Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The hat of my dreams... no, literally.


I think it's already pretty well established now that I'm a bit of a nut, so I'm just going to go ahead and share this with you because I need advice.

Last night, I had a really in-depth dream about shopping at Old Navy. Well, the name of the shop was Old Navy but the clothes inside were all really, really awesome. I mean, I love Old Navy but my dream version of the store puts the multi-colored cardigans and flip flops to shame.

I took a bunch of things into the dressing room with me, including a really gorgeous white dress that I can't actually picture anymore, and a white hat that very much resembled the one Audrey wore in How to Steal a Million. The hat totally made my dream complete. I think I woke up smiling, because I had met this hat in my dream and completely fallen in love.

Then, of course, I realized it was just a dream. The hat was not in my closet, and I didn't even bother to check the Old Navy website.

But -- (I have no life) -- I spent all day thinking about this hat.

So, tonight whilst enjoying one of my favorite methods of procrastination - window shopping on etsy - I found it. Seriously. I found the hat. It's a vintage hat from the 1960's, and it is THE HAT.

Trouble is, I was only window shopping (I'm on a spending freeze. GAH.) and the hat is fifty dollars. BUT IT IS THE HAT OF MY DREAMS.

So, do I buy it? Or do I keep dreaming about it... my dreams slowly turning into nightmares; my frugality of today haunting me tomorrow and for years and years to come....

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Help for the night owl who likes tv

I live with my parents and my brother, all of whom turn in around 11pm. But I have an entirely different schedule, and prefer to go to bed around 6am. (My favorite perk of being my own boss!)

While I enjoy this schedule a lot, having my television on while everyone else in the house is asleep definitely causes its share of problems. If I have the volume too low, I can't hear it (no, I'm not deaf.. my tv is just on the other side of the room from where I sit, OK?!) but if it's too high I'm always waking somebody up.

My first thought was to get Listen Up, the amplification device they sell on late night infomercials, but I'm not an old man with a nagging sleepy wife, so I didn't think it suited me that well.

THEN I found a headphone extension cord on Amazon for $3 and it literally changed my life. It's 50 feet long, so I traced it along the perimeter of my room to behind my bed where I can plug it into my headphones whenever I want to watch tv.

The perks are many. The cord is so long that I was able to conceal it (a shorter one would have been suspended in the middle of my room, probably becoming a jumping hazard for my cat when she attempted to get on the bed), I won't feel like a 78 year old man when I need to listen to the tv at night and I get to wear my favorite headphones instead of a hearing aid incognito.

I don't know why that guy in the blue pajamas didn't think of this; he'd look so much cooler wearing my bright green headphones.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Happy Father's Day!

Saturday, June 19, 2010

she gets too hungry, for dinner at eight...


I made a treasury on etsy! yay! I don't do this often, so I thought it was cause for some celebration :)

Actually, I really only did it to procrastinate (unfortunately procrastination is one of my chief character traits) ... I have oodles of work to do, and found myself spending two hours putting this together instead of tackling the important things on my to-do-list. Oh well, at least it wasn't two hours spent aimlessly refreshing my email and twitter, which is how I normally waste time.

You can click the image to see the treasury and click on all the pretty links :)

Friday, June 18, 2010

GPOHW (a day late)


I think I need to come up with some other weekly post, or else this will quickly turn into a "pictures of my cat" blog :)

Hypatia's doing much better this week -- her fur is starting to grow back around her eyes and her gingivitis cleared up so she's a happy camper again!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

GPOHW (by guest blogger Chloe)


Hypatia is a bit under the weather this week... she had an allergic reaction to pet-friendly bug spray we used in the kitchen and scratched away all of the fur around her eyes. Her gingivitis is recurring, too, so she has a bit of a drool-stained chin. To me, she's still the image of cuteness but I doubt everyone else would be as enamored with her appearance. So, Chloe agreed to guest-blog for Gratuitous Picture of Hypatia Wednesday.

Here she is, sunbathing on my (embarrassingly messy) work desk. She's not as camera-friendly as Hypatia, but between you and me I think she's very much enjoying all the attention ;-D

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

When I grow up, I want to be...


Some people never get to try out the profession they dreamed about as a kid. Especially if you wanted to be an astronaut, President of the United States, secret agent or action movie star. Thanks to me being born with the best parents on the entire planet, I've had the chance to take a stab at making a living doing what I wanted to do since I was four, or at least I've been laboring under that notion for the last five years.

As a kid, I collected Mike Venezia's Greatest Artist books for children. I gobbled them up, absorbing all of the details about the extraordinary lives of artists. Only recently I realized that I didn't just want to be an artist so that I could create things; I envisioned myself living a life full of mystery, excitement and adventure. Cavorting with expatriate writers on the French Riviera while working on my next masterpiece; spending each spring in Paris to capture the beauty of the blooming city on my canvas; accidentally going days without food because I was fed enough by life itself.

None of my dreams included pricing artwork, marketing myself and my art, customer service, shipping, postage fees or crafting, let alone doing all of this in my studio/bedroom that I've lived in since I was six, let alone in New Jersey.

I always try to tell myself that I'm living my dream- I'm making money (not a living, really, but money. If I didn't live at home, there's no way on earth that I'd be making enough for rent) as an artist. "An artist"... but that's not really what I am. I'm a businesswoman. I spend about one hour every three weeks actually drawing or painting, while almost all of my time is consumed with listing things on etsy, corresponding with customers, packing orders, ordering supplies, making products and marketing those products on my social networking sites. This is not being an artist. This, unfortunately, is actually the LAST thing I ever wanted to do.

My parents have always been in business for themselves. When my dad was 22 years old, he already owned his own record store with a friend. Around 1980, he and my mom opened the business that they have now, a music t-shirt mail order company. Growing up in this atmosphere, I saw the strain that it placed on my parents and the stress that a career in customer service can cause. Keeping inventory, packing orders, corresponding with customers... these were the things that my parents did full time, that I hated growing up. And that's what I'm doing now. It's really a cruel irony.

I have fantasies of my flapper drawings turning into some kind of Hello Kitty phenomenon, being printed on little girls' backpacks and school binders; grown women getting excited to see a Flapper Doodle cell phone case or cake pan. But the steps it would take to get there just aren't for me. Unless some company swooped in and asked to license my flappers, I really can't see myself doing this for the rest of my life. And I don't want to be 40 when I finally realize that I'm living the same life that caused my parents so much stress.

If you're a fan, don't worry, I'm not stopping the flappers. I just need to reevaluate my life and figure out what I really want to do. I doubt that professional grapefruit juice taster or full time movie watcher are real professions, so I'm kind of drawing a blank.

I don't want all of my hard work over the last few years to completely go to waste, but I don't want five years' work dictating what I do for the rest of my life, either. Ideally, I really would like to be that artist drifting from European country to European country, staying up all hours of the night discussing philosophy with other crazy people like me. But I'm finally realizing my dream is as unlikely as becoming an astronaut, President of the United States or a secret agent.

I guess I just have to start from scratch and figure out what I really want to be, when I grow up.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

potato salad


Today I had the best potato salad ever. I combined two recipes -- one that I've been using for years from my friend, and one that I just saw in a vegan cookbook last week. It was so incredibly simple, and turned out so delicious!!

You just boil a bunch of potatoes until they're soft, but not mooshy (you can see this is a very technical recipe..) then drain, and let them cool. Peel, and chop into chunks. Combine with some olive oil, water and vinegar (add the vinegar little by little to taste, if you're not really into the tangy flavor) and THEN to top it all off, chop up a bunch of flat-leaf parsley, and I mean a bunch--not just a sprinkle-- and combine it with the other ingredients.

The large amounts of fresh parsley (really has to be fresh, not dried!!) give the potato salad a summery, super fresh flavor. I felt like having some lemonade and going swimming after I'd eaten it :)

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

GPOHW


Lots of people participate in GPOYW -- Gratuitous Pictures of Yourself Wednesday -- but seeing as I'm not the photogenic type, and would much rather spend Wednesday capturing photos of my cat than myself.... I proudly present: Gratuitous Pictures of Hypatia Wednesday. Enjoy :)

my new imac desktop!


SUPER excited today!! My new imac desktop came in the mail!! Although my show this weekend was a complete bust, it did give me enough money to top off the amount I had been saving for a new computer.

My dad owns a small mail order business, so UPS is at our house delivering something almost every single day. They usually come around 5-6pm, maybe 7pm on days when we're really eager for something to arrive. Well, today they came at 1pm! I was ecstatic! :D Of course, this meant that I spent all day goofing off playing with my new toy instead of getting caught up on the weekend's orders. But it was just this once :)

The monitor is massive! I'm used to working on a 12" screen, and this is 21"!!! It's bigger than my television screen. It'll take a little getting used to, but I'm in love already. Here's some backwards-chronological pictures of my imac being set up.



Tuesday, June 1, 2010

weekend in new york

I'm still winding down from my super long weekend in New York selling my art on the street near Washington Square Park. We left the house around 5:30 each morning, and got home around 10:00 each night. My mom and I took the train into the city each morning, then walked from Penn Station to Washington Square Park --2.5 miles!-- before spending all day sitting in direct sunlight in 90 degree weather, so I think it goes without saying that I am beyond tired.

Soooo my post about my weekend is going to have to wait until I can add 5 + 5 without the help of a calculator. (yes, I'm that tired.)

Until then, here are some snapshots from my weekend :)





I found my juice at the local market!
Unfortunately, I did not have a cup.
Fortunately, I did have a straw.

also... hot weather: 1, my bangs: 0


unfortunately, it was twice what it costs at home!


sneak peek at my flapper doodle setup :)