Yesterday Josh and Joya came with me on a thrifting trip, it was fun. Joya got a rad vintage Woolrich coat and some cool boots. Josh found a bunch of records that he was super excited about, by Don Rickles, Dolly Parton and Wally George. I had never heard of Wally George but apparently he was a precursor to Jerry Springer. I learn something new everyday. According to wikipedia he was a big supporter of Ronald Reagan. Also he is the father of Rebecca De Mornay.

some cool new things in the shop, a plaid blouse and some never been worn Ferragamo boots!

this is what a poodle does after a bath, they go BANANAS. this bunny in particular is very dramatic.

some new dresses going into the shop

It's snowing like crazy outside, I am taking the time to get organized. I finally unpacked all these things and I didn't realize how many I had. I think my favorite is the little black spotted fawn.

I love this quilted jacket, it has a matching reversible belt. The tag says it was made in "New Germany." It will be in my shop soon. Also I am locked inside my house, the front door to the building is broken for the third time since I have lived here. I went to take Jason for a walk and there was someone on the other side trying to get in, I couldn't help them though. My landlord keeps replacing the lock but I think the whole door needs replacing, it seems warped. The whole house is warped. The hallway ceiling leaks whenever it rains and I am on the second floor, there is another floor above which has it worse. I put a bucket in the hall the last time, the ceiling fell down in chunks all around it. The basement here is perpetually flooded, I found out when I went down to the fusebox one day. To reach the fuses I had to cross a plank of wood. We have mosquitos because of it, in the house in the winter. It also smells badly. My landlord is very miserly.

new things going into the shop today

While riding the train today I met a man who engaged me in an hour and a half conversation about gold, silver and the Revolutionary War. I'm normally somewhat cagey when talking to strangers but I couldn't help but be fascinated with this guy, he was a direct descendant of John Adams and as such is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, also known as the SAR. I'm ashamed of my lack of knowledge about that time period, I only got through half an episode of that HBO series about John Adams, my historical curiosity has fallen mostly around the Civil War I guess. When talking about Bunker Hill I suppose I looked lost, he was like come on, you don't know about Bunker Hill? He told me about his ambition to start a movement where everyone pays for things in shops with gold and silver instead of paper money. A fog rolled across my eyeballs when he started talking about inflation, I just don't think about these things. He also had dreams of local militias. He gave me his business card but I think I unfortunately lost it when I went to get a slice of pizza.

thriftstore ladybug

I have a little crush on this etsy item, especially since I was born on a Saturday. At least I wasn't born on a Wednesday.

I made little cakes shaped like acorns! They are supposed to have a glaze made with bourbon but I'm all out. They are each one half, you frost the middle and stick two together for one whole acorn. I made them with maple sugar, I had never used it before and let me tell you it's amazing.

vintage plaid! in the shop this afternoon

I won these placemats on ebay yesterday

I found this couch at my grandma's house, it's been on her back indoor porch for about 50 years. The cushions were long gone so I am going to make some, just simple ones I think out of a floral material. Or black maybe? I can't decide.

sweaters sweaters sweaters over at secretlake.etsy.com

I got onto the train today and sat down near a group of girls wearing sailor suits and bunny ears. They had their cameras out and were excitedly filming a subway performer, he was giving them a show of Nirvana songs on his acoustic guitar. It was kind of magical. He paused to ask for money and they requested he play some Pink Floyd. Then they gave him peace signs.

Since august I have been working on this christmas window, I was hired by Sony to fabricate these props, it was totally intense. Everything is made out of felt. The scariest part was that big mechanical e-reader, I made just the case for it but it was so challenging, oh and the chair too, that was nuts. I made that around halloween and I was so stressed out, I was just tracing this chair with big sheets of paper and cutting out the felt like a tornado, I threw it through my sewing machine and somehow it came out looking like a real upholstered chair. And that is a for real portrait of justin timberlake, in a felt frame. My favorite part though is the bunny.

jason is all bish plz

Today was an all day dog party in the park with my awesome friend matt and his dog albert. Albert wasn't sure about jason at first, you can see how psyched he is in that photo of them together. They ended up getting along fine, they were cool after everyone calmed down. They ended the day with a run around the dog park and jason jumped in mud, this is what he did to the kitchen floor when we got home. He also peed on it even though we were outside all day. He went straight into the bathtub after dinner.

This was how I celebrated a dismal friday the 13th, a cupcake covered in chocolate bats and wax vampire teeth. Inside it was chocolate with a cherry filling.

Here is Jason with his bunny and fox. He just got released from his 30 second time out for biting, he is teething and seems to think that my arm is nicer than his bone, his teeth are needle sharp puppy teeth so it's no joke. He is very good besides the teething, he was so well behaved on the train yesterday it blew me away, he was a very polite little traveler.

This is a photo my co worker domenica bucalo took of me, I was pushing a cart full of fake skulls. She added the light afterwards.

new things going into the etsy shop tonight!

I was searching for some new music this morning and I found this album, it's called Broadcast and the Focus Group Investigate the Witch Cults of the Radio. It's super rad.

Someone has decided that the table is his favorite hang out spot.

This past weekend my friend mark gave me some rad furniture, this is some of it. I still have a lot of rearranging to do. Things are in weird places for a reason, the reason being this monkey:

He needs everything to be out of his reach. I think I taught him to sit today, sort of. He is running around the room right now with a stuffed animal duck in his mouth making little grunting sounds. I think I love him more than anything ever.

While out walking today I got hit by a car! I've lived in cities for years and never had that happen before, it was such a shock. I was walking through a pretty quiet neighborhood and a van just ran a stop sign and went right into me. I wasn't knocked to the ground, just hit forward against the hood of the car. I was screaming as it happened, it was so surreal and slow motion, I kept saying "Oh my god!" over and over. I stepped back and yelled at the driver who seemed as shocked as I was, I asked him what was wrong with him and pointed out the stop sign. I was screaming at him so hard it was like I was possessed, I turned into a totally different person. He looked at me with wide eyes and then quickly pulled away. I'm not seriously injured but it happened so fast I didn't get his license plate number. I'm glad I didn't get hurt because as I walked away I was shuddering at the thought of breaking a limb.

This is how I've decorated my new place so far, it's all strewn with rulers, tape and christmas colored felt. I've been working on this project non stop for weeks and weeks, it's insane and this afternoon I started to crack up a bit. I will be relieved when its all over but it's so totally taken over my life that at the end I may feel a little bereft. Jonee thinks I might get post partum depression. While discussing this on the phone I absent-mindedly created a constellation out of my sewing pins.

I have a total crush on this creature romper from samantha pleet. It's raining today and when I was just out I was imagining myself in this with the hood up.

A couple of things that will be up in my etsy shop later today.