Have a great weekend and happy Halloween!

Photo from Oeuf, as seen on A Cup of Jo

Isn't this little guy the cutest? And so appropriate with all the clamor over the new Where The Wild Things Are movies (which I still haven't seen). And even though I am neither a baby nor a child, I do plan on dressing up for Halloween tomorrow. B and I haven't come up with costumes yet, but I always have my trusty pirate patches in case of last minute dress-up emergency, so at least I know we'll have a fall-back plan for tomorrow in case inspiration doesn't strike before then. What about you all? Any fun costume ideas?

I am going to wrap things up a touch early today (must think about fun costume ideas! ok, really I just have to go to the grocery store), but I hope you have a fabulous Halloween weekend and see you in November (eek! where has 2009 gone?)! xoxo -r.

Pumpkin = PMS 144

Pumpkin by Joe Buckland

For all you fellow design nerds out there, how funny is this Pantone pumpkin? Great non-traditional pumpkin carving inspiration. (And if you don't get it, it's showing the chip for Pantone 144 - which is an ink in the color orange.)

This kinda makes miss my days looking through Pantone books though. Wish I has smuggled one out from the agency...

Sweet dreams are made of these

Photo from washingmachine on flickr

Good morrrrrning everyone (all three of you) and happy Friday! I know you're all at work and didn't get to sleep in this morning but just remember that tomorrow's Saturday - prime sleeping in day - and Sunday is the end of Daylight Savings Time so you get an extra hour of sleep - woohoo! But since you can't catch your ZZZs right now (well, except you, Sara, napper of the world), I wanted to bring you these hilarious "dream soliloquies" from B, who is one of the most entertaining sleepers/dreamers I've ever met.

Here's his most recent sleep-talking:

B: mumble mumble mumble. Dash S.
Me: what did you just say?
B: it's a Spanish-speaking book.

Then there was this fun one at 4 in the morning:

B: You had an alien probe. You should tell your brother that you got a mobile phone.
Me: I already have an iPhone, babe.
B: Yeah, my baby's got a new mobile phone. Mo-biiiiiiiiiillle.
B (singing this time): My baby's got a mobile phone. She can be anywhere and find it. She thinks it's Thursday, no, wait, Friday.
Me: What???
B: --- (silently sleeping again.)

And finally, this is what I got earlier this week when I woke up with no covers:

Me: you stole all the covers babe.
B (dead asleep): the Girl Scouts did it.

:) Aww, don't be mad at me, babe - these were too good not to share! I will have more for you all later if you liked these. Trust me, B is a font of entertaining sleep-talking so I'm sure there will be future funny ramblimgs. TGIF, y'all!

Drawn together

Since I've really only talked about toilet paper and being a crazy person on the blog today, I thought I'd leave you with something pretty and frothy for your afternoon/evening. Then tomorrow we'll start anew, hopefully sans the bathroom posts (and it will be Friday - sweet!).

With that being said, how pretty are these illustrations by Sandra Suy?:



This is my fave:


Not only is it gorg, but it reminds me so much of this photo of Milla Jovovich:


Image found on this is glamorous

Hope you enjoy these yummy illustrations. See you tomorrow!

Proper TP alignment (alternately titled "crazy part deux")

Toilet paper diagram by Heather Powazek Champ

So my crazy brain came out Tuesday. My inner Martha reared her ugly head and resulted in this post on brownies (no, not those kind of brownies). I then tried to tame my crazy, but it came back with this proclamation.

Then, today, I was looking online at the book "No One Cares What You Had for Lunch" by Margaret Mason (it's brilliant! I might buy it - for the sake of the 4 people who read my blog!) and saw the above diagram. It made me fall back in love with being crazy but happy, thanks to Heather Powazek Champ, a seemingly fellow kooky person (see? blogging brings people together!). Here's what she had to say about proper toiler paper loading:

"When I am queen, I shall decree that all rolls of toilet paper be correctly inserted into the toilet paper dispensers. Correctly? You have all been improperly instructed to place your toilet paper with the "tongue" facing outward. This is incorrect. Why? It's ugly. Please view the illustration above. Isn't the arrangement on the right far more aesthetically pleasing than that on the left? But what about ease of use you ask? I don't give a rat's ass about ease of use. I want the world to be a more beautiful place, and I'm going to start with your toilet paper. Thank you."

Love it. I actually happen to wholeheartedly disagree (I hate when the TP tongue is on the inside - it unrolls too quickly and leads to overpulling!), but I admire HPC's card-carrying, unapologetic (and maybe crazy?) dedication to the world being more pretty. Right on, sista.

Nailed it!

Photo by Charles Masters for Real Simple Nov. 09 issue

Has anyone tried the new matte nail polish trend? I saw this photo and was intrigued. I like the deep tones for fall, plus the matte finish seems like a new take while keeping a sophisticated tone. Not sure if you can see it from the photo, but these two colors (from Zoya) also have a subtle shimmer while still being matte, which I think is cool for the holiday season. Now if only I could get my cuticles looking that perfect...

Peek-a-boo

Photo by Rodney Smith

Where have I been all afternoon, you ask? Sorry for this disappearing act, but I was at a meeting. I'm back now and will be writing posts so that there are fresh ones for tomorrow, I promise. Hope to see you then! (And don't miss the first game of the World Series. Boo Yanks!)

The (upcoming) great pumpkin carve-off of 2009

Every year, B and I have a pumpkin-carving competition. He's currently in the lead with a few more wins than I over the years (though I think he might have an unfair advantage, as our judges are always neighborhood kids - who are predominantly little girls and who think that B is "dreamy" - but not to be a spoilsport), so I want to do something really cool this year to take home the title.

This year, we're carving pumpkins with a bunch of friends, so I'm sure the creativity and range will be even more interesting (one of our friends once carved a Natty Bo pumpkin to honor the local Baltimore brew) than when it's just B and me. With all that being said, I'm doing a bit of research ahead of time in order to prepare. Here are my front-runners of inspiring pumpkins so far:







Credits: 1: Country Living, 2-4: Martha Stewart, 5-6: Jaimee Rose, 7: also Martha Stewart

You like? Any opinions on which one I should try? Anything cool I'm missing? Please leave a comment - I'd love to hear what you've done.

Festive dining

Image from David Jiminez via Shelter

While it's a bit over the top for every day life, I am obsessed with this table and room for a more festive occasion. The vibrant colors, the cozy candlelight and how it reflects all over the room, and the patterns and extreme layering are done to perfection. How fun would it be to celebrate in that room? I'm thinking New Year's, a major birthday, or even just a special dinner. Fab.

My head is full of...

This could basically be my personal motto. Oy. A bit crazy (evidently my theme for today), but kinda pretty, no? (And by that I mean the poster, not me!)

Available here, as seen here.

How to share baked goods like a crazy person

Photos from P.S., Paper Source's blog

Don't be misled by this post title - I was more than excited when I found this idea for decorating a brownie tray - it's just that it's absolutely tailor-made for crazy people only. I mean, for most folks, baking brownies (or any other baked good or food for that matter) to bring to an event or to share with friends is a nice enough gesture. But for the crazy person - that overachieving friend/sorority sister/PTA mom we all know, Martha Stewart, sometimes me - it also needs to be transported in style.

Well, thanks to Kristen of Paper Source, I now know what to do.

Kristen was bringing her souped-up brownies (box mix plus espresso powder and walnuts) to a BBQ and didn't want to leave behind her own dish/tray, so she bought one of those disposable aluminum trays (they're about two bucks at the grocery store). But, of course they're not very attractive, so she wrapped the tray with cheery wrapping paper and double-stick tape (see above), threw in some coordinating paper napkins (of course they matched) and she was all set. Oh and don't forget a layer of wax or parchment paper along the bottom to prevent the brownies from leaving grease marks on the wrapping paper. Good tip.

Seriously, my snarky tone may belie my adoration for this project, but I am definitely planning on doing this in the future. I'm thinking I'll make these Halloween whoopie pies and bring them on a tray decorated with black and silver skull paper for a Halloween party...You could also totally steal this idea for any holiday or event - just switch up your paper choice. Love it!

Candygram

Opening this birthday package in the mail must have been so fun. Simple white box? Yes, but look inside:




I love the ideas on Inchmark. This box of gumballs is totally adorable and - even better - so simple. I love that you could do this for a birthday as shown, but easily for other holidays, too: candy corn or pumpkins for Halloween, peppermint bark for Christmas, gelt for Hannukah and so on. So whose birthday is next? You might just be receiving this in the mail!

Say "ahh"

Love this pic. Quote from the ever-wise Abigail Adams, image from Real Simple magazine

Yes, you're reading correctly: it is indeed 7:45am and I'm already on my way out the door. I have an 8am dentist appointment, so I'm brushing, flossing and heading off to my six-month checkup/cleaning. So, if you're grumbling about heading into work this morning, just consider the fact that you're not sitting in a dentist's chair with metal utensils coming at your face. :) Hope you have a great Monday and see you back here after my torture session dentist appointment.

Have a great weekend!

TGI-effin-F, people! I am supremely happy for it to be Friday, and Friday afternoon at that. I hope you are too. The week is almost over, so relax and get ready for the weekend! On that note, I'll leave you with some gorgeous photos, all from the amazing photographer Cade Martin.




See you Monday!

Take a deep breath and jump

Photo via FFFFOUND!

I have some meetings today. I haven't had those in a while. I'm nervous - like I'm jumping off a big diving board. Anyway, please excuse my lack of posts this morning, though I will be back here later today before the week wraps up officially, so see you then (and wish me luck please!).

I wanna be T-Pain too

Have you heard about the app for the iPhone called "I Am T-Pain"? It's basically Auto-Tune for your phone. (In case you don't know what Auto-Tune is, it's an audio processor that can change vocal pitch and hide vocal "inaccuracies and mistakes." Basically, it's what allows rappers and Cher to hit those high notes.) :)

So, with this app, you too can sing like Celine. I mean, even Obama's singing too; check out his song about health care:

Clip from Jimmy Kimmel Live.
"Amputation. Boop."

And here's a clip of T-Pain on Ellen:

Pretty funny. So who wants to sing along?

Stairway to heaven (baaad title, I know)

How architecturally interesting are these stairs?:


Photos from Jouin Manku, via Design Milk

I love that, from above, the stairs look like a nautilus shell (like in Fibonacci's sequence). It's like having a piece of the sea in your house.

Pretty birdy

Untitled by hrsmithjones, as seen on design is mine.

Beeeeauuuutiful. This is a pinhole bird on a leaf. I would love to see a garland made of these lovelies. How perfectly autumn! Be sure to go to Heather's blog to see this a little more up-close, as well as an alternate view of this pretty leaf bird.

Miss Pettigrew

Not to be a total granny, but I happened to catch Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day the other day, and it was darling. I know it's a few years old at this point, but I really liked it. Amy Adams was absolutely adorable as the ditzy American singer Delysia Lafosse, and Frances McDormand was charming as Miss Pettigrew.



I highly recommend checking it out if you feel like watching a light and fun movie some weekend afternoon - perfect for lazing on the couch - I guarantee you'll feel happier after watching it.

Invisible man

I received all of these photos through a forwarded email (what? an actual good forwarded email? shocking!) and there was no photo credit included. Please let me know if you know who shot these and I'll immediately include the credit(s)...

See if you can spot Liu Bolin, a 36-year-old Chinese artist - often called the "invisible man" - in this series of photos:










Look at the front left tire of this bulldozer. Wow.

Pretty incredible, no? “Some people call me the invisible man, but for me it’s what is not seen in a picture which is really what tells the story,” Mr Bolin told the UK’s Telegraph. “I experienced the dark side of society, without social relations, and had a feeling that no one cared about me, I felt myself unnecessary in this world." Mr Liu cites his work as a protest against the Chinese government, which shut down his Beijing art studio in 2005.

Mr. Liu creates these painted-man scenes all over the world, including Beijing, London and Paris. In each of these places, people passing by often don't notice him in the setting until he moves. He says getting painted can take more than 10 hours at a time. Photographs of his work are currently on display at the YU Gallery in Paris. What an amazing way to demonstrate his beliefs. Very cool. Sad that the Chinese government does not value this extremely talented individual and artists in general.