adorable accessories from truche are now 50% off at copacetique! each handmade piece is special and one-of-a-kind, crafted using a cool combination of vintage and modern pieces. come check ‘em out!

When Mike and I were in New York earlier this month, we came across the yummiest little vegan cafe, with a very dorky name: The V Spot Cafe in Brooklyn, right across from Southpaw (where we were heading to see Todd Barry, Eugene Mirman, Michael Showalter, and a buncha others).

Not only was the food super-yummy, but I loved sitting in the pretty back patio area, the prices were incredibly reasonable, and the staff was soooo sweet! I was trying to find the restroom at this place, and one of the waitstaff politely said, “Oh, someone’s in there right now. Would you like to take a seat while you wait?” — how nice!

Mike and I enjoyed it so much, we wanted to go back! But, alas. Someday! Check out more pics on my newly-updated Flickr, sure!

I am slowly, but surely, uploading pics from our recent trip to New York to my newly-upgraded Flickr account. Today’s spotlight pic comes from the APAK exhibit at Giant Robot. If it’s still up, you should definitely check it out — their work makes me so happy!

Check out more pics at Flickr. If you feel like it.

I got a new cell phone before Mike and I took off for our trip to New York earlier this month. It has a nifty little video feature, so I tested it out on the best subject ever: Ethel!

copacetique is blasting off with an awesome collection of retro-inspired pouches from brave moonman! the attention to detail is out of this world!

and copacetique could not be more thrilled to be carrying prints by artist mike lowery, aka the argyle academy! bunnies + japan = adorableness!

we’ve also got lovely new pieces from mingi in stock, so click on over and check ‘em out! so much awesomeness!

I’m at a coffeeshop right now that is playing the soundtrack to Beetlejuice. As if I needed reminding that my whole life is a dark room. One big dark room.

But you know what cheers me up, in a perverse kinda way? Watching one of my high school crushes get tased on the ass!!!

The ever-awesome Eric sent me this link: Former Velocity Girl drummer Jim Spellman allowed himself to be tasered for a segment on CNN. Is this being broadcasted in airport lobbies? Dear lord, I hope so. It’s amusing to watch him, but hearing him cry out in pain makes me uncomfortable. Poor Jim.

Okay, Harry Belafonte is now playing overhead… I am alone. I am utterly alone.

I bought a dress today that makes me look like a tasty, tasty cupcake. No fooling. As I stood in the dressing room looking in the mirror, I thought, “I look like a tasty, tasty cupcake.” Naturally I bought it.

It’s this dress, but a different print. Mine has polka-dots, or more appropriately, “sprinkles.” It makes me pretty happy. Okay, off to play piano.

The awesome, talented Missy Kulik needs your vote! The contest involves dressing your Blythe doll as your own personal hero, and Missy dressed her doll Bunbun McElroy as Amy Sedaris, who is one of my personal heroes, too!

You can send your vote on over to gina@thisisblythe.com, and check out more info at Flickr! Go Missy go!

The kitty and I found each other today! I was dropping Aya’s backpack and overnight bag off at her Dad’s apartment, and the kitty was in the parking lot again, in the same place I saw him last time. I was so excited, I didn’t even go through the tentative formalities of letting the kitty sniff my hand or get re-acquainted. I just bolted straight for him with the Ziploc bag of food, which I had left in the glove compartment.

At first, he skittered away nervously, but then I started talking to him, and maybe he recognized my voice, or maybe my scent, but he warmed up and started rubbing his head on me. Once I had a paper towel laid out beneath a tree (sadly, it was raining again, so I thought the leaves and branches would at least give him some protection), I poured out some food, and oh god. He ate it all so quickly, I started bawling. That poor little cat. God only knows how long it’s been since he last ate.

And it was so sweet. I sat down next to him in the grass to hang out while he was eating. And even though he was scarfing down the food, he would stop eating every once in a while to walk circles around me and rub his head on my knee or leg.

I’m a little worried and sad that I probably won’t see this kitty again until next week, just due to my own schedule. And I’m also convinced that I really should try and get him to a shelter… but what if he does belong to someone that lives in the apartment complex? Am I doing the right thing? Ugh. I just don’t know. But he’s so sweet. Poor little guy.

I met the nicest kitty today. He (or she) is orange and white, with long, fluffy fur, and bright green eyes. I spotted him in the parking lot of Aya’s Dad’s apartment complex, and when I first reached out to him, he quickly skittered away, but I kept talking gently, with my hand outstretched, and eventually, he came and sniffed me, and rubbed his cheek against my hand, but then darted out of reach when I tried to pet his head. Aya said that there were a lot of cats who lived in the apartment complex, so I assumed he must belong to someone in the building, and I said goodbye, and we went inside.

After Aya’s Dad came home, I said goodbye to them, and headed down to the parking lot to my car. And I saw the kitty was still there. So, I crouched down again and reached out to him, and this time, he returned my call with a meow, and quickly came over. He let me pet him for a really long time, and that’s when I realized: I don’t think he has a family. His big fluffy coat concealed a very emaciated body. My heart totally sank. He was going crazy from all the attention, just flopping around in the grass, and purring so loudly… It was hard to leave, but I had to go, and sadly, I knew I couldn’t bring him with me. I said goodbye again, and left.

But all night long, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. So finally, at 11:00 pm, I threw a hoodie on over my pajamas, filled a plastic bag with kitty food, and I drove back to the apartment complex to find him… but sadly, he was nowhere to be found. I walked around the parking lot, calling quietly for him, until a neighbor flipped on their porchlight and I got nervous and fled.

I’m gonna keep the cat food in my car, so hopefully the next time I see him, I’ll be ready. Should I try to capture him and take him to a shelter? The Bellevue Humane Society doesn’t seem to be a no-kill shelter, so maybe I can drive him out to Kirkland… I don’t know what to do quite yet. Wish me luck everyone, and I’ll keep you posted.

For one week only, Pitchfork.tv is streaming the 2006 documentary Not a Photograph: The Mission of Burma Story. The scene with Ira, Richard from Versus, and Moby all on stage with them is just adorable.

Okay, time to change out of my pajamas.

Mike just told me about this: my literary/TV-crush John Hodgman blogged about our beloved Meomi today! How incredibly cool is that? No, he doesn’t quite mention them by name, but he does declare that “Canada Is Perfect.” And with half of the Meomi team right across the border, how could we argue with that?

So yay for the Hodge and yay for Meomi, and just for kicks, here’s a pic of me with the Hodge back from 2006. He is so awesome!

And yeah, sorry for all the pics of me lately. I’ll try to knock that off!!!

Hiya everyone! It’s been brought to my attention by a few people that I hardly ever “blog” anymore. I know, I know! I’m gonna try to remedy that, so I’m taking a quick break from some secret web design work (shhh!) to do a quick weekend recap…

Friday: My radio station KEXP broadcasted from my neighborhood, Ballard, which meant, yay, short morning commute! The story behind this is, neighborhoods in Seattle challenge each other during pledge drives to see who can donate the most money to the station. And the winning neighborhood gets all-day broadcasts, parties, discounts at local businesses, and fun live performances. So far, Ballard has won twice.

photo credit: Seattle Daily Photo

Here we are broadcasting from Sonic Boom Records. Wow, am I really that short? I’m in the background, on the phone with Mission Control (i.e. the DJ booth back at the station). Check out my sweet-ass vintage Keds, ya’ll! In the foreground is the awesome DJ Mr. Smith. He DJ’s two nights a week at the local leather bar! No joke!

photo credit: Krissi Pearson

Meet my new best friend, Mochipet! He’s this DJ/Producer kid from San Francisco, and when he started his on-air in-store performance… he ran out from the backroom wearing this full-piece purple dinosaur suit, ran out into the street, running back and forth, and then ran back to the table to start his set! My eyes went wide with absolute delight, and my jaw just dropped! Later, a sweet elderly woman walked up to me and asked if he was a friend of mine, and I answered, “No, I’ve never met him before in my life!” She replied that she enjoyed watching me watch him as much as she enjoyed watching him herself, HA! As Mochipet performed, he would stop and hug random customers. The lovely DJ Michele Myers pointed out, “Okay, he’s dressed like a big dinosaur, and he’s hugging random people. He is totally your people.” HA again! Lots of other bands performed, but Mochipet’s performance was totally my favorite.

photo credit: Andrew McDonald

Later that night, we got to see our dear friends Math & Physics Club play a special set for Ballard donors. It’s always so nice to see them play, but sadly it was their first show without the lovely Saundrah, who has gotten married and moved to Europe, sigh. But they sounded great, and Kevin did a great job covering her vocals! They also did a nice cover of R.E.M.’s “Shaking Through,” yay!

photo credit: Andrew McDonald

Look how happy we (and the rest of the audience) are watching them play!

photo credit: Andrew McDonald

And look who hates having her picture taken!!!! (Dear Mr. McDonald, I’m sorry I gave you a hard time about doing your job.) Afterwards, we went to our beloved Ann’s Teriyaki for dinner. Sweet & Sour Tofu, I love you!

Saturday: The Emerald City Comic-Con was this weekend, and Fantagraphics was there among the Stormtroopers and anime addicts. It was a weird crowd, very different from the Stumptown Comic-Con in Portland that we went to a few weeks ago. Regardless, it was still a lot of fun. We had the most delicious crepes for lunch, and now I am determined to learn how to make crepes. AND, I had my portrait drawn by the wonderful, kind, talented Ms. Colleen Coover! Oh, how I adore this woman!

photo credit: Why, Mike Baehr

For the event, the talented and well-dressed Jordan Crane flew out from L.A. Here he is, drawing in someone’s sketch book. I’m in the background, pouting about something, apparently.

Later that day we also ate at the acclaimed Cyber Dogs, which we’d heard about but never tried. They always win those “Best in Seattle” awards in the local weekly. Mike really liked it. I just kinda liked it. I enjoyed the crepes way, way more.

And then we ran over to the Fantagraphics Bookstore and Gallery for the Comic-Con After-Party where a certain Janice was supposed to be DJ’ing…

photo credit: Why, Mike Baehr again!

Here’s the awesome trio of Peter Bagge, Gary Groth, and Jordan Crane. My highlight of the evening was catching Pete air-guitaring to The Modern Lovers. The lowlight was all the CD skippage that kept happening. I was a little bit of a nervous wreck, and I never even got to play Polvo, dammit.

Sunday: Nothing happened.

We have the cutest new card collection in stock at copacetique today! Please click by and check out the designs by Portland duo Robot Candy. They take original artwork, hand-carve stamps, and then they hand-stamp each individual card… phew! The process is so worth it though, because just look at how cute these cards are!

I’m so super-excited about the latest addition to the copacetique family: Humblechan! Since getting her collection in at casa de copacetic, I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve been getting dressed for the day and thought to myself, “You know what would go perfect with this outfit? That necklace!…” You will feel the same way once you see her work.

Plus, this Canadian cutie donates a percentage of her profits to organizations that help animals! What a warm heart! And even her company name is a combination of her name (Chan) and her kitty’s name (Humble). We send hugs to them both!

We’re absolutely delighted to have cold licorice joining copacetique again with her super-pretty accessories!

Super-astute copacetique shoppers may have noticed her pieces slowly going online all last month — the perfectionist in me couldn’t stop fussing with the pictures, so it took me forever to finally get the whole collection on the website! The vintage pieces that Michelle uses in her work are so exquisite, I felt my pictures just weren’t doing them justice… you’ll be so thrilled to see how even prettier these pieces look in person! (That sentence has a lot of “p” words!)

And speaking of the perfectionist lurking inside of me… I’ve been wanting to do some serious maintenance stuff on copacetique, things that are above my pretty-darn-high level of geekiness. If you know of a super-awesome webperson, please let me know! I have a couple of people in mind, but your personal testimonial would be great.

Hooray, we have an awesome new designer joining us today! Join me in welcoming Glamourpuss Creations to copacetique!!!

Anyone who knows me knows I am a sucker for accessories from the 1960’s, which is what totally drew me into her work! She takes components from vintage accessories and re-works them in an updated modern way. So cool! Click on by and check out her designs!

PLUS, we have an old friend returning to copacetique soon (some of her work is already up, if you’re sneaky… just a few more pieces to add), AND an AWESOME new friend coming up soon! And more adorable-ness on the way, as always, but I don’t wanna give away any surprises! Thanks for reading, and stay tuned! ;)

We’re super-happy to announce that Maryland-based designer Art School Dropout has rejoined the cavalcade of cuteness at copacetique! I wish I could remember when Jessee first joined us, but I sure as heck remember how immediately people starting freaking out over her designs. It’s so nice having her aboard again!

And we have so much more around the corner, including another old copacetique friend and a brand-new friend who you’re sure to love, too! Yay!

The always-wonderful Jeremy has brought this awesome new book to my attention!

From the co-author of Zine Scene (yes, featuring copacetic!) comes A La Cart: The Secret Lives of Grocery Shoppers. The cover features a quote from my hero Amy Sedaris, and whoever designed it obviously has great taste in fonts. (Look familiar?)