January 2012
4 posts
Yep, It's a Snow Day.
Yesterday was Darby’s first snow day. Boy, was he excited about getting the day off. Noah made an awesome snow ramp off the back porch steps for sledding. I’ll tell you one thing I could have done without, though—getting an automated phone call from his school at 5:30 in the morning.
Kittens!
Omigod, we are in kitten cuteness overload right now! We just got these cute kitties from the pound. Meet Howard Moon and Vince Noir, named after these guys…
Schulte & Herr
A new German restaurant opened up in Portland, called Schulte & Herr. We tried to go over the weekend but it was too packed. This morning Noah and I were able to snag a table easily and lucky enough to indulge in some out of this world German cuisine. The potato pancakes did not disappoint…it was served with house-cured lox, capers, cornichon pickle, radish, and a tasty horseradish...
Happy New Year!
We took a mini vacation to mid coast Maine last weekend. I had never been and was really looking forward to getting away and relaxing. We spent our downtime rummaging through antique malls and thrift stores. A friend of ours was coincidentally also staying at the same hotel with her kids, so Darby was thrilled to have playmates to romp around with. And I got to read Mindy Kaling’s book, Is...
December 2011
1 post
Picnic Holiday Sale
This past Sunday was the Picnic Holiday Sale, the craft fair Noah and I organize. And boy, this year was definitely the best ever! We were in a new location, the beautiful Portland Company Complex, which was a really amazing space. The turnout was fantastic, we couldn’t have asked for a better day. Here are some pics, including the ever popular Yeti photo op.
November 2011
4 posts
The Holidays Are Here!
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Because it’s all centered around food! This year we postponed Thanksgiving until Saturday so Larry and his wife Chi-Yoon could join us. I absolutely love cooking all day with friends and family, sipping wine, and having good times. This year Chi-Yoon introduced us to my new favorite side dish, chipotle yams. So good!
Today we went and picked out a...
Birthday Partay!
Darby’s birthday party was last weekend. It was so fun! Since this household is so Star Wars obsessed, it made sense to throw a Star Wars party. The kids attacked the Darth Vader pinata with a light saber. Everyone got to pick their favorite Star Wars character cupcake. And I made Yoda and Darth Vader cookies to hand out as party favors at the end.
Hello.
Haven’t had time to post in a long time. Here’s a belated Halloween pic of me and the boys. Noah made Darby’s awesome General Grievous costume (yes, that’s snow on the ground, ugh). We’re pretty much all about Star Wars 24/7 in this family right now. Below is a video that cracks me up.
WatchStar Wars Incest - watch more funny videos
September 2011
3 posts
Backyard Camping
Darby has wanted to go camping all summer long. But with River being born and opening a store, the summer just slipped away from us. So last night Noah and Darby had a father-son campout. Noah put the tent up in the backyard on the deck. The weather was perfect. River and I visited, of course. We enjoyed some toaster oven smores and looked up at the stars.
Best of the Renegade Craft Fair Chicago
Hey! We made Babble’s Best of the Renegade Craft Fair Chicago List. Pretty neat!
I Heart Chicago
Went to Chicago this weekend for the Renegade Craft Fair. River came with me, as did the lovely Maleah, of coco+milkweed. It was fun shopping for our store as well as selling our own tees at the show. We had great booth neighbors…Eling, from Migration Goods, was directly in back of us. She graciously helped out with baby River when he got a little fussed up. Here are some pics of our trip,...
August 2011
6 posts
Summer Funnin'
Last year when we went to Aquaboggan, a hurricane was supposed to blow into town, even though it was a bright and sunny day. The hurricane never wound up materializing, and we had the time of our lives. We had the water park practically to ourselves, it was great! Today we were on our way to the beach when we passed by Splash Town and noticed almost nobody was there. Coincidentally today was a...
Picnic Recap
Wow! Even Hurricane Irene couldn’t stop Picnic! It was the best Picnic ever! We did not even have a single drop of rain all day. The turnout was our biggest yet. Thank you to all the wonderful vendors and bands who made it all possible. Here are a few pics I managed to take.
It's Picnic Time Again!
It’s that time again! Come out to the 4th Annual Picnic Music+Arts Festival this Saturday. It’s the biggest Picnic ever! Now with 120+ talented artists from the local DIY indie craft scene. There will be live music all day and lots of yummy food. See you there!
Perfect Summer Day
Spent the morning at our recently discovered new favorite beach. It has the perfect white sand that I love. It’s just so relaxing there, and not very crowded, which is nice. Can’t say that River likes going as much as the rest of us, but we’re still determined to go as much as possible before summer’s end. Then for lunch we tried a new Mexican restaurant on Fore Street,...
Mike Perry
Artist Mike Perry was in town for the opening of his exhibit/book, Pulled: A Catalog of Screen Printing, at Space Gallery. I like his work a lot so I found it very interesting to see all the artists he picked to feature in his new book. I chatted with Mike a bit and found him to be a really nice guy. Here are some pics from the evening.
Me with Mike Perry and his super cute doggy.
Thanks For A Great Night
Our Grand Opening Bash was so much fun! Lots of friends stopped by and we made some new friends, too. It was so good to see everyone. The party was only supposed to go until 8, but people kept coming in until Noah shut the door at 10:30. Thanks for all your support, Portland! I love you!
7 bottles of wine and 3 cases of beer later.
July 2011
5 posts
First Friday
On First Friday, August 5, we will be having a Grand Opening Bash from 5pm–8pm. Come celebrate with us! DJ Laree Love will be spinning tunes throughout the evening. Refreshments and light snacks will be served.
Cross-Stitch
How cute is this iPhone case that you can cross-stitch your own designs on! I’m too lazy to do it myself, but hey, I can dream.
Three Days
It’s been 3 days since we opened the shop, and what an amazing 3 days it’s been. Everyone’s been so nice! Lots of people have been popping in and welcoming us to the neighborhood. Shoppers, too, have been super nice. Thank you, Portland! You are the best. Here are some pics of the inside of the shop.
Big News
We’re opening up our own store! We found a great space in downtown Portland we couldn’t pass up. We still have to price all our inventory and do a few more small things in the store, but it’s really coming along. Our new signs are up as of this week. Thanks Cammie, for coming up from NJ to help us out! We plan to have a grand opening bash August 5 for First Friday, but...
Califor-ni-a
Renegade SF and LA are coming up! We won’t make it out to the West Coast ourselves, what with a new wee one and all, but our dear friend Larry will be selling our wares. So if you see this guy behind the Pinecone+Chickadee booth, come say hi!
June 2011
2 posts
Renegade Brooklyn
Noah and Darby leave tomorrow for a special father/son trip to do Renegade Brooklyn together.
Picnic Applications Close Tomorrow
Get your applications in cuz tomorrow’s the last day to apply!
May 2011
4 posts
Mission of Burma and Haru Bangs
Noah’s band, Haru Bangs, is playing with Mission of Burma tonight at Space! Doors at 7:30 / Tix $15 / 18+
Baby!
The newest addition to our family came on Friday, May 20th. Welcome, River! He weighed in at 7 lbs 12 oz.
Entire Apartment Covered in Crochet
Check out the work of New York-based needlework artist, Olek.
Happy Mother's Day
Me and my mom
Me, currently 8 months pregnant. Darby will have a little brother very soon!
April 2011
1 post
It's Picnic Time!
Picnic applications are up! This year’s festival will be Saturday, August 27. All you crafty peeps out there, click here to apply.
March 2011
6 posts
Prepare To Have Your Mind Blown
These images by Daniel Kornrumpf are EMBROIDERED. What?!? Amazing.
Zombies!
As a huge fan of post apocalyptic sci-fi novels (I just finished reading The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. It was a quick read, but almost too sad to finish), I was pleasantly surprised by the new AMC series, The Walking Dead. Noah and I just finished watching season one, out now on DVD. It’s actually about a zombie apocalypse, but what draws me to the series is the ongoing story of the...
The Big Thaw
This week we were featured in the vendor spotlight for the Big Thaw, a new craft fair coming to Portland next month at the Mayo Center. We are totally excited for this event, put on by crafty gal about town, Audrey Hotchkiss of Little Eye Designs.
Interview with Craftland
Craftland is an awesome store in Providence, RI. In addition to their year round retail store, they also have an annual juried Holiday Sale, which is how I discovered them 4 years ago. On top of that, they offer crafty classes and have an art gallery. Plus it’s run by a group of amazing women who are all crafty in their own right. Kristin, from Craftland, interviewed us recently, and you can...
New from Pinecone+Chickadee
New tees, totes, journals and cards now in the shop!
Gerd Arntz Memory Game
There’s a free Gerd Arntz Memory Game iPhone app. There are 250 of the 4000 pictograms he drew between 1928 and 1965. Now I have another game I can play on my phone besides Scrabble.
Back to the Future
Argentinian photographer Irina Werning’s ongoing project of finding people to reenact their old photos.
February 2011
5 posts
Happy House
Level Architects of Japan constructed a Tokyo house with a three story slide.
Back in Maine
We’re back from our working vacation from out West. The weather was so nice and we crammed in all the food we can’t get out here…yummy tacos, In-N-Out Burger, amazing Chinese food, all you can eat buffets. Here are some random pics…
Hiking at Red Rock outside of Las Vegas.
Chilaquiles from Local in LA.
Meeting Mickey at Disneyland.
Small World (so glad it was...
Pool Trade Show
Here are some pics of our booth. Took longer to set up than I thought it would, but I’m quite pleased with the end results.
Viva Las Vegas
Arrived in Las Vegas on Friday. Yesterday we met with Chi-Yoon for lunch, who is coincidentally working here doing some film editing at the moment. We introduced her to Makino’s, possibly the best gourmet sushi and seafood buffet in the whole world. Whenever we come to visit my parents, Makino’s is always on the top of our list of restaurants we have to hit. Chi-Yoon loved it, too....
January 2011
3 posts
Dead Pixel in Google Earth
By Helmut Smits.
Brrr, It's Cold
This is what it’s looked like here as of late. Yes, that is snow covering the back porch stairs and piled up almost as high as the porch itself. I am very much looking forward to our trip to Vegas and LA in a couple of weeks. First Vegas, where we are doing our very first trade show (woo hoo!) and visiting my folks. Then off to LA to visit with some friends. Both those destinations boast...
Yum Yum Dim Sum!
For my birthday yesterday Noah got me these 2 Chinese cook books. I picked out some recipes that struck my fancy, and then he proceeded to cook his heart out for the next 6 hours. There are no dim sum restaurants in our town, so it was so extra sweet of him to make these little treats for me. Oh, it was good! What an amazing birthday present!
Three Mushroom Dumplings
Pan Fried Bao with...
December 2010
2 posts
The Complete Collection: Gamepads 1979-2010
Cool poster by Swiss design firm, Bread and Butter.
Thank you, Portland!
We had a huge turnout for the Picnic Holiday Sale. Thank you, Portland, from the bottom of my heart! Having it 2 days this year turned out to be a very good idea, indeed. It was a lot of fun, and I think shoppers and vendors alike went home happy. My favorite part, the Yeti Photo Booth, was a big hit again. Special hurrahs to Mitch, who had seemingly boundless amounts of energy as the mighty...
November 2010
5 posts
Picnic Holiday Sale
Save the date! The Picnic Holiday Sale is coming up fast. It’s 2 days of fun this year, Dec 11+12! Be there or be square.
Girls Have Chinas (wha?)
Cute book cover.
Turning 5
Where has the time gone? I can’t believe he’s five. My little guy celebrated his birthday last weekend with some friends.
Scott Pilgrm vs. the World
The last few weeks of movie watching in our house has been downright dismal. It seemed everything we tried to watch was so terrible, Noah and I rarely got to the end of anything. But finally, last night, we watched a kick ass movie. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. So funny! Michael Cera, still awkward and geeky, but less George Michael, was awesome as Scott Pilgrim. And I will usually shun any...