NAP FANTASY

CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG!  (source)

Blarg!  I am soooo fantasizing about a nap!  I couldn't sleep last night, maybe it was the "extra" in my 5-hr energy drink... or just plain old-fashioned excitement coursing through me as I mentally fuss about this and that and the other things in around and about the shop.  I was up tweaking my blog (you may have noticed) until 4:30AM!  And then had an alarm set for 6:30AM so that I could get up and showered and down to the shop and do the hammering/drilling that I didn't get to last night as it got later and the upstairs neighbors had gone to bed.  I had to be at work at 9 so my window of opportunity was small, but PERFECT!  Colleen and I had AMAZING coffee thanks to Hammerhead Coffee Roasters (thank you Mary and Scott for your delicious life-nectar) and I screwed the shelves into the wall and straightened the carnival lights.  On my lunch I went to Hardware Sales and got some more fixture fixins.  I took a 20 min nap on my afternoon break... and that was the taste that has me dreaming now.
After work tonight my list of things to do:

• pack inventory into car and take to studio
• paint cupboard boo-boos
• price inventory
• print and affix price tags
• prevent tipsy-doos by fortifying standing shelves
• pin up bunting

I like all those p's... stuttering along with my waking consciousness... My body is sore, I blame the 5-hr energy drinks... but I keep drinking them down!  It made me think of the Gummy Bears and their gummiberry juice.  I loved their janky little cartoon so much.

Wish me luck!  I can't wait to sleep tonight!
♥-L

BUSY BEE!

For those of you who don't keep tabs on my facebook, or my twitter, or my tumblr... these pictures will all be new and exciting!!!  For those of you who do do that (heh heh) perhaps you'll read some interesting accompanying stories!

This week-end Kacy and I went on an awesome camping trip to Westport!  I had never been there, but Kacy has gone with his friend Blake for about a decade about, and every time he comes back from his trips he gushes about how much he LOVES WESTPORT!  The AQUARIUM!  The WINERY!  LITTLE RICHARD'S HOUSE OF DONUTS!!!

The list goes on and on.

The first thing we did, on our way down south... was to stop in Seattle and see HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN!  It was totally campy and gory so I wouldn't recommend it to my mother in a million years, but Cousin Erik... I predict it will be his new favorite movie!  We stayed in Tumwater for the night at Blake and Vanessa's before heading the rest of the way down to Westport, Saturday.  We went to the winery for lunch and did some tasting (Kacy let me pick his membership wines for the quarter) and then we set up camp!

Oooh!  CAMP!

After that we went for a walk to the beach!

Oooh!  Dunes!

More dune!

Beach!

 After that we came back and made a fire and roasted hot dogs and made s'mores using these AMAZING toasted coconut covered marshmallows?!?  I'll never go back to plain.

Fire!

 The next day we got up and went to the above mentioned Little Richard's Donuts and ate amazing apple fritters.  Then we went to the Westport Aquarium!  It was so cool!  Kacy had been going there since the new owners began renovating the crap out of it!  They had two OCTOPI!  But, I only took pictures of one... he was right up in my face!

Suction cups!

Chillin'.

On the move!

Lookin' like a rock.

And there were ducks!  (They really like cilantro!)

And sea anemone!

So pretty!

And this is Bobby the wolf eel!  He looks like he's about to tell a story...

We made panes for their stained glass windows and I'm really hoping mine turns out legibly.

All of ours together... note there are wolf eels, can you spot the WEREWOLF EEL?!

We went crabbing in the marina and I took this picture for my nephew!

And while we were crabbing we fed the seagulls!

This morning we packed up, had some soft-serve in town and headed home... and I've been working on stuff for the shop all night... which again, you might have seen pictures of... but I'm going back tomorrow morning at 7am and working til I have to go to work... going back on my lunch-break... so there will be more pictures and a proper post of that tomorrow.

Right now I'm crawling into bed.  Tell me, what did you do this fine week-end?!

Goodnight lovelies!
♥-Lisa

SPICE PANTRY OPENS IN 6 DAYS!

Look at that sexy floor!  Thanks Colleen!

That sounds like a lot of time... but really I'm holding onto my suspenders for dear life today!  I have a camping trip planned to Westport this weekend that is going to knock out four of those days almost entirely.  I'm so relieved to have gotten yesterday and today off of work.  While I'm typing this up I'm waiting for the Liquid Plumber to take effect in my shower because I'm ready to do that next... I mean SERIOUSLY ready for a shower.  I've got a list of all the little fixture odds and ends that I'll need in order to roll in Monday night and VVVT VVVVT affix everything to the walls.  Then Tuesday night I'll bring in all the inventory.  More 5 hr energy drinks please!

Alright, just a quick one... I'm off to cross my fingers the drain is running free and clear and keep chugging along on my manic list of things to do!  HUZZAH!

LOVE AND TENDERNESS!!
-Lisa

THE RAPTURE!

Source

So after 8 hours of scraping, sanding, peeling, running to the store, spray-painting and unscrewing things I retired for the night.  I guess there was about an hour of Doctor Who watching in there as well.  Kacy and I just started watching the newer series (starting with the 9th doctor) and I am in love!  Though I thought I would have nightmares forEVER about gas-mask-facers (which I sort of was one for the majority of the day with all the sanding, safety first people!)... luckily I was able to focus on the sexual tension between the Doctor and Rose to break my terror-spell.

After all that I jumped in the shower and turned on the cd player to a mix of classical music I burned on a cd once (called "Classy Ass")... and I was happily prancing away in the puddles of my slow moving drain.  I never realized just HOW MUCH FUN that is!  I mean, I've always been a fan of puddle jumping... but it's ever so much more fun in the confines of a plastic room (essentially)!  I mean, you can really splash AS MUCH as you like!  So here I was slapping my belly and stomping my feet in time to Mozart's Rondo Alla Turca (for reference see sweet video of what Rock Band key board could be... {and may be?})

Anyways I'm totally in THE ZONE!  The water is running over my head and when I finally open my eyes I SEE A MAN!  STANDING WITH HIS HEAD IN THE SHOWER CURTAIN!  AHHHH!  I squealed!!  BUT it was only Kacy... he was SO pleased with himself!  I couldn't stop giggling after that and resumed splashing about super sudsed up my hair with some lavender Doctor  Bronners... it smelled so good and relaxing... even though the music turned INVIGORATING!!!  I had the cd player turned up kinda loud and the next song was the Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries!!!  So now I was trying to splash in time to "DUN DUH-DUH DUNNN DUNNNNN" when OUT OF NOWHERE I heard this INTENSE LOW RUMBLE!  And the combination of Doctor Who and Rapture information I've been imbibing, and the fact that at that very moment I was listening to RIDE OF THE MOTHER F-ING VALKYRIES I totally had a sudden, quasi-genuine fear that the RAPTURE WAS INDEED UPON US!  I mean, if it was... I WAS GOING OUT TO DUN DUH-DUH DUNN DUNNNN!!!  DUN DUH-DUH DUNNN DUNNNN" and I COULD NOT think of a better way to GO!  Fortunately I realized it was just the surround sound in the living room, cranked up by Kacy to compensate for my loudness in the bathroom.  But still... for that moment... it seemed totally possible because the convincing factor was Wagner as the perfect soundtrack.

I'm ready to pass out now after all my work today, but I wanted to share that tidbit.  Hope you're all still here!  Maybe we should have a roll call to make sure everybody survived?  Or is the point to be taken?  I'm not sure... but I'm pretty committed to making my heaven on earth right now.  Hope you all had a wonderful day!
XOXO
-Lisa

Things To DO!

Good mornin' everybody!  I am getting serious!  I have a lot of things that I've got on this here list... and I'm waking up to the Menahan Street Band to get to it!  I heard this song a couple weeks back on 89.3 KUGS and dig it so much that I've added it to my Get up and GO playlist!  (PS that dirty little blue bow in the picture is a found object from my walk to work, where I made this list yesterday... which is also why some of the things that are done on it aren't crossed off!)

I'm meeting with Colleen this morning to talk shop, if you will!  AND I WILL!!!  Also, I have already done the SONY STERECORDER MISSION!  Awesomeness!  And I didn't mention anything on that list about prepping inventory, but I managed to do a LOT of that last night.  HUZZAH!  The big thing I need to tackle this week-end is prepping the cupboard I found to use as a fixture in the shop (I'll post photos later).  It needs a serious sanding and a paint-job and a few pieces of wood replaced... but then it will be tip-top.  And I've thought of a couple super cute things to do with it too, like adding some trim and chalk-board surfaces.  We'll see how that pans out.
For now, OFF TO COFFEE with COLLEEN!  Tell me, what all are you up to this fine week-end?

♥-Lisa

Salvation Army Finds!

I've had these since last week, but haven't had the time to properly play with them since I've been off and running with making things happen for the shop!  See that sexy box on the left?  That is a SONY Sterecorder!  1967 I believe!  And on the right an amazing electric typewriter I scored!  And the best part, they are both fully functional!

 Tonight I set up the Sterecorder to listen to while I did the dishes...

The first tape I put in was the sacrificial tape... just in case anything happened to it, I wanted to be sure that I could part with it... and although it was nothing but groovy instrumentals, and I do like those... I did end up fast-forwarding through half an hour of this:

And this:

After that tape was finished I moved on to the box that was simply labeled "JIMMY HOFFA"... I had NO idea what to expect, and what I heard was amazing.  It was an in-depth ABC news close-up report from 1974... here is a snippet:

I'm excited to listen to more of the tapes I picked up... they are all labeled with things like "Apollo Landing" and "1971 Protests" and "Democratic National Convention" huzzah!

Off to bed!
♥-L

POP UP SHOP!

I can hardly contain myself I am SOOOOOO EXCITED!  Well HOW-DY fortune is making matches!  I am working with my friend and neighbor Colleen, purveyor of fashionable curiosities at the AMAZING Black Market Boutique to make magical dreams come true!!!  I happened to bump into her over breakfast at Nelson's Market and she jokingly asked me if I wanted to rent some space in her shop, to that I replied... "Heeelloooooo!!!  Opportunity?!?  Is that YOUUUU?????  COME KNOCKING!!!"  As long as I can remember I've always wanted to have my own shop focused on vintage goods, refurbished/recycled home furnishings, and locally made crafts and sundries!  So Colleen and I met at the shop to check out the remodel.  She showed me around the space.  Later, we met back at Nelson's for a beer and over chicken strips and fries negotiated this experiment!  WEEE!!  So now all of this exciting business stuff I have been cultivating has a FOR REAL STORE-FRONT!  I haven't told you... but that business license came in!  I am the proud proprietor of the SPICE PANTRY!  Which reminds me, I need to call and have the address of the business changed.... WOOT WOOT!  Can you believe it?  I am practically pooping my PANTS!  I have a laundry list of things I can't wait to do!  Like refurbish an AMAZING cabinet that is going to be a fixture in the shop... crochet lots of cute little washcloths... and make some sweet sweet bunting flags for display and for sale!  Colleen is working on the remodel (painting and flooring).  Right now the color scheme is thanks to Metro Paint!  Which is amazing stuff coming out of Portland, Oregon, naturally!  I was able to get some locally from the RE-Store!  The walls are going to be sweet corn, and I've got misty and storm cloud for fixtures and accents.  Pretty!

Weee!  I am sooooo excited I can hardly contain it!  I am also SOOOO curious as to what kind of business the pop-up shop will do inside the Black Market Boutique... BMB gets a LOT of traffic and Colleen is a certifiable business GENIUS!  Together I feel like nothing's gonna stop us!  We're both super jazzed about the combination of our taste and wares.  I pretty much feel like a unicorn.

Source

PS... that source is somewhere you want to go... because that picture is a coloring page... FOR REALS!  So please, if you are ALSO excited (and so inclined), color me a unicorn!

I'll be sure to get some amazing photos of the shop and construction as I take them.  XOXO!
♥-Lisa

GET INSPIRED MUSICAL THERAPY!

Hello Lovies!  I thought I would get back to you with the ULTIMATE LIST OF GET UP AND GET INSPIRED MUSICAL THERAPY!!  These are the songs that I crank when I wake up, put the coffee on and need to totally energize myself for the day!  If you want to listen to the playlist all together click here, otherwise check them out below!

I hope you're now feeling super PUMPED UP and ready to GO!  WOOT WOOT!  Please share!  I'd love to add some new tracks to this list... let me know what songs do it for you!

♥-L

MUSICAL TIME TRAVEL!

My girlfriend Sara (aka Dumpling over at Ain't Nothin') posted a question about favorite songs to listen to when you're sad.  I thought for a moment and realized that I couldn't immediately think of any songs that I had practiced that kind of therapy with since I was a distraught and freaked out wack-a-doo teenager!  I am CERTAIN I've done so since then... but I couldn't think because the association with my teen years was SO STRONG!  I thought I would share what this girl habitually practiced back then.

First off, I had a super sweet stereo, which held 80 cds and would rotate through them like a jukebox.  It also had a sleep timer and the ability to make a playlist out of specific tracks!  So what I often did, was select my favorite sad/slow songs from a particular album, put them on repeat, and then turn on the sleep timer.  I would crawl (or rather wade) into my queen-sized waterbed and wallow in my burgeoning hormones and feelings of insecurity and doubt and horror at the STATE OF THE ENTIRE WORLD !!!  (This is not to say that sometimes I don't still do this... PS.) 

So here we go!!!

Playlist One: selected tracks from Smashing Pumpkins Melon Collie and The Infinite Sadness (disc 1)

Playlist Two: selected tracks from Derek and The Dominoes Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs

Playlist Three: selected tracks from the Grateful Dead American Beauty

Tell me about YOUR teenage self!  IF YOU DARE!!!!

♥-Lisa

PS I had some really great pictures of my teen-age room and my car that I was going to scan in and share, but unfortunately my scanner is being a broke-down punk...booo!

Long Time No Blog!

Hello from Edith the Cat!

Well hello there!!!  It's been a couple weeks that I've been staving off any and all responsibilities, including regularly posting on the blog.  I'm feeling pretty fine and dandy, overall, but that's not to say I've been without the usual work-stress or sudden week-end-home-shopping-stress (yes, that happened)... Also I have to admit that I've been spending a lot of time honing my 20-yr-old-dude-skills (pardon the gender/agerism) which include: making dishes dirty and leaving them for over a week, taking off clothes and leaving them on the floor wherever it happened to be that my body was, AND my FAVORITE: playing video games for HOURS on the couch in my underwear. I recently re-visited Red Dead Redemption and can't get enough.  It seems to totally wipe my mind of any clutter when I ride my American Standardbred through miles and miles of open country... and hunt.  Every animal that scurries in my line of sight.  Sometimes I just like to go PEW PEW PEW!  (You know, in the way that is TOTALLY VIRTUAL)

Anyways... here are some of THE SUPER AWESOME things I've done in the last two weeks!

I played in the sun and took my FIRST SWIM OF THE YEAR!!!  The water was COLD and I got SUN-BURNED!  Yay ♥  I also had to contend for a place to "put in" because fishing season just started and the lake-front was PACKED!  Every 15" there was another person casting into the lake... so it took some searching and an excuse me, may I? before I found a spot where I felt I wouldn't get hooked!  I'll admit that the slow walk/acclimation into the water had me second-guessing myself the entire way... but once I warmed up the water around me I was a happy little fish.

I found a solution for the eyelet/rivet/grommet jewelry problem I was having with my little crafty felt necklace!  I DO KNOW that 3/16 does not equal 3/32 but for some reason when I am at Jo-Anne I forget things like this when I don't bring my supplies?  So when I bought the AMAZING CROP-O-DILE I didn't realize it wouldn't work for the majority of the eyelets that I originally bought for this project, as the Crop-O-Dile smooshes eyelets of sizes 1/8 and 3/16 only.  But it turns out the 1/8 size works perfectly.  It's not as dainty as I dreamed, but it's cute and terribly functional! Yay ♥

I made a handful of barrettes that I'm getting ready to sell in the studio come June Art-Walk!  They are super-cute and I'm looking forward to seeing how people respond to them.  The only thing I'm worried about is the way that I strung them with wire... it's not soft and it's likely that hairs will get caught in them... but that's really no big deal if you're gentle when you take them out.  It's worth it.

I bought supplies to make super cute display cards for the above listed crafty items!  I had three stamps made at the local stampnstuff store; one that's plainly SPICE PANTRY like you can see here, and the others are the website/email for this here little blog-o-mine (font=same but smaller and all lowercase).  LOVE ♥

Most of all, I'm super jazzed about my friend Marissa!  She has been this amazing effortless organic source of inspiration encouragement and support!  All by simply being her AWESOME SELF!  We are in fact, casually conspiring to craft cooperatively under the Spice Pantry banner, which I ALSO applied for a business license for!!!  HUZZAH!! ♥  We've been spending a lot of time together in the studio (as evidenced below!) and I'm so grateful that she's come back from Canada.  A special thank you to Jon for sharing her, and would you please get your butt down here as well as soon as possible!?!

♥ The Loverly Marissa ♥

We are a POWERHOUSE OF CRAFT!  She is the dynamo that taught me the ins and outs of the awesomeness that is HYPERBOLIC CROCHET (which I posted about my successes with here)!  And with scissors and Crop-O-Dile in hand, made the CUTEST FELT NECKLACE last week!  As a banker, you can imagine I'm in need of ways to accommodate the dress code which specifically excludes visible tattoos... so I'm so glad for a 100% increase in my ability to do so fashionably!  I have one necklace that is called "Tattoo Obscuring Necklace" that is really pretty cute and conventional... but having to put it on everyday that I'm not wearing a turtleneck grants it the title of "Yoke Of Oppression".  So hooray for new pretty tattoo obscuring necklaces! ♥

SO TO RECAP: YAY MARISSA!  HUZZAH FOR CRAFT FRIENDS!  INSPIRATION!  CRAFTING!  AND BLOGGING!  So there's a proper update!

Guinness says 'Til Next Time!

♥-Lisa

Miss Moxie Mandie's Mumblings

Another Huzzah!  I wanted to share with you my SUPER PRECIOUS gifts from the Craft Swap I participated in.  Meet Moxie Mandie!

Snoozen-nod chillin with Mandie's sweet crafts!

Her super cute little hand sewn card and bag have definitely cheered me up this last week and a half!  I've been so busy but I'm toting this perfectly sized bag with me EVERYWHERE!  It holds my phone, keys, mini-wallet (essentially a change purse with debit cards and ID) and my current crafting supplies PERFECTLY!  You should go to her etsy shop immediately!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU MANDIE!  You are something sweet that's for sure! ♥

-L