2011: Who's having the best year ever?!

[Charles] Okay, seriously, I had to get that out of my system. I don't expect that when the new year rolls around that everything is going to magically get better, I just wish it would. I'm not really up for one of those "it's a new year" kind of posts but I would like to help set the tone for the year. Besides, it's already the 6th and I haven't posted yet?!

So, 2010 saw the end of our retail shop in Seminole Heights and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't still bummed about it. I drive through the neighborhood every day and see some things that make me optimistic and some that make me sad. I wonder if we'll ever get mass transit moving in Tampa. I wonder if this year's leaders will actually listen to the people. I wonder if we'll be able to manage being parents and designers and get to see our friends more this year. I wonder all this and hope for more.

I finally committed to writing regularly last year on this blog and it has been very cathartic for me. I'm not sure if all the posts make sense or fit, but I'm going to keep going as long as I can. I like doing Maker Monday where I post something awesome that someone else made or show something that we've made. I really love doing Friday Forecast and talking about what not to miss over the weekend. I always hate trying to find something to do at the last minute and feeling like I miss out on so much good stuff. It's my cheat sheet and I'm glad you like it. We posted 117 posts in 2010 which is about double the year before and if I can write three times a week, I'll get to around 150 or so. That's my goal so here's hoping and please keep the comments coming, I may not get paid to do this but those comments are like money in the writing bank to me! I like to write about music and the arts so expect more of those posts and let me know if you have a cool event coming up - especially in Seminole Heights.

-Charles

Tampa Street Market at Creative Loafing's Best of the Bay

Love this photo from Clark at the Loafies

[Charles] We purposefully avoided campaigning this year for BOTB for lots of reasons but when I got in today, I had to know the outcome. I'm curious right? Well apparently we got the most votes for eco-friendly store but they didn't give us the award because we are closed. Fair enough. Actually it's really cool that they even mentioned us because they didn't have to. I kind of always felt like we operated our little corner of the world in the shadow of much more interesting developments as far as the published world of Tampa was concerned. So much to my surprise, as I'm reading along the rest of the winners and newsmakers, I come across a little note titled "Saddest Loss to Seminole Heights". I almost went right past it before I saw "Tampa Street Market". Then I read on, and it was good, really good. It was like they finally got it. Not cheesy and they actually even mentioned our little blog. All I can say is thanks. It really does mean a lot to us. Oh yeah and I've always wanted to say this - "They like us, they really like us!?"

The text here:

Tampa Street Market owners Amy and Charles Haynie embody the best
qualities of Seminole Heights: They look to the future while
respecting the past; they have an eye for cool trends without
compromising warmth and rustic comfort; they give back to their ‘hood
and to the planet with salvaged and refurbished furniture painted with
low VOC paints or pieces built from salvaged and sustainable
materials. Their furniture and gift store at Florida and Osborne
specialized in eco-friendly, fair trade and local products, and was
open for 3 1/2 years with a brief hiatus in 2008, and, sadly, closed
at the end of last month. But examples of the Haynies’ work live on in
the community, including metal tabletops and fixtures at Ella’s Folk
Art Cafe and a bench featured in a 2008 exhibition at the Tampa Museum
of Art. And the couple maintain a cool, artsy-community-minded blog at
tampastreetmarket.blogspot.com.

Who should host this year's Loafies? - Clark J. Brooks

[Charles] So I missed the start of the voting for Best of the Bay last week and I feel a little behind. It will take me a few days to finish generating 700 fake email addresses to win Best Eco Friendly Store this year. You fine folks could save me the trouble and just head over there and vote for us, wink wink, nudge nudge. No pressure.

I don't want to talk about that yet though, just think about it while I stump for something real important.

On one of the forms as I was reading through the same old hashed over boring categories like Best Politician (as if that were possible) and Best Dry Cleaner ( like we can afford dry cleaning this year) and I came across one that caught my attention...

Who should host this year's Loafies? - Clark J. Brooks

Having just read Clark's fantastic call to action to help him destroy the competition and recalling that slightly awkward photo of him towering over Rebekah Pulley from last year's party I thought to myself, self, why not have Clark host it? Of course! Brilliant! If he loses his category, not only will he have to announce his crushing defeat himself with thousands watching around the globe, he'll have to do it with the witty style and grace we've come to love from him! I decided to rush over to my tiny little blog and do exactly what busy body people with boring lunch breaks and internet access must do at times like this and rush to his aid! (I promise to stop with the exclamation points soon!)

So here goes... Clark J. Brooks for Host of the Loafies!!!!!! Yep, I said it. Get him on the ballot folks. I won't be happy to see him simply crush that Durkin Robinson woman in the best blog category or to rocket to the top of the most Tweetalicious Guy in Town, no as his great uncle Meatloaf might say we want him, we need him to lead us at the Loafies. If you haven't read his blog lately then you have no idea how funny, endearing, and creative this guy is. Please don't put some useless Florida weatherman or laid-off sports hack up there... let's see one of our own. Somebody with a crappy car, a wonky computer, a ridiculous job, and the amazing ability to make life entertaining and a little brighter for those of us slogging along right next to him in line. Here's to a blogger who is happy to video himself making corn dogs at the state fair or even to plunge into his own bouts with the Big D. Thanks Clark and Good Luck!!! (consider that my endorsement)

What's it like to make cool stuff out of crap stuff in zero space?

Photo from Daniel at Manhattan Nest Blog
[Charles] People ask how we make cool furniture out of beat up junk pretty often but I think our descriptions fall kinda short. Yeah, sometimes I take them into the workshop and say, that old rusty sink will someday be an amazing couch or table or something. Honestly though I get a lot of those blank "that piece of junk?" looks there. So my point is, I can appreciate somebody who does it well and explains it well with lots of photos. The best take away for me is to do it with a sense of humor. Check out this guy Dan's conversion and explanation on his blog. It was cool enough to get him on Apartment Therapy so maybe I should stop whining and get to work on taking more photos of how we make stuff...