Monthly Archives: November 2012

2012 Week 47: Thanks for the giving.

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Ceramic Christmas tree made by my Grandma. My parents bought a Christmas tree and set it up so we could see it since we’ll be in the Cleve for Christmas this year. It is my job to put the pegs in the ceramic Christmas tree every year. 🙂

Otherwise: Z and I had a great time with my folks in VA. Only got to see one friend while we were in town. Seeing others was not in the stars. Saw Jekyll & Hyde @ Kennedy Center, which was very mediocre. Took my parents out for dinner at Birch & Barley. Went to Crisp & Juicy. Went to DRP in Del Ray. Went to Galaxy Hut for one drink. Saw four films in the theatre. Ate at Aditi Indian buffet. These things happened. Sleep happens now.

Dear woman with the red suitcase:

Because you stood in a way we could not get past you on the down escalator, we missed the orange line, which in turn made us miss the last Damen bus of the night. You made what would have been a 45 minute commute into a 1.5 hour one. I hope you get food poisoning for a week and that your butt hurts the whole time. You are a jerk.

Films watched 47th week of the year:

Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 2
Argo
Silver Linings Playbook
Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 2
Lincoln
Sunshine*

*documentary

That was a fun short documentary that I finished in the nick of time.

Give thanks for cookies!

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These are the best cookies of all time: nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies. Thank you, Ambitious Kitchen! Of course LCB found the recipe. I followed it to the tee, except I used 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 cup milk chocolate chips and did not use any dark chocolate chips because I didn’t want to spring for more bags of chocolate chips.

Heidi A. was the winner of $25 worth of Rhymes with Twee goods at DIY Trunk Show. Heidi has been emailed and will hopefully email me what she would like soon!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope yours is safe and scrumptious!

As an additional perk, why not give everyone who reads this 20% off the Rhymes with Twee Etsy shop with coupon code: THANKSCOOKIES. Buy handmade this holiday. Those you’re buying for will appreciate it more! Bah to Black Friday. See ya Cyber Monday! Offer good through Tuesday, November 27th!

2012 Week 46: One holiday craft fair down, two to go!

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This week. Celebrated two friends getting engaged. Made brand new products. Had an amazing time at DIY Trunk Show. Went to a vegan bake sale @ Quesadilla. Monday was the 5 year anniversary of Laini’s passing. There is not a day that goes by that I do not think of her. I have a lot of friends, but the bond that I had with Laini was a special one. She was full of boundless energy against all the odds. I am Agnostic, but there are moments when I feel like she is hanging around when there are very happy moments in my life. I feel like if she were around, she would definitely be making something crafty and selling it. She was so freakin’ crafty. OK, tearing up now. I feel like a jerk because I did not call her parents this week, but all the craziness of fair prep left me working late every single night this week.

DIY Trunk Show was a win! I love one day craft fairs because I get to take a day off on Sunday to relax after an exhausting day of selling before going back to work the next day. I met so many amazing new customers and got to see old customers. It warmed my heart that one customer bought two bean onesies and one of them was for her future baby who is not yet conceived! When it happens, she is going to use the onesie to show her husband that they are pregnant! How flipping rad is that?! Another thing that made DIY Trunk Show so wonderful was having one of my favorite booth neighbors yet: Christina Ward. Her Etsy shop is here. Coming up next, I have Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Chicago and then Bazaar Bizarre Cleveland. For DIY Trunk Show, I had two brand spanking new items: Chicago Stocking Christmas card and Corgi Ruled Moleskine Notebook (pictured above) and a tote bag featuring my bean design because people totes love totes.

More Rhymes with Twee news: one of my longtime loves, Paper Doll, is stocking select Rhymes with Twee cards now. I am super psyched to be selling at Paper Doll because it is my go-to for card buying. I’ve got to say that I am pretty excited that the next time I go in there, my cards will be out! Eek!

Films watched 46th week of the year:

The Band That Wouldn’t Die*
Wreck-It Ralph
!Women Art Revolution*
Twilight: New Moon
Twilight: Eclipse
Twilight: Breaking Dark, Part 1
Thirst

*documentary

In The Band That Wouldn’t Die, I kept thinking that the bandleader was super familiar and it turns out he had spoken about Kevin Clash in Being Elmo. I know that more of that story is still churning, but I feel like the whole picture may never come to light. From that documentary, Kevin seemed like a truly good person.

2012 Week 45: This cake is pleased to mead you…

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This week FLEW by:

  • Tilda training
  • Thrilled that Obama is able to finish what he started
  • Spontaneous Amanda/Stacy hang at Division Ale House
  • Checked out a new neighborhood store called Paperish Mess
  • Pre-JV dinner at Native Foods with Steph, Z, and Mark
  • JV opening for Crooked Fingers @ Schubas [that moment where you hear David Bazan’s liony voice behind you while you are backstage and you get strangely nervous!]
  • Coworker’s baby showers
  • Cooking up Change
  • Brunch with Sarah vG and co. at Wishbone
  • CakeFork @ Beth’s
  • Post-CakeFork dinner at Bite
  • Sold my first bottle of LAK lacquer!
  • Re-made my two Chicago Christmas cards and brainstormed a new and awesome Chicago Christmas card that I still need an inside message for.

    • For DIY Trunk Show next Saturday, November 17th, Rhymes with Twee is Booth 140, on a corner because I am a vendor sponsor. Come say hello, friends & fans!

    For CakeFork this year, I made this Apple Honey Bundt Cake with Fuji apples, subbing in pumpkin for vegetable oil, leaving out walnuts, and making up a mead glaze (recipe below). I ended up winning the write-in category. People wrote in these things for my cake: “autumnal,” “honey-licious,” “best use of alcohol/medieval beverage/creative ingredients,” and “deliciously medieval”. Color me PROUD!

    Mead Glaze

    1/2 cup mead
    1 cup powdered sugar, plus additional for serving

    Whisk together mead and powdered sugar. Drizzle over still warm cake and dust with additional powdered sugar.

    Films watched 45th week of the year:

    PressPausePlay*
    The Girlfriend Experience
    The American Scream*

    *documentary

    2012 Week 44: This week did not LAK adventure…

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    It’s go time, folks! LAK lacquer is alive! Skipped one more day at the gym and worked on the launch of all that is LAK lacquer today. Boy, it takes a long time to build a website and social media presence from nothing. My next step is to look for someone great with social media to swatch my polishes for me. Fingers crossed, y’all.

    At work this week: the tradeshow and the Halloween party both went great! Also of note this week, went to Cindy’s show opening at Inkling. Had to restrain myself from buying more prints. Her work is *so* lovely. However, the stack of prints I need to buy frames for is probably .5 inches thick. Cindy’s work is a huge inspiration to me. Seriously: look at this stuff. I ate out three times this week [Bite, Yummy Yummy, Fat Willy’s]. Need to take it easy. At least I have all of my craft fairs coming up to prep for, so I think I’ll be able to keep myself busy to not go out too much. Famous last words?

    Very exciting news: Z and I have a wedding venue! It’s one that friends used and we had really liked. We went to see it on Friday and wrote in requesting dates on Saturday. We dropped off a check today. The price was the opposite of jaw-dropping; jaw-lifting even. Don’t want to jinx anything until we hear back that we are 100% confirmed on the date, but we are nearly there. I also bought the domain and put a placeholder up on our wedding website.

    Films watched 44th week of the year:

    Frankenweenie
    Rumba
    Cloud Atlas
    Punching the Clown
    Hit So Hard*
    Fados*

    *documentary

    This was a stellar week for movies. I enjoyed all of them to some degree, but my winner this week was Frankenweenie tied with Rumba. I cried more than I thought I would at Frankenweenie. When I first saw the preview for it, it was when Tilda was being an absolute terror and had bitten Zachary and we thought we would have to give her back to the rescue who might then, in turn, have to put her down since she had a bite record. I could not stop crying during that preview thinking about our tiny dog dying. So glad that our patience paid off because Tilda is an excellent dog 98% of the time now. The doggie drugs have really turned things around and set her brain straight. She is totally worth it. Frankenweenie broke my heart into millions of pieces in the first 15 minutes. I am one of those people who hadn’t heard of the short Tim Burton had done of this first thing in his career. The film delivered. Loved it, but I don’t know that I can see it again anytime soon. Have to build my tears back up!