Garage Sale was a success thanks to Vince and Jenny for helping out that day. I did not get rid of as much as I would have liked but I was able to make a little bit to count towards fundraising!

The interesting part of it all was the fact that most people went straight to the trinkets and nic nacs that i originally thought would never sell. For instance, my jewellery. Most of the items were over 5+ years old which included earrings that even stores would not refund due to hygiene issues. But I am not complaining…merely making an observation. Oh and did I mention most of the jewellery did not contain any precious stones or were of real silver?

I honestly thought I would sell more clothes and shoes but as I was placing them out on their hangers on the lawn, I realized that my sweaters and pants might be too small for most people. It was actually quite hilarious because most of my sweaters looked like they could fit most teenage girls!

Vince was kind enough to raid his closet for old clothes, and he managed to clear out half of his closet. He eventually gave away a lightly worn suit to Jenny’s husband which was only worn twice and a brand new women’s puma wind breaker. I couldn’t believe the things people were skimming by. Oh well. I am sure we could have made more money if we were to hold another one, but sitting out all day in the yard just didn’t feel that productive to me. So we shut er down and donated the rest of the items after that day.

Now I have no sweaters for the fall but my closet sure looks better!

What a great night last night turned out to be. Claire and I did not know what to really expect but we couldn’t  have asked for a  better night. Thank you to all of our friends, family, and to our new friends we met along the way for making this a very very successful event. We might just have to throw another jam because it was just too much fun!

The Gerry Thomas Gallery was absolutely amazing! The vibrant and contemporary art pieces definitely created a very urban and fresh vibe. Good music also makes it for a great night right? DJ FatRock and Statik from Suns of Boey rocked out some Funk, House, and Hip Hop for us, these guys are part of a trio, the last one being DJ C-Sik. They have been rockin clubs, battles, and the DJ scene for quite sometime now in Calgary and we were very excited that they were able to come out on such late notice. We received word at the beginning of this week that DJ Rock from Vinyl Idols would not be able to make it out for our event which we were bummed about but he was able to get talkin to Suns of Boey and hook us up!

We had a 50/50 draw that yielded almost $200 cash so that was absolutely amazing. Kind of funny how my brother won though, he was generous enough to give his winnings to the arthritis society! We also had some appearances from some amazing hat owners. I remember one in particular, a little furry lion that roared when squeezed. Pretty sweet! We had people wearing anything from Turkish hats, top hats, 59Fifty’s, classic Fedoras, 20′2 to 60’s inspired hats, to full out costumes such as ninja wearing rice hat, and batman! I love how people just took this theme into their own hands and made it that much more special! Calgary’s got some MadHatters!

Thanks again everyone!!!

It’s time to make that favorite hat of yours shine! Claire and I are holding our very first fund raising event at The Gerry Thomas Art Gallery. It’s one of the most unique, contemporary spaces in Calgary. I was first introduced to the venue at and intimate concert with the Key’s n Krates two months ago and I have not been able to get it out of my head. It’s a little classy with a little more edge, not to mention the full service bar that anchors the one side of the gallery. It transforms into what is also known as After Lounge – where the spectacular, vibrant art pieces set the mood for a metropolitan night out with a little artistic flare.

Claire and I are selling tickets for $10 or $12 at the door so contact me if you want some tickets! They will also be available at The Gallery on 17th avenue.

Don’t miss on a night out of great music (with DJ Rock), wicked art, and FuNTAStic hats all for a good cause. All ticket proceeds will be go towards supporting arthritis society. Doors open at 9:00pm until 02:00am.

Thanks everyone for supporting!

This may seem overkill and bitter but I would just like to forewarn anyone that wants to process their bottle drives through Manchester Bottle Depot. Consider warned – You will get ripped off!

I had my reservations when we dropped off our bottles from our last bottle drive at this new bottle depot. It has been opened for a few months now and its in a convenient location, not too busy, and open on Sundays. I thought I would help a new business by bringing my business there and lessoned learned…I am never going back there again!

It’s amazing how people can lie to your face and not sense a ounce of guilt especially for cheating a charitable cause. You should be ashamed of yourselves for pulling what you did! We will be doing bottle drives all summer and you won’t get any of it!

Claire and I have been pretty busy planning our fundraisers these past couple of weeks and I haven’t been updating my blogs…bah I know. But we had a pretty interesting day today during our second bottle drive. we spent quite a bit of time deliverying flyers, running in 25+ weather after a grueling days worth of work and when it came down to picking them up we had a few run ins with some local competition. First we run into an old asian couple who had their bottle picking gear and claimed not to know any english. We found them on the of a house stuffing pop cans from bags left outside into their own bags. I was just as shocked as Claire was although I think Claire was a little bit more upset with the matter. We both tried explaining to them that the bottle indeed were left there as a result of our flyers but they did not seem to care. After a few minutes of being nice, Claire gave it to them firm and I was seriously contemplating on taking the remaining bottles into our truck. ….Our wits kicked in and the trouble was just not worth fighting for. I don’t believe they randomly came across our bottles. My theory is that they actually  lived in the area and saw our flyers then decided to go ahead and pick them from us. grrrr I know this may sound foolish and outrageously juvenile but trust me; when you are running out in the heat a few hours at a time handing out flyers door to door….you would get annoyed too! Anyways we left and went off and on our way down a few blocks when we ran into another person. This time he was on his bike tugging a trailer full of bottles! ok so we might be jumping into conclusions and yes we are assuming that the bottles in his wagon were from our flyers….we were annoyed once again. Is this too harsh?

Well we will be trying our luck in sub-urbia the next time around. Despite our run-ins we have high hopes on gains for the arthritis society. The folks at Manchester bottle depot were kind enough to help us unload our truck promising to have them counted for tomorrow. Cross your fingers!