Bohemian Mermaid Palace

I'm still here. Vacation was swell, thanks. My attitude was adjusted appropriately I think... just in time too. I'm back to work at the peace sticker place. Most of my coworkers left for a week or two, so I'm holding down the peace fort. I have skills. And it's been slow. Also, I refuse to be stressed. So it's working out fine. I also just scored a last-minute spot in the Fort Bragg festival this weekend... um Paul Bunyan Days. Yippee! I have wanted to do this one for a few years, but always miss the deadline somehow. I usually do pretty well in that area, and it is a holiday weekend. So I suspect the wealthy vacationers will be in abundance. Luckily, I have been reckless in my online ordering during my break, so I have lots of stuff to dye up. I'm a bit behind schedule, due to car issues and my own lame tendencies... but I can hear the washer finishing up a load of Ocean colored stuff as I type. I'll have a few things for the mendo throngs to adore. Worry n...

Oh, yessss. I'm lovin it. After months of hard work and slaving away at the Peace Sticker place between c raft shows, filling in for other folks and whatnot... I now have a whole week off! Yippee. Can I afford it? I don't know. But that won't stop me from enjoying myself. Oh no. I managed to work o ut a Mom visit, which is pretty cool. She'll be arriving on Tuesday from North Dakota, and on Thursday we'll drive to Reno to visit my little bro and his wife in their new house. I'm getting pretty excited about the whole thing. I mean, Mom hasn't been here to visit for a couple years, hasn't seen the new digs. And I haven't seen my brother since his wedding over a year ago. Eesh. Way too long! It's going to be so fun!! So, for now... after I'm done basking in my vacation-ness, which means lounging on the computer in my pj's for hours at a time... it will be time to clean the house real good. Yip. I have a few things planned for Mom when she ar...

Oh yeah, baby. One of the best things about vending at festivals with such talented artists is definitely the booty. I love to trade mermaid clothing for goodies on my travels. Sometimes I even buy stuff. Like the painting above. I bought it from the guy selling next to me up at that oregon show. I love it. sort of a cross between sunset at the beach up here and maybe some other planetscape. Plus the guy was neat to talk with (and he wasn't selling much I think). This bag is great and the fabric is fuzzy. Love it so much I made it my new magical money bag for the booth. I scored both of these at the fair on Clear Lake. The bag I traded for. The painting I bought from this little old lady who was so sweet! She was doing her booth all alone and it was painful to watch, she wouldn't accept much help cuz she said, if I can't do it alone I might as well stay home. The painting really reminds me of her. The card above was SUCH a score! I was at that oregon show, running to get so...

I'm resting. But as we know, the Mermaid's work is never done... I have things to take care of. Let's see... uh, website stuff for sure. I haven't updated the inventory on it for months. Gotta do that. I also have a bunch of items not shown on the site. So, new photos and new pages are in order for sure. I think I'm going to hire my friend's daughter to help with a bunch of stuff. That will be fun. I have business crap to take care of too. This place is a mess! Gotta fix up my files and sales records and all that. Ick. OH, and it looks like I'm gonna get me a new VAN finally! Yipee! A nice big cargo van, just like the one I use that belongs to Barney. But newer and not creepy. THAT is freakin exciting. Christmas fair applications are showing up, so time to figure out what the hell I'm doing this year in that area. Sigh. Oh, and the designs I've been working on with The Buz are coming together. I should have at least 2 new pieces for North Country F...

So today at work , as I slaved away over a hot keyboard/phone/stickerpile... we had khum on the radio as usual. At some point I noticed they were playing the friday songs. (Larry usually plays a few particular songs near 5pm on fridays and then announces it's officially the weekend. Sometimes he'll play them at like 2pm and just say he's 'calling it'. It's the weekend people, start figuring out your excuse to leave work early. Cute, I know. I love Larry.) How odd, thought I. Why the hell are they playing friday songs at noon on tuesday? Cruelty? I may have mumbled about it to myself throughout the set of songs... I'm not saying for sure. Well duh Mermaid, there is a holiday tomorrow and many many folks have the day off or even long weekends. Sure, ok. At the end of the set Mike says, "call me up and tell me what just happened, using the proper phrasing and I'll give you a cd". So I did. You called it, man! Then he asked if I had to work tomorr...

Oh, let's see um... huh... maybe I might do ANOTHER FESTIVAL. Wooo! Tomorrow I'm off to the Umpqua Valley Arts Festival up in Roseburg Oregon. It's a 3 day hootinany with over 100 art booths, 2 stages, kids area, food, wine garden... the whole shibang. Sweet. So, it's about a 4 hour drive north. I'll be going alone, Barney has to be at work friday I think. I am splurging for a motel for the entire trip and that will be quite luxurious. Showers and beds and everything. Heehee. Barney might show up at some point, not sure yet. But, I have no problems with doing a festival alone, I've done it lots of times and it's a little more of an adventure that way you know. Yeah, I don't have much else to tell. Except that I have about a ton of stuff to do and I'm still sitting here in coffee mode. Yawn. Thanks for helping me procrastinate...

I've been so busy, I forgot to show off my new Bohemian Mermaid stickers! I've wanted these ever since I started working at the sticker place and now I have them... sweet huh? I have 1000, want one?

Ok, I might be getting a little tired. I've done let's see... 4 craft shows in 6 weeks, most of them out of town. And dyeing stuff while working 4 days a week. Heh. Yeah I know, I'm studly. But I wouldn't mind a day off really. However, as you well know, a Mermaid's work is never done, and so... Tomorrow I have a festival! Wooo! It's the 17th annual Oyster Festival right here at home. Sweet. There aren't that many craft booths, this is really more about the food. But, I will have a giant obnoxious double booth per Barney's encouragement (bah just go for it!). I'm feeling a little self-conscious about it. But I guess if it makes me more visible it could help my sales. And he was right about paying more for the corner booth in benbow, that paid off pretty well. Yeah, I really hope he's right. Cuz this little one day fair is costing me plenty. The booth is spendy to begin with, for the privilege of selling in the lovely town of Arcata. Double booth...

No. So there I was, trying to recover still from the busy festival last weekend. I've been so tired all week, with work and all... when Friday I get a call from the chick who runs the Trinidad sunday market. She's saved me a spot at the Fish Festival and will I be attending? Uh, I wasn't planning on it... since I have a ton of dyeing to do and I'm still so tired like I said. But, then she says how it's the 50th annual and there are like 40 booths and how I don't have to pay extra since I'm already signed up for the market etc. Gosh, at that moment it sounded too good to pass up. Sure, ok I'll be there! Of course, as soon as I got off the phone I says to myself I says, "What are you nuts?!" But Barney, being the awesome supporter he is, says "Hey, why not right? You can make a few bucks and I'll go with you to help, I'd like some of those fish and chips!" Ok. Sure, I'm studly what the hell. I'll dye stuff on saturday an...

Yeah, I really just wanted to see that title.... so I needed a separate post. For some reason, my booth was a place for weird items to be lost during the show. Ok, two items. But still it was odd. Saturday, a garbage bag full of popcorn. Nobody claimed it, we asked around the neighbor's busy henna booth. Nope. Everyone in the immediate area. No, not mine. To my knowledge, no booths were even selling popcorn. We left it there for hours. People commented on it, but nobody touched it or came looking for it. It was a mystery. Later, we closed the booth and went wandering... many hours and drunk people passed, and still the popcorn was there. When we were returning to the booth to go to bed, I saw a figure in the dark bent over inspecting the bag... I didn't miss a step, "It's popcorn!" and I disappeared behind our tent laughing. The next morning it was gone. Sunday it was a pair of handcuffs. They were first spotted by some kids whose parents were visiting the pottery...