melissahead, in print!

I was contacted a year ago to submit some images of my cards for a book about handmade greetings. Of the cards I submitted, six had been chosen for the book, and I sent 'em in to the author. I eventually forgot about the whole thing, until a few weeks ago. I decided to look into it, and I saw that the book was available for pre-order on Amazon, so I went and ordered it. It wasn't supposed to be available until January, but lo and behold, it arrived on my doorstep yesterday!

So, here it is!

1,000 Handmade Greetings: Creative Cards and Clever Correspondence



I'm pretty stoked! It's really exciting to see my work in a real, life, published book. It makes me wish I was still crafting and not on "hiatus"!

Rockin' Around My Christmas Tree

As you may know from my previous posts, putting up my Christmas tree is a big deal. It connects me to my grandmother, who really was the only person in my family with any holiday spirit. So now that she's gone, I'm all by my lonesome. My husband runs so quickly from me when I'm decorating, you'd think he was allergic to cheer. He might be, actually.

Like I've done the last few years, I put on a Christmas album and carefully placed each ornament, reminiscing on holidays of yore. It's times like this when I wish I had a large family to share in the spirit of Christmas. But I suppose for now, I'm in this alone.

I was disappointed with the way the green ornaments blended into the tree last year, so I went out a bought blue ones. Now I almost feel like my tree is patriotic, but I still love it. All I need is a lovely red, tree skirt and I'll be all set.

Maybe this Christmas will mean something more
Maybe this year love will appear
Deeper than ever before
And maybe forgiveness will ask us to call
Someone we love
Someone we’ve lost
For reasons we can’t quite recall
Mmm, maybe this Christmas

"Maybe This Christmas" by Ron Sexsmith

Look both ways!

I had a scary morning yesterday. I saw a woman get hit by a car.

The street in front of my building is a narrow one way street. People cross it all the time because the door to my building is in the center. No point in walking to a corner cross walk. Well, anyway, walking back from Starbucks at 7:30 am, I had to cross that road but an SUV flew by, so I waited, then I crossed. Afterward, I noticed the SUV, which had almost made it down to the end of the street, had stopped and started to reverse...quickly. Even though my back was to the road, I had to turn around because I was so surprised at how fast the SUV was traveling backwards. I checked to see if anyone was in the middle of the road, and I saw a 40-something woman start to cross. I had just enough time to think, “Oh no,” when he slammed right into her. Thank god he didn’t run her over!! He must have seen her at the last minute and braked.

I dug through my purse for my phone and called 911 while a small crowd formed, including my coworker who gathered the woman’s things and told her that help was on its way. She wasn’t bleeding, but she looked terrible. Shaking and moaning. When the ambulance came, I heard the driver tell the paramedic that he was only going 10 mph, but that was a complete lie. It put a humongous dent in the back of his SUV!!! So it’s not like he gently pushed her over! I made sure to tell the cop that I saw everything, and I gave him my statement. I know it was an accident, but what that driver did was beyond careless.

A few hours later, my coworker came into my office to let me know that the woman was fine! Her husband came by looking for her cell phone and he said she just had a mild concussion and he was taking her home. Crazy! I was so relieved. But I keep replaying that moment in my head, watching her get hit. I'm still a bit freaked out. It might be dramatic, but I keep thinking that I crossed that road 15 seconds earlier, so it could very well have been me. And being as frail and stickly as I am, I definitely would have snapped in half.

Now I'm going to be extra cautious and look both ways before crossing, even one way streets!

The Demon Barber of Nathan Drive

That's me. For some reason last week, I decided that my outgrown bangs were ruining my "look", so I was going to get a blunt cut. But since it was a holiday week, I couldn't score an appointment with my stylist. Drats! So thanks to some coaxing, (thanks a lot, Jeope) I got the idea in my head that I could cut my own hair. I used to do it. And there were rarely any disasters, except for the time my mother took the scissors to my bangs the day before 9th grade class pictures and they ended up a whole inch shorter than I wanted.

I stopped at the grocery story on the way home from work last Wednesday and bought a $20 pair of barber shears. I stormed into the house and shouted to Rob, "I have to take care of something!" SNIP!

Whoops.

That first snip was a little shorter than I wanted. Dammit!!! Well, it was too late now, so I had to do the whole thing. I walked out of the bathroom with a new 'do and said to Rob, "I think I made a terrible mistake."

The next few days I started to get accustomed to my fringe. And now, I don't hate them at all. I might even like them. I think it'll look even better once my non-bang hair grows longer.


I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Mine was delightful. Spent the day with Rob's family and then went to my parents' house for the weekend. I have instilled a love of Rock Band in my father. I'm so proud.

This morning I went around the neighborhood hanging door hangers for a neighborhood food drive. I got the idea a few weeks ago and I'm pretty excited about it! My only fear is that some crotchety neighbor will leave me an angry voicemail about leaving garbage on their door. But hopefully people are filled with the holiday spirit. Here are the door hangers I whipped up.

So I suppose that's all that's going on right now. I'm also trying to organize our holiday soirée, but it seems that a lot of people already have plans on the 20th, so it may end up being a small group of us pigging out and playing games. I'd be perfectly happy with that!

How old am I?

I'm 28. But that doesn't mean I'm too old to dress up in costumes and make stupid videos.

Last night there was some Rock Band fun in my living room. Hot Sundae was formed, bonus points if you get the reference. We made a few music videos in the process of taking over the world. Enjoy!

Sabotage
Kay on vocals | Christina on drums | Melissa on guitar |
Crystal as ghostly figure | Cinematography by Rob
Key moment: Rob discovers zoom and Crystal takes the elevator behind the armchair.




Ballroom Blitz
Melissa on vocals | Christina on drums | Kay on guitar | Cinematography by Rob
Key moment: Christina laughing behind her mask and Rob makes a special appearance accidentally during a fancy camera shot.




Say It Ain't So
Christina on vocals | Kay on drums | Melissa on guitar | Cinematography by Rob
Key Moment: Christina standing two inches away from the tv so she could see without her glasses and Kay sweatily tearing off the gorilla mask.

Preparing for the Holidays

It's creeping up quickly. Christmastime. Pretty soon I'll be pulling my grandmother's tree out of the garage and struggling with hanging lights. But I'm vowing to make this Christmas different. Come on, I'm the NICE girl, right? It would be out of character if I didn't try to do something socially responsible.

At Barnes and Noble the other day I picked up this book, 1001 Ways to Do Good. When paging through, one jumped out at me.

#361. Organize a Neighborhood Food Drive

Hmm. Well, I live in the perfect neighborhood. It's a small, confined suburban development filled with townhouses and condos. I could hit a lot of homes in a short amount of time. The more I started thinking about, the more I liked the idea. I could design little cards to leave at their doors...no, door hangers! And I could ask people to either bring their bags to my house or leave them on their doorstep at a particular date and time and I could go around the neighborhood picking them up. Easy! I mean, everyone must have some cans or boxes of something they aren't using in their pantry. Right? So I contacted the Food Bank of South Jersey, and they are super supportive of the idea! My goal is to do this the first week of December. I really hope all goes well. If it does, I'd love to make it a yearly tradition!

My other good thought was actually Rob's step mom's idea. She mentioned at the last family function that instead of buying gifts, she'd rather just chip in and buy a family a llama, something her mom continues to do with her friends. We chuckled at the idea, but I really think it's brilliant! Every Christmas, we painlessly stand in front of the grocery story gift card wall and select presents for Rob's family. And you know what? We get the same things in return. Not that I'm not grateful! But it seems a little pointless to give someone a $50 Lowes gift card when they give you the same exact thing right back.

So in that book, they mention Heifer International, where you can provide needy families with resources like cows, llamas, sheep, chicks, etc.


I'm going to print out the info and bring it along to Thanksgiving. I feel like I might be maturing. (Finally, at 28 years old!) Normally, I'm pretty greedy. I want gifts. Good ones. Lots of them. But really, for the first time this year, I don't want anything. And I can say that in all honesty. I always thought my parents were crazy when they said things like that, but maybe they are right. Maybe I got to the age when I have everything that I need. A wonderful husband, a good job, a beautiful home, a loving family. What else could I ask for?

I mean seriously. I already have Rock Band.

Introducing The Bean Freaks

I went to my parents' house last weekend for my mom's birthday. Saturday night we had a friendly family (me, my mom, and my dad) poker game and I happened to win the big pot...20 whole dollars. I gave the $20 to my mom who was headed to Atlantic City on Monday and asked her to make me a rich woman. I wrote "Melissa's Lucky $20" on the bill and handed it to her.

Monday afternoon my mother called my cell phone while I was at work. When I answered, I could hear the huge smile on her face. She popped my $20 into a video poker machine and won $500! 2000 quarters, to be exact. Since she did all the hard work, we're splitting the winnings. But that gave me more than enough to cover the purchase that I have been talking about for weeks!


Oh yes! I am the proud owner of Rock Band! I played for about three hours last night while Rob was out, and I guarantee that this will stop all productivity in my household. No eating. No cleaning. Just rocking! I sang a bunch, but that was really easy. So I switched to the guitar. On the medium level, I was doing pretty well, so I switched over to hard and nearly had an anxiety attack! I should have video taped it. Maybe tonight I'll try drums.

Oh, The Bean Freaks? That's my band name. They asked me so suddenly and that was the first thing that came to mind. Don't ask why. Yeah Bean Freaks!

And so the obsession starts...

Yes, I bought my first feathered headband a week ago. Yes, I have already purchased another.

But get this! I wore my first one out last Friday and a friend of mine mentioned that his sister makes them. Come on. Now that's like feathered fate, right?? So I took a peek at her etsy shop. Her headbands are gorgeous! I couldn't resist and I bought one right away.

This one is much more "hey look at me!" so I may have to save it for nights and weekends. I don't know if my coworkers could appreciate the fabulousness of such an item. (Hey, side note. Fabulousness is a real word. Hmm.)

EDIT: More photos to share!

I'm editing this post to include all of the "submissions."

This is what happens when you post a photo of yourself on a graphic design forum. Photoshop war! They took my nice, little, happy "Vote here today" photo and turned it into...well, you'll see. I love how two of the designers had the exact same idea at the exact same time! Obviously I was good inspiration!

I enthusiastically voted!

It was a tiny room with one voting booth. But it moved along swiftly and I was out in less than 15 minutes. Pretty sweet considering my Philadelphian coworkers had 2 hour long lines.

I hope you all (that live in this country) had a pleasant voting experience!

Post Halloween Blues

I love Halloween. Why? Because I'm all for any excuse to wear a wig and a ridiculous outfit. For example, last year's Björk swan dress. This year I went in a different direction. While in a thrift store a few weeks back, I saw a hideous fur coat on the rack. I thought it might be funny to douse it in red paint and play a PETA victim (though I know they don't do that....anymore). I got Rob to play along as an animal rights activist. I even rigged up the paint can with some red streamers for a high tech paint-tossing effect. Here's the result.



I was a little concerned with the shortness and sparkliness of the sequined mini. I'm normally one against the skankification of Halloween, and I think quite a few people mistook me for a dead hooker. But all in all, I was satisfied.

It was a great Halloween weekend! We ended up hitting four different events, two on Friday, two on Saturday. I already can't wait for next year. We're toying with the idea of going as two wild and crazy guys, but I suppose we have a year to figure that out.

I hope you all had a splendid Halloween!

Headbandwagon

I've jumped on the "headbandwagon", which means I bought myself one of those sickenly trendy, yet oh so cute, feathered headbands. I was in Urban Outfitters yesterday, and I just couldn't help myself. I blame Kenley from Project Runway. Despite being a massive beyotch, she was freakin' adorable. I don't know how I feel about it. Something in me tells me that I can't pull it off. I don't have that "retro" look going on, no matter how much eyeliner and red lipstick I slap on. But hey, it's worth a shot.

I'm going to Making Time tonight. (Making Time = sweaty, crazy, indie rock, dj, live band, dance party) I'm pretty stoked. And then we have two parties to attend tomorrow night. Busy weekend!

Today is the Phillies celebration parade. Depending on whether or not I feel like walking in that direction to get lunch, I may pop over to see it. But it's not a priority for me like it is for the other 1.5 million people here. So many of my coworkers have ditched out today, which means it's extra quiet for me. Just how I like it!

Ooh, a tag!

I feel so special! Annie of imogene tagged me!

favorite artist/designer: I've always loved Keith Haring
I love to create using: paper
what inspires me: music, really creative advertising, my insanely talented friends
favorite medium besides my own: letterpress, I wish I could do it!
most inspirational city: NYC
ideal weekend off: wandering around a busy city on a beautiful day and sitting on a park bench reading a great book with a cup of coffee in my hand
favorite color: lately it's been plum
favorite musician: (of all time)- tough call, i love stuart murdoch of belle & sebastian, or elliott smith, or thom yorke
favorite movie: I have to steal Annie's answer and say Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
favorite song: "pyramid song" by radiohead or "don't leave the light on, baby" by B&S
favorite song lyric: "Give me my money back. Give me my money back, you bitch. I want my money back. And don't forget. And don't forget to give me back my black t-shirt." Ben Folds Five
If I could have any other job it would be: Does "singer in a crazy punk rock band" count as a job?
I wish: I had more free time to do all of the things that I want to. Take classes, go on vacation, craft, write, draw, hang out with my family, volunteer, read, cook, clean, decorate, organize, sleep, shop, sew, etc.

Okay peeps, here's who I'm tagging: Maria, Devon, and Jules.

Slack-a-dack-a-ding-dong

Yeah, I'm slacking, I know. Blogging is hard!!

I took off work today so I could work on a project, but I haven't even started and it's 2:15 pm. That's bad. And it's all your fault! I could have started, but nooooo. I had to post for you! You'd better feel special.

Anyway, I wanted to get some work done today because I'm not going to be around this weekend. We're headed up to my parents' house tonight, since they are closer to NYC. Tomorrow we're going on a walking food tour in Greenwich Village with my in-laws. Unfortunately, the weather couldn't be crappier. "Windy with morning showers evolving to a steady, soaking rain in the afternoon." Awesome. That's kind of putting a damper on the fun of the whole thing.

In other news, I wanted to share this with you. Suzie, who is an absolute sweetheart and writes the blog Button & Squiggle sent me a package of goodies! Blog readers, meet Gelb (left). Gelb, meet my blog readers. She was holding a little blog contest for Gelb and she ended up making a bunch of Gelb friends so that she could send one to everyone who had entered! He's so lovely! She also sent me an assortment of paper goodies too, which you know always wins my heart.

But in addition to all that, I got a special treat. Suzie creates these beautiful illustrations, and she drew a picture of me and Gelb! I think it's the best drawing of me that exists! I was so excited about it that I ran out to Target to buy a frame, and I hung it in my office. Isn't it great?!



Other than that, I have no news. I'm working on this project, sort of having to do with Operation NICE. If all works out, it could be really amazing, but I don't want to get my hopes up just yet. I'm not going to share in fear of jinxing anything, but I'll let you all in on it when the timing is right.

Rob called me when I was in the middle of this post. After our conversation, he said, "I love you, now go right." I replied, "What?" And he kept saying, "go right, now, go right." So I look right, and there's my window. I'm thinking, is he outside and he's trying to tell me he came home early? "Huh??" Then he says, "Write, like type. Go write!" Ohhhhh. Those dang homonyms. They get me every time.

Sleep-talking Nonsense: Part 2

I have mentioned before, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and just start talking nonsense. I'm half awake, but I really believe that what I'm saying makes perfect sense.

The other night I woke up, turned to Rob, and said, "The ducks can't pronounce the g's." He thinks this is the most hilarious thing. So he tries to convince me that I'm babbling about ducks, but in my head, I feel like I really need to explain what I mean. I'm not insane! So I go off about how the ducks are on a game show, but they just can't pronounce their g's. Finally, when I feel like he just doesn't "get it", I frustratedly roll over and go back to sleep. But I'm awake through this event. When Rob brings it up the next day, I remember the whole thing! It's then, and only then, that I realize I was talking like a crazy person.

Pick a Flick

Once again, I've resorted to posting videos so that I don't have to write much on here. But this is for good reason. There are so many good movies out right now, and I've been trying to get out to see them. But between Rob's soccer practice and the baseball playoffs, he hasn't had much time to see a movie, let alone four or five!

I'd like to see Religulous. Rob, surprisingly, isn't as interested. Mainly because he thinks Bill Maher is a "dick". But I think this will be a nice companion to The Year of Living Biblically, which I'm currently reading and loving. It's making me think about religion differently.

And then there's Towelhead, a movie by the same writer of American Beauty and creator of Six Feet Under. Part humorous, part disturbing.

Trouble the Water is only in the theater here for a few more days, so if I want to see it, I should go on Wednesday. I have a feeling this one will make me feel like crap, and I'll probably cry my eyes out.

And lastly, I kind of sort of want to see Choke and Burn After Reading. I won't post those trailers because they are mainstream. So, have you seen any of these?? What do you think?

I love scarf weather!

I love wearing my plaid tweed blazer, complete with elbow patches along with a wooly scarf. That always seems to be my uniform for attending the Collingswood Book Festival, which happens to be tomorrow. The weather should be perfect. By the time we start (10am), it will be just chilly enough to justify a cup of hot chocolate.

I always leave Rob alone to do his nerd thing while I wander the farmer's market, stuffing my face with cheese samples. Then I'll probably pull up a bench and start reading. Rob thinks it's funny that I'll bring a book to a book festival, but I can't even keep up with the ones I currently have, so I'll take that time to relax, read, and people watch. I might even bring my moleskine to jot down some notes.

Either way, I'm really looking forward to it! I won't even be sad if the Stewart's Root Beer truck isn't there. Okay, maybe a little.

Keeping Busy

Hi everyone! I've been around, I swear. I know you've noticed that my posting has not only diminished in quantity, but also quality. Sorry for the lame video posts, life has been a tiny bit overwhelming lately. Work is...well, work. It's busy season for us. And unfortunately our busy season is much like the baseball season. Excruciatingly long. (Um, I mean, go Sox!)

Aside from work, Operation NICE has been quite the time-sucker lately. I mean that in the best way possible! I love this project, I do. But sometimes it's tough sitting in front of a computer for 9 hours straight and then eating a quick meal only to sit in front of a different computer for a few more hours. Do you know how behind I am in Top Model, Project Runway, and Gossip Girl?! Egads! But in the end, it's all worth it. (Oh, side note. There's a giveaway going on over there now, so you may want to stop by.)

My Roberto has been coaching soccer, which means he isn't around to do his wifely duties like dishes, vacuuming, and laundry. And lord knows I'm not pickin' up those tasks! Therefore, you can imagine the state of our home. I could probably write "WASH ME" in the layer of dust on our hardwood floor.

In hilarious news, my mother called me today to tell me that they had a sewage blockage which resulted in the explosion of their bathroom. An explosion of poop! My clean freak mother bleached the entire area approximately 40 times, but she claims she can still smell poop in the house.

Excuse me for a minute.


HAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHA!

Okay, I'm back. I tried to show her how funny this situation is, but she doesn't see it that way. One day she will.

No other news to report, as of yet. I hope you all are doing super duper!

Don't Vote

Seen on Jenn Ski Studio Blog:

I'm not Jewish...

...but I'd be willing to make The Great Schlep.

You know, if I had grandparents in Florida. But I don't. So I'll stay put.

Either way, this video cracks me up! Oh Sarah Silverman, please tell me, how can I be as delightfully funny as you are?

Warning: This video has hilarious NSFW language.

The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.