polar 500

So, this is my 500th post.  I knew it was coming, and I was actually going to do something sort of special for it, but then I saw this video.  And I thought, what are my silly little blog posts compared to the pure awesomeness that exists in nature?

keeping up with the boneses

If you weren't already convinced of my frequently dark sense of humor, I'm going to seal the deal.  I adore this set of wall decals from Threadless by Blik.  It's called "Keeping Up With The Boneses," and I think it is perfect.

tower o' trikes

trike art in mt pleasant, originally uploaded by ustreetgirl.

I spent Sunday morning out on a photo shoot in southern VA with shutterbug Marley, and we saw a house with an old brass bed frame painted bright pink sitting in its yard. My friend Catherine saw this fantastic piece of lawn art in front of a house in Mt. Pleasant. Using junk to make lawn art has the potential to looks trashy, but when it's done well?  Hell, yes.

new collections search center

Forgive me for a minute, I'm going to be a nerd.  The Smithsonian museums, while all connected at the root, are each very separate entities.  Well, now you can search the collections of all of them, all at once.  The magnitude of that is frankly staggering.  The search center currently contains 2.3 million records, and has got a lot more growing to do, yet.  Way to go, Smithsonian!  I am proud of you.

carissa gallo

I was looking at photos from a friend's wedding on facebook, and I was struck by the aged, dreamy nature of them.  A little detective work turn up the photographer's name--Carissa Gallo.  She's a local, in the D.C. area, and I just love her photos.  Here are some shots from her portfolio.

 

 

 

 Also great: her diptych project with another photographer, Beth Altrogge.  It's called two.

Love it.

TOMS love

I was doing my semi-regular scroll through the TOMS website today and came across lots of new things to love.

Madrina TOMS

Cobalt Blue Suede TOMS (the half of my genes which hail from Memphis are going "hell, YES" to these)

 

Maestra Botas: these are the newest flavor of TOMS, and they're all-weather.  I didn't like them at first, but seeing what they look like on folks has changed my mind.  They also have them in this kind of awesome plaid print, but those are fleece-lined, which is way too much insulation for my tootsies.

Most importantly, of course, is that purchasing any pair of these means you've also purchased a pair for a child in need.

vintage travel posters

Check out these fantastic mid-century travel posters.  If they still made 'em like this, I don't think I'd be able to stop myself from traveling everywhere ever.  The above two were made by Jean David in the 1950s (love that whale!).  Credits for the rest are at the bottom of the post.

Finland: design by Erik Bruun in 1958.
Poland: design by Wiktor Gorka in 1961.
Africa: by Gerard van de Voort in 1975.

via John Allison

spooky woodcuts

I know that Halloween is long over and done with, but there's no time limit on spooky, right?  Especially when it distracts me from having Christmas shoved down my throat weeks before Thanksgiving (and boy howdy, is that ever a rant that's brewing).  These are wood engravings (a particular weakness of mine) by Ram Rischmann for a 1947 French edition of Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe.  Man, I love those creepy trees.

From A Journey Round My Skull, which is a new blog on me, found by Adam.  Adam mostly fills my Google Reader with incomprehensible economics and Web 2.0 jargon, but every once in awhile surprises me with something I can actually understand.  Is it sad that ol' crazy eyes up there gets me excited where modern technology leaves me cold?  You tell me.  Also: more trees!

ps: does anyone know anything about this Rischmann character? All I seem to be turning up is links to these very prints, but surely he did other things.

she has opinions

leilani talks from Kelly Williams on Vimeo.

So, within the last six months or so, my dog has discovered what we call her "talking voice." It started out as something she would use if she was stuck in a part of the house away from us, but has developed into her way of saying PAY ATTENTION TO ME. I've been trying to capture it on camera, and today I finally succeeded. This is a rather short outburst, she's been known to talk at me like this for much longer. Sorry for the camera quality, I was trying to be stealthy.

tv panacea

My week got off to a rocky start, but all I can say is thank God for borrowed "How I Met Your Mother" dvds.