Back on the blog

So much has happened in the past 49 days since I last made an entry. First, I must thank the writer of ultraclay blog who reminded me of the pleasure of blogging. Gracias.


Major Event #1
Well, mi esposo and I moved. Yes, we moved!!!

After nine years in Clinton Hill (6 of which were with mi esposo) in our teeny-tiny apt, which I'd started calling the "Den of Despair" we are in a sunny, beautiful two-bedroom apartment in Bed-Stuy.

Our stuff in the Rabbit Movers truck. They were fabulous -
ask for Carlos to supervise your move.

We couldn't be happier! Do-or-die-Bed-Stuy - we love it! Strangely enough, our move wound up being the weekend that we planned our vacation to Maine. Of course we rallied and moved, made a giant batch of food for our sweet dog, dropped her off with our friend Tara and high tailed it to Maine.

Major Event #2
Oh....and the week of our move was our five year anniversary!



We spent the evening bringing the couch down to the curb. Who said physical work isn't romantic? Knowing that we were one step closer to leaving the Den of Despair was so much more romantic than an evening drinking champagne.

Speaking of champagne.....

Major Event #3
My sister was in town from that ridiculously fabulous resort-town where she currently lives. Seeing her (coupled with moving) is making this, the best year ever. We hung out downtown and went to her favorite Vietnamese restaurant. Then she took me to the Gagosian to see the Takashi Murakami show. I miss being with her. My sister helped shape my view of the world. She took me to my first Almodovar movie when I was in junior high and brought home a copy of Fellini's "And The Ship Sails On" which to this day is one of my favorite movies. She brought the entire planet to our home in Queens and I absolutely love her for it!

I took her to the fantastic Lady M.

Who doesn't love champagne with your afternoon treat?

I'm in love with the mille crêpes

Delicious!

Which leads to the last major event in the past 49 days:


Major Event #3
Maine


We went with 6.5 close friends (the .5 is the lovely little boy Ty from Austin). We were right on the beach and it was freakin' amazing!



I finally had my first lobster roll and plenty of steamers. Our friend, Pete, schooled us in the New England way of eating clams. See that little glass of melted butter? You open the clam, pull it out, dip it in the water, then the melted butter. Mmmmmm.....that was good.

If you're ever in the OOB (Old Orchard Beach), stop by the Pier Fries.

Wow they were the best fries I think I've ever eaten....yes, they were definitely the best fries I've ever had. Mmmmm...hot fries. Of course, that's mi esposo's bottle of Cholula hot sauce on the table.

I even saw seagulls eat clams!! Being a New Yorker, I'd never seen them eat anything but french fries.



Our friend Laura (also a born and bred New Yorker) and I tried feeding them the left over steamers. They were slightly interested, but when we whipped out that box of fries they went bananas.

Laura said it reminded her of a scene from The Birds. It was so fantastic.

One of the most incredible things about being in Maine was finally reconnecting with my sweet "little sister" Sonya. We met when I was in college (she was in high school) and I instantly fell in love with this beautiful person. She moved to Maine years ago and I'd never visited.

Seeing her made me so happy. She's newly married to a great man. She works for one of the newspapers in town, volunteers helping young immigrant women (being a port, Portland Maine is surprisingly diverse - there are lots of Asian and African teens that she works with) and to top everything off - Sonya's a talented hip-hop artist. Mi esposo and I had so much fun with her.

Overall, the trip was exactly what we needed. Mi esposo celebrated his birthday in Maine by playing a few rounds of golf. I was able to spend time with one of my best friends (she and her boyfriend are really hard workers and we never get to spend time together - but they drove up at the last minute and it was so worth it).



I slept in and chilled. We were able to relax and just be.



I love Maine.

Samba Sunday!

I refuse to let technological glitches bring me down. After surviving a week of mild catastrophes (Entourage erased all of my emails, I cannot make a banner for my Etsy shop no matter how many half assed Photoshop tutorials I read, the lightbox at the Etsy labs didn't do it's job and my new digital images are crappy and a host of other small business drags), I'm going to Samba today!!

This afternoon at 3PM at Sputnik I'm going to dance my socks off! My samba teachers are starting a fundrasier and good-time raiser to benefit the good work of the Samba School for Social Justice and We In Cinema an organization that teaches filmmaking to children in the favelas of Brasil.

It starts at 3PM and ends at 1AM....I won't be there that late. If you need to step back and simply enjoy yourself - come on through.



The weather in NY is going to be nice - in the 60s and absolutely lovely.

XOXO,
Fela

Buenos Dias Spring

Spring has sprung in Clinton Hill. It's absolutely lovely...unless you have allergies (myah myah). The past few days have been great but a bit trying. I've spent a ton of time with our sweet puppy - but she still wants more. I can't blame her, spending most of your day in the confines of a semi-packed, dark apt. can't be fun.

Oh yes, we're moving. I cannot wait! We're heading to Do or Die, Bed-Stuy. When Biggie Smalls lived on our block (ancient history to some), he called this area Bed-Stuy. Well it isn't anymore Blanche, it's Clinton Hill and it's fabulous! Or so they say at Corcoran.

I've been walking a lot lately with the dog in tow.


We've gone to the park to see Barb. Her relationship with B$ is fantastic, they relax together on the grass in Ft. Greene Park (really a lovely place) and have some sort of connection that I rarely see.

It seems like we'll launch our website in the first week of June. I've been working with the developer and my financial/business guru to get everything done. Yesterday I finally found the time to head over to the Etsy Labs.

What's Etsy? If you purchased a Shoe-In Couture shoebag or visited our site you've already visited Etsy. It's almost like Ebay for the handmade crowd. Women and men from around the planet make goods to sell. You can buy pottery, artwork, jewelry, baby clothing and plenty more.

The last time I was at the Labs was for their grand opening party.


I wish I'd taken an "After" picture yesterday - they have rebuilt that space and it's full of sewing machines, silk screening stuff, computers, cameras....There's an Audio Visual space so you can edit or make music. While I was there, they were shooting an online workshop on how to make a stenciled tee shirt. Very cool!

Well, mi esposo just woke up, so we'd better start the day. Hello laundry, why hello packing and good morning post office.

PS The weather is going to be lovely today in Nueva York - a fabulous 73 degrees. Oh and tomorrow don't forget that it's going to be the Samba event at Sputnik. I'll do another post with the info.

Love + kisses,
Fela

It's Been A Long Time

Sorry for the hiatus, but I'm back! I've been quite busy (as I'm sure all of you have been as well). So much has happened and it's been good, good, good.

I titled the picture above "Happiness Is" and I'm sure you can see why. I absolutely adore pancakes!! Pancakes for breakfast, dinner, as a snack...yum. These pretty ones were created by the talented Cynthia at Brown Betty Cafe in Clinton Hill. It's right around the corner from us on Grand Ave. between Fulton St and Lefferts. Anyway, she makes a dozen other delicious meals, but hello pancakes.


Thanks Cynthia for making these for me.

Other things have happened, I've started freelancing a lot more with Martha Stewart and even worked on her fabulous KB Homes. That's right, Martha is selling homes and I have to tell you, they're really good.


My favorite is the Skylands model.

While in Atlanta, Felicia + I found the perfect taco house.

They even made their own tortillas - her mom ground the corn and made them fresh. So you know I ordered 25 fresh tortillas and a bunch of taquitos for mi esposo and mi cunado and his family. I'm pretty sure this place is in Kennesaw - anyway it was freakin' great!

My best friend moved to Brooklyn, so that's been soooooo great!!! She and her husband and their newest addition (the sweetest little girl) are all here and I couldn't be any happier. At the same time, my other best friend is leaving Brooklyn. She, her husband and their beautiful baby are heading across the river to NJ. I actually can't wait. They're moving to a quiet town with lots of space and mi esposo and I plan on visiting quite a bit!!

I served on Jury Duty. Right after ATL, Felicia and I served together - which actually made it fun. I was called into a case and forced to serve as an alternate. Even worse, because you're supposed to listen to EVERYTHING and you may never get to weigh in. Luckily, the first day of the trial the lawyers settled!! Yippee! It was even better because the following day I was entering our Shoe-In Couture bags into Oprah's QVC contest for "The Next Big Idea."



It was at QVC Headquarters in West Chester, PA. I rented a car (and a GPS - thankfully) and hightailed it down there. I just made it in time (someone didn't reset the GPS' time to daylight savings and it kept saying I'd get to my destination at 12:00PM. That's 1:00PM after daylight savings! I should've been doing 80mph the whole way.)



There were at least one thousand people in the space during my 1:00PM - 2:00PM interview time.


The interview/pitch was really quick and I learned a lot. I made a connection with my judge (she definitely understood the whole idea of the product and seemed interested). I need to work on my financials and I've got to refine my pitch for men (some of them don't understand the idea). I also met two very nice women who were really cool.

We're (my cousin Nepreil and I) are still moving ahead with the bags. I didn't get chosen to be a finalist - they chose 10 people from the QVC events in LA, Chicago and PA. That's 10 people out of the thousands that applied. After attending the Business Plan Competition with my fantastic financial/business advisor + guru - I definitely see where I can improve my work. Look at these new fabrics I found though:


Aren't they fabulous!

My web store is in development and we're hoping to have everything up and running by the end of May. Modern Travel accessories on www.babas2nddesign.com! Woo-hoo. Right now the url will take you to our beloved Etsy.com shop (I love the Etsy), but soon it'll be our own store. I am so excited!

NY is overcast today, but the sun will set at 7:53PM - hello summer we're waiting for ya!

xoxo,
Fela

THIS JUST IN!!!!!!

From the amazing Lena Corwin at http://lenacorwin.blogspot.com/, MUJI IS COMING TO NEW YORK!!!!

Yes, MUJI, not the scaled down version at the Moma stores (thanks Moma for having some things here), but the real deal!
I am so very happy.....if you don't know Muji, just wait until they come (this year's holiday season)...actually wait for me to buy everything that I need first - then check it out!

No more shipping fees from the UK, no more bribing friends from Japan or England to PLEASE bring me back the 0.38 and 0.5 pens, no more badgering the poor Soho Moma staff about the need for more products, no more excuses about the problems with shipping textiles to the US and the costs involved! No mas!

Muji, I welcome you with open arms!

Now, off to Samba....

Music Makes It Better

Music can have the most profound effect on you. Yeah, yeah - we all know that, but how do you describe that chill you get when you hear someone belting out a melody. Just yesterday I was talking to my sister and I mentioned that I rarely listen to the actual words in a song. Maybe that's why I like French and Spanish music so damn much - I have no idea what the hell people are saying in any language.

If you've never listened to Radio David Byrne (yes... from the Talking Heads) you should. Every month he changes up his playlist and trust me you never know what he's going to choose (Old School Club Music, Rock en Espanol, Afro-Cuban Classics). The man knows his music.

This month the theme is gospel. If you know me, you know I am definitely NOT religious (there are far too many skeletons in the closets of the organized religions for my taste). I do however appreciate and admire the love some people have for their spiritual maker. I just get pissed off when that faith is bastardized for political goals. Anyway...listen in this month, especially if you're wrapping gifts or preparing to see family for the holidays. It'll make you happy.

Here are some other songs you should add to your iTunes library:


A Charlie Brown Christmas
*listen to this to keep you in the right mood if you're baking holiday cookies or doing anything else that could make you lose your sense of humor


Quarteto by Jobim-Morelenbaum
*I don't joke around when it comes to my bossa nova, but there are 2 songs on this album that are actually Astrud worthy covers - Só Tinha De Ser Com Você and Desafinado

Seu Jorge ok anything by him!
*if you didn't see The Life Acquatic with Steve Zissou (I heart that movie), Seu Jorge is the amazing Brazilian musician who redid David Bowie's songs as acoustic masterpieces in Portuguese. My favorite is Rebel Rebel. From his other albums (esp. Cru) I like Carolina and Tive Razão.

Love You Inside Out by Na Leo
*I just found this last night on iTunes. Na Leo is a Hawaiian group and they do a cover of the Bee-Gees song Love You Inside Out that is so good. Lynda and I heard this or a version last weekend at Cafe 1980 (formerly Saint Helens in Williamburg. I love their avocado toast- smashed avocado, lemon and cumin on thick slices of mutligrain...wow). For those of us who remember, Puff Daddy's group Total sampled this in their song "When Boy Meets Girl"

Paris Combo
*mi esposo gave me tickets to this show for my birthday and it was incredible! (Thanks PW for coming to the show). My favorite song that I can't ever stop listening to: Aquarium

Africando by Africando
*Senegalese salsa and it's oh soooooo good. The song that'll keep you doing spins by yourself: Yay Boy

Enjoy!

Thank you so much to the fabulous people that ordered the shoebags and cards from our site!

Sorry for the blogging absence...I will blog again in a few days (after we finish our orders, the x-mas cookie swap and our sama performane on Sun)!

Super Sunday!

It's really lovely when you can turn a day around. I woke up this morning and felt very...yuck. Mi esposo is finishing the wiring of his cousin's house, so Uma + I were home alone. Unfortunately neither one of us could sleep well. She kept waking up and looking at the door and I couldn't wait to wake up from my few restless hours of sleep.

I did wake up in time to listen to one of my favorite shows on NPR, The Infinite Mind. It's an incredible show that explores the science and psychology of our minds. Well..today's show was on HOARDING AND CLUTTER.

If you've been over to our apartment the last few months, the connection is not lost on you.

I obviously don't suffer from OCD (despite loving the show Monk). I did, however find a few troublesome traits, that I decided to work on - immediately.

I started to organize my workspace - my fabrics and leathers, patterns and cording. Not so bad, actually. The real issue will be working on my papers. Remember when I mentioned that I recently found a packing list from the 1990s? Well, that's not really gonna work for me anymore. On the show, author and feng shui expert Denise Linn, outlined a few steps to decluttering you life. You know what I think?
Shit, I have a lot of work to do.

Anyway, I did have a great business meeting with our financial advisor guru and we're furiously working on our website. In the meantime, the Holiday Cards are up on our etsy site.



I love them, they're the Mid-Century Holiday series. I took this picture on the fly, so it doesn't even begin to do the cards justice.

I also gave Uma a much needed bath. Right now, she's wrapped up in her towel on her "cloud" as mi esposo calls her bed. Cute.

It's actually nice to have some time to blog and work. The past few weekends were a bit of a whirlwind. We went last Friday to see one of the lovely and talented Anne Akiko Meyers perform at Lincoln Center. Any time we can see Anne play, we try to make it - we're always emotionally drained and awed after her performances. As a special treat, her sister and our best friend Toni (I only have a few best friends, but they're worth their weight in gold) was in town from Colorado!

The next night we went to see Maurice play at the Makor (part of the 92nd Street Y). As usual he killed it. My father and his girlfriend joined us. The show was funky - heck I even got up to dance. Yes, it was after my Citron + tonic and it was darn good!

Even yesterday, Laura + I checked out Casino Royale. The new James Bond film - as a fan and a critic...I loved it!

So, I'm happy to have a home-y Sunday. Working and writing and maybe even working out (if I can drag myself down to Crunch).

Have a great Sunday darlings!