MetroTimes review's D's album

And they like it!


Check it out HERE.

You can check out the label that put it out, (and buy it through iTunes) at Moodgadget.

OH -- and HERE is an awesome video made by Danny DiMaggio of one of D's new songs!

The new Ford Taurus!

No, I'm not here to tout the programmable key on the new 2010 Taurus -- though it makes me excited to see what technology will be in place when Claire gets her license.

Dan has been working at a music house since January, composing music for commercials. Some weeks are busier than others, but on any given day he's working far more than full-time hours, creating original music for everything from Papa John's pizza and Jiffy Lube spots, to baby shampoo and down home grocery stores.

There's no shortage of car ads around these parts, and Daniel, who submits his songs along with a roster of other freelancers, won his first two spots recently! One is a U of M song that will play during football games for years to come, which is currently in production.

The other is a Ford Taurus spot, which he just wrote a couple of weeks ago, but went live on Ford's Web site today. His is the spot "The Sophomores" all the way on the right.

You can check it out HERE.

Feeling it!

Here is secret footage of Claire totally feeling it in the car the other night. This kid loves the Ting Tings. You have to wait until about the 20 second mark to the end to see her really break it down.

This kid could be makin' bank modeling for JC Penney, am I right?

Before we set off to Claire's dance recital (which I SO wish we had video of) we snapped a few shots at the house. You should know that all I said was, "Let me get a couple of pictures of you," and she started posing like a pro!

Aw. Aren't babies adorable?

Officer JBiZzNys

My baby brother Joe, aka J. BiZzNys, was on CSI last night. He's the handsome cop in the background in these photos...

Leave my food alone!

There is an online petition that has been started to stop HR 875 -- I've signed it and so should you!

In its current form, the bill could prevent small local organic farms and community gardeners from growing and selling you nutritious, truly fresh, organic produce. It would crush our small local food producers by imposing heavy government regulation that only large corporations could adhere to. Imagine:

* No more farmers markets.
* No more garden fresh, seasonal ingredients from the local farmer at your favorite restaurant.
* No more roadside stands with fresh picked sweet corn, juicy ripe tomatoes, or refreshing
watermelons in the summer.

Americans would essentially be forced to only eat corporately manufactured, chemically treated, hermetically sealed, irradiated fruits and vegetables. Stop this abomination now.

To prevent this bill, act now by signing the petition!

NUMBER SEVEN!!!!!!

There's a new music show on WDET every Saturday and Sunday hosted by Ann Delisi called "Essential Music." A few weeks ago, I was listening when I heard they were holding a contest for a theme song.

My squeeze Dan composed a piece of music and threw his hat in the ring, along with 57 others -- but screw them!

VOTE FOR NUMBER 7 HERE!

It's true.

We're moving.

Again.

This will be the third move in a year. A YEAR. Ugh. The good news is, we found a great house in Ferndale. The bad news is, we love our landlord. New landlord Jim has some big shoes to fill.

I'll let Dan explain why we're moving HERE.

And you can see what the view is at our current home, around which a construction crew recently descended from the sky. Check it out HERE.

We're (hopefully) moving in over the course of the next few weeks, so we'll be sure and update with photos of the new pad!

Tiny Dancer

Actually, if you look at these pictures, you'll see Claire is not the tiniest of dancers compared to some of her dance classmates who she towers over. But she's still pretty damn cute.

Dan and I were front and center watching her third-ever dance class with teacher Miss Elizabeth and about 20 other kids at the Borgo School of Dance near our house. As you can see from the pictures, she's got pretty good form -- far better than many of her classmates! (Not that I'm biased.)

Steal a Pencil for Me

Today I watched one of the most touching and heart-wrenching love stories ever, the documentary Steal a Pencil for Me.

The movie chronicles the love and lives of Ina and Jaap, who met in Holland just before they each were sent to a concentration camp, where they fell in love through letters while in the camps. I tend to watch all kind of random documentaries and occasionally find one that I just love for one reason or another. I'm so glad I tossed this into my Netflix queue on a whim. Oh -- and if you subscribe to Netflix, you can watch it through their site.

Say it with me now.

This is a repost from about a year ago -- might come in handy for some of you who are sick right now!

Oscillococcinum. Ah-sill-o-cox-i-num. There. That wasn't so hard (but, yes, it took me a few days).

It's flu season, which a few of us have been reminded the hard way. Last week the flu took me down. Granted, it was only 24 hours, but it was a long 24 hours. I'll spare you most of the gory details (and gory they are) but the worst part of it probably was the crippling stomach pain, as if someone were squeezing my stomach in their hands and trying to rip it from my intestines. I would have to stop in my tracks, breathe, and wait for it to pass, much like I imagine a woman in labor experiences.

I was lucky enough to have someone attending to my every tear-filled whim – from massaging my aching calves to getting me a cold washcloth for my forehead and drawing me a bath. After the bath and shower, I experienced that brief honeymoon phase all sick people experience. Where you're able to tell yourself for a good half hour that maybe the shower fixed you and you're all better now.

I knew that feeling was fleeting and off we went in search of remedies and something – anything – that I could get into my stomach. So I loaded up on lentil soup from Beruit Palace, crystallized ginger and ginger beer.

And on the advice of a friend who works at Foods for Living in Okemos, I went to Whole Foods to seek out a French homeopathic flu remedy – Oscillococcinum. He told me, "Just start spelling it and they'll say, 'Oh – we have it right here. It's on sale right now.'" He was right. I got a three-dose pack of the tiny magic pellets, made by the company Boiron, its sole manufacturer.

According to Wikipedia, the name Oscillococcinum was coined by a French physician in the 1920s who had studied the blood of victims of the Spanish Flu epidemic during the previous decade. He reported finding a vibrating bacteria he believed was responsible for not only the flu but many other diseases including cancer and measles and eczema (which obviously since have been disproved).

Because it is homeopathic, my friend advised me not to touch the tiny pellets in the single dose-sized vials. Open it, pour it in your mouth, let the pellets dissolve and I'll be feeling better in about 20 minutes. Having spent the day too nauseous to knit or even look at the TV as I tried to watch movies, I certainly didn't believe it. By the time I stood in the checkout lane at Whole Foods, I was back on struggle street – the post-bath honeymoon period was over. But I felt so sick I didn't dare take a dose until I was back at home.

I chewed some ginger, cracked open a ginger beer, managed to get down about half a cup of soup and went for it. It tasted like candy. Twenty minutes later I was, in fact, knitting and watching a movie. I may have even cracked a smile here and there for the first time in a day. Holy crap. This stuff really works.

So, I wanted to share my newfound flu miracle with any of you who never have heard of it. If you're skeptical, I say, it's worth a shot. Maybe it's all b.s. Maybe it should totally disgust me that it's somehow made from something extracted from duck liver and heart. But maybe I don't care if I'm doubled over in pain like I was last Thursday and yet was able to party with many of you at the Manor on Friday.

Finding new treasures in Downtown Berkley

Perusing some local yarn stores last weekend I found this baby alpaca yarn and knew it had to be mine. I rarely (OK, never) make myself stuff, so last weekend I decided this would be it!

I have had a lot of success and positive response from the new cowls I have been making, so I decided I needed one.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am only beginning to baby-step into wearing color. For more than a decade, black has been my color. (In high school, one of the administrators used to say, "Is it Johnny Cash day again just about every time he saw me).

Going through the piles and baskets and compartments of yarn stacked high at Have You Any Wool? and felt this amazing yarn. (Did I mention they give you a mimosa on Saturdays? I swear it made the it even softer.) I didn't even know what it was. Then one of the employees said, "That's what that vest is made out of." and pointed to this cool sweatery-vest thing. As I made my way around the room, I kept looking at it and when I got there -- everything else went back on the shelves. This is what I was going to make my cowl out of.

I bought two skeins of the yarn just in case I needed more. Well, it only took one, so that means I can make a cowl to sell. I've just posted it in my shop. Within a few minutes a friend ordered a custom one for her sister-in-law and I've gotten several views on the one I posted. I love it!



After I visited Have You Any Wool? I decided to walk around downtown Berkley and check out some shops, etc., which I never had done.

I stopped into City Style where I met the owner, Carrie. She was really nice and told me a bit about what was around downtown Berkley. There are some awesome shoes and bags in City Style. It reminded me of one of my favorite Chicago shoe haunts, Lori's, but a little smaller and with less product. But I will definitely be stopping back when I have a little more dough (or any, for that matter).

I waltzed into Catching Fireflies, which had a lot of cute gifty things, kitschy stuff for everyone from the home cook and babies to newlyweds and friends. I'll definitely be going back when I have more time. By the time I got in there -- and there's so much to look at! -- I had to go to the bathroom and was starving.

On Carrie's advice, I decided to go to the sports bar 24 Seconds. Originally, I had planned to go to my favorite pizza joint, Amici's, but they weren't open yet. So, I took Carrie's word for it that a sports bar would have plenty of vegetarian options.

When I walked inside, my ears immediately were assaulted by cranked up speakers blasting various sporting events. A bowl game here, a basketball game there. I don't think I ever truly adjusted to it, and still don't understand why it had to be THAT loud. But the other, sports-loving patrons seemed to be find with it, not to mention the 20 or so TVs that were plastered throughout the place.

BUT, Carrie was right -- lots of food to choose from. I ended up going with a side of the cucumber, onion, dill salad and a giant grilled vegetable salad for lunch. It had greens, pine nuts, Gorgonzola cheese, tons of grilled veggies including asparagus, mushrooms and tomatoes, and had a great citrus balsamic vinaigrette with it, and was served over toasted ciabatta bread points.

Who knew -- at a sports bar! I'd go back again for sure. Just maybe not during bowl game season...

Last but not least, I discovered another little yarn store. Twisted Stitches. It's basically across the street from Have You Any Wool? so it's odd that I never saw it. If I hadn't been walking by, I wouldn't have seen the yarn through the window and never would have known it was there.

I had a great talk with Maureen, the owner. We sat down and talked about yarn, my experiences in the Detroit Urban Craft Fair, and all things Etsy. She gave me the most adorable, teeny, tiny, miniature buttons that she bought from a button vendor in Manhattan. She's having a big sale right now -- especially trying to get rid of her lot of scrapbooking supplies and bookbinding supplies so she can focus more on yarn and things. She had a some great hand dyed yarn and a dozen or two other kinds, much of which will be half off in the coming weeks. I bought some really great lumpy, bumpy wool in varying shades of blue for half off and started a scarf out of it last night.

Maureen has made a new friend and customer for sure -- I will soon be back!

So, that's all about my day in Berkley, my new discoveries and how my new baby alpaca cowl came to be.

Buyza is Knitting for the Cure!

Check out my blog about how I'm going to knit for a cure for cancer and how you can help HERE.

Making Christmas

Just about every year, Daniel records a Christmas song. Sometimes it's a cover. Sometimes it's an original.

This year, he got his ladies in on the mix. Making Christmas was a group effort, both in the writing and the singing (Claire didn't need the same amount of whiskey that I did to get up and sing).

Maybe we can be like a miniature Partridge Family, paint the Jeep and go on the road.

The other three songs are performed by Daniel. "Cold Hands, Warm Heart" has been a favorite since I first heard it.

Happy holidays!

Kirst

Making Christmas (Feat. Kirsten, Claire and Lil' Wayne)

What Child

I'm Dreaming (Of a White Christmas)

Cold Hands, Warm Heart

(P.S. If you're having any troubling listening to the songs, click on the link and "Save As" then find it and listen to it! That should work!)

Help Sugar Kisses!

Vegan-friendly Royal Oak bakery Sugar Kisses learned a few weeks ago that their building has been sold and they must move by the end of the year or close up shop, after 5 1/2 years at their Washington Avenue location.

In general, this would be a challenge, not to mention that bakeries often make the most profit at holiday time, so this makes the move especially hard to complete while hoping to keep the doors open.

And, they need some help! There are three ways we can help them:

1. Give them your business! They have a packed menu full of breakfast stuff (Scones, coffee cakes, etc.), cookies and cupcakes, candy, granola bars and much more. They have vegan and gluten free items. They also have a light lunch menu of soups and more and serve fair trade organic coffee.

2. Buy gift certificates -- you can purchase gift certificates to give as holiday gifts. Them getting the money up front will help them with the move.

3. Donate! They have PayPal set up on their Web site if you just want to give them a few bucks to help.

You can check out their menu, buy gift certificates or donate by going to their About section on their Web site.

And pass it on!

What do you say to the new administration?

Jason Gaylor, one of Dan's friends from Springfield, MO, is part of a design collective there called Departika. He asked Dan to loan some music to an installation piece they did in the lobby of their studios this week where people wrote a message to the new president on the wall.

They filmed the whole event and cut the video in time lapse to an instrumental version of Dan's song "Heart of a Dog." I think it's pretty cool.

Check it out HERE.

Detroit Urban Craft Fair preview shout out!

I'm vending at Detroit Urban Craft Fair on Saturday and the craft fair posted its first vendor sneak peak today.


Two of the nine vendors posted were me and my booth partner, Jennifer Joy Creative!

Check it out HERE!

Hope to see some of you at the craft fair on Saturday.
I can't wait to check out all of the amazing vendors and eat all sorts of vegan goodness from the Detroit Evolution Laboratory!

Check out their menu for Saturday HERE!

Ninja Kittens

Take a look. You won't be sorry.

A must see documentary. No, really.

King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters