all things girls can tell

video, bolt bus and some good reads

the storque published an article and the video of my presentation at ignite, so in case you missed it, it's my 5 minutes, and a little context about where it came from (and how much i'm the hugest nerd ever?)

okay, so, the bolt bus is probably my favoritest thing of the week. (last week, not quite so much, as i missed the 4:30 bus home, and had to take nj transit / septa without so much as a copy of the shitty metro to keep me occupied...) for those that don't know, the bolt bus is run by greyhound, but is remarkably awesome. it has wireless internet, for starters (well, unless it has one really long wire that stretches up and down the east coast). much like the chinatown bus, it runs a little network between northeast cities - DC, philly, new york and boston, for about $10 each way. cheaper if you buy tickets in advance. which, especially with all the suckers who own cars paying way more than that to drive the same distance, is pretty effing amazing.

but, did i mention it has internet? oh yes. it's like riding a bus into the distant future. like, the year 2000. george jetson sat in the seat ahead of me on the way home yesterday. and it's clean! (you think george jetson would ride a dirty bus?) and i've yet to catch it more than half full. which is nice and comfy, but! tell your friends! we want the bolt bus to be busy enough to schedule trips more frequently! (this business of having to pick between 7:30 and 9:30 to go to NYC in the morning is killing me - come on, bolt bus - 8:30 would be perfect... i can't be the only one...)

now for good reads. in book world, i'm almost through the omnivore's dilemma. i was really into the beginning and middle of it, now i just want to wrap it up. on deck for me in the wide world of books is freakonomics. yay.

in blog world, i've been actually pretty dutiful in keeping my number of unread posts in the my google reader at a minimum lately (okay, admittedly this might be because i just became slightly obsessed with the "mark as read" button there - that tool has been saving my gmail inbox for sometime now, and it's amazing how i feel such a sense of accomplishment in my reader when i use it...) however, lately, i've been big into marveling at how amazing crafty mama jcasa is, i'm always a big fan of stereoette, and i was shocked but totally pleased when i peaked at the front page this week to find the lovely noelle from pinkbathtub (aka jetsetpaper) as the featured seller. woohoo! noelle rules, so send her some love.

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.

full and empty spaces.

i couldn't be more pleased with the progress on the sewing room. from the pleasant surprise of hidden hardwood to how positively lovely the space feels now that it's a real room again (basically, when i bought my house, it was the only room with a closet. so i made an opening from the back of that closet into my bedroom so that my bedroom would have a closet. until this week, i'd been to busy / lazy to build a wall there, so i had this crazy little nebulous space where it was only a bunch of clothes, hangers, shelves full of sewing materials and shipping supplies separating my bedroom from my sewing room). it's a nice little space. the window is east facing, so it gets nice morning and daytime light, and i just can't get over how much of an improvement simply removing carpet can be.

in the meanwhile, of course, i had to put all that stuff somewhere, so girlscantell headquarters has been squatting in my office (unofficial etsy teams headquarters?). and the contents of my closet are piled all over my bedroom, inspiring me to a) stop buying new clothes. for real this time. and b) to actually make the trip over to goodwill to donate some clothing and shoes sooner than later. it does make me realize how glad i am to not be moving anytime soon. i can't wait til things are in order again - i don't miss the chaos of packing and unpacking, sorting through to find things and inevitably losing that one thing you had never noticed was so crucial before.

also, since i have yet to order the books for etsy book club, i've been rereading jane jacob's "the death and life of great american cities", and it's every bit as right on as i remembered from college (back in the day when i thought i might be an urban planning minor, and had no idea that what i would actually be doing for a living was shaping a virtual community rather than a physical one). her observations on neighborhoods, human interaction and public / private spaces just ring so true, especially as i watch my neighborhood slowly but surely shift and change. it's a fun re-read.

books and awesomeness.

so, i finally finished reading blessed unrest on the train last night, which is typical of the books i've been reading over the past few months, where they simultaneously make you want to clobber all the ignorant people who are so very clearly killing the earth, cry because we're so screwed unless we make some serious changes, and go out and make a big difference in whatever way you can because it's obviously so important (and the book is ever so slightly empowering. kind of how watching the training sequence in any boxing movie makes me want to go for a run.) anyway, it's an interesting read, not quite what i thought it would be, but still alarmingly good. although it did make me wonder if he and william mcdonough are friends or frenemies or just don't like each other, because he mentions many of the cradle to cradle principles, credits them specifically to other people, and never mentions that mcdonough has written a beautiful book that explains all these pieces and how they fit together. (ps. mcdonough's website? totally hilarious in a "god, what an ego-maniac" kind of way. awesome.)

my next read is ben + jerry's double dip, which some of you may remember was an etsy book club (whatever happened to etsy book club?) book some time ago, but that i was too busy reframing my kitchen or something to pick up and read. i'm looking forward to it.

before the end of the day, my goal is to list one or two new things in my shop. i wish it was nicer out so i'd have better light for photo-taking, but i'll make due with the overcastness and work it out, i'm sure. so keep your eyes peeled! i can't believe how short this week is and since it's so short, how fast it's going. usually i'm relieved about this, but i just have a whole lot of stuff to do, and not much time to do it in. my parents are coming here for thanksgiving, which is totally new, different, and exciting, so it's making me a little stressed thinking about all the prep i need to do for dinner thursday and cleaning the house and... oh my!

silly summer stuff.

okay, first and foremost, i have been eating a whole lot of gelato this summer. i'm not saying it's a bad thing (i mean, how could it be? gelato is so good.) i'm just saying it's a trend i've noticed. lately, my favorites have been grapefruit (surprisingly good - i'm not usually a citrus person, much less a tangy, puckery citrus person), cashew (oh gosh, so good), bittersweet chocolate, chocolate + banana (this is a classic sara pick) and also, toasted almond. i'm big into nutty flavors this summer. and it all makes me want to hop across the pond for a quick italian vacation, although, if you can't be in florence, i guess philly is the next best thing, obviously.

you know what makes me laugh about my neighborhood? it's like a race on trash night to see who puts their trash out first. which makes for very slow dog-walks around the block, with so much good stuff to smell, of course.

also, guess who thought they accidentally fed ex'ed the neighborhood book club book (the new dave eggers) to the etsy labs? i did! guess what i actually did? left the book at fed ex! yay! (at least i didn't have to make anda mail it back to me, i guess. at least our meeting got postponed, so i'll get to finish it, despite searching for it frantically around center city for a few days...

boating, parties and ice cream.

okay, i could not be more excited about this weekend. today is another adventure in the secret yacht, followed by a big party and tomorrow? the philadelphia ice cream festival (with some of the etsy kids). last night, we went to the franklin fountain, where the owner said they would not be participating in the festival, because participating ice cream vendors have to basically give away about 30,000 gallons of ice cream. crazy! the money raised at the festival does go to one of my favorite causes - fighting leukemia - so it's totally worth it.

as a slight follow up to my book post a few days ago, after i had posted, the copy of 'the perfect store' by adam cohen, which is the history of ebay and was the choice for the etsy book club a few months ago, that i ordered a week or so ago popped through my mail slot. and i've been totally captivated by it. i'm not an ebay fan, i only recently made my first ebay purchase ever (and was totally unimpressed with the site, to be honest - hard to navigate and totally cluttered, especially when compared to etsy), but the small, unassuming beginnings of the company are fascinating so far.

okay. weekend starts... now!

cinco de awesome

friday evening was a beautiful first fridays here in philadelphia. first fridays, like in many cities, is when all of the galleries open up their new shows, but also, independent artists line the streets with their work. on friday, the weather was absolutely perfect, and tons of people were out. i met up with alice and addie, who were out with their work, and i had a super delicious tofu wrap with peanut sauce, so the whole thing was rather lovely. then i met my friends at the cantina for margaritas (perhaps we were cinco de mayo-ing a bit early?) to celebrate my friend j-me's very busy semester wrapping up. superfun.

getting the mail yesterday was way more exciting than normal - i got my info packet for the show, and a big stack of promo cards, which is pretty fun. but the best thing i got in the mail yesterday was a sweet little piece of quilty awesomeness from jcasa, who is terribly great at so many things. lately, she's been using her super eye for putting things together to use quilting techniques in smart, useful new ways, so i was super excited when she told me i was the winner of the contest she had on her blog a couple weeks ago. thanks, ladykins!
oh! and i also got the latest issue of print magazine. i only subscribe to a handful of magazines, and print is totally one of my favorites. my other subscriptions are dwell, readymade and sometimes ID (although sometimes i let me subscription lapse a bit, as i don't really like it as much as the others). they're all pretty fantastic, although i would hardly say a shock to people who know me. they're all pretty much standard fair for someone as interested in visual arts and good design as me. and i admit i always skim through and examine the photos and pictures before i even think of reading the articles.

alright! i'm off to watch an episode of six feet under (i've been rationing them, as i know once i finish the series, i'm going to wish i had watched them slower if i rush through), then i'll work on getting some of the trimwork painted in the living room and kitchen, do some silkscreening, then hopefully watch the science of sleep, which i've been looking forward to for a while now. we were supposed to watch it last night (but my neighbor and i each ended up taking longer naps than we planned, so it got pushed back.)