Hello, Hello! I have a new design coming out this week. Nicole requested an “Are You Afraid of The Dark” themed t-shirt. After hearing feedback from others also, there were plenty that agreed. Although I had never watched the show, I gathered some feedback from Nicole and we came up with a pretty cool shirt! Take a look below at the prototype:
I plan on also releasing this on a baby onesie! Stay tuned!
This weekend had its highs and lows. I haven’t been on in a while because things have been so busy. For a while Nicole and I had wanted to adopt a dog. We would check the SPCA website every day to look and see the dogs, waiting to see that one face that would make us immediately come to it’s rescue. We had found her. She was part Boerboel and part Pit. She just had babies and was a mother ready to be adopted.
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| Wilma |
Nicole and I went and picked up Wilma. We brought my Jack Russel Ric with us so that they could meet. The two seemed to get along nicely at the shelter, so we paid our $130.00 and brought her home. Wilma was very appreciative of her new home and loved the both of us. She loved to go for walks and eat treats. She also loved to cuddle. The thing that wasn’t working was that she loved to play with Ric. With Ric being 20 pounds and Wilma at 60, the playing wasn’t very successful. Every session would involve Ric being trampled on accident. She never meant to hurt him but she would almost every time. After 2 days of trying to figure this out, we had to make a very difficult decision. Do we keep Wilma here and risk Ric getting hurt? Does Wilma live here only to constantly hear us telling her not to play because we have insufficient means for her to be happy? Or do we do the right thing and bring her back so that she has a chance to be an only dog for someone looking for a best friend. This dog was fantastic and we couldn’t keep her. Monday morning the decision was made to bring her back. I had her two days and my heart was broken. I put the leash back on her and brought her to the car. She sat in the back seat laying down with her head resting on the seat cushion, almost as if she knew where she was going. I was trying not to tear up but I was failing miserably. What was only a few mile drive to the spca, seemed like forever. I pulled into the parking lot, trying to get myself together. I looked like my mom after a really sad, intense, episode of Guiding Light. Wilma willingly left the back seat and walked with me to the entrance. Once the door was open, she cowered and tried to pull in the opposite direction. This was brutal. I pushed her in gently by her fanny while trying not to cry and look totally ridiculous. I told the women at the desk that Wilma was fantastic but that she couldn’t co-exist with my dog Ric. I told her that Wilma loved to be in her crate at night time, that she feared cats and never attacked them. She was good on a leash, listened to commands (for the most part), and went outside to go to the bathroom. The only issue was my other dog. They were very understanding and after some paper work, I left the SPCA in tears like a pussy and headed home. I love animals, and this one was tough, but it was the right decision. I post this entry for the hopes that if anyone is looking for a great dog, the go visit Wilma at:
205 Ensminger Road
Tonawanda, NY 14150
(716) 875-7360 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (716) 875-7360
Her link is here: http://www.yourspca.org/page.aspx?pid=423
This weekend was Nicole’s birthday. My parents came down and took us out to Bambino Bar and Kitchen. It was fantastic as usual, but this review is about our Saturday night. I had made us reservations to Bistro Europa on Elmwood Avenue. This was a restaurant that always made us hate the fact that we were vegetarians. Its unique, cozy, European look and their constantly changing menu and specials, always sparked our curiosity. We could never go before because everything on the menu involves some sort of meet or seafood. No longer being vegetarians, we were eager to try this place out.
We arrived like 15 minutes early. The inside was artsy and dimly lit. From the sidewalk outside, its almost impossible to see inside and I was not expecting it to look the way that it did when we got in.
There was a couple that had reservations a few minutes before us and they were in front of us. They told the women at the bar that they had reservations and the women at the bar said that she was able to seat them immediately. The people then said that they “wanted to see the menu first”. So the women handed the couple menus, and then said that she could seat us immediately also. She said that we could choose whatever table we would like. So of course we choose the best table in the place, in the corner by the window. The couple looking at the menu got angry that we chose their table and left. To that couple who made reservations and then left:
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| “Yes, that was us that stole your table.” |
With that being said, we sat down and ordered a round of beers. The beer selection was all really great craft bottles. I started off with The Stone Levitation and Nicole had a Hefeweizen.
For an appetizer we ordered the cabbage and pork pierogi. For our entrees, Nicole had ordered the Sea Bass and I had ordered the Steak Frites. The pierogi arrived in less than 10 minutes. They were very large and looked amazing. 3 pierogi on a bed of sour cream all seasoned and they looked delicious. Each pierogi was filled generously with extremely tender shredded pork and cabbage. These were simply amazing.
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| Pork and Cabbage Pierogi |
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| Steak Frites |
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| Sea Bass |
Nothing about this dining experience was bad. Everything from the service to the food was nothing short of amazing. This was easily one of the best restaurants we have been to in Buffalo.
I’ve been able to get the Super Sweet Shirt co. studio into a working condition with the bare necessities to get the ball rolling again. Slowly I will be making it more the way that I want as I get more time, but I needed to get things set up so that I could keep up with the orders and make new designs. I have created two new onesies that I wanted to shamelessly plug on the blog today, both are totally awesome. I have had many requests from France and Australia to do a Van Damme onesie. I already do a Van Damme t-shirt but haven’t had a baby onesie until now. The onesie features Van Damme in fighting pose from “Kickboxer” as Nack Suk Cao (The White Warrior).
The second new onesie is something Nicole had come up with. I was always a fan of the “Big Wheel”. It was always something that would make a kids imagination run wild. I remember riding mine around driveways like it was the open road. Nicole had come up with the idea of “Heck’s Angels”. I totally fell in love with the idea and designed the little logo.
Both of these designs are available in the eBay and Etsy stores, along with our website at http://www.supersweetshirts.com .
Its been a hectic couple of days! Every day seems to be more busy than the next. Sounds exciting right? Sort of. I’m burning out. The shirt orders have been crazy, the overtime at my other job is non-stop, and the work around the house is never ending. Last weekend, Nicole and I decided to scrap any house work and keep our schedule as laid back as possible so that we could take a day and do what pleases us most. Shopping. Yeah, yeah, I know. Not a very manly activity right? Whatever. I love shopping, I love clothes, and I fully blame my mother. I was her shopping companion all of the years growing up. Hours of shopping for clothes, shoes, etc. I was raised to enjoy this activity, find sales, combine coupons, and search for bargains. We spent all Saturday having a shopping therapy day and it was just what we needed. We took the portion of our checks that we would normally spend on the house, and we bought some much needed clothes for ourselves. I managed to get myself a nice button down and a sweater for winter that is totally awesome. One thing in particular that I saw at Urban Outfitters, was so awesome, so incredibly stupid, and hideous, I had to share it here. I present to you this work of art (I should have purchased this):
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| Kelly Kapowski |
Anyways, now onto the house (I can’t think about my poor decision not to buy this). The kitchen is exploding with life and Al is really making progress. We ran into a few roadblocks that I was able to overcome. First off, the pendent lights we ordered had recessed light adapters on them. It wasn’t too big of an issue because I was able to just splice off the adapter and hard wire it into the ceiling. I love how these lights turned out.
The back splash on both sides of the kitchen is now finished. Al finished the other wall today and installed the rest of the remaining cabinets that we had to get shipped because the originals that we ordered were cracked. Now all of the cabinets and the back splash are up, along with the microwave. Next up is the floor and ordering the granite. We cannot wait to get the appliances moved in.
I had taken 2 half days and a full day off this week to get some work done in the new house. This would also allow me to work with Al (our contractor) to learn some things. The heat wave hasn’t made things very easy on us but we were determined to make some good progress. We got all of the cabinets put together on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday we put them up. We love the way they look in the kitchen. When they were on display in the store, we were sort of on the fence about them.
I was supposed to get this up yesterday but things have been crazy with shirts! I wanted to post some pictures from the Taste of Buffalo. I’m pretty sure that this was the biggest one yet in terms of vendors, in fact this year was supposed to have made it the biggest food event in the US. It was pretty awesome. I was excited to go this year as a non vegetarian especially. It’s best to know ahead of time, or to at least get an idea, as to what you want to try there, otherwise you can wander aimlessly in large crowds looking for what you want. I wanted to try the Lobster Mac & Cheese from Parings Wine Bar, Pierogi from Polish Villa, and wine slushies which are the best when its hot out. Nicole wanted to try the Pierogi and wine slushies also, but also wanted to try the Stuffed Hot Pepper Roll from Molinaro’s Ristorante & NY Pizzeria. We got to taste all of these things and they were delicious. I had two Lobster Macs and Nicole’s Pepper Roll was the best tasting thing out of everything. If you haven’t attended this event before, you should definitely try to get there next year, especially if you love food!
Also, an update on the home renovation. The kitchen is coming along nicely. Al just finished dry walling the room minus a few small things left. This weekend we will be able to paint the kitchen before the cabinets go up. I took some time off next week so that I could help Al with some things. We cant wait to have storage again!
Over the weekend, Nicole and I went to go see the da Vinci exhibit at the Buffalo Science Museum. This was something we wanted to check out in New York City last year when it came but didn’t get a chance to. Having lived here for almost 10 years, I had never been to the Science Museum before here in Buffalo, so this was going to be a fresh experience for me.
When we arrived, we thought it was closed. The main entrance was completely closed off and the only reason we knew it was open was from the cars on the side of the building in front of another entrance that was barely noticeable. When we got inside, Nicole asked the people at the front desk why it was closed off. Apparently were portions of it falling apart and it was rendered unsafe for people to use. There was no mention that it was being repaired and no signs of any work being done on it. Hopefully there is a plan in place to get it fixed soon because it is a beautiful entrance and a waste to have to use the side door. It’s probably also effecting business because it really does look closed.
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| ” I think they are closed…” |
The exhibit was pretty cool to see. I wasn’t aware that we were able to work all of the machines that were displayed. Some of the bigger machines had locks on them which meant that the museum worker had to show you how to use it and watch you to make sure it was done correctly. I took some pictures of some of the most interesting machines.
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| This was a crane that he created. he didn’t invent the crane itself but he invented the plans to have the crane swivel 360 degrees at the base. Also he invented the locking mechanism on the gear that was responsible for raising and lowering the crane. |
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| This is the locking mechanism. Pretty cool because its something I’ve seen on a bunch of modern devices even today. |
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| I don’t remember what this does, but when you pulled the lever the big wheel would turn. |
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| Dropping the hammer. |
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| The da Vinci Machine Gun. |
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| Nicole in the first ever designed battle tank. |
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| This is the first ever designed battle tank. It was pretty awesome. They opened it up and allowed us to go inside. The tank took 4 people to move it and they had to coordinate almost like multiple people paddling a boat. |
This exhibit has been all over the world and I would definitely try to see it if you can. There were way more machines that I haven’t featured here. Some of his designs that he created during his quest for flight were really out there, but awesome. Check back in tomorrow and I should have some stuff from the Taste of Buffalo!
This weekend was packed full of good things. I wasn’t able to get much house work done, but then again, that was the goal this weekend. We have been doing a ton of work around here, so this weekend we wanted to take a break, or at least cut down ( I caved in and did a little work).
Friday I met some old friends out for a fish fry. There are a lot of places that make fish frys in Buffalo, but none of them can even come close to making a fish fry better than Papa Jake’s on Elmwood. They make a fish fry that is so far better than any other place I’ve been to, that it would be a waste of time and money to consider any other option. It’s that good. I hadn’t been there in over 3 years, so I was eager to see if theirs was still the best. We arrived at around 6:30pm and were fortunate enough to be able to sit down immediately as a table was open in the back. We could have waited to sit in their outside seating area if we really wanted to, but we were pretty hungry and decided against it. One thing I noticed when we walked in was that they increased the quality and the amount of beers they have on tap. I think I counted over 25. I was distracted when trying to count the taps when becoming overwhelmed by excitement from the sight of Ithaca’s “Hop Stash” IPA. The “Hop Stash” is easily my favorite beer of the summer if I don’t consider any of the beer I had in San Francisco. Ithaca brewed this beer in limited distribution to pay tribute to this year’s Phish tour. This is the perfect summer IPA, hands down. I ordered a pint and a fish fry. They did an upgrade on the fish fry since I had last been there. This time, the fish fry came with a crab mac salad that was out of this world. It was the perfect companion. As a whole the fish fry comes with a piece of rye bread, crab mac salad (I think you have a choice of another salad, but I was so excited when they mention the crab mac, that I didn’t hear the other option), cole slaw, and Papa Jakes fresh cut french fries.
Three pints of Hop Stash later, and a full stomach, I was more than satisfied and I can’t wait to get another fish fry on an future Friday. If you like a good fish fry, and you haven’t been to Papa Jake’s, you are missing out.
Saturday we went to the Echo Art Fair at the Central Terminal, one of the most beautiful old buildings in Buffalo. They hold events there to help fund its ongoing restoration. There was a decent turn out and the artists where very diverse from photography and paintings, to sculptures and modern art. There were some artists doing live paintings which is always interesting. And at every art show, there was always one artist that stands out either it be good or bad. In this case it was the bad. There was an artist that did paintings of computer desktops. Oh no I’m serious. A beautiful painting of an excel sheet here, a deep and thoughtful painting of solitaire there, this stuff was ridiculous but really funny to look at. I was actually approached by the artist while looking at them, and thankfully he didn’t seem to take himself all that seriously. At least I don’t think….
We were able to catch a quick lunch inside the art fair courtesy of Potts Deli. They are a Polish deli on South Ogden St. in Buffalo. They were cooking up some fresh pierogi that we smelled as soon as we walked in. Nicole and I are like basset hounds when it comes to sniffing out pierogi. Delicious.
This weekend we also went to the Taste of Buffalo and the da Vinci exhibit at the science museum. I have pictures and some thoughts on those two things that you can read here throughout the week! Thanks for reading and thanks for making Super Sweet Shirts #7 on the top 35 Urban Spoon Buffalo Blogs!
The Buffalo waterfront has really stepped it up. We had gone down to the waterfront near the HSBC arena on the 3rd of July to check it out. In the past, it was a ghost town. There were no people to be seen, no activity at all. This summer it is totally different. There was tons of activity and people enjoying their Sunday afternoon by the water. It was really awesome. When we went down on the 4th, it was crazy. I took some pictures. The progress and development of the waterfront is definitely coming along nicely.
The fireworks display was pretty amazing. I didn’t get any pictures of them because pictures of fireworks are never impressive unless taken by a real photographer. I think the most annoying thing that happened during the fireworks display would be the excessive amounts of country music blasting as the fireworks went off. At one point I had looked to my left to see a family of really overweight trashy people, smoking tons of cigarettes, and getting into the terrible songs playing. The song “Proud to be an American” might be one of the most embarrassing songs ever written and definitely does not make me proud. For about 10 minutes, it was mind blowing and it actually felt like I was in some backwoods town in the South. Luckily they only played like 4 country songs. Yeah I know, some people like country music, but it is still embarrassing. All in all, it was a fun 4th in Buffalo.
This upcoming weekend and the weekend after are super busy. Nicole and I are volunteering at the Echo Art Fair at the Central Terminal this Saturday. Sunday is the Taste of Buffalo which, this year, is the biggest food festival in the United States. I will be eating food and taking pictures! The following weekend is the Italian Festival. This festival isn’t all that pretty to look at, but the food is amazing! I will have pictures of that also.
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