an idealist.

Susan B. Anthony- not exactly popular with the status quo.



Other slightly lesser known people who have changed a few lives:


Margaret Sanger- founder of the American Birth Control League, later Planned Parenthood.

Tommy Douglas- founder of the Canadian Healthcare System.

Okay, so the last two had a little problem with eugenics... so not everyone is perfect.

Remember, it's the few who dream big that impact us in the brightest ways. Starry eyed or no, I'm proud to say I've been working/talking/blogging/putting my money where my mouth is for a little change these days....and it's not of the pocket variety.

The debates this week were one of the most eyeopening and informing debates of this election. Seeing John McCain use "air quotes" when referring to a woman's health is all I needed to see to know he is the totally wrong man for the job- I don't care what your views on my reproductive rights are.
You should read what Cecile Richards (of Planned Parenthood) has to say about John McCain. You should also hear what Colin Powell (of Colin Powell is a really smart Republican guy) has to say about Barack Obama and John McCain.

This election is going to change America.

It has to.

2 weeks worth of adventure.

6 Number of voters 2 people can register in 3 hours

4.25 Number of hours it takes to get to NYC on the bus (in good traffic)

2 Number of batchelorette parties I've been to in the past 2 weeks

4 Number of weeks I have to wait to see if I got into the Bust Craftacular

25 Number of Lbs. of clothes, shoes, handbags and toiletries it takes to travel for 5 days straight and attend a wedding.


As you can see- I have been a little busy.


2 weeks ago He came into town. For those of you who don't know who He is- He is a dearest friend I have been seeing in an on again, off again relationship *He's not my boyfriend* that has lasted almost 5 years. (He will tell you it's been 4 years, but I think his math is off). He is one of the most intelligent and politically savvy people I know and love. It's great to spend time with someone who knows all your history, is willing to call you out on all your B.S. and allows you to do the same for *and to* them. He is also one of the few people I know who I can stand beside and feel like a completely politically illiterate dolt (that's saying something). He and I spent a day working for the Obama campaign in northern Virginia. Needless to say the weekend was a blast.
It was incredibly interesting, fun and rewarding to spend a little time working on a grassroots effort for a candidate I can believe in. This election has been one of- if not the most important election in decades. The stakes are so unbelievably high- not just for the country, but for me. The issues this time are not just ones of simple foreign policy, or lowering the national debt- but questions of basic human rights, specific women's rights, the current financial disaster, 2 wars and the future of health care in America. My life and the lives of those I love are going to be directly affected by this election, and it's not because I live in DC.
After donating some money, sending some emails, writing a few blog posts, and annoying everyone I know with my "Obama this" and "my boyfriend Barack" that. It was time to put some wear on my shoes and get some folks registered to vote. We walked and worked for several hours the day before the registration cut off. We only registered 6 voters, so we headed back and hit the phones for a few hours. It's incredibly rewarding to see that in a swing-state registration was so very, very high. I'm sure it was a combination of a number of factors, but it was-to turn a phrase 'frickin rad.' If you have never volunteered for a cause you strongly believe in, try it. You will feel good about your teensy little contribution for weeks and maybe years to come.

The trip to NYC and Connecticut for the wedding this weekend was fantastic. The bride looked amazing, the groom was adorable and the day couldn't have been prettier if they had payed off God himself. To top off an already lovely weekend, my bus ride was easy-as-pie and cheap, cheap, cheap. I arrived home and was feeling so confident about my week and my life I applied for the Bust Craftacular. It's one of the biggest and best indie craft shows in NYC, and if I can get in I feel certain it will be a very busy, very merry holiday season.

Oh, and on the political front if you haven't seen this yet. You should.