Sunday, July 12, 2009

all the rockets go BANG!

here is what has been going on lately.

last week or so i made josh go with me to see FAG COP. i've been into them for over a year and was excited to finally see them live. fun dudes. they ended up staying an extra day in cleveland and played two nights in a row, so i lucked out. check out the song "i'm fucking dead" which is my fucking JAM (and i got to hear it twice in a row! score!) the second nite they played "my daddy has white trash friends" which was also a bonus.

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i don't know who this guy is but he came to the show and tried to peddle his flowers. he was nice enough to give one to the singer of fag cop, and you can see it sticking out of the top of his shirt in those pictures above where they are playing.

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that same night, the homostupids (who are notorious for playing in the most awkward places possible) decided to do a set in the tiny foyer of the apartment above the bar. a bunch of us crammed into the room to watch that and it was cool. cleveland doesn't have nearly enough house shows, and josh and i decided that was because we realize that we are just too bad. by "we" i mean the city of cleveland, or more specifically the particular group of people who make up this "scene" who are always trying to out-do each other with stupid stunts at shows and functions. who would want to host a show at their house knowing that a cinderblock is going to end up through the floor and your curtains will probably catch on fire when someone throws a handful of firecrackers at the band while they play? so it was a rare occasion, and that made it all the more enjoyable. but as you might imagine, being crammed in a tiny room with 30-40 people smashing and crashing around makes it virtually impossible to take any photos.

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the fourth of july was nice. josh and i went to lakewood park for fireworks. they always have a nice display. taking pictures of fireworks is awesome.

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the grand finale was INTENSE! it lit up the whole sky so that it seemed like daytime for about 10 seconds. amazing.

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here is a photo that i absolutely adore. it will most likely appear in our etsy store very soon. while we sat there watching fireworks, i was sorta annoyed that we had some trees in the way obscuring the bottom portion of our view. but then i witnessed this, and i realized how badass it looked seeing the fireworks blow up the night sky and illuminate the trees in such a spooky way:

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this past friday, josh and i went to see that new john dillinger movie "public enemies." let me ask you: what could be hotter than johnny depp as a mascara-wearing pirate? oh, yeah...johnny depp as a pinstripe suit-wearing gangster. hottt. that idea is almost as good as the one where someone cast johnny knoxville as a greaser in that "deuces wild" movie.

on saturday morning, we went with my parents to the west side market. this is the oldest publicly owned market in cleveland (in existence since 1840 but in its current location across the street since 1902) with over 100 stalls of local merchants. i remember going there early on saturday mornings with my dad as a kid and it has been years since i've been inside the place. we got some fresh vegetables and bakery and meat, but mostly i just went for the experience of walking around and taking in all the sights!

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here was the booth that josh referred to as "hotsauce heaven":

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doesn't everything look delicious?!

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we tried to take our lunch onto the balcony to eat, where you can look down on the entire indoor portion of the market. it was too hot so we sat outside instead.

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i was all geared up to try a gyro for the first time ever, but i chicked out at the last minute. mom, dad and josh got one but i had some sushi (i never used to like sushi and now i crave it ALL THE TIME!)

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today josh and i went on a picnic in the park. it was sooooo nice outside.

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are you sick of us yet?

tonite i was looking around on craigslist to see if there were any poor old saps whose wives were making them get rid of their old records. i did not win. but i DID find THIS poor old sap who was getting rid of THIS!

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he lived nearby, he only wanted $40, and we REALLY wanted to help him clean his house out. we ran.


Q: what's cooler than cool?
A: one of these ol' thangs!


Q: what's cooler than this ol' thang?
A: TWO OF THESE OL' THANGS!


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that's right, i had the black & white one that my brother found in the trash (!!!) and gave me for christmas, so then i had to get the matching baby blue one when i saw it. am i ridiculous? YOU HAVE NO IDEA!!!

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in closing, i would like to say that i will be the first person to admit that i am a total crab ass in the mornings. but one thing that never fails to make me smile is when i go out to my car in the morning on my way to work, and i find tiny little mud paw prints on the hood of my car. we have a lot of cats in our neighborhood, so it happens often. aww!

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Saturday, July 11, 2009

etsy

i know that blogspot and etsy go hand-in-hand for a lot of people. this was never the case for me, as i've been an avid journal-keeper and had my share of public writing spots (diaryland, livejournal, myspace and now here). but that doesn't stop me from writing about awesome things i come across from time to time, and here is an entry dedicated to just that. enjoy!

before i was actively involved with etsy, i found a seller who still has some of the coolest stuff i've found on the site. her store is called sweetheart sinner creations, and together with her boyfriend she makes jewelry and cigarette cases. i am especially pumped about the necklaces, which are all done in themes that i am way into: horror, pinup, vintage halloween, b-movies, etc. i promptly went crazy and ordered four of them, including a GIG big-eyed kitty, a cartoon of a pinup girl being attacked by a skeleton, an old photograph of a geisha, and a black & white picture from an old medical text book of a doctor standing next to a skeleton model. they are all amazing and i already have a few more picked out that i want to order! when i wear them, i always get a lot of compliments on them.

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my first purchase once i joined etsy was from my friend phoebe, who is one of the most creative people i know. her shop is called xxo, phoebe marie and she has all kinds of goodies inside! immediately i fell in love with her customizable mini polaroid necklaces. you send her a photo of that special person, have the option of adding some text, and she works her magic so that your finished product is this unique little gift, just for you and your heart. i chose to get a photobooth picture from not long after josh and i met, which is my favorite picture of the two of us. below it is the title of one of "our" songs, a dreamy doo-wop song by the skyliners called "this i swear":

phoebe even said it was one of her favorite ones that she has made, which made it that much more special. love it!

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the other day i made another purchase that i'm really excited about. while doing a search for el dia de los muertos, i stumbled upon mis nopales art. how can you not fall in love with this stuff?!? i had such a hard time picking out just one because there were so many that i wanted...so i settled for picking one for myself and one as a present for josh :)

here is mine:

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and here is the one i picked for josh, figuring that if he didn't like it i could just keep it for myself. ha. unfortunately/fortunately, he likes it:

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i can't wait to get them in the mail and hang them up!


i am still new to etsy and finding neat stuff every day. here are a few of my favorite recent discoveries!

the first is run by adorable kate and her adorable husband (no, seriously...they posted a photo of the two of them together in their blog recently and if it isn't the cutest darn photo then i don't know what is! not that i'm partial to heavily-tattooed couples who are happily in love or anything...)

their shop is called where eagles dare and they feature prints and paintings inspired by traditional tattoo art. MY FAVORITE! i totally dig this one that is for sale right now:

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i love kate's blog because it is a good mix of etsy talk (and we have very similar taste so i always like to see the cute things she posts!) and personal stuff. i find that i get bored by those blogs that ONLY talk about their etsy store. right now she is having a giveaway in her blog for one of their paintings, so go check it out!!!


i've also been very into the stapelia company. not only do we share a love for photography, but also an interest in underbelly art like vintage signs and creepy carnival themes. here is one photograph that i have my eye on. it would look so neat framed and hanging in our house among all the other sleazy stuff :)

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another amazing one is called "the golden stash." just look it up. you HAVE to.


my friend jeanie has also been making these AWESOME 45 record boxes out of found LP cover art. they are FANTASTIC. her etsy store is called retail trash. as some of you may know, i have an intense weakness for vintage 45 carrying cases. THEY MAKE ME CRAZY!!!

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hopefully you'll find something new and sweet after reading this entry :)