Hey all, long time-y no talk-y!

Anywho, I'm working on a project and it involves photographing the best independent coffee shops/cafes in any/all of the 50 states.

I figured that you guys could help me out, considering you're all spread out over the US (and other countries.. but right now I'm only working in the US) and most likely are fueled by coffee/tea/nice comfy coffee shops with free wi-fi and ample electrical outlets.

SO.. what's your fave indie coffee shop in ANY of the 50 united states? Which coffee shop or cafe made/makes you feel so comfy and warm and fuzzy and welcomed that you'll go back there next time you're around?

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Love,
Ashley

design watcher

and clocks!!!




the Font Clock, a flip clock with twelve different typefaces, so cool! The Font Clock comes in small ($450) medium ($1300), and large ($1900). Practical use of 2G's,
don't you think?

i want.. a lot...

i have some shirts that i don't wear anymore.. i'd like to sell them for $5 each.

Homeless on heather gray in Girly Medium (good condition)

Stabby Mcknife on kelly green in Girly Small (some discoloration)

Russell! How's Yer Ma! on silver in Girly Small (good condition)

Nature Call on aqua? in Girly Small (good condition)

What Makes It Go? on lemon? in Girly Medium (never been worn)

Alphabet Zoo on blue in Girly Medium (good condition)

M for Monkey on lemon in Girly Small (good condition except a little sweat stain action in pits)

Obi Wan Kerisst on lemon in Girly Medium (good condition except a little sweat stain action in pits)

JC was a Streaker on light blue in Girly Small (good condition)

The Communist Party on red in Girly Small (good condition)

Pandamonium on kelly green in Girly Small (good condition except for a couple tiny paint drops on sleeves)

I have a paypal account that you could send the money to if you're interested. Email me first at anorwick [at] gmail [dot] com if you're interested in any/all of the shirts!

but it's just about the funniest cat video i've seen . ever.

you should watch it!

don't let the cheesy intro fool you.





love,
ashley

when was the last time you took a shower?

i (almost) never feel the need to take a daily shower during this type of weather (it's 8 degrees fahrenheit here).. i haven't showered since the morning of new years eve, so i guess that's not TOO bad, but still..

i also (almost) always feel the need to eat milk and warm cookies during this type of weather...

so not only do i usually smell bad during winter time, but i gain winter weight, as well..

but ...

i'm ok with both of these things.
at least for the time being.

ashley

well.... hope everyone's holidays went well! i know mine did! i went to grandma's and to mom's and to my aunt's.. had wine and soy egg nog and espresso.. yum!!

today at my grandma's house i gave her a gift (the berghoff family cookbook - the berghoff was a nice restaurant here in chicago that my grandma used to go to with her gal pals before she was married to my grandpa).. and she gave ME:

$20
the annual christmas tree ornament (though i've never owned a tree personally)
AND

two cameras that were my grandpas!!!





i'm most excited about the polaroid land camera automatic 103.. none of the billows are cracked and there's film in it still from when my grandpa was using it in the 70's or something.. i doubt the film works.. but the fact that there's something so special and connected to my grandfather that's still around is cool..

AND i got a lot of grandpa's old slides to look through and make prints of and scan to make into a cd or dvd or something!!






so.. all in all it was a great holiday! even though my grandpa wasn't with us to celebrate, i could definitely feel his spirit hanging around when grandma busted out the old cameras and slides.. yay!!!

what was YOUR fave gift???

dear surprise secret santa,

thank you for the wonderful femme-bot wind up toy! from australia! i never even signed up for you, santa, but you sent me a gift anyway! you're great! and so is the toy!

love,
ashley

merriam-webster says : "w00t"..

w00t is the 2007 word of the year according to the dictionary publisher..

weird..

but cool!

w00t!

here's the story mornin glory

errrr... the internetz... but still..

i show up around 1 min 25 sec..

so if you're not into reading "all about my day" blogs, discontinue now and just leave a really odd comment at the bottom..

anywho:

woke up early this morning (9AM, early for me, i guess) to my cellphone ringing. it's my boss, so i hit "ignore" once and then answer when she calls a second time.

in a raspy, morning voice "ashley, hey it's jen. can you come in as soon as possible. i'm just not feeling too well and would love to just stay downstairs in the office all day. or as much as possible."

also, in a raspy morning voice gromphpoh hey jen. oh yeah? oh ok, yeah i'll be in in a bit, let me just shower or something.. "

so i got to work at 10AM, waited tables until 4PM. serving brunch and bloody marys and mimosas to hungover yuppies allll day. (i did make good money though)

headed over to crazy stationary store down the street from work to try to get a bit of holiday shopping done and let me tell you, was THAT a mistake. that place sucked me in and made me want to stay forever!! anyway, i grabbed a cab towards downtown because i was running late for my other job, which started at 5PM.

got to work late and there was a shitload of work waiting there for me. this is a job in a photo lab, where i develop photos and negatives the whole shift. and it's downtown so the clientèle consists of very rich, picky new and old money who have a lot of special requests (because they "spend a lot of money here and they deserve it". )

so there are about 50 rolls of film for this photog who brings in huge projects about twice a year. this wouldn't be such a big deal BUT he has special requests. he shoots with a pro film slr/lighting system so his shots look like nice studio head shots for, say, a model's portfolio or for a cheap comp card or something. BUT, he wants them to be really REALLY light and washed out and "cool" (so tinted cyan or blue, whichever looks best with the skin tones). and if he doesn't like the way a couple prints from a roll look, i have to re-do the whole roll. so, it's time consuming, this shit-load of work that was waiting for me when i got there. mix in the regular night's workload of digital prints, enlargements, etc.. and.. it's a lot..

THEN, the same photog brings in another batch of 50 rolls to be done in about one and one half hour.

THEN, my photo machine breaks down!! at the most in-opportune moment it possibly could.

usually when this happens, it's a minor glitch/mechanical error that i can easily fix in a half hour or less. this time, no such luck. could not, for the life of me, figure out how to fix this error that was not letting me get my job done.

long after the store has closed to customers (and i was supposed to be at home.. or even better, at the bar celebrating my friend's bday) and the photographer has exploded to both myself and my manager over the phone about how much is on the line for him if we can't somehow get these photos printed for him (money, reputation, etc.. blah blah) we finally figure out a solution to the problem.

i have to take these 50 rolls (which have already been developed, so they're more susceptible to dust, scratches, water marks from the freezing rain that's falling here) to another lab in my district which has been closed for about 3 hours already. one of the workers there has to go to the store, open the lab, warm up the printing machines, print all of his stuff that was waiting in the computer to be printed in the morning, and wait for me to get there to print these rolls of film.

THEN he has to shut down his lab for the second time in one day (annoying).

so that's what happened. i went over to the other lab, printed the stuff, my manager came via cab to this other lab, picked up the stuff i printed, brought it back to MY lab to be picked up at 1AM by this photographer who was about to cry with how upset he was about all of this.

oh, and mixed in to this whole mess were other little aggravating moments like : *thinking i had fixed the error on my printer because it started to work for a couple minutes and then BAM! same error message again.
*the POS system at my lab screwing up and going berserk because there's a new glitch that goes hay-wire when a transaction is over 200 line items long or something (over 200 rolls of film for this one photographer)..
*shitty weather
*unexpectedly long day
*new line cook at the restaurant = more mistakes on food

so.... to make a long story short. i had a really long odd day and now i'm at that stage where i'm tired but i can't fall asleep and i have to wake up early again tomorrow.

bahh humbug

but hey! a couple good things.. i got good tips this morning at my waitress job.. AND this crazy photog who was freaking out decided that since he had (literally) thousands of dollars that he would lose if we didn't go out of our way to print his photos tonight, decided to throw a grand at us to split between myself, my manager, and the other lab guy who had to re-open and re-close the other lab.. pretty cool? i think so.

blah!

love,
ashley!