Here's lookin' at you, kid

Sometimes when you've had a rough day and have been kinda lame, don't you like to congratulate yourself on something easy? Like having good taste*?

It's like the normal person equivalent of getting a softball question on Meet the Press. So what that I'm not all brushed up on whether or not India should have a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council? At least I'm never going to get accused of hanging this nonsense all up in my crib.

With that, I give you winkers:



Today, I wore some men's Nautica plaid flannel pants and a bright green t-shirt from Old Navy, not to mention some chenille socks with rubber feet (so I can step outside and fetch the mail, natch) and I feel pretty snazzy right about now. It's all relative, gang.

*I kind of balk at the term "good taste." It's so subjective, and I'm sure people think I'm a spaz monster tornado of crap tastes. I like when people get jazzy with their clothes, so I think it's way nicer to say people have different taste than I do. That being said, winkers are off-the-charts wackadoo.

Hey, punkins

What am I thankful for?



In short, YOU!

It's that time of year to say thanks, so heeeere we go. Thank you to everyone who stops by and reads what I ramble on about here and thank you to everyone who comments to let me know you're out there and hats off to everyone who takes time out to keep up his or her own blog. You're all a source of laughter, enjoyment and inspiration to me and I appreciate it all.

We have a month to go, but 2009 has been one of my happiest years so far (2002 comes in close second), so I want to send a big thank-you out to the universe. This year I:

- Moved into a home I love with the guy I love and it's been a dream. Every day has been better than the last, and I can't imagine doing this without him.

- For the most part, my friends and loved ones have spent their days healthy and happy.

- Managed so lose some baggage that I never realized had been dragging me down quite so much.

- Traveled to some magical places and experienced new things I'll never forget (until I get Alzheimer's).

- Finally feel like I'm on the track to finding what I want to do with my life, big picture style. Not to be confused with Big Willie Style.

- For the first time in forever, I'm really looking forward to a holiday season full of good times with family and friends and pretty much devoid of stress and expectations. And I CAN'T WAIT.

- Through this tiny corner of the Internet, I've been lucky enough to correspond with--and meet!--some incredibly creative, kind and super cool people. I love making new friends!

Lucky. I have a lot to be thankful for, and one of those big things is you right there reading this. Thank you and have a fabulous long weekend!

What do you have to be smiling about these days? I'd love to hear.

(Image via Recovering Lazyholic)

Pent up

Remember the other day when I wrote about how happy a little pretty packaging can make me?

There's more to admire! The winners of the Pentawards packaging design competition have been announced. Let's look at some pretty stuff, yeah?

The best of show award went to Kimberly-Clark for those fruit slices Kleenex boxes.


Which, if you're interested in knowing, I hate. I don't like associating a fresh slice of juicy fruit with snot. Can't someone make a nice, plain box of tissue so I can deep six my stainless steel holder from Ikea? (not bad at all, Clorox) All I do is get fingerprints all over it every time I replace the Kleenex inside.

On the other hand, here are some other entrants that I love:

12 Inches juice by War Design


Boots body products by Camilla Lillieskold


Johnson & Johnson by Harry Allen Design


Jack Daniels by Mayday

There are tons more to click through. Do you have a favorite?

Peanut butter and jelly

I'm having one of those days where I feel like I'm going to absolutely DIE if I don't get to a hardware store soon. I need paint rollers and sponge brushes and paint thinner and smaller staples for the staple gun and picture hangers and clay pots. It's driving me insane!


Also driving me insane (in a good way) is that you can buy Julia Rothman wallpaper by the yard at Hygge & West, making it affordable for me to THINK about owning a bit of her art on a roll.

I'm still on my geometric kick, so naturally I'm trying to figure out a way to use a yard of this stuff. So far, I'm coming up empty.

Maybe this book would have the perfect solution. Think it's available at ACE?

I need to start a project soon, or the cats are going to be running around in sweaters made from old holey socks and leftover buttons.

Hmm. On second thought...

A wing and a prayer

Can you guess what this is?

Wouldn't it be dreamy on a wall, all blown up huge?

For all you baby Calders out there

Buddy, cheer up!

Dry those tears and stop gnashing your teeth. Hey. Come on, pulling your hair out is only going to leave an unsightly bald patch.

With all this posting I'm doing, it's like I'm not even gone, right?

What's that? You're so lonely without me you already made 16 bubble chandeliers for your family and closest friends?

Ok, ok. How about another art project?

Maybe an abstract mobile?

Could be pretty cool, huh? This nice blog has posted all of the directions from a 1954 issue of Popular Science.

It's ok. Go ahead. It's not a strange blog if I say so.

When I get home, I can't wait to find the prettiest one you made on my doorstep.

She rocks in the treetop all day long

I'm forcing more of myself on the world and have now joined Twitter (see the feed in the right-hand column). Be my feathered friend and we'll tweet about all sorts of mundane, bird-brained stuff.

In honor, here are some adorable avian posters from the children's sector of Terry Posters, a vault of awesome vintage (and modern) Polish and Czechoslovakian posters:



I have no idea what any of these say, but I'm pretty sure we can all agree cute is universal language.

Amateur philately

Stamps are great. Gooooo stamps!

Of course sending letters is fun, and you need stamps to send them. But the stamps themseleves--little snapshots of beauty and history, art really--are so delightful to choose. I've exasperated many a postal worker by making them show me all of my options and hemming and hawing as I paw through the books, trying to pick the prettiest, most charming sheets.

My dad is a real stamp (and coin) collector, so I may get a bit of this from him. But it's not all nerdery. Check out Grain Edit's bit on commemorative stamps from Hong Kong. They're lovely!

In my own home, I have some work from Gavin Potenza, lover of imaginary stamps:

Homage to the Stamp in my living room.


And Stamps of the World in my bathroom. See it in action! here.

I love looking at them both and picking out my favorite stamp. It changes every day.

Undersea community

Did you read the news? It's Bastille Day, mes amis!

I'm just going to get on the horn and place a trans-Atlantic call to my loved ones in France. While underwater.

Really, though. How great are these vintage underwater photographs (way more after that link)? I really, seriously want to get a set of these done. I guess I should probably grow my hair out a bit first so it doesn't look like I stuck my finger in an electric socket. Ooh, or maybe I could wear an adorable swim cap with dasies all over it. C'mere, you!

While we're on the topic of water, may I please have a Leah Giberson painting?

Just about any one will do, but I'm partial to the houses and the pools. Giclee prints are also available in her Etsy shop.

Immediate Sound

I was at the Hideout last night for People Under the Stares, and while I was waiting around for the show to start, I was looking at the posters. There were tons of really striking ones for Ken Vandermark's Immediate Sound jazz series. The one pictured is from Cricket Press (flickr set here).

And, via the Hideout's website, you can order Hideout posters. Yay Chicago!