Drawn Dudes: The Slideshow

Here's a slideshow of a few of the sketches we've posted over the past two years. I'm not sure if I'm going to post this on Shmitten Kitten, but I wanted to test it out here. Hmmmm. Thoughts?

Blogger On The Radio

Here is the interview I did for HearPhilly as part of their Philly blogger interview series. It comes in two parts. In these clips, I talk about the Philly dating scene (like I have any clue about it.) I'm really happy with how the interview turned out. A huge thanks goes out to Morgan from the GPTMC for setting this up and thank you to Melony Roy for being such a terrific interviewer. Take a listen:


Part 1

Part 2

Achtung, Baby!

Here it is! My first bout of international press in a German newspaper. I've been ooohing and aaahing over it all day. I gave my Google translator page a workout to understand what they said but I assume it's laudatory. It's weird to see my picture posted on a foreign Web site, but it's really quite a thrill. My Mom told me that she is proud of it. Awwww. If you can't understand German, here is the interview we did, in English:

Could you tell me, how shmitten kitten started?

Well, I thought of the name first. I bolted upright at 3am with the idea to start the site and registered the domain name. Then, the next day over coffee, I told my best friend Shannon that I wanted to start a site called Shmitten Kitten, but I wasn't sure what it should be about. She suggested that we use it to recount our crazy dating stories. I told her that no one would want to read about it, but she insisted that it would be a hit. I relented and Shmitten Kitten was born.

After about a month, she came up with the idea to draw the dudes we'd see around the city. From there, it really took off!

Do you have one main topic or does it evolve naturally?

We don't have one main topic. Lately, it's evolved into more general observations about what we like or don't like about guys' behavior. I try to be flexible and only write when I'm really excited about a topic. And, I try to make every post special. And funny. It must be funny!

One big part of the website are the drawings of types of guys you meet on the streets of your hometown. But you really find those guys in every city around the world. How do you decide, which of these guys you are going to portray?

It's pretty organic. Almost everything I write is to make Shannon laugh. We will be hanging out somewhere and we'll just try to bust each other up with our ideas of who we should lampoon or honor next. Some of the dudes we've drawn are based on the kinds of dudes we date. Sometimes, it's just about guys we see around town. Really, whatever tickles our funny bone makes the cut.

And did some of them ever recognise themselves and write you back?

Oh yes! *tugs collar*

Almost all of them have been good sports about it. Except one. He was pretty pissed at us because he felt personally attacked. But, as time went on, I think he accepted his sketch as a badge of honor.

How do these drawings evolve?

It's all observational. These are guys we see at the park, at the cafe, on the street, at bars; really everywhere! I think that they are pretty accurate, for the most part.

Reading your blog, I feel like you have a very sweet yet sassy approach to all dating-related things. Can you express your attitude towards the topic?

We really try to empathize with women out there. Dating is tough! It's draining. It's a crapshoot. And, we really make an effort to not take ourselves too seriously. Most women's magazines seem to take the tone of talking down to their audience. They pretend that they are an authority on the subject. We make no bones about being completely clueless when it comes to dating. We are terrible at it! I think that's why we have such loyal readers; they see themselves in us. I could be wrong on that.

Shmitten Kitten seems to be the voice of this nice and cool girlfriend everyone wants to have. What do you want to accomplish with your blog? And who are your readers?

Good question! My first goal is to be well-written and funny. I guess that's two goals. I want to make my friends laugh. As a secondary goal, I want to make an impact and be seen as a reliable, original, smart site about navigating the dating waters. We aren't set up like a typical blog; I'd like to think that we operate as an online magazine. I've always wanted to edit my own magazine, and I feel like our site operates in a nebulous area between blog and publication. I really like that.

My readers seem to be rad girls and rad guys. I'm surprised at how many guys read our site! They tell me it's like eavesdropping on the girls' locker room. They get access to our thoughts about them. They really love it!

Another big thing on your site are the boner-killer and Tip Our Hats. What characteristic qualifies as a boner killer? And what lets you tip your hat?

A bonerkiller is anything that makes us reconsider our attraction to a guy. Really, it could be anything: a smelly car, a thumb ring, anything acquired in a pierce tent at Lollapolooza. Really, anything.

We really try to make both of our bonerkillers and hat tips extremely specific and funny. We want to illuminate the extremes of the spectrum.

What is your personal biggest boner killer?

Mine? Poor personal hygiene. BIG TIME!

And what is the biggest boner – ahem – grower?

Nice manners. Hands down!

How much time do you spend blogging and do you feel responsible to upload something every other day?

I wish I could crank out several posts a day, but it doesn't usually end up that way. I only post when inspiration hits, which can vary depending on how life settles down. I feel guilty if I don't post something at least every three days. Blogging guilt is the worst!

What kind of city is Philadelphia? Would you recommend our readers to move there?

Philadelphia rules! I'm very happy here, for the most part. It's like any city; it's as amazing as you make it. Yes, come to Philly. It's my adopted home.

And what are the guys like there? Any good?

Eh, that depends. It's like anything; you can find crummy guys and you can find amazing ones. We usually dump the amazing ones because the crummier guys are more interesting. And, they usually have better jeans! Funny how that works, right?

So, there you have it!

AND, I had my interview at KYW radio today as part of their "Hear Philly" series. It went really well. I had a blast. The lady who conducted the interview asked me some great questions that I was happy to answer. She said that I was the funniest interview she had yet. Nice! I'll post up the mp3 when I get the link.

AND AND, my hyacinths are blooming and my room smells amazing. What a great day.

Dorky Self-Promotional Post

It appears that there will be a write-up about Shmitten Kitten in Friday's edition of The Metro. Be sure to pick it up.

AND, I just created a Facebook group for us. Join!

What's the Opposite of Writer's Block?

So, I've been having a bit of dilemma writing for Shmitten Kitten, and it's not because I have a shortage of material. In fact, the opposite is true. Instead, I have a new problem: the boys I date are aware of the site. And, they read it. Often. Maybe it's to see if I write about them, maybe it's out of curiosity. Regardless, they are keeping tabs and I find myself sitting at my laptop, twiddling my thumbs.

Sometimes, if I'm out with a fella who is familiar with the site, in an effort to put him at ease, I'll promise him that I would never write about him. But, if it doesn't work out, is that a promise that I have to keep? Just for the record, I have been keeping that promise, but as a result, my story contributions have been suffering. All of my best material is now off-limits!

You may not know this, but I abide by some strict rules about the stories I share both on here and on Shmitten Kitten. This is my honor code:

• Some boys are off-limits. There's only a handful, but these are guys that I have genuinely loved on some level. And, I would never want to exploit our relationship so publicly. Nope. Those memories are for us, and I prefer to keep those memories private.
• I won't write stories about a boy that I'm currently dating. Even if he is the raddest, cutest, most amazing dude, I find that if I start writing about him then it becomes a "thing" if I don't keep writing about him. They start to expect it. And, that makes me uncomfortable. I've only broken this rule a few times, but generally, I try to abide by it. Plus, it's good to have some mystery, right? Always err on the side of discretion.
  
• I don't name names. No need. Besides, nicknames are funnier.
• I generally only tell stories about boys who don't read my blogs. I try my best to gauge it. As more people know about Shmitten Kitten, it's becoming more difficult to pretend that he won't see it eventually. Hence, my problem.

And, for every story I post, I have to be ok with the fact that most likely I will run into the subject at some point and I have to be prepared if he confronts me about what I've written. For the most part, it hasn't been an issue. In fact, one dude even wrote me a love letter of sorts after I kinda slammed him in a story. We are still very friendly, which rocks! He was a good sport about the whole thing.

Part of me just wants to shrug my shoulders and say, "Fuck it" and spill the dating beans. But, I really don't want to hurt these boys' feelings if I violate their trust by divulging personal information that might embarrass them. My readers may not know who I'm talking about, but the dude obviously will. I don't know. This is such a first world problem!

Lights! Camera! Action!

Well, here it is: Shmitten Kitten's first taste of local news coverage. We were featured on the morning news show, "WakeUp Philly." today. Pretty amazing, huh? It's been a bit of a whirlwind. A happy, crazy, fun whirlwind. I'm glad people have been talking us up around the watercooler, so to speak.

I've decided that I'm gonna need Jenna to be my stylist for our next TV appearance (I don't wanna pull a Victoria and go unstyled again). It's funny; the shoot for a two minute clip took about three hours to film. Crazy.

I was totally gonna sleep through it and I would have if my Mom hadn't woken me up in a panic about which channel to watch. As I rubbed the sleep outta my eyes, the excitement started to kick in. I called my Grandma to make sure she was on the right channel too. Then, I called Rachel to make sure she was watching it as well. It meant a lot for me that my Grandma was able to watch the clip. And, hearing Rachel get pumped about it made me smile.

A huge, enormous thanks goes out to Nicole Brewer for hooking this up. She was a complete delight to work with an a total class act.

Have You Heard? I'm an Artist Now

Our very first Shmitten Kitten art show was last night and it went off without a hitch. I have to say, it was a thrill to meet our loyal readers and to finally put faces to names. Our fans are the best, sweetest, and raddest people ever!

My parents even came out and I think that my Mom was pretty blown away by the overwhelmingly positive reception we received. She said that she wants posters of all the dudes that I've drawn and I was like, "Why?" And she said that she just had to have them. Sure, Mom, I'll hook you up. Maybe next time I go to my parents' house, I'll see my drawings of shitty dudes I've dated framed on the living room wall. Cool.

All of our friends came out and it felt amazing to look around and see their beautiful faces drinking our cheap beers. I wanted to take pictures during the event, but I was so busy schmoozing that I totally forgot to do it.

I'd like to give a shout out to the ladies at Conspiracy, who were top notch and a complete delight to work with. We couldn't have asked for a more friendly, welcoming, hospitable team. A huge thank you goes out to them for hosting the party.

The response to our art work has been fantastic. Our drawings will be up in their store for the next month so feel free to pop in and check it out. We still have a few posters left for sale. And, with the money we make from selling the posters, we are hoping to print up some T-shirts in the coming weeks. Exciting!

In other news, our little write-up in the City Paper came out yesterday. I'm really thrilled with it:

And, Philly's Daily Candy gave us some love too. How awesome is that?

So, yeah, it's been a whirlwind in Anna-land. I love it!

Wow, Our Flyer Totally Looks Fat

One of the flyers we made for our upcoming Shmitten Kitten Art Show made it on to a party pic page for last night's Belle and Sebastian dance party.

Great. Now everyone is gonna talk about how cool our flyer thinks it is since it was splashed across a party pic blog. Maybe our flyer will develop an eating disorder and start making our with--gasp!--younger flyers that it met at the Barbary over the weekend. Maybe our flyer will start a blog about dating in Philly and draw sketches of other flyers. Ok, that last part was just silly.

Seriously, thanks Yapsnaps for the love. It made me smile!

In other Shmit Kit news, Shannon and I were interviewed by the City Paper about our blog. It should run in this week's issue. I'll post up the link when it runs.

After interviewing bands for the last 12 years, this was the first time that I was the subject of the interview. It was really...unnerving! It was strange, but fun. I spent the entire time trying to crack Shannon up, which is what I do most of the time anyway. I'm really excited about it and I hope the article says nice things about us!

I had my graduation party yesterday and it was truly a lovely, lovely time. A huge bear hug goes out to Ruthie and Joey for hosting it and heaps of kisses and high-fives goes out to my amazing friends that came out to help me celebrate. It meant so much to me that I was able to honor this personal accomplishment with my loved ones. Ok, I'm getting mushy now so I'll stop.

Come to This!

Save the Date: Thursday, May 15

Yup, be sure to save Thursday, May 15 from 6-9pm because Shmitten Kitten will be having our first ever art show at Conspiracy, which is a cool store in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia.

We will have our favorite sketches from the site blown up to poster size and on display in the store. We are kicking around the idea of selling a package consisting of four of the posters, as well. There will be free drinks and snacky snacks, too. AND, it will be on Shannon's birthday, which is awesome.

As soon as we finalize the flyer, I'll be sure to post it here. Stay tuned for that.

In other news, I finish up with school next week. I still have a bit of work to do until I'm able to celebrate, but I'm thinking about having a small get together to celebrate my achievement. A few other friends who are also graduating were thinking about having a bbq, collectively, on Saturday, May 10. Look how much celebrating there is to do!

In the Department of Superexciting: Shmitten Kitten Gets Some Love from the Metro

Hey Everyone!

It gives me great pleasure to announce that my pet project Web site with Shannon, Shmitten Kitten, has been written up in today's edition of the Metro in their "Blogarithms" section.

In case you aren't familiar with it, the Metro is a free commuter newspaper serving Boston, New York City, and Philly. They have a readership of millions. This is huge.

You can see it here, if you are unable to swipe a hard print copy. Or you can just tell your eyeballs to look to the right.

They ran the illustration of the "Aging Hipster" but then printed a description of a totally different drawing. That's kind of weird, but whatever! And, on a technical note, they said that we "post drawings of guys that we make out with." That's not entirely true. We post drawings of the types of dudes that we see around in Philly, not specifically just the ones we've smooched. A minor distinction, but one that should be made. Ok, enough of my nit-picking. I'll take whatever press I can get. At least they spelled our names right.

This is really exciting for us to be recognized like this. And, on my 30th birthday no less! Woohoo!

It's raining outside today, but I'm not gonna let it dampen my spirits. I'm meeting my dad for lunch (awww!) and then I have class tonight. I'm bringing funfetti cupcakes with buttercream icing for everyone to nosh on. After class, I'm gonna meet up with Rob for a few drinks. It should be a low-key day. I'm hoping the weekend more than makes up that.