Rose Festival

Portland is the City of Roses, and one of the things I love about it here! I'd heard about the Rose Festival before we moved here, but I didn't know what it involved. Apparently, there's a lot to it!

Here's a link to the homepage for the festivities. Last night there were fireworks, which we could here from our house, and tonight there's a starlight parade, but I don't know if we'll be staying downtown that long. I just want to see the blooming roses, since we visited the Rose Garden in February last year and it was devoid of rosy goodness.

One of the big things is the crowning of the Rose Queen. This seems like an antiquated tradition that I thought only happened in farmtowns. You know, crowning of the Cheese Queen, and that sort of thing. Apparently it's a big deal here. Or, at least, people want it to be. I read an article a month or two ago about last year's Rose Queen, and how she won the title because she was the only girl who entered. This year, they've broadened the criteria for entering to encourage more girls to try for the title.

I don't know if it's worked (really, what high school girl actually wants to be Rose Queen in a parade?), but I think we saw a lot of Rose Princesses in the St. John's parade. If they weren't Rose Princesses, then I'd like to know why so many girls in crowns and tiaras were waving at us from convertibles and horseback.

One event I'm sort of intrigued by is the Rose Show. They apparently transform the mall's ice skating rink (yes, our mall has an ice skating rink in the middle of it) into "a delightful rose garden with over 2,000 blooms". The photos show elderly folks browsing the rose bouquets, which appear to be slapped down on white tables. Disappointing! I'd go see it if they actually made cool sculptures out of them or something. At least the competition winner will receive a "sparkling trophy", which I couldn't find a photo of.

If we need something fun to do on my birthday, we can go downtown for the Rose Parade, which might actually be worth seeing. We've already seen two parades while we were here, so I know how pdx-ers love their parades. Maybe this one will be a little more impressive.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

I've spent the entire day pimping my new blog out. I can't tell if it's been a productive way to spend my day or not, but I've enjoyed myself, anyway! You can check out Badger Sandwich if you'd like, but keep in mind that it's still in the early stages of development. I'm trying to get into the habit of posting regularly, but so far there's only one post up. I'll also probably change the widgets and things around in the next few weeks.

I just added a weather widget to the sidebar here, so you can see if my theory about PDX rain really is a myth. Of course, sometimes the weather says it's raining when it isn't, but, whatever. Also, the widget is kinda ugly.

I did a trade with someone on Etsy last week for a pair of custom shot glasses with the Hunter S. Thompson "Gonzo" logo on them. They were really hard to do, so please don't ask for them! Anyway, in return for the glasses, she made me a custom ring! You can see it if you scroll down to my Etsy Favorites sidebar box. If you click the first picture, it will bring you to a listing with photos of my actual ring. How cool is that?

Oh yeah--if anyone has anything really cool that I should feature on my new blog, please email me!! I'm looking for cool websites, photos, videos, what-have-you that would be inspiring for a creative person. I can't guarantee that I'll write about what you suggest, but I'm always looking for new stuff so I'll be sure to check it out!

Learning and Sharing

Here's a tutorial from Etsy on folding paper boxes. If you make one box 1/4 inch larger than another, you can use it as a lid!

This was easier to learn when Danielle showed me in person, but I figured it out again from the how-to.

I've been making these boxes throughout the day from some leftover Art Hop programs and some fancy paper I got from a craft swap. I might take pictures and post them tomorrow.

Oh yeah, I upgraded my Flickr account this morning, so you can now see tons and tons of pictures of the same stuff I've already posted on here. ;) Haha! I'm still working on uploading more stuff, and organizing it better, but you're welcome to poke through if you'd like to see what I've got. There are more pics of Rupert, flowers, and some older Portland scenes around our neighborhood. I might actually be inspired to take more photos now, which would be really fun!

I hate migraines

This'll probably be a short post, since I have a killer headache right now. I'm actually trying to remember what it was that I wanted to write about, besides just having an excuse to post more pretty pictures.

I'm trying to set up Wordpress on my website, so I can host my own blog (it's going to be called "Badger Sandwich"), but I'm not techie enough to figure it out. If anyone out there knows how to set up a MySQL database, please give me some tips! It appears to be the kind of thing that's so easy, there's no reason to document how to do it. Which means that me and my Mac are stuck staring at error messages all day and being sad.

This blog, by the way, is going to be *awesome* when I get it going. It better be, with all the hassle I'm going through just to have a fully customizable commercial blog. :)

I swear there was more interesting stuff I was going to write about... Hmmm.

These flowers just above are some of my favorites on our block. I just love the color combo! There's another one (to the left) with purple flowers that are darker blossoms at the bottom, and they gradually get lighter at the top of the plant. They look prettier in person than they do in my photos, since the intense sunlight sort of changed the effect a little.

There's a dogwood tree up the street that has both pink and white flowers. I think the pink ones are coming from a separate trunk that has just wound its way into the branches of the white tree. I'm into those kinds of things.

In biz news, Sean and I had a good time at the Alberta Art Hop, even though it was about 90 degrees all day, and most people were too hot to shop. We had tequila-flavored popsicles and lots of Gatorade to get us through the day, but somehow I think we had a good time anyway. I traded with Gretchen of Salmon Street Studio for a Portland Coat of Arms t-shirt, but I'm still waiting to get my size. I can't wait! She has so many awesome designs, it was a little tough to decide! I bought an Oregon carved wood pendant from Phoebe at Crafty Wonderland last week, so I'm going to be able to fully represent my new home soon.

Busy Bee

It's hot today. Really, seriously HOTT. Supposedly, it was going up to 97 degrees. I had to walk to the store to get ant traps (which is a whole other story), and I gotta say: It was nice out.

Not nice out like, "I want to sit outside and read a book all afternoon in the sun," kind of nice out, but it was much nicer than 97 degrees of humid stickiness from New England. The breeze is cool. My skin isn't clammy. It's nice out! Of course, I'm also sealed inside the house (which doesn't get a touch of sun on it because of trees and other buildings) for the day. But I haven't even broken out the fan yet! Nice. Out.

Anyway, I went out yesterday and took tons of pictures of all the blooming flowers. I've seriously never seen this many flowers before! We had a few weeks of tulip explosion, and they're pretty much completely gone now. I think I'm going to break down and pay for the Flickr upgrade so I can upload all my photos and show them all off at once. I'll let you know when I do that.

In other news, I'm finally starting a blog for my business! I reserved the Bread and Badger name at Blogger and Wordpress, since I couldn't decide which I preferred. Also, now no one else can steal my name! There is no actual content up yet, since I'm still perfecting the layouts, but I'm trying to publish my first post by the end of the day.

I think I'm going to go with the Wordpress blog since they offer a 3-column layout which I like, and some awesome customization upgrades I can pay for later. I'm still trying to make the layout bend to my will, and it's resisting heavily. Blogger is just a little too simplified for what I want. I'd like the ability for my blog to grow and expand. I'm think' big.

If anyone reading this has any experience with Wordpress, or has any advice for me, please share! Since I'm not committed to one site yet, I could always change my mind.

In other, other news, I'm doing the Alberta Art Hop tomorrow, which should be awesome! I'm so busy with craft fairs, I don't even know what to do with myself! I'm forcing myself to relax today since I haven't really taken a day off for over two weeks. The good news is that I'm expecting to make twice as much money this month as last month, which is HUGE. Especially since most of that has been wholesale orders. I'd better take a day off now, since I might not have another opportunity for two more weeks!

Rupert vs. Poang

So, I was going to write about how awesome the weather has been the past two days, and about the amazing pink, purple and blue flowers I've seen in the neighborhood. I discovered Reed College, just two blocks away from our house, and the gravel trail they have for me to exercise on. I was going to take pictures of the flowers, and the breathtaking view of the hills from Reed, but none of that happened.

Instead, I thought you might like to see this video I just took of Rupert. I didn't even know my camera HAD video! This has opened up a world of possibilities to me, and I promise the video quality can only go up from here.

(Don't worry about him clawing the furniture--not only does he refuse to play with his claws out, I also have been clipping them religiously so he couldn't scratch anything if he tried.)

Putting a price on health

Today is a gorgeous day for riding bikes, smelling the flowers, and going to coffeehouse meetings with the PDX Etsy Team's website committee. I'm currently eating a popsicle (thanks, Susie!), which is making typing very slow, but oh so worth it.

I went to a blogging workshop the other night hosted by Trillium Artisans, and taught by Diane Gilleland of Craftypod, DIY Alert and Church of Craft fame. She has the craftiness goin' on. I learned a lot about blogging to promote your business, and it looks like I'll be starting a new blog for that soon! I haven't settled on a theme for the blog yet, but I'll be keeping it separate from this one so I don't bore my potential customers with the nitty gritty of my life.

I need to come up with something cohesive, since my interests are so varied. I mean, there can't be that many people out there who want to read about cooking, cats, running a home business, technology, geek fashion, knitting, music and crafts all in the same place, right? Well, maybe. I'm one of them, anyway, but that doesn't count. I'm also trying to write about topics that not a million other people are writing about, and that's hard too. Maybe I'm trying too hard to be unique, when it's really my perspective that will be unique to all these topics. Still a work in progress.

Aside from blogging and working with the PDX Etsy team on promoting our shops, I'm also trying to get health care for Sean and myself. Sean's job doesn't offer insurance, so we're both on our own for this. I was really hoping he'd be able to sign up for a family plan at his next job so I wouldn't have to worry about it, but this place is just too small for that.

It appears that Oregon has a number of options for low-income families, but we just barely over-qualify for that. I can't even believe it! We don't qualify as "low-income" because we have too much money in our bank account, which has nothing to do with our income! Also, one plan requires that you be uninsured for the past 6 months before you can apply. Yikes!



I talked to one man on the phone about a plan for self-employed people, and he warned me that even if I enroll in their plan (and, I think, any other plan in Oregon), I wouldn't be covered for medical care for childbirth until after 9 months. Now, I'm used to a waiting period for coverage to kick in, which is usually 3 months, but NINE MONTHS? That's a long time, and it means that if I got pregnant and rushed out to get insurance, I would still get screwed.

The "affordable" plans I'm seeing here are all about $300/month for a couple. With Sean's income, he could be paying for rent and health insurance, with pretty much no money left over afterwards. That means we'd be relying on my business income to cover all of our food and utilities, which may not work out. That doesn't even account for an emergency, (like if we actually needed to use the insurance,) and had to pay deductibles and things, or for the cat or car repairs.

I'm a little freaked out by all this, and it makes me worried about my business. I could try to get a job that offered insurance, but that might not be easy to find. I also don't know how much time I can spare at a second job, since my business takes up about 50 hours a week already. I guess it's extra motivation to keep at it, hardcore. I'm still looking for new options too, so maybe I'll come up with something.

In the mean time, if you know anyone who would like to donate to my health care fund, please send them along to purchase something from my Etsy shop. :) Business has been quite busy recently, so maybe $300 a month will start to seem like a piddly amount soon enough. The images, by the way, are some custom pieces I made for mobiles which Leah Pellegrini will be making. I think they're cool!