Tell your LA friends to come see me!! If you’re reading this from the Bay Area… good news. There’s one here in San Francisco next weekend, too!

View all my upcoming events on the WilloToons events page. Hope to see you at one of them!

Other Random Posts

• friday fun!
• check this out…
• the email distraction
• friday fun in the sun!

Here’s what I learned:

• I need to trust myself more. My instincts. My heart. My self. And most importantly within this, stop blaming myself.
• That there are people who aren’t as committed to self-growth. This always baffles me. And it’s saddens me, especially when it’s someone I care about.
• That even when one “bad” thing happens - or actually, I should say, losing someone, I gained a new friend. And more perspective.
• I learned what it looks like to have a gun in my face. (my heart races when I read this)
• What it feels like to be truly comforted (by a man). And that I want a man like that.
• That I have so many incredible friends supporting and loving me.
• I am taken care of.
• I am very blessed.
• I am glad I am safe.
• That I missed blogging.

:)

What did you learn this past week?

Other Random Posts

• catching up…
• imax
• technical problems
• bday photos

Around 1 am I was dropping my friend off. We were in the Mission, on 21st & Harrison (map). We sat in the car chatting for a bit, and all of a sudden we hear a tap tap on my window. I look over and there’s a gun right in my face. tap tap tap. My God… the thoughts that went through my head at that moment. So scary. :(

We then realize there’s someone on the other side of the car, too… if not two other guys (we think there were 3 total) and they start trying to open the car doors. My car doors automatically lock when I drive, so they couldn’t get in. Quite honestly, looking back, I totally froze. I of course didn’t want to let them in! I didn’t know what to do.

My friend eventually opened his door and they started reaching in, grabbing everything they could. My purse was sitting in the middle of us, and my iPhone was plugged in to my dock. They grabbed them both. And, while frozen, pretty much the only thing I did was unhook the iPhone as he was trying to yank it out, so they’d get the F* out of my car.  They’re yelling, saying “Give us everything, give us your wallet, give us your money, everything you have in here.” My friend gives him his wallet. They have my bag, my scarf, my iPhone… we’re scared and trying to comply. Still not satisfied, one perp decides he better check the glovebox, and opens that & proceeds to dump everything out. Grabs a dollar he finds in there, finally decides it’s enough & there’s nothing else. They take off.

Completely shaken we sit there in shock for a minute. Finally my friend comments that we should probably drive away. Agreed. How was it that we were still just sitting there? What just happened? ALL MY STUFF IS GONE.

SUCKS.

So my friend gets on the phone to file a report, and first calls SF Police, who essentially instruct him to call 911, which by doing so then actually ended up disconnecting him TWICE! Awesome, 911. Thanks for the help! So he ends up calling back to the general SF Police number who gave him quite a bit of run around (truly, seemed like the person he was on the phone with was clueless and not helping at all). To which he basically had to *insist* Hey, you’re a policeman, who I’m on the phone with, and we were just robbed by GUNPOINT, and you need to make a phone call & get someone out here. SERIOUSLY.

So we re-park and go into his house and wait for them to show. His laptop was on the table, and me not having my iPhone, I of course already feel a little disconnected. So I was like “I know this might sound funny, but can I use your computer to tweet about what just happened?” He totally understood.

So cops show up, and we filed our report… but sadly it’s a fairly generic description:  3 black males, mid to early 20s, dressed in black jackets and black beanies. *sigh*

Once we made our report, on the steps of his house, we went back inside. He had just bought the 3GS, so he went upstairs and got me his old phone to borrow for a bit. My friend was so amazingly sweet & comforting through the whole thing, I was really grateful for that.

And for those of you who don’t understand Twitter, THIS is why it’s awesome. After dealing with credit cards and activating my loaner iPhone this morning, I finally got to the office & had all these wonderful supportive concerned replies, and it’s really helped. Thank you all so much. <3

So anyway… we hug it out, and I drive home. By myself, to an empty house, feeling very shook up, but grateful that we were both safe.

Waking up this morning I had to start putting the pieces together of what happened, what was lost, and what I needed to do to get it all put back together.

Stuff is stuff, but still… that was my stuff, and I liked it. In addition to the iPhone, here’s a list of what was in my bag (a black leather purse w/ with my white & silver scarf tied around it), for my own documentation more than anything:

• Wallet with maybe $40-$60 cash (birthday money from my Momma), all my credit & debit cards, ID
• Another wallet which carried gift cards, membership & frequent buyer cards. Most notably a Paper Source card that maybe had a ~$40 on it (credit from a return). A Cheap Pete’s gift card for I think $60 (last year’s bday present from my Momma I still hadn’t gotten around to using). Thankfully I had *JUST* used the Costco card I had in there worth $120.
• Blue & gray pouch Sarah Hatter had made for me years ago
• My white little ‘pants pouch‘ I sewed for myself a couple months ago, which held things like lip stuff, business cards, tic tacs, etc. Crap that I often wanted to transport from one bag to the next when I changed purses.
• Receipts holder  w/ several business cash & credit card receipts - come to think of it, I bought it from 11:11, who I think will also be at Renegade this weekend, so I’ll have to get myself a new one.
• Jabra JX10 hands free - dammit. Just remembering this was in there. I love this hands free. It’s one of the smallest expensive things. Actually it was over $90 when I got it, looks like they’ve come down now at least. Added it to my wishlist.

I think that was all. Thankfully I had taken my camera out of my bag before going out last night, so that wasn’t in there.

Oof. Ok, I gotta make some more calls to cancel some cards & deal with all of this. I actually am leaving for LA on Friday morning, for Renegade Craft Fair LA this weekend… so it’s really crazy to know I’ll be traveling with no credit cards. Not to mention I had a ton of errands to run in the next 24 hours to get my car checked, pick up inventory, etc. Just a major inconvenience and rattling.

UPDATE: Seems they had a hayday on my cards before I got a chance to get to a phone & cancel them. All cancelled now. Sucks to know they kept my stuff instead of just taking the cash & dumping the rest. :( Maybe they can go get some posters framed at Cheap Pete’s & buy some nice stationary at Paper Source to write me a thank you note!

UPDATE 2: My Merch Manager, Jen, had an additional credit card for my PayPal account, so at least I can take that one with me this weekend.

::::

On top of it all, I don’t even have anyone coming to help me in LA this weekend. JD was going to come with me, but in all honesty, we broke up earlier this week (womp womp). I didn’t plan on blogging that, but it is what it is & I figure while I’m feeling all vulnerable and dishing out the things I’ve lost this week, might as well throw that one in there, too. That said, please know it’s all good, was mutual and we’re, of course, still friends, etc. I could probably do a whole ‘nuther blog post all about it, but I probably won’t, so please just know I’m fine.

Anyway, if anyone feels like a trip to LA this weekend, please let me know ASAP! :) I’ll be driving down on Friday & coming back Monday and could really use the help at the fair. I have a place for us to stay (thanks to Jonathan!) & the event is going to be super fun! Come with me? :)

Thanks again for all of your amazing, loving, supportive, darling tweets, emails, texts & IMs. I really hope that is the last time my face is that close to a gun, and that I don’t have to endure the violation of a robbery ever ever ever again, but in light of it all, having the virtual hugs & love from all of you has seriously been very, very comforting. Thank you. <3

Other Random Posts

• fleet week party photos posted
• staches are good for licking!
• duty calls…
• Noisepop 2007 is a wrap!

Official day: June 20th.

The weekend before though JD took me up to Napa. Total surprise, and such a treat. And of course we did what everyone should do in Napa:

And I took a mud bath for the first time! That was wild. I sat… in MUD… for like 12 whole minutes. haha. The whole experience was pretty incredible, I gotta say. Then I got a massage & got to swim in a pool. Took me a LONG time to relax, but I think I finally did. At some point in there anyway.

The following weekend however, I had one of my classic house birthday parties. I hadn’t had one in awhile. Did you miss it? Seems a lot of people did this year, with Father’s Day & all… but that’s OK, we had fun!

My gorgeous bestest girlfriends came:

And lots of fun, supportive, loving pals!

<3

aww yaa, rockin’ a willotoons tee! love it!

Even this lil’ cutie, Cory’s son Solomon! He’s absolutely ADORABLE. See? :)

Who took a lot of cute photos from his POV, like this one:

Aaaaaand now I am a year older. The End.

• View full photo album

Other Random Posts

• sketchbooks
• smoooooooth like butta’
• champagne at top of the mark!
• open letter to googly eyes

JD went with me. Above is our first day there, shopping in Soho. Below is the end of a very fun (rain soaked) night of cocktails… can you tell?

Plus, by complete coincidence, it happened to be Internet Week NY, so tons of friends from all over the country were in town the same week! So fun.

By that weekend I had hit it pretty hard, but eat. sleep. rock. repeat. right?

I still had two full days working Renegade Craft Fair Brooklyn!

The first day, Saturday morning, I was kind of a zombie, but was super grateful I had my friend Chris there helping!! What a sweetheart.

Then later that day my dear friend Holly came down (both her & Chris live in Boston), and she helped me through the evening & the next morning. Love that woman!!

I was also soooooo incredibly grateful to have an amazing helper, Wayne’s cousin, Diane. I couldn’t have done it without her! Here’s her working her magic in the WilloToons booth on Sunday afternoon:

Even at the Fair I saw a ton of friends from SF!

Oh & also got to see my old downstairs neighbor, Annie, during the week, too! And this cute lil’ boy she sits, named Eli:

Overall super fun, busy, exhausting, successful trip!!

Two albums:

• New York & Brooklyn w/ JD, during Internet Week
• Renegade Craft Fair Brooklyn, over the weekend

Other Random Posts

• jeeez is it cold today!!! bbrrrrr!!!!!!!
• playing with the new digital rebel xt
• saturdays show and some sunday stuff
• hello monday…

ftr.

Other Random Posts

• zzzz’s with the fuzzzzy pants
• ali, brian & I @ fly bar before the show
• kazoobie’s new favorite toy…
• netflixing minds wanna know

aww, sisters , originally uploaded by Willo.

My little sister graduated High School. And with flying colors I might add! Class President, straight A student, involved in her local church and much more. She’s amazing.

She’s off to Chapman next year, which is awesome because it’s just in SoCal - near Disneyland, woohoo! :)

• View the full album from my Steamboat trip here

(yes, this is being posted about a month late… I’ve been busy)

Other Random Posts

• Saturday wrapup
• RoShamBo @ the Hemlock!
• No on 85!
• holiday mission indie mart! tomorrow, dec. 9th!

The World’s Largest DIY Festival
A two-day, family-friendly event to MAKE, create, learn, invent, CRAFT, recycle, think, play and be inspired by celebrating arts, crafts, engineering, food, music, science and technology. Located @ San Mateo Fairgrounds this weekend…
Saturday, May 30th: 10AM - 8PM
Sunday, May 31st: 10AM - 6PM

Remember, Bazaar Bizarre (where my WilloToons table will be) is located in the Cypress Building, come say hi!

View upcoming & recent WilloToons events….

Other Random Posts

• sketchbooks
• ambulance ltd + autolux
• have some time to kill?
• ever wonder what you’ll look like when you’re old?

Also, if you have a Retaggr card/account, you can apparently bookmark me and grow your network. Leave me a comment if you’re on there already and/or create one. I don’t know who’s on there yet, so I haven’t had a chance to bookmark anyone yet!

They also offer a cool (and smaller) Add Me button:

There’s also a site dedicated to helping you create your own personal Geek Chart. What’s geekier than making a chart of all your geekyness?

Social media sites can be a lot to keep up with. Especially for those who are new to it all… it can seem down right overwhelming. But my suggestion is just to slowly start using one. That said, if you have found you can handle following a few, but don’t want to keep up with visiting 5 different sites, maybe you want to look into a service like FriendFeed, which culls several of my posts & updates in one place:

Personally, I think Twitter, Flickr & Facebook are my favorites. Mostly because they’re practical. Twitter is fast, Flickr holds my photos, and Facebook has basically become a great way to connect/chat with friends and share events. Any of these services are going to be more fun if it’s authentically something you enjoy doing - i.e. talking with your friends, looking at their photos, planning a group BBQ, etc.

I stumbled upon (no pun intended) all of these via this article on Mashable: 5 Ways to Share Your Social Media Identity

Would love to see your profiles, geek charts or hear your favorite social media websites! Please leave a comment. ;)

Other Random Posts

• aaaah, hermitsville
• happy new year!
• My DCResource.com Redesign is live!
• divulgence deleted / discussed:

I’ve been speaking more & more recently, and really enjoy sharing what I have learned with the community. Not to mention I always learn something back from the audience. This spring I co-lead a core-convo at SXSW, titled Snappy Strategies for Selling Art Online, and more recently spoke on a panel at the Summit of Awesome titled, What’s a Social Network and How to Use it for Good. The Renaissance Center’s programs have been nothing short of amazing for me, so I’m delighted to be a part of their incredible line-up of educational resources for entrepreneurs.

Here’s the full workshop description & my related bio. If you’re in the Bay Area & this sounds like a topic you’re interested in, please register online & join us!

Using Social Media To Grow, Market and Sell Your Fashion Line

With all the social media websites and services out there, it can be daunting to pinpoint which ones are the most effective for marketing your products or services. In this workshop, you’ll learn what it means to develop and engage with your community both online and off, as well as the best practices for each.

Other Topics Include:

• Creative ways to market your line without paid advertising or expensive PR.
• Utilizing your network to brainstorm or launch a new product.
• How social media can help increase online sales.
• The value of maintaining authentic communication with your community.

When: Wednesday, May 27, 2009, from 6:00pm to 8:30pm
Where: Small Business Administration, 455 Market Street, 6th Floor, SF, CA
Cost: $30 or $15 for Fashion Industry Network (FIN) or FBI, Inc. members
Register: Sign up through Acteva by going to www.acteva.com/go/rec

Download Event Flier (PDF)

~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~

Willo O’Brien moved to San Francisco at the dawn of the first Internet bubble. As a highly social individual, she has no trouble making new friends - whether it be at a rock concert or in line at Whole Foods. Her friendly, outgoing demeanor has allowed her to spend the last decade building long-lasting friendships with the entrepreneurs and trendsetters of the Internet 2.0 phenomenon, and she has become a dyed-in-the-wool early adopter of social media technologies. Her experience in social networking has fueled the success of her business as an illustrator and music lover who turned her lifelong passion into a unique, eco-conscious gift line for babies and toddlers: WilloToons.com - where geek meets rock ‘n roll.

Other Random Posts

• better
• download the latest Firefox (browser)
• coco500 & matt’s bday hat party
• Blogging is taking over the world…