Posts Tagged ‘dogs’

Market Day Recap

Monday, September 26th, 2011

 

Due to summer being INSANELY busy for me, I just got involved with Market Day  this year.  It’s only a few months late …

My first experience this year was last month. They have an amazing new venue this year — the Kirkwood hotel.  It’s bright, clean and has climate control.  And all the booths are indoors.  On carpet.  SUPER fabulous.

Last month I experimented with a new setup. I added shelving, courtesy of my roommates and their video game addiction (normally this shelf houses some of their games — yes, I said some).

 

Also, I made an epic butt-ton of zippy pouches. Shown here are a small amount of what I had or inventory that day, as well as the last of my wallets.  I’m going to be revamping my wallets for next year.  Wallets 2.0.  There will be zippers or snaps involved.  Potentially lace, flowers or rhinestones.

 

Sadly, I sold this adorable pouch.  Well, not sadly. I made a sale (this was not ALL I sold that day, thank you — I actually sold about 60-70% of what I brought that day). I love using selvege edges in my zippy pouches to keep the scrappy look going and because the concept behind the pouches is to use EVERY BIT of fabric scrap possible.

 

This month’s Market Day was a suitcase showdown (ie. they were only able to reserve the front part of the building).  I really enjoyed this idea — for one, I always use a suitcase.  Two — I didn’t have ANY time last month to make any new items, so I just brought what I had left from the previous month.  Three — I didn’t have to bring a table.  Four — it was less expensive for me.  And five — I got to network with so many more people.  We shared a booth, so there was less pressure to stay at your space the entire time as there was somebody there that could talk about your work and hopefully help sell your stuff as well as their own.

That being said, I sold ONE item — to a coworker.  It seemed like that was the general vibe of the day.  I don’t think it was due to a change in format. I think it just happens to be a slow month.  October and November will be busy, but September is kind of weird because it’s too far away from the holidays and the weather is changing and colder so not as many people were probably out at the Farmers Market (which is where a good portion of our crowd comes from).

I shared a booth with Meg, who makes fabulous needle-felted creations. Although she makes hats and other winter gear, this month she brought home decor.  I love that fox pillow. And our stuff meshed so well together!

 

There was definitely a bird theme at our table.

 

My friend Kyle, who formerly created White Boy Burritos, had a booth with these really sweet antler decorations.  This one was burnt, painted a bit on the end and clear-coated. Sooo pretty!

 

Here are more of his creations.

 

This booth had some beautiful wooden art.  I didn’t catch the vendor’s name, but I love the green piece in the center.

 

Best part of the day? As usual, the dogs.  Shown here is a long haired doxie WITH A MOHAWK. No, Barney is NOT getting this haircut.  Unless one of my roommates is drunk and has the clippers out.


 

Happy? run

Friday, March 6th, 2009

It’s 73ish degrees out and 50 degrees warmer than 2 days ago when I ran — yes, I live in Iowa.

Most people would think that this weather is fabulous for a run. Not when you’ve been running all winter and the temperature suddenly jumps up. My body is set for about 20-30 degrees (as opposed to this time last month where it was set to run in 10-15 degrees)…and 75 degrees is sweltering for this body right now. I have to ease back into it…you know..with normal temperature increases.

Either way, it was gorgeous out, so I would complain about it.  I had to run 8 miles in this. You might as well have told me to run a marathon in the middle of the rainforest because that’s what I felt like. I had a tank top and super short shorts on and considered taking off my tank top, but I was already getting way too much attention for “improper” attire.  In fact, a 13-or-so-year-old girl walking out of Godfather’s Pizza yelled at me as I passed by, “Hey, it’s way too cold outside to be wearing that, don’t you know??!”  Really? Could that be why I’m drenched in sweat? Probably.

It was really tough keeping going today. I managed to keep it at a 9 minute mile pace..slow, but whatever. This time last year I was at a 10 minute mile pace, so I don’t care.  I had to stop quite a few times for the dreaded walk. I’m sure I looked really strange WALKING in a tank top and shorts..but whatever.  I got a few hoots and hollers from stupid boys in stupid cars.  (oh yeah? well I’m not into 15-year-olds…sorry)

I managed to run across this trail (no pun intended) that I hadn’t discovered before. I guess I almost discovered it several times but always turned the other way or turned around before I found it. I went farther down grand to about McDonalds and decided not to run back up the hill…so I ran down this trail hoping it would lead somewhere (there were a few older women walking it, so I figured I’d be safe). I stopped and asked where it ended up and sure enough it connected with my route.  Sweet.

The thing I forgot about running trails is that there’s bikers and people with dogs and that usually people with dogs don’t use leashes.  Before reading on, please know this: I LOVE DOGS.  I love them sooo much, but I don’t love it when they come flying at me at lightning speed out of nowhere.  Yes — you may know your dog isn’t going to jump on me or bite me, but I DON’T.  I can only assume the worst.  Every dog I see running at me, whether it’s 15 pounds (hey, I own a very mean dachshund that has left scars) or a 200 pound dog looks the same: TEETH and CLAWS (see below).

MEAN DOG

So if you’re reading this and own a dog, do your dog and everybody else a favor and use a leash. I don’t care how well-trained you think your dog is. Wouldn’t it break your heart if your dog randomly ran out into traffic and was hit?  That is another reason it makes me so mad that people don’t use leashes. Dogs are animals. They make split second instinct decisions no matter HOW well trained they are.

</end rant>

Back to my run: I eventually made it home and now I’m chilling out.