All in the Wrist

Have you been laying in bed at night wondering how in the world I make those bracelets out of vinyl records? Well turn those furrowed brows upside down because tomorrow on Stylelcious I’m gonna show you how it’s done. Vickie, Jen and I will be coming at you Thursday at 1:30pm Central on the DIY Network with one of my favorite Stylelicious episodes “All in the Wrist”. Check it out yo!

5 Tid-bits and an update on the dog.

1) Dr. Erin M. Smith is best dang veterinarian in Austin. No scratch that, the world.

2) Can you name 2 movies that feature both Michael Caine and Rutger Hauer? I can. Batman Begins and The Wilby Conspiracy, both of which I saw in the last 24 hours for some sad reason.

3) Last night we sat through the Behind the Music on Pantera and it was down right sad. Being from Dallas and a fan it tugged at my heart strings. I have even been to see them in concert a couple of times. The weird thing is they were playing “Walk” at Club Deville Sunday night and Dave Morgan and I got to talking about the band and The Behind the music.

4) On the total flip side of that I think I like the new Nick Lachey song "What's Left of Me". It’s kind of good and the video reminds me of the Justin Timberlake “Cry Me a River” (take that Britney) video. Except I felt really sorry for Nick and feel like I will no longer watch Jessica Simpson movies since she broke this poor saps heart like that. Well OK, I never watched her movies or listened to her music anyway, but now I am really never going to. It’s kind of like how I feel mad at Angelina Jolie vicariously for Jennifer Aniston. Ya I’m a dork.

5) Come to Flamingo Cantina tomorrow night to see Arms in Danger. I am.

So the Lucy report you are all waiting for. This evening Lucy stumbled into my studio for some kisses and belly rubs. I sat on the floor in front of her and when we are both sitting on our butts we are eye level. Anyway I see all this green/blue hair peaking out around her neck in her E-Collar. I lift up her 3 or 4 chins that are stuffed in the collar (I never said she was a thin dog) and see that her neck is wet, the fur is blue and the skin underneath is red and irritated. Of course I immediately call the vet and Erin tells me to come on in. I ditched the E-Collar too. Erin shaved her neck (poor dog looks like when a 5 year old gets a pair of scissors and gives themselves a haircut) and gave her a good once over. She also wrapped her leg in a bandage so she could be without the E-Collar, but not get at her stitches. I also had to buy some salve for her irritated and inflamed neck.

Lucy is like our first born child.

I almost did not make it to Karly’s birthday party at club Deville last night. This is a picture of Hope, Dave and I celebrating the blessed event. The day before I woke up to find that Lucy had licked one of the stitches out of her leg during the night and clearly this is a big no no. I immediately called the Animal Hospital and they said you have to get her an Elizabethan Collar, AKA the lamp shade thing you see around dog’s heads. I used to always giggle at dogs when I would see them in these in a Cute Overload “Cute or Sad” kind of way, but never again. Lucy hated her collar with the firey passions of hell. She tried to paw it off at first and then eventually just started sitting or laying with her head up. Now let me say that on average Lucy sleeps 23 hours a day, with her head down obviously so this was very worrisome for Chris and I. We went out in small doses on Saturday coming home to check on Lucy in-between who was still just sitting there. I was convinced she could not put her head down and breathe like the Elephant Man and all his pillows. Chris and I slept on the couches for the second night to be close to her because she has to stay in our living room so she does not walk down stairs or too far. At about 3am she was still not asleep just sitting there panting I got on the floor and made a palate so she could sleep next to me thinking that might help, no dice. At about 4 Chris got on the floor next to us so she could sleep between us (it had also started to rain which scares the bajesus out of her so that was not helping). She started to put her head down for a couple of minutes at a time and then wake up. We tried everything. Literally hand feeding her food, giving her water out of cup, seeing if she needed to go to the bathroom and obviously not sleeping and just rubbing her belly endlessly. The Dog Whisperer would totally disapprove, but who cares Lucy is like our first born child. At 5am I finally told Chris I had to go get into bed. He was threatening to not go our for Karly’s birthday anyway and I knew that if I did not get some sleep this old lady would never make it. So at about 5:30 sleep finally came for me and according to Chris at about 6:00 Lucy started sleeping. Since then she has been sleeping, and sleeping and sleeping. She even got to come into the bedroom with us last night and sleep in her bed while we slept in ours. Oh poor Lucy and her gimpy leg. I’ll keep you posted on the developments but as of now she has learned to sleep in her big plastic collar and all is well, I can hear her snoring as I type.

Clearly I never go shopping on my own web site.

For Christmas this year my husband Chris gave me an interesting gift. Have you ever checked out on my website? Then you get that email about “your goodies are coming can you please fill out this survey”. Well Chris designed the survey for me. He works in market research for a living so it was super easy for him. Sure I got to help pick a few questions and he about flipped out when I wanted to tweak the wording that now questions were “leading” and the data was not scientifically exact. Whatever.

Long story short one of the things I have learned from my survey, that you may have known for years and just never told me, is that there is no view cart option. Never has been. Apparently you have to add something to your shopping cart to actually see your shopping cart and then delete that item. Who knew? Not me because clearly I never go shopping on my own web site. Well thanks to my survey several shoppers have alerted me to this and the problem has been fixed. I have a pretty new shiny “View Cart” on every page over at Naughty Secretary Club.

The whole web site is actually in the process of getting redone and you are not going to believe your eyes. The colors, the stars, the bright graphics – it is going to rock your face off. Or at least I hope it does. And of course it is going to have a “view cart option” as well as other crazy things like a search engine and the zine is coming back in full effect. Remember the golden days when Naughty Secretary Club was a music zine with band interviews, crafting tips and general rants – well those days will be back sooner than you think.

Pretty Girls Make Graves

Last night was super fun and full of excitement. The last Thursday of the month is always the Babes in Business Bonanza meeting. This is a small business incubator group here in Austin I help coordinate. In the summer’s we meet at a lovely little restaurant on the east side of Austin called Azul. So lovely in fact that I had been to a Stitch meeting in the exact same location just the night before. Some of my favorite crafty Austin ladies came out to eat, drink and talk about business.

After the meeting Hope, Tina and I headed downtown to meet up with Wylie and Erin so we could all go to Emo’s together to see Pretty Girls Make Graves. We had a quick drink at Beauty Bar and then we were off. PGMG were nice enough to put me on the guest list plus a few friends so we all went and let the rock commence. Handy our good friend Dave’s band, The Brothers and Sisters, were playing on the inside stage. When we first got there we all got to feel like rock stars because a sweet girl named Courtney took our pictures for Spin Magazine. Worked out perfect because Hope had on a skirt that she had sewn, Erin had on a Tupac dress that Hope had painted and well I just had on my new favorite white dress that I got at Top Shop when I was in England. Fingers crossed we make it in the magazine. Once Jesse and I were in Jane, but that is a different story.

The picture is Andrea Zollo from Pretty Girls Make Graves and I. She is adorable and loves her the Naughty Secretary Club jewelry. Check her out in a Kula Lumpur Necklace and Gold Lamae Watch. They put on an amazing show and I was so happy I got to come out and see. I even got a free PGMG T-shirt that I am quite smitten on.

Sponsor Stitch 2006!

5 new purses have been added to Naughty Secretary Club hand painted with love by my younger sister Hope Anna Perkins, AKA HOT PINK PISTOL. Check em out.

Speaking of Hope be sure to tune in today and watch Hope, Vickie and Tina on Stylelicious. 1:30 Central on the DIY Network. The episode is called High School Revisited. If you miss it, watch is Sunday!


Stitch 2006 is in the works! What is Stitch? Well it is Austin’s largest independent fashion show and craft bazaar produced by 4 members of the Austin Craft Mafia and co-hosts of the DIY Network’s Stylelicious. We sold out Emo’s last year with over 1, 000 people attending and are moving to the Austin music hall this year!

Currently Stitch is in the process of gathering up some rad sponsors. May seem early for an event in November, but the sooner your company is signed on as a sponsor the sooner you can start getting some awesome promotion.

There are 5 different levels of sponsorship packages ranging from $50-$3,000. Something for every budget. Promote your band with CDs in our 500 goodie bags, spread the word about your crafty business with an ad in our program let everyone know how awesome your magazine is with your logo on all our flyers and postcards. There is a package for everyone.
http://stitchaustin.com/files/stitch_06_print.pdf

If you are interested in the gory details all you gotta do is email me at info@naughtysecretaryclub.com and I will get you more information.

P.S. Applications for booths in the craft fair and spots on the runway will be going online soon!

Fear of Breaching Pot Luck Etiquette.

You are probably thinking that I only run around with the same group of people all the time. There is some truth to that, but not entirely. Just look at the picture there are some fresh faces in this group from Sundays group shot. Last night Karly hosted a pot luck and made fried chicken for everyone at her house and it was delicious. Sure the fire alarm went off once or twice, but overall the food tasted wonderful. Going around the table starting with the short haired chick with the watermelon we have Tina Sparkles, Jason, Erin Smith, Cory Ryan, Matt, Hope Perkins, Karly Hand, me, then on the floor Jason (Jug) and Kurt. And no I still don’t know the dudes last names and didn’t bother to ask last night. I know Kurt’s is Bloshki, but I don’t now how to spell it. He has been dating my sister for over year, spent Christmas at my house and I don’t even know how to spell the poor kids last name. Anyway, Chris (who had already left for band practice when this picture was taken) and I brought home made biscuits with cheese and fresh peppers from our vegetable garden. Once upon a time I wrote an article for my zine called Pot Luck Professionalism, you can still read it.

I would of course have to get one for kitty too.

A young lady was nice enough to inform me that I have a necklace in the June/July issue of Cosmo Girl. I had almost forgotten about them contacting me a couple of months ago with a picture of Mischa Barton and saying “What do you have that looks like this necklace”. I think I did pretty good. Of course the Naughty Secretary Club version is way chunkier and gaudier, but hey. Supposedly Mischa Barton has several pieces of my jewelry. I sent some things to a shoot for a Keds ad campaign and Mischa asked to keep several of my pieces. How do you say no to that? I hope she likes everything, now if she would just wear it in a tabloid or on the OC that would be awesome!

In other news I took Lucy to the vet yesterday. Did I mention she has been hobbling and progressively getting worse and worse? Erin took X-Rays of her and apparently she hardly has any hip bones left her arthritis is so bad. We give her medicine here and we take her for weekly shots. Well this past week there was a raccoon on our porch and she got very excited and decided to jump around and make a big fuss. Fine for a puppy, for an 80 pound 12 year old dog – not cool. So she has torn some crazy ligament in her knee and can not walk on that leg. Bless her heart; Chris has to carry her outside for her to use the bathroom. She does not appear to be in pain or anything since she rolls around on the floor with her chew toys and demands to have her belly rubbed. We have an appointment on Thursday morning with a surgeon to get her knee all taken care of. We will have her good as new and back on her nightly walks in a jiffy. In the meantime Chris and I are looking into one of those weird tent/cart things that parents put on the backs of their bikes to pull their toddlers around in. I think Lucy might dig that. I would of course have to get one for kitty too. I need to ask the doctor if that would be OK.

I just realized I do not know any of my friend’s boyfriend’s last names.

There was a bit of drama in my back yard makeover yesterday. After we worked so hard to paint my new table yellow, the chairs aqua and then buy a red umbrella – things did not work out as planned. Chris put the umbrella stand together and then we sat the table on top and realized the stand came too far off the ground and was holding the table up so that legs did not touch. Sure this is not the end of the world, we could bury the base or something right? Right? Well then I look at the umbrella and then I look at the hole in the center of the table and it struck me that we were not getting that big metal pole into that tiny hole in the center of the table no matter what. I guess since my table is vintage they made the circumference of patio umbrella poles smaller back then? I don’t know, but it was very disappointing. I hate standing in line to return things, but I’ll be brave. I hope I can find an umbrella that will fit and in all honesty the table is between two trees so it is not the end of the world. I just wanted the whole set to look so cute and color coordinated with the house. Poopersnickles.

After a weekend full of hard work a few friends stopped by yesterday evening for some grilling and hanging out on my back porch. Going in a circle and starting with the lovely lady in the striped dress we have Cory Ryan, Jason, Vickie Howell, Hope Perkins, me (Jennifer Perkins), Kurt, Karly Hand and Matt. Not pictured standing in the yard and taking the picture is Chris and Dave. I just realized I do not know any of my friend’s boyfriend’s last names. Does that make me a bad person?

The longest blog ever about my back yard.

As I mentioned in yesterdays blog, it has been all about the garden for me this weekend. I got started on things about 3 in the afternoon on Friday and emailed Chris and suggested he come home after work and help me in the yard. Well we went from having no rhyme or reason to our entire back yard to having a rock outlined flowerbed the length of our fence. We had a flower box attached to the front of our house made of Austin Stone when we moved in that Chris and his dad had knocked down, good thing Chris kept all the rocks because they came in super handy.

From the pictures you can see the length of the garden. We only got about half of it tilled and planted. I have tarps and trash bags over the other half trying to kill the grass and weeds underneath. This is a good trick for lazy gardeners. By next weekend most things underneath there should be dead. Mainly we have been planting succulents, but in the corner I planted a bunch of Wandering Jew. You can see I also stuck in the awesome mosaic flamingo my mom made me over there. The other planter in the corner is this old 50’s chair I found in someone’s trash. It has been outside for a few seasons and is now falling apart. When I got the chair I took the seat out and put wire in and made it into a planter. Pretty Cute.

So that was last night. This morning Chris and I woke up and went down to the Sustainable Food Ball where the Sunset Valley Farmers Market usually is. There was really not that much to see, but of course I did not leave empty handed. Chris and I have been looking for Lemongrass plants EVERYWHERE and we finally found one. We used to have a huge bushy one but somehow we managed to kill it and all my adventures in Thai cooking have been on hold since. I also got 4 different crazy looking little succulents.

After the farmers market I tried a new restaurant I had never been to, Baby Greens on South First and Oltorf. Their low-fat lemon vignette was possibly the best salad dressing I have ever had. If you live in Austin I highly recommend it – and it is a drive through. You can even have your salad made into a little wrap like I did!

So I ate in the car and Chris and I drove over to S. Congress for a little shopping. Another new and exciting pit stop, we went to a new little area of shops on Congress closer to Ben White. The shopping strip was an old 40’s motel that they painted white, made look swanky and gave a hip looking blue sign. Speaking of hip the whole reason we went is because I wanted to go into Hip Haven and check out their screen doors. We walked in and all around, but no one was in the store. It was actually kind of creepy and we alerted the people next door at Unique Boutique and we were all thoroughly worried. I hope the girl who runs the store is OK and not just because I am dying for one of her screen doors.

After a sweep though of these shops Chris and I walked down the street to a big plant nursery called The Great Outdoors. This place was like heaven with all the amazing plants. I could have totally loaded up, but left empty handed because I had already gotten my plant fix earlier at the Farmers Market. Onward to our casa.

Next on the list for today was to paint our patio furniture and my new table and chair set. Well this turned out to be a production. My patio chairs were very rusty from my pseudo shabby chic phase on the porch. Then the outdoor dining set I had gotten in McKinney was just plain white and well I can’t have that. First step was to don a mask for fear of lead paint and scrub away with a steal brush. After that tedious job we coated everything down with a base coat of rustoleom spray paint. Next make things pretty! We had tons of left over house paint so this seemed like an easy enough task, but we soon realized after just spray painting on the primer that this was going to take forever. I had a brilliant idea to go to Lowes and buy a paint sprayer.

So onward to Lowes where I did in fact get a paint sprayer, 4 more little succulents (I think I might be addicted) and a red umbrella to go with my new table and chair set.

Back home it took us a bit to figure out how to work the sprayer, where to spray without getting paint everywhere and deciding what chairs and tables to paint aqua and what to paint yellow. As you can see from the pictures my house is mainly aqua, the trim is yellow and red and the deck is red. This being the case I wanted to use aqua and yellow paint on the lawn furniture (and you can see why I chose the red umbrella). We figured everything out eventually and got all the paint on.

For whatever reason, as if our day was not long enough (speaking of long God this is a novel) Chris and I decided to drive to Pflugerville for dinner. This is a suburb north of Austin, about 30 minutes from our house. Long story short there is an Italian restaurant in my home town of McKinney called Sicily’s. We love it, my parents eat there like 4 times a week (no really) and they even catered the rehearsal dinner at our wedding. The owners had told us about their friends restaurant in Pflugerville called Baris and swore it was just as good as their place. Baris was quite yummy and I could only finish half of my HUGE creamy dinner. It was one of those meals that was so rich and creamy all I could do was dream about eating something minty to cut the thickness in my mouth.

So now I am home feeling so full I could pop, with a patio full of bright furniture and an aching back. Tomorrow we have more yard work to do and I will post pictures of the finishing touches then. I know you can hardly wait. I have to plan a party to show off all my hard work. Looks like tomorrow night is going to turn into the weekly Sunday night party on my porch so at least I know a handful of regulars are going to get to see the goods.

Whoo-hoo for landscaping!

Landscaping is hard work I tell ya. I spent the day in my yard plating succulents, moving heavy rocks and tilling soil. Who needs the gym. Well I actually I went to the gym today but all I did was read You Grow Girl and read up on gardening on the tread mill. I can’t wait to show you pictures of my yard and how cute it looks. My good friend Chia Gulliortry, ya the same one that was on Stylelicious Thursday making arm warmers, gave Chris and I a ton of clippings that have grown into big plants that we have finally put into the ground. Oh and I think I have found an umbrella for my new vintage table and chair patio set at Taget.com. Woo-hoo for landscaping!

Can you say super amazing?

My friend Traci Bautista has been here in Austin visiting me this week. This is us plus Hope and Erin out at the Side Bar. We had a super fun time, LOTS of shopping was involved. In case you are not familiar with Traci she is a mixed media collage artist that makes amazing journals and hand made papers. She has a new book coming out this month called Collage Unleashed you need to be sure and score.

Traci just finished teaching at art and soul in Dallas which I was lucky enough to attend. Besides Traci I got to see other friends like Claudine Hellmuth and Lori Mika, both guests on Craft Lab with me. Then I met another cool artist named Michael deMeng. The highlight, besides seeing my friends, was that I scored a vintage Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs cake topper set. That is going to make one awesome necklace I tell ya. I wonder if I taught a class at one of these art retreats if people would take it?

After Traci left yesterday I went to see Storm the Tower play an in store at End of an Ear. Erin’s boyfriend Jason, who owns another record store in Austin Sound on Sound, is in the band. There is a cool plant store next door that Erin and I stopped by and it got me all excited about my gardening plans for the weekend.

Oh and have you see the new and improved Stitch website that Ms. Karly Hand designed. Can you say super amazing? If you haven't heard this years event is going to be HUGE.

How cute is Jesse in her poncho? Catch Jesse, Karly and I on today's episode of Stylelicious called Outerwear. Also a special appearance by our good friend Chia Guilory.

Have I told you lately that my sister Hope Perkins is awesome?

This morning I received my Bust Line email from Bust Magazine and there was a write up about the A.I.R. Gallery Feminist Fashion Show and the first designer mentioned is my sister Hope Perkins. This is her dress "Donkey Show" that will be modeled in the event. If you live in NYC please stop by the and in the meantime read the Bust Line about it.

what: A.I.R. Gallery Feminist Fashion Show, co-sponsored by BUST, Ladyfest*East, and the Department of Craft

where: A.I.R. Gallery, 511 West 25th Street, Suite 301, NYC

when: Saturday, May 20th, from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. (The Feminist Fashion Show will be staged as a two-hour long installation, which each audience member can observe at his or her own pace)

more: A.I.R. Gallery is the oldest artist-run gallery in the U.S.A. devoted to women's artwork. As part of A.I.R. Gallery's Night AIR series, a Feminist Fashion Show, co-sponsored by BUST Magazine, Ladyfest*East, and the Department of Craft, will be staged featuring clothing inspired by feminism. Works include Hope Perkins' (of Hot Pink Pistol) "Donkey Show" dress which portrays an unrealistic version of the perfect man: he cooks, cleans and has rock hard abs, yet he is also as sweet as your favorite stuffed animal; Diane Arrieta's "My Right to Choose," a dress, constructed from wire hangers, that considers alternative methods should Roe v. Wade be overturned; Robyn Jordan's "Super Bowl XXXVIII," a combined replica of the clothing worn by Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake for their half-time performance at the 2004 Superbowl; Cynthia Krewson's "Calendar Girl,' an ensemble celebrating two freedoms feminism has imparted to the contemporary woman: reproductive freedom made possible by birth control and the freedom of _expression modern Western fashion brings to women's lives; and more.

The show is produced by artist Enid Crow and the works were selected by the editors of BUST Magazine, Museum at F.I.T. Director Valerie Steele, artist Mimi Smith, Kayte Terry of Ladyfest*East, artist and A.I.R. founder Daria Dorosh, designer Hannah Howard, and photographer Maki Kawakita.

designers: Diane Arrieta, Deborah Bohnert, Denise DiJoseph, Michelle Fried, Denise Nicole Green, Robyn Jordan, Karen J. Hay, Hannah Howard, Angela Keslar, Hyun Jung Kim, Kpoene' Kofi-Bruce, Cynthia Krewson, Vivian Massry, Jane Allen Nodine, Hope Perkins (of Hot Pink Pistol), and Galen Warden.

You can see where I inherited most of traits.

Sorry I am sucking in the blog department this weekend I am in McKinney bonding with the fam for mothers day. The big excitement around here is that there is a Cardinal family nesting in one of the chandeliers on my parent’s porch. I took some pictures of the one lone chick I will post when I get home. Today I bought a vintage metal table and chair set for my deck I am pumped about. I have been looking for one forever and this one was cheap and has all four chairs. Now I just need a cute umbrella to go with it. Tonight I am headed down to the Art and Soul show and then out on the town in Dallas.

Speaking of moms and mothers day. Did you know that my mom has a column on my old web site called Ask a Soccer Mom?

Perhaps you were not aware that on Naughty Secretary Club my mom Fredda makes necklaces, belt buckles, tissue box covers, barkcloth journals, baby bags, barkcloth pillows, barkcloth purses, barkcloth stockings, record bowl bags and sells the pop purses and change purses!

Are you addicted to collecting? My mother wrote a whole article on the subject here.

You can see where I inherited most of traits.

Tease & Austin Monthly

Yesterday on a trip to the grocery store I spotted that there was a review of the fabulous Tease : Inspired T-shirt Transformations by Superstars of Art, Craft, and Design in the May issue of Austin Monthly Magazine. Read the whole review here. Today is a special day for Tease, today is the book release party. If you live in Williamsburg be sure to stop by Nom De Guerre and join the party. There will be yummy to your tummy Naughty Secretary Club lip balm in the goodies bags! Whoot-Whoot! If you can’t go to the party you should at least snag yourself a copy of the book at amazon or Fred Flare.

I stopped when I was considering using a small plate as a pendant.

Yesterday I woke up feeling all kinds of creative. I started thinking about going to the Renegade Craft Fair in June and thinking I need to bring some really special one of a kind things that are not even on the web site. There are going to be a lot of amazing crafty peeps at this thing I am gonna have to bust some booty for my jewelry to stand out at all. I think I made 12 necklaces yesterday, pictured are a few, by the end of the day they were all getting progressively bigger and bigger. I stopped when I was considering using a small plate as a pendant. No really.

Last night we had an Austin Craft Mafia meeting at Jenny’s house. We tore through that agenda, I was so proud of us. Afterwards we all stood around and talked about things like shopping carts (I am hearing Miva is good), big companies stealing designs from little companies, Contractors (I am in desperate need of a good one to do some work on my house) and other deep and meaningful issues.

After the meeting Hope and I came back to my house for our own meeting on my back porch. Seems like this is the new party place as of late. It was not long before Cory and Jason came to join us. When Erin got off work she came by and eventually Chris finished band practice and came out for a bit. Actually it was not a party at all and I was in bed before 12 watching some awful Gena Davis movie where she is a mom and an assassin.

So that was my day. Today I am on my way to the vets here in a jiffy. I need to pack for my trip to Dallas tomorrow. My friends Claudine Hellmuth and Traci Bautista are teaching at the Art and Soul retreat in Dallas so I am going home for mothers day and stopping by to see them. They were both guests on Craft Lab with me and are amazingly talented artists and all around cool peeps.

Oh and don’t forget to watch Stylelicious tomorrow. Karly, Tina and Susann are gonna rock the “Old to New” episode.

R.I.P. Elle Girl

Yesterday I heard some really sad news… Elle Girl has closed its doors and ceased publication. After a conversation with an acquaintance in the press business yesterday she broke the bad news to me. I was in utter disbelief, it was as if a member of my fashion family had passed away. I came home and emailed the people I knew at Elle Girl and the rumors were confirmed. Elle Girl was such a great magazine and was always so nice to Naughty Secretary Club. I will really miss them. What’s next Teen Vogue? What is the world coming to?

Pink Pedicure

If you are looking for a new and exciting fashion/shopping blog to check out scoot over to Pink Pedicure. They were sweet enough to write about Naughty Secretary Club in their post today.

Right now I really want to take my Treo outside and smash it on the ground into a million pieces. I hate my phone with the fiery passions of hell. I am even angrier at T Mobile and Palm for not helping me fix the problem and my phone is still under warranty. The phone thinks it is the year 2004 and will not sync with my computer. Deep breaths. Remain calm. I am going to sit and have a slice of cold pizza and watch last nights episode of Big Love.

This afternoon I have an Ichat with the Stitch girls and need to send swag off for the Tease : Inspired T-shirt Transformations by Superstars of Art, Craft, and Design. book release party this Thursday in NYC. Also gotta get stuff off to the Renegade Craft Fair girls for their swag bags. You kids gonna be there? I am with the Austin Craft Mafia, whoo-hoo!

Hope has this weird thing for poorly taxidermied animals she finds at the thrift store.

Over the weekend I have added tons of new earrings, literally a new pair in every single section. REVAMPED VINTAGE EARRINGS has Monopoly pieces, piranhas, conjoined twins and more. Several of these are one of a kind so shake a tail feather. NOSTALGIC NOTIONS has some cuties listed. Really could anything with a gnome not be cute? Cheney is the new THING-A-LING EARRING and Cherry Cherry has been restocked in NOUVEAU EARRINGS. Can you tell that earrings are my favorite piece of jewelry?

Hope also painted some new and exciting purses for the website. This is a picture of Vito. Hope has this weird thing for poorly taxidermied animals she finds at the Thrift Store. She has Tonya the bobcat and now Vito the mounted deer head. Well she painted Vito’s horns hot pink and put more flowers in his hair that Frida Kahlo. This purse is homage to him. HOT PINK PISTOL PURSES. Speaking of my little sister you should scoot over to her website HOT PINK PISTOL some time and see the amazing hand painted earrings she is making. I have a pair and I wear them all the time.

Remember if you forgot to watch this week’s episode of Stylelicious on DIY Network, today is your big chance. 3pm Central Time catch all 30 minutes of fun filled action with Tina making flowers, Susann gussying up more T-shirts and Tank Tops than I can count and I’ll be there showing you how to turn those plain old temple stabbing plastic headbands of your childhood into an updated tiara. I ever tell you kids about the time I made some for Vera Wang. True story, the one with the little cupcake crown was apparently a big hit. Oh ya and on the episode check out everyone's Naughty Secretary Club REVAMPED VINTAGE RINGS. I know fer sure I saw a Sparkle Plenty.

Oh and be sure to check out Great Green Goods to see the nice things they said about my mom’s record bowl bags (look for Ms. Fredda on an upcoming episode of Stylelicious showing everyone how to make them). Mom’s vintage barkcloth baby bags also got mentioned on Great Green Baby. Whoo-hoo!

tense and frustrated - poor pitiful me.

I have not even been awake an hour and I already feel tense and frustrated. First of all when I woke up this morning I had “Wasted and Ready” by Ben Kweller in my head and it just would not quit. That thought process logically took me to Ben Lee. Laying in bed I began going through Ben’s career for whatever reason and then I got “I Wish I Was Him” stuck in my head, but the Kathleen Hanna version. The part that irritated me was I could not think of Ben Lee’s first band name (Noise Addict) it was driving me crazy. I finally had to look it up on the internet. Maybe I will play their CD later.

Next frustrating thing, we are officially out of toothpaste. I had to fight with our tube of cinnamon flavored Crest this morning to even squeeze the littlest drop out to brush my teeth with. I still don’t feel that clean, it was not near enough to give me that minty fresh feeling. I have to meet my mother-in-law for lunch soon what if she thinks her son has married a “non-tooth-brusher”, she will be so disappointed.

I sat down at the computer afterwards to an email from an angry customer. I think sometimes people forget when dealing with other people over the internet that the email they are sending is being sent to a real person with feelings and not a computer. There is not a customer service center here at Naughty Secretary Club there is me in my pajamas starting my day off with emails with quotes like: “I wish creative people who are lousy at business would stop going into business”.

In other news last night was super fun. We waited for forever and a day at Polvos for a table that never happened. This is Erin and I in our best Cindo de Mayo gear sipping Mango Margaritas in the parking lot. We eventually moved our tailgate party to Jackalope. After Jackalope we headed over to The Parrish where The Household Names rocked. They are a really cute poppy band, I dig em. Cory and Karly had decorated the place fabulously. If I have the energy for it I will be going to 710 tonight to see Arms in Danger.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Meet Lola one of the many new Revamped Vintage Necklaces I just added to Naughty Secretary Club. Lola seemed the most festive like she and her fruit are ready to sip some margaritas, I know I am after this week. I am meeting some friends at Polvos for happy hour Ole’. After that if you are in the mood for some live music you should come out to the Parish where the Household Names are playing. It is their CD release party and it is gonna be super fun. I was informed that Cory and Karly have been to Party Pig to buy decorations, large tissue paper flowers are involved. Hey that reminds me I made large tissue paper flowers on Craft Lab with Kathy Cano Murillo of Crafty Chica once it was super fun. Speaking of margaritas it also reminds me of my very favorite cupcake recipe that I constantly get requests for

Margarita Cupcakes with Triple Sec Icing
INGREDIENTS:
• 1 (18.25 ounce) package orange cake mix
• 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup tequila
• 2 tablespoons triple sec liqueur

ICING
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon tequila
• 2 tablespoons triple sec liqueur
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• Lime Zest
________________________________________
DIRECTIONS:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F Fill cupcake tin with cute little foil cupcake holders.

2.In a large bowl combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, oil, water, lemon juice 1/4 cup tequila and 2 tablespoons triple sec. Beat for 2 minutes.

3.Pour batter into cupcake holders. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes; remove to rack and put on icing. Careful the icing is really yummy, but really runny and sticky. Sometimes I add extra sugar to thicken it up a bit.

4.To make the glaze: In a small bowl, combine confectioners' sugar with 1 tablespoon tequila, 2 tablespoons triple sec and 2 tablespoons lime juice. Mix until smooth.

Putting It On

So this is not the best picture of me in the whole wide world, but who cares. This is the only picture I could find from the day we taped “Putting it On”, tomorrow’s episode of Stylelicious – which also happens to be my debut on the show. I know you have all been sitting waiting anxiously going “yeah, yeah those other Austin Craft Mafia girls are ok and everything, but I am really setting my TIVO weekly in hopes of catching Jennifer Perkins showing me how to cover a headband in fabric”. Holy poop your wish is coming true tomorrow!!! How did you know I was going to cover head bands with felt? You must be psychic. Tina and Susann join me on the episode. Be sure and tune in tomorrow (Thursday) at 1:30pm Central and if you miss it, no worries it will air again on Sundays at 3.

Most episodes all the girls are slathered in my jewelry that not only am I wearing the stylist Jane’s shirt I am also wearing a pair of earrings by the very super deluxe talented Jessica Mcambly of Onda Style. Oh and the special guest is my booth partner in crime at Austin City Limits every year Amy Barber of Sweettooth Bags.

Please note the brooch pictured is not the culprit.

There has been a major break through at my house. The revamped vintage brooch that has been glued down to the corner of my coffee table for over a year finally came off last night.

I like to make jewelry at the coffee table in my living room while I watch movies or TV. My little 1950’s blonde wood coffee table is all beat to hell, partially because I have had it since college and also because it has glue all over the top. If you run your hand across the top it is like War and Peace in brail. Anyway about a year ago I was making revamped vintage brooches and after I glued the parts I sat them on the coffee table to dry like always. The next day one stubborn little brooch refused to move. I tried everything and finally just gave up. The worst part about it was it was a really cute brooch with a little sea foam green sailboat so I didn’t want to hurt.

Yesterday with the threat of my friend Courtney and a camera crew coming over to film me today for some web site thing I felt especially pressured to remove the little brooch. With a few hearty stabs with my pliers up pops the brooch completely unscathed. Seriously, that brooch has been there almost a year – it is indeed a small miracle. Please note the brooch pictured is not the culprit, just another example of a revamped vintage brooch.

In random music news yesterday I was so excited to download Annette Funicello’s “Blame it on the Bossa Nova”. They played it on this week’s episode of Big Love and I have had it stuck in my head ever since.

Man I did a lot of stuff today!

Do you ever wake up and feel like: today is going to be a productive day. That is the feeling I woke up with today. Just this morning I already added a couple of new bits of press to Naughty Secretary Club. An article on Stylelicious from Brilliant and Justine Magazine which featured several pieces of my jewelry this month. I also added new press to the Austin Craft Mafia site. It’s not even 9:30am yet, see what I mean I am on a roll (or is it role). Ginger will be here at 9 to help me package and send out orders, Lucy gets a trip to the vet this afternoon, and since Chris has band practice tonight my whole evening is free to work. This is exciting indeed. Nothing like getting into bed and thinking man I did a lot of stuff today. Does blogging count as actually doing something or procrastinating? Just to be safe I better go get working.

Oh and I want to say for the record that I am listening to a song that everyone should have in their collection “h'a'chi” by The Lapse. Makes me wanna get up and swirl. Not the beginning part, it has one of those endings in an Eric Clapton "Layla" kind of way.

I wish it was Sunday.

Just another Manic Monday as the Bangles would say care of Prince. This means my vacation is officially over and I have to go back to work and get serious. Oh where should I start today: make jewelry, look into my new shopping cart service, take pictures of new jewelry, or perhaps my current obsession investigate further into converting my garage into studio space. Any advice on the matter? I have gotten some referrals from people for contractors so at least that is a start.