Man, I love my job.

Happy Wednesday, everybody!

xo~betsy

***Song of the Moment: Little Plastic Castle, by Ani DiFranco***

I’m POOPED, to say the least, but I can’t take any days off and here’s why:

You know that AWESOME book I keep rapping about, well…

on THURSDAY, JUNE 17TH, starting at 7 pm, there will be a book signing for the AUTHOR of The Handmade Marketplace, Kari Chapin.  I am sooo excited to have her in my shop and for the opportunity for you all to meet her.  If this is the first time you are hearing about the book, I shout—GET IT!  It is one of the most useful books that has ever come out for us crafter entrepreneurs.  I am so honored her publisher wanted to do the signing at my studio and even more honored that I’m a small blip in the book.

Please come by on Thursday and say hello to us!!

1722 NW Raleigh St.,  Suite #101 (on the corner)

Can’t wait to see/meet you again!

xo~betsy

***Song of the Moment: Ladies on Parade, by Benji Hughes***

Tonight at the Portland Art Museum, I’m happy to be a part of Power of the Purse 2010 to benefit the amazing organization, Girls, Inc. 40% of my sales tonight will go to the amazing organization.

P.S. Dionne Warwick will be singing tonight…wahh!!

Saturday and Sunday, here:

Can’t wait to see you all!!

***Song of the Moment: Fast Car, by Tracy Chapman***

In the mean time, you can catch me here:

Radish Undergound February 12, 2010 event

I’ll be on location, making custom Shameless Love necklaces (amid other great designer company) for customers who come by Radish Underground tonight between 5-9 pm.  It will be a BLAST.

Have beautiful weekends if I don’t see you tonight!  And, why not…HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY to you all.

xo~betsy

***Song of the Moment: July Flame, by Laura Veirs*** (a Portland gal)

REVIEWED;

Portland Monthy Magazine (blog):  Preview: Truth & Beauty

Willamette Week:  Fertile Ground Day 1, Truth & Beauty

Oregonian: Fertile Ground: ‘Truth and Beauty’ is a literally moving production about a unique friendship

a friendship like no other

It’s playing in front of these audiences that has really brought our characters to life.  A few days before we opened, Jessica (co-star, plays Lucy Grealy) handed me a book for inspiration: C.S.Lewis’s A Grief Observed, written after the death of his wife.  His words helped me tremendously:

No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.  I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid.  The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness, the yawning.  I keep on swallowing. … And no one ever told me about the laziness of grief.  I loathe the slightest effort.  Not only writing but even reading a letter is too much.  Even shaving.  What does it matter now whether my cheek is rough or smooth?  They say an unhappy man wants distractions–something to take him out of himself.  Only as a dog-tired man wants an extra blanket on a cold night; he’d rather lie there shivering than get up and find one.  … The act of living is different all through.  Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything.

There is a sequence in the beginning where Ann Patchett (the character I’m playing) lyrically expresses her grief.  With an appropriate David Byrne song playing and only one chair, Ann’s chair, in just a few moments, she goes down to the bottom and claws her way back to the top—fighting through the mire and muck of sadness to come out on the other side.  Ann wrote the book this way…3 weeks after Lucy’s death.

In the performance, there have been nights when I thought I got there.  There have been nights when I knew I was no where close.  I have 3 more nights to go even farther and I intend to.

Won’t you join us?

***Song of the Moment: Memories Can’t Wait, by Talking Heads***

and/or go here to find an organization with whom you would like to donate directly.

feel free to post this everywhere.

***Song of the Moment: There is a Kingdom, by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds***

What a doozy!!  This week absolutely used me up and spit me out.  I have such a problem with getting back in the groove after a break.  I’m wondering if everyone experiences this or if it has something to do with being self-employed.  Without the insane holiday volume, I’ve caught myself with a hanging jaw, staring at the wall with a massive holiday hangover, thinking about…nothing?  OR playing online Scrabble, when I should be organizing my life and coming up with my coolest designs yet.

But with a killer feature, exhilarating rehearsals, my first international boutique order (lookout Dutch beauties, b & i is coming to the Netherlands), and amazing growth, I have absolutely nothing to complain about and I need to get my butt in gear!

What better to increase the pep in my step than Grandma and Cowboys??

betsy & iya earrings, click link to purchase

Sweater:  new favorite vintage spot in Portland…Margaret & Oliver’s

Cowboy Boots: yes I wore these with my wedding dress…Portland Outdoor Store

Wrap Skirt: just down the street from my studio…Folly

Tights: footless navy blue…Nordstrom (I think)

Earrings: yours truly…betsy & iya

Do something wild this weekend, will ya?

xo~betsy

***Song of the Moment: A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger, by Of Montreal***

(betsy, jessica, and w)

I moved to Portland in 2006 after finishing an intense journey of self-discovery and growth.  Graduate school at Dell’ Arte was one of the most equally difficult and moving experiences I’ve ever encountered in my life.  I came to Portland, inspired, cynical, and with a very specific view on theatre in America and the kind of theatre I was interested in doing.  The reality: it’s super hard to find.

I found comfort in a close Portland friend who had been through the 1st year of the MFA with us.  I had just turned 23 when I first met the amazing Jessica Wallenfels, it was 2003.  She knew where I was coming from; she was interested in similar things—physical, visceral, immediate, funny, honest theatre.  I didn’t know how or where it would take us, but I knew we had to work together.  In 2007, I wrote a simple email, something like—let’s get on our feet together.  She agreed.  And we did just that.  At the time, I was reading a book called Truth & Beauty, by Ann Patchett.  I lent it to her.  We were both moved by it.  We started on our feet, messing with the ideas, connections, and boundaries of friendship.  We played with other texts and thoughts, throwing them all together:  letters she had received from an old friend, Rainer Maria Rilke, we exchanged stories of deep friendships we’d had in our own lives, Pablo Neruda,  pictures by Annie Leibowitz, etc.  The possibilities were endless and we bounced around to as many as we could.

(jessica, elizabeth, betsy…who wouldn’t want to see a show by these crazy gals?)

“I do not remember our love unfolding, that we got to

know one another and in time became friends.  I only

remember that she came through the door and it was

there, huge and permanent and first.  I felt I had

been chosen by Lucy and I was thrilled.  I was

twenty-one years old and very strong.  She had a

habit of pitching herself into my arms like a softball

without any notice.  She liked to be carried.”  —Ann

Patchett

Our friendship thickened through the process.  We danced together, experiemented with different choreography on each other, laughed a lot, and before each rehearsal play time, we  shared stories of our current trials and tribulations, listening to each other the way one does with only a close family member or friend.  Those moments colored our work together.  I was fasicnated by the parallel between our own lives and friendships and the ones in the stories that made up the book.  We kept our minds open and kept experimenting with other texts, meshing them together, but we always came back to the original impetus—Truth & Beauty.

Fast forward through Scandinavia, breakups, Hawaii, starting a jewelry business (what??) Spain, job changes, a mutual best friend finally moving to Portland from Philly (who would ultimately, brilliantly, be the glue for this project), the deepest of loves, overcoming things we had no idea we carried the strength for, letting go, and marriage.  We have come a long way…and so has this piece.  We would love for you all to join us in this final journey and see how far we’ve come.

This play is based on a true story that in one way or another we can all

relate to.  It is based on fear, pain, love, hope, growing up, failing,

flailing, succeeding, heartbreak, heartache, joy, despair, and moving

beyond it all.

Don’t miss it.

From the Press Release:

(favortie new hat from Radish Underground.  perfect for this insanely arctic weather we’re experienceing here.)

(this from my home botox kit.)

hehehe…JK!!  amazing, home botox kits—what the!?  my beautifully plump lips come from a natural chapped and full-on nose blowing state.  Luckily, this one is going fast.  I’m much better today.  by Sunday, I should be back in top form.

If you’re in or near Portland on Sunday, you MUST come to Crafty Wonderland.  Some of my all time favorite crafters and artists will be there.  It is absolutey not to be missed. check out the deets below:

Our booth will be OFF. THE. HOOK.  My assistant, Lupe, has been working her tail off to make our CRAFTY booth an atmosphere you won’t forget.  Also, the amazingly stylish Courtney from kelly + olive put in some time to give me her incomparable opinion on the endless possibilities with booth decor.  It’s gonna rock, y’all.

More on my life and love and warm fuzzy thoughts when the holidays end and I become a normal person again.  I am SO grateful to all of you for your support, kindness, generosity, and invigorating enthusiasm over b & i…hands down, would not be doing this without you.  thank you.  from the bottom of my heart.

big huge weekend love,

betsy

***Song of the Moment: Summer Love, by Justin Timberlake***  (that’s right, I said it.  I NEEDED justin this week.  I’m not afraid (okay, maybe just a little) to admit I’ve been listening to this buoyant, upbeat, sexy album all week.  boo. yah.)

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