Your Calling Card

Calling cards were traditionally a way to let people know that you had stopped by their home while they were out.  You had "Payed a Call" and then they could keep track of who had come to visit and reply in kind by visiting you, obviously this was before telephones and answering machines... and text messaging.

  The modern equivalent is the "Business Card" but when you meet a new person- do you really want them to contact you at work? Or even to know where you work? Here is where the calling card comes in handy... it's simply a card with your name and for the modern pinup girl, her email address.  I would leave my telephone number off of it because it's a lot easier to avoid any unwanted attentions via email than a stage 5 stalker blowing your cell phone.  It is a personal as you allow it to be and frees  you up to present  it as many fashions as you can create.  It can be a business contact, a new friend, a potential baby sitter/pet sitter, a hot man that you want to meet up with later or even just a way to network with people who are interested in the same activity as you.  With your calling card your email address provides facebook/myspace lookup information, the proper spelling of your name (and what your name is in case they forget or misheard you) and a way to contact you.   It's also classy, in my opinion.  You don't have to do the awkward number swap- just hand them your card and smile, if you want them to have your number then write it on the card- TRUST ME they will remember you.

Etsy is a great place to find handmade and beautiful cards and at an affordable price.  My roommate recently bought herself a set as she is a freelancer in film and a blogger of fashion/books/and personal style and she loves them (Champagne and Chiffon). My friends and I always talk about getting personal cards- not to promote our business or career ventures- but to promote ourselves.  Here are some links to some of the dealers on etsy. I really like the cards at Paper Chased.  Remember, you can put as little or as much information on your card as you wish- and what a lovely way to create a memory of you to a complete stranger that stays with them.

Pikake Press
Shop Inviting
When It Rains Shop
Paper Chased

Step Right Up! Come and See the Amazing Sideshow!

Recently I've finished reading American Sideshow by Marc Hartzman. It's a lovely book chronicling the sideshow in it's heyday in the late 1800's through today.  Broken into three sections: The Golden Age, The Silver Age, and the Modern Age of the sideshow.  Sideshows traveled throughout the country with circuses and carnivals showing marvels to the masses that had never before been seen.  The arrival of these performers, animals, and oddities was a treat for the whole community, bringing the rest of the world into their small communities.  There are still traveling sideshows throughout the country the Jim Rose Circus, the Brothers Grim Sideshow, and of course the only remaining stationary sideshow in the United States Coney Island USA's Sideshow by the Seashore. 

                                                               Brother's Grim Sideshow Photo

Yesterday, I actually attended the Sideshow by the Seashore and was very pleased to watch fire eating, climbing a ladder of swords, the human blockhead, the electric chair, an diminutive escape artist and bevy of other performances in a rotating one hour show along with a museum upstairs.  If one of these comes to your town or you are in New York City and can make it to the Sideshow at Coney Island it is certainly worth the $10.00 entrance fee.  There is also a museum upstairs for an extra dollar and film for an extra four dollars- in true sideshow spirit.  Also, remember to bring some extra cash to tip the performers- this is how they make their living and between rents and NYC living expenses every dollar counts!  Supporting this dying American art form is a real chance to step back into a time when the world was only limited by your imagination and an opportunity to experience the awe and excitement that our grandparents did.

                                                                  Coney Island Circus Sideshow Poster