calling all visitors

sofabed.jpg, originally uploaded by tinkerellen.

just to let you know, we'll have a place for you to sleep. this is our new couch courtesy IKEA. unless there are more than two of you. in which case we have a nice uncomfortable hardwood floor for ya. enjoy.

these things i miss

fabric.jpg, originally uploaded by tinkerellen.

besides my friends and my house and my church, i really miss my sewing machine. as in really really miss it. so in the meantime i'm sketching out all these projects i want to work on and picking up fabric along the way.

this is two yards of material that i bought at big lots for 5 dollars! yep, big lots. amazing isn't it. i love the look of this, it's going to make a great big bag for me to travel on the subway with. it'll get filled with maps and sunscreen, comfortable back-up shoes and mace. can't you just see the possibilities.

one week to go

and then we get all our stuff back and move into our apartment! big ikea trip this weekend to pick out all the furniture. so excited to be getting fun new space-savvy stuff. i fought the urge to buy a new pair of rainboots today. because really, who can fit two pair of wellys in a 500 sq ft apartment?

then comes the calm

ocean.jpg, originally uploaded by tinkerellen.

“I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship.”
louisa may alcott

happy birthday

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to the brooklyn bridge.

leaving for CT today. going to try a different route and head over the bridge and up manhattan. we'll see if it saves us any time....

in preparation

brooklyn_bizcard.jpg, originally uploaded by tinkerellen.

for the return of the shop in a few weeks. i need to order new business cards with the address change anyway, so i thought about redesigning the whole look of all the promo materials. (i am a designer, this is what we do... constantly changing everything.)

what do you think?

this is the business card. there will be matching 2" stickers and matching mailing labels. of course i'll redo the shop header, but i may keep the packing the same. i don't know about that one. i may change it later on.

everyday objects: illustrated

i've been itching to create so i went back to the basics and sketched a few things. i'll print these eventually on watercolor or textured paper and sell them as prints in the shop. but for now, i'm having fun with different color/pattern combinations...

wellys, which i've been seeing a lot of lately (i wish mine weren't in storage!):

and a gretta!:

somewhere between 59th and 25th

ah, a full day indeed. soo tired. and i can't get online. can you believe a hotel like this charges per day for internet? i can get it free at mom and pops deli where i just spent four dollars and seventy cents, but not here. bogus.

walked out this morning to a street vendor festival that went on for blocks and blocks. yay. delicious crepes for breakfast, a McCain siting and much much more walking. 30 blocks of shopping and site seeing. some bead shops, fabric shops and a cool ribbon store. walls and walls of ribbon. a cute new dress, a new bag and a great scarf and bracelet from the street vendors.

off to central park where i got to see the carousel {not as excited as i thought i would be, but again, i'm not four} and the skating rink that was in 'serendipity'. although it's melted right now so it's a big puddle, not all that cool. and then there was a raccoon which all the japanese tourists seemed really interested in.

rockefeller center, times square and a walk past madison square garden. here are some of the photos from central park. enjoy!

on the radio

radio_city.jpg, originally uploaded by tinkerellen.

ok, so i haven't been around. let's just say i'm busy having a pity party because i miss my friends, my house, my stuff, having a full house all the time, oh, and having a job. it's been pretty boring these past few days. stir crazy. cabin fever. ya know? i know you do kelly.

anyway, this weekend it's all about fun. husband is working {boo} but that means i get to hang out in his hotel and spend my saturday exploring manhattan! woot. so here's a view from our swanky hotel room {see radio city hall, sorry about the crappy picture}...i'm heading out in the rain to shop a bit on 6th avenue. i think 6th is for people who can't afford 5th? i don't know, i'm making that up.

so this begs the question...what should i do all day tomorrow? anyone? anyone? the zoo? central park? fabric shopping? all of the above?

summer in the city

our first official visitor: kate only came down from syracuse for the day, but it was fun to spend time with her and show her the new neighborhood. i even ventured over to manhattan on the train to meet her in midtown.


we even made the trip together to purl patchwork in soho. cute little shop but for some reason i was expecting a much bigger location. there was still a lot of great fabric to choose from...


like these cute japanese import fabrics. once i get my machine back they'll most likely make it into tissue holders. speaking of getting my machine back, i can't wait to get into our apartment. seriously. three more weeks and counting.



ps: there's sleet and rain and cold today. so i'm trapped indoors. boo.

deja ice cream

okay, yesterday we dropped off a car at a garage near the brooklyn bridge. then we walked around a bit and found a cute little all natural ice cream shop on a pier along with this great little park underneath the bridge...so many hidden treasures here, i love it.

anyway, the point of my story: i'm sitting here working, and on 'without a trace' {there's really not much on daytime tv}, they're down at the exact same garage, looking across the street at that exact same ice cream shop on the pier and i'm thinking, hey, i know that place!!

so seriously. how cool is that?

the new digs

this will be our apartment once we can move in, hopefully they'll fill the available storefronts with fun adorable little shops.


i had time to walk around there yesterday, lots of indian restaurants, a couple of sushi places, a grocery store two blocks away, a trader joes in the works and a thrift store full of buttons and fabrics! a girl could certainly get used to this.


a little tea/coffee shop with the best chocolate cupcakes ever.


and a cool little lamp shop. i'm not about to shell out 200 dollars for one, but i am inspired to try and make my own version...

don't walk away

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i seriously have to rethink 'city shoes'. i'm already giving birth to two nasty whiny redheaded blisters and i haven't walked more than a mile... unfortunately i only have about five pair to choose from, so i may need to limit my walking for a month or so. in the meantime, i'll have to walk slowly back home to avoid inflicting more damage.

i can't say that this is a difficuly move thus far. ask me again when the rent's due and i have a steady routine. but for the time being i took a break from the mod sterile apartment and i'm currently staring at the manhattan skyline. it's a beautiful sunny day, and besides the monster blisters, i'm rather enjoying myself.

i took a few pictures of the area to show my mother-in-law. i don't think she believes that we really live in a nice area in nyc. i don't think she believes such places exist. so along the next few days i'll have some eye candy for you.

*ps: for those of you who actually called your mother to wish them a happy mothers day yesterday, it's not until next sunday...

this is brooklyn, baby

brooklynview.jpg, originally uploaded by tinkerellen.

we're officially here, as i mentioned before. i would show you pics of our apartment, but it's very modern and cold, corporate, boring, and so not us. instead, here's a picture of our view. it's also a five minute walk from husband's job.

i think today i'll sit by the water and apply for jobs, then take a walk to our apartment that's not quite ours yet and there's a few missing toiletry items that i need to pick up at the rite-aid downstairs. seriously. there's a rite-aid, a bank, and small grocery store right at the base of our building. it's pretty close to perfect. for now anyway.

The Great Adjustment: day six

day five: watched 'made of honor'. my crush on patrick dempsey is now solidified. stellar chic flick.

day six: we moved in. we bought some groceries, and we plan to go to bed early, cause we are exhausted.

so the deal is we stay here for a month until our apartment is ready. then i get all my clothes back. right now the movers are holding them hostage.

i can't even think straight right now so i'll get back to you all tomorrow. i'll be spending most of my time looking for a job but i'll make sure to come up with something witty and fun to tell you about.....

The Great Adjustment: day four

day two: not much sleep, saying goodbye to friends...

day three: packing up the car. driving and more driving. still not much sleep.

day four: sleep sleep and more sleep please. connecticut. girls night. and of course, we were supposed to check in to our temporary but we're putting that off for some relax time with friends. who wants to move into a lonely apartment with bad decor anyway? off to watch '27 dresses'. life's not all that bad eh?