As is often the case when pastrami is a menu item, I ordered and indulged.  Pastrami and I get along very well.  Bets had the Prosciutto with homemade fig jam.  And we had some tasty stouts.  And we had some soup.  And when we were full and happy, we had a rousing match of Ms. Pac-Man.

I did not know this about my wife: she’s a Pac-Man Wiz.  She sailed through the levels.  I’d wait for my turn and watch agape as she devoured those little dots.  We squealed together and shouted at the ghosts she squeaked past.  We laughed and high-fived.  It makes sense that she’d rock at Pac-Man.  It’s chaos and order; high-stakes; rules and patterns.  She’s good at those things.  And it was fun.  She’s real good at fun.

Today, we’re getting ready for Crafty Wonderland (it’s TOMORROW [5/7/11], Portland people! And we’re going to have a great sale bin!), we’re sending orders, sending samples to an exciting possible new account, crossing our fingers, finalizing some design choices on the new line,  eating the ghosts we can get to, and devouring all those little dots.  One level at a time.

High-five.

***Song of the Moment: 1000 Miles Per Hour, by OK Go***

I’m home now.

Today was a really good day.  We had one big reorder from an awesome store in Buffalo, NY and a new order from a longtime favorite designer who recently opened up a flagship shop in Ashland, OR (I cannot even tell you how excited I am by this).  Brand new designs are well underway, lots of new spring-inspired pieces to sell at the big Crafty Wonderland sale on Saturday, really really editing the current shop to make way for new designs, and the day-to-day customers who make our days.  PLUS…a few new top secret things that I can’t tell you yet, but that (if they happen) will be stupid good and ridiculous cool.

But still…I found myself in the studio at the end of the day, staring at website after website, stores, designers, etc…wondering why I couldn’t be that good.

pitiful. nasty.  NASTY.

I don’t even know how I got there.  I was so excited about the new account in Ashland, so how did I get there?  And why was I looking at this amazing stuff wondering why I’m not that good?  Why can’t I look at it and think—simply—-that is so inspiringly amazing.   It was a wormhole of self demise, while it could have been a wormhole of burgeoning inspiration, blossoming ideas, colors bursting, celebrating others, YAH! POW! BANG!  So, in an effort to alleviate myself of this ridiculous waste of energy and time, I’m spending this post looking for things that I simply find—unstoppable.  It’s an exercise in kindness.  to you and to myself.

Here is what I found.  Please click the pictures to see more of their beautiful work:

Anja Verdugo for Collette Patterns (all awesome Portland folks).

Alyson Fox

Anna Joyce.

Lauren Manoogian (I mean, with a name like that...)

Shipping Container Box Office ....just, wow.

Sulu Design's amazing Original Intent Project.

...and the earrings she designed from the photo she took.

Gretchen Jones. New collection. (I'm such a sucker for jumpsuits.)

Jen LaMastra. genius.

Just a tiny glimpse into the things and people and moments that inspire me.  There is so much more where that came from.

Let’s take Thursday and be good to ourselves, no?

xo~betsy

***Song of the Moment:  To Be Still, by Alela Diane***

this is not even a small portion of it.

W and I started the year off by pretty much stealing the entire month of January for ourselves.  We gave bits and pieces to betsy & iya, but really, it belonged to us.  It all started when we decided to give each other a bed island (i.e. a king sized bed) for Christmas.  Initially, the decision was awesome.  After remembering we were paying a massive storage fee to the convenient Under-the-Bed Storage monsters, we realized what we were up against.  The day we went looking for a new mattress was the day our household President (me, of course) declared war on clutter.  At first, I thought we had no chance.  NO CHANCE.  Then we gathered our extremity army and started knocking them out, one storage nightmare at a time.

process picture.

hallway storage, BEFORE.

hallway storage, BEFORE #2

The country of clutter started waving its surrender flag moments before our new mattress from the amazing local shop, The Mattress Lot, arrived. We declared victory at 10 am in the morning, on a Monday.  We dumped at least 20 pounds of paper recycling and 100 pounds of wonderful (ahem) thrift store finds.  It felt good, really good, you guys.

hallway storage, AFTER.

for years, we've been trying to figure out what the heck these deep built-in cabinets would be most useful for. Can't believe I didn't think of it before now. Welcome to our new SHOE CLOSET.

And then the transformation began.

these shelves make me want to shed a tear every time I look at them.

And then January was over.

Tune in tomorrow for new bedroom pics, post–bed island installation.

love. so much love~

betsy

(The body post will come later this week.  Way too much to say about that.)

***Song of the Moment: Save Yourself, by Aesop Rock***

I went (in this specific order)— 80s dancing, bass practicing, girl sleepover-ing, shopping, another girl sleepover; and then I purged.

letting go

Sometimes it’s tough living in a really small space.  Other times it’s a gift.  It has truly taught me how to live more simply (+ a MOTHER load of patience).  This weekend I finally got rid of all the clothes, shoes, and thingys that really have no place in my life any more.  It’s been several rounds before I’ve landed here:  completely cleaned out, not one useless tank or sad skirt that never gets asked to dance any more, not one shoe still gasping for air.

less clutter on the piano top = happy betsy

This last batch was 10 pounds, not including 7 pairs of shoes.  It’s true what they say, I feel like that weight came right off of me. I also did some rearranging of the house while he was gone, it’s feeling less cluttered and  more bright and open (kinda like how I’m feeling on the inside these days).

new furniture arrangements (don't worry, I've already cleaned off all of that shmutz you see on top of the desk).

...even had time to practice my new blue bass this weekend. yeah!

There is no trace of fabric death and shoe rot in my drawers and closet any more–it’s all active, current, and…alive.

And that’s just how I feel right now: alive.

Wow, I needed that.  And now I’m ready for the W to come home.

Heeeeeello, Monday!

xo~betsy

***Song of the Moment: It Beats 4 U, by My Morning Jacket***

***Song of the moment: Desaparaceré, by Deerhoof***

(PS – there are 3 more of these saved up for a rainy day…)

***Song of the moment: Robots, by Flight of the Conchords***

“you are outstanding in the stuff. I wish to be great weekend. Your dream will fulfill this month. Best wishes.”

Thank you, kind sir, for your well-wishes.  I wish to be great weekend to you too, and many outstandings in the stuff to you and yours.  May your dream, too, fulfill this month and many happiness find entrance ways to you.

photo credit and business plan, but with certainly no affiliation to the fortune above: Kari Chapin

***Song of the Moment: Future Reflections, by MGMT.***

“Greetings. Very first I desire to say that I actually like your blog, just discovered it the past week but I’ve been following it  since then.  I appear to concur with most of your views and beliefs and this post is no exception.  Thank you for any excellent blog and I hope you keep up the very good function.  If you do I will carry on to browse through it.  Have a great evening.”

no need to encourage a great evening, that comment made it ALL right.

I will go forward in the day with my good function and hope you all continue to browse through it.

Here’s to all of you and your own good functions!  xo~betsy

***Song of the Moment: You’re My Best Friend, by Queen***

“If you can’t be with the one you love, honey, love the one you’re with!  love the one you’re with!!”

what.  WHAT!? really.  I mean, really?  Reeeeeally, Stephen Stills?  I mean, I know Billy Preston was a hugely influential human being, but really?  Did you really mean that?

Those are the thoughts I had as a 7 year old, staring out the backseat windows, listening to car music and finding myself slipping into the catchy groove.  I would always start singing along and when I found myself there, I would stop and think—is that really what I want in my life–what I have to look forward to??  being the leftover choice?  and just going along with it?  And then I would have a mind protest.  Yes, this is what happened in the 80s, in my little developing brain, looking out the window on sunny Sundays after church.

I mean sure, that’s greeeat for the chooser, but the leftover—the leftover then truly gets the shaft, no?:

Chooser:  Man, I sure wish I could be with fill-in-the-blank.  Man, I miss fill-in-the-blank so much; my heart truly aches.

Leftover:  Wow, I sure do love being with Chooser.  I hope Chooser feels the same about me…goo goo.

Chooser:  Well, it’s too difficult to be with the one I really want to be with and oh…hey…look at this sweet little Leftover thing sitting next to me.  I guess it wouldn’t be too bad if I gave it a shot.  something is definitely better than nothing.

Leftover: Gosh, could it be love?

Chooser:  “hey, Leftover, do you wanna like really hang with me.  You’re cool.  I like you. ”

Leftover:  “YES!!  I really like you too!”

hmmmmm.  fishy.  And my little impressionable  imagination always expected I would be the Leftover.  ugh.  it hurt so much already, and I wasn’t even near the threshold of grown-up love.

While I still believe this whole idea is a bad one, in terms of relationships with human beings, I haaaave begun to embrace it where objects are concerned.

It works for that, I think.  This morning when I walked out of our tiny St. Johns condo, I had this mushy thought…”I love you, condo.”  The thought jumped out at me.  I couldn’t believe it!  I’ve spent months and months fighting this thought.  I mean, I’ve really put energy into it.  Ever since W and I merged our physical lives, I’ve struggled with our arrangements.

Yes, the condo is very very small.  It’s not in the neighborhood I would have opted to live in, had I been given the choice.  I don’t think the outside is the most charming.  Though this hasn’t happened much lately, we used to wake up to bar-closing drunken expletives trailing down the street.  And we’re still seeing completely annoying inartistic graffiti greet us on grumpy mornings before work.  and whiny whiny whine…But…

It’s so cozy inside.  It houses some of our lovely things, yes.  But it also houses us—keeps us warm, reminds us of funny things we said/did, holds our first 6 months of marriage, it’s sweet, it’s modest… and the neighborhood is actually one of the most beautiful in the city.  For me, Cathedral Park is competing for the top slot of the most beautiful parks in Portland, second only to the park we got married in.  The St. Johns community is exactly my favorite kind—non-pretentious, honest workers, trying to be the best it can be.  And recently I discovered, we actually do have friends who live up here.

picture from columbiariverimages.com

we have a place to call home.

with that alone, I have no problem loving the one I’m with.

***Song of the Moment: True or False, by Bishop Allen***

I am exactly where I need to be.

(And somehow that thought corresponds with this wicked picture I took of my good friend, SQ.  beautiful.  hard.  soft.  lovely.).

I hope you all have unabashedly confident weekends.

xox~betsy

***Song of the Moment: Godspeed, by Jenny Lewis***  (okay okay, I’ll switch it up next time.  I’m just really loving Ms. Lewis this week).