Emily August

I had a terrible dream last night where a baby cougar came into my boss’ apartment while I was working there, and we had people visiting who wouldn’t leave even when I showed them that the baby cougar had ripped claw marks into my legs and tried to kill me. This unfolded to the tune of Rocky Raccoon. Later in the dream I was swimming in the Atlantic Ocean, and became a prop for a large scale Broadway production.

I am probably the worst Wardrobe Remix photographer there is.

Because of the rain, we were mostly relegated to the porch.

Below, I present to you my favorite pictures of the dogs, in order of appearance: Gustav (puppy), Patty (older tan dog), Isabel (Chinook), Cassidy (black and white puppy), and Barney (bulldog).

Canine wedding overload was particularly fitting, as the bride works as a vet technician and we are constantly talking about pets! Early on in the weekend, I earned the nickname Dog Whisperer, and I especially fell in love with the puppy Gustav, but he sort of has the “stupid cute” advantage over all the others.

Stay tuned for more pics from our Monadnock adventure!

So, we are back from our road trip to a friend’s wedding in Keene, NH. That is a picture of me that Rory took; the bathtub is in the very old house where we stayed.

Keene is a town I would never have thought I would be spending time. Years ago, my ex-boyfriend and I went on tour there. And by “on tour there” I mean that our friend Nate set us up with shows at the coffee house on main street, at a show in his friend’s backyard, at a party that never happened, at an amazing hippie commune in Brattleboro, VT, and then up on a mountain on a makeshift stage we shared with a freestyle rap contest and a very loud jam band. It was wonderful. We went thrifting and ate good food, and fell in love. Then we looped back down the Mass Pike and he played a show with our friends Ryan Doyle and Pants Yell! in Boston, and then that was it. …Never to return to the tiny town of Keene, again.

But! It turns out that Rory’s family has a large faction of family friends who went to college there, and have started that stage in life when everyone we know is getting married and having gorgeous little babies. Therefore, we’ve been going up there quite often!

The family rented a big old manse, with eight bedrooms, a wrap-around porch, barn, and other various trappings of tranquil idyllic bliss. We stayed there for a few days, traveled into town for spa treatments, drank a lot of really good New England stout, and celebrated the wedding of our friends with five dogs in tow. Though it rained quite a bit, we had a lovely time and did not want to leave. Tonight we arrived back with me suffering from a bad case of car sickness, and extra loads of laundry to truck over to the laundromat this week. Reality is such that this was expected.

I am now in the process of uploading photos, which I’ll post in batches here.

Anyway, we decided to go to the Brownstone for dinner, since we have zero food in our fridge. We talked about the weekend and about different projects we have going on, then sort of shuffled back through Van Vorst park to come home and take out the garbage. BUT!! on the way back we ran into a raccoon, digging through garbage piles on Barrow Street! It was like the woods followed us home! How nice is that?

I am also very excited to have to learn this song to sing at my sister’s wedding next month:

I love covering Iron and Wine songs, which you would notice if you clicked on my MySpace profile. And plus it gets to be a duet with my Dad. So that rules. Except I might cry.

Love it.

In other news, Miranda July for Barack Obama!

This weather has me hovering over my guitar, and avoiding the gym in order to work out to some really strange DVDs. I’ve been having Outsider Art dreams, and several things I’ve sent in the mail have come back to me broken. What gives?

PS: Rory is garnering further attention from MAKE zine.

As a follow up to my Hipster Barbie post, I am loving these pieces of jewelry by Etsy seller Margaux Lange.

How jealous am I of this lucky fellow who gets to ride a bike around Jersey City and get his photos uploaded to Flickr automatically? I don’t have a bike, but I need one. Yahoo! should have asked me to do this! Yahoo! set up these bikes as part of their Start Wearing Purple campaign.

Check out Adventures in Flickr Biking, and feel the jealousy seep into your bones.

I think its cool to go to the main site and see where the guy is biking around in the neighborhood, and see the little thumbnails. Definitely recognize a lot of the shots that seem commute-centric, such as taking the ferry into Manhattan, or when you come up at the WTC PATH. I will be keeping an eye on these photos more neat historic downtown Jersey City shots!

Wow! Had a lovely surprise via twitter today, and found my etsy shop featured as one of the only etsy shops in Jersey City. I can’t believe my earrings image was enticing enough to post… and actually I feel bad that I just sold those earrings to someone in real life and took them out of my shop a few days ago. I am kind of loving the entire blog, so check out Draw & Quarter, now!

Grow, little neighborhood, grow!

I know its been mentioned elsewhere, but I can’t help sharing this fantastic blog: Advanced Style …Proof from the wizened and silver-haired set that personal style advances with age.

I am one of those girls who has friends that point out older ladies on the street (you know, the ones wearing furs, hats, huge sunglasses, or just a striking pair of nylon stockings) and say, “Emily! That will be you someday,” and to whom I turn back and say, “Oh, my goodness, I hope so! I can’t wait!” My boss calls me “an old soul,” and I have to take care when meeting older gentlemen because they inevitably latch on to me and don’t want to end their conversations with me. I remember working through the Gifted and Talented program in elementary school at this convalescent home somewhere in Bricktown, and the woman my friend and I were assigned to took such a liking to me that she started insulting my friend and saying she should act more like how I was acting (something about posture, in that case, but clearly an ‘old soul’ type of connection between us).

I collect vintage clothes, have probably eleven different vocabulary words for what one would call “old man pants”, and get a bit obsessed when it comes to thinking about wigs. I want to be someone’s great aunt with the crazy outfits someday. This is like a goal I have, but not quite so much a goal as an inevitability.

That is why I am so excited about Advanced Style, because the men and women featured on this blog are completely amazing.

Case in point: Irene Williams.

Allison is going to laugh at this post, and say that it is so like me to post this. I can’t wait to show this to her, but she is at the Low concert that was sold out. (I M SO JALLOUS)

In the meantime, enjoy, old souls.

For everyone who was interested in my feather hair combs, please check out the accessories section of my etsy shop now! I only have a few prototype pieces available, first come first served.

Thanks for checking them out!

I’m looking forward to making more of these using new materials and also delving into making more birdcage veils, as well. Message me if you have any custom ideas in mind!

When I was growing up, we weren’t allowed to watch TV that even remotely resembled a soap opera. I missed out on daytime soaps like Days, but also things like 90210, and Fifteen on Nickelodeon. Perhaps that is why I am happy to have found this series about three years ago or so:

It is my favorite episode of the ‘Bu. Enjoy.

So, during the last few weeks, I’ve been focused on The Great Stuff Purge of 2008. One of the things I did was find each and every notebook in the apartment, go through it, and categorize things. I have a big pile of writing (prose, poetry, notes) that has traveled with me from house to home, and I’ve never found a good way to organize it.

Enter Luminotes. It is a personal WIKI-type of organization tool where you can type notes, organize them into notebooks, and even link notes together. I really love organizing information this way, and its making me so happy to go through and type out old poems and short stories into my own private database.

However, my hands are tired. My mind is tired. Going back over notebooks from years ago is kind of an emotional process. It was nice to focus on this, though, and meanwhile Rory was hacking away at a new Facebook application he’s developing for someone, so I had small breaks where I was checking in for Invites from him. I think I need to devote more time to this writing work, if I’m going to take myself seriously any time this century.

Recently I’ve been in touch with my old thesis adviser and he’s helping me go through the process of thinking about grad school. I started applying to Rutgers’ online Library Science degree, by recommendation of a friend I recently met in Jersey City. But I think my professor is right, that it would be a really rushed decision to start that in the Spring, and not even consider Creative Writing MFA, or other degrees that are very clearly within my reach. (Within the reach of my heart, alas!)

I also worked out (Urban Rebounding, and a Biggest Loser DVD), so I’m just exhausted. Luckily, Rory and I are getting ready to hang out with JP, who we saw at the diner this morning, so I am excited!

PS, Rachael I am wearing my hat.

Finished a batch of birthday presents for my nieces. Just some simple pillows following themes derived from my sisters. I hope Lucy isn’t too freaked out by the Sonic Youth patch. She’s two.

Dream hat, we don’t mind the Fall at all.

Thank you, Rachael from softspoken for your gift! Rachael is amazing and one of my favorite long-time Internet pals. I was so surprised when it came in the mail. What a nice thing to do, and I am treasuring everything!

Rachael sent me a beautiful crochet beret in an amazing rusty vintage color. It is PERFECT, and just like this one.

A new Richard Brautigan to read over tea + some crafty odds and ends.

Much love, and just in time for the cooler, windy Jersey City weather.

Listening to old cassettes today, and working on some projects. I plan to keep working on the pillows I began sewing, and to get a large part of my notebooks typed into an online format. I need to start getting writing samples together! Then, tomorrow and Sunday I need to put things up on eBay, because there is a pile that is threatening to take over our bedroom. The more I look at the stuff, the more depressing it is to think about how long I’ve been hanging on to it: video games, CDs, recording equipment, old cameras, jewelry, japanese coloring books, electronics, handbags. Keep an eye on flickr, because I’m finding it easier to photograph in small batches and then put everything up all at once.

I just wanted to say for my own record that today is a day I much appreciate being home, and my decision to leave my full-time day job. For certain.

These are actual items from my Barbie collection from when I was a kid. I wonder if this explains anything about me you didn’t already know. These are the only things that I allowed myself to keep; the rest is going to the Salvation Army tomorrow. I am keeping one Barbie and one Jordan Knight NKOTB doll for purposes of sewing more Barbie clothes. It was so difficult to get rid of the other stuff! I checked on eBay and the stuff is not worth putting up for sale. I thought about giving it to my nieces, but then I thought it would just be a burden of more junk to their parents.

Anyway, I wonder if anyone else would feel the same way? Why is it so hard for me to get rid of the silliest things?

Working on a present for my niece who just turned six. I blew up this photo using The Rasterbator, and I’m also working on another piece to go with this one.

I haven’t done this in so long, and I have a million things I should be doing, which is exactly always the point where my brain decides to switch into consumer mode. Personal Statement? Health Insurance paperwork? Travel arrangements wherein I have to decide between two weddings? No, let’s think about area rugs, duvet covers, and wide calf boots for Fall!

There are so many people I owe emails to, and a couple of grad school applications that are laying dormant in other realms of existence.

Top this off with a bizarre move on my part wherein I decided to overhaul my stash of just about everything: yes, it started with magazines last weekend but I’ve sinced moved on to clothes, books, zines, records, sewing patterns, shipping supplies. Ridiculous amount of work and a lot of heartache because I am a hoarder by trade. But maybe this is why I feel like filling in some holes. I can’t explain why but this is a really easy pattern for me to fall into. I think it is good, overall, and probably has something to do with shedding some more pounds and focusing more seriously on some other things.

And so, my dear readers and google stalkers, I decided to get this out of my system. I present to you a complete list of items which would make it more fun to live here. Enjoy it here because it won’t happen in real life.

I couldn’t realistically buy any of this stuff, but maybe I can convince someone with a car to come and drive me to the Salvation Army so I can supplement with well-informed finds. Rory is going to kill me for writing this post so let’s just keep it to ourselves, shall we?

Oh, internet. You are the best.

found via Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog of a song by The Lovely Sparrows.

You were into that romantic shit and wanted to die young;
it was plain to see to everyone but me,
there are no haunted places, only people we
still wish that we could see.