New Address
You can now find me at:
TheAmberShow.net
I'm still trying to get used to the "dot net".
Right now it redirects you to my Wordpress site.
In the coming weeks, it will be much prettier. I was going to wait to launch it until it was pretty, but I can't not blog. That's like, you know, not eating or something.
Blogger, peace out!
I Packed My Wagon!
Ok, so it's all settled. The name, the dot com, everything. I'm packing up and moving elsewhere on the internet. Details to come :)
Comments are off. If you need to contact me, drop an email to theambershow at gmail dot * com
(photo by transplantedVTer. used without permission. but he likes me. so i think i'm ok.)
Blee Bloop Bloop
Still thinking of a kick ass name. And working. Going "back to work" is harder than I thought.
The Amber Show
Currently attempting to go back into PR. I've been sitting at my computer kind of drooling into it as opposed to actually working. It's difficult to get my gears going again. I think once I find a "groove" it will be ok.
Also, I have to talk about something kind of "geeky". Ever since the now out-of-blogging "Rockstar Mommy" posted her lament about having "such a stupid blogging name", but being stuck with it, I've been thinking about my own. At the time I was blogging under my first and last name, and quickly realized that I do NOT want to do that, for a handful of reasons. So I started calling my blog "The Amber Show", which is narcissistic of course, but then, so is blogging itself. When I started blogging, and even when I changed my blogging name, the only "online presence" I had was this blog. Then I got a Flickr account for photography and named that "the amber show", and then Rob got me into Twitter, and so on and so on. In the meantime, I started (and never stuck with) not one, but TWO different makeup companies, both with their own URLs.
In the middle of all this, I thought about how easy it would be to have one consistent name all over the internet, and apparently other people have thought so, too. This concept is called "personal branding", a name that lots of people hear and instantly clench their sphincters over. It's kind of accurate, though. I'm not selling something, but I do have a message that I'd like to share. Yes, it's self-centered and yes there are a lot of retarded people yammering on the internet, and yes, I'm aware that I very well could be counted among them. But the internet is a really, really big place, and I can have whatever piece of it I want, no apology necessary. And I want a piece. I have a message. It's not a super-important one, but if I'm going to say anything worth my putting in print, I want it to as far-flung as I can get it. I don't want it to be watered down because I'm blogging as one thing, my name is another, and my twitter account doesn't match either of those things.
I would stick wtih "The Amber Show" (as stupid as it is) if theambershow dot com wasn't taken. But it is, and that's ok; I think it's time to get a real name anyway.
I'm just trying to think of one.
Kings of Leon
It's really rare that I am made aware of a band and fall instantly in love. It happened this week.
After months of "thumbs up"ing and "thumbs down"ing different songs, my Pandora radio station has been playing consistently awesome music, perfectly tailored to my tastes. (P.S., if you don't have a free Pandora account, pull yourself out from under the rock you've been under and get one. It's frigging awesome.)
Anyway, one band that keeps coming up over and over is Kings of Leon. I am in LUV, and I really want to catch their concert later this month.
I suggest you look them up and listen to them.
Happy weekend.
Pretty Pretty Pretty Handbag
Not eco-friendly.
Not cheap. ($495)
SOOOO not necessary.
But really, really pretty.
Orla Kiely
Hello FOTO
This is not the lamp I bought at IKEA this weekend, but it's nearly identical. (I can't find the actual lamp that we bought on the website.) This is the FOTO lamp, and it's 10" across at the bottom. Our "mystery lamp" is 15".
I liked the simple, cheerful shape and not too shiny, not too dull silver color.
The best part was the price: twenty bucks! It's no yellow tin lamp from CB2, of course, but it's still makes me very happy. Maybe one day when I need something fresh, I'll hit it with a coat of yellow (low-VOC) spray paint.
Info For Patriots
Have you moved?
Do you need to register again?
Do you know where your polling place is?
Do you need to figure out how to do an absentee ballot?
http://www.rockthevote.com/
Has information on registering
http://www.vote411.org/pollingplacebystate.php
Can help you find where you vote
The League of Women Voters, which runs the Vote 411 website, has good
voting information.
http://www.lwv.org/Election2008/index.html
posted from Apartment Therapy
Weekend Wrap Up
Wew! What a weekend!
We started off at Jen's house for a "Crepes and Cupcakes" party for Stu! on Friday. Saturday, we visited the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market, and later attended Rooftop Films on the Gowanus Canal. It was a series of short films, some of which I enjoyed, one that was fairly offensive, and one that was so boring I reached over, tucked my fingers into Rob's hand, and "declared a thumb war", which we tried not to giggle through.
Sunday we hit Brownstoner's Brooklyn Flea Market on our way home from our first trip to IKEA. In the weeks since it started back in April, we've been several times. It's evolved into an actual flea market. When it began, there were a lot of vendors who were selling new things, and it seemed more like a craft fair. Sunday, there was lots of vintage clothing, bicycles, a booth dedicated to artifacts from Mad Men which was cool, because I recognized some of the props from the show and plenty of bakelite. There was a vintage red suitcase I wanted, but we didn't have cash and the ATM was broken, so I'm chalking it up to another purchase for another day. Monday we went to IKEA for a second time after picking up another dresser from Craigslist, and then I spent the day getting shower curtains up while Rob finished the backyard. It's finally clear of most of the broken glass, and the dogs are happy.
I need a weekend from the weekend!
Design Dance-off
Rob turned to me after we watched this and said, "This is exactly how we moved in as freshmen."
Sweet Charity in Park Slope
Sometime before this weekend, I'm itching to check out Sweet Charity. It's packed with pretty things, and part of their proceeds go to help Best Friends Animal Shelter in Utah and Farm Sanctuary in New York.
I love a social conscientious shopping experience!
Cheap Closet
You've heard of Freecycle, right? It's a Yahoo!-based message-board system operating on the the idea of "gifting" usable but unwanted items to other Freecycle users. By putting something you don't want on Freecycle, you avoid the hassle of selling and the guilt of filling a landfill with something someone else might love.
In the past two years, I've given away tons of stuff, including some ice cube trays, two ill-fitting bikini tops, a pool table and a few dozen magazines. I've gotten a few pieces of furniture off of it, too, including a CUTE 1960's faux-bois and vinyl table and chair set for my kitchen.
Right now I'm "shopping" Freecycle for a few old dressers. The closets in this apartment are HUGE but they're completely unfinished. At 5x10', and with 10' ceilings, they're more like tiny bedrooms, and have HUGE potential to be glamorous, as-seen-on-MTV's-Cribs walk-ins. However, brand-new closet innards from California Closets or The Container Store are hella expensive, especially in the size I would need, and even IKEA's PAX series is more than I want to spend.
I'm hoping a few dressers (painted with the large assortment of leftover paint I've accumulated, maybe?) and then some clothing racks in there for the hanging things will be a charming, quirky, anti-consumerism alternative to buying new, Sex in the City-type closets. I can add shelving and a large full length mirror and create my own private dressing room.
Rob can shove his clothes under the bed!
How Many? I'll Have To Check!
Best quote from TV in a while:
... or as McCain says, "There's no place like home, like home, like home or like home."
Tiny Houses
Rob and I were in IKEA last week checking out one of their small, chic mock-apartments, where they make a fabulous, airy-feeling living space out of hopelessly tiny place. The one we were in was about 230 square feet and we discussed how much smaller they could possibly go. Possibly under 100 square feet? I said 70 square feet was impossible.
The people behind the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company have proven me wrong. Check out this house tour of founder Jay Shafer's house. At 96 square feet, it's not even the smallest one they offer. The tiniest of them is a minuscule 65 square feet!
It sounds scary, but looks pretty cozy to me. I don't think it would work out too well for more than two people, though. Could you do it?
Out!
Saturday, I went out. Rob pulled the car close to the front door and, after checking both ways for gun-toting thugs, I dashed to the front seat, like a deer running scared through a meadow (except with less grace and way, way more afro; the "crazy shut in" act has taken it's toll on my hair and it's... not... cute). We drove seven blocks to the subway station, and I did another dash underground.
Driving seven blocks is a pretty weenie thing to do, especially on a wonderfully beautiful night like Saturday, but there was no way I was walking it. Just wasn't gonna happen. And Rob loves me, like, a lot, apparently, so he chauffeured me the distance that probably would have taken less time to walk, and I'm grateful.
We tried to take the subway to Manhattan but the A was running on the F line, or something, and we wound up really close to the Brooklyn Bridge. Rob decided to, in his words, "make some lemonade" and we walked across it. Finally! I've wanted to do that for ages. It's totally worth it if you ever get the chance. I wish I had my camera.
We're discussing subletting this place and moving again, to someplace where I can feel less mentally insane. It's such a bummer; I was so elated when I found this apartment, and I really do like my immediate neighbors a lot (plus, there are tons of charming older Southern people on the block, and our three dogs are famous around here!) We're playing it by ear.
Pudding
Tried to leave. Failed. Will try again tomorrow. But there's chocolate pudding in the fridge, so all hope for the day is not lost.
Inside Looking Out
Something happened last night, and, despite that fact that, for the past four years, I've blogged nearly ever major thing that's happened to me, this wasn't going to be written down, less I be unable to move on. But, being that I appear to be unable to move on anyway (you'll see.), I'm going to write.
I heard gun shots out of the window quite clearly last night, but I didn't get alarmed initially, because, who actually HEARS GUNSHOTS outside of their window? Not me. They happened again, and I realized that I should probably move. I scooped up Tino, while the older two dogs came willingly to the back of the apartment, and the five of us huddled, and waited.
Within moments, police cars started streaming down the streets, and all of our neighbors started to come out of their houses. We went to the second-story front window to see clearly down the street; one man lay dead right in front of the corner store. I've never seen a dead body in the streets before.
We went outside to join the neighbors, but eventually there was nothing to do, and we all went back in.
Today I was supposed to meet Rob for lunch and help him pick out glasses, and then go with him after work to the Apple store. I got dressed and got as far as the front door, and broke down. I couldn't go out. I kept trying (and I'm not stupid, I know physically I could) but I just couldn't do it.
I've been in all day (Rob had to send me photos of his choices in the eyeglasses store and we picked them that way.) I took a nap, I read some things online, and then I took another nap. I can't bring myself to leave. I think the dogs have to go out, but they're out of luck until Rob gets home.
I feel like I'm going to be inside for a while.