Bright green relish at The Stand

Bright green relish at The Stand, a photo by chloe & ivan on Flickr.

Almost made me want a Hot Dog. But this is not Chicago, and we were on a burger mission.

Mission accomplished.

They do hot dogs for a dollar on Monday nights. You need a Stand card, it's free.
www.thestandlink.com/events/
Dollar hot dogs.
Oh man.
Might be back for the bright green relish.

California Traditional Music Society

California Traditional Music Society, a photo by chloe & ivan on Flickr.

Hand Carved sign on the door
Where my sister took me for a Celtic Women's Songs workshop with Janet Cornwall.
I do a lot of things. Singing is not one of them. 
Unless I've been drinking. A lot.
Kind of like tweeting, usually not a good idea for me to drink and sing.
From too much poetry was more comfortable with the Gaelic than I thought I would be.
ctmsfolkmusic.org/calendar/events/2012/Concerts.html

Knitting and Lucky Bunny

Chose the blue & white cotton yarn to be all Aegean.

So I can pretend I am vacationing in Greece when it is 110 here.
Works as a coaster too.
You know how cold drink bottles get all wet with condensation?
The cotton yarn absorbs it.
And I can stash it in my purse and take a drink on the bus without getting busted
or getting the inside of my purse wet.
Hot or cold.

Don't think anyone would think my green crafty washable cotton water bottle holder would be transporting alcohol, do you?
It fits all the containers shown here because it is knitted, stretchy.

Any serious knitters going what the heck kinda stitch is that?
I pic the back of the stitch holding the yarn in my left hand for utilitarian knitting.
It makes me think about when a community could pick out a knitter's stitch.
That's me, with the slanting ridges on all my kid's snow hats in New England.
No need for Winter hats here in the desert.
But we do need to carry water. Seriously.

But what has this got to do with Lucky Bunny?

http://www.luckybunny.net/

This.

Shut Up and Do Something - Poster

$35.00

People love complaining but few ever do anything to change things. So I call this my “Shut up and do something” poster. Keep creating, keep fighting, and for the love of god quit complaining.
The black is screen printed, the red standing bunny and red type are spray paint stenciled on. The tagline reads, “Wack name, tight game.” It’s my tongue in cheek way of making fun of making fun of my cutesy name.
Print come rolled in a sturdy cardboard tube to frustrate the postal goons who crush mail.
Size: 18×24
Medium: Screen print, spray paint.
Edition: 50, Signed not numbered.
Support: 110lb cover stock.

Sold Out

I own one of these sold out bad boys, nicely framed, thank you very much.

My own personal reminder to shut up and do something.

I have been complaining quite a bit about being banished to the desert.

This is not the life I would have chosen for myself.

So Rich's admonition 

 "Keep creating, keep fighting, and for the love of god quit complaining."

is kicking my butt.

I'm here, Los Angeles.  

The knitted water bottle holder is a small step, but I'm standing up.

I also am lucky enough to have one of these-

Which is the first thing I hung up 

to personalize my room at my sister's in the Valley.

Feeling pretty lucky.

♥ Chloe

* Images from Lucky Bunny used with permission thank you very much

in la casa de los gatos

in la casa de los gatos, a photo by chloe & ivan on Flickr.

Moses really does have just one eye. Pretty nice cat.

Mini photo albums

I went looking for a little book template for a Flickr friend.
I have Publisher, and InDesign, but wanted something simple, without much of a learning curve.
I found a template that had been made for making mini comic books http://www.droakir.com/?p=16
Thank you, Nathan Rackley!

Here's what it looked like empty.

  

I cropped and pasted random photos that were laying around on my desktop.  

(my own random photos) Notice they are all about food.

I pasted the picture of the piglets over two pages (oooh)

I didn't put images on the front or back covers, to emphasize that they were

the front and back covers.  The images on the top are pasted in upside down,

they will be right side up when you fold the paper into a book.

Here you see Nathan's directions from the link, and the little book.

I put a dab of glue from a glue stick on the corners to hold things together.

The point here is not my photos, but for you to see how easy this is!

You could make little books of subversive poetry, and leave them laying around.

You could make blank books for kids to draw in, or make your own photo book,

small and thin enough to mail in a regular envelope.

While I was messing with the photos and the paper, I made a different kind of album.

I made a mosaic out of one of  my sets on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chloe-and-ivan/sets/72157629454684830/

with the mosaic maker from Big Huge Labs

http://bighugelabs.com/mosaic.php

Printed it, and made a mini accordion folded album with the tidy squares.

It could use a nice cover and some kind of a closure, but that is for another day.

I hope this gives you some ideas! Snap a pic and let me know.

♥ Chloe

OMG I went to a Free People in real life for the first time.

OMG I went to a Free People in real life for the first time., a photo by chloe & ivan on Flickr.

Road Trip

Since my last gloomy post (sorry) I have crossed the country with my brother driving a rented truck and landed at my sister's (for which I am thankful) and am staying in the purgatory of the San Fernando Valley. 

Normally, I love a road trip!

Cars and trucks, the food, radio stations fading in and out, the food.

This trip was under duress, a rescue operation.

I have been on this route before.  Even though I was feeling sorry for myself, I couldn't help but notice that the old Rt 66 has been taken over by slick new highway,  most of the roadside business has disappeared .

In place of the small diners and gas stations that used to mark the road to California are chain restaurants and  generic fuel stations.  

Not knocking the Love's chain, they consistently had nourishment and clean bathrooms. http://www.flickr.com/photos/chloe-and-ivan/7476951900/in/set-72157630365414596

We saw some sights, even under duress.  I made a set on Flickr. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chloe-and-ivan/sets/72157630365414596/

Probably not what I would have shot if it was a leisurely see the country road trip. It is a big country.

This was my favorite thing. The horse motel.

If you are shipping your horse, how nice is that to have accommodations for the horse. 

The Happy Tracks Horse Motel in Amarillo, Texas still makes me happy to look at. 

I am so glad I stopped to snap it.

I am laughing at myself looking over the road photos. You got waffles, horses, cars, food.  

Same me, different place.  

It is not an easy time.  I need a job.  A lot of my skills don't translate over here. 

This stuff I write about is usually too personal to link to for showing employers how savvy and skilled I am ; )

I have to find my way out here.  

I'll keep you posted.  It is really the same me.  ♥Chloe