love, me

I'm excited to announce that Love, Me Boutique in Halifax is (as of yesterday) carrying selected shoes, bags and accessories by five surprises!

The store is a wonderful, whimsical little adventure in handmade goodness. I encourage you to check it out, and not just because my stuff will be there; there is fantastic art on the walls, local and independent music piped through the speakers, and a great selection of beautiful and quirky products.

good things

Excitement!

Etsy seller TheLoudLion included one of my pieces in her Treasury.

Treasury lists consist of 12 items plus 4 alternates, usually selected by ordinary Etsy members based on a theme (in this case the theme is gold hearts). The lists are short-lived, expiring after 24-72 hours, and Treasury spots are hard to come by: in order to get one, you have to be waiting when an existing spot expires and pounce before someone else does. Etsy admins troll these lists for particularly well-assembled and attractive collections to feature on the front page... providing a LOT of exposure for the featured sellers. (You can find out more about how it works here.)

Even if a list is not chosen for the front page, it will be seen by lots of people who might not otherwise come across these items, making it a great promotional tool. And promotion is something I definitely need right now.

s... ty-le... ?

I realized that it's been a long time since I actually wrote about style, which is this blog's whole raison d'être; sure, I've written about crafting bellydance costumes (DIY, so we'll give it the OK) and choosing a stage name (constructing an alternative personal style... so, warm, but getting cooler) and starting my business. I've also written about soup and computers and my goals for the new year (we're seriously stretching things...).

Now that I have my business, I expect to be chronicalling my entrepreneurial foibles quite a bit, which will include plenty about the interesting, stylish things I'm making and my inspirations and so on... but it will probably also include a lot of random stuff about CSS, chocolate, megapixels and how much I want to go to Florida to escape the cold. Bear with me.

Offtopic: If you have not yet seen Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, you have catching up to do. It's out on DVD now and has a musical commentary track. (Musical! Commentary!) Trust me on this one; even die-hard show-tunes despisers agree that this mini-movie is possibly the most awesome thing ever.

conquering the inter-web

So... entrepreneurship has turned me into a big ol' computer geek.

It started innocently enough: I wanted to brush up on the tiny bit of HTML I learned about back in ninth grade. My dear, professionally nerdy friend offered to set up a business website for me, but even with the framework all outsourced, I'd still need to be able to update product pages on my own. I started working on an outline for it using OpenOffice.org's HTML editor, which is a very basic substitute for programs like FrontPage and Dreamweaver (and, people, can I please just get a "Hell yeah!" for open-source?); but I found the WYSIWHG process somewhat frustrating, and according to Matt it codes "like garbage" anyway - when we met for lunch to look it over, he spent the better part of the hour just correcting the syntax. (Despite the web writer's shortcomings, I still dig the OOo suite, though. Get it. Love it.) Between my control-freakishness/perfectionism and the fact that I felt a bit bad for getting my friend to do for free (well, barter, actually - but I felt I was getting by far the more valuable end of the stick) what other people pay him quite handsomely to do... after that fateful lunch meeting I had to pass by the library anyway, so I stopped in and picked up a couple of HTML/XHTML/CSS reference tomes. And proceeded to spend the next seven hours glued to the sofa, giving myself a crash course in web languages and style sheets.

I kind of love it.

You know what I don't kind of love? Internet Explorer. Fuck that shit. Seriously. Now, I'm not saying that my code was perfect, because it certainly wasn't (come on, though - I'd been doing it for a day, so I'm hardly going to flog myself over that), but every other browser displayed it correctly. And the big problem is that I own a Mac (no, I don't consider that a problem in itself), for which IE is no longer available. So I was so pleased with myself, taking my brain-baby over to Matt's for him to look at, and then saw for the first time how IE completely mangled it. I nearly cried.

(And Matt, if you're reading this: yes, I understand your stance on IE; I still think it's an asshole.)

I have been messing around with the site for weeks since then. I completely redesigned the layout, taking into consideration some of Matt's suggestions; made an index, an "About" page, product galleries... and I did this all using TextEdit. Just code. Feel free to worship me. (I like my grapes unpeeled, thank you.) I have style-sheets. I have inline frames. There's even some JavaScript in there. I tap-tap-tapped away at it on Christmas Day. I was a woman on a mission.

I can't even tell you what my original deadline was, I've pushed it so many times. I do know that I had high hopes for launching on December 26th. That didn't happen. Then I was going to send it out into the world on New Year's Day. Nope. And every day since then. Failed.

And then... oh, and then...

It was ready. All the links linked. Finally. I borrowed Matt's computer, looked at it in Internet Explorer...

Fuck.

Viciously mangled! NOOOOOOOOOOO! And there was no clear reason why!

I spent most of a day trying to figure out how to get IE on my Mac, and waded into the strange world of emulators and alternative OS's: WINE, QEMU, Linux, ies4mac... turns out if I had an Intel processor, my life would be much, much easier. I still don't have a solution, but I know a lot more about a lot of computer-y things now. I ended up going to the library to check it on the public PCs, and then consulting Matt's laptop again. Not a fantastic long-term plan, so I'll continue my quest to obtain this stupid browser.

I am reasonably confident that every page of my site now functions more-or-less as it should on all browsers. Please take a look!

best-laid plans

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the life that is waiting for us. - Joseph Campbell

Happy 2009, folks.

The turn of the year is a great time to look forward, set goals and make plans for the upcoming twelve months; but it's also important to look back at what came before (or what didn't), to look at what we've accomplished, how we've changed... and to remind ourselves that plans don't always get strictly followed.

Luckily I posted last year's resolutions for posterity, so I have a pretty accurate yardstick of what I was hoping for the last time we reached this point in our trip around the sun. I took a quick look back just now, and I was actually surprised at how many of my goals I accomplished, or at least got a significant start on:

1. Update the blog regularly/introduce weekly feature - uh... OK, that one was a bit of a fail. But I'm trying to get back to it, now that I actually have stuff to blog about.
2. Get out! Socialize! Make friends! - I did this. It didn't happen instantly, but in early January I kicked my little butt to a weekly bellydance class, where (in addition to helping keep one of my other resolutions) I met wonderful women, some of whom have become like family, and in turn introduced me to other wonderful, interesting people and pastimes.
3. Treat my body better - Hmmm... yes and no. Over the course of the year I purged my body of over five years' worth of nasty contraceptive hormones and reclaimed my womanly cycle. This was an incredibly difficult detoxification process, but ultimately very liberating and necessary. I wanted to dance and stretch more, which I have definitely done. I took two weekly dance classes throughout most of the year, and got really fit in the summer, when I spent a lot of time drilling and rehearsing for performances. Now that it's winter I seem to have misplaced my six-pack, but I know it's around somewhere and I'm sure I'll find it again. My good eating habits sort of rose and fell like the Roman Empire; I can't seem to wean myself off chocolate. And sometimes I still forget to wash off my makeup... We'll call this category a draw.
4. Become a rock goddess - Well, a bit. I didn't really learn how to play the bass (and I'm thinking about selling it for business-continuation funds), but I did keep plugging away at the mandolin, went semi-regularly to home-town jam nights at the Trellis Cafe, and finished out the year with a string of holiday party singing gigs with Tidal Rhythm. We'll say, Acoustic Indie-Folk Minor Deity?
5. Look awesome every day - I didn't really reach that stage of effortless presentation that I keep striving for, but I think I'm getting closer to identifying what my true self looks like.
6. Start the business - YES.

I'm going to say, on average, 2008 was a successful year. I learned an awful lot about myself, grew substantially as a person, and accomplished a number of stated goals.

Here's what I'd like 2009 to look like:

1. I'd like to follow Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food mantra: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." And stop eating chocolate for breakfast.
   
2. Regular yoga practice, regular dancing.
3. Work on building and maintaining healthy relationships, especially the one I have with myself: communication, honesty, awareness, serenity, gratitude and appreciation.
4. Learn. Read more. Be curious.
5. Adventurousness.
   
6. I want creativity to be my job, my passion, my life. I want to grow my business. I want to support myself financially through my designs, my performances, and a willingness to take calculated risks.
7. Blog. Duh.
   

I wish you all the best for 2009!

miso and mayhem

There are so many things I love about not having a day job right now, but topping the list at the moment is the fact that I have a fully equipped kitchen at my fingertips for my "lunch hour". A pot of loose-leaf tea and hearty miso soup... mmmm.

I've loved miso soup ever since a little family-run sushi place opened up across the street from my high school; a bunch of us would go and only a couple of kids would order meals, but the lady would kindly bring tea, salad and soup for all of us. Unfortunately - and unsurprisingly - the restaurant didn't stay open long.

I never bothered learning to make it for myself, though, until recently, when my friend Marissa clocked my terrible diet and took it upon herself to start making me dinners. What she produces is a meal unto itself - more like a chunky stew - and contains a little bit of just about everything she has on hand at the time. It's worlds away from the tiny bowls that accompany your california rolls, but still has that wonderful, salty, cloudy broth that I love. Here's my interpretation; or at least, today's version:

Molotov's Kitchen Sink Miso Soup

• a fistful of chopped broccoli florets
• a 1/4 in slice of red onion, diced
• handful each, cubed green and red bell peppers
• handful spinach leaves (I keep a bag of frozen organic spinach in my freezer for stuff like this)
• 1 1/2 TBL white miso paste
• approx. 1/2 c cubed tofu
• dried seaweed of some description (I couldn't find wakame, which is what I think you're supposed to use, so I bought nori - the sheets of roasted seaweed used to roll sushi - and tore a sheet into 1 in. squares)

Cover the broccoli, onion and peppers with fresh cold water (about 2 cups; adjust according to how much broth you like), add a dash of salt and set to boil. Once boiling, stir in miso paste until completely dissolved; add tofu cubes and continue to boil until vegetables are tender. Add spinach, stir for a few seconds until soft but not slimy; then remove from heat, stir in dried seaweed, and serve. If you like, you can add a dash of of salty ume-boshi vinegar.

Makes one main course serving.

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When the soup has settled and the blogging is complete, today is loose ends day. I cut out a bunch of cute handbags aeons ago and never got around to sewing them - that's getting done today. A few items need alterations, some supplies need sorting, etc. Tomorrow: skirts. And I plan to have the website launched by January 1st!

five surprises

I finally did it, guys. I took the plunge. I decided I couldn't take the corporate life anymore, and I quit. I had no other job lined up, so I thought I would give myself a minimum two-week working vacation to finally start doing what I love - designing and performing. I've now managed to stretch that two weeks into two months, and - after taking a nervous peek at the contents of my wallet - I'm happily/hopefully contemplating a third.

I LOVE working for myself. And, let me tell you: I am working. That part about "vacation"? Not so much. I pretty much even work while I'm sleeping. But I get to watch (well, listen to) movies while I work; I make cool stuff every day; I work when I'm feeling at my most productive, not when someone else tells me I have to; I don't get bored because there's a huge variety of tasks at hand; I am constantly learning and being challenged. I feel motivated to accomplish things. It is amazing.

Now, it's not all sunshine and puppies and rainbows, of course. I find deadlines very helpful in keeping up my motivation, so I've been setting myself timelines dictated by external factors like craft fairs and sales promotions, but I've melted down a couple of times when it came down to the wire. It's all educational, though, and I'm honing my time-management skills. And, well... There is definitely some stress involved in being financially, um, unstable. I've sold a number of my creations, but I have really been supporting myself through an eclectic mix of holiday performance gigs, which will probably dry up shortly, and the kindness of friends and relatives. And - sigh - the inevitable credit card. Somehow, though, I feel less anxious about money now than I did when I had a regular paycheque, and I have more trust in the idea that there will be opportunities when I allow myself to be open to them. It's forcing me to think creatively... and to have gratitude.

I am so lucky to be surrounded by supportive people who are willing to share their time and knowledge and connections with me. I am inspired every day by my friends and community.

So far Etsy has been an amazing resource; not only has it given me a venue for selling my designs, it's also a fabulous way to network with other independent crafters from all over the world, and a seemingly bottomless well of advice on everything from photography to branding to vlogging. You can find my store here, and - very soon - lots more at fivesurprises.com.