for all you local folk

Just an early reminder about the 2009 Empty Bowls extravaganza. It falls on Sunday, October 4th from 12 noon until 3pm. Such an amazing way to support local charities and fill your belly at the same time. AND you get an awesome handmade gift in the process. How can you go wrong?

For those of you out of the area, or those who haven't heard of the Empty Bowls project before, here's how it works:

Pay ten bucks admission and get your pick from TONS of gorgeous handmade bowls donated by local pottery studios. For every ten bucks you pay, you get a bowl.

Head down the line and fill your bowl(s) with soup from local participating restaurants (this year you can try soups from The Ale House, DeFazio's, Flavour's Cafe, Italian Community Center, LoPorto's, Miele's Cafe, Patricelli's Deli, Francesca's, Illium Cafe, Muza's Diner, Potters Tavern, Tosca).

While chowing down, listen to music, chat with Mayor Harry and keep your fingers crossed that your complimentary raffle ticket is a winner!

Someone is there to wash your bowl when you're done eating, and you can go home feeling full both physically and emotionally. It's a great time that shouldn't be missed.

All donations go to the following charities: Bethany Center, Commission on Economic Opportunity, Hope 7 Community Center, Joseph's House, St. Mary's Food Pantry, The Rourke Center (my personal fave), Troy Damien Center, Unity House, Italian Community Center, Troy Larger Parish Food Pantry, Troy Y.W.C.A., St. Augustine's Food Pantry, CCRC Food Pantry, REACT Inc, St. Joseph's Church, Provisions Community and Food Store House and the Missing Link Street Ministry.

Unfortunately the project doesn't host a website, so here's the info:

Sunday, October 4th, 12p-3p
Italian Community Center
1450 Fifth Avenue, Troy

Admission is $10

Pre-Sale tickets are available in Troy at:
The Broken Mold - 284 River Street
Northeast Ceramic Supply - 621 River Street
TAP, Inc. - 210 River Street

Please contact me if you have any questions and I'll do my best to help out with what I can. Hope to see you all there!!!

gifty poo

My two little smooshies are turning another year older and I can't believe it! Seth is turning nine and Lola will be two! My how time flies! Saturday is the magic day for both of their birthdays.

Lola is always the easy one when it comes to gifts. Even though she's still just a wee little bean, she knows what she likes and clothing is at the top of that list. Yes ladies, she's already there. She loves dresses and skirts and shoes and will yank things off the racks in stores if you just roll her on by in the stroller...heaven forbid you don't stop and show her each and every item. This year, I decided to do my shopping locally (yay!), and picked up a sweet little costume for The Lo at the TightKnit craft portion of Market Saturdays. The Posh Piglet offers the sweetest little gifts for girls who love lace and frilly things. So, on Saturday afternoon Miss Lola will be sporting the following items:

Flowery headband (photo taken from The Posh Piglet's website)

Super frilly tutu (photo taken from The Posh Piglet's website)

And what fairy princess costume would be complete without fairy wings? (Photo taken from The Posh Piglet's website)

Seth is tough when it comes to gifts. He likes clothes a little, but he's more into science, Legos, army dudes, etc. Typical boy. It seems as though most people got him what he wanted, but my sister just mentioned that he's into reading the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" books quite a bit lately. After a brief glance through these, they remind me of the "Superfudge" books or the "How to Eat Fried Worms" books that were big back when I was his age. I didn't want to be the dorky aunt who buys him books or socks for his birthday, but books are always my go-to gift of choice so I was thrilled to head on over to the Market Block Bookstore to snag two Wimpy Kid books and this little gem:

Hopefully he doesn't get into too much trouble. Sorry, Carly!

I adore shopping for these two, or any kid in general. I don't have children of my own, so this allows me to spoil them rotten with cool stuff and then hand them back, all smelly and tired, to mom and dad when the day is done. Life is good.

R.I.P.

You know, I never considered myself to be much of a Patrick Swayze fan and I don't know why.

He was the kind of actor who basically blended in throughout most of his career despite being completely submerged in a Hollywood world of ego, attitude and arrogance. I respect that a lot and I admire anyone who can keep their feet firmly planted on the ground while everyone else floats around in la-la land. Still, if you asked me who my favorite actors are, Patrick wouldn't have been on that list. I can't figure out why. It seems as though he was well liked and well respected, and I'll admit that my heart took a little dive last night when I heard of his passing.

This morning I took a peek at the IMDB database and ran a little search on his name. I was pleasantly surprised to find that he starred in several movies I liked (Red Dawn, The Outsiders, To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, and City of Joy), and a few of my very favorites (Donnie Darko and 11:14...if you haven't seen 11:14, check it out...surprisingly good!). Good to know his name didn't rest entirely on Road House, Ghost and Dirty Dancing.

And, now I guess I can say that I was a fan all along.

So, rest in peace, Patrick Swayze. If there's an afterlife, I've decided to track you down and challenge you to a remake of the dance scene at the end of Dirty Dancing. It's on.

alive

You can zoom in a bit more over here on my Flickr page.

Good Eats

Eeeee! I had a few spare minutes this morning and popped over to Market Block Books to see what was new. I'm telling you, it's very dangerous having such a fantastic bookstore right next door to my shop. Ugh. Anyway, I headed straight for the craft books, and then to the cookbooks, my normal routine, and almost dropped dead when I saw this:

This could very well be the bible of cookbooks, in my humble opinion anyway, and from the looks of it, it definitely rocks. Alton Brown is one of my main culinary heroes, and I find him incredibly hot to boot. Weird, I know. This book is MASSIVE and wonderful and colorful and amazing and if you're lucky enough to own a copy already, please let me know if it's worth the 35 bucks the bookstore wants for it. I know I can get it cheaper elsewhere, but I'd rather support the little guy. Wowee, my day is made.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend! Mine was chock full and fantastic and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I had the chance to attend the Scottish games once again this year and it was great! Sandy and I had prime seats for the massed bands, and if I could find someplace to upload it online, I'd share the experience with you. I'd rather stay away from YouTube, Blogger's video service just plain blows, and Flickr won't allow video longer than 90 seconds. I'll see what I can do.

After the games I sat for another three hours with Glenn and finally finished my sleeve. It's amazing, guys, and I'm so glad I went with my gut and trusted someone so green. Glenn literally just finished his apprenticeship and I let him tattoo my entire upper left arm. Not a chance I'd normally take, but I'm glad I did in this case. Once the nasty, peely, scabby phase goes away I'll post lots of pictures. It's so freakin' fantastic and I can't stop looking at it.

We had the last of our summer picnics at my mom's house yesterday and it's both sad and thrilling to say goodbye to summer. I'm not a summer person by any means, but summer in the Northeast this year was unlike any other. Chilly, rainy and dark to say the very least. I can't complain because I'll take weather like that over hot and humid conditions any day. I just feel bad for the kids who couldn't swim or play outside for a good chunk of their vacations. Anyway, fall marks my most favorite time of year and I'm ecstatic to welcome it here now.

Did you do anything fun over the long weekend?

Birthday lurve

A little over six years ago I met the most amazing man. So amazing, I might add, that ever since that very first day we've barely spent a day apart. Incredible, right? He is my love, my heart, my partner and my very best friend.

So happy birthday, Mr. Ben! Even though you're working your butt off today, I hope you realize just how special you are and how much you mean to me and to all of us!

Love always,
Your Old Ball and Chain

XOXO

the safety of pencils

I played hooky yesterday.

I was here at the shop for a total of one hour before my mom called to let me know that she was taking my dad and my grandmother to see the Georgia O'Keeffe/Arthur Dove collection at The Clark before the run ended. No brainer, right? Yes, yes, call me irresponsible and a bad business owner, but what would you have done? I'm not making excuses for myself here because I had a wonderful time, and I just need a day away from the shop every now and then. It was worth every second. The collection was sweet although a bit small, and I was re-introduced to Arthur Dove in a way that's much more meaningful than thumbing through his work in a textbook.

Whenever I venture into a museum or a gallery, I take a notebook and a pen with me and jot down notes, titles, sometimes a sketch or two...whatever. I find myself flipping through these same notebooks years later only to find these little blurbs. Sometimes they don't make sense, but sometimes they bring back pleasant memories and provide me with the opportunity to look up some of the art referenced in my notes. It's nice to rediscover treasures you may have forgotten about. I'm amazed at some of the things I've seen in my lifetime and have since totally forgotten about. This may sound like a great idea and all, but it actually works out to be a terrible pain in the ass and I don't know why I even bother, really. People will knock you over while trying to look over your shoulder to see what you're writing. Security gives you the hairy eyeball. Not fun.

Anyway, I had my little moleskine notebook with me this time around and a rather Lurchey-looking guard quite loudly confronted me about my pen. I was lectured on the fact that pens are not allowed in The Clark and he proceeded to hand me a pencil. Seriously. Too much damage can be done with a pen, apparently, but a pencil, well, safe as kittens. I still don't get it, but I find it funny that such a big scene was made out of my ball point pen. Precisely the reason why I don't venture into The Clark very often. It's a beautiful place that provides the opportunities to see priceless works of art for a nominal fee, but I feel like I'm being stalked while I'm wandering through the galleries.

Nevertheless, it was a great day. The trees in the Berkshires are changing color already, some of them already fully dressed in a brilliant scarlet shade, some of them already dropping leaves to the ground. Such a weird year we're having. Still, the trees were my favorite part of the entire trip, and the birches on the grounds of The Clark were breathtaking.

Oh, and P.S. the O'Keeffe/Dove exhibit is up through the 7th of this month. Get there fast and be sure to arm yourselves only with the safety of pencils!