bitetheman

PLEASE NOTE: We're moving! We're headed back to Albuquerque...hopefully for good. Any mail sent after Saturday, April 12 should be sent to our new address: 4304 Loren Ave NW Albuquerque, NM 87114

Thanks!

My name is Hettie. I'm a 30 year-old girlie tomboy....if that doesn't make any sense, neither does a lot about me. I'm the mother of a 3 1/2 year old, a professional picture framer, a barely published poet, a beginning sewer (that doesn't look quite right....), a long-time crafter, a dreamer, a goof-ball, a seeker, an anxiety-ridden insomniac masquerading as a free-spirt...sometimes I even pull it off. I love coffee shops (where I order tea), book stores, Anthropologie, funky clothes, stationary, postcards, vintage anything, paper dolls, shopping on Etsy, taking my daughter to the library, reading or sewing through the kiddo's nap. I love really random bizarre gifts/purchases/found objects....wierd postcards, other people's grocery lists, dead bees (seriously...I know...a wee bit odd). I love homemade dolls and stuffed animals, handmade cards, purses, gifts. I love to give and receive tiny "for-no-reason" presents. I hate the telephone. And waking up. I hate to cook (but sometimes baking is ok). I don't like cleaning house....but love to vacuum...something about watching the mess disappear magically before my eyes and leaving a stripe of "clean" behind me. I hate whining....and need to do it sometimes.
I grew up in Iowa, have lived in New Mexico for the past eight years, have spent a couple years in the Bay Area, am currently doing a temp stint in Portland, OR. I'm headed back to New Mexico soon....thank God...I miss my desert!

Eclectic taste.... Ryan Adams, (with and without his bands), Iron and Wine, the Shins, Matt the Electrician, Bob Schneider, the Mountain Goats, Willie Nelson, Mason Jennings, Joni Mitchell, old Ani Difranco, Sublime, Cat Stevens, Zero 7, The Pixies, Lemonjelly, Elliott Smith, Bob Dylan, Wilco, The Pogues (can't remember who I have to thank for this introduction...but god bless 'em), Leonard Cohen, lots of old folk stuff... and The Decemberists, The Magnetic Fields, Feist, Fairport Convention, Ben Kweller, Soul Coughing, Damien Rice's swell covers of bad songs, Get Set Go, Jenny Owen Youngs, Emmylou Harris, Bert Jansch, .....playlist not in front of me right now so......

Too many to list. My essentials: The Bone People, by Keri Hulme Divisadero, by Michael Ondaatje Dark Harbor, by Mark Strand Survivor (and Rant), by Chuck Palahniuk The Cinnamon Peeler, by Michael Ondaatje As the Crow Flies, by Jeffrey Archer Written on the Body, by Jeanette Winterson Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy Travelling Mercies, by Anne Lamott Triggering Towns, by Richard Hugo Sula, by Toni Morrison Dune, by Frank Herbert A Prayer For Owen Meany, by John Irving Jitterbug Perfume, by Tom Robbins A Blizzard of One, by Mark Strand The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar; and Six More, by Roald Dahl The English Patient, by Michael Ondaatje Sunday Skaters, by MaryJo Salter, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte The Power of One, by Bryce Courtney Susan Howatch's "Church of England Series", but especially, "The Wonder Worker", The Dream of the Unified Field, by Jorie Graham And Her Soul Out of Nothing, by Olena Kalytiak Davis and others. In fact, you couldn't go wrong with anything any one of these folks wrote.

In no particular order: Rushmore, Bottle Rocket, Joe Vs. the Volcano, The Big Lebowski, Home for the Holidays, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Super Troopers (can't help it), Harold and Maude, Fight Club....

Flight of the Conchords, Weeds, Big Love, Sopranos, Grey's Anatomy, House, Project Runway, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, (Colbert might be winning my heart away from Jon Stewart....oh, the betrayal), West Wing before it started sucking (and before they, mercifully, killed it), Firefly (when it existed), October Road, Northern Exposure (once upon a time....), and a weakness for Law and Order reruns (especially SVU, which makes me a "sicko" according to my father), Deadwood, Nip/Tuck (guess I am a sicko).

I've tried my hand at (and failed and succeeded to various degrees): crochet, sewing -kids' clothes, pillows, dolls, stuffed animals (love it....wish I were better), knitting (love other people's knitting..but I'm terrible at it), quilting (really enjoy it....but I have a short attention span and it takes me a looong time to finish a project), painting (I'm bad...and it's still fun), wood carving (just a beginner...carve small wood birds). I'm a picture framer by trade and I play around with some hand-done mat treatments, gilding projects, etc.
I love felted wool projects...wall hangings, dolls, etc...but have never tried it myself. Also really love jewelry making and beading.....but have so little freetime I haven't been able to explore this one much yet...also seems pretty expensive hobby to just "try-out".

Mark Strand, Olena Kalytiak Davis, Jorie Graham, Michael Ondaatje, Mary Jo Salter, Billy Collins

Favorite colors: grayish green and greenish gray. also like teal (in a muted tone) and warm earthy colors (rusts, pinky reds, sages, adobes)

Favorite teas: Kusmi Earl Grey (I think Kusmi calls it Smokey Grey?), Tazo Chai, Darjeeling, Orange Pekoe, Irish Breakfast...most "real" teas

Postcards: Quirky/bizarre, art/museum, vintage -especailly quirky/bizarre vintage ;)

Craft supplies: vintage findings, fabric scraps, cool papers, yummy yarn, embroidery floss, buttons, great pens - I like a heavy pen, smooth flowing ink.....something to give weight to my words.... :)

Crafts: love most handmade items, love cute, but not "cutesy"

Journals: plain (moleskin, etc), high-quality, occasionally like floral/graphic/handmade....not cutesy, not fairies, suns/moons, etc

Smells: real lavendar, wood smoke, gasoline, manure in fields, old books (and new books...just love the smell of books), the inside of a crayon box, cinnamon, rubber cement,

Candles: like scented....definitely prefer spicy over fruity and floral....I like cinnamon, cloves, musky smells,...also like cranberry and some citrus. No vanilla. I love Yankee's wax tarts!

Not too many dislikes:

Coffee, herbal tea, bath products, lotions, lipbalms, (not into hygiene items I guess), hair accessories (i'm bad at "doing hair"), dollar-store items (i love flea markets, antique stores, etc....but don't dig dollar-stores)