Thankful Thursday

Today has been quite the bizarre day. First, I missed the bus (again) and had to take a taxi to work (again).  Then, craziness from evilplagarismbitch occurred, making the twitter world all abuzz with dramz.  In case you missed it, she’s this “blogger” who basically copied ALL of her content– including her BIO!– from other bloggers, like The Bloggess, Mommy Wants Vodka, and other badass ladies/awesome writers. Of course, once it got out that one of her posts was totally jacked, everyone started discovering strangely familiar content that she’d yanked from other people’s blogs. Wtf? Everyone’s reactions made me start thinking about being thankful though, that these some of the bloggers standing up for the plagiarized ones are my friends too… you can’t put a price on loyalty like that.

Amidst all the insanity blowing up my twitter feed, and, y’know, WORK, I got a text from my dad saying “hannah checking into hospital. don’t call, will text later.” Uh dad? I’m calling your ass. Like now.

My darling dad doesn’t quite get that when you tell me something like that, I get panicky. Immediately. As in, as the phone is ringing, I’m already having a panic attack. Mind you, I’m still AT THE OFFICE. He tells me they’re in the waiting room and that he can’t talk or something like that.

HELLO FULL-BLOWN PANIC ATTACK.

So I go back to my desk and start looking at flights to LA. Found cheap ones and text my dad saying “I found flights, want to come out and at least cook meals or shit” (cuz really, that’s all I’m good for). Finally my mom calls me back to talk me down, saying that H is ok, but that the pulmonary specialist they saw (because her ER visit 2 nights prior had come with a pneumonia diagnosis) thinks it’s this thing called Valley Fever, which would explain her funktastic lung scans and the super painful hives, and that the doc recommended the hospital to get all the tests done in one place and done quickly.  Luckily, I was only 30 minutes from the end of the work day (and a 45 min commute home)… and a job pseudo-interview… but THEN I got to get back to my full-fledged panic attack again. Crying, shaking, no breathing, the works. God bless ativan, eh?

Guys, this is my baby (well, not so baby anymore) sister we’re talking about here. She doesn’t get to go to the emergency room. That’s my job, and I stand by that job proudly, tyvm.  Seriously though, it kills me to hear that she’s doing blood test #5 and that she’s hurting.

This has just made me realize again how.freaking.thankful I am for my family. H & I fought 24/7 for pretty much the entire 16 years she was alive before I moved out. But damnit, I still love her. We’re polar opposites, amazingly so for two girls so close in age, brought up in the same household, the same city… but she’s MY SISTER. It kills me to think of her going through this shit, but I’m really thankful that my parents are there for her, and that my Aunt Julie (who is so incredible) has offered to fly down to help or do what she can to help my sis get into her new apartment at school next week.  It looks like this will get cleared up quickly, and hopefully H will be back to her normal silly self in no time. It’s killer not being there, but I guess it was just one of those moments in life where you have to look at what you have and realize that you are really fucking lucky. Love you, kiddo <3 Nini

I love her, really!

Project Porn!

Holy Batman, it’s already September! That means the beginning of fall (in theory, anyways), Labor Day sales, and oh ya– my birthday! I’m also starting a new part-time gig on Friday, so keep an eye out for a post on that. In the meantime, I’ve been working on my own DIY’s and finding some pretty kickass projects (and potential projects) around the interwebs.

it's getting there!

• I got bored with Sharpie-ing my wall art, so I decided to put a touch of acrylic paint on the board and see how it would look.  Heinous cellphone picture aside, I think it’s gonna look really great when it’s done. Going to be adding orange and a limey green to it as well!
• This post, from ReadyMade, reminds me of back-to-school shopping and getting a brand new box of Crayolas… except far more expensive.
• Saw this mirror from Urban Outfitters… totally reminiscent of the bag with the chicken feet skin (uh, wtf?) on last night’s Rachel Zoe Project. Except it won’t make PETA go after you.
• Urban also has an “essential bathroom organizer,” which at almost $30, is so not essential for me.  Diy-ing it with some different lengths/widths of PVC pipe, some spraypaint, and hot glue/gorilla glue? Much better!
• Oh, and have I mentioned Urban Outfitters? Spent a lot of time on their site today, oops. Their key rug, at $18 for a 2×3 rug, is adorable but again pricey.  My solution? El cheapo rug from Ikea, of course, pattern with freezer paper or contact paper, and black acrylic paint. Et voila!
• Last but not least, I saw the following picture on Design Porn and literally started laughing my ass off. Enjoy it, kids:

Yup, that's taxidermy beer coolers...

I don’t want to know what liking that says about me…

I survived a drive…(plus crafty goodness)

…in Boston! I am VERY VERY proud of myself.  Although I have to say, being in a Prius makes the drive pretty damn nice.

Here’s a pic from when I was stopped on the bridge (woo traffic!)

Action shot! (well, not really)

On the way home, what did I see but the Dollar Store near Lechmere that I’d discovered my first weekend here? Of course, I had to stop. I found these ADORABLE mugs when I walked in:

So cute! Ignore the lack of a mani...

Yes, I have 5-year old hands. That being said, I had to buy these mugs, since the dishes I have right now are the original 70′s Corelle print…quite vintage, not quite me.  Then I found white square ceramic plates and black soup bowls that will look awesome with the mugs. I’m hoping to use a ceramic pen to decorate the plates like these adorable monogrammed ones from Lemon Tree Creations!

Also got some spongebob hooks that I’ll be modpodge-ing over to use as coat hooks in my kitchen/entryway (stealing this idea from Dollar Store crafts!), some nyc color makeup (woot!), diet mtn. dew (cue addiction), jiffy biscuit mix for when I need comfort food, spices for $1!, and my most exciting purchase, foam core to make my inspiration board.

About the inspiration board, I LOVEEEE the looks that people have been doing lately– check out this one from Made by Girl, so cute!– so when I saw a huge gilded frame at a garage sale for $5 when I moved here, I had to snag it. It’s been sitting on the wall above my desk empty for 2 months now, waiting for me to find foam core or cork and fill it up. I’d been hesitating, because foam core can run $4/piece and I need at least 3, and cork is just plain pricey at stores like CVS/Target. But when I found the sheets for $1 today, I splurged and bought 4!

Will post pics of everything when it’s done, keep your eyes peeled!

What Weekend Warrior projects are you working on?

Miss Artimated (Martha) and I are loving the mypapercrane fabrics and dreaming up dresses to make, too!

Awesome Boston Startups (part 1)

After almost two months in Boston, I’ve had a front-row seat to the amazing successes of bunch of local startups. Beginning with Startup Weekend Boston, through DartBoston events, networking events, BostInnovation features, and the first two rounds of MassChallenge, watching — and participating in– the evolution of these companies has been inspiring, to say the least. In fact, I’ve definitely been bitten by the startup bug.

Here’s a couple of my favorites:

1. The Swapaholics- You’ve seen my writing for Shoestring Magazine, but did you know that Melissa also launched The Swapaholics, an awesome blend of “retail therapy and recycling,” this year as well? I’ve been working for her and her cofounder, Amy of PunkyStyle, for the last month or so as their marketing & events planning assistant (aka jill of all trades).  Our epic clothing swaps will continue this Saturday, 7/31, in Worcester’s Canal District (here’s the FB page)… and since it’s my first ever swap and Nightline will be there, well, I’m pretty much giddy about it.  Think: getting to raid the coolest closet ever… while getting rid of those pieces that were just taking up space in your own closet! Not only does is The Swapaholics concept eco-friendly, it’s also a great way to go shopping during the recession without spending all of your hard-earned savings. Swap leftovers go to charity, so you’re giving back to the community too. What’s not to love, really?

Retail Therapy Meets Recycling!

2. Cykod and Webiva- According to their website, Cykod is “… a forward thinking, Rails-based web start-up looking to change the way you interact and play with the web.”  In language for us web dummies, Cykod is the rockin husband & wife team of Martha and Pascal who help design seriously amazing websites. They also have an adorable leg-licking dog who is sure to melt even the most hard-hearted visitors to their hidden gem of an office space.  As for Webiva, in short, it’s a content management system for web design/programming that makes life so.much.easier.  Webiva’s mascot is a super cool opera chick named Brunhilda, which for me made it an easy decision to try out off the bat.  Pascal does the programming end of things (which automatically impresses me), and Martha’s design work is just amazing. I want to do work like hers when I grow up!

Webiva (and the awesome operatic Brunhilda!)

3. Pinyadda- I’ve been using Pinyadda for ages, it feels like. Long story short, it’s a news/blog/rss feed aggregator with social media sharing and discussion capabilities. What makes it different from something like Google reader is the key Pinyadda “pin it” feature- by pinning something, you can start a discussion thread on the Pinyadda site itself, or share your thoughts on Twitter or Facebook.  You can also follow other people’s pins, which is a great way to have primo content selected you from fields you’re less familiar with! I love the interactive nature of this, which is why I’ve found myself using it more and more, and starting to phase out Google reader altogether. Oh, and did I mention how cool all of the Pinyadda/BostInnovation kids are? Always friendly and always at networking & startup events.

Pinyadda!

There’s the trifecta (part one, of course) of awesome Boston-based startups… but don’t worry, there’s many more to come, and new ones are popping up every day!

What cool startups have you come across? Any you’ve discovered and now can’t live without?