On vacay!

Maine, here we come. Posts will be back when we return on September 2nd (wow, September already?!). Blog ya later!

(Ok, I know this photo is technically of Round Island Light in Michigan, but it's a beautiful photo and it feels like Maine to me. Sorry, MI.)
(Also, I would love to credit this photographer, but I can't seem to find out who shot this photo. I saw it on a reader-submitted inspiration board on Style Me Pretty. Sorry I can't accurately attribute it...but please do let me know if you know where this came from.)

2 days 'til Maine

Photo from Country Living, via Mary Ruffle

I can't believe we're leaving for our Maine trip on Thursday! We can't wait. :)

Have a great weekend!

Photo from Kate Ryan via Mary Ruffle

Whew - weekend time! We've got another busy one ahead of us - going out on the boat with friends tomorrow (if the weather cooperates), a double-header of playoff games for B on Sunday, cooking for the whole team on Sunday night, and a bunch more - so we're gearing up for that. And of course a healthy dose of ice cream will occur sometime (gotta grab on to everything summery while we can!). Hope you have a great one and see you Monday!

A non-tribute

Sara, the answer is: Ummm, heck to the NO.
(My response to my friend's suggestion that I should blog about her Devon Rex cat.)

I'm sorry people, I'm just not cat person. I love dogs. Besides, this isn't that kind of blog!

But, S, aren't you siked I put up a picture of a cat that kind of looks like Rexy anyway? There you go, my non-tribute to you and your cat.
:)

TGI-effin'-F!

Photo from ffffound via Rockstar Diaries

It is 7:30am on a Friday morning and I am awake. What?! Why? I have a very early doctor's appointment (I've scratched my eyeball, evidently), so I am up at this hour. Ouch. I haven't been up this early in a lonnnnng time - not even before I got laid off (though I used to be on a bus to DC by this hour a few years back - still can't believe I did that for three years!). I'm going to gaze at the photo above a bit longer and pretending I'm still asleep and dreaming. Be back soon (after my right eye has been poked, prodded and eye-dropped a bit more) - more posts to come later today. TGIF peeps!

Project Runway returns

It's ba-aaaack!
I cannot wait, especially for the two-hour All Stars episode airing right before the season six premiere. My DVR is locked and loaded. Hurray for fun Wednesday nights again (and just as I was getting so productive now that SYTYCD is over!).

I wonder if it will be weird now that it's on Lifetime...

Scar-Jo sings

Scarlett Johansson in a Moet & Chandon champagne ad

I have to say it: I'm really not a Scarlett Johansson fan. I don't think she's as hot as men seem to think she is and I feel she's a definitively horrible actress. Also, I am annoyed at her for removing Ryan Reynolds from the semi-eligible world.

They do make quite the smashing couple (sorry, Alanis, you never had a chance):


And really who could resist anyone who looks this good with blood and bandages all over?


But I'm just not sold on little Ms. Johansson.

However, my resolve may be faltering a bit after seeing this video of Scarlett and Pete Yorn (gotta love Life on A Chain from back in the day) collaborating on a duets album.

Here's a video of the single "Relator" - even I have to admit - I kinda like it! Take a look and listen:
(Be patient through the quick ad; it's worth it.)


What do you think? Pretty good, huh? She's got a bit of a Zooey Deschanel (whom I love!) quality to her voice. I am surprised. Kudos, Scar-Jo (on having the wherewithal to pair up with Pete Yorn, for not totally sucking in this song and for snagging Ryan Reynolds!).

Video originally seen on Pretty. Little. World.

"Sucked in" by vampires?

Oh no.

Truth time. My book club made me read the first Twilight book, even though I resisted vehemently and refused to actually buy it (annoyingly stating that it was a teen book and I would not bring myself to spend the $25 [it was still hard cover at that point] on a book about vampire love). One of those crafty girls lent it to me. Shoot. So, I bucked up and read it. And I totally got sucked in.

Darn.

I voraciously tore through the second one shortly thereafter (also lent to me, after eating crow and shamefully begging my friend Sarah for it), but thought I had escaped it for a while when I couldn't find a paperback version of the third and fourth books in the airport on a recent trip. I still refused to go in the teen section at Barnes and Noble to seek it out, so I gave up for a while. Then, on a trip the library the other day, they had not only book 3, but also book 4. Darn again.

So here I am, a full-on adult (at least age-wise), totally absorbed in book 3. I started it yesterday and think I will be finished with it in a day or so. (Though please note that I am not sitting around reading it all day; I do read really fast. Sheesh.) I am fairly certain I'll go through the 4th book equally as quickly.

Does this make me a 14 year old girl? Anyone else sucked in like this?

Side note: what's up with the plethora of vampire-based entertainment these days? First the Twilight series, then True Blood and now a vampire on show on the CW??

Lemonade (alternately titled "a movie about laid-off addies like me")

As this movie's site states, "More than 70,000 advertising professionals have lost their jobs in this 'Great Recession.' Lemonade is about what happens when people who were once paid to be creative in advertising are forced to be creative with their own lives." Here's the two-minute trailer:



The whole first minute of this trailer felt so familiar. Unfortunately I haven't had that fabulous "make lemonade" experience that those fortunate few detailed in the second minute of the trailer, but I'm weighing my options. Elephant trainer? Paper goods shop owner? Stay-at-home blogger? Pilates and yoga instructor? We'll see what happens... In the meantime, I am excited for the upcoming release of this (free and online only) 30-minute docu.

Originally seen on Talk Like A Gentleman.

Sailing

Shamrock V on Narragansett Bay, one of my favorite classic boats

The rain we had earlier today has passed and it's turning into a hot, sunny evening. With the clear in weather, it means we can still sail in the Wednesday Night Races here in Annapolis. I'm hopping on a J/92S that my friend is skippering. In case you don't know what that is, here's a photo of one from the boatbuilder's site:

I'm trimming main (aka pulling in or letting out the big sail). I am pretty rusty at it and therefore a bit nervous. Let's hope we sail well and that I don't do anything too stupid (losing a halyard, messing up the sail trim or knocking my head on the boom would all be pretty embarrassing). At the very least, I'll bring some beer for the rest of the crew, and hopefully that will make up for my general fumbling about. See you tomorrow!

Rainy day and cozy nook

From House to Home via Mary Ruffle (my fave)

It rained absolute buckets here this afternoon. The kind of rain that soaks you from head to toe the minute you step foot in it, even if you're just sprinting from your car to your front door. This happened to me today, despite me wielding a sturdy umbrella and wearing shorts. But I loved it. I got inside and sat by the window, drying off and watching the fat drops fall. It was lovely, and much needed in the hot, sticky, end-of-summer heat we've been having this week.

Thinking about rainy days (or stressful days, lazy days, or any day really), how comfy and inviting does this nook and chair look? I would love to curl up there any day.

Alexis as Rosie

As much as I loved her as Rory Gilmore, how strong and amazing does Alexis Bledel look here as Rosie the Riveter?

Here's a link to this photo, which is from the April 2009 issue of Glamour magazine, but be sure to hit "next" and click through the full gallery from this shoot. It shows 11 female "American icons" as depicted by some of Hollywood's youngest stars. (Though the pic of Lindsay Lohan as Madonna in her "Like A Virgin" phase seems a bit disturbing to me for some reason.)

MOO cards

Business cards and photos by Erik Kraft of Restless Bee

I'm thinking of printing a few "cards" for myself so that I can give them out as I network about town in order to score a new dream job (ha). Seriously though, it's a good idea to have some kind of card for yourself on-hand at all times, and it can never hurt to have something polished to give someone - much better than, say, handing out a business card from your previous job with the phone number crossed out and your cell written in or than saying "here, put my number in your phone" - right? I'm thinking of printing 50 to start, using MOO cards. It's only $21.99 for 50 business cards. Has anyone used them before? Any thoughts?

Or maybe I'll try their MiniCards, the more spunky and smaller counterpart from Moo. They look fun. Do you think these would veer too far from the professional norm? Would people lose them because they're so itsy or like them because they're unique? At $19.99 for 100 of them, I guess it wouldn't really hurt either way...

Photos from Priya at Love made Visible, as seen on Oh Happy Day!

And last but not least, what the heck do I say on there? "Unemployed extraordinaire," "blogger without a cause," "can-do attitude and excellent aesthete for hire" or just my name, number and email?

Lunch break

I'm off to a quick (and kinda late) lunch and then running errands around town. I'm hoping I'll return having gotten a few things done and hopefully feeling a bit more recharged. Perhaps the creative juices will be flowing again and I'll have some good posts for you later today or all lined up for tomorrow. At the very least I'll have eaten today.

Delicious-looking lunch photo from Country Living magazine, styled by Sweet Paul (love him!) and photographed by Karl Juengel.

About yesterday...

Photo by Laura Encursiva

Sorry for the photo- and package-tastic overload yesterday. I got a bit overexcited by The Dieline, plus I think we all know what I sucker I am for attractive packaging.

Anyway, I am hoping to get back on the ball with posting this week. I know my posts have been a bit scattered at best lately. I am struggling a bit with everything in general (life, job, motivation, etc.), but am hoping to pull myself together sometime soon. Stick with me, readers who may or may not actually exist. (This does not include you, mothers and aunts.)

826 National

As if Dave Eggers hadn't accomplished enough with his several successful and critically acclaimed books (one of which was a Pulitzer finalist), his own independent publishing house, and even being on a Beck album, I just found out that he also founded a national non-profit organization aimed to help kids with writing and one-on-one tutoring. It's called 826 National and there are seven locations across the US: San Francisco (the flagship chapter), New York, LA, Chicago, Seattle, Boston and Ann Arbor.

The most hilarious part to me, though, is that each of the chapter locations has its own storefront which sells books, of course, but also fun oddities. From the website:

"San Francisco’s pirate supply store sells glass eyes and one-of-a-kind peglegs, 826NYC’s Superhero Supply Company offers custom-fit capes, Seattle’s Greenwood Space Travel Supply Company sells all your space commuting appurtenances, 826michigan's Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair Shop specializes in must-have mechanical conveniences, while 826LA features a time travel store, there's a secret agent supply store in Chicago, and the Cryptozoology shop in Boston is now open!"

Here are some of those products, designed especially for the 826 stores (and as seen on The Dieline).

From Valencia's pirate store:








From Brooklyn's Superhero Supply Company:







From Boston's Bigfoot Research Institute:





And last but not least, a few from Chicago's Boring Store(which is NOT a spy-supply store):







I think I might know a few kids who would love this stuff (and even a few "grown-ups" too!).

Giant girls

Good morning! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. We ran all over (activities in town Friday, then off to Phila Sat., then back to Annapolis for B's baseball play-offs Sunday) but had a great weekend overall.

So, back home and back to this week's posts. I came across these photos recently and couldn't wait to share them. They're from UK-based photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten, from her series called Teenage Stories. How amazing/surreal/dreamy/(insert other awe-stricken word here) are these?











I don't know if I'm more impressed that all of these photo worlds were created using small-scale models or that the photographer actually got the teenage girls to do what she wanted (ha ha). Very cool either way.