January Top Ten List

(inspired by my friend, Jamie)

2008 is going to be a great year...here are my top reasons why January started it off so well

10. watching some great movies like Juno, Atonement, Waitress, and Once
9. spending time w/ friends - especially when discovering cool spots like the Wine Room in Palo Alto
8. watching Project Runway challenges
7. hearing Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra play at Stanford
6. receiving Amish Friendship Bread from Jen and baking some myself
5. shopping on Etsy for cool posters like this
4. talking to my nephews about their new rain boots and art projects
3. exercising w/ work friends - my triceps never worked so hard!
2. Spending time w/ Matt at the coast
1. I passed!

Girl Crush

Sarah Silverman is awesome:

Go rent this now...

The movie is called "Once." It's set in Dublin and is a lovely little peck of a film w/ some amazing music. Here is a little sample of my favorite song:

File under jealousy

There is a blog called Dooce

I've been following it for a while now, mostly to see Heather's awesome photographs of her sweet pup, Chuck. Here's what I mean:


Well, it turns out she just got a puppy. I am beside myself. Here is Coco:

Enjoy. Or join me in my tiny studio of envy.

Happy 2008!

So, my resolutions don't really exist. That means I am not a total blogger slacker!

Christmas in El Paso was terrific and delicious! Spending time with my nephews was the highlight. Here is my favorite pic of the year:

Winter art

Take a closer look at these snowglobes by,
Walter Martin and Paloma Munoz

Ah love...

http://www.nygirlofmydreams.com/

Children of the world converge in NYC

Check out this project by photographer Danny Goldfeld:

http://www.nychildren.org/

His goal is to photograph one child living in NYC from every nation on Earth. I know, it sounds a little it's-a-small-world-ish...but I swear it's pretty cool to see his project. His photograph of an Iraqi child made the cover of Life magazine:

The race is on...

I'm not 100% sure who I'm voting for so I took a look at this website:

http://www.speakout.com/VoteMatch/senate2006.asp?quiz=2008

You enter your stance on the various issues (like "Where do you stand on the issue of Federal funding for health coverage?") and the website shows you which candidates most closely match up to you overall. Obama, Hillary and Joe Biden (er?) all match up with me pretty closely. What a shocker! The more interesting thing is that the website gives you voting records and quotes to reference for each of the main issues.

Collage Class Project #5

I'm really proud of this one. The project required us to bring in a reproduction of an old master oil painting. So I choose At the Beach, by Edouard Manet, one of my favorite painters. The challenge was to translate the artist's use of texture and color into our paper collage.

Here is a photo of Manet's piece, then my collage:

And a similar detail from my collage.

Happy Halloween!
This year, Halloween has almost passed me by...



My nephews! The ninja and Superman! :)







Last year, Matt and I went as Plaid Man and Plaid Girl.
Superpowers include:
Bag-pipe playing excellence
Sparkling party conversation
Ability to turn on/off sense of smell

My brothers, Andy and Eddie and their friend Charlotte in the best-costume-ever, Rock/Scissors/Paper

Inspiration #3



Designed by Kai Milla who just so happens to be Stevie Wonder's wife. This dress is hand-wringingly beautiful.

Inspiration #2



Klein Dytham Architects in Japan.

Inspiration

I'm really into silhouettes lately and fell for these pieces:

These are by designer Alissa Melka-Teichroew, a native of the Netherlands, but currently she lives in Brooklyn, NY. Just talked to my brother, Gil, in Brooklyn. I should make him find her just to give her a high five or something.

I came across this designer on Bloesem, a blog on design. Fun stuff!

Collage Class Project #4


(sorry it's so dark)

Collage Class Project #3

Collage Class - Project #2

These are too cute...

http://www.flipflopflyin.com/lollipops/index.html

I think there should be stuffed animal versions of these...I'll take the Bjork one, por favor.

USC gets foiled by the Cardinal!



Campus is still in shock. But we'll take it!

Found in Best of Craiglist:

I wish I was this clever:

"Survival Of The Fittest"
"Whenever I get a package of plain M&Ms, I make it my duty to continue the strength and robustness of the candy as a species. To this end, I hold M&M duels.

Taking two candies between my thumb and forefinger, I apply pressure, squeezing them together until one of them cracks and splinters. That is the "loser," and I eat the inferior one immediately. The winner gets to go another round.

I have found that, in general, the brown and red M&Ms are tougher, and the newer blue ones are genetically inferior. I have hypothesized that the blue M&Ms as a race cannot survive long in the intense theater of competition that is the modern candy and snack-food world.

Occasionally I will get a mutation, a candy that is misshapen, or pointier, or flatter than the rest. Almost invariably this proves to be a weakness, but on very rare occasions it gives the candy extra strength. In this way, the species continues to adapt to its environment.

When I reach the end of the pack, I am left with one M&M, the strongest of the herd. Since it would make no sense to eat this one as well, I pack it neatly in an envelope and send it to M&M Mars, A Division of Mars, Inc., Hackettstown, NJ 17840-1503 U.S.A., along with a 3x5 card reading, "Please use this M&M for breeding purposes."

This week they wrote back to thank me, and sent me a coupon for a free 1/2 pound bag of plain M&Ms. I consider this "grant money." I have set aside the weekend for a grand tournament.

From a field of hundreds, we will discover the True Champion. There can be only one."

Collage Class #1

I'm taking a 10 week collage class. Creativity and glue all in one spot! Yes!

To make sure I don't ditch class, I'm going to post my little projectos here just for the fun of it. The first assignment was to make a few playing card sized pieces with a pile of stuff our instructor threw on the table. Here are my two favorites...help me name them!

NEWS FLASH: Austin is rad!

I know it's been said a million times, but Austin actually lives up to it's reputation as being super cool, a little weird, and a lot awesome.

Just got back from a trip to see my brothers, Andy and Eddie, who live there. My sister, Gloria, also made a weekend cameo. I love my siblings (there are two more...but we'll talk about them another time)!

Anyway, highlights of the weekend included:
- dinner and drinks on 4th street (old mans version of the more famous 6th street)
- a hike to (name unknown to me) river with the pups, Rocco and Sadie
- a family BBQ at my aunt's place...with birthday cake! yum
- AUSTIN CITY LIMITS MUSIC FESTIVAL (ACL) - saw some awesome bands...including Bloc Party, Ziggy Marley and Bob Dylan.

Check out the evidence of fun:

Photographers are cool...

My friend, Jay, is a rock star, for one.

For more cool photography, check out Jon Huck's work:

Breakfast - I like it 'cause it's happy and bright.

Couples - It's witty.

KIVA.org

Kiva.org allows people to make $25 loans to low-income entrepreneurs in the developing world (microfinance). By doing this, we can help provide affordable working capital for the poor (money to buy a sewing machine, livestock, etc.), empowering them to earn their way out of poverty. I first learned about this organization on a PBS program a year ago. Here is some info on a business:


There are not very many open projects to fund right now due to a lot of recent publicity by Bill Clinton - in his new book Giving and by Oprah. Definitely take a look at some of the funded projects around the world.

Try this fun thing with your own words...

my (first and middle) name has never looked cooler:

Down in the West Texas town of El Paso...

Just took a trip to El Paso for my nephew's Fifth birthday party. Bobby is a huge fan of sports! So, he had a sports themed party where everyone was asked to dress up as sports fan or player. Here are some pics from the party and more from my trip. Highlights also included getting to go to Bobby's first day of school to deliver b-day cupcakes and playing games with them in the backyard.

Just spent the week at Pinecrest Lake near Yosemite...and had a blast!

Here's the evidence:

Anyone who knows me, knows I love pop culture.

But anyone who pays attention to that stuff will quickly be annoyed by things. Fake celebrity endorsements, the new "it" club/hairstyle/legwarmer. These people feel the same way: The Hater (It's part of The Onion, which is always funny. But you know that already. Try to keep up!)

Recent postings include:
Rush Hour: It's Funny Because It's True
and
Things I Learned From Watching The Hills

In need of more pop culture and missed taping that last episode of Mission: Man Band ? Go to Television Without Pity for funny recaps on shows and forums from other Tivo obsessives. Don't go looking for people talking about the media's impact on the war or something. It's light and it's usually funny.

Bored with mass-produced stuff?
I came across this website where people buy and sell handmade stuff. It's rad. Here is a little slice of some things I saw on the site that I think are cool.

I like to read.

My buddy Nikole introduced me to this site where you can trade books with other book-type-people. I posted a bunch of books that were collecting dust on my shelves, and now I'm getting books practically for free. (The only cost is postage when I send out the book using media mail).

Try it out...
PaperBackSwap.

Another cool site for readers:
Goodreads.
It's a fun site to keep track of your book reading (trust me, I'm not the only freak that does this!) and get book reviews. You can also have friends and see what they have read, what they are reading, what they like to read. I have two friends and need more. Be my friend!