In peace...

 I cant think of a time when the holidays couldnt come soon enough. Since I've spent this year out of festivals and shows, I no longer dread upcoming holidays and the chaos of getting ready, finding enough time to make everything and trying to figure out what people will want to take home. It will be so good to get out some good mystery books, get rid of some clutter, and walk the dogs. Hopefully wherever you are, whatever you are doing, you are going to spend your holidays in peace.

Righteous Fur Fashion Show At Ogden Museum of Southern Art tomorrow night 11/12/10

 Been waiting with anticipation for the Righteous Fur Show tomorrow night, downtown at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art & Design-


Stasya and I had fun taking pics down the bayou way, but my dress will need to be shored up, just like our wetlands, before it can go any further.


I'm loving the green green green look these days- anything green gets me going- what about you?


I hope some of yall show up- Meanwhile there's another show same night uptown and then the PoBoy Festival this weekend on Sundy. Heather will be there with some lovely new Fleur Debris.


Hope to see yall soon, xoxoxo!

Another year older, working on the wiser

Another year older down by the bayou. As we edge closer to cool weather, it is a reminder of the milestones we've seen and the ones we're about to approach in the months ahead.Mournful ones: In December Rudy will have been gone a year. It will be the 6th Thanksgiving and Christmas without Heather's family. Joyful ones: Our cassia tree will be past the roof in height, celebrating 10 years in business, and hopefully more quality downtime with family and friends.

I didnt know what was to come this year after Rudy passed but it has turned out to be full of reaching goals. I only started setting specific goals for my business a few years ago (crazy right?)and although the route has sometimes seemed circuitous, eventually we got there.

Since the Anthropologie gig, many people have approached me asking for advice or help about how to get their Etsy business going. Plenty people have sold way more than I have on Etsy. And I dont consider myself anyone to take business advice from. In fact I am a little anti-advice about everything I do and while I second guessed my decisions a lot more in the past (even some recent ones I'll tell you about soon), it has come to pass that doing it my way has helped me reach my goals. I've never purchased or read a business book or gone to any of the websites or followed SEO people or any of that crap. I'm not on Facebook and while I dont consider marketing a dirty word, marketing myself means something different to me than it means to the rest of the internets most likely.

My way is pretty simple and it has nothing to do with any kind of guru, plan,or pdf file download for ebiz. New Orleans has a pretty wonderful closeknit craft community full of TALENT. Instead of re-inventing the wheel I just asked people what they did or have done to reach x,y or z goal. And then I did what they did. No silly I didnt copy the work they did, I just listened to them and followed their advice. I'm not talking about marketing advice, but practical advice that just applies to everyday things like best places to advertise, finding my target client, and so on.

So its really cool now to be part of the cycle where people ask me what I think (and then do it. yeah!). This happens in my day gig all the time but to have it happen with something self created is pretty cool. So now I am starting to re-envision this blog as it seems as passionate as I am about thrifting, the need to acquire a bunch of stuff is no longer in my blood. I'd like to travel lighter as I make new goals that involve far less working with stuff and more about ideas...

More to come soon.
xoxoxo,K

Blue

Of all the rites of passage of adulthood, there are few more awful than that of dealing with the illness of one's beloved pet. I have been very fortunate to have had my beloved childhood pets die of old age.Fortunate really to be shielded by my parents from all death pretty much. In the past two years, my two oldest dogs died with my ex, within months of each other as they should. They belonged to each other more than they ever did to either of us, together or apart. They had nice long lives.

Both my partner and I have struggled greatly with dealing with Sheba's advanced age. There have been moments when she wasnt well, but sprightly as ever she would bounce back and we could just shrug and say she's got plenty of life left to live. This summer has been a rude awakening. Sheba is almost 16 and her health has turned for the worse this summer and now her moments are escalating. We almost lost her twice this week. Both times she was out cold, her heart stopped and then she came back, dizzy but alive and kicking eventually. Today we had to face the music as it turns out her heart is the cause of her problems and it is simply giving out from giving so much love and expecting little in return.

Now it has not turned to not if but when and there is little wondering how. This magical creature wont be here forever.She is in her sunset and our job is to keep her calm and happy. It would be nice to be shielded from this too, but that wont be the case. Thanks for listening, xoxoxo

Falling.....

Who doesnt love fall right? Its my birthday season, the weather cools down,hair hangs right and festivals start up again anew. I usually love fall for those reasons and so many more but this time around there is a bit of lack of focus.

I am in a bit of creative quandry- Christmas feels like it is approaching so rapidly and yet all of my fabrics have arrived for spring. When you design clothes, you want to stay on top of it a few seasons ahead but you still have to get through the season at hand to afford it. Also I feel like my style is shifting and am not sure which way to go with it.

And did I mention- not reforming the appropriate company structure for my business post Katrina is looking like it will create some problems for me. I just dont know what to do. In the meantime, shrimp are back in season and the Saints are playing again in the city that care forgot. Well there are some big orders to finish and other wonderful goings on behind the scenes here so must toddle off amigos. Thanks for listening to me ramble!

About five years ago this time I was packing up the home I had just purchased and unpacked into. The home has a main house in the front and a small mother in law apartment in the back. The mother in law apartment is why I chose this house- it was 1000 square feet of wonderful space to put our burgeoning art business into and it had auspicious roots as a secret gaming establishment on the edge of New Orleans in the 1930s. The owner, a third generation family member who had lived in the home for fifty years and her husband's family for fifty years prior, told us many stories about the home- of climbing to the attic during Hurricane Betsy, a fire in the downstairs of the studio where grown men gambling had jumped out the windows on top, many of them injuring themselves rather dramatically(her husband, just a boy at the time, injured his leg permanently in that fall and was never able to walk properly- he was autopsied at death and the leg had not been properly cared for and was crooked below the knee).



So with all of the seriousness that comes with a first home purchase, I warily eyed a small storm hitting Florida a few days earlier and took my new Home Depot Charge card and window measurements to the orange behemoth for plywood. The store was pretty dead for a Monday afternoon and I marveled at being there for less than an hour to get all of that wood cut. It took much longer than an hour to load and unload all of the plywood into by 1985 Jeep Grand Cherokee (with pristine wood sidewalls,sigh), tearing the upholstery even more to bits in the process. My girlfriend laughed at me, saying she was going to end up using all of that wood for the kitchen subfloor.



We had spent several months working on the front house's interior. It took us three months to move in and we had two rooms finished- both bedrooms- and the rest of the house was completely empty. One bathroom had been completely dismantled and was in the dining room ala Holly Golightly- claw feets and all. Everything we owned except for work clothes and a newly purchased microwave was all in the back studio building, safely tucked away until room by room, everything was done.



Little did we know we should have boarded up the little studio in the back and not worried too much about the house...



To be continued

Goodwill and Goodwillllll on the Gulf Coast

We had a lovely break from the hectic studio rebuild, business brouhaha, and stress of family illness down by the emerald shores of the Gulf Coast. Why no pictures you ask?



Well, save for a brief foray to one of our favorite places in Destin that used to be a cool restaurant and now is a GOODWILL - a wonderful goodwill full of fabulous stuff- so good, I left as have gone thrift abstinent for the summer so nolasalvage could spend three hours to her hearts content with almost two carts full of stuff.



No I didnt even bring my camera and save for a few phone photos of the rushing waves, spent time soaking up rays and the smell of the water. And tons of sand. Even after vacuuming twice, there is still sand- where is it coming from?

It was beautiful there- we found a great condo across from the beach- owned by a local who was struggling seeing as the summer had been so slow. We ate wonderful seafood and even took in the fabulous Cirque du Soleil, front and center which has inspired some great things for fall. Being under the midway, the stars, the sun and sand, enjoying delicious sweetwater Georgia Brown ale. Ah it was great. A nice way to replenish for the coming fall and enjoying the coast, just like it should be.

It's almost here- Anthropologie Opens in New Orleans tomorrow, Friday the 13th!!!!

It's here- Anthropologie opens here in New Orleans tomorrow and I'm really psyched to have been chosen to design something for the shop. They are calling the capes "necklaces". It would be a rather large gothic necklace- sort of like aztec doily chic meets liberty of london. You would have to go there yourself to figure it out, so please do. Meanwhile, we're hitting the beach for a last hurrah before the school semester begins, so wont be able to check the shop out until next week but a little birdie or two has told me it looks gorgeous! marveleux mon amies! go visit or check out this article:
http://www.nola.com/fashion/index.ssf/2010/08/post_8.html

just in case you wont be in New Orleans Anthropologie, but are looking for a BayouSalvage fix, we have some new stockists:

New Jersey:
Summer Studio, Avalon

South Carolina:
Pack Rats, West Columbia,

Washington:
Seattle Gift Show, Vintage Collection, w/ Reborn Rubbish

California:
Botany's Desire, Riverside (arrives September)

New Hampshire:
White Home Collections, Wilton (arrives September)

Texas:
The French Cupboard, Marburger, Round Top (October)

and new locations coming soon, so shop and enjoy your bit of New Orleans history, steeped in the Deep South, whisky cured,xoxoxo

p.s. the fab pic above, and many of the others are by the lovely talented Janet Antene- she styles, models and takes the photos- so talented!

A Whirlwind Summer

Can you believe it is August? With everything that is going on with the oil spill, the 5 year anniversary of Katrina, a crazy busy Etsy shop and a staggered home renovation, really havent had the time to get all the fall designs in order. And now Fall is here- back to school in two weeks. Of course it is difficult to even think of falling leaves, unless they are falling from the extreme heat we have been under. It doesnt matter how quickly fall comes, as long as it cools off at some point, right?

I've been beating the heat by staying indoors, watching movies and trying to put into linen and thread so many of the ideas that follow me to bed at night and wake me up in the morning. Hopefully more to come real soon!

Holding Patterns

Well we just keep on trucking along here. In spite of crazy articles about the potential for inevitable methane explosions, world economy collapse, and the sheer lack of grilled oysters around these parts it is business as usual. As long as there is some usual business, that is.

I'm sort of contemplating how my business can be portable in case of an extended hurricane evacuation.Katrina happened and I moved my business online and into another city,albeit temporarily. I didnt evacuate with machines or stock, but as soon as we could legally come in to "look and leave," I filled up serious loads of fabric and mcahines. What will happen if we have a gas influenced evacuation? We wouldnt be allowed to come back for a while one would imagine. Should I evacuate with samples?

Would love to hear how other artists are planing for their business and evacuation.




p.s. One thing I've been working on is wedding dresses. I ordered some silk hemp fabric and am looking forward to playing around with it.

Everything that rises must converge or Sisters are doing it for themselves!

I'd like to say this project began with noble intentions but it didnt. Purely out of anger, I started working on this building because I was so pissed off. Perchance, some acquaintances let me know that a friend of mine had told them I was a hoarder and that my home was overflowing with stuff. I really hope that it was said with a "bless her heart" kind of attitude(because yes my home is overflowing with wonderful stuff- some is dog hair but the rest is pretty nice stuff not cat poop or old pizza boxes) yet something about how this was conveyed to me told tells me it wasnt. At any rate, it forced me, along with my anger: Katrina, my 6 year knee injury from an accident that wasnt going to amount to anything near an appropriate settlement for my physical loss,the oil spill, and the sudden passing of one of my dearest friends to get going. It takes a lot to get me moving around and as much as I use stuff to hide my feelings this couldnt be contained.



I'd like to say this was my plan all along for this space but it wasnt. I wanted to buy the latest top notch recycled building materials like we put on the roof. But all the brochures were laying about (with all my "hoarded" stuff) and the materials were frankly too expensive in relation to the budget(about $0). So I went out to the yard!

While starting this renovation, I paid several hundred dollars to get wood hauled away, putting my favorite pieces or sentimental pieces of wood and metal aside. Yes I have sentimental wood- old, 100 ++yr old cypress, shutters from an old apartment that were thrown out by my landlord, a bit of frame from our furniture that was shredded in katrina, blah blah blah. Found objects that I stockpile, so on and so on. My house and yard is so cramped because we lost 1000 sq feet of (uninsured) studio space in that stupid storm and I have just hidden all of that anger with junk all about. So it's time to use it or lose it.

So now, the load is a little less lighter with both junk and anger. I appreciate having a place to say it. Next time it will be a happy post full of beignets, smores and kittens snuggling.

xoxoxo,K

Making Lemonade...

Almost 70 days since the oil spill and 2months until the Katrina Anniversary and here we are:



Once we got started on the studio building it got hard to stop. This solution is really the best because sheetrock is not my style, the table saw is too scary to use and all this takes is the miter saw.




I envisioned this space to be all white but every time I make plans for this something happens- like a bunch of fab rusty junk dying to be used. So I havent been blogging as much or anything else but sawing, sweeping up dust and plotting the next step in this renovation. Hope yall are having a productive summer too.

Warning: Head in sand alert!

I'm making a pledge this week to pretend, for one week, that nothing has happened to our coast or might happen to us in the future. I wish I had medication,therapy or enough french fries to quell the growing lack of ease in our community about what is to come. I'm just going to pretend like everything is a-okay and mow the lawn, paint the cabinets and maybe find a beach to visit.

Putting a face on your assistance ... the Gulf Coast Oil Spill How you can help

Houma Newstand. All papers bemoan the Spill May 2010


As many of you know, I have been collecting donations in my Etsy shop for Gulf Coast Oil Spill assistance. I first chose Matter of Trust, the wonderful group of people out of San Francisco who recycle hair and stocking into boom to soak up the oil from our fragile waters. I contacted Matter of Trust about how I could better assist their group, seeing as BP was not agreeing to take the boom. John Thurston, from Matter of Trust asked me to go down to Grand Isle and hand out the money. So I did. Well I tried to but see Grand Isle was deserted due to the OIL and the BP lock down on the beaches. So I headed over to Houma Nation Headquarters where I had been once before. No one was home there either.

So I have been trying to find a way to help the Indian tribes that have so far been through enough due to Katrina, Ivan,Ike and Gustav. Finally I got in touch with Chief Albert Naquin from the Isle de Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha Indian tribe. You may remember that their tribe was completely wiped off of the barrier island they lived on for centuries in Katrina. And here is what he said: no (none, nada) money has found its way to ANY of the members of his tribe that work in the now defunct fishing factories that process the (forever lost)seafood when it comes inshore. Many of these families lived paycheck to paycheck in the first place and this oil spill has sent their tribe into even deeper trouble. So those of you who are weary of sending in donations to people you dont know or cannot be sure to help- well dont worry here is his email to send PAYPAL funds:

whitebuffaloa@netscape.net

If you would like to send supplies- they are in desperate need of FOOD, sundries, etc, please email me at bayousalvage@yahoo.com and I will give you his information so you can send it directly to the tribe.

If you are local and want to donate, I will be going down there soon to assist so email me about that too. I am tired of sitting around wrenching about how this is going to screw up all of our lives forever on the gulf coast. The time to reach out is now.XXOOXX Kerry

Do you remember the time?

Just when we were starting to feel a sense of normalcy again post Katrina, BP sideswiped us again with this horrific disaster. It is so hard to post shiny happy discoveries and newly created ETSY items when the sense that our community is shifting towards some unspoken abyss is in the room.Never a one to take token media observations at their word (hey this is the house where pirate radio tried to take a choke hold on the airwaves one week after Katrina only to be scared off by the Gretna PD), I ventured down to see for myself what was going on.

Grand Isle was frighteningly quiet. Not a soul combed the streets except for news outlets and army vehicles. Fresh signs detailing holiday rentals, parties to come held deflated balloons and the sense of energy expended for naught.Like a canceled birthday party or runaway bride, the town known for its memorial day festivities had the air of impending doom as if cancer had just been declared.

The beach, usually strewn with families, hungover revelry,the feckless enjoyment of the sea sight was festooned with white tents and white suited workers, organized and prodded by olive drab butlers.It was straight outta Margaret Atwood. You would expect the sea to be birthing aliens, three headed lochness monsters, detritus of science fiction nightmares. Instead it was murky sand.

The bags looked to be filled with sandy lab experiments gone wrong, molasses spilled over burnt cornbread,the earth's tears.

I've always tended towards dramatic observations myself. Tears come to me easily as do reckonings that are lumpy and uncomfortable. This sight and the consequent thoughts remind me of a diagnosis, a waiting for the hangman, 16 hours on a highway with no clear knowledge of where we are going or what we are leaving. This place wrenches you with love and horror. It tests your faith and hope. It leaves you slack jawed and wordless-thrown into the unknown.

New Designs and Old Ideas from down de bayou

I've been trying to get some of these designs out for Spring before Summer actually hits down by de bayou. We've had a brief cool spell- mornings and evenings have been great. Well until the winds changed this evening and that awful burning oil smell hit.



Thanks everyone for crossing your fingers for me last week. Everything went just fine just waiting to see what happens.Or if nothing does. Either way, I'll let yall know when I know more myself.



Until then I am working on these designs and phasing out some of my other collections. We're trying to hit the beach before the oil comes further inland and some other travel and interesting summer plans.

I've been working on a book proposal off and on the past year. I'm going home in the next few weeks and hope to get my mother's help with the outline. She's been a librarian for almost 45 years and of course reads constantly. My hope is to phase out some of my designs, stick with the ones that are working and spend more time writing,so we shall see.

I'll keep you posted when more details become available. See yall later, K

Getting Ready for my Big Day

Well I have something coming up. I cant talk about it because it is jinxable. Jinxable as in please cross your fingers as it is something I have wanted for like forever, like 15 years forever or maybe just ten years because it didnt seem possible at all 15 years ago.



And like everything else that seems to happen these days, it came up spur of the moment and because of ETSY, so wow thanks to that wonderful place this is possible.



And now I have to go deliver all of these things and I wont be able to get good pictures because it has been raining or windy or we've had an oil spill smell wafting through the air so the outdoors has been off limits.

Well so here goes and please cross your eyes, fingers and everything else for me! Hopefully some good news will come, but if not, it's still wonderful that this was possible, like really really, so yay Bayou Salvage.

xoxoxo, see yall later,
Kerry

My one of a kind VINTAGE Liberty of London Ruffle TanksGetting Ready for Shows and Jazz Fest Season

It's Jazz Fest time down de bayou- the past few years that seems to mean rainboots and ponchos. I was hoping my new raincoats would be ready to sell by now but issues with the fabric have come up. So its back to the drawing board and maybe by monsoon season (July?) I'll have them ready to launch.

In the meantime, I'm working on incorporating the vintage liberty fabrics my Aunt ALice left me into everything possible for Spring and Summer.I sold out of all 50 at Round Top by the first weekend so am really hoping the Farmchicks show the same love until my copycats arrive. It was disappointing to hear I had a copy cat at Round Top - just two booths over this time- every garment, every accessory, bleh. I've always got tons of ideas anyway, so that's fine- it was just a bit of a drag. Just wait til Fall Marburger salvagistas!

Anyhoo, I'm churning these tops out and enjoying April in New Orleans. It's a bit rainy but lovely all the same.Hoping my next pics will be MAY FLOWERS!

Seasons Change & Good Times Down on the (urban) Farm

What a difference a month makes. It was still a bit chilly and rainy last post. Then the sun came out and I got busy planting:



I know most people are busy plotting their victory gardens full of tomatoes and butterbeans, but down de bayou we get real serious about flowers! My grandmother made me work in her garden every summer, and bless her heart at 87, she still tills the soil up every spring and under every September. I prefer the garden full of flowers, and if the plants also yield something to eat, great. I truly dont trust the soil here, nor feel much comfort in food grown in plastic containers out in the hot heat with icky miracle grow (plant food should not be blue).

After planting my seeds, I hit some estate sales:



I love this color of vintage pink. Its not peach, not pink. My mother would call it shrimp.

Speaking of shrimp, fish meal makes the best fertilizer. You can get a quart of it at Whole Foods and it will last all summer long. I used to use chicken manure but it made my flowers too leggy. It does smell better than fish meal though...



I'm hoping that these plants will all grow. We lost almost every plant in the yard during the freeze: plants that all lived through Katrina, trees I nursed in planters year after year until able to buy my house,plants given to me by my Aunt Alice who is no longer with us. The yard looks a bit forlorn, and uncared for so we shall see. I have planted all of the sunflowers I can find and taking small solace in vignettes seen while sitting in the garden- soft focus preferred.



So two weeks I got this lovely french vintage ticking at auction. I couldnt resist and lay awake at night thinking of things to do with it. I am busy trying to keep these paws off of it:



A very helpful garden gnome who likes to chew the peat pockets and barks at the cats who try to jump in the flats of seedlings. Who doesnt love spring?

Beware the ides of March and Marburger/Round Top

Salvagistas- where did March go? In between (insert illness, too many events, and a big show here), everything has been a blur. We have had great sneak peeks of spring with 70 degree days and 50 degrees at night. Today it is crisp and clear, about 55 degrees and the garden is in a curious limbo between holding back for winter or springing forth. Me too.

Round Top starts next Thursday, so I have a push to get to post some last minute items that will be headed Texas way soon enough. The items I've been working on lately are very bridal as have outfitted three brides this month and it's so much fun to play with white. Also it only requires one color thread, ha ha.

I hope everyone will be coming by the Hillcrest Inn, Blacksmith Shop, Back Porch area in Round Top next week. Check back with me soon, we have some big Salvage news coming up for April.
See yall later!
xoxoxo

p.s.I was in two, couldnt be more different magazines this month- Mother Jones and Southern Flourish. Just the sort of irony Rudy would have appreciated...

Marburger Bound, Fashion Shows, and Everything else...

I've finally survived the two weeks post Mardi Gras- weekends bookended by two fashion shows and including costuming for a film, three different concerts and Rudy's Jazz funeral.

Everything went well- hope my costumes were good enough for the film- they ended up taking the collar off of one dress and changing the coat several times to the one they originally bought before I was on board.It was really hard to do the film due to scheduling changes. They chose the one weekend I could not be there and my all time busiest week of 2010. They knew in December that this was my schedule, so the best that could be done was done and hope it turns out. The director and script are fantastic so how bad could it be?

We also survived Rudy's memorial. It turned out to be a successful fundraiser and we got some closure. I swear Rudy was there the whole time.Finally got rid of the Christmas tree and am going to delete his email and number from my phone. It feels worse than it did in December. It is real, he is gone and terribly missed. Love and hug your friends- you never know how long you have with them.

Marburger bound in just three weeks. I need to get out of town and may just go for the hell of it.All of my goods have to be delivered on St. Paddy's day. Its one hell of a lace tornado down de bayou until then.

See yall soon!
Kerry

Jazz Funeral for RK Rowell aka Rudy Rowell March 6,2010 Freret Market New Orleans

I hope everyone is going to come out for the Jazz Funeral for Rudy next Saturday at the Freret Market, Freret at Napolean, about 1pm. There will be an art auction that day to benefit the American Heart Association in Rudy's name. We miss Rudy and this will be a great way to celebrate his the life and the people he touched. Let's put the fun in funeral!

Its still carnival time down by de bayou Salvagistas!

I've been burning the midnight oil getting ready for Marburger and trying out new designs for my ~salvagistas~ in big ole Texas. I was pleased that my satin disco inferno blouse sold out so quickly on Etsy - hopefully this means good things to come in Round Top. I hope so!

I have a fashion show this week and it will be complete sewing madness around here til April so may not be able to surface for a while. Wish me luck and let me know what you guys think & will touch base. If you are going to be in Texas for Marburger, please let me know as am planning to be there for preview weekend.

Of Liberty of London Chintzes, Doberge Cake and going LOW CARB

It's Lent.

Ah once again we must turn away from the evil sucre, flour and all things pale and tasty.

I combined these sweet vintage liberty of London chitzes left to me by my Aunt Alice and heavenly heirloom laces into cuffs for Round Top. Yummy!

Mardi Gras and Superbeaulx Over, time for Round Top/Marburger

Ah the magic of Margi Gras and the Superbeaulx is so over- it is time to get cranking out the next 6 weeks of work for Marburger Round Top and costumes for the Indie film I've been working on. The film will shoot in three weeks and Texas is in 6 weeks.Ungawa!

I can tell you how fresh and festive and Spring-like its been looking in my studio. I dug out the sweetest Liberty chintzes left to me by my aunt Alice and have been festooning lace and ruffles and linen all around. My camera is out of commish or would have taken pictures already. Needless to say we're getting a much needed dash of color in just the right tones of pink, teal and cornflower blue with of course the whitest white,cream,tea dyed linens and such.

I've been inspired by the dull dead plants all around contrasted with the costuming and flights of fancy we've had due to New Orleans festivities. I'll cheerfully take the cold any day it brings the winning Saints team, marching bands springing up out of shadows and feathers in the air.

Spring is just around the corner and it feels so good, considering the cold wet winter and the loss of our dear friend Rudy and his wise counsel about all things southern, fun, and super fried.It's Ash Wednesday so off to forget the revelry and back to work.
See yall in texas!

Complete and utter chaos getting ready for San Francisco International Gift Fair and Round Top Next

You may want to squint before looking at this photo:



It is painful to post but it is part of what has been driving me crazy.My home is a chaotic mess due to making stuff.I know it is true because Heather came home with news of this crazy fab studio today and we both considered moving all of our crap there and maybe ourselves too as this house is just not big enough for all of our stuff, plus art stuff plus pets.We cant afford it one bit yet somehow it doesnt matter as it looks so much better than what we have now.

I have to get this room cleared out in a few days for these new/old fixtures purchased to organize all the crap in here. And, I am still shipping out for the San Francisco Show and then have a 6 week turn around for Round Top/ Marburger Antique Show. Did I mention my rep wants me to go wholesale and just take a few accounts. I will be the lace ruffle farm.

Plus I am costuming one film, working on pre production for a video and then a producing gig for a documentary. Plus Mardi Gras, raising money for this scholarship fund at work and planning Rudy's Jazz Funeral.Scratch this as a photo of my sewing room, this is my brain off of drugs. And not one of this events has been enough to raise enormous bucks, but I am still interested in them so we shall see.

So this is just a portion of the clean up job ahead. I think the box of industrial sized garbage bags should do the trick, eh?

Who Dat Nation!

It doesnt seem like so long ago when I was gifted a Who Dat shirt (and an Andy Gibb album) from our cousins down by de bayou in the 80s. Archie Manning and the Saints have long been a part of my family's mythology- from swimming daily as a 4 year old in the Sigma Nu pool at Ole Miss (down the street from our campus apartment) to my first word "peprally."

Many nights after a football game in the Grove and a bit of whisky loosening the tongue,my father often waxed poetic about Mississippi's contributions to football and everlasting Southern glory.Oh yeah and red heads- my dad seemed to think that was a contributing factor to football glory- his, Archie's and others.

When I was younger it was Archie, then John Fourcade, and finally Deuce McAllister who took the 1-55 to Sainthood.Joe Horn attended Ittawamba Community College in Fulton, where my grandfather lectured and he became part of our collective football magic as well.

We didnt have season tickets or attend games firsthand, but football on Sundays meant a Saints game on in our house. The first Christmas after Katrina, Heather and I made sure all of our gifts were New Orleans related. many of our relatives got Saints jerseys- some were bewildered (especially the Eagles fans)but we wanted to spread the message.

They were timely gifts, as New Orleans advanced to a winning season.My dad has always emphasized being a real fan, win or lose (hence his passion for Ole Miss) and Imust confess, I think the satisfaction of being a long term Saints fan in this situation is pretty sweet. In the dusky, rusty,broke down afterglow of what our city has been through, no matter your neux dat or who dat status, it feels DAMN GOOD!

GEAUx SAINTS!!!