Saturday: Matty and I were in a divey hotel lounge, gnoshing on a stale continental breakfast. The coffee was awful. There were only a couple other people in there with us, and a large, noisy group of elderly ladies all wearing violet dresses and red hats. For those of you unfamiliar with the Red Hat Society, it’s basically a bunch of old broads who get together to express a little joie de vivre, drink tea in silly chapeaus, and not give a damn what anyone else thinks. Awesome, if you ask me. I’d heard about them, and I’m familiar with the poem behind it all, but I’d never met any red hatters in person before.

At any rate, as we were leaving Matty (being a gentleman) paused to say good morning, and asked them if they’re all in some kind of motorcycle gang.

O the hilarity.

Later that day we were attending a wedding, hence the gnoshing on stale toast and terrible coffee in a divey hotel lounge in east bumfark, ME. So we got dressed up. There are various pictures of us being dressed up (Matty was totally hawt, damn that man cleans up nice), and various other people dressed up, and some blurry ones out the car window, etc. No pictures of red hat ladies or moose, unfortunately. For now, here is one of me looking very glamorous in a country club restroom. Classy, I tell ya.

I had myself a little rant on my dear friend’s blog, and wanted to save it, so i’m sticking it here. Context: the current war, definitions of patriotism, and the importance of active & diverse forms of discourse. She’s always been rather wordy, and given me lots of food for thought during the (gosh!) 12 or so years I’ve known her. It made being roommates our freshman year quite interesting. She & I both grew up in a well-educated area which once served as a hotbed of 18th century radical thought and revolutionary ideals- and i dunno if there was something in the water there, or maybe my father had too many history books, but at a young age I developed a deep & abiding love for early American history. This comes out occasionally in conversation.

Anyways, it’s kinda different than my usual beads and rabbits kind of entry, so I guess my inner DAR hath revealed itself.  On the same point, I also value the fact that I live in a country where I’m pretty sure I can write about these kinds of things publicly and not fear retribution from tyrranical authorities. There are places, even among Xangans overseas, where you just can’t. Though it’s entirely possible my name might turn up on some secret government list somewhere. Yipes.

Anyways, I just didn’t want to startle anyone with unexpected non-artsy discourse.

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…..I think it’s absurd to say that it’s not possible to be against the war
and still support the troops. It’s an illogical kneejerk reaction toassume the two things are mutually exclusive. Just because I hate the
mission, and especially the warmongering principles behind it, doesn’t
mean i don’t feel empathy for the experiences of the people in the
midst of battle who are trying to do their best while in harm’s way. If
I’d lived during the Vietnam era I would have hated that whole
shitstorm, too, but I would have still wanted my father to do a good
job and come home safely.

But you know, we live in a scary
time where people don’t think for themselves anymore, and they are
constantly fed the idea that the best mode of action is mindless
reaction. They allow themselves to be bullied and brainwashed into
believing that any other perspective is “unpatriotic”. Armchair patriots
piss me off to no end. Everybody talks like they want to fight for
freedom, but they all think it means the right to 99 cent cheeseburgers
and a Walmart in every town, and not having to think for yourself.
Utter bullshit. Thought and active discourse is essential to the preservation of  universal rights & freedoms. Our founding fathers- some of the greatest dissenters
in human history- would be spinning in their graves if they knew what
lazy slobs the sons and daughters of liberty have become.

I bet you think I’m kidding. My town has an actual “Craft Mafia”. People have tried to convince me to go to their meetings, which always sound sort of punk-rawk-arcane, and supposedly there are homemade cookies and scrapbook materials and other things. They form gangs of crafty-bitches called “Street teams”, in which i imagine groups of women in hand-felted hats and interesting jewelry go around stabbing random people with crochet hooks and forcing them to shop at Etsy.

Etsy is a scary place.

However, the powers that be (ie, my mum, my boyfriend, and my two chick friends), have declared that I need to get my act together on the e-commerce front, so I’ve decided overcome my fear & loathing of the Etsy. It took a lot of  pestering, cajoling, prodding, and further pestering, but ya, here it is. More to come, yadda yadda; the best will be when I get MoontreeBeads.com up and running. I’ll keep you all posted on that. But for now, here’s some pretty things to keep you occupied.

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade Moontree.etsy.com

I have decided to get a part time job. This decision came about when I considered that I’ll be just about utterly broke *and* in debt after I pay rent next month, thereby leaving me only four weeks in October to either:

a.) become wildly successful in the bead biz, or at least enough to earn a living wage, or
b.) pick up some hours somewhere, doing something interesting & low-impact, to supplement my wildly successful bead biz.

Either way, it’s pretty much inevitable that beads will play an integral role my fame and fortune, it’s just that at the moment I’m a wee bit uncomfortable as to when exactly this eventual fame and fortune is gonna kick in. In the meantime, yeah, bills and rent, and other things I can’t write off on the Moontree Bead Company expense account. So, a compromise is in order.

I’m actually looking forward to getting out of the house and picking up a gig someplace. I mean, i don’t leave the house that often, since my current commute only requires I walk across the hallway, sometimes still wearing my jammies. It would also probably  be nice to talk to actual people on a daily basis, other than the rabbit or the internets. I figure it will be similar to when I worked through college, except with far less drama and homework and hangovers. And I’m hella smarter now, more responsible, and I have some useful experience. I’m also not demanding a lot, just something to do a few hours a week for some extra cash, which also won’t interfere with my aspirations. Or something that has a pleasantly creative segue into those aspirations. So, yeah, this will be rad. 

So far today I applied to the local non-profit resale boutique, an artisan gallery in my neighborhood, and the bead shop I worked at in college. I’m totally hoping to get in good with the bead store, for obvious reasons, but I’d be pretty psyched just to find something in my neighborhood.

Other idea was to host workshops and classes in my home studio. I’d need a big table. Hmm….

I’ve just opened a Cafepress Shop (you know, taking a break from beads) with items featuring all nine hoochie-mama goddesses in my previous post. Everything from journals to cards to tote bags to hoodies, and this schnazzy black tee is available as well!

Usually i don’t like it when people make the same things i do, because i get all competitive and bent out of shape about it. This one, though, is something i’m really excited about.

Beads For Life is an organization in Uganda which employs artisans to give them a living wage and better quality of life. Many of them are political refugees or are living with HIV/AIDS. The beadmakers create really beautiful handcrafted paper beads (hey! like mine!) out of calendars, brochures, and posters from their local marketplaces. You can go to their website and buy their jewelry directly, or purchase a bag of 100 or so handmade beads for around twelve bucks from their online shop. They call them Kakwanzi, which means “precious bead”.

Maybe i’ll do a fun jewelry-making tutorial when mine get here : )

Latest art-thang i made. It’s pretty rad as is, and each portrait looks good on its own. These are actually for an upcoming jewelry project; I have this spiffy shrink plastic (who remembers shrinky dinks??) that these are going to be printed on, and then turned into individual pendants.

Just got an email from the owners of a bead shop in London who saw some photos of my paper beads. They wanna know how soon i can supply, and if i can send some price lists ASAP.

Oh, snap.

I don’t have price lists yet…… I don’t have a complete stock yet… I don’t have a frigging website yet! Hot damn. I have a scary, thrilling sense that this thing is going to take off faster than I ever expected. Matt says, “Maybe we can take a business trip there next year and meet some clients.” Clients! I have clients!

Maybe by next year I can place my Artisan paper Beads in shops all over the world haha.

oh shit oh shit oh shit