alive at 5!

The schedule for Alive at 5 is up! Alive at 5 is a series of free concerts in downtown Stamford featuring B-list bands that were awesome in the 90s. Blues Traveler, Boys II Men, Sister Hazel, you get the picture...Attracts huge crowds, sometimes too huge. But overall, it's a great way to spend a Thursday night in the summer.

Here's the line-up:

June 25 - Smash Mouth
July 2 - Gilby Clarke (of Guns N’ Roses and Supernova)
July 9 - Better Than Ezra
July 16 - Tonic
July 23 - Josh Gracin (American Idol 2003)
July 30 - Bo Bice (American Idol 2005)
August 6 - Sugar Ray

what a GRATE day

It's been quite awhile since I last blogged...not too much to report on. This past weekend was awesome (as J posted below) We had a much needed, relaxing time in Newport...and we couldn't have asked for better weather. Last night I had my last grad class of the semester. Presentations are dunzo. Now I just need to get motivated and finish my paper which is due next Tuesday. Tonight we're going to Jersey to see THE DEAD. We'll be tailgating in style with beer and goodies as we prepare to listen to some good tunes.

Have a good one!
xo,
E

Weekend update

Quite a weekend for us...Friday afternoon's work happy hour was so awesome that E decided she wanted to come to the city to see Tinariwen after all.


I forgot to bring my camera, so I've stolen this picture from brooklynvegan:




Then it was off to Newport the next morning for a much-needed weekend out of town with no email, very little phone contact, and no real plans. We spent Saturday afternoon at Newport Vineyards and wound up buying a couple of bottles of wine for our new place...can't wait to drink them out on our balcony with some music on. Saturday night, we ate at Scales & Shells, which was recommended by my parents and which also served me the best fish I've ever had in my life (it was grilled tuna). We wound up heading back to our B&B earlier than we we expected, which was still fine.

Today, we walked around town, bought some souvenirs, etc, and then headed back (with a few stops along the way) to our part of the world. Tomorrow it's back to work and the real world, but for now, I'm gonna hold on to this weekend a little longer.

Peace.

april showers

Still raining? C'mon now...

Onto brighter and happier things:

1. Newport this weekend. LOVE Newport. We're leaving early on Saturday morning, grabbing lunch up in RI, and then make our way over to the vineyards for some wine tasting! And J even promised we could stop off at the outlets on our way home Sunday afternoon. He's the best, huh?
2. Just found out we scored some cheap-o tickets to The Dead show next Wednesday night in Jersey. Gonna be a late one, but I'm so pumped! Next up: try to get tix to one of the Phish shows in Aug :)
3. Sold 2 pieces of furniture! Which mean more money in my pocket and room for boxes...
4. Jewelry sales are up, and the new website has finally launched. Take a peek...

That's it for now. I packaged a bunch of necklace orders that I'll send out tomorrow, packed up a few more boxes, and now I think I'll just relax and do some reading...nighty night, folks :)

The week[end] that was

The TLB
Originally uploaded by One Ping Only

A band practice/This is Spinal Tap- and Borat-watching session.
Getting stuff done, including finally getting a hard case for my bass head.
Lunch with my parents.
A fantastic night in the city, which only started with a Terryl Lee Band gig.
An afternoon of maxin'/relaxin'.

That's how you do a weekend.

One month to Moving Day. Wish us luck.

fab friday

It is absolutely beautiful outside! Spring is in the air, and I'm loving it. Right after school J and I are signing the lease on our new apartment!! Then a celebratory dinner at My Favorite Place, which has quickly turned into my new favorite restaurant. If you're local, this is a must try!
We'll be less than 2 miles from the beach. No work, no school...I'm sure you can guess where you'll find me this summer. And it will be really nice to go for walks at the beach in the morning (all the way along the route is about 3 miles)

No plans on Saturday night? Then check out the Terryl Lee Band at the Alphabet Lounge in the city. A bunch of my favorites are meeting up there for good times and good music :)

One last thing, the video from the Martha Stewart show is now up and running on their website. You might have to play around with it a little, but you can see Rosie O'Donnell wearing one of my necklaces in the "audience crafts" and "goodbye" segments.

smiles & hugs,
e

Look who's on Etsy...

Along with the new website that's about to launch this week, we've also opened an Etsy shop. Check out some of the latest necklaces, and place orders online.

Happy Shopping!

ugh

I'm tired of grad school. May 5th can't come soon enough.

...on a brighter note: the new *jewelry without jewels* website is almost ready for its debut. Stay tuned!

GOOD friday

Reasons why today is so good:

1. Everything went fine yesterday, and now I can stop thinking about it for awhile :)
2. Home in the Jerz for the holiday...my mom and I went to Rice's Market this morning and I picked up a bunch of Angela Moore bracelets for $5. $5? I mean really, that's craziness.
3. We got an apartment!! J and I will be signing the lease for a condo in Greenwich this weekend. We're about 2 miles from the beach, and tucked away in a cute little complex. We were only looking for a one bedroom, but lucked out and found this place that also has a loft. The moving madness will begin Memorial Day Weekend. I love it, and can't wait to move and get settled in.

fun in the city last weekend

sarah's birthday festivities


j playing for the best audience: my first graders

I'm leaving Facebook

Garage
Originally uploaded by One Ping Only

And no, it has nothing to do with the new layout or whatever--it's ugly and dumb and too Twittery for pretty much anyone's tastes, but that's got nothing to do with it.

The problem is that Facebook doesn't do anything better than any other app, and yet it's way more time-consuming.

Let's see--what have I used Facebook for recently?

• Looking at photos of lots of people smiling, most of whom I don't know. I have a Flickr account that's way more flexible than the Facebook photo app.


• Mail. I have an email address. Gmail works great. Also, even our super-retentive network filter at work lets us check email.


• Finding out what friends are doing. Actual human contact is kind of cool, as are phones. Email's good enough. Twitter? Not so much.


• Getting invited to events. If someone really wants me to go, they'll call, text, or email. Just no more evites, please, okay?


• Promoting shows. We've been using Facebook to invite people to Terryl Lee Band shows, but we've got a mailing list that's better.

What else do I do online? I follow a couple dozen blogs via RSS, use Google Docs for my word processing, and occasionally stream some audio.

The worst part about this is that I feel like I'm just doing the electronic equivalent of telling you kids to get the hell off my lawn. I'm not anti-Facebook the way some of my colleagues are. I definitely get it. I get Facebook so much, in fact, that I've let myself waste way more time on it than I care to admit publically.

And that's really why I'm looking to bail out. I want to get some time back. With Facebook, I found myself logging in to check one or two things--who's coming to a show, for example, or whether I was tagged in the photos from last weekend's festivities--and then 30, 45, 60 minutes would go by as I checked people's status updates, photos, news, etc. And I think I'd like that time back. Checking email and reading stuff via RSS, while time-consuming, is much more manageable, with much less of a sense of urgency and transience.

I'm reclaiming my time in the only way I know how--pulling myself out of what for me has become a huge timesuck. I want to use my after-work Facebook time for getting stuff done, so that I can then spend more evening and weekend time with the people I love. I might even start reading more, or watching the movies that Netflix sends me, or taking more pictures, or spending more time outside. None of these are bad things, and Facebook isn't either. It's just not for me anymore.

I'm shrinking my world, in a good way. And I'm still not going the Luddite route--I'm actually planning on spending the weekend upgrading my laptop so I can do more with it--and I still believe in social networking. It's just that I need more control over how much information I feel like I need to deal with in any given day. My soul needs to select its own society, as Emily Dickinson might say.

Filling the time will be easy. Spring is here.

lovely

I just discovered Manuel Canovas Taj Mahal Bedding and I love it. Waaay too much money to ever spend on bedding , but I'm determined to find it for less!

There's a good chance I'll be MIA the next few days. I've been getting tons of necklace orders, and trying to send those out asap. After work tomorrow night, we're meeting up with one of my favorite people (aka my college roommie) for drinks in the city. It's always fun when the 2 of us are together. Saturday night will be filled with birthday festivities. Pics to follow!

I hope you all have a great weekend. Enjoy the spring air, surround yourself with people you love, just take some time to relax :)