8.30.2010

Pretty sure I'm happy here

Moving across the country is always a roller coaster (at least for me it is). It seems like on a daily basis I vacillate between feeling excited about the new possibilities ahead of me, to feeling lonely and confused as to why we decided to leave what we knew was comfortable.

But this weekend, I decided that I'm pretty sure I'm happy here.

The spouse and I set up my first booth (yay! hooray!) at The Big Le Boise craft fair on Saturday and I was pretty nervous. From past experience in Chicago and Minneapolis, the crafting community can be pretty competitive and somewhat petty so you never really know what you're getting yourself into. Boise, on the other hand, rocked my world.

From what I've seen with the crafting community in Boise, there is a definite sense of comraderie and encouragement and basically, it made me not feel like an idiot on Saturday.

All that said, the day went well despite insane winds and less browsers than I had hoped for.

The husband just walked in the door. Can you imagine ever getting eaten by a river beaver? They have terrible teeth and I'm glad he was not nabbed into their clutches as he biked home. The greenbelt can be a dangerous place with all of that herbivorous fauna lurking in the shadows.

8.18.2010

An Unforgiving Shoulder

After years of wearing a messenger bag and working espresso bars I have managed to develop a pinched nerve in my left shoulder. For the most part it doesn't hurt but these last few weeks my messenger bag (and even backpacks!) have been killing my shoulder whenever I bike. Combining that with the general discomfort of being pregnant, bike commuting is getting less and less fun right now. Fortunately, my husband rocks. On a lazy night last week we biked to the coop to pick up some deli dinner and he said he would just bring his big backpack and that I should forgo a bag in order to give my shoulder a break. Well hallelujah! I forgot how fun and freeing it can be to bike without a backpack! I felt like a kid just zipping along with no plans or expectations since I didn't have anything weighing me down. Sometimes I think I get too encumbered with "getting the most" out of my bike commuting that I turn biking into drudgery and forget how fun it can be to just go for a bike ride without any real agenda.

And also: three cheers for the Boise Coop's potato samosas and sour cream chicken enchiladas!

Thanks to: Damien, for asking me to save his favorite tshirt which then gave me inspiration for my newest project - Upcycled Graphic T's! This inspiration also gave me a reason to enlist husband to come to 99cent day at Savers and became an impromptu date of interpreting old family reunion and high school band tshirts. And because the husband is so awesome, he managed to find me a wicked version of this tshirt:

Admittedly, I was way too selfish to want to use this shirt to sell. Sorry!

And the last update: due to unreasonable amounts of zucchini thrust upon us (seriously people, learn your lesson. Stop growing zucchini! It is a vicious monster that will take over your garden and turn you into strange versions of yourselves that cause you to go around forcing these little summer squash onto your unsuspecting acquaintances) I have been going through quite a bout of baking chocolate chip zucchini bread. My dear spouse has been giving me a hard time for eating most of it myself and not leaving much for him. My dog, Lincoln, must have heard his complaints. To even the score, she decided to gobble down nearly an entire loaf herself. Lucky dog - it's a good thing I love you or else you would be out on the streets!

8.10.2010

a beginning

New blog. Fairly new town. Business back up and running. Husband starts grad school tomorrow. Lots of beginnings. Excited? Oh yes.

First venture in Boise crafting: setting up a table at Idaho Indie Works downtown for First Thursday. There were lots of lookers but not many buyers. But I met some people so that's a plus! Also, check out the new bellefourche banner that I made the morning of the event and hung over my table. I know, it's awesome!
yes that is an awesome wagon/carriage thing behind me!
Next event: Boise Weekly's Craft Bastards Block Party, August 28th! At Sixth and Broad from 10am - 10pm Boise Weekly is having bands, a Vespa giveaway, a bloody mary contest and, of course, awesome crafty booths. I know a few other vendors who will be there and it should be a lot of crazy cool stuff for sale.

First on my agenda for sewing tomorrow: dog bowties. Lincoln and Wanda need to spruce up their wardrobes and I can't think of any way that is more hilarious to do it.