the unvarnished truth

Our new studio is awesome.

It's an incredible amount of space.

It's so much space that I feel like a zoo animal who's suddenly been set free back into the wild.

Can I actually run wherever I want and eat whatever I want? I don't have to be stared at by strangers all day?

You mean... there are no explosions happening at any time of the day? EVER?

You mean there is no club music starting at 1:00 pm immediately above my head?

Wait... no one will stomp up the stairs behind my desk yelling, "I KNOW YOUR SORRY FACE IS WAITING FOR ME UP HERE!!!!!! YOU BETTER START RUNNING!!!!"?

Are you SURE there will be no drunken crowds outside my door on a weeknight?

I just can't wrap my mind around the idea that it will be any cooler than the surface of the sun in the studio in July. This contraption is supposed to prevent that somehow?

We now have adequate wall space to store all of our yarn?

What?

Unimaginable.

This evening after everyone went home, I snapped these pictures, and reveled in the humming whir of the HVAC fan. And nothing else.

No thumping, no yelling, no banging, no crowds, no people trying to get in my locked office door all day and night, no club sound system, no kettlebells.

Just the HVAC fan pumping warm air around our amazing new studio.

These pictures are unvarnished -- I didn't quickly run around and straighten up. We don't have everything put away yet, as there is still construction going on. But we're up and running and functional and happy.

Which is everything I could ask for.

Two days

Only two more days of listening to the kabooming of kettle bells and the tromping herds of tap dancing hippos.

The new space is not quite done, but we're getting awfully close.

Almost ready...

We're moving in less than a week! Eeek!

But we still need to celebrate the season with a sale, don't you think?

Now through the end of business on Monday, November 26th, enjoy the following discounts:

Spend $50, take 10% off.

Spend $75, take 15% off.

Spend $100, take 20% off.

Spend $150, take 25% off.

Spend $200+, take 30% off.

No code needed -- discount taken automatically in the cart.

Gift certificates and club memberships make amazing gifts, by the way. :)

HEAD TO THE SALE!

the T-shirts! they're coming!

Do you know that people have been asking me for at least seven years for T-shirts? I've always thought they were a good idea. But somehow, they got pushed to the back burner. Every day. For seven + years.

I am a complete and utter T-shirt failure.

Well, no more.

The T-shirts.

They are coming.

I'm placing a T-shirt order for some of our amazing, awe-inspiring contributors, and want to give you a chance to snag one too. These are pre-orders, which will help me gauge how many of each size to order. Because I'm not a multinational clothing conglomerate, I don't need an extra 500 XXXXL T-shirts sitting around. Pre-orders guarantee there will be one to fit you.

These shirts are just like the ones we wear in the studio!

1. There are two adult styles. This is the more fitted women's style. It's narrower through the waist, and has shorter, less full sleeves. It also runs a bit small. (I'll post size charts below.) If you're familiar with T-shirt brands, it's made by American Apparel, which is very nice quality. Sizes XS-XL. If in doubt, size up.

2. This is the more unisex fit, with longer, fuller sleeves and a longer, less fitted body. It comes in sizes S-4X. This is a heavyweight cotton as well, and it still feels soft after 2.5 years of washing.

3. Youth sizes. My big kids (ages 10, 8, and 5) are going to be excited to wear these. These are also a nice heavyweight cotton, and -- ahem -- the black hides everything.  Why can't these be my kids' school uniforms? These come in sizes YXS-YXL.

4. Toddler sizes. I am dying to see some little ones running around in a logo shirt! These come in sizes 2T-4T.

5. I just couldn't leave Mrs. Baby Shamrock out. Onesies. Oh yes. (This is not Mrs. Baby Shamrock in the picture.) Black seemed a bit harsh for a baby, so we're going with a nice gender neutral yellow. Sizes 3-6m, 6-12m, 12-18m, 18-24m.

We'll be taking pre-orders through Wednesday, November 21st.  We'll then send in our order, which will take about two weeks to arrive, and then we'll ship them out ASAP. You will have them in time for holiday gift giving!

Here are the size charts:

Style 1: (Fitted Women's). This shows what the shirt looks like on women of different body types, and then gives actual garment measurements at the bottom. Not that the "click model for close up" link is not enabled.

2. Size chart for adult unisex style shirts. You can ignore the youth sizing on this chart. Note that the "click model for close up" is not enabled, as are the arrows for additional sizing. These are static images, they won't take you anywhere else.

3. Youth size chart. The "click model for close up" is not enabled, and neither are the right and left arrows.

4. Toddler size chart. "Click model for close up" is not enabled.

5. Onesie size chart. I can't wait to see my sweetie in hers!

Now that you know all about the sizes and styles, let's get to the ordering info:

Adult T-shirts are $23, with free shipping to the US and Canada, and $2 shipping elsewhere. Click here to order the fitted style. Click here to order the unisex style.

Youth T-shirts are $19, with free shipping to the US and Canada, and $2 shipping elsewhere. Click here to order.

Toddler T-shirts are $17, with free shipping to the US and Canada, and $2 shipping elsewhere. Click here to order.

Onesies are $15, with free shipping to the US and Canada, and $1.50 shipping elsewhere. Click here to order.

Or, see all your options here.

YAY, T-shirts!

If you leave questions in the comments, I will stop back and answer. You can also use the contact button in the upper right to send us an email. Remember to get your orders in before the end of the day on the 21st!

coming along

We are hard at work on the new studio. We have a little more than two weeks to get it operational.

I won't pretend this doesn't frighten me just a little. But everyone assures me it can be done, so that's what I'm going with.

This is Nick. Nick has a beard and a ponytail.

Just thought I'd let you know.

Nick is spearheading the construction portion of this shebang, and by that I mean he's tearing down walls, putting up walls, and doing other important construction-y things.

He calls Shamrock "Mrs. Baby." The other day he told me, "I'm going to pick up a lead testing kit, because if you're going to have Mrs. Baby down here a lot, you don't want her to eat any paint chips and get lead poisoning."

True.

Given a choice, I would prefer that Mrs. Baby not eat lead paint.

Some of the peg board has been taken down to expose the brick and the wood posts.

I would like to offer a home decor suggestion for you. When in doubt, don't go with the pegboard option.

Unless you want to live inside a connect-the-dots book, in which case, exercise your right to peg.

Soon, a portion of this will be the office, with new flooring and new wall colors. Mrs. Baby approves.

Today, the building owner had a worker there installing the new bathroom. New bathrooms are good, especially since we won't have lots of barefoot, stinky kettlebell worker-outers trying to use ours all the time.

Are you a worker-outer?

I'm not, why do you ask?

I checked on the bathroom progress, and the dude (not Nick, not anyone I hired) was installing the counter with the sink and faucet. The countertop was -- I kid you not -- two inches above my knee.

"Hmmm, that's kind of low, don't you think?" I asked him.

"Well, you're pretty tall," he replied.

"Yes... But standard counter height is not to my knees. Unless I've grown 10 inches overnight. Most counters come up to my hip."

He thought about this for a while.

We stared at each other.

He said, "Do you want me to raise the counter?"

"Yeah, let's just put in a standard counter height counter," I responded.

He looked at his tape measure. "What do you suppose that is?" he asked.

Nick was able to jump in with some standard counter height options. I picked one. The other worker pulled out his tape measure and stared at the number, trying to fix "36" into his mind.

We'll see what happened when I go back in the morning.

I'm thinking about putting down cork flooring instead of hardwood or laminate in the office area -- anyone have thoughts on that?