Better Late Than Never

Last Friday, Apartment Therapy posted about something incredible. I've been meaning to share, but never got around to it until now. I understand that perhaps some of you read Apartment Therapy, but if not, I feel that you need to know about the best store, ever...

Takkoda.
Why are they the best? Because they sell mugs, shirts, and other gifts featuring images such as these...

   

source.

Yes, we'll take one of everything, please.

VHS Picking

On Saturday, Jason found a post on Craigslist for "300 free VHS tapes". Given the three of us that live in the house, and our already ridiculous VHS collection, we couldn't pass it up. Jason was at work, so that left me and Brian to go find these mysterious tapes.

We got in touch with the people and headed over to a storage unit near downtown. We arrived to find a cool younger dude who bought a packed-full abandoned storage unit at auction. He'd gotten the couple of good things out by the time we got there, and he was left with piles and piles and piles of mostly worthless garbage. And that's where we came in!

Amid the piles, there were probably 500-600 VHS tapes. There was absolutely no rhyme or reason to the collection. Most of the tapes were blank tapes with shows and movies recorded from TV. We're talking everything from the 2004 Presidential debates to basketball games to David Letterman to The Bodyguard. There were original tapes as well, also quite varied, including rock video compilations, I Spit on Your Grave, Fletch Lives, and Smothers Brothers: Yo-Yo Man.

The guy only had 48 hours to move everything out, so we helped by taking all of the VHS without first going through them. We literally got as many of them as would fit in my car - all but one box.









The real fun began when we got home and started sorting through them.
We have enough left to fit in a large box. We didn't keep anything recorded from TV, and the rest were either broken or otherwise destroyed.

And to think, someone spent $75 a month for over four years to house all the stuff we just threw away.

This Weekend

I turned my crochet-practice string of yarn into...

...A headband.

And I turned scraps of scrapbook paper into...

...A page in my journal that I should have with me at all times.

Four Simple Goals!

I was excited when I read about Elsie Flannigan's idea for Four Simple Goals. Motivation is always good, especially when it involves allowing the whole internet to hold you accountable!

source.

1. Exercise! I've got three bicycles in the garage, two tennis rackets, a stationary bike, an exercise machine, and a couple of Wii exercise games, so I've really got no excuse. It's time to make getting off my booty a regular occurrence!

source.

2. Eat vegan (at least at work)! I have a boyfriend who loves cheese and a lack of willpower. I can at least take control of my choices at work: five meals and about a zillion snacks per week. Perhaps I can create enough momentum to keep it going.

source.

3. Attack my ever-growing pile of clothes! I have a pile of clothes with rips/tears, old clothes from my mom, and thrifted clothes that need the attention of my sewing machine. Once they're done, it'll be like I've gone on a major shopping spree!

source.

4. Yep - keep crafting, sewing and journaling! For me, for selling, and for gifts...Christmas is just four months away after all! I'm on a roll, now I just gotta keep at it!

Epic Cat Battle

A couple of nights ago, I had a front row seat for an epic kitty cat battle between Romp and Oops.

Romp gets a swift kick to the head!

Romp on the attack!

Godzilla Romp gets a left uppercut from Oops!

And then they just chill out.

One Ring Zero

In 2004, ReadyMade Magazine created a compilation of music. A printed template of a CD envelope was included with one month's issue, along with a link and password to download the 12 songs. The "case" is labeled "Volume 1", but I'm pretty sure it should be labelled "1 and only". And really, that's a shame, because I found one of my favorite bands this way: One Ring Zero.

Since then, they've continued to produce amazing musical projects. Around the same time, they released a CD/Book, As Smart As We Are, with lyrics written for them by authors such as Dave Eggers and Margaret Atwood. One of the members, Michael Hearst, also wrote an album full of new Songs for Ice Cream Trucks.

They're just about to release a new album, Planets, about...the planets. Below you will find the amazing video for the new song "Venus".

Now, put on your 3-D glasses and turn up the volume!

Chop, chop!

Did I mention that I cut my hair off last weekend?




Well, I cut my hair off last weekend. And I do mean that literally: I cut my hair off. I think I did a pretty fantastic job if I do say so myself.

I'm a magician with a pair of Dollar Tree haircutting scissors and a hospital razor.