AOTD: Velveteria

Did you know there's a Velvet Paintings museum in Oregon? I saw this on Bourdain and lost my mind. {Velveteria: the museum of velvet paintings}

Craft: Amigurimi, is it called?

Kinda dumb but really cute. I'm a sucker. {get the set on Etsy}

Neighborhood *Bling*

Cute! If you have excessive amounts of money to throw around.
{J.Davis Studio Etsy Store}

BYOP

Just some pics of the fantastic works of fine art created at my pumpkin carving party. {Ta-da!}

Spacious

Some day I will have a kitchen the size of Gweneth Paltrow's.
{GP's pad in House & Garden}

doughnut voodoo

I can't stop blogging about bacon. Intervention! Breakfast at my place tomorrow, people. I want a bacon maple bar so bad right now.
{voodoo doughnuts}

AOTD: Lollipops

Cartoon drawings of famous rock stars by illustrator Craig Robinson. Mouse over to see who they are. Same guy who did those yahoo music commercials, which were kinda cool. {lollipops}

Bah!

Kangaroo salt & pepper shakers from Uplifting Arts. They're located in West Seattle and have some really cute stuff. {Kangaroo S&P}

cutest vases ever

{three potato four}

AOTD: Entoptic Phenomena

Amazing Flickr Set from photographer William Hundley who gets people to jump underneath sheets and fabrics and catches them in mid-air. {Entoptic Phenomena set}

It's Wednesday

Has everyone seen "Into the Wild" already? I was excited when they had a scene with the real artist who build Salvation Mountain which I blogged about a while ago. I would be a hippie for a day just to go see it. But only for a day.

Brussles Sprouts grow like this. I never knew that. They're really cute. I want a brussels sprouts plant.

I guess some hospitals in Seattle are noticing a "baby boomlet", happening about 9 months after the massive power outage in seattle. Haha.

Only cool if bored

Ping Pond! {pixelsumo}




















Burger dress?
{joy kampia}

















Personal moon? Russian designers are making this oversized "personal moon" lamp. Ok.

Free Font

Cool Halloween-ey skull font! Perhaps a good design option for my BYOP party this saturday? {skull-a-day}

Bad to Hot

How-to for ugo cabinets. From Day Lab DIY.

6 yr old piano prodigy

I'm stealing this one too along with Vacuum Kid, and we're takin' that show on the road! Her little fingers can't even go fast enough to play - so cute!

Edith: My new hero

"density for density's sake isn't good for a city, not when it doesn't allow for diversity too. Luxury condos and fitness clubs are far less interesting than an old woman who speaks seven languages and ran away to join the war effort as a teenager, a woman who raised 27 war orphans and was maybe a spy. I know that I'm old fashioned, but I'd much rather hear about touring with 1950's big band leaders than the newest thing out of Microsoft" - metroblogging

{article about Edith in the PI}

AOTD: secret mall apt

Artists, at it again, building secret mall apartments. {boing boing}

Fan Favorite

I'm going to go ahead and say that Slave to the Brine was definitely the unofficial fan favorite at the Red Bull Soapbox Race Saturday. Nothing says passion quite like yellow fringe and gold sequins. You can check out the teams on Red Bull's site, read The Seattle Times article, and/or view my photoset from the day, here.

Clinton Global Initiative

52 Ways to Improve the World.

Clinton was on Martha the other day talking about his Global Initiative. I like that it puts more responsibility on people in positions of power and wealth, and motivates them by directing them to places they should support that can really make a lot of change.

AOTD: Ayo Kato

Crazy work from Japanese artist, Ayo Kato. Cool desktops perhaps.

AOTD: Brian Dettmer: Book Autopsies

Holy crap!

Brian Dettmer's carvings in books.

AOTD: Russian's Modernist Treasures

If I lived in NY I would totally go to this:
Working to Save Russia’s Modernist Treasures
On Sept. 28 and 29, the Museum of Modern Art will hold a symposium in conjunction with the exhibition “Lost Vanguard: Soviet Modernist Architecture, 1922-32” to discuss efforts to preserve Russia’s long-neglected 20th-century masterpieces.
{Moma.org/thinkmodern for more info.}

More than meets the eye

If I ever felt too nerdy for watching Martha Stewart or liking crafts or whatever, I can just watch this video:

AOTD: Grant Hamilton

I am totally freaking out over this photographer. And I hardly ever freak out over photography. I tried to pair down the links, but Grant Hamilton's flickr page is just too full of fantastic images. Have a wade through, if you've got the time. His images are actually exciting and different. I feel like his photos look like how I remember things.

Soberfest! Not.

See!!??!! I'm not the only one who thought the "beer-less food areas and food-less beer gardens" was poor event design at Oktoberfest. I'm over it. Glad I went one last time but I don't need to again unless it's in Germany.

Moving Day

So we moved my baby sister up to Western today. I was super sad but also totally excited for her. She's a big kid now :)

City stuff and AOTD

AOTD: Will Pearson's panoramic photography in London.












Animated history of the NY Subway. {via neatorama}

AOTD: Berlin Guide

Berlin Guide. Great images from a photographer traveling in Berlin.
{via Lost At E Minor}

What is Success?, for designers. From AIGA Voice, by Ellen Lupton.

something to do

Are you people bored? Here you go. Birthday Facts!

I was born in the Egyptian month of Menchir, am 9, 766 days old, Eddie Vedder has my bday, and "Rock With You" by MJ was one of the top songs that year. Which is awesome because that is totes on eof my fav songs THIS year. Yeah, it'll be on the end-of-the-year cd.

Fascinating!

pumpkin madnesss!

All from Martha, of course.

Pretty cool

Palette Generator will link to pics in your online photo library and generate a color palette for your images - pretty cool if you do web design or are just color 'tarded and are scrapbooking or whatevs.

Halloween Costume

Someone should be this.

Tips n' stuff

"How to Sleep on a Plane"....when I go to DC in October to visit MY BOYFRIEND I'll have a red-eye lasting 5+ hours...According to their research, alcohol actually prevents sleep. I've been doing this all wrong!

Top Ten Gmail Features from The Google Blog. GAWD I love google.

Global View

Go Rick Steves. That guy is crazy!

Cupcakes

Yo Megan: check out these really awesome "high hat" cupcakes from the book, Cupcakes!. Martha has a pretty boring demonstration video of it on her site. But it really showcases how crazy and totally square she is.
All hail Martha.

Slogan: "because everything should taste like bacon"

Really awesome.

Or you could just get this
bacon scarf.

New and Old Goals

Not waiting for New Years on this one. Some old goals and new ones...
1. Be outside more.
2. Replenish savings.
3. Open Roth IRA.
4. Cook more.
5. Frame art purchases, finally.
6. Ride my bike to work.
7. Organize all my crap that's in the basement.
8. Learn squash and golf.
9. Swap netflix for tivo (obv the most important one)

Pasta with leeks, peas and pecorino

I found this recipe in Real Simple in their "easy dinners" section. Followed their recipe almost exactly except nixed the mint in favor of basil. And if I make it again I would add some white wine. I've also posted this on my new Recipe Blog!














1 pound dry round or short pasta
2-3 basil leaves, chopped
1/2 cup white wine
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 leeks (white and light green parts only), thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 10-ounce package frozen peas, thawed
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup (4 ounces) grated Pecorino
2 teaspoons lemon zest

Cook the pasta according to the package directions.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the leeks, season with the salt and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and peas and cook for 2 minutes more. Stir in the cream, white wine, basil, and 3/4 cup of the Pecorino. Simmer until the sauce has thickened slightly, about 4 minutes.

Drain the pasta and return it to pot. Add the sauce, lemon zest, and mint and toss. Divide the pasta among shallow bowls and sprinkle with the remaining Pecorino and pepper.

Family Tailgate '07

It was a good day. Props to my roommate for organizing a super duper tailgate. Props to Amanda for some awesome breakfast sandwiches. And, as per usual, Kristin and Phil, thank you for the purple and gold jello shots. I think the moms really liked them. {my pics from the tailgate}

World's 25 Weirdest Animals

Tapir's are badass. How bout that Angora Rabbit though? I like the Dumbo Octopus. {world's weirdest}

Self help. Yay

"4 Simple Things You Can Do to Boost Emotional Engergy". I need to work on the "something big and new" on my agenda.

Any day now I'm going to ride my bike to work. {how to ride to work}

More fun stuff...moving on from a friendship breakup.

Gorgeous stuff

Beautiful home decor products from Graham & Greene. Still out of my price range. *Sigh* {via decor8}

Ballard Closeout

Sad. But not necessarily true, IMO.

Photoshop

Ok, now I can't let this one go. Check out celebrity before and afters for magazine photos. Katherine Heigl's is particularly fascinating. I need to start photoshoping my pics more.
{iwanex studio}

Wow.

Just my luck, I would probably get "vacuum kid".

Best Mansion Ever

So, I remember having this super fantastic cardboard playhouse when I was little. Did you know they have new school awesome modern ones now? Also, yay for recyclable toys. {lula sapphire}