Bowling Collage

I'm trying to improve my blogging and picture taking habits. Do and share more of both. Here's an attempt I made last Thursday, when I not only brought a camera on an outing, but also took it out of the case and used it! 

I'm a terrible photographer - I have no patience for settings, and a lousy eye for composition. I have a history of filling rolls and rolls of 35mm with unmemorable, unshare-able garbage - so I also can't shake the feeling that I'm wasting even digital space with lousy pictures.

Borrowing a little from Hockney and Muybridge I tried to turn 19 bad pictures into 1 interesting one. It's funny how repetition or excessive quantity can increase appeal. It's sort of an art school trick - if you make 200 of something - you've got yourself an installation! It's a pretty good trick.

Stalking the Interwebs: The Village Mews

The rabbit hole of the blogosphere can lead you all over the world, and sometimes it leads you to... yourself! And your friends, and your friends of friends, and your favorite things, and your own neighborhood!

That's where I found myself after an interview on the Design Sponge guest blog led me to google Chelsea Green's blog - The Village Mews. The Village Mews focuses on art and design in the Pacific NW - what's going on, who's doing what - with occasional mentions to other noteworthy happenings happening elsewhere.

I tend to use my blogroll as a way of mentally acquiring design and imagery from far away or long ago. One of my pitfalls is allowing the vastness of great works out there make me feel more wistful than inspired - "The Australia design scene is so cool.... So-and-so's already doing that thing I was thinking of doing.... I wish I lived in Brazil/Tokyo/Copenhagen/Cape Town.... How is that guy selling so much of THAT thing?.... I wish it was the 60's...." All very milk-toast thinking and certainly not productive.

So it was both exciting and encouraging to scroll down the Village Mews and see a lot of people and projects to which we are directly or indirectly connected, some work I'd seen online but didn't know was local, plenty of work that was news to me, and ourselves! In addition to reminding me of all the strong work in Seattle and nearby, it reminded me to not get discouraged by the vastness - but to focus on what I do in the pond I'm in.

Chelsea started The Village Mews in hopes of luring her NYC friends out for a visit. Once Summer starts, I'm sure she'll be hosting non-stop.

Under the Magnifying Glass: Ladies&Gentlemen, Iacoli&McAllister, Join: Design Seattle, Nicholas Kamuda, Justine Ashbee, Cairo

Meet Mr. Denim!

I know he may look a little plain on the outside, but Mr. Denim has a great hand. Durable, accommodating, and classic. Sigh....

Green Festival in Seattle!

March 28 & 29, 2009
Seattle, WA (March 2009): Green Festival, the fastest growing green consumer event in the country, returns to Seattle for the second year on March 28 & 29, 2009. The Washington State Convention and Trade Center provides the space for the festival to take its platform and bring the most cutting-edge people, ideas, and organizations on the green scene to Seattle residents and the surrounding community. Co-hosted by the city of Seattle, the 2009 Green Festival will introduce sustainable options for a transitioning economy, growing consumer consciousness, and evolving environmental policy. This year, the Green Festival will have specialized programming to address the current state of the economy with extensive discussions and information on the growing sector of green jobs.'

The Green Festival is taking place at the Seattle Convention center this weekend. It's gonna be huge! It cost $15 to get in for the day, but if you rider your bike, carpool, or take the bus, you can get in for $10. Obama will be proud of you! :D

Jean

Good stuff in the air...

Not just the cherry blossoms starting up in Seattle, or the trips ahead of us in the next month, or our recent return from Hawaii (aloha, and don't hate me, mahalo).

I'm talking about great efforts made by some local folks trying to help out fellow indie biz owners in Seattle!

Jean and I attended a great workshop last night all about how to use blogging in an effective way to help and promote your business - and it got me fired up! See? An entry!

Kristen from Schmancy and Megan from Not Martha gave a talk about the dos and don'ts and good habits of good bloggers as part of an ongoing meet up/networking/workshop series in Seattle. I think it's so great that they have the desire and energy to help create this platform in our city. It's called the Grassroots Business Association, and I'm hooked! A big thank you to Kristen and Megan, and the Association for their efforts!

If you're in pdx this Sunday...

Come check us out at Crafty Wonderland!

I don't know if your eyeballs are sharp enough to read the back of this postcard - but the vital info is - the Doug Fir Lounge from 11am-4pm this Sunday and every 2nd Sunday for the rest of the year.

We'll be selling new/fun/Springy/unisex variations of our patch kits, notebooks, and our hoodies and jackets will be on sale!

Patch Kit Valentimes!

Give yourself a fun little project, and give a loved one (or again, yourself) a sweet reminder of your affection! Sweetheart Patch Kits are now available in our shop in plenty of time for Valentimes!

Choose from ten different but equally charming animal friends. Is someone you love a bear or fox or quail? Are you a squirrel?

Chika's story that she tells whenever the subject of squirrels comes up: I'm personally not too fond of squirrels because I have run over squirrels while riding my BIKE ---- TWICE. And both times they dove for my bike tires, and both times I screamed very loudly, and both times they seemed totally uninjured, while I remain traumatized to this day. BUT to bring it back to Valentimes, I learned later that they exhibit risky behavior to impress potential mates - pretty romantic, huh? Totally gross for me, but maybe that squirrel got a lady friend out of the deal.