We're in the Jailhouse Now...

November first is an important date in a lot of ways. It's considered by some to be the pagan new year, as in that tradition Samhain (aka Halloween) marked the turn of the spiritual year. It's also my fairy goddess mother's birthday! (that would be godmother to most folks)
This year it also fell on a Monday. For those reasons and a couple of others, Russell and I decided to perform a civil ceremony - that's right, we got married!
For those of you who are looking forward to our June 11, 2011 wedding, never fear! We're totally still on for that most excellent event! We just had several legal and financial reasons to go ahead and take care of the paperwork aspect of the thing during the 2010 fiscal year.
One important side of it is taxes; getting married will allow us a big tax break, as well as make it easier to file as Orion's parents if we're already hitched. That tax refund will help us pay for the upcoming wedding, so it makes good sense to do it now! Also, Russell's health insurance is both expensive and not very good. Since we're now officially married, I can put him on my plan at TJ's, and we'll all have health, vision, and dental - for a lot less than we were paying. Getting married now saves us money and safeguards our health. Not to mention that it'll be one less thing to worry about at the wedding!
The process was pretty simple. Jo Ann came over to look after Orion (who was not a very cooperative, mellow boy, unfortunately). Russell and I stopped at both our banks and put each other on our checking accounts, therefore to more easily pay bills, etc. We also (finally) opened the savings account for Orion. I'd been holding money that was meant for him in my own savings, but now it's in a special account with his name on it! Yay, college fund!
Then we headed up to Hillsborough to the register of deeds office. The lady there was funny and energetic. We got the paperwork done to get the marriage license and paid the fees. We called Jo Ann, Runyon, and Kevin to let them know we were done there and that they could head on up to the Hillsborough Weaver St. Market to meet us. We grabbed some lunch while we waited, and then everyone (Orion, too) met up with us and walked over to the jailhouse.
That's right, the jailhouse. For some reason the only magistrate in Hillsborough is located in the jailhouse. We walked in to the anteroom, where we were completely ignored by a bunch of officers hanging around behind the glass window, and waited with a group of folks who were in line to see the magistrate. The two groups before us were there on jail/prisoner related business, so no one but us was very happy. There were only two chairs in the waiting area, which were occupied, and the whole place was dark and dingy, with low ceilings and bad lighting. Even the one bathroom was a mess and didn't have a changing table; fortunately Russell and I are adept at changing Orion's diaper in our laps.
Finally it was our turn to step into the magistrate's office, which was similarly cramped and dingy and overly full of stuff. There was a little window into the holding tank of the jail and that was it; no natural light for him! Fortunately, the magistrate (who was also the brother of the register of deeds; weird) was a really nice guy. Our group was in much better spirits than the previous two, and it seemed to brighten up his day. That made me feel pretty good, because other than that it was a grim place to have a marriage ceremony! He was fun, though, and joked around with us while the paperwork got done. Runyon and Kevin signed as witnesses, we said the "I do's" (though no one actually said "I do"; Russell said "Yep!" and I said "Absolutely!") and we shared both a high-five and a kiss! It was actually kinda fun. Afterwards we stopped outside under a big old oak tree and took a few pictures, and that was that - we're married!
We're not planning on changing our names until the wedding in June, as we feel like that's really the event that will bind us together as a wedded couple. For now, we're husband and wife, but the community, spiritual and emotional aspect of it will really change at the ceremony we do in June.
Either way, there's a lot of love here to go around and we're really happy. It's sure been a good week!

Hulaween!

I have become incapable of writing the word "Hulaween" without following it with an exclamation point! (!)
Oh man, what fun!
String Cheese is (in my humble opinion) the best large act out there today. They put on such amazing shows, with everything so completely thought out. It is truly a spectacle, and the beautifully orchestrated music is a catalyst that entertains and amazes simple hippie folks like ourselves. Add the Halloween costumes in the crowd, and I'm pretty much in heaven. One audience member, a nice man who shared some excellent seating with us, said, "They're all-inclusive," and I tend to agree.

Many months ago SCI announced that they had a Halloween surprise for all of us. I assumed that if they did a Halloween show, it would likely be on the West Coast, as they previously did Halloween in Vegas. A few weeks later they announced that the two nights to celebrate Halloween were being played at the Hampton Coliseum. I was beside myself with joy! I called Russell at work to tell him, and I was so excited I couldn't get complete sentences out. It took several tries before he understood my random exclamations of "Hampton!" "Cheese!" "Halloween!" "DRIVING DISTANCE!!" made any sense to him. My excitement then was huge, and my expectations for the shows were high; as usual, they completely met and exceeded them by a huge amount!
Friday we headed up to Newport News, VA, for the two nights of SCI at the Hampton Coliseum. I've never been there before, but I've heard good things, including the infamous "Hampton Comes Alive" by Phish, a two-disc set that everyone seems to know and love. I've seen its picture, and I have heard it called The Mothership on many occasions.
My week leading up to the shows was crazy; I was busy as hell with two sewing commissions and a big party at work that I was in charge of planning. We therefore got off to a bit of a late start on Friday, but that was as I expected. We made it to Newport News, which is actually the next town over from Hampton (and has infinitely cheaper hotels) in the late afternoon. We had just enough time to get spruced up for the show and head out. I wore my fabulous catsuit and EL wire light-up fairy wings, while Russell wore his Pathfinder Indian costume from Burning Man. One of the best moments of the night occurred while we were walking into the venue; in a knot of people at the main gate a guy in a gold sequin tux took one look at us and said, "You guys are Burners!" High-fives all around!
The show on Friday was great! The band played all the crowd favorites, including "Black Clouds" (which I had wanted to hear), "Jellyfish", "Texas", and many others. It was a great night, and many people were in costume and everyone seemed to be having a blast. We ran all over the coliseum, spending time up in the seats and down on the floor, exploring and having a great time.
Orion was awesome through it all. He slept in the car almost the whole way up and seemed to really enjoy being at the show. He loves watching the hula hoop girls and smiling at all the people who come up to say hi to him. One guy in particular, who was dressed as a big sparkly sultan, was juggling LED color change light-up balls, and Orion was so mesmerized. The guy came up and offered one of the balls to him, and he reached out with all his little might to touch it. That was a cool moment! Lots of folks thought he was Baby Carlos from The Hangover, and we had to keep explaining that he was a real baby, not a prop! It was pretty funny, too, as many people asked if it was his "first Incident" (meaning first String Cheese show) and we got to say no, it was his fourth (or fifth, on the second night). Several people laughed and said he'd seen them more times than they had!
They closed the show with Michael Travis, the drummer, dressed up as David Lee Roth in a spandex suit and wig and did a cover of "Jump", which was just a warm-up for the ridiculous night to follow! We headed back to the hotel, glad for a place to spread out, and feel asleep quite late.
When we woke up on Saturday around 8am, we looked at each other and asked the same question: "Are we going to the Rally?" John Stewart and Stephen Colbert's "Rally to Restore Sanity/March to Keep Fear Alive" was Saturday 10/30/10. We really wanted to go; DC is about 3 hours from Hampton, but that's 3 hours closer than we are here. We considered getting up early to go to the Rally, and then turning around and coming back for the second show. Technically the timing should have worked for us; but we were feeling kinda lazy after the day and night before... So we struggled with the decision for a bit, but finally decided that we would probably see it better if we just chilled at the hotel and watched it on line. We ended up lazing around in bed at the hotel, playing with a very happy baby, and thoroughly enjoying the Rally, which was huge! During the Rally, they announced that they were estimating about 150,000 people; now they're saying the numbers were about 215,000!!! The permit they got was for 60,000, and they didn't have the speakers to get to all those people. Aerial pictures are amazing. Abraxas the Dragamuffin, our favorite gold dragon art bus/mutant vehicle from Burning Man, even made it out!
However, I'm glad we didn't go; some friends of ours did, and they said it was an ordeal. Hours to get on and off the Metro, shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, no sound or sight lines to the event, miles of walking... It would have been great to be there in so many ways, but our day doing nothing but playing with Orion and hanging around was great in its own way, too.
We took our time getting ready on Saturday and wore more elaborate costumes. I had a Burner/Cowgirl/Fairy thing going on with furry boot covers, the Disco Fringe Cowboy Hat, and festival coat. Russell went pirate! We got to the parking lot early enough to chill and cruise around. We met up with Liz and Dave, so I could pass the most recent sewing commission off to Liz. Her outfit was a corset and skirt of batik cottons with EL wire stitched all over it. I didn't get to see her in it, but she said it was awesome! We hung around with some folks parked next to us who were on Dead tour quite literally before we were born. They had a need little cast iron hibachi cauldron deal and were grilling up all kinds of goodies, which they were kind enough to share with us. As we were getting ready to go into the show, I ran over to a trashcan and caught an amazing view behind a stand of trees; the coliseum sits on the edge of a pond, and the sunset was so beautiful behind the lit up Mothership. I ran for the camera... Jogging over to the water's edge with my coattails flying in the wind, I got mobbed by a group of women who wanted my clothes. It was a good moment, feeling once again supported in my clothes-making dream while also getting some amazing photos of the venue under a gorgeous sky.
We finally strolled up to the venue, where we finally ran into some of the folks from the Conscious Alliance. They are an organization that collects food and supplies for local folks in need at festivals and shows; they feed an amazing number of people a year. They are so successful because they give amazing posters in exchange for the goods (or you can purchase them). The Hulaween poster is in fall colors with a sexy hooper fairy. We had seen it on line ahead of time, and Russell got it together to collect enough canned goods and a few bars of nice soap from our stores to donate. However, until we ran into the guy we hadn't found the donation sight. When we talked to the guy, he was nice enough to give us a poster before we even went back for the cans, enabling up to make one trip to get the goods and drop the poster. I felt really proud of us for getting it together to actually make a donation of goods - go Russell for motivating that one!
Finally we got into the venue and it was clear it was going to be a wild night. Many more folks were partying at Shakedown in the parking lot beforehand, the crowd was noticeably bigger, and there were more (and more elaborate) costumes. When we got into the coliseum, we decided to find a good spot to change Orion before things started, so we skirted the floor and went back out to the concourse, where we found Crash, John, and Sateesh. Crash is my good friend who I met out at the Burn some years ago; she's one of my favorite people ever, and we knew their presence at the Saturday show was going to make it even more fun! John was a green fairy and Crash was in her super fabulous Rainbow Brite costume. There were several in the crowd both nights, but hers was by far the best.
Running into Crash and company derailed our plans to find a spot to change the baby, so we went back out onto the floor and then opted to run up to the balcony and find a spot to sit. It was packed, but as we were casting around for two seats a really nice couple in the front row gave us two that they were saving. The view was excellent and the people we sat next to were very generous; they gave us water and carrots (yum!) and were quite pleasant during the show!
Orion had a big night, too - he was more fussy during the second night, but mostly he just wanted to nurse a lot. I didn't have a problem with that, so he did pretty well. He became very interested in our lemonade cup, which had a yellow lid and big pink plastic straw. He played with it quite a bit and even gnawed and sucked on the straw - he even managed to drink some water out of it, which surprised him a bunch!
The second night of SCI was the big night for Halloween, and the band did three sets plus a long encore. The second set was the 'musical costume' set, in which they did a bunch of covers. They came out after the first set break in wild spaceman costumes and said that since they were playing the Mothership, they wanted to take us to space with the music! The songs they covered mostly all had a space or flying theme, but the best part was when a special guest came out. He was all in costume, so no one could tell who it was, but everyone around me in the crowd was saying, "It's Keller, it's got to be Keller!" A sentiment which I wholeheartedly agreed upon! Still, no one could see who it was and the band only announced him as "Saturn Claus" due to the faintly Santa Claus-like space suit he was wearing. It wasn't until he started singing that it became clear that Saturn Claus was, indeed, our favorite musician: Keller Williams! They went into a cover of Parliament Funkadelic's "Mothership Connection" and then did Dee Lite's "Groove is in the Heart" (which I'd been hoping KW would play the last several times we'd seen him). That pretty much made my night, but there was still the third set and the encore to go! Fabulous! We danced like crazy for pretty much the whole show, but toward the end we moved down to the back of the coliseum, close to the main entrance, so that we could beat the crowd out to the parking lots.
After a fabulous show, we headed out back to the hotel, completely blissed out, and made a last-second stop at Waffle House. I never eat there unless it's a ridiculous hour (and therefore the only option), but something about it makes me smile; perhaps because I know I'm there because I've just had a great time!
To end the night on a fun note, Orion and I took a bath together to get the mess of the show off us (mostly glitter). He decided this was the night to discover splashing! He kept lifting his feet as high as they would go and then slamming them down into the water and giggling as it splashed everywhere. It was a sweet end to a great weekend!
Every time I see String Cheese Incident I think, "that might have been the best show I've ever seen". I'm happy to say this was no exception, and as always traveling with Russell reminds me again how much we love each other and how well we vibe together. We have a good life!

Well Hello Strangers!

My goodness, but it has been a while, hasn't it? Time flies when you're having fun - and also when you're very, very busy!
We've had so much stuff happening lately that I can barely keep up. Suffice to say, I haven't felt much like writing on here because my brain has been just a bit fried! Orion has started pre-teething, which has translated into him sleeping very little. He's not overly fussy, he just doesn't sleep more than an hour, maybe two, at a time, and often with long gaps in between snooze sessions. This of course means that I was averaging 4-6 non-consecutive hours of sleep in a night, and after over a week of that, I was feeling very sleep deprived and out of it. Other than being more cranky than I've ever been in my life, sleep deprivation tends to make it hard for me to communicate clearly. My brain might formulate a cohesive thought, but by the time it travels to my mouth, the language gets all screwed up and nonsensical garble tends to come out. I even laugh at the weird stuff that I say, or just have to shake my head and wonder what it was I actually meant to convey. Oh well!
These lack-of-sleep nights have been tough on all of us, including my poor MacBook. Russell got up late (early) with Orion one night (morning) around 4am, and finally got him to go to sleep in his swing. Russell decided to snooze on the couch till he had to get up for work, and set his phone's alarm. The phone was placed precariously between my laptop and a glass of milk that I left out around 2am when I was up with the baby. You can probably imagine what happened next... I woke up later that day to discover a computer that wouldn't turn on and a very bummed out note from my honey. Fortunately, I paid for the insurance on the machine when I got it, and only had to pay for the upgraded machine (MacBook Pro, holla!) and a new insurance plan. Of course, I also lost two years+ of accumulated data from my old machine, including all that product photography, stuff I did for the wedding, baby photos, and countless other items. I'm still grieving the loss of some of that stuff, but as I keep reminding Russell (and myself) it was just stuff. Stupid me for not having it backed up; lately I'd been thinking I needed to get an external hard drive, and just hadn't done it yet. Now I have... Since I've been going back and forth to Best Buy in the past week while I get the exchanges worked out, I figured I'd go ahead and add the price of a Time Capsule to the computer replacement fees. That sucker is cool; it's a Wi Fi external hard drive, so it backs up both of our Macs automatically, and it's an airport so it works as our wireless internet router and networks in the printer... Pretty cool, actually. I can't imagine why I waited so long to get one, other than the price tag!
In other, happier news, my creative business Sachi Ivy Designs has been doing pretty well! I created a Facebook business page with portfolio shots of plays that I've done costumes for, as well as photo albums of various projects and jewelry that I've made. It's linked to my Etsy shop as well, so folks have an easier time finding me and checking out my work. I also spent a lot of time re-shooting the goods for sale, and the better product photography has lead to more frequent sales! On top of that, I've had one commission order after another this past month, starting with the Autumn Gown, a non-traditional wedding gown for Katie, who is getting hitched this weekend in the botanical gardens! The gown is green jacquard with tons of hand-dyed leaf appliques, an empire waist, double skirt, and a corseted lace-up back. Very pretty! I'm also currently working on a corset and skirt set for Liz, who commissioned the project for Hulaween and the NY New Year's Eve Phish shows.
The biggest news lately in relation to my sewing penchant is that I landed a job doing costumes for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, to be performed at the Carrboro Arts Center in December! The design style is going Steampunk, and I couldn't be more excited to be on this project! I need to clear the decks and get ready for a big push over the next month; I'm planning on 'pulling' most of the costumes, but for a couple of the big characters (Wonka, Veruca) we may need to build from the ground up. Either way, it's going to be great portfolio fodder and gives me yet another (very needed) reference!
On the work front, things are going well at Trader Joe's. I'm only working about 3 days a week, so it's not too stressful. I've recently been put in charge of the Demo counter, so I'm making up menus and writing orders for supplies and food items. It's been a bit bumpy to start, but I'm sure I'll get into the swing of things soon!
And finally, this week is off to a good start, partially because we're all looking forward to the big ending: HULAWEEN! For those of you who don't know, our favorite band The String Cheese Incident is performing two shows at the Hampton Coliseum in VA on the 29th and 30th. We're going and we're so excited! I just need to decide which costumes to wear! The real pincher on this one is whether or not we'll rally our energies to attend the Rally to Restore Sanity/March to Keep Fear Alive in DC on that Saturday; we really want to go, but it might be too much to slide that in between the two Cheese shows. We'll see; we just found out that Abraxas the Dragamuffin, the big gold dragon art bus from Burning Man, is going to roll with the March - I want to be there for that, for sure! It'll just depend on how much energy we have and how cooperative Orion is with our wild plans. Usually he's game, so we'll just have to see!

Orion Cuteness

This is just a few minutes of a typical play session with Orion...

Upgrades!

Though some days it's really slow going, I'm feeling pretty proud of the things I've managed to accomplish lately! My Etsy shopfront is in the best shape it's ever been. I'm still learning how to photograph my work effectively, but they have much improved (especially thanks to Ray and the light box).
I've been working hard to get more products in there; it's mostly jewelry, though there are some tie-dyes, a few baby items, and a few garments. There are now just under 50 items in the shop! I had a few sales last week, and a few things are on hold now, so I'm just hoping to see some response to the amount of effort I've been putting in.
Today I got a custom banner for the shop with the name in it; I think it looks great! I searched forever before I found something I really liked - plus the seller was way fast and I had it up within a few hours!
Take a look and let me know what you think!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SachiIvy

Decisions

After much ruminating, going back and forth internally and in conversation with Russell, and considering responses to Facebook posts, we have finally come to a decision about what to do with ourselves next year!
And the winner is: Western North Carolina! More specifically, Haywood Community College.
Although we really really really want to move out to the West Coast, we had to consider the big picture - our goals, our dreams, and what we want for Orion and our family.
Though I might be able to find a similar program somewhere on the West Coast, the program at Haywood is damn near perfect for what I really want to do with myself. Besides that, committing to a program in NC will save us both time and money. Plus, we're hoping that Russell can find some courses in sustainable applications somewhere nearby, so that he can get his GPA boosted for future grad school applications once we do move out West.
Completing the professional crafts program will enable me to do several things with my variety of crafting abilities; I'll be able to focus my design aesthetic, learn about business (which I'm pretty clueless about), and it will allow me to successfully work from home or at least have a second income from craft work. If I decide later on that I want to pursue a Masters in Costume Design, the associates from Haywood will also give me a leg up during that application process.
Being capable of working from home/being in business for myself is an important aspect of my goals, because we're really committed to homeschooling Orion (and any other kid(s) we might have!) through the early years at least. I have been a victim of the public school system for too many years to subject my own children to it, and this is really important to us as a family. That consideration helped make the decision much easier; the West Coast isn't going anywhere, after all (unless, of course, California really does fall into the ocean at some point ((2012??)) and then we wouldn't want to be living there anyway). Once we finally do get out there, I'll be more prepared to support our family through crafting. I also intend on maintaining a good relationship with Trader Joe's, because it's a company I feel good about working for, and could possibly be hired into a new store out West when the time comes. At that point, Russell can start into a master's program, maybe at Dominican in Davis, and I'll be perfectly outfitted to teach our kids and bring home the vegetarian bacon (although I think that stuff is gross).
We feel like this is a solid plan for us, and for that matter Asheville and the surrounding area is about as hippie as NC gets anyway, so hopefully we'll find the community we're looking for there. At least the climate is a bit cooler, and there are a lot of outdoor activities and tons of music events to consider! I think it will be a good place to live for the first few years of Orion's life as a toddler... And if we live a bit out of town (Haywood is in Clyde, NC, a bit west of Asheville) we'll be able to find a cheap place to live with some land attached to it. I think we can all be happy with that!
So there you have it, folks! Weeks of wrangling over that one question has finally come to an end! We still long for the Pacific Coast, but in the meantime the Great Smokies are a nice place to aim for!
I guess I can start the official application process now... Fun.
We'll be looking to move after our wedding (June 11, 2011) and before the beginning of the school year (usually in August) so my best guess is sometime in July, 2011, we'll be heading west. Just not as far west as we had originally planned. Still, it's a step in the right direction literally, and several steps in the right direction figuratively!

Hello again!

Well now, it's been a while, hasn't it?
I can't imagine why! Actually, I am about to explain why I've taken a bit of hiatus from blogger-land. I even took a few days off of Facebook (gasp!). All of this is due to my recent re-direction of energies. "Toward what?" you may be asking...
Of course if you've been keeping up with us and this little blog of mine you know that Orion is now almost 4 months old - amazing how times flies! I went back to work this week, which was sort of a bummer. I was so sad the day I had to go back. I've never been away from him for that long! But he's at home with Daddy while I'm at work, so at least we don't have to leave him in expensive child care! And the best part is that we live so close to Trader Joe's that Russell can bring Orion to see me on my break, therefore limiting the necessity of me pumping breastmilk at work and keeping everyone happy!
The return to work deadline motivated me in other ways, too, because there was a lot I wanted to get done before so much of my time was taken up with groceries. We are still researching schools, jobs, towns, and options for our move next year. We don't know where we're going yet, or what our plans are; we just know that it's time for the next phase of our lives and there is a lot to do to accomplish it. In order to facilitate that, I've spent a lot of time searching, but there was still a lot more to be done. Both Russell and I need to get our focus narrowed and our ducks in the proverbial row. This includes but in no way is limited to: reworking resumes, creating on-line portfolios, and marketing ourselves. For me, specifically, I have needed to get my ass in gear in regards to my creative work. I have a ton of supplies, a smattering of skills, and a fair eye for design - but very little motivation when it comes down to it. Why? I don't really know. I need to figure out "who I am" as a crafter/designer. I need to develop certain aspects of my skills/talents. And I need to get my work out there, stat!
So I've started working on my own stuff as much as possible with lots of breaks for baby time. This includes working on a wedding dress commission that I'm excited to see completed. I've also started doing more jewelry work, since that's something that is fairly easy to do while nursing (since sewing definitely isn't). But that's not enough - I need to get this work out there. Clearly I need to build a stock so that I have enough items to sell to shops. I'd like to even vend at a festival or two in the Spring, which also means collecting the materials to create a booth, which will then need to be set up and photographed in order to apply to most craft fairs. That requires money up front... And right now we're pretty broke, since I just returned to work. In order to support my craftwork, I need to get it working for me!
So I've tried hard in the last few weeks to update and revamp my Etsy shopfront - it's still in the works - but I have re-shot a lot of the jewelry photographs. And I've been working like a madwoman on a line of hemp jewelry to add. I also finally photographed the line of baby tie-dyes, and actually managed to get the one adult piece of clothing, a corset, photographed and posted. Whee! This effort lead to several sales in the first week. Hopefully that will continue!
If you'd like to see my work (and I sure hope you do!) please check out my Etsy shopfront at http://www.etsy.com/shop/SachiIvy
You can also find me on Facebook under Sachi Ivy Designs - I love all the "likes" I've been getting! Please pass on this information to anyone who might be interested in my work. Word of mouth and support from friends is the best advertising I could ask for!
And now it's time to get back to tying some hemp....