Adventures

Here are some pics from in and around the booth this past weekend at Chicago Renegade. Thanks everyone who came out to the Tee Party! Some Broken-hearted tees (project #2):

Emma made a T-bird halter (project #47) with her mom and two BFFs made Comfort Corsets (project #7):

And here’s the Tee Party booth, homemade banner and all!

I’m on the train bound for home. First stop Trenton, then Newark, then Penn Station, NY. This morning’s media was fun. I love all the male hosts who have been game for refashioning a halter top! (This one wouldn’t actually put it on, though. So here I am, yet again, with the ever-so-hot layered look.)

I got to watch that guy from The Bachelor (whose family owns a winery) on the segment before mine. And a big shout-out to Mr. T’s parents who drove in from Delaware to take me to a nice Italian lunch. Yum.

The last night of my tour, and the Books & Co. crowd didn’t disappoint. Much of today was a road trip of sorts, flying into Cincinnati, driving to Northern Kentucky for a morning show, and then on to Dayton for the book event. Here’s a behind the scenes shot of me getting all mic’d up. The producer had me take my shoes off because I was too tall next to the host!

I knew as soon as I walked into the store that I was in good hands—the first staff member I saw was wearing her own fabulous variation on the Broken Hearted tee (project #3 in the book, for those of you following along). Sharon, the bookstore maven is a goddess among book folk, and her enthusiasm is reflected in her whole staff. One young lady even came in on her day off, just to slash up some T-shirts with us! The crowd was entertaining, too—even if one guy just wanted to find out how much money he could get for his bag of old corporate logo T-shirts. (Um, you could donate them to people like us who like to cut ’em up… Just an idea.)

In a change of heart, so to speak, we refashioned a bunch of the Broken Hearted tees (project #3) as that was the popular one with this crowd. One of the women in attendance brought an old over-sized T-shirt she had saved from her heart surgery recovery. Her story was so inspiring—I’m so glad she came out to share her story with us. And, damn, she looked fabulous!

As I waited for my Midwestern panino to be grilled, I wandered over to the well-stocked meat counter (pretty fascinating stuff to a lifetime vegetarian), where a man preparing some “thick cut steaks.” He asked if I needed any help, I answered that I was just waiting for my sandwich to heat up. Then the conversation went something like this: “Hey, were you on Channel 4 this morning?” “Why yes, yes I was…” “Yeah, that was funny—that guy wearing that halter top….I totally thought it was you. And then I saw you were wearing a T-shirt, so I knew it had to be you.” Here’s the visual—by the by, the “Can’t Hide That Midwest Pride” T-shirt is thanks to my friend Ernest—e-mail me if you’re interested in getting your very own!

It’s so strange to put a face to a television viewer. I always feel so pleasantly anonymous when I’m sitting on my couch in the privacy of my apartment, tuning in to the latest Sopranos or Project Runway episode (though I know DirecTV could probably call up any show I watched in the last year). And on the other side, when you’re in the TV studio doing the live segment, it’s just you, a couple of newscasters, and a cameraman or two. It’s hard to imagine the thousands of viewers they claim to have when you’re just talking to the lens. But there was one of them, right in front of me at the Sendik’s on Oakland meat counter. And then I met another viewer as I went through airport security. After the scissors were spotted by the x-ray machine guy, I found myself explaining yet again to the woman digging through my bag why I have, oh, about 12 pairs in my carry-on luggage. As I did, she looked up and said, “Wait, you were on Channel 6 this morning! Yeah, with that cute little ruffled skirt—that was cute.” “Oh, you mean this one?” as I pulled the Triple Layer Cake sample skirt from the pile she had wrestled from my bag. “Yes, that one! Yeah, I remember you.” “Good, so you can corroborate my story. ” It’s funny, I never imagine that any of those thousands of viewers can actually see me. At least two of them do.
As a side note, here’s a personal record: I don’t think I’ve ever visited 10 bookstores in one day. I know you’re all impressed.
PS: All you Pirates fans out there—they stayed in my hotel! Go team!

Sophomore year in high school I read a study that listed Minnesota and New Hampshire as the number 1 and 2 healthiest states to live in. Born and raised in the Granite State (Live Free or Die, baby!), I felt especially proud of our clean air and abundance of trees and already felt a strong kinship toward anyone from the Gopher State…though the only person I knew who hailed from MN was my French teacher. Since then I’ve met several Minnesotans, and I’ve yet to be disappointed! First there was the local morning show host. Must note, however, she doesn’t follow directions so well. I mean, we’re on live television—when I say cut through only one layer, I mean ONE layer.

Then I was off to visit some bookstores—one even featured Generation T as a staff pick! Thanks guys!

Then, it was off to exploring the local thrift stores with my friend Sarah who actually hails from this “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” but who spends most of her time in the Borough of Kings back in Brooklyn. And finally, I got to hang with the lovely folks at my event at Book Corner for a cozy little demo and pizza party!

Chicago was not only windy, it was cold, blustery, and mixed with a little thunder and lightning for opening day this weekend. (After an insane rain delay, I do believe the White Sox came out on top…but the only Sox I have eyes for are the ones out of Boston). Despite the angry weather (and the particularly sour folks at my hotel), the staff and crowd at the B&N were delightful. My friend Tehama, from back in NH came out to take some pics, and I was lucky enough to meet up with fellow Workman author Aneva Stout (stay tuned for her fabulously pink, excellent little book, The List: A Love Story in 781 Chapters, coming out in the next month!)

The sprint from the bookstore to the airport was a particularly funny one, since I was wearing the outfit above, plus a hooded sweatshirt, plus a denim jacket, plus a pair of jeans underneath the skirt (I had planned to make a full change from skirt to pants in the car ride, but it didn’t happen). It wasn’t until I got to security (and the officer asked me to please take off my jacket and sweatshirt and run it through the x-ray) that I realized that I looked like a complete fool. After managing to keep a straight face (sort of), I wriggled out of the halter top I had over my T-shirt, made my way to the gate, and shimmied out of the skirt. Ahhh, jeans and a T-shirt. Nothing better.

I’m so sorry everybody! The web site is stuck in February! I promise I will post new projects soon —it’s just that I’m on tour and my scanner doesn’t pack well, so I had to leave it at home. (I also have to do the ole taxes before I can post March and April.) Thanks for being so patient!

Before I left for tour, some of you may have heard me groan “Who do I know in Denver?! No one!” until my friend Cory was nice enough to point out—”Hey, Rebecca is in grad school there. And what day did you say you were going to be there? The 31st—yeah, it’s her birthday!” So it was a DIY sushi party as my friend Rebecca turned 27 last night! I helped make maki rolls (avocado and cucumber for me), mixed up tempura batter, and yum—ate my fill. And, yes, in case you were wondering, that’s regular birthday cake—rest assured, no rice, seaweed, or raw fish involved.

But, let me backtrack. Did some local TV spots, as well as an interview with the Denver Post—stay tuned for the article in the coming weeks. We did a photo shoot, too!

I’m not sure that this $2 T-shirt from Chinatown —or those has-been T-shirts from the Goodwill below—has ever received so much special attention…

Bound for the windy city today!

“Welcome to Hollywood! What’s your dream? …Some dreams come true, some don’t, but keep on dreamin’—this is Hollywood! Always time to dream…” Ahh, the Pretty Woman quote for which my friend and I rewound the tape again and again (just so we could write it down and recite it word for word—why? because we were 12 and that’s what we did). And speaking of dreams, thanks to a late night check-in and and overbooked hotel, I got to get my dream on in a much larger space. Seriously, my new upgrade to firstclass was so big, it was a pity I was only to be there for about 8 hours (mind you, about half of them I was up packing and working)! I met a couple of my girls from school for brunch. We sat outside and people-watched. Yum. Strawberry covered waffles. The most decadent feast I’ve had yet. Ooh, except for maybe that mango cheesecake in Austin. They pointed out the famous people. But really, everyone seems rather beautiful and well-polished here, so I wouldn’t know one from the other! Then, my favorite quote of the day from my she-who-will-remain-anonymous media escort: “Oh my gosh, you’re so much cuter in real life than on your cover!” Umm, thanks? I mean, I guess it’s better than the other way around, right? Welcome to LA. But she didn’t stop there. She was so taken by my apparent superior in-the-flesh-cuteness that she felt it imperative to share it with everyone we met. Nothing makes anyone more uncomfortable than being forced to acknowledge someone’s level of attractiveness in front of afformentioned someone. Ooof. Moving on…met with the lovely producers and costars, Cathie and Steve of the DIY show Creative Juices. They are quite lovely in person, and were kind enough to mention my book on their blog. Cross-blog promotion, how delightful! Then I met Susan Beal, founding member of the Portland-based PDX Supercrafty and coauthor of SuperCrafty, the book! We chowed on some sweet potato fries and talked craft books and craft collectives other such delights.