The Engagement

So the question has been asked many times, and this is the general outline of how it goes with people who don't know either one of us very well.

Them: So did you know?

Me: ummm know what? That I was going to marry this guy as soon as I met him? Well, not exactly as soon as I met him, but it didn't take too long...

Them: No, silly! That he was going to ask you!

Me: Well, yeah, we talked about it a whole lot, and we planned to go out for an awesomely memorable dinner in Chicago and get engaged. It was perfect. He gave me my Grandmother's ring, I gave him this super cool ring I bought online *which seems appropriate* and it was totally perfect. I am the happiest girl alive!

Them: Oh, you knew? So I guess that's modern

Me: Well I wouldn't want to marry someone I couldn't talk to about our engagement. It seems silly.

Them: Well I guess if you feel like you're engaged, then you are.

Me: (on the inside) Fuck You.



The way it usually goes with our closer friends is something like this:

Them: Holy Shit! you are wearing a diamond!

Me: Yeah, it was my Grandma's, look you can see the groove her wedding band wore into the side of it. Cool huh? Oh, and I got him this really great ring online, and he is totally excited, and I am totally excited, and it's great.

Them: That is freakin' awesome, so when was the wedding?

Me: We aren't sure yet.

Them: You mean you didn't elope?!?, Wow you really must love this guy and want to start this out right.

Me: yup.


So there you have it. We talked about it, and decided to get married. I shopped for a ring for him (because I'm not the only one getting engaged) and we decided to go out for an awesome dinner, propose to one another and drunk dial almost everyone in our cellphones from the top of the Hancock Building in Chicago. It was awesome. It was perfect. It was totally modern, and totally us.


Here are a couple of pictures of the view that night. It was amazing.

Blog, resurrected

Remember when I used to write in this thing on a weekly, sometimes daily basis? Remember when I used to tell you all about my crazy crafty life? Well, I am working on getting back to it, because I have a big announcement, but before I tell you, here is a little update.

The skinny on the past year: I moved to the suburbs (I live in Mr. Smartguy's condo), and now I commute about 30 miles to and from work. You might say, Katie! That's not so bad!! Everywhere in the country people commute that much. Except here in the DC metro area, that translates to anywhere from 90 minutes to 4 or 5 hours depending on traffic- each way. Let me say that again. EACH WAY. I have a part-time job as a commuter. I am going to try to harness that time and whatever creative energy I have left to work on blogging, and also my big news:

We got engaged! I'm marrying Mr. Smartguy. Yes! the very one who's giant brain made me swoon. The very one I met on the internet! The very one who is the only man that could ever drag me kicking and screaming out of living in a city! That one!

It just happened last weekend, but it seems to be important enough that I'm resurrecting this blog to tell you all about the upcoming nuptials. As you might imagine, it's not really going to be a traditional wedding, so hang on! because it might be a bumpy ride.

So here is my promise, oh readers of this blog (if there are still any) I promise to write to you about what is bound to be a crafty, if not crazy event.

xo
Katie

I'll just draw a diagram.....

One year ago I met Mr. Smartguy. Or, rather I met him in "real life". We had been chatting on the interwebs for about a week before the grand meeting took place. The night of the first date was crazy. It involved a neighbor falling out of a window, a blown fuse, a haz-mat spill, several traffic violations, and 3 Republican National Convention lawyers. Sometimes, it's just easier to draw a diagram.

Here is how it worked out:

Home, Sweet Nomad....

It's that time again. I find myself standing in a partially packed apartment, there are boxes here and there, some full, some waiting to have my possessions carefully sorted and packed away. Yep. I'm moving again. This time, it's not for a job, it's for love.

Mr. Smartguy and I are making the leap. After almost exactly a year, we are moving in, shacking up, kicking the tires, and taking a test-drive. We aren't doing anything legal, just logistical. It's a big step for two grown-ass people to decided to move in and give it a shot, but somehow I'm not concerned. Maybe that's bravado, and maybe it's foolish to think that in this day and age a girl can meet a guy on the Internet and in about a year they can be living together happily, but here I am prepping for my 7th move in as many years, and I think this is the best move I've ever made.

Good luck with all the plastic!

Once in when I was working in the costume shop in Hartford a tour of tweensy children came through our shop. Amongst the eager faces of wannabe theatre professionals was a just barely pre-adolescent boy? kid? mini-dude? who wanted to know everything. What was this made out of? How did we do that? He was especially intrigued by the chorus-girl costumes made of a sparkly leotard that created the illusion of a girlie champagne flute with busty-booby-bubbles (gee I wonder why he was so interested?). The "flute" was made of a molded plastic cup, and he was mesmerized. On the way out of the door the young man proudly wished the shop "GOOD LUCK WITH ALL THE PLASTICS!" Unfortunately the kid had a terrible lisp, and it came out "GHOOD LUHCK WHIHTH ALL THE PHLASTHICS!" To this day, we still wish each other luck with ALL the plastics.

Weak segue, but whatever......

A few people have been asking me if I am still making my re purposed plastic wallets, and the short answer is- well, um no, not really. The reason? DC has enacted a totally-awesome-freakin-love-it-five-cent-bag-tax, and suddenly plastic bags are getting a little difficult to come by. People are bringing their illicit suburban bags into work to give to co-workers who use them for diapers, litter and doggy-duty. The once overflowing bag holder in my kitchen is becoming less and less full and I have to import my kitty bags from my fella's house in suburban Virginia. My once overflowing raw materials supply, is becoming less and less plentiful.
I'm making a few pouches when I find something that tickles my fancy, and I have a few bags left from the mass shipments that used to come in from as far away as Massachusetts and Chicago, but with the prevalence of totes and re-usables, I'm happy to say that this product is almost no longer viable. If I get into Crafty Bastards this year, I think that will be the last hurrah for my re-purposed plastic bags, and I couldn't be happier...

Part Deux

Upping my Crafty-nerd-street-cred-photoshoot-style

This is the second of a multi-post-series detailing my photoshoot with the Tomerlins of Tomerin Photography in preparation for the Crafty Bastards application process.


Once I decided which pieces I wanted to have photographed (of course, most of those pieces where not yet in existence) it was time to get-a-goin’. One piece I want to start selling are totebags. Why totebags? Well, because Washington DC has instituted a bag tax (which I FULLY support) and totebags are now, oh so very now. So I pulled out the YUDU Mr. Smartguy gave me for my birthday, and I took it out for a spin. **This is yet another up-side to dating someone who is interested in what you do, fully committed to gadgetry, and supports the furthering of said craftiness with gadgetry**. I think the results are strong, and graphically pleasing.



If I were to change anything about the YUDU as a product, it would be the horrible cheesy name. Additionally, as someone with limited experience with legit silk screening, (but more than a decade of painting and dyeing experience) I wanted clear and highly technical instructions. Luckily, with the assistance of you tube, some new and vintage books on textile printing, a few dozen websites and a some facebook conversations (hey, I get points for thoroughness) I fulfilled my nerdy needs and realized that although technically a bit complex, the products available on the market simplify the process. Making screens is something that someone with strong attention to detail, a commitment to following process driven instructions and a basic understanding of the importance of patience can do with reasonable success.

When styling the photos we wanted to be sure it looked like the bag was being used. Also, it was important to me to make sure that the scale of the bag, the quality of the screen and the overall image looked “professional”. We ended up stuffing the bag with a handmade lap quilt my mom made; it was a great color to have popping out of the top, and filled out the bag nicely. I’m particularly happy with this image, I think the styling and overall composition are quite pleasing and it is a good example of the quality of product (both for crafty lady and photographers!)

Like a real professional

A couple of weeks ago I decided it was high time to get some real pictures of my work, myself, and get my act together for the Crafty Bastards application (which is due in a couple of weeks). Crafty Bastards, for those of you who don’t remember- is a local show that-is-to-date my FAVORITE craft show of all times. The show was well organized, well planned, and had a great attendance. Sooooooooo I gots me a photo session.

The impetus for the photo session was pictures of items that needed context. For those of you who have not tried-it is really hard to take good photographs of your own work, on your own body. It’s even harder to try and convince your attractive friends to let you take pictures of them without some serious cajoling and maybe some roofies. So that leaves me, wearing my own stuff, and trying to take a decent photo of my own wrist, head, and (gulp) belt. Needless to say it is really hard to conjure up the littlest bit of my vague memories of that one episode of Top Model I watched in 2004 all the while trying to figure out how to operate my camera that has a more complicated processor than the space shuttle. In walk the Tomerlins, and I fall in love with the idea of getting someone else to ‘shoot’ my work.

The Tomerlins are a couple that met via their Flickr accounts. Yep, they met because they both liked each other’s photos, and started chitty-chatting online…fast forward a couple of years and they are hitched and own a photography company together. If that’s not a story made in cyberspace and digi-photography heaven I don’t know what is. I became familiar with their work via some great shots of a dear friend on facebook, later we met and chatted at a cocktail party and it was clear to me that these people could make me look great. Professional. Like a Crafty Bastard.

Here are some shots from our session.







I’ll be writing more about how I prepped for the session, and what the session itself was like in the coming days…stay tuned.