Aaaaaaand, I'm back! It's been awhile, kids. How are things? I'm good--far less busy and in a better headspace. Life is finally organizing itself nicely like I asked it to. So, things I am excited about: 1. Lindsay's Etsy store. Everything's coming up Etsy lately and it's awesome. I can't wait to check out her cute creations. 2. Spring clothing. For serious. That picture of the girl in rolled up jeans, tennies, and trenchcoat is how I've been aming to look everyday I don't have to work. I'm glad other people are feelin' it. 3. Vintage photography. And, yes, that's been on just about everyone's list of turn ons underthe age of 30 for the past two decades but I always forget how much I love it. So let me reconnect with a long lost love already.

Spring is almost here! Time to shop for new clothes. :)

Things I'm digging:

And if you're bored, check out the MAC website. Oooooh, pretty colors.

So, coming off one craptacular week and hopefully heading into a new (great) one, I have a little more perspective and control than I thought over my situation. When I get into a funk I get pretty bleak. I'm trying to keep perspective and grasp what is truly important. I recently came across a blog written by a woman in her twenties diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer and given 6-12 months to live. While her situation is dire, she has the best outlook on life. I find that the people who are closest to death often have the most profound things to say about living. And it makes all the petty shit seem not so important.

The Throwback Issue

So I know we all like to reminisce from time to time. It's fun to remember childhood movies, games, and activities. http://www.retrojunk.com/ is a website you could waste an entire day on if you are between the ages 25-40. It stores archival lists of multimedia from your childhood. You will find things on that site that you swore were made up by your elementary school head because only you remember them. It's pretty fantastic.

Also, this site has a list of classic Apple games from the 80s that you probably played in school. Bad graphics and all. If you're as nerdy as me when it comes to nostalgia, you will adore these sites.

In honor of the football madness that has spread across the Midwest, I leave you with this video of Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force making his prediction. If a cartoon character says it, it has to be true, right?

A couple of videos for you guys.

For all you 80s babies out there--Pee Wee Herman on SNL! Dee-lightful.


And for all you Elijah Wood/Shirley Manson/fancy eyeglass/arty short fans out there, this:

"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

The unfortunate polarizing of our country in recent years has come to a head. I hope we can all learn something from it.




The victims.

Out with the old, in with the new.

I'm kind of a scrooge for New Year's. I think this is partially because I've felt stuck in a rut since college. Every New Year's Eve it the same; I look back on the year with contempt that I haven't changed my life enough to matter, yet I live the following year the exact same way as before, falling into the comfortable ease of my old routine. I vow to change many things all at once and then, exasperated, take a turn and meander down that well worn path on the journey to next year. I genuinly feel hopeful that the new year will bring the much needed change and then there I sit, cynical every December 31st. So this year I didn't care about New Year's Eve. I couldn't give two shits. Oh, I tried, but my effort was quickly covered up, not by end of the year cynicism but by premonitionary distrust that this, this year would be different. I wasn't buying it. I was asleep by 11:40 and when my husband woke me up for the changing of the day, I said, "Great. Let's go to bed." And, honestly, I haven't given much thought that the year now ends in '11. The ironic part to all this is that this grudge I hold for the beginning of 2011 just might be enough to change my poor attitude for all things change. So here's my resolution, vague as it might be--Just be happy. And if you aren't happy, then do something about it. Damn it. And stop wallowing the the comfortable routine of your life just because it's easy.

I think 2011 might be a good year afterall.

And to finish up this post, a quote:

For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
~T.S. Eliot

Dirty Hippie

I'm betting that even if you had the best Christmas ever yesterday and Santa brought you everything you wanted there was bound to still be some stress this holiday season. Lord knows I am stressed. (Retail will do that to you, though.) I googled 'relaxation' and found a good page from Mayo Clinic that gives good pointers about stress relieving techniques. Read it and say "ahhhhhhh."


Here's some relaxing music to help you get started.

Just hear those sleigh bells jing-a-ling...

I finally have part of a Sunday all to myself. Ahhhhhh. The hubs is out of town and I have the day off. Planets aligned, or something. I plan on spending the day with Martha, my christmas cookies, and this little lady:

Needless to say, retail is making me a little cranky and this is my attempt at remedying that.

Whilst I am baking and shit, enjoy these lovely photos from Martha and her lovely team. I wanna be her when I grow up. Just sayin'.

(I wanna buy everyone I know diamonds just so I can do this.) Baby sock advent calendar!




Happy Christmas!

Better late than never.

After a long day of work, I want to cozy up with some hot cocoa and listen to jazz while watching the snow fall. Too bad there's no snow falling.

So, I'm taking some inspiration from Lindsay's blog on charities and sharing with you guys a really cool charity that I learned about. It's a site called Kiva and it's full of small business hopefuls around the world who post a profile to the site in the hopes to garner enough money to start their business through a loan. You loan them an amount, as do others, and when their business is up and running and they've paid their loan back, you get your investment back and can either lend it again or withdraw the money. Pretty cool, right? And great proof that it doesn't take much to make a big difference if we all pitch in. My favorite part is that you can give a gift card for the holidays to someone and they can use it to fund a business of their choosing on the site. Happy lending, everyone!

I recently re-discovered one of my favorite artists from about 5 years ago. His work is whimsical and a touch bittersweet. And the best part? I found out much later that he's from my hometown.

We are most than more will ever find...

Keep it simple, stupid.

http://www.bluntcard.com/

cest le vie

This lady was on Martha Stewart the other day. She seemed a little wacky. And not in a good way. But her company makes some pretty cool stuff.

I love the Band-Aid appliques.

http://stellaneptune.bigcartel.com/category/appliques

I found this on another blog. Sylvia Plath paper dolls! It seems a little wrong, but I still love it.

I want to move to France, but only in the summertime. I want to live in the temperate climes during the winter. If you can't stand the cold, get out of the Midwest.

(I find it disconcerting that when I type in "French country home" into Google images I get large American mansions instead of charming country cottages.)

There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls. ~George Carlin

Halloween. My favorite holiday of the year. It falls exactly two weeks after my birthday. The parties. The costumes. Scaring kids. What's not to adore? It brings out the youth in even the most curmudgeonly old men.

I'm like cat here, a no-name slob. We belong to nobody, and nobody belongs to us. We don't even belong to each other.

With the whole state tied up in football madness and me not giving a good god damn I'll share with you MY Sunday night release:

I haven't read a book this quickly in quite awhile. I know it's cliche at this point to love Audrey, especially Breakfast at Tiffany's Audrey, but this movie makes the burgeoning arty high school version of me giddy still. (I went to New York last weekend and walked past this very corner on Fifth Avenue and geeked out just a little.) The book takes you through the making of the movie while hitting on points like Truman Capote writing the book that, for any fan, is pretty awesome. My life will be consumed with Tiffany's for awhile as I plan to watch the movie and re-read Capote's story after finishing the book.

To Holly Golightly; thanks for teaching me that it's okay to be the quirky chick, the one who marches to her own beat, who dreams bigger, plays harder, falls faster and learns from her mistakes and who is brave enough to do it all again.

After all is really said and done the two of us are really one.

Working all day on a Sunday sucks. I'd much rather be doing this:

Everyone go listen to John Lennon in honor of his birthday.

Sorry, guys. I'm not feeling very inspired today. I would really just love some hot cocoa and a nap.



























So, I will make this easy on myself today. I came across this chick on a friend's Facebook page. Super cute preggo lady. Fitting, as everyone I know just popped out a child.
sometimessweet.com

Evening Ritual.