I woke up this morning to a phone call letting me know that someone had gotten my debit card info and now my checking account is overdrawn and a lot of money is gone. Brilliant. A couple of days ago I booked a hotel online for next month so I can check out Stitch in Austin. Little did I know that I’d also be making a ton of purchases and withdrawals in Bangkok as well. Unfortunately I’ve never been to Thailand and someone else is having lots of fun at my expense. C’est la vie. So I’m spending the day trying to get this straightened out.

Anyway, I decided now might be a good time to have a little sale in my Etsy shop. So if you’ve been eyeing anything, now is a great time to buy, because everything is 20% off the listed price through October 31st. Just enter the code LIFESUCKS in the notes to seller at checkout and wait for an updated invoice.

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Wow, so I celebrated my blog’s anniversary on Monday, and then promptly ceased to post anymore for the rest of the week. To be fair, I was out of town for a few days, but lately I’ve just been trying to take a step back from a lot of things. I’ve been doing way too much, for too long: two different part-time day jobs, writing a monthly column for Antigravity Magazine and blogging for BloggingNewOrleans.com, writing here at MissMalaprop and creating stuff for dismantled, volunteering with Big Brothers-Big Sisters, plus being involved in various Etsy street teams and the New Orleans Craft Mafia… the list goes on!

Having recently celebrated both my birthday and MissMalaprop’s first year, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the next year ahead. I know I’ll still try to tackle a lot of things, because that’s just the way I am. But I’m trying to cut back and refocus my energy instead of spreading myself so thin. I’ve been thinking about this blog, and where I want to take it in the next year. For starters, I’ve updated the Charity Fundraisers section. Instead of choosing a completely new charity every few months, I’ve created a new Firstgiving page for each of the first three charities I spotlighted. They all mean a lot to me, and I wanted to give all of the more time to shine.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about what it means to be an “indie shopping blog”. Yes, I like to shop, and when I do I certainly try to buy from independent shops & designers and responsible companies. And I definitely love helping to promote those kinds of companies. But at the same time, I’ve been trying to cut back and limit my personal shopping habits more and more, for both environmental reasons (both the larger world and my home environment — too much stuff = too much clutter!) as well as trying to be more financially savvy. I doubt this will affect my posting habits much… after all, just because I don’t plan to purchase every amazing indie find I discover, doesn’t mean I can’t still share them with all of you!

What do you think? What kind of posts do you most enjoy reading here? What would you like to see more or less of? At the end of the day, what I post about here is my choice, of course, but I value and respect all of your comments (even if I don’t always have time to respond to each and every one!), and I’d love to here what you have to say.

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The new Etsy Bloggers Street Team has decided to pick a theme each week for everyone in the group to write a post on. Every Monday a different member of the group will host a roundup of some of our posts from that week, and this Monday I’ll be hosting. We’re all writing about our crafting spaces & studios, so in keeping with that theme, I thought I’d give you a little tour of my (very messy!) crafting area.

My apartment is a converted shotgun house, pretty typical for New Orleans. Well, on our side of the house, the back two rooms were opened up into one giant bedroom (on the other side of the building a small kitchen and living room occupy the same space). So my crafting space/office is essentially the back half of our bedroom.

I posted a set of pictures on Flickr where you can see just how messy my workspace currently is. I’ve got a shelf overflowing with fabrics and a smattering of boxes strewn across the floor, which are full of trims & notions, books for PaperBackSwap and stuff for the Etsy Trashion swag bags for our upcoming trunk show at the Etsy Labs. I should really take the time to get things back in order soon…

Take the grand tour here.

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I can’t believe I forgot to mention this…I was just featured on the podcast over at one of my favorite eco-blogs, Great Green Goods.

You can hear what I sound like! Of course, I don’t think I sound anything like that in person, but I guess everyone thinks the same thing when they hear themselves on tape…

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MissMalaprop.com is featured on this week’s edition of Thread Heads, the weekly video podcast for people who make their own fashion. I met Rob and Corinne during Craft Congress, and this week’s edition talks about the event as well as this blog and some of my other favorite online destinations, including the Wardrobe Remix community on Flickr and galadarling.com. I’ve watched a few of the most recent episodes of Thread Heads, and I think I’m hooked! I’ve subscribed to it via iTunes, so I can watch their videocasts from anywhere on my iPod. The fun, quirky style of this mini-show is definitely addicting.

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I’m headed out of town this weekend to attend the Craft Congress in Pittsburgh. It’s a gathering of indie craft organizers from all over the country to talk about the future of craft and where things are headed. I’m looking forward to it — some of the people behind Craft Revolution, The Sampler, Bazaar Bizarre, Craftster.org and even Etsy will be there. I’ll report back next week. Meanwhile, MissMischief will probably be doing some posting while I’m gone, so look out for that over the next few days.

Also, the April issue of Lucky Magazine has a great feature about shopping in New Orleans. I just picked it up the other day and posted about it over at BloggingNewOrleans. It’s kind of fun to see the place where you work mentioned in a national magazine. It’s definitely worth checking out if you’re an out-of-towner planning a visit.

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I just added a new page, up at the top, called “subscribe”.

I know a lot of people, even some very tech-savvy people, are still baffled by RSS and feeds and aggregators and all of that. I stumbled across an easy to understand explanation of RSS feeds and how they work at this blog, so I thought I’d create a permanent page here to let people know about the different easy ways that they can choose to read my entries here via RSS.

Did you know that over 60% of current MissMalaprop.com subscribers read entries here in one of three ways? The top 3 ways you guys prefer to read my feed are….

Bloglines

Livejournal

FeedBurner Email Subscriptions

For those of you reading this via some sort of reader, like the ones listed above, it looks like you’ve got things covered! I hope this helps at least someone who was stumped about what in the heck RSS is and how something that sounds so complicated (it isn’t, really!) could possibly make your life easier (it can, I promise!).

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I won 3rd place!!

I couldn’t be happier. The 1st and 2nd place winners of Etsy’s Upcycling Contest were two of my absolute faves: the “weiner bench” and a fab winter coat made from recycled shopping bags.

Etsy purchased my blue tarp FEMA outfit and had it on display at their party last night celebrating the opening of the brand new Etsy Labs.

You can catch a peek at the 2nd place winner as well as a Cyberoptix tie in the background.

Thanks to the lovely miss Luca, the lady behind Lushbox Inc. for the photo. I snagged it from her Flickr stream. I’m so jealous…I wish I could have been at the party in Brooklyn last night!

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I just realized I’ve been tagged by Ayana, who writes one of my favorite blogs, Nolé Style and Beauty Indulgence. She tagged me on the “Five Things You Didn’t Know About Me” meme that’s been circulating around lately. I’m normally not much of one for memes, but since it’s the weekend and this one is certainly more interesting than goofy quiz results, and who am I to deny it when I’ve been tagged?

1. I started getting grey hair when I was about 12 or 13. Both of my parents were prematurely grey, and I recently stopped dying my hair and started letting the grey grow out. I’ve got so much that I now have a grey streak in the front! (I’m only 23.)

2. When I was little I wanted to be a marine biologist, and I wanted to specialize in studying river dolphins. I was unbelievably saddened by the recent news of the Yangtze river dolphin extinction.

3. I’m a Shakespeare fanatic. I participated in the intern program for three summers in a row at the Shakespeare Festival at Tulane.

4. Anyone who knows me in real life probably already knows this, but I’ve had a HUGE crush on Jeff Goldblum since I was 13.

5. I never graduated high school. I left around the middle of my junior year and got my GED. Then I started community college early, and after doing that for year moved on to Loyola University here in New Orleans where I graduated with a 3.8 GPA.

I’m tagging Jen from Indie Fixx, Liana of Mixed Plate, Betty from She’s a Betty, and whoever else wants to participate!

P.S. In other news, check out the St. Valentine’s Day Giveaway that the D.C. Craft Mafia is doing right now. You could win a whole bunch of goodies handmade by their members, and entering is as easy as signing up for their mailing list by February 9th!

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Happy holidays everyone! I hope you’ve all had a wonderful holiday season so far, though if you’re anything like me it’s not really over until New Year’s has come and gone. Nevertheless, happy holidays, and best of luck to every single one of you in the coming year!

I’ve had a good holiday season so far, although I’ve got to admit, I’m about ready for it to all be over. It seems as though there’s been some sort of party or craft market or event for me to attend every couple of days or so for the past few weeks now…I’m exhausted!

I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed and ready for the fresh start of a new year. I think the people at Ideal Bite must have been reading my mind this morning…I opened up my inbox to this tip, all about recycling and getting rid of all that extra stuff in an eco-friendly way. This is something that I’ve already been thinking about a lot recently…ways to eliminate some of the clutter without just creating more waste in the landfills.

My New Year’s Resolution #1: Recycle more. Buy less. Buy recycled or sustainable whenever possible.

This is a personal resolution of course, but I’ll be working hard to seek out the best in recycled and sustainable goods to bring to you in the coming year. Luckily, many independent artists and designers are already vigilant about utilizing eco-friendly components in their work as much as possible.

It’s just another reason to buy indie in 2007. Stay tuned to MissMalaprop for the best in independent and eco-friendly shopping finds!

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I’m very pleased to announce the addition of a new contributing writer here on MissMalaprop.com! MissMischief, aka my best bud Ashe, will be coming on board to write about some of her awesome indie finds. Ashe and I grew up together on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and attended college together in New Orleans. Since Hurricane Katrina she’s been living in Bloomington, Indiana, where she just started working on her Master’s degree in Arts Administration.

Ashe and I were involved in theatre together when we were younger, and I often ended up modelling for her as her interest in fashion photography developed. MissMischief was obsessed with unicorns long before their recent jump back into popular culture. She loves 80s dance parties, avant garde makeup and wigs, and wishes that every day could be a day to dress up as her favorite rock star cartoon characters (can we say, Jem & The Holograms?).

Ashe and I have been best friends since 6th grade, so we have very similar styles and interests. Like me, she spends way too much time surfing the Internet and shopping online, so she’s always telling me about some amazing new designer or indie band she’s found. She’s already told me about some of the websites and artists she wants to feature, and I guarantee they won’t disappoint.

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I just noticed that I’m currently one of the featured people on Stylehive.com. I only discovered Stylehive a few weeks ago, and I’ll admit, I’ve become slightly obsessed with it since then. It’s basically a social bookmarking site, but based around shopping. On the main page at Stylehive you can see the most recent bookmarks that people have posted, plus rotating images of what’s “buzzing” in the hive. You can find cool new sites and products by searching for specific tags or by checking out what other users have bookmarked.

I’ve been using it as a quick and dirty way to keep track of all of the cool stuff I’m constantly finding online. You can check out my bookmarks here.

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What’s this all about?

The purpose of this blog is threefold. I created MissMalaprop.com as a place for me to:

• showcase unique and independent products and small businesses
• document my personal mission to live a more environmentally sustainable and socially responsible lifestyle
• talk about what’s really going on in New Orleans, my hometown, and showcase NOLA-based artists and businesses

MissMalaprop.com is indie driven and community-minded. I believe in supporting small business, independent designers & artists, and people & organizations who are working to make the world a better place. I believe, whenever possible, in buying local, independently produced, handmade, sustainable, recycled, organic, fair-trade, environmentally-friendly products and services. I believe that one person can make a difference and that everyone can be that person.

Who am I?

I’m Mallory, a 23-year-old indie craft enthusiast living in New Orleans, Louisiana. Originally from Gulfport, Mississippi, I rode out Hurricane Katrina at my mom’s house on the MS Gulf Coast, and I witnessed destruction both there and in New Orleans firsthand. I helped out with some of the relief efforts there through September of last year and came back to New Orleans in mid-October. I’m dedicated to helping New Orleans and the Gulf Coast recover and become better than ever. I’d like to help outsiders get a better feel for what things are really like down here, and I’m open to questions about the current state of New Orleans and the MS Gulf Coast.

In my free time I make reconstructed clothing and accessories, and I do online publicity for the New Orleans Craft Mafia, of which I am a very proud member. I manage a few online communities, including Mission101 and CreativeNOLA.  I also love live theatre, ballroom dance, travelling, motorcycles, drag queens, and coffee.

What’s in a name?

MissMalaprop is sort of a play on my name, Mallory. I joked that if I was a music DJ, I’d be DJ Malaprop. It’s also a nod to my literary and theatre geekdom. Mrs. Malaprop is a character in the 18th-century comedy of manners play, The Rivals. The term malapropism comes from this character, who was constantly mis-using similar sounding words, although Dogberry from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing was doing the same thing in a much earlier play. (I told you I’m a literary & theatre geek.)

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