Stinkerpants

MIA No Longer

August 3, 2009 in Miscellaneous Ramblings

Please excuse my extended absence from internet land!

First, I had a hideous flu.  Very, very hideous.

Then, my mom came down for a week because I had minor surgery (very minor and totally unrelated to the flu, no worries).

Then, yesterday was Y and my very first wedding anniversary!  Y and I had a great time revisiting our ceremony site at Crissy Field and celebrating with a picnic and cupcakes (thanks to Sibby’s Cupcakery, you guys rock a million times over!).

And now I’m back.  This week I’ll be doing a week of wedding-related giveaways, so tell your bride friends!

OMG!! I won something AMAZING!!!!

July 10, 2009 in Miscellaneous Ramblings

I am interrupting my regularly scheduled blog post for some major AW-ing (that’s Attention Whore-ing).  I am SUPER excited about this and I cannot WAIT to tell you guys about it!

A few weeks ago, Lulu, Y and I won the best contest I’ve ever seen, let alone participated in!

We won a dog portrait by the amazingly talented Aimée Hoover.

A few years ago, I saw this portrait in a magazine in a doctor’s office and fell madly in love:

Isn’t it GORGEOUS?! I emailed Aimee to find out about her pricing and was sad (but not shocked) to see that she was out of my meager college student budget. However, I became a big fan of Aimée’s and signed up for her mailing list to receive updates on her latest portraits.  Awhile ago, I found Aimeé on Twitter and was REALLY excited to learn that she is not only an incredible artist, but an incredible person.  And with a great sense of humor, to boot.

Then I found out that she was running contests for a free custom dog portrait, painted in 140 minutes.   So I entered!  And I lost.  My photos were kind of crappy.  Ooops.  So the next time around, I entered these three photos:

And the last one WON!!  I never win anything (Y likes to point out that, technically, Lulu actually won.  I’m choosing to ignore him).  I was thrilled at the idea that I would be getting a free portrait from someone that I have literally admired for years.

And then, yesterday, Aimée posted this:

I was so excited, I very nearly peed myself.

Then, a few hours later, she posted the finished painting.

OMFG, right?!  It’s GORGEOUS!  I was speechless.

Well, sort of.  I kind of squealed, then sat and stared.  Isn’t it amazing?!

I am so lucky.  And every time I look at it, I’m speechless again.

Aimeé also posted the progression of the portrait (these progressions are actually my favorite part of being on her mailing list!):

Needless to say, I am totally and completely thrilled.

Aimée is intensely talented, don’t you think? Shower her with love, people!!  Visit her website, follow her on Twitter, and subscribe to her blog.  She rocks!!

She’s also doing another dog portrait contest in just a few days, so join Twitter (you should anyway, because it’s fun!  And also, to follow me!), follow Aimée, and enter her contest!! Or, better yet, commission her for a custom piece.  She’s worth every penny.  If I had any pennies, I’d give them to Aimée to paint all twelve of our pets.

Interestingly, poor Y is having to suffer a LOT since we won this portrait. Why?  Well, because I keep bragging about how I’m now an award-winning photographer (since I happened to have snapped the photo that won).  This might be a slight exaggeration on my part, but I take my bragging rights where I can get them!

But even worse than me is Lulu:  she has turned into a total and complete DIVA.  She no longer feels the need to respond to our requests, and I even caught her standing on top of our picnic table, helping herself to cat food!  Apparently all of our praises went to her head.

Anyway, needless to say, our entire little family is VERY excited about this, and very, very thankful to Aimée.

PS: if you’ve somehow managed to read all of my excited ramblings in addition to looking at the pretty pictures, I’ll tell you this: one of the rules for this contest is to do something nice  for someone else, and “pay the freebie forward.” Great rule, right?!  So pretty soon, I’m going to be running a contest of my own.  :)

THANK YOU, AIMÉE!!

Vote for Equality!

June 5, 2009 in Miscellaneous Ramblings

It’s time to vote, people!  As you may recall, my bumper sticker campaign offers the option to donate money to an organization fighting for marriage equality.  Well, my friends, the time to vote is here.  Where should we send our money?

I’ve done some research, and here are four very deserving organizations.  Please vote for the one you’d like to receive the donations–and if you have any other suggestions, I’d love to hear them in the comments section!

• Equality California has created a campaign called “Win Marriage Back, Make it Real.”  I like that they tell us exactly what they’re planning to do with the money. They’re aiming to put another initiative on the ballot in 2010.  You can read all about their plan by clicking here.

• Freedom to Marry is a national organization looking to win marriage equality nation-wide. From Freedom to Marry: Freedom to Marry encourages dialogue with Americans thinking through the need to end discrimination in marriage, provides support to targeted state and local efforts, and promotes fairness for all families, including same-sex couples and the children raised by gay parents. By working to secure equal access to marriage, we help reinforce our country’s historic commitment to freedom, the pursuit of happiness, and equal justice for all. You can learn more about them by clicking here.

• Lambda Legal works toward equality by pursuing high-impact litigation and educating the public.  From Lambda Legal: We make the case for equality in court and through education, and we help individuals obtain and advance their rights by providing legal information about federal laws and the laws in their state. We also offer information and resources to people seeking legal help through our telephone Help Desks and a wide variety of educational publications.

• The Courage Campaign is the source of that awesome video I posted the other day.  They’re organizing events and rallies all over the place.  From the Courage Campaign: The Courage Campaign is an online organizing network that empowers more than 700,000 grassroots and netroots activists to push for progressive change and equality in California. As a leading multi-issue advocacy organization in the progressive movement, the Courage Campaign’s work is made possible by thousands of small-dollar donations from community members across California and the country.

Please let me know what you think by commenting below!!

Wow. Thanks!

May 27, 2009 in Miscellaneous Ramblings

Yesterday was both sad and exciting.  I really didn’t expect the Twitter-verse to explode the way it did with all the re-tweets of my blog posts–hello to people I don’t know!  :-D  And thank you to everyone who spread the word.

There are still some free bumper stickers left, and of course, if you want to buy one for a buck & let someone else take a free one, that would be awesome too.  Just to reiterate, here are the options for the sticker and the links to get them:

1. The first 250 people who sign up for this will receive one for free.  No shipping, no nothing.  Free. Or, if you’re feeling generous, you can choose one of the next two options:
2. Because I can’t afford to spend a kagillion dollars (after all, I am pretty poor, haha), everyone after the first 250 just needs to pay for shipping and handling, which is $1.  If you want to pay $1 and let somebody else take the free option, please do!
3. OR if you’re feeling REALLY pissed off, donate as much as you want, and I will give the money to a gay rights charity that we’ll be voting on (the vote will be here on the blog–feel free to suggest your favorites in the comments section of this post!) in the next couple of days, AND send you your bumper sticker.

Last night Y and I went out to San Francisco City Hall to march with other like-minded people.  I haven’t been to many protests, but I thought it was pretty awesome.  And of course, it ended with a dance party in the middle of the Castro.

We have a fight ahead of us, but I really hope that it won’t take too long.  I am hoping that people were complacent or ignorant pre-election, and that 52% of people really aren’t that hateful.  I guess that’s hope.

 
image source

Stinkerpants is PISSED OFF! READ THIS.

May 26, 2009 in Miscellaneous Ramblings

Get a badge for your blog, or a free bumper sticker!

I can’t lie, I had a feeling this was coming.

Here’s why:

• Last year, the California Supreme Court made the decision that it is UNCONSTITUTIONAL to exclude same-sex couples from the right to marry.
• In November, 52% of this state voted to overturn that decision.  The majority (by just a tiny bit!!) was allowed to take rights away from a minority group.
• The decision made today wasn’t about whether or not it’s unconstitutional to exclude same-sex couples from marriage rights–that decision was already made a year ago, and it was in our favor.  The decision today was about whether or not the voters of California have the right to amend their own constitution.  When you consider that this decision affects all law from this day forward, it’s really no surprise that Prop 8 was upheld.

Here’s the deal, though: if California voters have the right to amend their constitution, we have the right to do it again.  I have absolutely NO DOUBT that California will follow Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa and legalize gay marriage.

I hate to say it, but the No on 8 Campaign was NOT RUN WELL.  At all.  Why weren’t they talking about civil rights?  How about the fact that African Americans didn’t have the right to marry outside of their race just FORTY TWO YEARS AGO?! And that the campaign against interracial marriage used the EXACT SAME arguments as they’re using now for gay marriage?

This video says what needs to be said:

I really think that the campaign will be run better this time.  I also think that people will NOT be lazy.  Californians like to think of our state as being filled with liberal hippies.  I don’t think people expected Prop 8 to pass.  WE WILL NOT MAKE THAT MISTAKE AGAIN.

If you read my blog through a reader like Google Reader, you probably didn’t see that I’ve had a new badge in my sidebar for a few weeks.

At the suggestion of Designs by Tine, I decided to make badges for everyone.  Like it?  Take it.  PLEASE.  Put it on your blog.  Tell your friends to take it and have them put it on THEIR blogs.  Whether or not you live in California, show your support for FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED GAY MARRIAGE.  This is not a Californian issue.  This is not a “gay” issue.  This is a civil rights issue.  This is an humanity issue.  This is an issue that EVERYONE needs to care about!

For your blog posts:

For your sidebar:

 And now for the BIG KAHUNA:

I also created a bumper sticker, which I just sent to print.  Check it out!

I could only afford to have 1000 of these suckers printed, but print them I did.  I intend to give these away FOR FREE.  I’m giving people three options:

1. The first 250 people who sign up for this will receive one for free.  No shipping, no nothing.  Free. Or, if you’re feeling generous, you can choose one of the next two options:
2. Because I can’t afford to spend a kagillion dollars (after all, I am pretty poor, haha), everyone after the first 250 just needs to pay for shipping and handling, which is $1.  If you want to pay $1 and let somebody else take the free option, please do!
3. OR if you’re feeling REALLY pissed off, donate as much as you want, and I will give the money to a gay rights charity that we’ll be voting on (the vote will be here on the blog–feel free to suggest your favorites in the comments section of this post!) in the next couple of days, AND send you your bumper sticker.

I am going to be at the protest tonight at 5pm at San Francisco City Hall, and I’ll be holding a BIG FREAKIN’ SIGN.  I hope to see you there!!!
I am in support of federally recognized gay marriage rights. Are you?