Robots at Dresscodes

So my plan was to carry my camera everywhere, because you never know when you'll find great shots. Then I'd post on my blog. It's the actually blogging where I've been slacking, but I consider it a work in progress. So here are some pics of the opening reception of Travis Smith's art show at Dresscodes in Decatur. There was some great music, beer, company and of course, art.

Here's a bio of the artist: Travis grew up in the 80s and 90s and hit his head a lot. He doodles/draws/paints constantly- usually when he should be doing other things. His influences range from Saturday morning cartoons to tattoos. He runs on hamburgers and beer. Every now and then he manages to create something that other people dig.

Etsy Obsession

Ok, I have now become addicted to etsytools.com and the Etsy forums. At first, I had gone to the Storque articles to read up on the successful Etsy sellers and what they did to become successful. The Storque also has some great articles on basic business admin. So then I saw people mentioning the forums, so I went to go check it out. There is a lot of good advice and just experiences that other sellers posted about. I eventually even started to post some stuff. This definitely did up the amount of views I was getting on my items, but not necessarily any more sales. I mostly read the Business & Marketing forums to get info on people promoting and advertising. I've been taking things slow on Etsy and haven't really promoted myself, just because I want my shop to look really good. I have been working on my pictures. Seriously, some items I have taken over 20 pictures of just so that I can get them just right. I think I'm finally happy with the quality of them.

The next thing I need to work on is promoting and continually updating my shop. Basically, everyone says that listing and re-listing/re-newing items is the key, so that you get pushed to the front pages in searches. This was not initially apparent to me, but after reading it the first time, I hit my head and said "duh!" So I finally figured out how to renew items, and as an experiment, I renewed a few different items at different times in the day. I didn't have anything new to list, so this is the route I went. I did get more views, but it can get expensive since you get charged everytime you renew. But it's like a catch 22. I work, so I can't update my shop constantly throughout the day, everyday. But apparently it's what I need to do in order to be a successful seller. Then I guess the question is, how did the successful sellers get to that point? I think a few of them had full-time jobs before they were able to Etsy full-time. This may be something I need to figure out on my own. There is an etsy seller, CombustionGlassworks, who is doing a 2 week experiment and listing or renewing at set times during the day. It's been about 4 days since the experiment started and it looks like there has been a significant increase in sales. Very cool.

So, this is probably not an interesting blog for most, but since no one is really reading this yet, it's more of an outlet for me blab on.

Valentine's Dinner

WARNING TO VEGETARIANS. There may be pictures posted here that you find offensive.


Yeah, I know it's March and V-Day was about 2 weeks ago, but I took pictures of the dinner so I had to post. This year, we decided to stay in and cook. I had never cooked a whole bird before (they scared me) so G said that he would show me how to cook one. Our menu was:


Mac & Cheese (recipe from the Barefoot Contessa)






Turnip Greens (recipe from Taqueria Del Sol)



Roasted Chicken with root vegetables


Thus, our dish:




It was so yummy and simple to make. Basically just a salt, pepper and herb rub all over the chicken. Lemons were inserted inside the cavity and under the skin and made the chicken really juicy. Oh, we I got some delicious Cab Sauv from Highland Wine & Crystal to go with the dish.

So now I know how to cook a whole chicken. And that's the moral of the story.