Pumpkins, candy and a trip to Brooklyn

I went to a Halloween party last night at a friends house and ate enough candy to give myself a sugar hang over today...and a migraine. What happened to me!?! I used to be able to eat a pound a candy with only mental remorse, now it makes me ill to even think about it!

I spent the afternoon hunting down pumpkins and their seeds for the bar tonight...as I can't dress up myself, I might as well dress the bar up a bit.

I am off early tomorrow morning to Brooklyn to meet an old friend from prep school who is giving me a personal tour of a few neighborhoods I am interested in perhaps moving to. I have narrowed down my list of cities to live to New York and am trying to decide between Brooklyn and Manhattan. So I will spend a few hours wandering my potential new neighborhood in the afternoon and then cross the bridge into Manhattan and have dinner with my sister. Yay!

I'll let you all know how it all goes...watch out for candy overload and Happy Halloween!

Wow, I did all that?

I had one of those days yesterday where I stood on a lot of lines, sat in a few offices and drove endlessly in circles. After my divorce finally came though (yay!) I legally knocked the hyphen off the end of my name and set about to make sure the world knew it. I had to leave the county clerks office and return with papers three times, have a new license photo takes (its about time!) and then close bank accounts and reopen them in a new bank...which I am really excited about! I did get to dress in nice office clothes though, which I never get to do and once in a while enjoy.

I was then so fueled by my accomplishments that I had friends over for dinner, finally broke down 45 cardboard boxes that were in my garage from the flood last winter and put them on the curb, I updated all of my online accounts with new bank info, packaged bottle caps, ripped magazines up for my sketchbooks, talked to my mom and sister for awhile on the phone and basically was busy until after 2am. I feel so on top of things!

I needed a day like this, one where i feel very in control of things and like I made a positive change in my life, after the past week...which we'll just chalk up to "we all have weeks like these", I needed to feel good. The week is off to a running start...woo hoo!

Catagories for the blog

I have been doing a bit of blog housekeeping...the kind of stuff I like to do on Manic Trout on a somewhat irregular basis, update info, switch up images, perhaps implement a new feature... So with the blog I have switched up my bio, I am trying to decide on a photo for my avatar and then use my logo in the banner, but we'll see. I update my links as often as I find them, but I am now adding a *new* to each update. I am also starting to use categories...eventually I will go back and add the old posts, but until then they will slowly grow. Of course I will as always try to see and do interesting blog worthy things so I can post more often...my life has been so unblogworthy recently!

Buy Handmade this Holiday season!

I used to have all the pressure to make the handmade gifts that my friends and family had grown to expect and were eager to receive from me...but in the last few years I have taken the work off of my own shoulders (and left my handmake skills to create the perfect gifts for you and your loved ones) and bought gifts form all over the globe (thank you Etsy!) for my own loved ones. I have even taken a pledge at the very cool BuyHandmade.org created by the marvelous Matt from Etsy. I recommend you head on over and sign on up and you too can feel proud to support the ever growing handmade nation!

One of those days

You ever have one of those days where everything goes wrong? By wrong, I don't mean in a bad hair day sort of way, but a day where big things go wrong, and multiple big things, leaving you poorer, sadder, defeated and deflated. All you can think to do is go to bed so the day is behind you, and then you can wake up all a fesh the next morning. Well unfortunatly I awoke to find out it had gotten worse. and to make matters that much gloomier, the day is dark, cold and rainy and I had no power until 2pm. ugh. I am trying my hardest to look on the bright side, but its very hard right now.

Recent Random Inspiration

I have been obsessed with the water tower in the village where I live for a while. I walk my dog near it, and for that reason, I never have a camera with me...I remembered to bring it once, but it was at dusk and you miss the stunning blues that the main reason that I love it so.

I also have been obsessed with standing under this one tree near my house. It’s next to the library so the glow from the windows in the evening illuminate my leaf tent and make it glow. I think that is a moment best kept in my mind; I know I could never capture it on film accurately.

I have also been revisiting Marie Antoinette and fur...I think the opulence from Versailles is starting to rub off on my designs, I just designed something multiple layered, with pinks and golds...hmmm maybe this also accounts for a recent obsession with wanting to go to Paris. Fur has a wall that I LOVE, in the bedroom of Lionels apartment has the most fantastic colors...very Moroccan.

Well the bedroom and the water tower have both been burning in my mind and are coming out on canvases more than adornments. Although I don't have much painting going on, but when I do I have both of the images in the forefront of my mind...I guess its the effects of time on blue surfaces...yeah, that sounds beautiful doesn’t it?

Where does the time go?

I feel like the weeks are flying by and I have no idea where the time has gone. Its like I am missing days, weeks even...sometimes I start to wonder if 13 hour work days will just suck my life away, if I will be working them forever and if they are worth it in the long run. Mind you I say all this before the holiday season has arrived, so much of what I am doing is preliminary...and it feels as though the hours and hours of work is for nothing right now. I just had a few minutes to jot down a few thoughts, as I am trying very hard to get at least three days of an hour of exercise each week...I figure its the best thing I can do for my mental state at the moment...so I need to take advantage of any time that I will allow myself to "indulge" in exercise...and I have an hour before I go into the restaurant...hopefully I'll be back to check in tomorrow!

Lamp Lust

Its odd that I tend to gravitate towards very modern, white, sleek design in photographs and in reality I decorate with a very different style. I was blog jumping a few minutes ago, looking for some inspiration and I found this awesome Balloon Lamp on the style files and loved it. Mainly because it reminds me of a big bunch of my Button Rings with the vintage lucite moonglow buttons. But, as I prefaced this with, I really have no place in my own life for anything like this lamp, but I love it none the less.

Health Insurance Rant

So I understand that I am a lucky girl in that I am a self-employed artists/bartender who received health insurance as benefit. Technically I am the bar manager, so I get perks like this, very cool except now I remember the pain in the butt aspects of health insurance. I have to drive 45 minutes to my ob/gyn, which is fine, because I really like him and I only have to go once a year. So I made my annual exam a few weeks early this year to avoid having to loose an afternoon when I am in the midst of a busier time of year, and my prescription for bcp is almost up. So I get up super early (for me), getting only about 5 hours sleep on a day when I have to work an extra long shift at the restaurant, drive 45 minutes, sit in the waiting room for 45 minutes and finally go in to his office only to discover that Aetna requires you to wait 365 days before you have another pap exam, and if you go early you have to pay out of pocket for the visit and lab fees. So I had to reschedule and now I have to go back in a month. What a pain in the butt.

New jewelry at Manic Trout!

I may be a week late, but there are so many new pieces posted that I'm sure you'll forgive me. You may check out all 29 new items right here!

I also gave the home page a make over, you can see it up here...I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, but I wanted to se some of Tara's photos and I wanted to add a few images with people in them so this is my solution. What do you think?

Also of note...new press for September was updated and the shipping charges have been modified in favor of the customer:

Shipping costs are as follows:

$2.50 for up to $30 via First Class Mail
$5.50 for up to $100 via Priority Mail
$6.50 for up to $200 via Priority Mail

FREE for all orders over $200 (excluding paintings) via Priority Mail!

All packages are shipped with delivery confirmation.

I am so glad thats all done...now I can go make new things.

Things I love about fall

The leaves are bursting here in the Hudson Valley and even though it’s been almost 90 degrees this week, all the great of fall have arrived. My personal favorites are:

1. The very pretty leaves covering the trees, the ground, and even my apartment floor at times.

2. Cool enough weather (still waiting for that) to walk Faye without a jacket and without sweating.

3. Hot tea and soy milk with chocolate Ovaltine.

4. The smell of smoke from chimneys and leaf piles.

5. Leaf piles, well, I am not so much into them but Faye LOVES them when we are on walks.

6. The crisp mornings and warm afternoons.

7. All of my winter clothes seem new again.

8. Halloween candy, I'll have to lift my candy ban.

9. Sleeping with the window open and it being the perfect temperature.

10. The feeling of new beginnings, even if I am long out of school.

Fall is here...

I have been losing time...you know those days when all of a sudden hours have passed and you have been working on about a quarter of what you wanted to do? Well, I have been having those days. The bar required a great deal of my attention this week and I have been prepping for a decent web page update. I of coarse was not ready yesterday, as I forgot completely that it was already the first...so next Monday will have to be Manic Monday this month. I will slowly be adding items this week, so if you can't wait until Monday for the official date of the new items, then just check in this week here...I will let you know when things go up. Above is a peek of a new necklace made from vintage brass, cherry quartz, smoky quartz, candy red glass and a stunning vintage locket, and I only have 4!