Johnny Cash Blackout Sunday at SXSW 2009 from Frank Gruber on Vimeo.

searching for hats…

shooting the video…

hats!!

everyone likes the hat…

spot the hat??

it’s not a black hat but we’ll let it slide…

but not pink!

much better…

the glasses make it…

watch out!

(CC) Randy Stewart, blog.stewtopia.com.

even at dinner…

past the cowboys bedtime…

it started out with a kiss…, originally uploaded by jpghouse.

i love this picture – wish i could take credit but i found it on flickr. tons of great inspiration on that site.  i’ll be carving my pumpkin tonight – will post the results later.

morning moose, originally uploaded by Steve took it.

ok, first, let me just say this – don’t judge. if you feel the urge, leave now. thanks.

my family hunts. not me or my sister, but my parents (well, mom usually just dresses in bright orange, carries a gun and keeps dad company) and most of my cousins hunt for various things. when you grow up in a hunting family, you learn respect for guns at an early age, you don’t get grossed out by a disemboweled deer or two hanging along the side of the garage, and you don’t think it’s bizarre when your mom tells you that she just won the moose lottery.

for those unfamiliar with large game lotteries (not pick 5 or scratch off), basically there are certain animals that you must win a permit to hunt during a specific period of time, in a specified locale. my dad won the lottery ten or so years ago, got a little crew together and shot his moose providing the entire family more than enough moose-meat for a couple of years. they hope to repeat that experience this week.

today my parents drove about five hours north to the maine/canada border where they like to camp, and tomorrow they will begin to scope the area. cousins and friends will meet them to help out when suddenly they have to pick up and cart away about a thousand pounds of moose, get it all cleaned up, protect it for the night (don’t want any pesky bears getting into it) and drive it back home to the butcher (who’s actually a friend of mine from highschool).

i’m not going to use this space to argue the merits of hunting. let’s just wish them a safe and successful trip – i’ll keep everyone posted on their progress.

another take on the street festival…

last week’s trip to san francisco for techcrunch50 was hectic but so much fun – i wish it were starting all over again. i think the biggest surprise was all the celeb spotting… not only mark cuban, ashton kutcher and mc hammer, but alanis morissette too! sitting right across from me at le colonial!  of course, i didn’t capture pics of any of them except cuban… (i would make the world’s worst paparazzi) but in lieu of that… enjoy these fun pics of chinatown!

clever re-use of common items create unique and gorgeous accessories…

on a recent trip to maine i checked out a new shop called daytrip society (awesome store!) where i found the cutest little clutch made by escama studio in san francisco. it took me a minute to realize what it was made of – aluminum can pull-tabs. the tag on it, pictured above, asks ‘who made your bag?’ and then presents the answer on the other side where the creator signed it.

on the website i was able to look her up by name to find her picture and bio where i learned that “eveny” is brazilian, a widow with four children and was unskilled and unemployed until she began working with this group, which is a women’s cooperative in brazil. according to the website, “Escama Studio combines sustainable design with fair trade principles to create a new breed of alluring fashion accessories”. i love everything about this – the artistry, the personal touch, the recycling – and reading her story made it all the better.  i was even able to send her an email.

the site offers this info about their business:

Based in San Francisco, Escama Studio works directly with two Brazilian craft cooperatives — Cia do Lacre and As Panteras do Lacre — to design and produce these sleek, modern pieces using traditional crochet techniques and recycled aluminum pull-tabs.

Industry experts warned us that we’d run out of aluminum pull-tabs and advised that we’d need to use machines to get consistent quality.

Luckily experts are sometimes wrong.

Four years and 70,000 bags later we’ve learned that craftswomen can do something that machines can’t: make consistently beautiful bags that are at the same time very personal. We’ve also learned that the world’s abundance of ‘junk’ offers a lot of creative potential.

check out their site to see more of their offerings, and some fun fashion inspiration photo galleries.

as fall approaches, i can’t help but get that same anxious and excited feeling i used to get every year while preparing to go back to school. to me fall is like a blank notebook – it’s a fresh start open to all possibilities. so to prepare, i thought i’d get some of my own supplies. instead of pens, notebooks and binders, i got a macbook pro, airport and printer. rather than anticipating new assignments, i’ve created my own: update my site and get organized online.

and…. i must say, i love my pretty new mac and i’m looking forward to my assignment (especially since there’s no due date).

“the sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room” Pascal

from 02/22/07

…i got to thinking about the last chapter of ‘the art of travel‘ called ‘on habit’. de botton focuses on this frenchman, xavier de maistre (all of 27 yrs old) who undertook a massive journey – around his bedroom – and appropriately titled the account “journey around my bedroom”. and here’s what i love even more… a few years later, he was so bold as to take another adventure, titled “nocturnal expedition around my bedroom”. he pioneered room travel, which he believed might be more practical for those neither as brave nor wealthy as real world explorers – and for those afraid of storms, robbers and high cliffs.

de botton’s insight: the mind-set we travel with is infinitely more important than any particular destination we might travel to – and if we could apply a traveling mind-set to our own locales, we might find our local neighborhoods just as exciting as the jungles of south america or the bright lights of tokyo. it’s about taking note of the details, rediscovering the little things we take for granted and appreciating what’s around us.

while at a local farmers market a year or so ago i discovered the shoebox oven (online at shoeboxoven.com). not only were their cupcakes delicious, but i was enamored with the creativity i found on their site – from the photos to the imaginative names of each special item in their list. it was a while before i thought of them again, and then right before thanksgiving i got their e-newsletter which prompted me to immediately order some champagne chocolate to bring to my sister’s house. it was truly spectacular and i immediately started thinking about who else might enjoy their confections during the holidays. so in a few days, some friends and family will receive special packages full of the best kind of goodies. ’tis the season to indulge.