Day two of Pride went really well. Ellery and I worked for a few hours, sporting her “rainbow friendly” onesie. The day ended perfectly with this hilarious woman who returned in her orange tee just to show us how fabulously it complimented her motorcycle.
We have one more Pride festival to sell at and then we’ll start mulling over the another tee topic—the 2008 Election.
Some time ago Chris came up with this t-shirt that had a simple sentence on it, “Enjoy this beautiful day.” We printed it on a whim, and found that we all really liked it. We saw a place for t-shirts like these to communicate simple messages, kinda like a bumper sticker for your chest. We thought a great first foray for these shirts might be Pride, which is celebrated in the month of June. Chris said that, although there are many products being sold for Pride month, most of them are poorly designed and aesthetic eyesores. (After attending a Pride event, we can attest to this fact.)
So in between other projects, we hustled to get a batch of shirts done. Chris designed. Tom made the silkscreen machine do its magic, built these amazing fixtures and silkscreened signage on plywood. Garrett built up his arm strength silkscreening hundreds of shirts. I played the role of sounding board. All done in time for the Pride festival this weekend.
Not wanting to mix business and politics, we thought it might be best to sell these shirts under a different brand. It’s not that we are ashamed of who we are and what we think, but Wire & Twine appeals to a broad market, and the shirts to perhaps a more narrow segment. There’s the right place for the right product.
So Wearing Your Heart was born. We wanted some thing like “Heart on Your Sleeve” but too many squatters are sitting on all the good URLs, so wearingyourheart.com was the closest we could get. It’s all sitting under the overarching brand, Handmade in Ohio. Later, I will diagram the whole thing for you and then we will have a short quiz.
Today was a short day, with the initial Pride kick-off in the evening, but sales were steady and the booth looked fabulous. And we already have a big list of ideas for how we can improve everything from the displays to inventory control.
We think this could be the start of something good.
(Thanks to Chris for letting steal this image from his blog.)
I always loved fireflies as a child. Spending summer nights with a jar, trying to catch just one. I remember watching them blink here and then there, in awe of this bug that could actually light up. But living in the country has propelled watching fireflies onto a whole new plane.
I had actually gone to bed on time, but Tom was working late in the shop. He came into the bedroom, woke me up, and whispered, “You have to come see this.” I stumbled out onto the porch, expecting to see some part of the display he was putting together for this weekend’s festival.
Once my eyes adjusted to the dark, I saw it. I can’t even begin to explain, but in the country there are just thousands and thousands of fireflies. As far as your eye can see, there are dancing lights. It’s mesmerizing.
I tried to capture it in a photo and on video, but neither worked. Maybe that’s Mother Nature’s way of saying it’s just something you have to see in person.
Great music for firefly watching: Fireflies, by Lori McKenna
When my aunt Chele moved to town with her kids, Garrett and Kendall, Kendall was just a baby. This little curly-haired munchkin who carried the Pooh characters tucked in her arms calling them, “My babies!” and assured you “I have nothing in my hands!” as she sped by with contraband hidden behind her back.
I lived in the Big City in those days, but during frequent visits home I got to peek in on them and watch as they got older and taller and wiser and suddenly one day they’re sitting at the table holding real, adult conversations and they passed me by in both height and shoe size.
The fabulous part about watching them grow up is that it gives me perspective with my own children. Although they’ve both been really spectacular kids, they each had some not-so-spectacular moments (as all kids do). And despite the fact that Chele sometimes looked as though she might hop on the next bus for Vegas, she made it through. And so did the kids. And now they’re these grown-up people who I genuinely like to hang out with.
So as we watched Kendall’s eighth grade graduation, with Garrett sitting all grown-up in the audience next to Chele, who didn’t spend even one day locked up in any sort of facility, it makes me think that maybe I really can do this parenting thing after all.
But just in case, I’m putting Chele’s number on speed-dial.
This was the second official week of our summer field trips. This week, down to the purple bridge and the great playground beyond. The five kids sprinted across the bridge as the moms all looked stunned at being left in the dust.
The downside of the day was the huge day camp that invaded the park and forced us into the sand area, but once there, everyone played happily. That’s the great thing about the sand area—there are a zillion square feet per kid and tons of public sand toys so almost no one gets territorial. Well, except Shep who found some Batman sword which he was using to pitch sand at everyone who walked in his path. I had to take it away, and a fifteen minute temper tantrum followed. But other than that, it was model behavior from all.
Neko and Irene played together happily, and I wished again that they lived closer since she’s clearly longing for another girl to play with. Shep, Chris and Ezra ran in circles and dug and giggled.
And the weather? Perfect. It almost made me forget that I got my first speeding ticket in ages.
Chris stayed late tonight to fly a kite with the kids. Then Renita and Diane rolled in and everyone stayed for dinner, which we ate on the patio in the unusually cool June weather.
Over dinner we wished farewell to Renita’s hip, which is scheduled to be replaced on Thursday.
Neko has really been into wrapping gifts. (I swear, the kid seems to have an infinite supply of blue tape.) She wrapped this present for Tom, but her latest addition is to make sure it’s properly labeled.
We must thank Kate N. and her recommendation for the most annoying yet educational DVDs ever, The Letter Factory and the follow-up, The Talking Words Factory, for this huge leap in reading knowledge. Boy, do the kids love that DVD. Even Shep is learning his letters.
The new load of pajamas arrived. Shep dissolved into a pile of exhausted toddlerisms and was sent to bed early, thus missing the photo op.
Drawn on Tom’s movie times. I suppose I should be happy that at least today she chose to draw on paper.
A few days ago Susie came over to get the exersaucer out of the Babies ‘R’ Us in our basement. She mentioned it, and I’m all like, “Oh. Is it that time already?”
When I stopped to think about it, I am noticing Ellery looks a little bored these days, and she sure does like being upright. So we got out our exersaucer, and lo and behold, she’s totally into it. Of course, so are Neko and Shep, so she might have to fight for it.