I've been sitting on a bunch of rad merchandise I bought while traveling in Malaysia and Sumatra. It is now unearthed and available for sale on my front yard. I'm open tomarow-- Thurs, Friday and Sunday 10a till 4p. 2537 Osborne, near the corner of Sierra Blvd. I meant to start a cottage business with this merch called Empanadas (http://tahopia.info/empanadas.) Its much in the style of our beloved local (S. Lake Tahoe, CA) Gaialicious boutique. Gaialicious is all about fair trade vs. Gap and Ross slave labor. That was my motivation in starting my business too. I meant to sell out of my camper at music and art fests, traveling around the country doing so. But as many of you already know my camper and truck were jinxed from the start, a number of fiascos befell the combo's utility. So I got into my old grooves of working as a waitress, paying the bills, snowboarding in the winter, chillaxin in the short summer. I took Spina's HTML class to enable an other idea I had for selling the stuff. My idea was to sell it tuper ware style, like little tea parties at friends and ladies homes. Well, I never finished the website, its kinda a mess--ck it out. I'll be taking Spina's Dreamweaver class soon, which canceled on me last spring, in the hope of developing that site and the business further. In the meantime I'm unloading this stuff for less than I paid, just to get it out there. Make me an offer on some supra loud batik shirts, 20% goes to charity, Heifer and a buddhist temple I stayed at in Thailand. I'm loathe to do mail order as I'm never satisfied with clothing bought in the mail. You have to see and feel fabric in person. You have to try a lot of stuff on to find one thing that fits and falls well and feels good on your particularly unique body. I don't want to deal with refunds and shipping costs. I'm just not that organized. My camper is now fixed and sage smudged free of the bad jinkies jinxes, knock on wood.... but its now inhabited by a genius musician friend. I took, last spring when my Spina class got canceled, O'laughlin's fiction workshop, among other things, instead. He successfully inspired me to do something with my writing now. A story is being published in the Kokanee ("stinky salmon") LTCC lit mag this year. My current plan is to: Continue web design classes, because they're fun and I see the benefit for both Empanadas and my writing. Do a more advertised and organized mega yard sale after burning man, with posts on craig's list etc. Consider selling on ebay.I just want to unload the stuff by making a storefront on my front yard till it snows. I'll use this big shelter thing I got from Cosco for burning man. I figure devoting 3 days a week 10a to 4p, I can get it done. People know by word of mouth the Rock Shop on Osborne. Hopefully word will spread about my makeshift Empanadas boutique on Osborne too. My Budhist intuition tells me I and the greater good, will benefit more in me unloading it now in this disorganized unprepared way at little or no profit, even quite a digging loss, than sitting on it forever 'till I can make better money with the stuff. Buying the stuff from artisans plying their crafts on their own terms already helped to support those dying industries and ways of life. I want to see american people wear these bright unique shirts instead of cheap cookie cutter gapwear. In a year or so I'll start over, travel and purchase new merch, keep better track of what I pay, maybe have a tax ID, a finished website, a custom trailer running on recycled veg oil, and better organization skills to get to all the good festivals prepared and on time. Hopefully next trip I can use my Dive Master cert becoming as familiar with the dive sites and cultures of Borneo as I did in '05/'06 with the dive sites of Phi Phi and culture of Krabbi province, Thailand, while earning the cert. Hey, a flower can dream.Just now a bright red shirt with a batik basketball motif just made a teenager's day. He got it for a steal, $10US, $32.69MYR.
It made my day, and maybe its gonna make yours too when I post his picture sportin it real soon, but I gotta pack it up now and go to Dana's burnign man sewing party. I'm gonna make me a dinosaur costume outa a striped '70's polyester no. I've had for forever. I just commited to opening my yard sale next wed and thurs, as well as the above times, so stop on by.
