Favorite Things

Ok.. so we're moving in like 3 days now and don't really have time for any real adventures but here's a list of some of our favorite recently discovered, or rediscovered, things.

1- Liquor store boxes
2- Willis Alan Ramsey
3-Shoestring French Fries
4- Proud parents that come to visit
5- Ross Stores
6- Pandora Radio
7- Friends with weddings out of state so we're forced to go on adventures

Matteart

art by Matteart "Weather Vivienne"

Last night we headed over to the South Lake Union Velocity, a really hip home art and design shop. Velocity owner, John Tusher, felt that there weren't enough opportunities in Seattle for artists and designers to meet, chat, and make some connections. In attempts to remedy this he's freshly launched "The Lab" a monthly get together with a special speaker or panel each time. This month, the first month, Matte Stephens (Etsy shop: Matteart) was asked to come and give a perspective on his success and share tips. The number one tip he gave: produce! He encouraged everyone to create something new everyday, and discussed his daily routine and inspirations. If you haven't gotten a chance to check out Matte's work, you better go run to his Etsy shop!
John's vision is exactly what I've been looking for to become more involved in the community out here. So thanks a lot, John! The Lab will usually be held on a Wednesday night from about 6-8, late in the month. Next month they'll be hosting a panel of celebrity bloggers to talk about the importance of blogging, and what its like to run a daily blog. That should be a great event to attend! Hope to see you there.

A New Year.

So, wow, its 2008 already. How did that happen? So much occurred in the past year it feels like time just flew right by. I thought that when you're as little as I am that the days were supposed to feel like forever, not feel like they're blowing past.
Since the holiday rush has cooled off, I've been trying to take more time to explore the city. I hadn't previously been able to do so with the crazy travel/craft show schedule we'd been keeping. Its funny the things you don't notice when you don't take the time to look. For example, I was walking up 1st Ave the other day and came across a completely smashed computer monitor and television. I laughed about it with my friend and she told me it had been there for several weeks. I feel silly for missing it as 1)its kinda hard to miss and 2)I walk down first fairly frequently.I spent a decent amount of time walking in the downtown shopping district, people watching. Even though it was post xmas it was a flooded Saturday afternoon. So much hustle and bustle, I can only assume for the After Christmas Sales, which when I took a peek didn't seem all that impressive to me.
When the immense crowd started to get to me I decided I'd pop on down to Pike's Place Market to pick up some veggies for dinner. Out of the pot and into the pan. I had forgotten that it was in fact the weekend and you can barely move at the Market on Saturday and Sunday. The flying fish, the giant piggy everyone wants to take their picture on, and all the great handmade shopping are pretty alluring for tourists and Seattlites alike. I wish I didn't continuously make the mistake of going down there on the busiest days since it is pretty fun to walk around. But I got my veggies (and some purple potatoes - my favorite discovery of 2007) and headed home.
Maybe its just 1st Ave that attracts the weird goings on, or maybe I just pay more attention when walking on that street. A few months ago I saw a man cutting his hair in the middle of the road, and its a main one. This trip I discovered the empty collection of minis the homeless folks in the neighborhood coax out of the patrons of the liquor store.
Oh, no, wait. Its definitely not just 1st. Sunday we saw a man panhandling in a dress and over the top make up. I love this city.

Where to find us...

Good news folks! This weekend you can find Fort Cloudy on BOTH coasts!

If you live in the Baltimore area, head down to St. John's Church at 2640 St Paul St tomorrow (Dec 1) for Holiday Heap! A kick ass show brought to you by the Charm City Craft Mafia. For more information go to the CCCM's website! Make sure to go say hi to Danger Paul, it'll be his first show by himself.If you happen to find yourself on the other side of the country, come hang out with Fort and I at Urban Craft Uprising at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. We'll be there Saturday AND Sunday from 11a to 5p. Go to their website for more!We hope to see you getting your Holiday shopping on at one of these great events!

Coolest candy ever.

Generally I curse countertop items for purchase at coffee stores due to the temptation that arises. BUT! These I'll take any day. They're like legos but candy.. that you can eat... and build with.. Pretty much the coolest thing I've ever seen.. and eatten...
Fort kinda shook her head at me for a while and then gave in and joined the fun. And let me tell you, it was fun!

Burlesquin' it Up!

Wednesday night we head down to The Bedroom Club in Pioneer Square to catch the Burning Hearts Burlesque show. Miss Anita Goodmann hosted the evening. She just got through her divorce and was eager to put on a fantastic show (she succeeded).
There's not much better than cocktails and women tastefully taking their clothes off to pep up your Wednesday night! The performers were great! Ms Luna Nocturna did a really awesome Day of the Dead inspired number, as well as one with Absinth and the green fairy.
Sara Rose was there keeping our ears super entertained. She has a spectacular voice! Her microphone didn't work for the first half of her first song so she just belted it out as loud as she could! I was very impressed. Miss Elaine Yes came out for a few sets, as well as Miss Cassie O'Hara, and Miss Goody Goody! The show was all around fantastic!

Oh! And I forgot to mention that they made Fort get up on stage and gave her some birthday spankings. HA! I'm not sure if there's a good picture of it.. I'll ask around... She made me go with her so I couldn't get one.

Baltimore to Seattle: Day 1

So the adventure begins! Mama Cloudy, Fort, and I left this morning to head out west. Before we could get out of town we ran into some of the inevitable traveling problems. Several of the boxes that were necessary to come along were not going to fit in the Cloudy Mobile. So, Papa Cloudy, being the awesome Dad that he is, went out early this morning to pick us up some supplies: ratchets and felt pads.Very quickly this morning, Mama Cloudy and I figured out how to use said ratchets, and successfully did an amazing job securing the precious materials to the roof. Just as we were ready to head out the Littlest Cloudy jumped into the drivers seat and refused to let us go. After a while we convinced her that we needed to leave and we'd be back to visit soon. The Cloudy girls got a photo together and we hit the road!
But not until the Middlest Cloudy helped make sure that everything was going to fit into the back...Before we left Maryland, I insisted that we stop by Sideling Hill. Fort had told me a bunch of stories about her family stopping there when she was little. It was awesome! With a very educations visitors center. If you ever head out I-68 I recommend you make the quick stop.
From there we headed to Morgantown, West Virginia to have lunch with Beth from LemonCadet and her husband. They took us to Black Bear, a really great burrito restaurant. It was really great to hang out with them again and the food was awesome! I admit it.. I ate too much and ended up in a nice food coma for the next leg of the trip.
After a really great visit with them we all got back into the car and headed over to Ohio to stay the night at Gemmafactrix's. She was awesome enough to offer to let us crash! And we got to hang out with Squirtle.. So its pretty much the coolest thing ever. I think he and I are going to have an adventure of our own tomorrow!

Surprise guest!

You'd never guess who made a special trip (according to me) out to Maryland to wish me well and see me off on my great new adventure?! LILY! She came out with her Mom and Dad to send Fort and I off properly. And the best part of all?? She'll be there to greet us when we arrive! I just don't think it gets any better than that! Next time I blog it'll be on the road! Hooray!

The lovely Ms Lily with her proud great-grandfather.

Going Away Party

Last Saturday, Mama and Papa Cloudy threw a kick ass going away party for Fort and I. There was so much super delicious food and so many super awesome people to share it with. It was wonderful to be able to celebrate and say good bye to a bunch of the people we love!
Mama Cloudy got a carrot cake! Yay! The frosting writing on top was supposed to say "Watch out Seattle!" but someone forgot to cross a t and Seattle was told to "Walch Out" instead, hehe. But Fort took charge and crossed the t with one of the almond silvers from the edge.UglyKitty, who made the fantastic invitations for the party, came out to show her love. She is the biggest sweetheart e-v-e-r. She special ordered a really great guest book from Kate Black for everyone to sign! Fort and I are so extremely happy to have it, people wrote really, really nice things. Fort even teared up a little.


After the party a bunch of us went dancing at a Brit Pop style dance night. Unfortunately, we got there after midnight so we didn't have a lot of dance time left, but it was awesome! It was probably the most perfect last Saturday night in Baltimore we could have asked for. Thanks to everyone that came out, and to everyone that wanted to but were unable to.

We're gonna miss the East Coast a lot, but don't worry, we'll be back as frequently as possible!

It's Official!

We're moving to Seattle! Right now we're in the processes of putting all our ducks in a row in preparation for our big move! Fort and I are hitting the road with Mama Cloudy for one hell of an adventure! Along the way we'll be hitting:

Morgantown, WV
Cincinnati, OH
Chicago, IL (for Renegade Craft Fair)
Lincoln, NE
Carhenge
Mount Rushmore
and Yellowstone National Park

If you know of anything fun for us to do please let me know!

Don't worry though, Eastcoasters! We'll be back pretty frequently for shows.

If anyone is interested in coming to the Going Away Party in Baltimore Sept 8th feel free to email me ( ninja@fortcloudy.com ) and I'll get you the info.

A big thanks to UglyKitty for making the kick ass invitations!

Last Day

On the last day of my Seattle adventure I didn't want to do much besides hang out with Lily. I figured we needed to get in a lot of quality time now, even though I'll be back in a little over a month. So for today, I'm just going to give you pictures of a too-cute-for-her-own-good baby. Enjoy.Time to get back to Baltimore for some more awesome adventures!

Seattle: Day 3

Saturday morning I woke up to find the most adorable mother-daughter moment I'd ever seen. Steph had gotten up early to feed Lily, and once full Lily fell into a food coma and then quickly back to sleep. They sat on the couch, Lily with her small hand under her head rested on Steph's chest. I couldn't pass up this precious scene so I snuck off to grab my camera.I walked off as quietly as I could so that I didn't disturb the special moment, went to find a telephone and called Kate (the ever famous zoo1023, who has paintings to die for!). I sauntered off with Fort towards Capitol Hill, which is in my opinion, one of the best neighborhoods in Seattle, to meet up with Kate for lunch. She took us to a fantastic little sandwich shop on Pike St where we sat and had a drink. Kate was kind enough to offer to drive us around the area for a bit to collect the phone numbers of apartment complexes in preparation of our big move. We drove around to at least an hour up and down streets, pausing frequently to write down the name and phone of a building, and often irritating whatever car was behind us. It was awesome, Kate rocks! (Seriously, go look at her paintings) When we felt we had exhausted the area we parked and headed to Dick's for some ice cream. It was the perfect thing to do on such an ideally weathered day.We took our frozen treats over to Cal Anderson park and stuck our feet in the coolest fountain/pool I've ever seen. There were children running through the water in their diapers screaming with joy. There was even some sun bathing to be had! I'd say it was about the perfect. Kate and Fort really seemed to enjoy it too!

About and out in Seattle

So what's the first thing I do when I get out of the airport in Seattle? Get on the bus in the wrong direction, of course! I took a seat behind a man with feathers sticking out of his baseball hat. I wish he hadn't gotten off the bus as quickly as he did since he was fairly amusing to watch.
It wasn't all bad though. I was able to... explore... more of the area? I successfully transferred buses and made it to my destination without another hitch. It is always exciting to see my good friend out there, Stephanie, but this trip was extra special as I was able to meet her new little bundle of joy, Lily. I gave Lily the Radish onesie (Fort Cloudy's newest baby onesie) to her as soon as I walked through the door. I was so excited to make sure she had some more FC goodies in her wardrobe!

On Friday we all went down to the SAM (Seattle Art Museum) in downtown Seattle. When we walked through the doors we were greeted by about six Mercury Sables and Ford Tauruses suspended at different angles from the ceiling with long pattern lit rods intersecting at the centers of each car. The museum definitely have some amazing pieces in their collection, including a large section containing Pacific Northwest Native American art. Their modern art collection was quite interesting as well. Several Lichtenstein's graced the walls of the main gallery on the second floor. It was hard to pick a favorite among all the great pieces, but Lily and I decided that we both liked painting of the boobs.

After we left the museum we headed towards Pike Place Market, the large open air public market which is a very big attraction in Seattle. While we were walking I noticed that there are a few... ummm.. gentlemens clubs... yes that's how we'll put it. One near the SAM is called The Lusty Lady, my favorite out of the ones we had seen. Their marquee is always filled with funny euphemisms and sexual innuendos, some a bit lamer than others. The one we passed on this occasion was in honor of SeaFair.

Pikes Place was the same as always, except busier due to summer. There was the ever present smell of seafood wafting from the various fish merchants, the delicious looking produce everywhere you turned, and the amazing floral arrangements at the best prices I've ever seen. I wanted to get some flowers to take back to Mama Cloudy before I left, but was worried about how well they'd do on the long overnight flight back.
Then it was back to my favorite little hide-away in Queen Anne. Lily was tired from being out all day, and to tell you the truth so was I. We both passed out in the stroller on the lovely summer-time walk back to the apartment. More soon!