Wow, who knew? There were just as many girl geeks at Free Geek as there were guys. Lots and lots of bikes there. You could barely get from the street into the place without weaving between all the bikes parked outside. The computer is off to it's new home (and out of my house, yippee!!).
So, it's time for my old computer to get the hell out of my house. It's taking up space, wasting energy, and not doing much else. So, I found a new home for it tommorrow: free geek
These guys are so cool ( yeah, 20 bucks says that they're 95% guys, it'll be interesting to see - I'll report back). Anyway, they have a computer adoption program that's just a great idea. If you volunteer 24 hours of your time to them, they'll give you one of their rebuilt computers and teach you how to use it.
As the guys on the Guinness commercial say, "Brilliant!"
Hey, so I think this Kiva thing is working out. Both of the entrepreneurs are on payment #3. How cool is that? Maybe I'm helping create a Manioc Land Barroness and a Matt Maker Extraordinaire? Either way, these guys are 1/4 of the way through paying back their loan. I'm so excited. I tell ya - a whole bunch of little people doing little things can do some pretty cool stuff!
Wahoo! I'm out of here for a couple of days. After a CRAZY couple of weeks I'm soooooo looking forward to getting out of Dodge for a little while. I'll be back on Tuesday, I promise.
Here's a little eye candy to keep you tied over for a couple of days. It's a custom order I finished up a couple of weeks ago. Pretty, huh?
And here's the comments:
"I have received my necklace-it is absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much!"
I've been awash in custom orders lately. And it's just so fun. First of all I get to talk to the people ordering the pieces instead of just sending out an order to jkl1132@yahoo.com.
It's kinda lonely having a web based business, you don't get to meet the people browsing around your shop. So, doing the custom stuff is fun.
Anyway, this is a piece of montana agate I just put the finishing touches on. The photo doesn't come close to doing justice to the piece. But, yeah, it's a gorgeous stone.
I offered to take it off my customer's hands and keep it for myself, but darn, she really likes it. Oh well, I'll just have to make one for myself.
Looks cool, huh?
And I so love getting these emails in my inbox:
"I got my necklace the other day and I just wanted to say that you were right, the pictures didn't do it justice and I just absolutely love it. It's beautiful and unique and it's phenomenal. Thank you so much!!"
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It's pretty cool to have smart, succinct marketers who aren't working for Philip Morris or Exxon. Check out this post on why every little bit helps. Seth Godin's just a smart guy. I hope a bunch more people jump on his bandwagon.
Dave says it's been 4 years - but I'm sure it's been longer. It almost got the boot (or the yank) last summer but we decided to give it one more year. Maybe it got scared straight because it's got the most amazing flowers on it. It's called a passion flower, and you see them growing every so often around here in the Pacific Northwest. Unreal, huh?
I have no idea why, but they look biblical to me. Maybe I saw them growing up the side of a church or something. Wierd how you make associations to things, huh?
Yay! The women I made the microloans have paid back month #2 - I think they've got 14 left.
Lotufaamanatu and Lolofa
Well, I was going full bore on these for months until Lucky Magazine happened to give me a call, then I got sidetracked by my old favorite love, picture jaspers.
But, before I was so rudely interrupted (I'm lying - thank you, Lucky!!!), I was deep in the middle of making these beyond cool porcelain roses. I'm really excited by how lifelike these have been turning out. And it's such a nice, tactile project for me to sit down and do. I get into a zen-like state making these.
Anyway, these are eventually going to make their way into some bridal pieces like combs, pins, and tiaras. Cool, huh?
I'm dry heaving just looking at the thing. But she's just so happy.
Hi guys, just wanted to write a quick note to let you know that I'll be out of town for the next couple of days. I won't be able to grab any emails. So if you're desperately waiting for email from me at least you'll know that I haven't disappeared on you. See you Sunday.
And I think I agree with them.
If you happen to see the July issue lying around, flip through it. This bad boy...
...one of my picture jasper necklaces, hiding in there. It's funny, everyone who's seen this piece keeps asking me, did you draw that? Is that a real rock?
Rock dork me, my instant reaction is to go into a 3 hour discussion on how what where and why this stone is so cool. But my semi-good sense takes over, says yeah, it's real, and then sends them over to this page on my site. The only guys who can talk about this stuff longer than I can are the 90-year old rockhounds I get my materials from.
Anyway, check out the magazine!
Well, that's pretty cool.
The budding captains of industry that I lent a whopping $50 to made the first repayment on their loan. (If you're confused, here's my first post)
So, I guess Lotufaamanatu bought her parcel of land and Lolofa has a new roof for her workshop.
This will be fun to watch - I'll keep you guys posted too.
Let me know if you do. My copy is just sitting here collecting dust, and it seems like a good book to keep in circulation.
If you want to read it, shoot me an email. I'd be happy to send it to you and even pick up the postage.
Happy Reading!
Ever have a conversation with a friend that just hits the jealous button hard?
I ran into a really fun friend of mine at the Farmer's Market this weekend. He's retired and dabbles in all kinds of fun projects (he was actually instrumental in setting up the market in the first place).
I hadn't seen him in a while and I asked him what kind of trouble he's been getting into these days. He said he'd just finished certification to become a master chocolatier. I don't know, I hear mouseketeer when he said it first and all I could think of was the mouse ear hats.
So, now I'm so jealous! He's going to open a chocolate shop in our neighborhood, and play with chocolate all day. Doesn't that sound like loads of fun? I kept telling Dave the rest of the day, "I want to be a Chocolatier!" poor Dave.
In my oodles and oodles of spare time...yeah, I guess I can't fit it in. Maybe when I retire. Someone else do it for me and tell me how fun it is: ecole chocolat.
Hi Guys - I'm back, and amazingly not sunburned. Devera is a little fish now, spending a good 18 hours a day stuck to the side of the pool like a little snail. She thinks she's a mermaid now.
Anyway, I wanted to share this cool site with you. It's called Kiva.com and it's a micro-lending site for disadvantaged people across the world. I don't know if you've heard about micro-lending, but here's my take on it...so, some woman in Somalia with 6 kids sells drinks by the side of the road to make enough money for her family. She knows she can really hit it big time if she can buy a bike so that it doesn't take her 4 hours to get to where she needs to go.
Good lord, I can loan her money to buy a bike. I could just give her the money and call it a day, but I like the idea of a loan, because it teaches you a little money management in the mean time. She's going to make enough to pay me back over a period of time.
Cool concept, huh? I think the guy who won the nobel peace price did because he set up a microlending network in like bangladesh or something. So, I think I'm going to start investing some of my tobyDESIGN profits in Kiva.com and see if I can spread the joy a little. Right now I'm investing in a Taro Plantation and a Mat Weaving business in Samoa. We'll see what kinds of captains of enterprise these women can become. I've got my fingers crossed for them.
Hi there...just so you know...I'm out of the country until Wednesday (soaking up some sun as we speak). So I may be a little slow getting back to you, but I promise I will. Have a great week!
Treehugger, that I am...I subscribe to a really cool online newsletter, Organic Bytes.
They had a great tip that I thought I'd share:
TIP OF THE WEEK:
SHOPPER'S GUIDE - BUY ORGANIC & AVOID THE "DIRTY DOZEN" FRUITS & VEGETABLES
According to the Environmental Working Group's (EWG) analysis of data from over 43,000 tests on pesticides in conventional produce, over 90% of ingestion of pesticides in foods can be eliminated by avoiding the most contaminated foods. The "Dirty Dozen" most contaminated foods are peaches (97 percent tested positive for residue), apples (92 percent tested positive), sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, imported grapes, spinach, lettuce and potatoes. The "Consistently Clean" are onions (90 percent tested negative), avocados (90 percent), sweet corn (90 percent), pineapples, mango, asparagus, sweet peas, kiwi, bananas, cabbage, broccoli and papaya. "Federal produce tests tell us that some fruits and vegetables are so likely to be contaminated with pesticides that you should always buy them organic. Others are so consistently clean that you can eat them with less concern." Says EWG Senior Vice President Richard Wiles. Download your wallet-sized shopper's guide here:
I know it's really expensive for some people to buy organic foods, but maybe this helps you spend wisely.
Happy Eating!
