i'm still alive! i swear. so much going on. the best thing is all the great conversations with my roommate, and my new roommate who just moved in. oh, and a surprise visit from ant today, and the promise of dinner tomorrow night...and a great call from green pants last night. oh geez, where is the time going? so much to do, ahhhh! i just finished a nice order of hannas and meris and checkbook holders that are going to a great store called rockstar & rogers in manhattan, kansas. big time, such cute stuff, with lots of two-tone and colorful stripes. yikes, i packed them up before i could even take a picture! and, please keep your fingers crossed that big exciting things are in the works. i'll keep hush-hush until anything is for sure, don't want to jinx anything. the next wholesale order is off to minnesota early next week, and then baltimore the week after, and in between i am going to vermont for a little r & r and camping and paddling. oh, and irony or ironies...in my art room at my new 'real job' (which i am loving in spite of the commute!) we have everything in the world, but there is no duct tape and i keep forgetting to bring some of my own. oh well! so much creativity, i get to spend my days and nights playing in a sandbox of creativity and color and paper and and thought and joy! yay! ok, it's so late already that my trip to urban outfitters and barnes and noble witll have to wait until tomorrow. yay for the glorious last trailing days of summer!

new favorite site of the day. it's going in the right hand menu. mr ming: - the news in type. amazing. read it back a few pages though, cause he is on vacation right now.

good stuff is in the works. lots of unsolicited wholesale orders. that's a good thing. it's a good thing. there is just one specifically that i hope goes through. ya-hooo. it seems like everyone is re-distributing and re-settleing this time of year. moving to new york or boston or back to new haven. good luck to everyone who's moving and finding their new places and starting new jobs and looking for a niche. the rest of life here is good, i'm starting to feel calm again...

i'm getting kicked out of koffee at closing time, but i just couldn't resist a post. it's been such a great day, and the sun finally came out. i brought home 2 new babies with me today...a green nalgene and new chacos. i gotta go!

diaper bag!!!!

this is the perfect spill proof, ruin proof, baby-proof diaper bag of all times! a huge, rectangular tote (16x14x4 but variable) with two full size interior pockets and 2 long tote straps. this is the hotteset baby trend of the moment, and every mommy and daddy to be needs them. the featured pictures are from the same bag...just different designs on each side. these bags are just begging for bright colors and stripes and custom designs...so hop get those creative juices flowing. e-mail customorder@vanessajean.com for more info. these bags are destined to be custom ordered by size and pattern, prices range $55-$85.

only in l.a.

i'm back, and better than ever. well, i am tanner than ever, but i don't know how much i am grooving on the relaxed-post-vacation feeling. 14 hours of traveling can do that to you. so, although we still have no internet in the house, i am back to blogging, and i will probably post volumes through this weekend. then, come monday [a great jimmy buffett song btw], i'll be at my new 'real job' from 7-4 everyday. with this new change of lifestyle, blogging is either going to become a standard daily thing, a must have i look forward to all my computer-less day, or a complete nuisance that i quit entirely. we'll see, but i doubt it will be the latter.

so, here's an update from the trip. on thursday night the fam and i enjoyed the best pan-asian-hawaiian-fusion meal we have ever had at this great little place called 'a pacific cafe'. if you are ever in kapaa, i recommend it. deee-licious. other than that we cooked for ourselves a lot, taco, burgers, etc. all great too. wednesday i took an amazing 20 mile hike on the craziest trail i have ever been on. thank goodness for the hawaiian do-as-you-wish policy, because the trail was so unsafe that i couldn't imaging it existing in any other place. but it was up there on the most-beautiful-things-ever-seen list, so i ain't complaining. there were also roosters and goats along the trail, and the best part was that in the 11 mile stretch (it's a hike into a beach, and then backtracking) the terrain ranges from tropical rainforest, to woodland forest, to dry dry desert, amazing! the trail is 11 miles in, but by mile 10 i was exhausted, and put down there for lunch. this is a photo of the destination beach (only one way in) and since i didn't make it, it just means i have to go back and hike and camp there for a bit...a girl's gotta have a dream!

i'm glad that was my parting shot!
and saturday was a 17 mile paddle along the same coastline, so it was great to see it from sea and sky level. the rest of my fam is still there...for another week, yikes. but they deserve it, especially because my little bro got sick and had a 103 fever for a few days, so he needs to stay there a bit longer so he can enjoy it. anyhow, it was a good trip. a little long from ct, but worth it! the other good thing is that i read a lot of good books, i really enjoyed happiness and wicked, the latter of which is really long, and it felt good to get through an entire long book, it had been a while! i think i also read something else along the way, but i can't remember...hmmm. but when i need a new book i can just search for something on whichbook.net which i think will be my new favorite website...i've already played on it a bit and i have my next 10 reads all picked out. too much fun, and so many options. thanks ben for passing that along.
it's nice to be back in new haven. it was a beautiful day yesterday, and i had a sun-glowing and green drive home from the airport with just enough time to get some modern and enjoy it while watching the sunset at east rock. and it was great to be re-united with my roomie since we have both been in-and-out of the house for the past three weeks...we just keep talking about how we don't want to the summer to end...as it indeed has been a grand one...but i think we'll make it.

alright, time to get down to work (aka, watch for posting in the near future!)

greetings...
i'm doing some good missionary work and bringing duct tape fashion to the island of kauai. ok, well, i've been carrying around my duct tape bag as i kayak, swim, tan, hike and lounge. so that sort of counts. the highlight of the trip so far was the kayak trip on the na pali coast, a good solo (sans family) trip. it's been a challenge computer hopping on the island to get good internet access...the public library (quite an adventure) and now at an incredibly overpriced internet cafe/trip planning center, but some good duct tape stuff is in the works, and i can't wait to share the details if it all pans out. i'll write more and post some incredible pics when i get back to the east coast.
aloha!

for a good time, dial up www.jdate.com - the world's largest jewish singles community. i actually know a few of the people in here.

corn dogs

yes, you heard me, i just mentioned corn dogs the best food of all times. if you have never had a corn dog (a hot dog dipped in corn meal batter and deep fried) you are missing out on one of the best (if not thebest foods in the world. don't eat pork? they make chicken dog versions. vegetarian? they make mini veggie corn dogs you can buy in the frozen section of your supermarket. on a stick or the mini pop-them-in-your-mouth versions are equally good, and there is just something so fantastic about them. if you live in california, i would even recommend traveling to the food cart at your local mall for a taste at 'hot dog on a stick' the creme de la creme of corn dog establishments. plus, they have funny uniforms which include goofy hats, as well as the best lemonade in the world, it's a must make trip. anyhow...i'm going to start a 'eat more corn dogs' campaign that will sweep the united states (and canada about 3 months later) and the whole world will thank me for bringing light to this delicious food. and for those hard core corn doggers out there, you can actually purchase a home corn dog kit which would be like owning a dream machine. it can also whip up deep fried twinkies, which i have never had, but assume are the best sweet ending to a corn dog. back to work.

this ramble has been brought to you by the box of mini chicken corn dog bites i had for breakfast and the high-speed manufacture of 50 belts...my brain stopped working about an hour ago.

hheee heee heejeopardy is coming to yale this fall for the college championship. i am so getting tickets! i'll be there like the enormous dork i am.

i was introduced to this footage of the star wars kid this past weekend. click on the top, original, footage and then scroll through the remixes. it's funny, but in this case i actually feel sorry for this kid (and since i have a cold heart, that's a big deal). thankfully, some people have a consceince about this.
note to self...take the tape out of the camera.

this has been a wicked couple of days. let me just set the scene by saying that i flew home to cali today, and arrived to the pad in the midst of one of my brother's part-ays. right now there is a make-shift beer pong table in the back yard, and i was just roped into a game [yes, we won, the ultimate brother sister team], there is a german kid free-styling in my back yard, and a bunch of really cool (interpret that as you will) 20 year olds being cool and loud. so, it's always great to come home, after a day of traveling to this, it always feels like i have slipped into some sort of alternative universe. the time change isn't helping either, nor is my utter lack of sleep after this weekend and the fact that i pierced my foot on a tetanus-giving piece of rusted metal at full force this morning. luckily (thanks to wireless internet) i have the neptunes on baby (yes, even my computer has a name) and we are chillin' at the kitchen table. ahh, yes, i also got to see brian tonight, and that makes everything in this world worth while. he also brought me (my?) bible from junior year english class (we study the bible as lit) and there are tons of hilarious conversations in the margins...i'll be up for hours reading the bible...yea, you heard me. i'll probably post like crazy tomorrow since there is actually access here...and thursday it's off to the corporate retreat with long and hard days and nights ahead. yes, i am going crazy and i should sleep....wahoooo...

i can't believe people are still reading this blog. i'll try to post more pictures, and that will make life more fun for everyone who has to read this non-sense. tomorrow i head off for islands on the other side of the united states, and some much needed vacation. although this last month has been slow business wise (sort of) life has been crazy...and i am much looking forward to a real vacation (although i am sure i will take some work along...i love the looks i get from airline folks when i'm hauling bins of tape behind me). posting will be sparse from here on out because of the vacation and because i have managed to land a real job. yes, mr. squirrel will complain because he thinks what i do now is a real job...and it is...i work all day, i make money that pays the bills...etc, but it's still a little eccentric. however, this morning i committed myself (and maybe i should have committed myself as well) to a position at anthropologie as the visual design coordinator (or something like that) for a ct store. this means i now have a commute, but also a paycheck and benefits...something that duct tape just can't cut in that regular way. but this is also my kick-ass dream job...which means that for at least the next year i will be the luckiest chick on the block holding down two dream jobs...as if life couldn't get any better...and don't you worry duct tape fans, vanessa jean will continue in all its glory thank to the new employee. life is good, and i will be getting paid to design store displays...and for anyone who has been to one of these stores, you know what kind of groovy creativeness i am in for. more to come...have a goodnight out there!

erin at monkeysocks has taken on a funky new look, i suggest a check to it if you haven't visited lately.

it also has a great pic referencing the fantastical (and my favorite) south park underware gnomes.

this is why i like brian and ferrets. i was also happy to learn a few fridays back (yes, a friday watching animal planet is the best kind ever) that when domesticated ferrets play together, they like to run through plastic tubing. yes, deliciously cute.

greetings! by some amazing chance i've been taken to some crazy places lately and the duct tape world has been out of control! a second order to nigeria (who knew), and now the duct tape is being enjoyed by the extended 785 crew on an island. i'm being held against my will to post about robby d and danny b and hydro and spence diggity who are notorious duct tape fans so it's all a-ok. i've also learned how to play croquet (oddly enough by my es master) and sport fish...but back to duct tape life tomorrow...along with big news about my creative future to come!