We currently have up and running our six machines, both multi-head and single- for a total of 36 heads ! Carlos Andrino, the head of the department, showed me all the cool projects they were working on today – including umbrellas, hats and even horse saddle rugs (which are extremely tough material)! Carlos’ enthusiasm for his trade is absolutely contagious, and I know there is no project that his hard working team wouldn’t want to tackle.

So cmon, challenge us to embroider something crazy, 2012 is the year of exploration and growth !

And part of everything involves parties – awesome monthly parties !

On the last Wednesday of every month, mark your calenders for Gabrieldoes Wednesdays.

Tonight’s event will take place at CTC Garden/Cazamance Cafe and includes free 360 Vodka, free Hops&Grain beer, a pig roast from Cazamance cafe.. live music by Bud Cahill and photography by Alex Ponce !

Feel free to bring your own drinks, invite your friends, and meet lots of cool people.

Wednesday night never looked so good.

Time: 6pm – 10pm

Location: CTC Garden – 1102 E Cesar Chavez St, Austin TX 78702

Local burger joint, P Terry’s, came to us recently to print these commemorative t-shirts… Starting on Friday, if you order a large Dublin Dr Pepper, you will get a free shirt ! This is valid at all locations while supplies last…

enjoy your weekend :)

-celestial pop-

*alternative rock*

~indie folk pop~

| alt indie |

(folk bluegrass punk)

So as most of you have probably heard… there are two bills that Congress is trying to pass that could destroy the internet forever…

“The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) are two bills that sound like they have a mildly positive aim but, in reality, have serious potential to negatively change the internet as we know it. While the Obama administration has come out against SOPA, effectively shelving it indefinitely, the very similar PIPA bill is still alive and well. Both SOPA and PIPA put power in the hands of the entertainment industry to censor sites that allegedly “engage in, enable or facilitate” copyright infringement. This language is vague enough to target sites you use every day, like Facebook and Google, making these bills a serious problem.

The idea behind these bills sounds reasonable. They came about in order to try and snuff out piracy online, as the entertainment industry is obviously not excited that many people are downloading their products without payment or permission. The issue is, however, that it doesn’t really matter whether you’re in support of piracy, against it, or just don’t care. The methods are ineffective. Here’s what they are and why they’re problematic.

SOPA and PIPA were initially designed to do two things. The first was to make it possible for companies to block the domain names of web sites that are simply capable of, or seem to encourage copyright infringement. This would have been bad for everyone because such a measure doesn’t actually prevent piracy. The reason that blocking a domain name isn’t effective is because any blocked site can still be accessed via its numeric IP address. In fact, before the bills were even supposed to come to a vote, tools were created to automatically route domain names to their IP addresses to completely render this measure of SOPA and PIPA useless. As a result, the IP-blocking provisions have been removed from both bills.

The other, still-active measure present in the SOPA and PIPA bills would allow rights holders to cut of the source of funding of any potentially infringing web site. This means any other companies doing business with this site would have to stop. Whether that means advertising, links in search engines, or any other listings would have to be removed.

There is, however, an important difference between SOPA and PIPA. SOPA targeted any site that contributed to copyright infringement, even if it was simply facilitating the act by providing a tool that could be used for illegal purposes (regardless of intention). PIPA, on the other hand, requires the targeted site to have no significant use beyond copyright infringement. Basically, PIPA can only be used to censor a site if it’s more likely to be a source of illegal content than not. This is still problematic because a tool designed to accept user-generated content is, to some extent, at the whims of its users. If infringing content is found, rights holders already have the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) to help them request the legal removal of that content. They also have the ability to sue infringers for damages, as we’ve previously seen with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) when they, for example, sued a 12-year-old for downloading music. SOPA and PIPA provide a means to censor the tool that provided a means for the infringing content to exist on the internet rather than the content itself. This puts a lot of power in the hands of rights holders and has significant potential for abuse.” – adam dachis

This is, of course, an interpretation of the bills. The internet is a never ending flow of information and innovation.. It has continued to grow, inspire and connect us with one another..  and this freedom of expression is now being threatened. The bill is set to take a test vote on January 24th. Of course, it is just my opinion to oppose these.. so I encourage everyone to read about this and make your own decision..

For more information, please read the exact content of both the SOPA and PIPA bills.

If you have made the decision against these bills, please join us in the fight to keep our freedom. Congress needs to hear from us ! Follow this link to do your part.

It is coming…

domy books is located right down the street from us.. it’s one of my favorite indie book stores & they always have really interesting shows up in their gallery! this weekend is no exception, with a Saturday night opening for Joshua Saunders’ Crip/Blood. The opening will be from 7pm-9pm but if you can’t make it, the show will remain up until March 1st !

Besides cooking up some of the best taco trailers you could ask for, they have a great style & even better humor. I mean, just look at these shirts and tell me you wouldn’t want to rock one.

designed & printed by east end ink

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http://www.everynone.com/

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enjoy life & get inspired !

For those who haven’t heard about the Engine 2 Diet, there’s really only a few things you need to know before I am convinced you will be ready to try it. You will lose weight, lower your cholesterol, significantly reduce the risk of disease and become physically fit in just four weeks. Sounds great right? Well it is ! And there’s no strings attached. All you have to do is adopt a plant-based low fat diet that the Engine 2 calls for. Rip Esselstyn, author of The Engine 2 Diet and an Austin firefighter, adopted this plant-strong diet when he was a professional triathlete and now swears by it. He even transformed the way Austin’s Engine 2 firehouse was eating and saved one of his fellow fighter’s from a dangerously high cholesterol problem.

In the end,  it comes down to treating our bodies right and doing what works best for you.  I have been vegetarian since 2007 and went vegan last September – I have never felt better. We have a couple vegetarians and vegans here at the shop, and we challenge you to try it ! To make it easier, we thought of a list of recommendations for some delicious places that will leave you feeling satisfied and healthy !

Casa De Luz – Each day, this macrobiotic restaurant offers a completely vegan meal that is animal free and nutrient-rich ! They have a daily menu on their site, so make sure to check it out and get a taste of all their different meals.

La Condesa – I know you probably wouldn’t think to go here as a vegan, but this is one of my favorite places to go for dinner! Although not listed on their menu, they offer a special Vegan plate that the chef custom makes per-day with whatever fresh ingredients they have. It’s a beautiful spread of four different components and totally worth the money.

Mother’s Cafe and Garden -  For over twenty years, Mother’s has been making delicious vegetarian and vegan food. Their salsa is to die for and everything on their menu is delicious. I bring non-veggies here all the time and they’ve never left feeling unsatisfied. Try their vegan pie, it’s too good for words !

Mr. Natural - All the veggies here at the shop are frequent visitors of Mr Natural located right down the street from us. You really can’t go wrong here ! They offer a bangin’ lunch special that is worth checking out and really inexpensive and fresh breakfast tacos. Plus they have a huge bakery filled with goodies, including vegan options !

There’s no better time to get healthy than now. What have you got to lose?