The missing link

It's nothing but sheer laziness, but I don't think I've updated my sidebar links in about two years, so they're horribly, egregiously out of date. Some links don't work, and there are a lot of sites I read that aren't even on there.

Plus, I'd love to add yours to the mix so I can check up on what's going on (I love running up and down the links instead of using my Google reader like a normal person).

If you're so inclined, (and I don't already link to you), can you let me know in the comments so I can blogstalk you?

Today was a good day

You got sure that right, Ice Cube.

P.S. The Isley Brothers are awesome, but do we maybe like the Staple Singers remix better?

P.P.S. I have NO idea and take no responsibility for what's going on in that remix video up there, but I had to post it because the first guy looks disturbingly like Mac from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia...Photoshopped into a Dunkin' Donuts.

Speaking of art...

Today was super because I got to spend a big chunk of it learning how to do research at the stunning Ryerson and Burnham Libraries at the Art Institute. It was incredible. Libraries and I are back together in a big way these days.

And to top it all off...


I'm going to be spending the next few days learning how to appraise this gorgeous hunk of wood.

Worth? We'll just say my hypothetical firstborn child.

In case you're wondering, yes, it is very way unethical to lowball it and buy it for myself. But it's tempting...

Nice package

I'll be the first to admit I'm one of those people who takes the time to "repackage" all sorts of crap in my house. I have special, unmarked jars for my rice and pasta and water. I keep q-tips in a ceramic dish, cotton balls in an apothecary jar and lotion and mouthwash in clear glass bottles. Basically, I have white people problems.


It's more than a little embarrassing then that I really would like some of this vodka just because the packaging is so minimalist-pretty. My kitchen could look so much more like some sort of scientific lab--or a Kiehl's counter. Whatever.

Plus, I just really enjoy my vodka.

Anyway, I found these bottles on Lovely Package, which has opened a whole Pandora's box of book-by-its-cover lust for me.

SO, maybe I'll feel better if I'm not alone on this one. Is anyone else just in it for the looks? Does packaging come into play at all when it comes to your favorite products? Or am I just a big ol' label queen?

If you want to sing out, sing out

Harold and Maude is my favorite movie in the whole wide world. I watched it for the first time about five years ago and immediately went out and bought the DVD. I never do this. That's what Netflix is for, right?

I historically hate romantic comedies. They're just goofy and usually short on the comedy part. Just a few weeks ago, I watched Sleepless in Seattle for the first time. Ugh. Imagine me making a raspberry noise and giving the double thumbs down. Soooo corny. This makes no sense because I'm a big old softie and get all weepy at the drop of a hat. I misted up last Saturday night at dinner with my parents while talking about the evils of Wal-Mart.

Related: Thanks A LOT Museum of Science and Industry Omnimax movie about the Great Lakes for making me want to cry like a baby over an old, stinky fish.

Ok, maybe that one was hormones.

Anyway, what I think I like about H&M (the real H&M) is that it feels authentic. And dark. And maybe a little bit weird. I mean, you've got a death-obsessed 20-year-old-guy who falls for a septuagenarian Holocaust survivor who lives in an abandoned train car and makes wooden sculptures that look like vajays. What's not to love? Add an all Cat Stevens soundtrack to the mix, and I'm hooked like that sturgeon in the Great Lakes movie. (sniff, sniff)*

I got to thinking about H&M earlier this week when I read this article about director Hal Ashby on Slate. It kind of bags on the movie, but I started poking around the Net (starring Sandra Bullock) and lo and behold, many others are WAY into this movie. It's inspiring all sorts of people, including:

(hold up. you have to imagine me reading this like a scrolling list of community college courses)


Decorators!



Puppeteers!


Architects!


Jaguar/hearse enthusiasts! (what a dreamy demographic)


Wes Anderson!



Designers!

aaaand painters.

Since I'm not a total nut, I'll just take the Belgian poster.


Ok ok. And the French t-shirt.

*Seeing has how the movie was about a 50-year-old man who loved and was tracking a 120-year-old female fish who had survived the environmental Holocaust that was the Industrial Revolution, the two stories are not entirely unrelated....excuse me. I need a moment. Anybody got a hankie?

Pillow fight!

So originally, I was going to do a round up of all of the random, wonderful crap I'm watching on eBay these days. I'm certainly not going to buy it, so why shouldn't you?

But then, I noticed that a seller had listed all sorts of seriously awesome vintage needlepoint pillows. And you know, I love me some needlepoint pillows.

Actually timely, aren't some of these so nice for fall?


Perfect for reclining and sipping cider.

Maybe you want to put on a cowl-neck sweater and some Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie glasses and zone out to an old Judy Collins record while lounging with this guy.

I know I do.

Hey! Check out this one! It's a Cooooosssssssby sweataahhhh!


Come on, these two are so nice and neutral, you can't say they won't go in your house.

Ok, so the tulips aren't so seasonally appropriate, but who cares? They're awesome.

Too tame for you? Ok, then.






BLAM!!!!
How you like me now? I'm a badass blue-eyed Bengal tiger comin' at you from the couch!

Ahem. Actually I may have to kindly ask you to back off this guy. I kind of think I need him in my life, ok?

Go check out the seller. He has quite a few more snazzy pillows for sale (and some not-so-snazzy ones with corny golf sayings on them if that's your thing. No judgement.) Best thing is that they're all pretty reasonably priced at around $20. Even designer sample sale pillows are way above that.

If you guys are super nice and tell me which pillow is your fave--or if none, what random junk you like to collect--in the comments section (and stay the hell away from my bengal), I'll put up a post with some other neato eBay treasures.

At a black-tie event last night...

...someone asked me if my Forever 21 dress was from Betsey Johnson.

I told the truth.

I think my virtue was the only thing that saved it from falling apart on the dancefloor.