greenlight district

Those Gifts Suck - THESE Gifts RULE.

The warm weather almost makes one forget that Christmas is just about a week away (and don't forget, Jews, and fellow shiksas dating Jews, the Festival of Lights starts at sundown on Sunday!) so you still have shopping left to do. If you were smart like me you went to the Bust Craftacular yesterday and checked off most of your "nice" list, and got books signed by Amy Sedaris (no, girl, YOU "let the good times roll!") and saw a sweet gay chihuahua-toting hipster try to show one of Stella Zotis' fur-wearing workers a video about said fur. But don't fret! There's still more handmade holiday shopping to be had:

Lyceum Holiday Craft Market
Shop local artisan clothing, jewelry, home goodies, antiques and more this Saturday and Sunday (from 11am - 7pm) at the Brookln Lyceum. There will be over 65 vendors, food and drink, and more Christmas-y fun (make a day/date of it and check out the sched) at this Park Slope pit stop for handmade holiday gifts.

Missing the Brooklyn Flea Market??
I know I am - so I'll definitely be checking out "gifted - a holiday market" at the Fort Greene Brooklyn Masonic Temple across the street from where the flea market is during the summer. The last day is this Sunday, so take a look at the vendors and make sure to fulfill your Buy Handmade pledge!

Update: As one of my greenlighters was sweet enough to alert me about - and remind that I have to give Manhattan a little love even though they have the Holiday Shops at Union Square annnd Bryant Park - there is also Jingle at Chelsea Market, an annual festival featuring a higher end, more artsy array of goodies. Hipster chic schmipster chic, as much as I love the shit at the above fairs, sometimes there really are only so many feather headbands and screen-printed American Apparel tees one can browse before they realize their Grandma is just not that into ironic tote bags. AND one of my favorite jewelry and houseware boutiques Jillery will be showing there! Thanks, Chelsea Boy!

So what's on your list and what are you getting for your lovers and friends this holiday season? So far it's been pretty easy for me to get the Grandmas, aunts, moms, and cousins goodies at the fairs - Dads (a Santa's Pipe soap bar from Dirty Loves Clean) and brothers (can't say because he reads the site!) are the toughest, so perhaps an eco-man gift guide is needed?

Let's Get Some Gifts!

For those of you that didn't get all of your holiday presents out of the way on Black Friday (who are those weirdos anyway??) here are some NYC & Brooklyn crafty indie designer markets for all of your local artisan holiday shopping needs:

Bust Craftacular
When: now! Sunday, December 14th until 7:30PM
Where: 125 W. 18th St. (Metropolitan Pavilion)
What: Over 200 designers and Etsy-types are showing off their goodies and making all of your local shopping hopes and dreams come true. There will be food, probs drinks, and even a signing and showing from Amy Sedaris and Stella that "leathaaaah" lady from Project Runway. I am also so in love with Bust (the mag, not my own-although duh, that too) so I'm sure it will be fun as well! They can offer me a job any day now. That would be great. Annnd it's all only $2 at the door.

More to come later right now I'm off to the Bust Craftacular! See you (and Amy Sedaris) there - with your eco-fabulous tote bags, of course!

Etsy Gives Me Multiple Craft-related Orgasms This Week

Thanks to some combination of the brief wet snow we had this weekend, my roommate forcing me to watch Jim Carrey's Grinch (awful,) and last night's snuggly YouTube-ing of the Charlie Brown Christmas, I'm really getting in the Xmas/holiday spirit. I dabbled in starting my shopping this weekend and have decided that I'm going to do all (okay, most, my parents really want a couple months of Netflix, what can I do?) handmade/hipster/local gifting this year. I figure that I'm going to be dropping some cash regardless of my financial situation, so I might as well have it go to a good cause - oo charityish!!

Hey here's something that I love: CRAFT FAIRS. Or any fairs where you can purchase goods that you don't necessarily need. This prob stems from the Santa Shops we had in elementary school. Did everyone have that? Or is that some white trash Upstate, NY thing?? They would basically set up some tables with cheap crafty-type gifts in our gym and my mom would give me $20 and I would knock out all of my Christmas shopping in the hour allotted for purchasing these fine artisan crafts. This is why my mom/aunts/grammas have a collection of things like jewelry boxes made of yarn and shitty Santa pins, and plastic wreathes. 

This past weekend I went to the grown up (and socially conscious, duh!) version of my beloved Santa Shop, Etsy's Handmade Cavalcade. It was wonderful - but I treated the experience more like window shopping as there are a whole slew of similar handmade fairs that will feature NYC indie designers in the next couple weekends. (And the place was PACKED so I didn't feel bad about just perusing for the time being...) After the jump, here's a list of what caught my eye, (and just might catch my credit card)

It's a lovely day in the neighborhood!

Lately, there's been a lot going on in our lovely 'hood off of the Graham Avenue L stop. Besides the new weekly stops at Cho's, there's been a lot opening around here the past couple months (not including all of the new condos/apts springing up - insert obligatory complaints from Brooklyn blogger that's an anti-gentrification gentrifier...) 

I'm most excited about Boneshakers! They slipped a bunch of menus under our door and I was DELIGHTED to read that it's a new take out/fast food/coffee shop hybrid with all veg - vegan foods! I will be digging in (and reporting back) soon!

The Richardson, a new bar on Graham by the BQE - must go and review! I've been holding out until they start doing brunch, but I might as well just check it out in the PM.

More shopping! In place of that Mac store that was on Graham next to Mighty Diamond, there's now a fun gifty shop called Brooklynski (a little play on the Polish 'hood we live in) I've only window shopped past it so far, but that needs to change soon.

New coffee shop! More of a to-go than a sip-and-blog kinda place.

Sadly, there's also been a greenlight-friendly closing. Mighty Diamond, the vegan restaurant on Graham just closed! I didn't realize until I walked past a few days ago and saw newspaper in the window. I read on a Billyburg site that it closed Oct. 31 and they are going to open it up with a different type of food, not sure if the management is going to change or what. The food was always just okay even though it was veeg. It was one of those places I wanted to be good more than it actually was - and the first time I went I found a decent sized rock in my mac n cheez... Anyone know any of the deets?

Will scope out the new spots soon!

Mmm, soy mocha break!

So even though the creative juices flow freely in mi casa - what with all of us roommates/dancers/actors/models/writers unemployed freelancing and working from home, Kelbo and I decided it was time to leave the A.P.T. We tore ourselves away from the Jon & Kate Plus 8 mini-marathon - which was a freal accomplishment - this is the [second] best show on television, after all. If you haven't caught this phenomenal program I hope that you make a point to do so, perhaps take a break from your turkey murdering (veg humor!) to pick up an episode (or eight, heh) during the T-day marathon.

Anyways - we decided to take our computers and our empty bladders (we even got dressed, aka put on bras. We wavered on wearing pants and settled on tights/leggings instead, but baby steps, baby steps) over to Cho's Variety - a newish coffee shop on Graham Ave. Close enough to homebase but a new setting with ample outlets and wireless internet. And, frankly, is there really anywhere else to blog than from a coffee shop? Let alone one in Brooklyn. God, my hipster stock is rising rapidly.
Here's the view from our little nook and from my computer's cam:

I think it's a great addition to the neighborhood. Before, if you wanted to indulge in a little caffeine/wi-fi you'd have to cook it up at home or spend too much at Oak Cafe across the street for sit down service. There's also Odara which is questionable; much smaller, and I've walked by at random times and seen someone playing strange instruments, that might be a little too hippy for me... Here, K picked from a delish selection of teas ($2) - they have loose and those fab fat baggies filled with tea stuffs - and I got a soy mocha ($4). I read some reviews on Yelp, which always makes me laugh because dissenters are generally idiots, complaining about price when really they should just be happy that a coffee shop that's not Starbuck's is existing. I resisted the baked goods (Balthazar scones??), and instead smuggled in my own vegan treats (my new favorite peanut butter cookie recipe)!

Besides the good coffee, ambiance blah blah blah - it's a blatant singles scene!! I'm certainly not looking, but am always trying to get my friends/roommates laid. I'm thoughtful like that. So far I tried to get K to make sweet coffee shop love with one flannel-wearing boy up front. You can also invade people's personal space by spying on their iTunes (Michael had no Britney, not even "Toxic," and only 3 JT out of 10,574 songs, disappointment.) The H-factor is pretty high - indie music, organic treats, Portland coffee, Brooklyn boys and lesbians in plaid, thick-rimmed glasses, and even a girl doing needlepoint.

The staff is what you'd expect at a local BK coffee shop, efficient but not exactly brimming with smiles. Whatever, not everyone can be the bubbly barista I once was, and Cho might start attracting a different customer base (um, like gay NYU freshmen? I don't even know) if my iPod controlled the beats. Expect many more posts fueled by their soy mocha and green tea.

And don't forget to always tip your barista! Especially if you're going to spend $4 and sit there for 4 hours and eat outside food...