Yarbwoman shawl + black synthetic maple leaves

Go away anyone coming here from facebook! These photos are old news for you.



My friend Angela came over one night, and much to my surprise, she suggested I put together an outfit from my closet for her. The idea made me feel uncomfortable. My clothes ... on YOU? I couldn't imagine my highly personal clothing items on the body of someone who typically dresses so differently from me. It was mind boggling! I can't think of a good enough metaphor to describe it! Maybe if I think of one by the end of this post, I'll add it in.

Well after a while I got used to the idea and thought it might be fun (it was). So in no time flat, I picked out a fanciful outfit for her. The mood I was going for was this - old fashioned fairy tale; stories passed down by word of mouth among the pioneers (their version of TV), or the Grimm brothers' style where fantasy is mixed with tragic reality. For example, the little mermaid dying at the end instead of marrying the handsome prince in the Disney version (actually that was one of Anderson's stories but you get the picture).



The story behind this first outfit : a young woman, lonely but true, living with her grandmother in the forest somewhere. She goes out everyday to pick wild mushrooms and herbs for wise old granny. Okay yes the jeans kind of ruin that old timey feel but hey, it was just a theme.

shawl - found from basement (mom's)
black silk shirt with puffy sleeves - basement
bag - thrit store for 50 cents
black leaves - 99 cent store for 99 cents
jeans - her own
glasses - punched out 3D glasses found in bathroom at Loews

Inspiration: Little Town in the Ozarks : a teacher renting a room in Rose's house tells her and her friend Swiney (aka Nate) a story called The Yarbwoman.

"Yes, that's right," Mr. Craig said, his eyes smiling. "A yarbwoman is often an old lady who knows all about herbs, about the creatures of the woods, and spells and such. Sometimes they call them granny women."

Anton

(no not these two)


I'm going to do something very different here. In the social media / marketing blogosphere, people like Seth Godin and Shashi Bellamkonda have been making a list of their top blogs of the year. Seth with his top 20 and Sashi has a top 10. Or something like that.
So in a tongue-in-cheek imitation, here are my top 5 blog posts of the year:

1.) Incomplete Inspiration Liszt
2.) I felt you in my legs before I ever met you
3.) Mice friends
4.) University Jock
5.) Gemini Tactics

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In other news - 2 new items on etsy. ♥



The pouch was made a while ago, and Diana just dislocated her jaw while yawning and talking at the same time. Haha!

I named the bowtie Anton because well, it's dark and handsome just like a boy named Anton oughta be.

Provoke my thoughts and feelings please.

(Images link to original source)




'Self Murder'

I would like to input my two cents on the above artwork. I can understand the statement of the first. However I don't think it should cause men as a whole to be blamed and viewed as senseless brutes. I'm sure most guys don't mean for sex to feel that way; they just don't know how it feels for the woman and aren't sure of what they're doing, so they close their eyes and thrust away, hoping for the best. Maybe they're trying to mimic movie love scenes or pornos.

Of course there are relationships that are about power, and sex in those cases can be abusive in a very real, intentional way. In my experience, I find the reason is mainly due to a lack of communication; perhaps because the two are having sex before they really know and feel comfortable with one another?

Hypothetically, if I was going through something like this, I would advise myself to talk about it with the guy, and depending on how that goes (verbal cues, overall feeling, etc) we'd either work on making it feel better or I would stop having sex with him. It's important not to keep those feelings inside or you will be dying a little bit each time they're held back.

My experience with boys and sex are somewhat limited, so it would be interesting to hear more about other people's experiences.

Here is the email accompaniment to the postcard photo:

----Email Message----
Sent: Sunday, December 21, 2008 6:18 PM
Subject: 12/20/08 - sex always feels like abuse

I've been married for 15 years. My husband is a great provider and an amazing father, but when we have sex.... its like he's doing it to me and not with me.

Excuse me

Christmas present part I:



I bought a plain cotton shirt from Target and sewed hearts on it for my boyfriend. I thought it'd be fun to cover up the original label (Mossimo) and replace it with a highly personalized tag. As my sister the social media aficionado says - gives new meaning to personal branding!
For some odd reason he wanted to keep the yellow yarn too.



Pretending to play blind man's bluff?


Keith told me he wanted purple things after listening to one of Gogol Bordello's songs. Can you guess which one, those of you familiar with gypsy punk? ;)
Coincidentally, this was the also the first Gogol song I heard. The video had me laughing uncontrollably.

Start Wearing Purple - Gogol Bordello
2005 Side One Dummy


The late friend who told me about this band a few years ago said a reputable news source rated them as one of the best live performers in NY. He himself shelled out like $50 to see them one year. (By late I just mean I'm not friends with him anymore - our friendship died; not him!)
Even though I like Eugene's voice and style a lot, I will not be seeing them anytime soon since it's possible to see good bands for much cheaper. Although *sigh* theirs do sound pretty amazing (trapeze artists)!

Tell me more about this slender balloonist with the piercing blue eyes...

Here's two items that will soon be added to my Etsy shop.
They will be in a category called 'Heartfelt patches'.



I made this last night in about an hour and it will be called something like Garden patch. I love the briar rose print, the cheery yellow thread, and most of all the bumble bee button!

This next one was made months ago with some royal purple embroidery thread, lavender cloth, faux leopard print, and best of all BURLAP! I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but I stuffed a little bit of cotton inside the small purple heart to add even more texture.



And don't worry, I haven't forgotten to post about the flashback-to-summer shirts mentioned in this old post and the present items. I will save that for tomorrow's post so as to avoid an information / photograph overload. Well, I'm off to update the shop!

See you tomorrow Manatees...

You smell like the spit up of a baby vigorously burped by an over-zealous young mother

Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted in a while. What's it been, two days? I don't know but it feels long. I've missed you!
The reason I've been away is that my sister and I have been working on our Etsy shop and we finally opened up on Christmas Day! I guess it was like an unplanned Christmas present to ourselves. It sounds crazy, but it's been just about a YEAR since we first got the idea.

Here is the link (official badge is on the left side of the page):
Our Store


this is one of the listing pics for a bow-tie we made called 'Dorothy'. The pigtails were *just* for the photo. No way in hell I go out like that in public.

It's been a really exciting experience so far. Making things to potentially share with strangers who like our aesthetics, anxiously checking the number of times an item has been viewed... I want to be patient and not have unrealistic expectations. It's great to be able to make things and I would recommend it to anyone. You never know, someone out there might actually like what you make!

I'm working on some patches to photograph and list in the shop tomorrow, so keep checking back for updates! Yes, it's normal for there to be a flurry of activity in the beginning stages and I'm resolving to keep it up and not slack off. My resolution is to make one item, big or small, every week. Do you think that's a realistic goal? I'm depending on you guys to hold me to that!

PS - my blog title was inspired by the peculiar smell of sour milk that sometimes emanates from Diana's body. It's not entirely unpleasant.

Little xmas

My parents don't care about Christmas. I get really sick of the commercial images/store displays that pop up 'round this time; though there's also the homier (why does that word look so weird?!) version of the holiday where family members get together, go to church, and eat. Or just eat.

My mom and dad don't like the mostly white churches around here (my mom doesn't like church period), and our relatives are all in China. This month ('til January 4th) they are also in China, so it's just me and the sis. I don't mind unless someone makes me feel weird about it. This can be achieved if one assumes a polite but mildly scandalized expression while saying, 'really? You guys don't do anything? No presents? No tree?'
Chalk it up to some annoying longing for 'normalcy', but I decorated a little corner of my room this year. I would do so well in a tiny apartment! Here are some quaint closeups. Because everything's more interesting when you get closer (ooh could be a slogan for perfume or sex).


Here we have some cute white kids lined up in a row. Because white kids are the only cute kids.

(They were supposed to be tree ornaments but I didn't have any hooks)







Moose with pine tree scarf - present from a past christmas
Reindeer bear - from Keith
Chubby candy cane (which someone at work said looked pornographic) - also from Keith



I finished sewing, embroidering, and appliqué-ing the 2 present items. Photos will come as soon as I get a chance to give them to their soon-to-be owners. Diana made some neat bow tie accessories which I will photograph and post later, and today we are going to work on our Etsy shop and cook something involving eggs, scallions, chicken, and teriyaki. Yum!

Now I will be cute and say, 'see y'all next year'!

A stormy mess of chitlins* and psychedelia

My sister is here for winter break and we've been making really good meals regularly; each surpassing the previous.
For breakfast I mean, brunch, we made a hitler potato followed by a stereotypical injun'.

That little (rap)scallion under the carrot nose makes a perfect hiter 'stache n'est pas? I cut a chunk outta him ('cuz we don't like him). The two unintentional carrots behind the second potato look just like feathers. That is if you portray Native Americans in the Disney way (ahem, Peter Pan).

Fun food playing aside, I sautéed potatoes, frozen peas, carrots, & scallions in a buttery sauce which was consumed with spagetti à la white clam sauce. Diana thought it was a very French inspired meal. Our portion sizes were definitely not French! I wonder if it's only fancy French restaurants that serve notoriously small portions. Maybe common French folk eat big helpings just like the rest of us.



Eating our little hearts out.

In contrast, last night I made the very American meal of potatoes and broccoli topped with cheese.


Ingredients (all organic):
1 Idaho potato
1 head of broccoli
2 slices of yogurt cheese
1 large pat of butter
salt and grapeseed oil




Then Diana made this delicious pig-slop looking dish to go with it -

Ingredients:
Red kidney beans, carrots (julienned), onions, soy milk, hash browns (mashed), chicken patties from Chick-fil-A.

A well meaning friend once asked what I eat/cook at home because he wanted to know what real Asians eat. It was an awkward question because what I make is in no way representative of how all Asians cook. There's a huge variety. The things we make are more influenced by our personalities, various cooking shows (Lidia + Martin Yan are our personal favs), boredom, etc.
When I was younger and out in some public setting with my family, my mom would frequently say things along the lines of, 'behave or you'll make Chinese people look bad'. There's always some loss of individuality when you're the minority. Like it or not, you come to represent not just yourself or your family, but the whole minority group. Oh tokenism.

*I have no idea what chitlins are. All I know is they're some type of southern comfort food. I will look it up just as soon as I publish this post and finish making all my anal perfectionist editings.

Edit:
"Eating chitlins in the rural South is not as common as it once was. In colonial times, hogs were slaughtered in December, and hog maws (large intestines), pigs' feet, and neck bones were given to slaves. Until emancipation, African-American food choices were restricted by the dictates of their owners. Because of the West African tradition of cooking all edible parts of plants and animals, these foods helped the slaves survive in the United States. It should also be noted that poorer communities in the Caribbean and Mexico were given pork and beef offal. These communities eventually turned these undesirable cuts of meat into beloved dishes such as Mondongo and Menudo."

Interesting!

"Argelfraster," she said, and he started to melt...

I probably won't be updating the 'ol blog till after Christmas. I have a lot of sewing and appliqué-ing to do on two present items. When I get back I'll definitely have photos of the two things I'm working on, plus two awesome flashback-to-summer shirts I got while Christmas shopping. Good news is, in total I think I've only spent $50.00 on presents (I'm only getting presents for four people). The bad news is, I've realized I can't walk into any clothing store to shop for my best friend in California because whatever I pick out for her invariably becomes something I feel I need for myself. Solution? Get her something ugly.

PS - the title is a line from a book called Talking to Dragons. It's part of The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede and I used to love the stories in middle school. Still do, in fact!

We will ice fish for koi and gold while the chickens shiver in fright

Matt Thiessen thinks up some of the greatest lyrics. And I love icicles.


"Loner"
It's not good to always be around people; you might lose yourself.


Fish pond

Hope you like the photographs I took today. My sister and I shoveled the last 6 ft. or so of our driveway. This would be great if we had a normal sized driveway. Unfortunately (for winter at least) our driveway is 1/10th of a mile long. So um, yeah. It's important to shovel the last little stretch before it all turns to ice so our cars don't skid out into the street and kill us all, including Eric the anime-loving gnome who rents our basement.

The chickens seem to be dealing well with the first big snow fall of their short lives (they're just barely a year old). In the second picture, Blackie puffed herself up to stay warm. Today I fed them: burned kidney beans, semi-burned pasta bows, unburned wheat noodles, brown rice, and organic cornmeal mush. They seemed to like the cornmeal mush best; probably because I used hot noodle water to mix it up. (Why, you ask are the first two food items burned? I blame the internet and its tendency to make one forget all concept of time.)





After we came back inside, we watched this great little-known mystery show called Rosemary & Thyme on youtube. Each episode is extremely clever and engaging. They're the mental and visual equivalent of a cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows and whipped cream and cinnamon and ah! murder! and nutmeg.
In the series, you have two middle aged women who work as professional gardeners aka botanists while also having the side job of solving murders and stuff like that. Rosemary Boxer is the practical one while Laura Thyme is funny and superstitious and a smart bumbling fool. Here's the episode we watched if you are in need of some G - rated thrills.

Sweet Angelica - Rosemary & Thyme


Last chicken picture:



See how odd poor Bluey's neck looks? She must've gotten into a fight with another chicken because her neck feathers were all plucked out. Tsk tsk the animal kingdom can be so cruel.

Where's the blanket of snow you promised? oh ne'er mind, here it is.

Basement finds: Part II
(more pics on flickr.)









Silk scarf: mom's.
Shirt: handmade by either my mom or her mom; at least 20 years old.
Blue beads: gift from a very annoying woman who loved to talk.



Tree shaped like the first letter of my name.
It was very cold; this was when it first started snowing. Hence, the hunched up posture I usually reserve for awkward situations.


I have a ridiculously large grin on my face because I called my sister to tell her it had just started snowing, and she said that in the city it was "snowing like a hoo-hah." I found that very amusing.


hiding...


blurry snow globe?

Okay, that's enough of that. Here's what it looked like two hours later.


I like to sit and listen to the sound of the snowflakes landing on the trees...

I fell asleep last night and missed of Montreal on The Late Show. That's okay though. Thanks to the creators of Youtube and user ID 'RoQu3tO' I got to watch their performance this morning! Hmmm...I always find it strange to watch a band performing on a talk show. Something seems to be missing and it feels a lot more stiff. I wonder if the band feels like they are performing in a talent show judged by strangers. David Letterman's voice annoys me; he sounds so blasé. As if this is just any performer of his talk show host career. Humph the man has no appreciation.
They bought back the creature with giant arms and legs and the golden dancing Buddhas! Oh nostalgia...

An Eluardian Instance - Of Montreal 12/18/08


I love Kevin's outfit (as usual) and his face makeup. Reminds me of 'Purple Rain' by Prince which incidentally, he did a cover of.
I need to paint my face.
Watching this, I caught myself thinking 'damn I want a boyfriend like him', but as I said, I caught myself and changed it to 'heck I'll try to be like him myself.'

Gallery of scarves, babushka shawls, & one silk

basement finds: Part I
These here are the babushka-like wraps. They're huge! They could easily double as a blanket! There's really only one way to wear them without looking as though I have a goiter or cancerous tumor on my throat, which is to fold it into a big triangle and wrap it around once.
Scarves are one of those functional accessories that I could never have too much of - like the eccentric old millionaire who has a walk-in closest just for neckties or the highschooler with flip-flops in every color ever made (including three different shades of pink). My mom must've shared my fetish at some point in the distant past because these were all hers.

I photographed these in pairs to save precious post space. It gets mighty tiring to have to scroll down down down for what feels like ever on a post. Also, didn't you know? It's not good for a scarf to go through life alone. Like us, they need at least one close companion - friend, romantic partner, or pet (those are not mutually exlusive categories by the way). *roguish wink*












The colors did not come out as vividly as I would've liked. Probably because I took these pics at 9 in the morning when there's that strange white-blue light thing going on. Imagine the pink as more bubble gummy and the tans as more of a yellow ochre.

*Deep breath*
I saved the best and most difficult one for last. The flamboyant loner! So different it does not have a pair to go with. Unlike the others, I can't just wear it whenever and with anything. Must be careful with it lest I cross the fine line between vintage coolness and tacky beyond all belief.
It's got a bold, all-over print of Irises. Suggestions on how to wear it are welcome. I was thinking about tying it in a floppy bow at my throat...
I have this problem where my mind gets stuck in the mentality of your typical elementary schooler picking out an outfit for the first day of school. You know, where everything has to match. *shudders* As much as I try not to, my first thought when trying to find a shirt to go with this is 'okay, must find that exact shade of orange, blue, or red.'
No Yvonne! Not that old trap! ... resist... the urge.

You freed me from the past, you fucked the suburbs out of me

EXCITING NEWS. I went down to the basement for the first time in like a year. I was going down to try and find out how much oil was left in the boiler, got side-tracked by all the boxes of junk, and found a veritable treasure trove of old parental clothes. It's like I had a free shopping spree at the Salvation Army without stepping foot out my front door. There were shirts, scarves galore, a vest, more shirts...
I'm excited by the possibilities of finding interesting ways to wear these old things. Right now they are in the dryer - had to wash them since they'd been sitting in boxes in the basement for a few years! Filled with dust and dried out spiders. Oh I am going to be such a cool vintage hipster! Haha... I kid.

I also worked on a self portrait painting that still needs a little more work. I'm slightly a perfectionist.

Pictures coming soon!

I felt you in my legs, before I ever met you.

Disapointing. I had really hoped to see of Montreal today in Williamsburg, but the tickets were completely sold out. Figures. There was a contest hosted by Antler Darts which both Diana and I entered. We did not win. I guess I was not fawning enough. My email went something like this:

"Hello, the name's Yvonne. I would like to be the one to win the ticket because I live out in the suburbs and it would be a treat. I have yet to meet Kevin Barnes and would really like to as I greatly admire his brain. I think that the Williamsburg venue would be a likely spot to meet him as it is much smaller than other venues. Hope I get the ticket!"

I got a rejection message that began:

"Hello Contestants,
If you receive this email, it means you did not win the contest. I wish I had enough tickets to give away to all of you, but thanks for the awesome emails! The winner has never seen of Montreal before, and also offered to bake me an of Montreal cake!"

Well la-dee-dah. I guess I should have offered to do something for you also. I guess the cocky, too-cool-for-school angle was inappropriate. What you want is flat out bribery! Oh well, to look on the bright side, I save money this way... and it's less tiring... and yeah I'm not really convincing myself of any of this either.
But for some real good news, Diana found 26 dollars in a jacket pocket today! Yeah, she was at the Salvation Army and happened to stuff her grubby paw into the pocket of an old coat and struck gold. What I find funny is that she didn't dare look at it till she got out of the store for fear that some worker would confiscate it. (Insert condescending voice) The droll little thing!

I'm listening to Of Montreal's covers of various bands right now. Poor substitute. Ah well, they are damn good. For all those lucky ones at argh you know where, I am jealous. Very very jealous.

Other music related news...
This was a really good cover of Tegan and Sara's Nineteen.
The duo from Dublin call themselves the Heathers and also did a pretty good cover of a Mountain Goats song. Here's their Youtube channel.
I think it's flipping amazing how many young women and a few (read: one that I've seen) young men Tegan and Sara inspires. Even the not-so-great sounding covers are cool to see because the performers are so sincere. Makes me want to turn on the camera and start belting out songs. But thankfully for all of us, I have some level of restraint and common sense. Ah who am I kidding. My problem is having too much restraint!



I really like the way they harmonize and how the singer on the left looks toward her friend to better coordinate their tempo and speed. And I also like her shirt.

crafty updates, snow white, & the scarf that wasn't but became something better!

Doesn't this picture kind of remind you of Snow White? Not that I want to be like her or anything! I've outgrown Disney movies mentally and emotionally (thank goodness). I'd only want to be like her in the sense of being able to talk to woodland creatures. Not in the 'passive pretty thing waiting for Prince Charming' sense. And I think it's silly to portray girls/females as vulnerable innocents all the time. We are only human and no human is that innocent! I don't know if I believe in original sin...(I think I do).
Anyway, I've been changing my header fairly frequently. I will be using that space to showcase creative-ish photographs that either myself or Diana have taken. The current one reminds me of a little monster peeking into a house through the mail slot. (Who still has those?)

um, oh! I finished my first piece of knitting!


Here it is during the beginning stages -


Yeah I know, for you avid knitters out there, this is a piece of crap. Especially as it kept getting wider and wider...*scratches head in befuddlement*

But there's a happy ending to all this because as you can see from the photos, instead of a scarf I turned it into a capelet. I sewed on black satin ribbon for a tie and pinned on an old heart brooch I made a long time ago.



I'm pretending to have a conversation with a nifty pinecone owl I got from TJ Maxx for 5 dollars. She was supposed to be part of someone's christmas present but I can't give it anymore because the fake pinecone bits keep chipping off. Poor craftsmanship.

Underoos

:EDIT:
I believe I am feeling what the Bible would call righteous indignation. Just saw this at the top of a band's myspace site.

Are you KIDDING me.
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and now back to the original post:

One day I was making faces at myself in the bathroom mirror, and I realized that this face - mouth slightly open to show my two front teeth - makes me look very chipmunk-like.


Here's the new underwear I got! I hope I am not objectifying myself. I do adore the bright colors and I love that little ship, I have another one too!


Two friends came over last night, which was quite nice. This is one of 'em. I attempted to read the book he's holding (Faust) but quickly put it right back down. Maybe some other day...
Note: he is just pretending to read it to go along with the aura of smartness that the fake glasses convey.


See you later gator!