Get on da bus! The Go-Go thrifty shop bus!

Photo by Andy!

Completely caught off guard to get my picture taken... but Stacy is a natural!

This image from Baltimore Sun

My early Saturday mornings usually consist of not washing my hair, putting on some schlubby clothes and dashing my Etsy goods to the post office unseen by the public. So when, bleary-eyed, Andy and I stumbled down the avenue,  it took a few minutes to register what I was looking at.

This was no fuzzy nightmare of middle school...this was a fantastic school bus filled with thrifty goodies! Swoon!

Now I'm a pretty bouncy person, but the owner, Stacy, completely eclipsed me. Maybe it was because she just quit her day job? (YAY!) or because she had the most adorable puppy-in-a-basket to keep her company!? Either way, I had a great time browsing through the awesomeness. Even Andy enjoyed his time by petting the pooch and adding dry erase graffiti on the ceiling!

Check out the Go-go's Retread Threads bus stop schedule here!

Some other linkies:
Go-go's bus at Honfest! And at Hampdenfest! (How did I miss this!??? Oh wait... I was probably highly intoxicated. Nothing says "Yay Neighborhood" than drinking in public!)

Did I mention I love how random Hampden always seems to be?

Coloring Books for the Children at Heart Adults...

...or rather Child EATING Hearts coloring books...
The whole list is here!

National Pinball Museum is Open for Business!

After relocating from Georgetown and months of waiting, the greatness has happened!
The National Pinball Museum Grand Opening is Today!

Where you can bask in the greatness of the best pinball machine there ever was: Addams Family! You know what I'm talking about. Thing that jumps out and grabs the ball? The Electric Chair? The "Oh, Gomez"? The crazy setup? Excellent.

They've got others, but who cares about Avatar Pinball. Can I dig for unobtainium? No? Not interested.

But can you hear the choir? Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Poop Coffee at Zeke's this Weekend!

By now you've probably heard of Kopie Luwak-civet coffee... the MOST EXPENSIVE COFFEE IN THE WOLRD! No? You mean you haven't heard of the Monkey poop it comes from?

I kid you not.

Let me tell you a little story of the Asian Palm Civet (the monkey culprit above). This scavenger scours the jungle eating the sweet red coffee beans he finds....then, yep! Poops out the undigested coffee beans!  Then some entrepreneurial genius gathers the poop, cleans it (tho never enough for my tastes),  grinds the digested coffee beans and charges outrageous amounts for it! Joy!

Boing Boing describes it best:

humans discovered that the enzymes in the civets’ tummies break down the coffee’s bitterness, leaving behind an extremely delicious pooped bean. 

I tell you all this because Zeke's, the best coffee in the known universe, is having a Tasting Event for Kopi Luwak this weekend!

I may need someone to come with to hold my hand...

And because I may have inadvertently destroyed your appetite, here's a cute kitty in a coffee cup as an apology:

What's more religious than a corned beef sandwich? - Happy Food Coma day!

It's true! Jews love food! (Well, who doesn't?).

So, in honor of the Pilgrims chowing down, we thought we would share our traditions as well. In fact, there's a whole exhibit of Jewish food at the Jewish Museum of Maryland... with a few familiar faces!

A few months ago, there was a call to the community for photos and memories of your food "recollections". Good thing our family has it's own paparazzi in my Uncle Howard! With his trusty archive of 100 years worth of photos, he practically filled the whole exhibit with our family photos (eating of course)!

From their site:

Chosen Food: Cuisine, Culture and American Jewish Identity examines the diversity of Jewish eating and uncovers the messages in our meals. It shows how the foods we choose to eat speak volumes about who we are.

Above are a smattering of photos around the exhibit...with some notable highlights! (Yours truly and her family!). The photos above were all taken by Howard (except where he is posing, and those were taken by his wife, Barbara)

Enjoy! And hope your food traditions include tasty-ness all day! 

Birthday Book Invitations!

Party Time! Excellent!
And people say they don't read anymore... hah!
Great idea for a party invite! (for nebbishy bookworms who want their friends to clean up strewn streamers... i.e. ME!)
From You are my fav!

25 Ways to Wear a Scarf!

This video is adoraballs!

I'm sooo gonna start wearing all my scarves at once!
With 18 different knots!

Via

Happy July 4th! And a Happy Camper Calendar from Curiousity!

 

It's so cute!!!! In recognition of all those peeps traveling around in July (half the office is out!), this Curiosity camper is for you!

Those Curiosity guys are at it again! Here's a link to the pdf calendar. And their blog is here!

Run for your Lives 5k Run!!

After running the Women's Classic 5k, this seems more appropriate...

1. It's a 5k run. Or possibly a 10k run, depending on which route you take.
2. It's also an obstacle course
3. You are chased by Zombies.

I am SO signing up.
Oh, and the girls I work with? Signing up to be Zombies.

Most excellent.

LINK!

Visit Friends with you Rainbow City!!!!

We go here now!
From June 8 - July 5, Friends with you and AOL bring joy and magic to NYC Highline park!

From their site:

FriendsWithYou's 40 piece interactive and environmental installation of colorful inflatables will fill a 16,000 square foot outdoor space at 30th St. and 10th Avenue in Chelsea.

Psychedelic sculptures in Manhattan? Awwww yeah.
Via / link

Tomorrow is Etsy Craft Party!

Awww yeah! It's an all out Etsy party across the globe!

From Etsy:

It's time to celebrate! Last year's first-ever global Craft Party was so much fun, we've decided to orchestrate it again this year on Friday, June 10, 2011. No matter where you live or what you love to make, you are invited to participate. Musicians, painters, sculptors, photographers, farmers, hackers, gardeners, designers, jewelers, bookbinders, printmakers, teachers, makers and doers of all stripes, as well as art enthusiasts, curators, vintage lovers and supporters of the independently made, we're calling on you! We challenge you to meet your neighbors and come together to make something surprising.

Me and some craft-time buddies will be at the Baltimore Meetup at MICA - you should come too! (Not to worry if you don't have crafts, Etsy will be supplying some fancy schmancy bmore projects like "funky make-your-own hon glasses"...)


Details:

• Friday, June 10, 2011

  5:00 PM
  

  Selected by: Jen Menkhaus

• MICA, Fox building, rooms 214, 215 & 218

  1300 W Mt Royal Ave, Baltimore, MD 21217
  

  Selected by: Jen Menkhaus

Links:
Etsy's Party Info / Bmore Etsy Meetup / Party Goodies! Etsy Craft Party Kit

Clone Your Herbs!

Considering I have a habit of killing them...(or feeding them to my kitties)...Re-Nest had a great posting on cloning your herbs! It's actually easier than it sounds.

They say:

Plants such as basil, mint, and oregano are incredibly easy to reproduce from cuttings — and a heck of a lot faster than growing from seed. So easy in fact, that it is practically criminal how quickly you can stock your entire garden from one small plant. I save time and money every season multiplying my basil crop in this way.

Herbs to Start in Water:

• Basil
• Broadleaf Thyme/Cuban Oregano
• Mint
• Oregano

Herbs to Start in Soil/Coir:

• Broadleaf Thyme/Cuban Oregano
• Lemon Verbena
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Savory (Summer and Winter)
• Scented Geraniums
• Stevia
• Thyme

I'm SO on this! If you don't hear from me in a month, it's because I cloned Audrey II ... and it got HUNGRY!!!
link

Food Trucks Hit Baltimore!

Finally catching up to the Food Truck craze, albeit a few years later, Miss Shirley's will soon scoot around town!

From the BBJ:

...the truck will eventually begin to set up shop in the surrounding Baltimore suburbs. The truck will feature Miss Shirley’s menu items, such as crab cakes, sweet potato fries, Maryland omelets, blueberry pancakes, California chicken BLT and fried-green tomatoes.

The daily location of the food truck will be announced on the restaurant’s Facebook page.

And because it's Baltimore, there's a controversy. OH BOY!

Actually, I'm pretty excited. The food is amazing and the lines to get in are always ENORMOUS ('specially since they stopped allowing the FourSquare Mayor to be seated right away.... balls).

Thanks Howard for the link!

DIY: Perfume Lockets!

Besides having a totally adorable pink wedding blog, Glamor and Grace have a new segment for DIY Glamor! This past months crafty-awesomenss was How to Make your own perfume locket - a completely raging trend right now. Totally want to stock up at Michaels for supplies. Now... where did I put that coupon!?

So what you're saying is... the 90's Never left Portland?

I've got my plaid ready!
When are we going?

Also, I need to start watching Portlandia. Those clips are addicting!

Curiousity Calendar for May: TIKI-Tastic!

Awww!!! Curiousity Calendar for May has arrived!

We're so excited here at work... that oh... like 10 of us (slight exaggeration) just had a giant paper cutting party! Now we all have Desktop Tikis with a Secret Friend inside!

Adorables! Print from the pdf here! and a link to the others!

Felt Little Lighted Houses! (a how-to)

I wanna make! And then throw around the floor like there are gnomes living in my closet. Hmm...don't know how kitties would take that...ANNNNNNDDD don't care!

Jeez, they might as well call April Craft Month too!

Link to the Felt Houses How-to Tutorial! via

Birthday in a Box... Or Adorable DIY, In a box.

How adorable is this!???
That's it. Who's bday is next!!!???!!

You are my fav made this... and she posted how to make your own!
I know mom's got some "unusual cake decorations" I can kidnap adopt... See images below:

Yes, that is my birthday cake. And yes... the left birthday sign on stick has a BURNED OFF CORNER. (Which I had nothing to do with).

Oh, and that cow I'm holding? It's head is backwards.

Did you know: March is National Craft Month!

Here's some linky's for Crafty Fun!

DIY: Talk to the Hand!
Take Calls on Your Hand with a handmade Bluetooth Glove! So want. via

Make Moroccan Lanterns for your Bollywood Inspired Party!

Maybe an Infinity Scarf?

And lastly, a Paper Cup Wreath! How do they always make these look so pretty? If I did it? Disaster...

Other things you might not know:
I have been hoarding these crafty bits. I guess I should share?
I have had too much coffee... OR NOT ENOUGH!
I like to make hotdog octopuses scream when I eat them.

"Back to the Future" Photoseries...It's not what you think!

No Deloreans here.... just some old photos, retaken EXACTLY the same, years later!

From Irina Werning's Website:

I love old photos. I admit being a nosey photographer. As soon as I step into someone else’s house, I start sniffing for them. Most of us are fascinated by their retro look but to me, it’s imagining how people would feel and look like if they were to reenact them today... A few months ago, I decided to actually do this. So, with my camera, I started inviting people to go back to their future.

GENIUS!
DiG and I have decided to relive our past and recreate some of our old photos too! We'll let you know how it goes... there's some great pretty princess pumpkin patch galavanting we could recreate... via DiG!

Update: Very Demotivational beat us too it...