all things girls can tell

raincoats, take a guess and bike to work day.

the only good thing about it raining on bike to work day is that i really needed to water my tree today (yes, by tree i mean the little tree in my little island of trash...), and now i probably won't have to.

so, i'll give you all til sunday to guess how much change is in the jar by leaving a comment. i know you're reading, why not leave a guess? i'm picking two commenters at random to send a package of girlscantell funsies to, as well.

the other day, i decided i really needed a raincoat the other day. my criteria was that it needed to have a hood, and not look like a mom-raincoat (you know what i mean). of course, the first place i checked was etsy. there wasn't much in the way of handmade raincoats listed, except from hacker, which had this amazing reddish pink coat listed, but a little out of my raincoat price-range. so, tempted as i was, i checked my paypal account and decided to keep looking.  after a few frustrating searches that kept leading me to the inevitable lands-end-epitome-of-mom style coats, i checked the kenneth cole site, because kenneth cole can pretty much do no wrong, right? 

well. not so much on the trenches with hoods from kenneth cole.  (come on, desginers! hoods can be awesome!  make it work! where is tim gunn when you need him? outerwear shouldn't be such a chore!)  then i ended up at bluefly, which i'd heard a lot about, but never actually shopped on before. after much hemming and hawing, and a brief encounter with a well meaning but fairly useless 'personal shopper', i finally decided on this one. so, fingers crossed that it a) arrives before we leave for chicago and b) is everything i've ever wanted in a raincoat.  who knew a nice looking, hooded coat would be so hard to find?

bike to work week and awesomeness

so, apparently, it's bike to work week. i did bike to the train station today for work, and maybe i'll bike around the block and back to my house every other morning to celebrate. speaking of bikes, i'm listing all the goodies i made for squidfire that didn't get bought up all week. yay.

i have this habit of buying real simple magazine on days i commute up to brooklyn, and then i usually read it on the train on the way home and i get so amped about whatever lame thing they have on the cover - like "99 ways to organize your shoe closet" or "best herb gardens for your backyard" and i'm like YEAH! then i get home, file the magazine away on my shelf (see? i don't even need any help being organized), and don't ever think about doing all those silly things ever again. surely, i'm not the only one who does this, right? i mean, have you even seen my backyard? (hint: at a whopping 7'9" x 14'5", it's probably smaller than that shoe closet they've been working on...)

okay. i'm curious why there aren't more guesses are left via comments on the change jar post. i'll give you all about a week... how much do you think is in there? maybe you'll guess lucky and a set of beautiful girlscantell placemats will arrive at your doorstep... you never know. and you certainly won't get any goodies without guessing.

hello, rainy monday.

so, squidfire, in typical squidfire fashion,  was a pretty great show. not super stressful crowded, but a fun trip to baltimore (which, since we're pretty deeply entrenched into season one of the wire, was kind of entertaining in and of itself), and a really nice day (once those am showers cleared up...). we got to see some great etsy sellers - built in pittsburgh (remember when they were jetsetter in philadelphia?), drgceramics (i bought a mug! yay!), rebounddesigns, imogeneandannie and so many more...  this was cute erik's first time helping at a show, and i think he was surprised at how... relaxing? (i kind of never relax, so this was probably surprising...) it is once you're there and set up, just sitting and enjoying the weather and conversation with whoever stops by. so nice. 

you need to watch this amazing, robot-lovin' video by crankbunny. so amazing, beautiful and brilliant.

in other news, i'm planning on visiting the penny arcade change counter thing at commerce bank soon, with my nearly-full half gallon of change. so, since last year was fun, i'm taking guesses again at how much is in the jar. to give everyone a fair shot, last year's total was $186.37, but the jar was a bit more full than it is this time around. price is right style rules apply (again), and two other commenters who leave a guess will also get a little girlscantell treat.  so, comment away with your guesses!

how to prepare for a craft show while doing 57 other things

um, if anyone knows of a good tutorial for full on getting ready for a craft show while working full time, planning a fundraiser, cleaning your house in preparation for your parents visiting for mother's day and generally doing a zillion other things, kindly do share. thanks.

on the bright side, i'm totally happy with the good stuff i have been making. yay. let's just hope the weather in baltimore saturday is beeeee-autiful.

oh dear bloggity.

it's not that i don't love you, sweet blog. it's just that every single project i'm involved in is demanding i give it my full attention this week. luckily, cute erik is super sweet, even when i'm insane.

in other news, my friend found a really informative (but in a crazy way) pamphlet at the weird little round building at love park the other day. apparently, the fairmount park commission has taken to charging organizations (non-profit or otherwise) for dyeing the water in the fountain there. so, for a meager $500 + the costs associated with the task and materials of dyeing, you and i could request that the fountain be any of the colors they have available - including but not limited to pink, red, indigo, and lime green. wouldn't that be fun? to dye the fountain for your birthday?  or to just cheer up a friend? or to sell shit online?  yes. it would be. and you know it.

community and some advice, please.

i could try to sum up last night's junto, but odds are i wouldn't be as articulate as rick is for junto.org, so i'll just point those who are interested there...  also, i'm very much looking forward to whatever and whenever next junto is. as usual, it was a total pleasure having a great conversation with so many interesting, well-spoken members of the community.

so, i've been trying to figure out how to best spend the little time i have for making stuff for squidfire (since, basically, i've left making any goods to sell up to practically the last minute. superfun.)  i'm thinking some useful little zippy pouches (a la my little tutorial here), along with the usual assortment of fun printed housewares - placemats, mitts, potholders, trivets, coasters, dishtowels and cloth-napkins... all sorts of fun printed goodness.   what do you think? what would you bring most of? what would you want to see if you were browsing around the art mart on a gorgeous late spring day?

creative communities

i'm really looking forward to tonight's junto on creative communities.  about a year ago, it dawned on me that pretty much everything i was doing was contributing to some emerging community in some way. from being an active part of the neighborhood association where i live, to making a living organizing a global creative community, the focus of most of my energy is spent working with people to work together to achieve goals that we can't achieve individually.  lately, i've been talking with a few people who have an interest in, well, basically combining these two things - place and making - to make a really dynamic collaborative force. hopefully, this junto is progress toward the creation of something kind of amazing in south philly. 

newsflash

okay, newsflash: the six feet under box set arrived via fed ex this morning.
so i will probably not be leaving my house for the next month or so.

(except to sell at squidfire. and go to chicago. probably i also need to go to brooklyn for work. and the junto tomorrow. and that wedding i need to go to on saturday... and i guess see my mom on mother's day, since i'm the only daughter she has on the east coast... all this leaving my house stuff is really interupting my plans to be a hermit and watch the best. show. ever. geez.)

wtf, creepy postman?

the most ridiculous adventure i have to report back to you all lately is an update on my creepy postman. i've complained about how he asks me oddly irrelevant and maybe slightly too personal questions for months to my coworkers, but friday he finally crossed the line of creepy.  maybe it's my fault for ordering way too much good stuff online lately (i've been on an etsy spree, and also treated myself to the six feet under box set, because it's the best show. ever. yay.) but friday i noticed the wedding present i ordered for my friends from the lovely tasha mckelvey hadn't arrived yet.  creepy postman handed me a final notice delivery slip, which made me really angry (because of the stupidity of the two different post office set up in my neighborhood, which i've explained here before). 

me: why didn't i get the first two notices for this package, or better yet, why didn't you just knock on my door to deliver this package? i've been home all week.

creepy postman: oh, i have two other packages for you in the truck. [see, i told you've i've been quite the online shopper as of late...] do you want me to bring them around in a bit? will you be home?

me: yes. i work here. i'm pretty much always home.

cp: okay,  i'll be back in a bit.  heh, it must have been the mailman standing in for me all week.

me: oh, really? because this is the kind of thing that happened around christmas, and i was pretty unhappy about having to go to 25th and snyder to pick up all the packages you guys didn't deliver then, as well.

so, an hour or so later, he comes back, two packages, but no wedding present, in hand.

me: you don't have the one that i just got this slip for? how does that even work?

cp: oh, yeah, i don't have it with me. i could bring it tomorrow. hey, do you ever go to the tap room down the block?

me: i go there sometimes. it's nice.

cp: oh, uh, yeah, if you want to meet me there for a beer tonight i can bring the other package then.

me:  [complete silence and creeped outedness] um. i don't think so.

cp: or i could just bring it tomorrow like i said.

me: uh, yeah.  that would really be better, i think.

um, hello? isn't that totally illegal?  wtf?  nevermind the total absurd notion of meeting up at the tap room with my creepy, old, creepy, not attractive, awkward, creepy, possibly married postman (my mom suggested i go meet him there, but bring cute erik with me), but isn't the very act of him giving me my mail in a bar (aka, holding it hostage in exchange for a date) totally unethical and illegal?

this is the first thing that's made me having a center city office - an address to get all my internet shopping shipped to.  on the bright side, the earrings above are one of the two packages he did hand over that day - i got two gorgeous pairs from tinarice. so pretty! 

mr. bill is totally my hero.

so, where have i been? what have i been doing that is just whittling down the hours of the day, leaving none for blogging?  how am i even filling the hours?

i've been, of course, just incredibly busy: with running the etsy teams, with enjoying the brilliant weather, making smoothies, planning the first ever but totally awesome newbold neighbors neighborhood beer tour, and trying to free my bike from the clutches of the u-lock that i lost the key to.  also, thinking about making stuff.  not actually making stuff, but really thinking about how i should be making things. beautiful, wonderful, useful, sellable things.

last night we had the pleasure of seeing i'm from barcelona play the first unitarian, which was so unbelievably great - they're probably the best show i've seen in a good three years. (at first i thought their website was swedish, not english, but sure enough, it is english).  if i can make it through an entire show in the basement of the church and actually want the band to play an encore (or, in i'm from barcelona's case, play an encore which becomes a full-on dance party and ends with a conga-line started by the lead singer), you know it's a good show. because that venue is miserable, especially in anything resembling warm weather.

so, in other news, my latest debacle / fiasco / what-was-i-thinking was that my bike was locked to my stoop and i lost the key to the lock. how could i be so ridiculous? well. let me explain. i've had this u-lock for most of the time i've lived in philly - like more than two and a half years. and probably about 6 months after i got it, the little plastic part on the top of the key broke off, so i had to be super careful where i'd put the key (and putting it on my keyring was no longer an option).  so finally, i got another lock, one with a key that didn't require so much mindfulness.  and i promptly lost the key to the first lock, for the first time ever, the last time i ever needed to unlock the old lock.  so. i polled the internet (thanks to all those who submitted helpful tweets and responded to my myspace cry for help) and finally, my super sweet neighbor, mr. bill came over with a saw he bought that cuts iron, and sawed the lock off in about twenty minutes. which is how it came to be that mr. bill is now officially my hero.