I view Tacoma...without rosey glasses, beer goggles....

or that profound sense of childlike wonder........I've been here for almost 27 years....until about 10 years ago....nothing changed....nothing much....which was fine because that allowed me to buy a few homes and live in them.......but now......
Things have really changed.........ha ha....I'll never own another home unless it has 4 wheels and a portapottie........
hee hee...........
But, I started this blog about a year and a half ago........because I was driving my friends batty.....with my opinions.
I discuss a lot of things......sometimes I wax about the cruel way that the working class is discarded.......and now that hundreds have been layed off from Russell, now the Docker Clan, can feel some of the pain that us working class types feel all the time.
My son drives truck, my dil works at Fred Meyer, my sil is a limo driver in one of the richest places in California (with his degree in poli-sci), my dd and her dh are students again......
so........
I'm seeing my rant about the stupidity of how this town has recently been governed, or rather ....
NOT governed. Rich people have condos, homeless people have mealtimes at 4:30 if they walk to the shelter.
Drivers have to swerve to miss potholes the size of Rhode Island.........I've never ever seen roads this bad around here. It is a disgrace.
So.
I'm seeing articles like this one in .....The Volcano's Spew by Joe Malick.....that decry the very same thing I've been chatting about here...cyberly.
Way to Go !!
Keep this up and we'll actually elect folks who give a shit about this town....like they used to....before the City Council and their Fearful Leader came here to modernize Tacoma by buttering the toast of the RICH with the sweat of the working class....and monetizing every blessed thing......

so I've been planning to post my Gardening Column

that I wrote for Tacoma Weekly back in the day....like 15 yrs ago day......yeesh. Back when it was all on newsprint. and used to sell organic heirloom veg and flower starts, plants and produce, and other crafty/farm-made things..... at the farm and at Gig Harbor Farmer's Mkt....
I will scan the originals and then, type out the whole thing.... pretty darn funny.... I used to own an organic farm, 10 acres worth.......
now, I own nothing.
Shortly after May 1st, I should be ready ...if I have internetz by then.....
But my first job was gardening ...I was 4 years old and I pulled weeds for a penny a weed....underneath the hydrangeas and ferns of a shirt-tale relative's front garden beds in San Jose (Cali not central/south America!)
...and I will be scanning and posting pictures of the farm and the funky funky house I used to have........ It's all part of my plan....to grow green and crack wise.......

What's a micro-tiny Business to Do?

I want internetz at my shop on Broadway. Click/Rainier Connect will do it for 1500 dollars "for construction". wth. This is not the Wired City. I've been with click for nearly 10 years. One of the first click customers. wth.
Clearwire is affordable, but reception downtown? dunno how reliable. Blackjack smartphone....mmm....doable, but how reliable? dunno

Qwest will run a dsl line for affordable $$. Might do that.

iPhone ...must jailbreak to tether to laptop.......mmm...ok. But what if I am the unlucky one who bricks it??? they way things are going....;-(

To go to fancy coffee/internetz, I will need to buy a new battery for Vaio....OK.
Will do that till iPhone has legit tethering, probably.

Maybe Derek has a cheepo plan for me ...I'm probably just too cheap for that !!
Lots of ins ...lotsa outs, Jackie. Lotta strands to keep in ol' Duder's head.

Bottom line:
Tiny businessessss in Tacoma are essentially told to fo if they want click.
That $$-demand drives tiny business to some other place besides click.
I have been a very loyal customer and sang the praises of click for almost 10 years. Not anymore.
Do you hear that Jake Fey?

Marty Campbell?

Oh sure, bend over for Russell. Bend over for LeMay. Rip up my street so condo buyers will have a pretty sidewalk/dog poop mini-park. Point is MOOT, since I'm out of business anyway.
In Tacoma anyway. Thanks Broadway LID. I enjoyed being a Placeholder for You ....now et tu Gentrification???
This town hates tiny business.
I'm closing the shop and going back to internet only. When I can find some.

The Earth loves a Vintage Wedding.......

Of course you should choose a vintage wedding dress...

because it's better to use what is already here, better to use what comes from a local source, better to think about the disposal problem...I know...but you are a GrownUp now!

vintage and handmade wedding ideas here at etsy

you know me...I like marriage so much...I did it twice.
I think everyone should have the right to marry...
the old joke: Everyone should have the opportunity to be miserable like the rest of us !!
(ha ha)
But seriously, marriage takes work and a pretty wedding takes some pretty stuff.........
My 2 weddings were all diy...1st one made my dress (duh) of natural crinkle gauze (duh) from India and I embroidered pretty flowers all over it, and made a matching shirt for the groom (duh)

The second wedding was an elopement affair because I was under too much pressure to invite/feed/entertain/mollify about a 100 people and I was not up to it. (everybody will tell you what to do...few will actually help)

Traveling to San Francisco to be married at City Hall in 1997, my second wedding dress was a lacy antique silk slip that was mostly falling apart..
I made that into the mini skirt, then for the blouse I used a 70s faux Victorian blouse that I remodeled ....
I wore some new/edwardian style shoes....and paired it up with my favorite leather jacket. I was hot! Mark wore a thrift store linen suit, with a bright blue shirt and a vintage pink/blue tie and 2 tone Saddle shoes.
Vintage sunglasses of course.
The pics are packed away.....after my big move I'll copy them and post them for you all to laugh at.

So....a Vintage Wedding Dress?
I always buy pretty white dresses for my shop and I adore vintage lingerie for the bride. A bride and groom should indulge themselves (sensibly) for their wedding and honeymoon, because soon enough, it won't be about just you 2. There is real life.

Right now I have these on etsy:
a loverly Emma Domb from the early 60s...it is tailored in the front and girly on the back! I love love love the deep back and the bows.








Going more Bohemian?

70s crinkle gauze with sheer lace. This is ethereal and fairy.







Like the tailored look? Classic ivory wool boucle set by Tina Hagen.

Decorating and living with found stuff.......

Decay is inevitable......and quite charming.....
so, it's funny when someone who has had her life handed to her on a silver platter....talks about "process"...and "growth"
Puh--leeeez. Shut. Up. What has this got to do with Tacoma.......99% of Tacoma looks like Grey Gardens without the trust fund and rich relatives....we're on the High Wire without a net.........
Clicky here for a swell slideshow....
I thought we'd like to visit Grey Gardens again....



I first read about this strange movie/documentary in the SF Chronicle just after it was released in 1975. I immediately identified with little edie for many reasons....the wardrobe manipulations were certainly familiar to me......but I had even back then the sneaky feeling that I was caught in a trap......a trap that I am just now pulling my head and the rest of me out of.....finally, just in time for Depression 2.0
so yes, life is weird. And well the theme is biblical...Ruth...and certainly Shakespeare..and Dickensian. the theme of a Life Lost ...a dream denied...so Tacoma. So often.

Vintage clothes larger than Paris Hilton....

I am asked all the time...Why is vintage so small?
well, Victoria, people were generally tinier back in the old
days....they did more stuff that burned more calories and let's
not forget the food shortages because
of the war years and a Depression. Smaller people = smaller clothes.
Today, we have vitamins in our food, and in water that comes in plastic bottles.
We have food that has 12,000 calories per teaspoon, and that makes a bigger human.
Now,my people were hardy short and wide peasant stock from Eastern Europe, when they
weren't dipping into the Mediterranean gene pool...also tending to be shorter rather than taller....
The larger ladies want fancy dresses....I have some of those coming up soon.
I mostly have the Daily Dress...the marketing, the car-pool, the casual lunch with the girls...all cute, but not a party dress.
I am sorry about this...but larger sizes tend to be the Day Dress ....clothes were expensive compared to today's bargain shopping at "CheapNess Is A Virtue Corporate Chain Store"......du jour.
Here is a lovely selection in my etsy shop, for your perusal, all starting at 40" bust and up.
60s blue plaid day dress....


70s shift with white soutache....


60s paisley shirtdress....


60s sailor girl shift...


60s daisy dress....


40s XL suit jacket...



50s Sweater dress with beads and pockets ! Wow !

Housing in Tacoma

it still ain't cheap enough. I've been busy but I was following the comment thread over at EX133 (my nickname)for this: Metro City Homes Up for .........and I LOL'd at this --Is “Tjorax O’Tool” T’OT’s Swedish cousin?

23 | Posted by jamie from thriceallamerican | Apr 6, 07:59 AM

and generally I wanted to say I agree with thorax (Tjorax) and Crenshaw...I've been saying for years...

Building those condos is stupid. They don't appeal, as Crenshaw said @52...Tacoma is boring for folks that will spend 350,000 for a condo. Tacoma is boring, period.
so, my major housing rant in the last 6 years or so has been that there is not enough housing for the poor, the lower income workers, and the lower-than-middle-income families.

What should have been built downtown is a mix of high end with lower end prices with family-type services encouraged like:
Grocery stores, daycare, small department stores, doctor/dentist offices/doc-in-a-box, affordable movie house, movie rentals..........you get my drift.
Those things families (and others) use all day/everyday.
Families do not spend their nights out drinking and dining at El Groucho. I do, but this isn't about me(yet).

Imagine if every single empty condo (How smart is it to name your condo MTCondos....say it out loud)........
if every single empty condo was filled with a family....
Rent or buy. The economic dribble would be huge....

All those pizzas. All those diapers. All those impulse purchases.
I see this around Staydumb Thriftway n'hood where there is more of a mix.
Singles can live downtown. I'm downtown almost everyday, weekends too. It's pretty quiet. Not enough to do. Not enough entertainment. 80% of people who come thru my store are just looking....looking for something to do. Very few buy. But they could if they wanted to!

I know what the City Council was trying to do........Get rich people downtown to spend money. Give them free taxes.......
Pay them to come here. Gee, sounds so desperate.
If condos were built at a price of 100 grand to 200 grand with formica countertops.....downtown would be busy busy busy right now, instead of the ghost town it has been for the last 30 years.
I blame the City Council for toxic governing or lack thereof.
Good Urban Design is more than sidewalks vs cars.....
It's more than condo vs house....

I shop mostly at Albertsons at 38/Pacific. Businesses on every corner and around the block.
IT is BUSY there!
Why?
Affordable housing surrounds that corner.
Great public transportation too.
And a liquor store.