does this blog make me look fat ....

... sometimes I don't know when to stop ... with blog posts, with guacamole, with the number of times I laugh at the car radio display when I'm listening to the 60's station and the screen isn't big enough for the whole title so it just says "Build Me Up Butt" ...

and I was about to print Bumbershoot pics that made me look

pretty freakin' awful

(notice how I say 'made me look' because obviously my sister, who took these photos, has somehow doctored them, because she is pretty clever and slightly devious in a way that only a little sister can be, somehow adding 10 lbs to me in the photos not to mention 10 years and a slightly yellow cast to my skin, that has me rethinking my liquor intake - maybe this wine-for-cork as tax-write-off diet is not a very good plan for me anymore)

then I stopped myself - wth this is my blog I don't have to print crappy pictures of myself, even when I have nothing else to post ... luckily I have my own little photoshop expert (ie Olive) to take a little action before posting them - trust me it's better this way ...

(my display looked pretty good for all the borrowings I collected on the west coast to fill it although maybe too cluttered now that I look at it in the photos - of course these could be doctored, too ...)

have a nice weekend everyone!   xo

taking action vs. waiting until the path is clear to us ...

Oprah always says when you don't know what to do ... do nothing.

This has always worked for her I guess. But, I suspect Oprah is able to get very clear, very fast and this "do nothing" period doesn't last very long for her.

(for me, I have a strong suspicion that doing nothing until I am clear on what I want to do would result in many many afternoons, weeks and maybe even years of ... well.. doing nothing)

I think it may usually be better to take some kind of action even if we need to change or reverse course later on. There aren't that many decisions that are so final, we can't redecide them to get a happier outcome.

Taking action allows us to focus. It gives our attention an intention. I usually find the best actions are those where I am less attached to the outcome and just seeking the experience - the outcome has a way of working out better for me when I haven't decided exactly what it should be.

Taking action allows us to decide. Deciding creates direction. It breaks our usual patterns of doing the things we think we should be doing or the things we have always done in the ways we have always done them.

Lingering in indecison and inaction can make us depressed - it can make things seem larger and more important than they really are - it can turn our feet into cement combat boots and our brains into mashed potatoes.

(and not the amazing kind with the white cheddar, butter and chives either)

Since 2011 is my year of deciding - I decided to do some shows this summer (mostly wholesale) that I hadn't done before. Shows that involved traveling by plane (this has always made me a little queasy, although I mostly love airports)- often alone and spending money that I would normally be uncomfortable spending since it took me so long to make and the outcome was so unclear.

Yesterday, seeing the kids waiting for the school bus and the leaves beginning to pile up in my front yard (and also noting my bank account balance) I was kind of regretting some of my choices. I feel like I missed the summer and now am headed right into my busiest retail season (I do 60% of my annual sales between Halloween and Christmas) with a head cold/sinus infection thing, exhausted and kind of pissed I never got to wear my awesome gladiator sandals and it's almost time to break out the Uggs (ugh)...

I am still glad I took action though (although my actions will be a bit different next time) and I still think deciding is better than waiting for something to happen or someone to come along and "discover" or "save" us ...

(and I think this is the same lesson for those of us who voted for Obama - and for the people who deny global warming because they are waiting for the rapture - no one is coming along to save us, it is up to us and that this is good news, great news actually ...)

We're all busy but we're not all engaged. Taking action locks us into full on engagement with ourselves. We connect. Maybe not right away when we’re just getting our feet wet - this action stuff doesn't have to be giant steps toward big, huge things. But eventually it brings us closer to ourselves - we learn what we want (or what we don't want) - it brings connection

... and autumn - which is my favorite season actually and as for my gladiator sandals I think I have decided to wear them until Christmas even if I need to wear my new wool socks with them - which I bought at an alpaca farm in Oregon last week with wool supplied by this guy - is this the most amazing face you have ever seen?! and to think I might have missed meeting him ...

* in the waiting room print by broke bot

Giveaway SUMIKOSHOP Handmade Jewelry $30.00 Gift Certificate! CLOSED

AND THE WINNER IS:

Chosen by random. org
True Random Number Generator Min:1 Max:129 Result: 7
I am amazed! Congrats I am amazed!

The giveaway is back with a bang!

SumikoShop is the gorgeous handmade jewelry shop of the amazingly talented Evelyn - the 29 year old maker and mother of a beautiful boy named Brian.

Evelyn lives and works in a tourist town by the sea in gorgeous Italy.

Many of her items are one of a kind and others are made in limited quantities. Her accessories are mostly female and whimsical. She sometimes mixes vintage with modern materials to create simple everyday pieces that are just magical!

We are so lucky to have your choice of SumikoShop's gorgeous work for this week's giveaway.

WHAT YOU GET:

One lucky winner will receive a $30.00 Gift Certificate at SumikoShop!

HOW TO WIN:

It's easy, peasy - just leave your contact information below!

For additional entries:

(5) Twitter this post
(5) Blog about this contest; linking to this post
(5) Follow my blog
(5) Facebook this post

Let me know if you have done these things so I can give you additional entries. This contest is open to everyone.

DRAWING:
Enter by midnight on Sunday 9/25! Good Luck!

10 years ....

I am back from Seattle and Portland - the last of my big travel shows done for the year (thank goodness) - I haven't done a music festival in years

(my thinking was that people do not go there to shop; now this is my 'knowing')

girl at show (pointing at item with price marked) : "how much is this?"

me : "that's twenty four"

girl : "dollars?"

(it was that kind of show)

but it paid for my trip which included a day in Seattle when I wasn't working and 4 days in Portland visiting my sister and her family, so I am definitely not complaining. A great big thank you to Bill from House of Six Cats who loaned me 2 tables and my niece Miranda (locket2you) who loaned me everything else.

Today is back to work for me and a day of remembrance for all of us ..... there are some wonderful tributes here

I have been trying to think of the good things that have come out of 9/11, but have been having trouble with that one ... in the immediate aftermath, before it all became politicized and the people who profit from our fear set to work to capitalize on it, we came together around the world in a wonderful way .. so I am going to keep that feeling in my heart today ... that sense of connection.

xo all
the giveaway will be back tomorrow folks

It's Bumbershoot time!

..setting up at Bumbershoot today in Seattle! If you are coming, stop by and say "hi" - I will be near the fountain!

Have a wonderful holiday weekend all!

xo

Please vote for Kella and Chris HERE Suburban Camping Co - they are competing against established stores (who are offering specials and giveaways to people voting for them- is this legal?) and need our votes!!!

some facts about the Canadian tar sands ...

Tar Sands Action's sit-ins in Washington DC are succeeding in informing people about the Canadian tar sands and the extreme price we pay for gathering oil from them.

The protest revolves around the proposed Keystone XL pipeline project, which would speed the flow of crude oil from the tar sands to US refineries.

Approx. 20% of US oil comes from Canada and 40% of Canada's oil production is from tar sands.

So what are tar sands and why should we care? Tar sands, or oil sands are a mix of clay, sand, water and oil and particularly bitumen, which is a heavy, viscous material. Unlike drilled oil, tar sands have to be mined to get at the bitumen and refine it into oil.

Bitumen is highly carcinogenic and requires extensive processing to make it thin enough to flow through pipes. Four tons of sand and soil are removed and dumped for every one barrel of oil gained from tar sands

(Al Gore wrote a great book about the devastation from soil removal- not his book An Inconvenient Truth, but an older book, I believe from before he was Vice President, the title is slipping my mind - like alot of things these days- but if you google it, it is a great read)

and three barrels of water to extract just one barrel of oil. More than 400 million gallons of water per day ends up dumped in toxic tailing pools which leak 3 million gallons of contaminated water daily.

Tar sands oil production emits 3 times more carbon dioxide per barrel than traditional oil production and the tar sands of Alberta, Canada are located under Canada's Boreal forest which is one of the largest intact ecosystems remaining on the planet. Removing the carbon-storing forest ecosystem to get at the tar sands will be more and more detrimental.

By 2020 the Tar Sands will release twice as many greenhouse gases than currently produced by all the cars and trucks in Canada!

Local production negatively impacts birds and caribou and moose and the indigenous people ... and all of us.

If the U.S. government approves the pipeline, renowned climatologist James Hansen says it will be "game over" for the global climate.

There is a petition to Obama to stop this pipeline HERE
and to focus on developing clean, safe energy.

BTW if you haven't seen Bill Nye tackle this brain-dead climate skeptic at FOX news (again) you will love this

this could be it folks ....

I mean, an earthquake and a hurricane all in one week? in New Jersey?

Global warming?

(Al?)

Well, maybe ... but my take on this is that God is seriously pissed off about all this Jersey TV - Housewives, Jersey Shore, Jerseylicious - she got one look at Snookie and said ... enough, already

(note to God - remember me, I'm the girl with the flat hair)

BTW at the post office the other day a bald man told me he has worked at the Jerseylicious salon for 15 years

(first he complimented another customer's hair, then looked at my hair and said ... nothing)

and only the mother and daughter on the show actually work there, everyone else is fake - I've never seen the show, so don't know how extensive this "fake people" thing is, but it sounds serious folks ...

As I am typing this my brother just called me and said his town is having mandatory evacuations and they need a place to go ... with their 5 cats and 2 birds - OMG

Then a friend called and said they are having an earthquake/hurricane party tonight and we are invited. I asked if I should bring some takeout

(and my brother, sister in law, 2 birds and 5 cats .. I kind of just whispered this part though)

and she said "I have a pot roast."

(grandma? sniffle)

Uh, isn't it still August? Who just happens to have a pot roast in August? But then she said the kicker that pretty much assured my participation

"I'll show you my new Dyson", she added

I mean a pot roast and a dyson demonstration just screams PAR-TAY in Jersey folks - unlike Snookie and the Situation this is how we really roll.

Off to clean my bathroom in case we have house guests this weekend .... stay safe and dry everyone.

xo