Holidays, holidays

Hello! I hope you had a lovely holiday - and if you had snow like we did, I hope you had a nice, relaxing vacation! We did! Not only were we "snowed in," but I was also without a computer for about a week (did you notice?). So there was much baking and eating and playing of board games, and reading and going for walks in the snow to do our last-minute Christmas shopping at Value Village and the pawn shop on the corner! (Since we couldn't drive anywhere, and it's not like I would go to the mall anyway.)

We watched VCR movies and played long games of Rail Baron with the kids. It's a game where you buy railroads and travel to destinations and collect money when people ride on your railroad and stuff. We are really into it. We played the UK version which took three days and we are now playing the Australian version.

We also had a great time with my old friend Michael Cordova, who lives and works in San Francisco (oh my gosh, he is a digital artist and he worked on the new Star Trek movie!) but was in town for the holidays. He and Melodie and I all became good friends back in high school. The three of us, and Chuck, had an excellent dinner at Bamboo, then caught the Bloodies' set at Plan B, and took a cruise down Peacock Lane before landing back at my house where this picture was taken:

Just like the old days!


I am getting ready to ship my big wholesale order TOMORROW - the 100 record bowls for Viva Terra. It's been ready to go since Thanksgiving, but they didn't want me to ship until after Christmas. I'm excited to get the boxes out of here!

Also, I have about five working days to design a new spring line to offer at the Portland Gift and Accessories Show, which is coming up January 10 - 13. I am totally procrastinating. I also need to come up with line sheets, order forms, business cards, and a display. (I'm allowing two additional working days for these tasks.) I am sharing a big triangular booth with five other artisans, and we will each get about 2' x 2' to display our samples.

I really need to get to work on that. It is hard. I seem to be stuck in holiday mode. More cookies!

For once, we are not planning to have a New Year's party - so we might be staying in! New Year's Day will be Chuck's and my 13th wedding anniversary - but we've actually been together for almost 18 years. And I might add that it will also be my one-year anniversary of not drinking. Feature that. Then January 5 is my birthday, and the day the kids go back to school!

I do have some ideas for the spring line, it is going to be very simple and cute.

In the meantime I've listed a few new cuffs in my Etsy shop! Take a look:

Best wishes to you and yours for a happy 2009!

Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe

There is no drug quite like the drug of playing in a rock and roll band, especially when one gets the privilege of "hogassing" the spotlight, as I do every year on the occasion of our Halloween show, when I perform a recitation of "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe. Last night at the Jolly Inn I had the true Janis Joplin moment of my life, when The Raven was performed with full backing rock band and doo-wop girls. It was a big hit!
I first memorized The Raven when I was in eighth grade. My English teacher challenged me to memorize it, so I did, and recited it for our class. Melodie Beirwagen was in that class too. Here she is now with our best friend Suzie Q:
It was Suzie who started the Halloween tradition - when she heard that I had the poem memorized she demanded that I recite it at the Halloween parties. It has since evolved into quite a performance piece and I love the chance to share it with the world once a year.

Here's me and my partner in crime:

The Vignettes:
The she-devils of Cootie Platoon were looking especially sexy:


Advisory played, and apparently got kicked out of the bar shortly afterward.



Dartgun rocked!

But that's not all - we have another show coming up on Halloween night - that's Friday, October 31 at Hungry Tiger Too (207 SE 12th in Portland), with Pitchfork Motorway and 48 Thrills. See you there!

Our show at the Tonic & Dartgun's Rocktober Calendar

We played a show Saturday night at the Tonic Lounge.




We played with Pitchfork Motorway...

...and the Bloodies:

The other bands were great! The whole night was a blast.

Check us out on myspace, the band is called Dartgun and we three doo-wop girls are the Vignettes.

Here's our ROCKTOBER calendar for PDX:

Thursday, October 2 at Ash Street, 225 SW Ash
Saturday, October 11 at the Know, 2026 NE Alberta
Saturday, October 25 at the Jolly Inn, 1927 SE 11th (our official Halloween Party with Cootie Platoon, Advisory, and the Bloodies!)
Friday, October 31 at Hungry Tiger Too, 207 SE 12th (that's Halloween night, boys and ghouls!)

Yeah, that's every weekend in October. If you are in Portland, check your calendar and maybe you can make it out for some good times and live music next month. I'd love to see you, come out and play!