Oh, hello there!

Have you missed me? I was doing so well there for a couple months, but it has been a while since I last wrote. I’ve been working through a bit of a transitional time over the last few weeks. I started a new job and quit my one-day-a-week gig and, even though the new one is only 1 day more a week, it’s been a bit of a challenge figuring out where everything will settle in the new schedule. I’ve also been dealing with some issues with my eyes– the doc at the Cheapie Eye Place told me my prescription was fine, but I’m still having problems so I’ve got a referral to go to the for-real Eye Clinic and see what’s really going on. Hopefully it’ll get sorted out soon because it sucks not feeling good enough to sew as often as I’d like. I’ve got orders waiting and fairs coming and I hate when my favorite job, crafting, feels like just that– a job. It’s supposed to be fun, dammit!

Some Lloyd Doblers, in progress

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So, I did it.

I finally broke down and joined twitter. At The-New-Job last week they’d just set up an account and wanted the employees to Tweet every day, so I finally got around to really learning it and decided that maybe it was time for me, too, to join all the cool kids out there tweeting back and forth to each other. Anyway, are you one of those cool kids? Yeah? Well then follow me! I’m abbey_christine on there.

Sidenote: “Abbeychristine” was aready taken. I’ll admit this upset me a little and kinda threw me for a loop, but I settled finally on an underscore. Sigh. Not perfect, but it’ll do.

Crafty News from the Ocean State

The internet is so amazing and funny. With all the zillions of bits of information out there about each of us, half of it we probably don’t even know exists. When I google myself (yes, sometimes I google myself, and you do, too), I can take a little walk down memory lane about that band I used to love and who’s message board I frequented (The Verve Pipe) or jobs I used to have (A children’s museum in Indiana where I’m still listed as Volunteer Coordinator), and it can be a little embarrassing when I’ve moved on from some of those interests, yet know that they will remain online forever for the world to see. What I really like about the web, though, is when you get a fun little surprise of something you never knew was out on the internet to begin with and are reminded of how you used to be or something you did long ago that you’d totally forgotten about.

Tonight I was browsing the Craftland blog and came across a post from January talking about unpacking boxes of goods sent for the Holiday Sale. The post included a photo of all the thank-you notes that crafters had included in their packages, and as I’m looking at all the sweet little notepaper and messages the crafty folks had included, there was my own handwriting staring back at me! I know, I know, this isn’t really such a big deal– a crafty blog for an event I’ve participated in included me in their blog? Not such a stretch– and I’m only 7 months late on the uptake, so it’s not so long-lost or such a long shot, but it was still a nice little discovery for my Sunday evening

(You can see my note with the giant Shapie writing and even larger "Thanks" block letters in the top left of the photo)

AND, speaking of Craftland, I got an email the other week and they are, at long last, opening a year-round brick-and-mortar shop in downcity Providence. I am so, so thrilled to hear about this! I love Craftland, I love all the amazing and talented ladies who give so much of their time to make it happen, I love their awesome selection of artists, and last but certainly not least, I LOVE Providence. I hear they’ll be opening up in August, so I need to get my butt in gear to get a box of puppets in the mail to them. I really think it’ll be a great addition to the ever changing and growing streets of downtown Providence, and with such an established artistic community in the city, I have no doubt that they will thrive. This seriously makes me miss the Rhode Island, though– I’m hoping to go to NYC in August and this makes me want to try to plan a swing north to reunite with Lil’ Rhody. We shall see…

Fallen Princesses

I was totally knocked out today when I discovered the “Fallen Princesses” series by Dina Goldstein featured on the Fred Flare blog. She said about the photos: “These works place Fairy Tale characters in modern day scenarios. In all of the images the Princess is placed in an environment that articulates her conflict. The “…happily ever after” is replaced with a realistic outcome and adresses current issues… I began to imagine Disney’s perfect Princesses juxtaposed with real issues that were affecting women around me, such as illness, addiction and self-image issues.” I especially love the militant Jasmine. So so brilliant.

Imaginary Best Friend Forever

I discovered the blog of Maira Kalman on the New York Times website over the weekend and was so blown away. Her mixture of painting, prose, history, plus her ability to expand the definition of what a blog can be is so inspiring. So far I read this month’s entry about Thomas Jefferson and April’s about the Supreme Court and women’s rights. Amazing. I cannot wait to read the others.

Utera Maxima

This is the most amazing thing I’ve seen in a long, long time. A giant, stuffed womb? Um, yes please!

Get your own at Vulvalovelovely.etsy.com.

New Stamps

In April, I made a large (and somewhat ill-advised) stamp purchase from usps.com. The problem: I failed to consider the rate change that took effect in May. Whoops. I love the stamps I chose– Latin American Jazz, Chinese New Year and some other colorful choices– but it hurts my heart a little to have to pair them on every order I send with these horribly ugly 2 cent stamps. Ugh.

In the meantime, I spent some time today browsing the new stamp slections online today, and found a couple nice sets. It’ll be a while before I can order any more, but a girl can dream, can’t she?

All in the Game, yo.

This time last year I was knee-deep in The Summer of “The Wire.” Previously, the only thing I knew about the show was that Teri Gross of “Fresh Air” couldn’t stop talking about it, interviewing whoever she could from the show every chance she got. I’m sometimes I little late on pop culture phenomena (especially when they involve a cable premium channel I’d have to pay for), so the Wire craze sort of passed me by while it was actually on TV. That is, until my then-new boyfriend sat me down one night and introduced me to his favorite thing in the world. Within one episode, I was hooked.

What followed were three months watching the entire run of the show, episode by episode, DVD by DVD, season by season. I had to take a break between Season 4 and 5, trying to delay the inevitable end, but by September, we’d done it all. Carcetti was mayor, Prez had redeemed himself, you never quite knew what it was that it was Daniels did back in the day, Freeman was a detective once again, partnered with Bunk, Poot was off the corner and working at Foot Locker, Bubbles had redeemed himself…

Recently, Ben’s been trying to convince me to start over from the beginning again. I don’t know if I can handle a second summer in West Baltimore– I like having it as a memory, and I’m a little worried that watching it again, it would lose some of the impact it had the first time around– but in the meantime, I made a little homage to my new favorite show– Bunk Moreland, the cigar-chomping veteran homicide detective, and his unlikely match, Omar Little, the stick-up artist with a strict moral code (who is also, on a total sidenote, Barack Obama’s favorite character on his favorite show).

In the Works

Some of what I’ve been thinking–