dot & dash designs

Hello Old Friend, It's Been Too Long

2010-04-22T20:15:00.000-07:00

Being the daughter of intelligent and awesome people I grew up listening to NPR on the radio. "Fresh Air with Terry Gross", "All Things Considered", and occasionally "Car Talk" were all programs whose sound I easily recognized and could listen to, even if the content was usually way over my head. I still know that NPR is fantastic radio but I haven't been able to actually find it in either of the cars I drive now. (You can't actually read the numbers on one of the cars, so that makes it rather difficult.) But my problem has been solved!

I am the proud and addicted owner of the amazing Droid Eris, which I maintain is an iPhone with a much cheaper app library, and way better cell reception. There is an NPR app for the Droid which allows you to see the programs that have aired, including blurbs about their content, and then you can listen straight away or add it to a playlist for listening to later. Seriously, it's perfect. As I was driving home from my internship at a non-profit the other day I saw an article called "Non-profits Find Social Media Presents New Challenges", ironically this was the topic of the meeting I had just been in. As I made my way through traffic on the 405 I listened to the article, and felt more informed on the topic. Today I sifted through the "All Songs Considered" program and added a bunch to my playlist, so as I played video games and did stuff around the house I got to listen to some awesome new music from various bands, as well as a cool program were Jonsi played DJ and had some Iron Maiden, Billie Holiday, Audrey Hepburn and Django Reinhardt.

So if you have a Droid you should DEFINITELY download the NPR app for listening to on the go, but I believe you can listen to all the programs on NPR.org, so head there for a good time.

Read: Reading Lolita In Tehran

2010-04-15T11:08:00.000-07:00

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books is by Azar Nafisi, who worked as a professor and writer in Tehran. Here are a few images that I found online that I feel really set the scene for the book:

   The books is set in Tehran, and is broken up into 4 section: Lolita, Gatsby, James, and Austen, if that gives you some idea of the literature covered in the book. (You may have noticed I did another Read Review of Lolita some time back, I decided to read Lolita before Reading Lolita in Tehran, and I'm glad I did, though it is by no means required.) I really enjoyed Reading Lolita In Tehran because I didn't know a lot about Iranian history, or the fact that before the shah Iran was more liberal and open, it's only in recent years that it's become so oppressive. The book covers a lot of the current history of Tehran, like the siege of the US embassy, the bombings of Tehran, the political power struggles, etc, as well as personal history like girls being jailed or arrested on the side of the street for wearing nail polish or having a strand of hair sticking out from under their head scarf. It gives you an honest idea of what living there, as a girl, is like.
   The book was also right up my alley because it's all focused around a book club and reading, which I'm sure you've figured out now, I love. The book was a bit difficult to get through at times, I found I could rarely read more than 25 pages in one sitting. I'm not sure if I was getting bored or found some of the topics a bit too intense. All in all I was glad I read the book.

   If you've read this post and want to read the book for yourself just leave a comment and I'll send you my copy of the book! Make sure your comment has some sort of link to your email so I can contact you for an address. I'm moving to another continent in July and need to seriously start purging my library. Just for the record I bought the book used at a street sale so it's no where near "new" in condition, but isn't that part of what makes books great? Wondering about their previous owners.... Ok maybe that's just me.

Photography: Get Back In Your Book

2010-04-07T10:25:00.000-07:00

This is probably the coolest Flickr set I've seen in awhile. It's by Lissy Elle, who is super talented, so you should check out their other stuff. This set is entitled Get Back In Your Book and as you can see from the pictures below it shows people from books literally coming out of the book. Of course my favorite is the Harry Potter one, but they're all awesome. And it incorporates reading, so I'm always a fan.

Harry Potter

Sleeping Beauty

Alice in Wonderland

Peter Pan

Enjoy. :) And happy Wednesday!

Wedding: Gorgeous Nature-y Napa

2010-04-06T19:08:00.000-07:00

I saw this beautiful wedding on the blog Style Me Pretty. She has two posts on this wedding here and here, take a look! The wedding was held in Napa Valley in close-to-my-heart Northern California, and had an excellent balance of outdoorsiness as well as classic beauty. The pictures below seriously do not do the wedding justice (I can't make them any bigger, huge bummer), so be sure to check out the links above for the real deal.

(all the pictures are from Style Me Pretty)

I love that picture in this last grouping where he's kissing her on the forehead afterwords. So adorable.

Have a good night. :)

Inspirational Photo Friday: Easter

2010-04-02T00:38:00.000-07:00

I'm up in Northern California for Easter, so here are some pictures to get in the spirit!

I've always loved eggs that look like this! From weheartit.

My silver nest necklace!

Cutest coats ever! From weheartit

Adorabley decorated eggs! Picture from weheartit.

Cute little hand puppets! Picture from weheartit, originally an etsy thing that I can't find on etsy anymore!

Dying eggs! from weheartit

These Handblown Nest Bell Jars from William Sonoma

Hodge Podge of Stuff!

2010-04-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

I've had a lovely few days off. First there was Santa Barbara, and then there was staying with the lovely Paris girls in San Diego. A very great time was had by all. Here are two pictures from the hike we did:

This is Tangerine Falls!

This is a bit of a modge podge entry, just a bunch of stuff I wanted to share. Here's a video that shows the creepy similarities in drawing and movement of some Disney movies, suggesting that they just reused the basics and drew over things I think. It's interesting to watch, and that french song is awesome, I wonder what it is!

I'm a big fan of this concept for eco-friendly packaging for Coke. You can read all about the project here on the Packaging World Blog. It's a design project by a gentleman, and not actually being implemented by Coke (unfortunately). I'm actually doing a project on Coke right now and one of my suggestions for opportunities they could pursue was being more eco-friendly.

And one more amazing pic to share with you:

That picture is simply beautiful! I love the teal/pale aquamarine vases, and the wood table... I just want it in my house! As well as a well lit window with white curtains like the one in the picture, I could go for that for sure. But this image was found on the adorable Tumblr called "Elizabethtown" which has some great little findings, and has a special place in my heart now because of Elizabeths penchant for all things Harry Potter. (You should check out her Hogwarts houses polyvore post, super cute.)

Read: Franny and Zooey

2010-03-30T01:34:00.000-07:00

Franny and Zooey is J.D. Salinger's third book, published in 1961 but set in 1955. The book focuses on two of the Glass children, Franny and Zooey. Franny is 20 years old and undergoing a breakdown fueled by spiritual unsureness, while Zooey is 25 and jaded beyond belief. All of the Glass children were radio stars in their youth, with Zooey being especially charismatic, which may have lead to his future career as an actor. Due to their unique education by their older siblings, both Zooey and Franny have issues socializing and view most other people as benighted.
Below are a few pictures, some capture the essence of the main characters and others artistically show things from the book.

Franny to a tee! via The Thinking Tank.

Epitome of Zooey via The Thinking Tank.

Franny via Culturazzi.

Franny Asleep, infamous Zooey quote via BookRule.

I really enjoyed the book. It's not a plot driven story, more conversational and cerebral, which could be slightly dry at times, but the characters and dialogue were interesting. It's the story of a spiritual journey, but also relationships with family members. Here are my two favorite quotes:

"An artist's only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms, not anyone else's."

"It's everybody, I mean. Everything everybody does is so--I don't know--not wrong, or even mean, or even stupid, necessarily. But just so tiny and meaningless--and sad-making. And the worst part is, if you go bohemian or something crazy like that, you're conforming just as much as everybody else, only in a different way." The book made me want to be super well read, smoke like a pro, and dress like a Royal Tenenbaum. I highly recommend the book.

The book made me want to be super well read, smoke like a pro, and dress like a Royal Tenenbaum. I highly recommend the book.

Paris, Je T'Aime

2010-03-29T12:50:00.000-07:00

I'm off to spend 4 glorious days with 3 other lovely ladies who I haven't seen since we parted ways at our apartment at 22 Rue Lomblardi, Paris.
Ahh, Je manque cette appartement and ca ville. Et aussi, je mangue l'abilite de parle francais, parce que je suis tres mauvais maintenant.

Vintage Book Computer Case

2010-03-29T01:29:00.000-07:00

Like the new template? Blogger in Draft has a great new template maker, which I believe makes it look much more professional. You can actually edit all the colors. This template originally had a cream background and the accent color was olive green, and I changed it to pale blue with a few darker blue low lights.

I saw this FABULOUS laptop case through a blog (cup of jo perhaps? I never remember...). It's a hardcase so it protects the computer really well, and is extremely well disguised as a cool old book, so if you leave it in your car for a few minutes it doesn't instantly say "I'm worth over $1,500!!". They run for about $80 for the laptop my size, so I'll be holding off on this purchase for a long long time, but it goes on my "wish list" for now!

I just got back from a fantastic 4 days in Santa Barbara with my boyfriend, going to a fun bar, watching the original Star Trek movies, hanging out with hilarious and intelligent SB people, eating amazing breakfast burritos, and doing an awesome hike.
I'm looking forward to seeing some amazing girls who I haven't seen since our Paris Ete 2007!

Recipe: Banana and Chocolate Chip Upside Down Cake

2010-03-24T21:19:00.000-07:00

So I've made this recipe TWICE in the last week, and let me tell you, it's a big hit.
Here's what you need to know:
* It's bananas and chocolate, the best combo in the world (tied with strawberries and chocolate of course).
* It's low fat!

It's called Banana and Chocolate Chip Upside Down Cake and it was created by David Lebovitz, and that link is to his amazing blog. He lives in Paris, which makes him extra cool.

The prep time takes awhile (or maybe I'm just really slow...), but I found it took about an hour to get it in the oven. And the first step about using either water or butter with the brown sugar? DEFINITELY use water!! I used butter the first and water the second, the first time was pretty much total fail, whereas the water actually made the brown sugar spread out and make this amazing melted sugar layer, it was perfect.

(all pictures are from the blog of David Lebovitz)

You should most assuredly try this recipe at home, it is delish!
That's all for now, I have lots and lots of work and homework to do!

Photos of a Drive

2010-03-22T23:38:00.000-07:00

I mentioned awhile ago that I would upload my pictures from when I drove up I-5 to attend jury duty. The drive was absolutely beautiful, it had rained the day before so the air was super clear, and it seriously looked like Middle Earth in parts of it. At one point there was a herd of cows meandering over to this pasture, I later saw sheep and even donkeys on the drive back! (I obviously passed horses in Gilroy area but by then it was too dark to see.) Either way it reminded me a bit of Scotland but with less sheep and an automatic vehicle. So nice. Unfortunately I didn't charge my camera battery for the drive down and it couldn't take any pictures. Although if you ever do the drive I recommend stopping at the Starbucks at Kettleman City, definitely the most "coffee-shop" feeling Starbucks I've ever been to {ie. big plush chairs, a wall of different, ornately framed mirrors}. So the pics are a bit blurry because I was, you know... driving about 70mph while taking them, my apologies.

Inspirational Photo Friday : Balloons of Color

2010-03-19T17:53:00.000-07:00

Today's inspirations photo friday post is all about bright colors with a little bit of whimsy. Sorry the formatting is all weird, Blogger was going CRAZY with the photos, I'm lucky to have them all on here! I love the image of the couple with their tandem bike, how completely adorable is that? I wish I could master the bike-riding while wearing a skirt thing, so classy! Anyways, enjoy the pictures, I have a house to clean for our soiree this evening!

All the pictures are from weheartit

Have an amazing weekend!

Awesome Screensaver!

2010-03-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

So I was perusing over Design*Sponge today and saw a cute little before and after of these people who redid this desk area and a shelving unit. They took both pieces from total 70's drab to modern (with a slight throwback) fab. Here's the before and after of the desk, just so you have an idea: (The shelving unit redo was way better in my opinion, check out that second link to see it.)

But you want to know what I took away from these pictures? "That is a fantastic screensaver!" (I wasn't really feeling the hexagonal drawer pulls...) Sure enough I wasn't the only person who thought so! Buried in the comments for the post was both someone asking about it, and someone telling us where we could find it! I love when that happens. :) I quickly scurried over, downloaded it, and then spent awhile figuring out if I was doing it wrong and if it would work on my mac. Luckily it does and I eventually realized what I was doing wrong! Now I have a darling screensaver whenever I neglect my computer for a few minutes.Here's an image of what the clock looks like, see the little AM and PM that move? and the tiles really flip over, it's pretty cool. Here's the link to the website, and it's the one on the far left, "FLIQLO".

ENJOY!

Interior Decorating : Brooklyn Brownstone

2010-03-17T14:45:00.000-07:00

Picture 1, with my favorites!

Design Sponge has an amazing house tour of this couple with a brownstone in Brooklyn. The first time I went through the pictures I thought the house was much bigger than it actually is, I only just realized that the sitting room and kitchen and dining room are pretty much the same room! But you want to know my three favorite things about this house, which you can actually see in the first picture...?
1. That amazing built-in bookshelf in the dining room that displays not just books but mirrors and rocks and stuff. So neat! And the fact that it's white makes everything really stand out!
2. That guest loft with the ladder above the dining room, but also the fact that the ladder can be used for the bookshelves right next door! So crafty.
3. Those lights that are facing the kitchen area that were rescued off a ship in India. Really cool looking.

This picture on the left gives another great look at that amazing bookshelf! See the track for the ladder, as well as the museum-like display of masks? Really creative. That dining room table is really neat too, I think the husband made it. He's a woodworker and made a lot of the wooden objects in the house, like the 4 posters of their bed in the picture below! I also love that big mirror propped against the wall in their room, as well as that phenomenal original fireplace in their room!

The picture on the left is a sitting room that doubles as even MORE guest sleeping quarters if need be. See those "couches" with all the pillows? They're actually mattresses! (Glad to know we aren't the only ones who do that!) But the real reason I included this picture, aside from their adorable puppy, is that I LOVE those tables that are tree trunks, seriously, super fantastic. Of course the husband made the tables, as well as the legs for the mattresses, and those wooden things in the window.
That's it for the house tour, if you want to see more pictures visit the Design Sponge post, it's amazing.

Judging books by their covers

2010-03-16T23:53:00.000-07:00

I admit it, I'm completely guilty of judging books by their covers. It really isn't the authors fault if the cover artist makes a boring cover, so I know I shouldn't, but I've always been drawn to neat covers. Which is why the New York Times Book Design Review Blog was a dream come true, until they stopped posting. Luckily there are 5 years of posts to satiate me for awhile. Check it out, you won't regret it.

But what spawned this topic was the fact that I saw this cover on the blog OKGreat and I just had to mention it because its one of my favorite books ever. The book is "The Raw Shark Texts" by Steven Hall, and it's completely unique and visual and just amazing. (People sometimes compare it to Mark Z. Danielewski's "House of Leaves". There are similarities, but HoL is much much creepier and scary whereas this ((despite the creepy cover)) is more adventure story.)

Either way I thought this cover design by Jesse Walker was pretty cool. Notice how when it's open it becomes like the full typewriter? Pretty cool.... Also if you look at the picture below when you open the book you see what looks like a photo negative of the typewriter, right? Apparently for every chapter in the book the author Steven Hall has "negatives" of the chapters available to the world. I haven't read any yet, but it seems as if they're supplements, things you don't know from the book. Some are on the internet, and not all of them have been found yet, but that could be why the artist chose the negative image. And how cool is that? That there's even more to the book than the book! Like a treasure hunt! But it also reminded me that I really want to reread the Raw Shark Texts so I can do a review of it on here. (I last read it Summer 2007. I bought it at an English bookstore on Rue de Rivoli, read it on the Chunnel to London, on the train to Brighton, back on the train from Brighton to London which was like 4 times longer than necessary because of "flooding on the tracks in New Crichton", and then while waiting for my bf to arrive from Italy while at our hostel in London. So it took 2 travel days to read. The day I finished was also the day the Deathly Hallows came out at midnight in England. While I was reading it on the Chunnel I met a charming man who was German, living in Paris, but going to London to interview for a job at Burberry. I always wondered if he got the job. I hope he did, he seemed like a great guy. Sorry that was the longest aside... Needless to say I haven't read it in over 2 1/2 years and want to!)

Musical Musings 1

2010-03-16T18:29:00.000-07:00

(picture from weheartit. aren't they adorable?)

I love music, like... a lot. So I thought I might share with you some new music that I've found and enjoy greatly. This song is a free download that is available through the amazing Said The Gramophone for a short time. If you click the link it will play in your iTunes, or you can right click and save it to your desktop and keep it forevers!
So this is Troubles Will Be Gone by The Tallest Man on Earth. TTMoE (it's easier this way...) also does a song I love called "A Field of Birds". It's rather folky and Bob Dylan-ish, which is surprising because he's Finnish or something. Either way give the song a whirl, I think it's fantastic.

The rest of the downloads are from the blog Music For Ants, which you should definitely add to your blog reader because they consistently have awesome music and great downloads.

The first song is by Jónsi, who was in Sigur Ros, another freaking amazing band. Unfortunately Sigur Ros are on permanent hiatus, which is such a loss for the music world. If you're interested check out their song Gobbledigook. LOVE IT.
But the free download is called Go Do by Jónsi. (Once again click link to hear it, or right click to save it.) If you go to Music For Ants they also have another Jónsi song called Tornados.

Another great band discovered from Music For Ants is Local Natives. Music For Ants compares them a bit to Fleet Foxes (who I love) but with more spontanaity. Gotta love that. Here is a download to their song Wide Eyes, but there's also a download on Music for Ants of their cover of The Talkings Heads' Warning Sign, which is amazing.

So thats a rundown of some of the awesome free downloads of new/rising bands available right now in the blogosphere. (Keep in mind that sometimes artists contact the blogs asking for them to remove the songs, and the blogs usually remove them after a certain time period anyways, so those links will only be good for a short time!)

In other music news I'm still blasting Cloud Cult, Mountaingoats, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Andrew Bird like it's going to save my life. The other band, which I believe I heard of through Music for Ants (big surprise, huh?) almost a year ago is Slow Club, who are amazing. Here's a vid just to prove it: (yeah I just pulled out Battle School slang... top that.)

I hope my fellow Californians enjoyed their deliciously warm weather today (85 degrees F in MARCH!), I'm looking forward to day 3 of this heat wave tomorrow!
Have a lovely evening.

Read: Le Petit Prince

2010-03-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

Ok so I read it in English so it should rightly be "The Little Prince" but it sounds so much better to say "le peu-ti praaaance". I've owed you this book review for months now. I finished it on Jan. 17 for heaven's sake! [Book Review Update: I've also finished "Reading Lolita in Tehran" "The Stranger" and "Franny and Zooey" since then... so more book reviews to come!]

But Le Petit Prince is a classic, it's one of the highest selling books (80 million--I just checked wikipedia) of all time! The story is told from the perspective of an aviator who has crashed in the desert. Though it switches from first to third person, which is a bit odd. I was surprised that the story was told from an adults perspective, as I had assumed it was from the perspective of the prince himself. How wrong I was. The story revolves mainly around the aviator trying to get the little prince to tell him his story, which is difficult as the prince does not like answering questions. Saint-Exupery, the author, was actually an aviator himself and he and a friend crashed in the Sahara one time. They had 1 days worth of liquid, which they ran through in a day, and by the third day they stopped sweating entirely because their bodies had no more liquid. Supposedly on the fourth day a Bedouin traveler found them and administered some sort of native rehydration trick that saved their lives. Many think that the story of the The Little Prince was drawn from this experience. (My source on that is wikipedia, which I think in this case can be trusted.)

The story of the little prince contains profound insights into life, which are mainly told in the story through the fox. He says at one point that "It is the time you have spent with your rose that makes your rose so important." It isn't the financial worth of something that makes it important, it's the amount of time you spend on or with something or someone. The fox also utters these famous lines (en francais, because bien sur, I am just that pretentious.)

(picture is from weheartit)

Which translates to "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye." That is an excellent view, one that of course appeals to children, but also adults who want to let them heart guide them in their endeavors. I fully believe that as well, that the most important things in life: love, happiness, and friendship cannot be seen, but only felt.

The Little Prince is a childrens book, but I believe that adults can get the most out of it, as they are more likely to pause to think about the words and the underlying meaning of the book than children are.

Isn't the watercoloring on that copy absolutely stunning?? I'm not sure which language this version is, Korean?. Photo credit is weheartit.

Click the photos for credits.

That image of the book is the book I have, I think I got it at a used bookstore somewhere, I don't quite remember. It's hardcover and has the pictures, but they're only in black & white. Whereas my french copy has color photos, but I can't understand most of it. C'est domage! I actually read a bit of Le Petit Prince in highschool french class, and totally did not understand it. I think it was the fact that the flower talks, so I assumed I was confused and there was another character there besides the flower. Foreign languages are so confusing...
But that's my review of Le Petit Prince, I recommend everyone go read it immediately! It's a very fast read and a charming little story. :)

Wedding: Eunice & Daniel

2010-03-14T19:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been MIA for the past week. I went up to beautiful Northern California for jury duty, and for some reason could not get on the wireless at my parents house. But I'm back, and in action!
Once I get the pics on my computer I'll post them, but the 6 hour/383 mile drive was absolutely beautiful. Because of all the rain there was grass where everything is usually dead. I saw sheep, and cows, and donkeys. It looked a lot like Scotland meets Middle Earth in some of the really hilly areas. Needless to say I was bummed I had to drive the whole time and couldn't capture my surroundings in all their glory. (And as you'll see from the pics when I finally get them up, I attempted to capture, but they're all a bit blurry. C'est domage.) The one time I stopped for gas on the drive up I actually tried to go on this dirt road I'd seen from the highway to get some cool mountain shots, but there were all these scary signs about it being a private road so I left.

I really want to share this amazingly beautiful and FUN looking wedding with you. It's the wedding of Eunice & Daniel and it's got this awesome circus vibe to it, without seeming cheesy. Like more carnavale than circus I guess. I've seen posts of it on multiple blogs, but I recommend reading the entry on 100layercake to get the whole story and more pictures. It's absolutely gorgeous! (ps: All my pics are from 100layercake.) The whole wedding paraded over to the wedding site with those awesome cut up animals on sticks, there were parasols provided to help keep the sun off, and at the reception after there were crowns and a cool drink called "marital bliss". All in all it just seems like a SUPER fun time, which is what a wedding should be: a fun celebration of the joy that is the love two people have for each other, as well as the love of their family and friends.

That's all the photos I'll post, but there are more on 100layercake, and TONS on marthastewart, I recommend checking both out, this wedding is just fantastic.
Have a good Sunday night. :)

Inspirational Photo Saturday : Gypies

2010-03-06T21:30:00.000-08:00

I've always been intrigued by gypsies. I've always thought a nomadic lifestyle was very romantic (how naive of me, I know...), but the myths and legends that surround gypsies have captivated me as well. Tales of fortune telling, magical powers, their oneness with nature and deep family ties: it all pulls my heartstrings. They gypsies that surround Notre Dame in Paris begging for money have tarnished my magical persona of gypsies, but only a bit.

These pictures are an ode to gypsies and the nomadic lifestyle: living in caravans, riding horses, and of course catching lightening bugs for light at night. (I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I really want to see a lightening bug sometime in my life!)

I have to make a long drive tomorrow so maybe this was what brought this on... either way I think the pictures are beautiful.

(all photos are from weheartit)

I hope everyone is having a great weekend! I'll be a slave to the I-5 tomorrow, trying deperately to not get pulled over.
Have a good day. :)

Site: Craft Gawker

2010-03-04T21:39:00.000-08:00

Craftgawker is a site where people can submit photos with a link attached. It's generally used for etsy sellers to advertise their wares, or photobloggers, or designing people. It's very aesthetically pleasing to look at, and they're very picky about what they choose to put up, so pictures stay on the front page for about a day. It's a great way to show off what you have, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the only people who go to the site, are those who are submitting things, so they aren't really looking to buy. Although I could be wrong.

Now I've submitted 5 things to craftgawker so far (that picture on the right is of my latest submission) and so for 4 of them have been denied, and I'm really just waiting on the 5th denial in a few days. It's usually for reasons like my photo is blurry or washed out or something. I use a super nice SLR camera to take my pics so I really don't think they're blurry, but craftgawker just doesn't like them. So finger's crossed this latest one gets in! (Although I'm not really holding my breath.) But the site is a lot of fun to go and peruse around and see lots of pretty stuff. They also have two sister sites weddinggawker and foodgawker, which I'm sure are lots of fun as well. Have a great evening, and I'll be back tomorrow with some inspirational photos!

Tree Lover Wedding Invite

2010-03-03T07:58:00.000-08:00

How super cute is that wedding invitation, eh?

It was designed by Burning House of San Francisco for a wedding in the redwoods! (Sidenote: I miss the redwoods.) I love the ingenuity! They didn't want all the information to be overwhelming, so you only see little bits at a time. Pure Genius! For more info on it here's their website, where you can also see it super close up. Although note the line at the bottom about how this was a one time personal thing, but they are open to discussing similar ideas.

And just for the record I saw this through weddinggawker, which is a pretty sweet sister site of the awesome craftgawker.

New Banner!

2010-03-02T14:35:00.000-08:00

Isn't it lovely? I put my photoshop skills to work on that one. Lots of layers, and blending of layers and merging of layers.... I'm quite proud. All the new jewelry I've added to the shop has had a solid color background, so I though it was time to add some color to the banner as well. It's not quite as bright as I was hoping for but I liked the way it turned out.

I finished "Reading Lolita in Tehran" last week, so now I've moved onto "Franny and Zooey" by the late, great J.D. Salinger. It's actually my first Salinger. (I know! *GASP* You're probably thinking "how did she make it through life sans Salinger??" Can't tel you how, but I did. Don't worry though, I'm making up for it now.) Next will either be "Catcher in the Rye" or "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", not quite sure. But I'm loving the ride.

Now to actually do some Photoshop homework...

(photo from weheartit)

March-ing along.

2010-03-01T01:31:00.000-08:00

Happy March. :) Pardon the pun in the title. I almost wrote March Hair and did a post on how I wish I had long hair again and could do all those lovely long braids like in the fashion shows. Sigh... if only I hadn't chopped it all off.

BUT... I saw this picture on the right here on Apartment Therapy awhile ago, and vowed to do it when I need to decorate a wall. (And when my boyfriend isn't living with me, because I already checked--he doesn't approve.)

But doesn't it look cool?? Maybe in real life it would look hokey, I'm not sure yet... It's just fake flowers taped to a wall, but I love the color, the variety, and the three dimensionality of it.

If I ever do it I'll post pictures.

In recent news I really want to do a drive up the coast, and visit Washington and Oregon. I want to go to Seattle, and Portland, and Eugene, and all those cool Northwest areas. I think it would be fun. The picture on the right totally inspires me. The dampness, the mist, the water. It just seems so quiet. I want to go there.

I searched "Sydney" on weheartit and found this really cool picture though. Isn't that neat! I'll have to find that zoo-like place when I get there.

So excited.

Have a great day.

Mary Mary Quite Contrary....

2010-02-26T22:27:00.000-08:00

(picture from weheartit)

I mentioned a few days ago that I was hoping to plant my tulips on Monday. Well I was able to plant them and they seem to be flourishing! (Despite the slightly gloomy and drizzly days we had.) I took some pictures of them today, so I hope you enjoy!

Aren't they lovely? It's ironic, I very much enjoy rigid-type flowers, like tulips and daffodils and such. But I still think my favorite flower is a peonies. I should really do more research on flowers, they're so interesting.

In other news I've been watching Emma on Masterpiece Theatre, it's absolutely lovely. You can watch it all online here, until March 9. I can't wait for the BBC or Masterpiece Theatre to remake all the Harry Potter films, and have them actually coincide with the books.

Inspirational Photo Friday : Butterflies & Flowers & Beauty, oh my!

2010-02-26T16:26:00.000-08:00

Today's inspirational photos all come from the lovely pages of "L'archives d'une couple amoreux" (sidebar: didn't know what tumblr was til now! I'd heard of it but I think I always associated it with flickr. oops!) It's a bit like weheartit because I've seen pics on the site that I recognize from The Cherry Blossom Girl and other sites. But they have a lovely collection. I actually found the site because I saw this illustration to the right on weheartit, and wanted to know where it was from.

So here are the beautiful photos I handpicked off their site.

All the butterfly ones remind me of "Bright Star", which I just watched the other day. So lovely! Oh to live in the English countryside and catch beautiful butterflies all day long.

These are poesy's right? They're absolutely beautiful.

Je manque Paris beaucoup.

So that's it for now, have an enchanting weekend!

Music: Michael Franti & Spearhead

2010-02-24T15:54:00.000-08:00

I heard this song on the radio today and as soon as I got home looked it up because it was so much fun to listen to.

It's called "Say Hey (I love you)" and its by Michael Franti & Spearhead. I'm not sure if it's a remake because it was very familiar to me. Either way, it has great rhythm and seems like a perfect summer song to dance to. I love the Jamaican sounds, as well as the beats which remind me a bit of Black Eyed Peas.

If you want to listen to other songs of their new album "All Rebel Rockers" just go here, or go to Amazon and buy it for only $10!

Teal Etsy Finds

2010-02-21T09:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's inspirational photos all based around teal and aquamarine got me searching for more. And in doing so I've come up with a few Etsy finds for you!

1."Royal Typewriter" by Nan Lawson
2."Peacock Blue Chalcedony and Sterling Earrings" by twig and clover
3."Turquoise and Brown Frayed Rosette Headband" by YellowBlackBird
4."Blue Hydrangea, Original Watercolor Painting" By lauratrevey
5. "Very Pretty long Chocolate Brown and Teal Tutu Skirt for Toddlers and Little Girls .By I luv u tutu much boutique as featured by Parents Magazine" by ILuvUTutuMuch
I hope everyone had a lovely weekend! Hopefully I will be able to plant my tulip bulbs tomorrow, finger's crossed!

Inspirational Photo Saturday : Mermaid's Cove

2010-02-20T19:45:00.000-08:00

Todays photos are inspired by a conversation my boyfriend and I had about what sort of crayon would we make and what would we call it. I decided on a blue hue found in some of these photos and wanted to call it mermaid's lagoon, or mermaid's cove, and something... Also inspired by photos I've seen recently of the Great Barrier Reef, and beaches in my future home, SYDNEY, Australia! Enjoy. :)

all photos are from weheartit.

2010-02-19T15:08:00.000-08:00

How beautiful is this room?

I love the use of wooden wine cases as tables. I have one that I snagged from my parents, but it's just holding all my craft supplies. I was going to drill holes in it and put it on the back of my bike, but I wanted to wait for the rainy winter to pass, and now my crafts have moved in, and I'm moving in 4 months, so I don't really think it's worth it anymore. But as a little table for a cake stand, I could do that! I wonder if I could weasel any more out of my parents next time I'm in town. When I lived on Catalina Island we used to use all those plastic milk crates from the general store for EVERYTHING. Side tables in our rooms, bookcases, chairs, tables, you name it we used a crate as it. (Remember I mentioned I was going to use the wooden wine box for the back of my bike... guess what's actually there now... a plastic milk crate.) Well that picture is from Cut Magazine, although I can't find where. (My German is sort of... non-existent. It is German on that site right?) I saw it through Cup of Jo.

And here is an absolutely STUNNING purse (pictured left). For you know, way more money than I have. It's by Nancy Bird, and they have tons of other gorgeous purses. I

could spend a fortune there!

And the whole reason I started this post

was to tell you that I

have some new pieces hitting the Etsy store in the coming days. These necklaces were all inspired by The Secret Garden, which is evidenced in the darling vintaged brass key. I hope you like them!

Rainbow of Baker's Twine

2010-02-18T20:23:00.000-08:00

You know baker's twine? That lovely red and white twine that bakeries wrap around a nice big box of cupcakes of cookies?
Of course there are plenty of other uses for it, here is one that I thought was adorable:

+

all of those above photos come from Style Notes, a blog which is a new addition to my blog reader as of... now.

So needless to say Baker's Twine is lovely, and a beautiful addition to just about anything, be they a box of sweets or a save the date. I recently bought myself by own Baker's Twine but in the most mouth watering color of teal ever. It makes me want to dive into a well temperatured pool and frolic around for a bit. My beautiful twine is from the company Divine Twine, which also has Orange (reminds me of a cream-cicle! also mouth-watering....), Green Apple, Licorice, and Lemon (see picture). I'm thinking about getting myself some Green Apple. Each roll has 240 yards! Definitely worth way more than the $15 they're charging. I love it!

I made a care package for a friend who moved to Colorado, and it gave me a chance to break out my baker's twine, which I though paired very nicely with the brown packaging paper I have. The vintagey looking labels went nicely too I thought, though my child-like Sharpie writing sort of takes away from the whole thing.

Have a great day!

Blog: Mrs. Lilien

2010-02-17T21:06:00.000-08:00

I found the adorable blog Mrs. Lilien through Style Notes, another great blog. Each post is stylized for a personality or preference. Each outfit is perfectfly picked out, it is really quite impressive. Examples: Mrs. Downtown, Mrs. Uptown, and my personal favorite, Mrs. In Wonderland, which can also be seen below.

How completely Alice-y is that robin's egg blue dress? And those rose high heels are beautiful. I love it.

Love : Elk Accessories

2010-02-17T18:50:00.000-08:00

I saw Elk Accessories through some blog somewhere on the ether (sorry don't remember which!), and quickly scurried over to check out the rest of their goods. And they do not disappoint! They have purses, and shirts, and hats, and necklaces, and earrings ,and brooches, and more! It's lovely. So all their necklaces are superb, if I posted a few pictures of them I would end up posting them all, and that is just far too many. So I recommend that you too scurry on over to their site and check them out for yourselves. But here are two luscious leather pieces to make your mouth water until then... Enjoy. :)

Come thou font of every personality.

2010-02-16T20:21:00.000-08:00

The lovely blog Somethings Hiding In Here turned me on to this darling little quiz made by the folks at Pentagram. Apparently they researched the topic for 7 years before finally developing a simple, 4 question quiz to determine what is your font. Mine is Perpetua Tilting light, which I like very much, though if you look at all the options there are lots of very lovely ones that I would like to download for myself! More research on that later.... So let me know, which font is yours??

card making!

2010-02-11T10:14:00.000-08:00

I mentioned earlier that I made some cards for friends out of cut up paper, a la this guy, using an x-acto knife, a cutting board, colored paper, and lots of creativity. And here are the end results:

A birthday card for a lovely birthday girl.

This was just a hello card to my friend living in Colorado right now. There's a little envelope on the string connecting our locations, and it can move along the string.
This one probably turned out the coolest, which is ironic because I didn't really think it through at all and it just turned out cool. It's a get well card for a friend who we wanted to send flowers too, but they were all just too expensive. I think that this as an even better alternative.
Have a great day!

Inspirational Photo Friday : Snowed In

2010-02-05T13:30:00.000-08:00

Todays photography inspiration is all snowed in. A phenomena I have never myself experienced (though I hoped for it all the time the winter I lived in DC). But it's raining again here, once again proving Albert Hammond incorrect. But for those of you experience so called "Snowmaggedon" or "Snowpocalypse 2010" or whatever it is on the East Coast, here are some images to remind you that the snow is beautiful, blanketing the world in a down comforter of crystallized water. (It's easy for me to say this because I'm not the one who has to trudge through it to work, or drive in it.)

{ all photos from weheartit }

It did actually snow once where I grew up in Northern California. Keep in mind where I lived was close to San Francisco, we aren't talking like Yosemite Northern California, where snow isn't as rare. Here's the only proof I have:
Dot & I in our Santa hats, and me in my LL Bean (or maybe Lands End) Christmas fleecy on the deck, with snowflakes coming down! (Which of course melted soon after landing...) but it still counts!

Of shoes and ships and sealing wax,

2010-01-30T22:14:00.001-08:00

Of cabbages and kings.
That lovely line from Alice has almost nothing to do with this post, but whenever I think of a random hodgepodge of things, I recall that line from that poem. I really want to read Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland. I've started it countless times but always get distracted. I have my dad's Annotated Alice which not only has the text but in the margins has commentary on the text which helps explains certain things that I don't understand because I'm not an 11 year old British girl in mid 1800's. I highly recommend it.

One of my necklaces was featured in this Treasury, which is super cute and themed around the number 3! Check it out. :) It'll only be up until Sunday, so that link will be dead soon, SORRY!

Yesterday I took a leaf out of supercoolspyclub guys book and made some cards out of cut paper. Mind you I had to go get my self a small X-Acto Knife and a board to cut on. (In hindsight, my plastic cutting boards from the kitchen probably would have worked fine. C'est la via!) They're pretty much amazing. I will post pictures when I'm officiously done with them.

And I've decided that I NEED these shoes from Nordstrom. I've been looking for men's shoes for women for months now, but they always end up looking like my old tap shoes. Not these ones! Unfortunately they're back ordered until Feb. 10th. C'est domage. But someday they will be mine. Here they are:

See that link about shoes and ships and sealing wax wasn't COMPLETELY off the wall. (For the record I always thought it was ceiling wax, that is until I looked it up.)

Sorry I haven't updated, for some reason Blogger wasn't working forever and then I realized that it was just in Firefox, so I'm using Chrome now, sans probleme! I probably just need to clear my cache or cookies or something. For another time.

I realized tonight there is a fine line between being well-read and being pretentious, and I hope never to cross into the pretentious-ness area. It's just not fun to be around.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend and is getting ready to say goodbye to January!

Blog: Check My Shelf

2010-01-26T13:01:00.000-08:00

I love peeking into other people's lives. I guess in that respect I'm a terrible snoop, but I can't help LOVING overhearing snippets of conversation, or glancing through windows with the blinds only half drawn. It's in these private moments that you really see people. You see the basic-ness of human existence. That despite the wars, and religious conflict, and ideological battles that make up the news and our daily lives, we're all just the same. We want to love and be loved, to read, watch, relax, and enjoy life.

With this in mind I love the new blog that's popped up recently Check My Shelf, where people send in a picture of a shelf and a little about them. And I love this blog not because I'm featured on today's post (which is rather exciting I think!), but because this really is a look into other people's lives. The books or shoes or fabric samples they have, the way they organize it, it all intrigues me. I love Mila's Shelf, it's so well organized and bright and clean and welcoming! I just want to lay in bed all day with a cup of tea and READ.

Which reminds me, this would make a great edition to any room, in any house, but especially a room with a great bookcase chockablock full of great books.

It's the READ recycled wood sign available from the charming Etsy shop of WilliamDohman. He also has great variations on the READ sign that say things like LOVE, ADORE, GROW, THINK, LIQUOR, you know, the usual. :)

Anyways, here is a lovely song that sometimes gives me chills if I listen intently to all the words.
It has a great message of peace and all that good stuff, check it out.

Win a Handmade Pillow!

2010-01-25T13:40:00.000-08:00

So the amazing blog "oh, hello friend" has weekly giveaways, and this one is so sweet I had to pass it on to you!

It's for a $40 gift certificate for the lovely Etsy shop Olive. (That gift certificate is enough to get you 2 pillows from the 20 and under section!) All you have to do is go to Olive's Etsy shop, find your favorite item, and then comment on the oh, hello friend blog entry with what your favorite item from the shop is. Danni will pick a winner in 1 week, and it could be you!
Best of luck!
-Dash
ps: I highly recommend adding "oh, hello friend" to your blog reader, it's fantastic!

Art : supercoolspyclub

2010-01-24T12:48:00.000-08:00

So I saw supercoolspyclub's awesome artwork through the blog "Share Some Candy". Supercoolspyclub is the work of talented art school graduate Jared Andrew Schorr. Not only can he draw, but he also makes REALLY neat pieces of art based on cut paper. Like this sweet "Mix Tape" to the right. Going through his work I wanted to post all of them, because they are so cool. Alas I could not so here are just a few for your enjoyment.

That last one is actually a picture from his Etsy of a super cute paper cut of Love Bugs! Such a great idea. I love how their feelers come together to make a heart. It comes in a shadow frame and everything. Also on his Etsy you can buy that cute little lady with the bird in her hair, and it's a pocket mirror! Oh so handy. I'm really thinking about getting it...
If Etsy isn't your thing be sure to check out his website www.jaredandrewschorr.com to see just how supremely talented he is.
That's all for now! I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend.

livin on espresso shots

2010-01-21T20:26:00.000-08:00

So I didn't have coffee for an entire week when boyfriend and I started doing this crazy workout. I was doing really well. But now I've fallen off the wagon.

I've had coffee everyday for the past three days. Whoops. I can't resist the bitter flavor of espresso as it slowly gets diluted by the milk, it's just too good.

So coffee, here's to you. You've bested me for now, but I'll be back with stronger forces soon, (so you should feel free to be prepared with even stronger espresso. Trust me, I'm a worth adversary.)

Good luck to all in their own personal battles, they're difficult but we shall overcome. (Or we might get defeated, but then at least we can enjoy the sweet, warm, yummy taste of defeat.)

Decorating with Typography

2010-01-20T20:25:00.000-08:00

So decorating our house has been happening slowly but surely, resulting in an amalgamation of furniture from my parents, grandparents, IKEA, and assorted things we've all picked up over the years. (Like the 100 lb. television Dot and I bought off Craigs List. Definitely buyers remorse on that one...) There isn't much of a theme to the house, although people always say our house feels very homey.

But I ran across these photos on the blog Design is Mine. And they make me want to redesign every room of the house, even the bathroom.

I love the way the letters (or numbers) used can sometimes help define a room (like the SOAP one), or just provide a creative montage to accent a wall (like all those letters behind the desk). Either way if I ever run across a bunch of letters, I may have to buy them purely because these pictures totally inspire me. And it kinda reminds me of those fridge magnet letters. I always thought those were really cool. So I hope that those lovely design images got your inner interior decorator neurons firing.

Music: Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

2010-01-18T21:27:00.000-08:00

This song makes me so happy. And I love the crazy hippie revival feel of the band. They look like they're from the 70's but they're modern!

Check is out, it's "Home" by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros.

"Ooh Home, Let me go Ho-o-ome, Home is wherever I'm with you."

how to: help Haiti

2010-01-18T13:17:00.000-08:00

how to : Help Haiti

This seems like a rather silly "how to", but I spent HOURS researching this and wanted to share the information I'd learned, to help others (possibly) help in the best, and most meaningful way possible.

To me the best non-profit and or aid organizations are the ones that maximize the amount of money people donate. So if you donate $1 to the org, the more money that goes to helping people the better, right? I'm sure I'm not alone in this. As such I used charitywatch.com to double check what I'd found, as well as checking up on the websites of the organizations. They usually say how much out of every dollar actually goes to help people, the other part of course going to cover staff and rent and advertising and other such businessy things. So here are my top two org's for donating to:

The American Red Cross

The Red Cross gives 92% of all the money donated to them straight into their programs, and sending their doctors and nurses and whatnot around the world to help people. That's the highest figure I've found so far. They've also been around forever and have a solid infrastructure that seems to get things done in a great way. They get an A- from Charity Watch, but because such a high percentage goes to the programs, they've made my list.

The International Medical Corps

The IMC not only gets an A+ from Charity Watch, but 92% of the money people donate to them goes to programs to help people. And they're all doctors so they are extremely helpful!

The third org, Oxfam, is more of my pet non-profit, the one that I would LOVE to work for someday. I recommend them for day to day donating to help people, although they do have lots of staff working in Haiti right now. (Unfortunately one of their staff members was actually killed in the earthquake.) They have this really cool program called Oxfam Unwrapped where you buy something (like a cow, or a child's school uniform, or books, or a well for a town) and Oxfam makes sure it happens, but they send a card to the person who you bought it in the name of, and the card says what was sent, and you can personalize it. That's a bit confusing but it's a really neat program. My sister and I bought school uniforms for children in honor of my mom for her birthday last year. She said it was the best gift we've ever given her. I would recommend donating to them because they provide shelter and water, and put on programs to support literacy, and are an all around awesome non-profit. ALTHOUGH, I haven't been able to find out what percent of donations actually go to programs, which makes me wary.

Other ways to help:
+  Comment on this entry of the amazing blog "oh, hello friend"!!  For every comment on the entry (up until Jan. 22nd) the blog owner will donate $1 to World Vision.  Super easy way to help, and a very generous thing of her to do.

+ Here's also a cool way you can help Haiti, while getting yourself something nice. Etsy has a list going called "Handmade for Haiti", and it's all the sellers that are donating a portion of their profits to non-profits working in Haiti right now. I think it's a great idea and I recommend looking at some of the stuff.

That is my take on the best way to help Haiti right now.
A lot of people want to donate clothes or toiletries, which would be very useful, but getting things out to Haiti is very difficult right now. I looked around A LOT for ways to send clothes and things but couldn't find anything, so for now that isn't really an option. Although if anyone sees anything on that please let me know, I'm very interested!

Read: The Lovely Bones

2010-01-17T13:29:00.001-08:00

So I finished The Lovely Bones a few days ago (well actually almost a week at this point).

I absolutely LOVED the book. I could barely put it down. One of the most striking aspects of the book, at least to me, are the descriptions author Alice Sebold uses. [sidebar: Alice Sebold graduated from UC Irvine! That makes me very proud of my Alma Mater!] Where any run of the mill writer would say "the eggs which we dyed", Sebold says "the eggs which we had dunked in dye" (that's actually not a direct quote, just a from memory quote, so it could be slightly off. The word was either dunked or submerged, now I'm not positive). But somehow that description struck me as unique. It's the same concept, dyeing an egg is essentially submerging/dunking it in dye, but I felt like I had never seen it described like that. And that is just one example that stuck in my mind, though the book is littered with other examples. Also, that is only one facet of the novel, but it's the one I found most appealing, and most distinctive about the book.

The plot is a unique one as well. Despite the fact that the commercial for the new movie makes it seem as if it's just about solving the mystery of the main characters death (which happens in the first chapter, and is talked about on the back of the book, so I didn't give anything away), it's also a story about a family and a small town coming to terms with the death of their daughter, their sister, their friend. And while part of this "coming to terms" is trying to solve the mystery, it's also a glance at the coping mechanisms of individuals, family dynamics, and friendship. The writing and the story is unique, extraordinary, and sometimes funny, while other times heartbreaking. There really is no other way for me to say, other than I absolutely loved it.

PS: I finished The Little Prince today, and even though it is really short I'm counting it as my book for the week, as Reading Lolita in Tehran is taking much longer than I thought. So that will be my next book entry! Thanks for reading Amy! :)

An Ode to Books & Bookstores (in pictures.)

2010-01-12T23:40:00.000-08:00

I actually tried to write a poem, but these skills escape me. So instead i will use images to convey the beauty that is books, and bookstores.
{{I wish I could be a wandering gypsy. Travel in a caravan with my love and all our books. We would live off our wages: he would fix or build things for people using his amazing engineering brain, and I would make jewelry and headbands and pretty things to sell to people. We could trade books with people we met along the way, spreading knowledge and a love of literature everywhere we went. And we would see the world. The caravan could also be traded for a river boat so we could live in the Seine or the Rhine. What a beautiful and simple life.}}
The above picture is from my favorite bookstore on earth: Shakespeare & Company in Paris. I took classes at La Sorbonne literally right around the corner, but somehow missed this gem until about a week before I was leaving. They have a little bed upstairs (pictured below) where they, as I understand it, let writers stay. When I was there I sat on the bed and leafed through an old kipling book with a charmingly chubby cat sitting next to me. I actually have a book "Time Was Soft There" by one of the authors who did that, about his time there. It's in my "to read" pile. But this place is tiny, and crammed with books, and just FEELS like home to a bibliophile like myself.

This is the first thing you encounter upon entering Shakespeare & Co. Isn't it beautiful! BOOKS, EVERYWHERE!

The above picture is like my dream room. But maybe with a king sized bed. But I love all the natural light and the books everywhere! This image and the next 3 are all from weheartit.

The above picture is the Livrario Lello, in Portugal. Isn't it beautiful! It begs quiet and probably smells like wood polish and books. I want to go there.

The Black Spot Books (etsy)

Beautiful abandoned library house. This image and the one following are from weheartit.

Reading is such a beautiful thing. I love getting lost in words and worlds. So far I've read a book every week of the new year. I finished Lolita on January 5 (see previous post), and I just finished The Lovely Bones yesterday afternoon (January 11). Don't worry a post will be coming up on that one too. Now I'm diving head-first into Reading Lolita In Tehran (the whole reason I picked up Lolita in the first place). I also have a Border's date with Dot tomorrow, so that may yield yet another book to add to the growing stack of "to read" books.

love it: vintage suitcase table

2010-01-12T16:06:00.001-08:00

Using a vintage hardcase suitcase as a side table is great, but not terribly inspired. This on the other hand, blew me away:(apartment therapy)

It's such a statement piece! The thick wood with the crazy colored suitcases patchworked together underneath. Simply amazing. I want it. Or I want to make one just like it.

Here are some from Etsy to get me rolling... (if I had the money, that is.) So enjoy!

By swankysatchel (etsy)

By Vintagemimosette (etsy)

By LePinkChandalier (etsy)

By Newfriend (etsy)

+3

2010-01-10T13:23:00.000-08:00

Happy 3 Year Anniversary my love.

Read: Lolita

2010-01-05T18:03:00.000-08:00

So I finished Lolita (by Vladimir Nabokov) last night. I posted recently about the books I was reading, and that's the first one done for now! I'm working on The Lovely Bones now. (I'm 26% done according to Kindle.)

I really liked the book. I see why it was banned and is still rather controversial. Lolita is a like no one I think I have ever met. It's hard to put into words (mostly because I'm distracted by watching LOTR right now...).

It's creepy at times, because you think what you read, and you're reading about this man lusting for this young girl. But it's highly psychological and you begin to understand the spell he is under. While it is only one-sided I believe, Humbert's love for Lolita is truly beautiful. He loves her, is obsessed with her, would do anything for her. It is creepy, but it's also sweet how he finds beauty in her smallest movement, in the smell of her on the sheets, how he memorizes the way she moves her tennis strokes and her face as she practices acting.

I am glad I read it, and look forward to reading "Reading Lolita in Tehran", I hope they talk about Lolita a bit. And of course I recommend it, if you can take the slight perviness of falling headfirst into the mind of a certified pedophile.

Oh yeah I was image searching "Lolita" on weheartit.com and people have this odd impression that Lolita is extremely gothic. I do not know where they got this from. In my mind she was all gingham and bubblegum and short skirts and knobby knees and hollywood magazines. And those heart sunglasses are apparently her signature piece from the movie, or so I gather. I've added the Jeremy Irons version to my Netflix for viewing eventually, it sounds like it was very faithful to the book.

both photos are from weheartit.com

Beautiful Music Video!

2010-01-05T17:12:00.000-08:00

I haven't seen a music video this neat looking in a very long time. The song is "Lucky" by All India Sound, but the music video was made by the Australian company "Dee Pee Studios", who are (as evidenced by the following video), geniuses.

The picture on the side is just a small taste, watch it for yourself!

This is the best I've been able to do, my sister left the shutter on her camera open for as long as she could figure out how to, and the chubby heart is lit by a light up frisbee. :) Photo cred is obviously Dot.

2010

2010-01-01T14:08:00.000-08:00

I hope the world had a lovely Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

I took most of the month of December off from the online. I went to Mexico for a week, stayed with my family in beautiful Northern California for a week where I had a lovely Christmas, and spent a week post Christmas with my boyfriend in Santa Barbara. It was a fantastic break from real life.
Now I am back in Southern California, we've started a small business we call "Bundles of Books" wherein we sell our old textbooks. I highly recommend it, it's profitable and will make moving slightly easier!
There were a lot things last year that I kept saying "I'll wait until after the holidays" to do, so now I need to get on it!

So here's to 2010. Drink up. :)

Zooey Deschanel

2009-12-07T09:52:00.000-08:00

Zooey Deschanel

I've always liked Zooey Deschanel. She's pretty much the only thing I remember from Failure to Launch, she seriously stole the show. (Not that Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Mconahaugh {good lord how DO you spell that man's name???} put on much of a show.)

She plays a lot of instruments and records music with M. Ward, under the name She & Him, and she is married to Ben Freaking Gibbard! Oh yeah and she is in a jazz cabaret. Which is pretty much the coolest thing ever.

I still haven't seen (500) Days of Summer, which everyone keeps raving about, but she is adorable and a fabulous actress in everything else I've seen her in. (I highly recommend Tin Man, it's awesome.) She encapsulates the quirky, intelligent, beautiful, vintage-clad girl every girl on earth seems to want to be, including myself.

all photos are from weheartit

Currently Reading:

2009-12-05T13:23:00.000-08:00

These lovely books:
So far I like it, the writing style is really fluid and lyrical. I am thoroughly engrossed to say the least. It's very psychological at times. In this way it reminds me of Crime & Punishment (and not just because the author is Russian).

I actually started reading this one before Lolita but decided to read Lolita first. I may decide to try and read all the books that this little Iranian book club read before I read the book, I'm not sure yet. Lolita seemed like a prerequisite at the very least.

My boyfriends mom gave this book to me, as she grew up in Alice Springs, AU. It seems really interesting so far. When I googled the book to find the cover for this post I found out it's a movie as well. After I finish I may try and rent it.

Started this over the summer but let it fall to the wayside behind Paulo Coelho' s "The Witch of Portobello" and Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere", amongst other books. Will get back to it someday so I can complete the Ender Saga. I think I'm feeling the Classics (or books that are considered "literature" at least) because I'm not bogged down with school reading. When I was in school reading boring textbooks all the time I needed a good science fiction escape, but now I want to learn as much as I can, because I'm not getting the intellectual stimulation I'm used to.
Interesting.
Signed,
A once and always bibliophile

Inspirational Photo Friday

2009-12-04T18:21:00.000-08:00

Yet another friday! Goodness this week just flew by.
So last night friend and boyfriend and sister and I all did Tarot cards. Well more like tarot cards that believe in god and seek their power from angels. It's a long story.
But one of the cards I drew said to "Spend More Time Outdoors", which is perfect because I've been aching for some good forest time. (Though I can't find any good forests in the heart of Orange County. Sad Day.) But as such the theme of these photos are forests and greenery and the good ol great outdoors.
Enjoy. :)

Happy December!

2009-12-01T10:38:00.000-08:00

Here's to fires in the fireplace, my moms hot applecran cider, pea coats and scarves, and holiday cheer.
:)

And now to start playing Sufjan's "Songs For Christmas" like it's going to save my soul.

Inspirational Photo Friday

2009-11-27T15:42:00.000-08:00

That last image totally reminds me of The Magnetic Fields music video for "Crazy For You"... it's pretty cool looking, check it out:

All of the above pictures are from weheartit. The second to last picture is of course Alix aka thecherryblossomgirl, one of the few blogs on my blog reader that I actually check religiously. (The others being of course xkcd, postsecret, and that's probably it...)

This little collection of photos encapsulates so many wonderful things... the holidays, the great outdoors, snuggling up in bed to read a good book, and of course the lovely smell of clean sheets. :)

Anyways, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and todays Black Friday in no way resulted in any shopping-related deaths.
A tout a l'heure!

Inspirational Photo Friday

2009-11-20T17:31:00.000-08:00

All images are from weheartit.com

It's holiday dresses and reading sanctuaries, and holiday lights, and green fields, and moss covered bridges, and all around perfection. A little bit fairy tale, a little bit holiday, and a lot of nature. Just something to inspire. :)
ps: has anyone ever seen fireflies in real life??? It's one of the things on my list of things to do in my lifetime... Someday. And in other news I applied to a grad school in Australia today!

Location Love: Yosemite

2009-11-19T18:05:00.000-08:00

I LOVE Yosemite. I can't help it. It's nostalgic for me. My family has been going to Yosemite in fall/winter for about a week for as long as I can remember. Staying at the Lodge, walking to the lower falls, biking around the valley floor, skating at the outdoor rink, it's all so familiar and amazing. And I miss it. I didn't go this year, I couldn't go last year, and frankly I need a big ol dose of Yosemite. So here are some pictures to tide me over...

all photos from weheartit

Isn't it simply enchanting? So many lush trees! And clear skies! I think this might be what heaven looks like... My family always goes for the Vintner's Holidays, which are super cool if you're really into wine. They have the wine makers come and they do tastings and give talks about the wine... I went to a cool one 2 years ago where they paired Mumm champagne with sushi. It was a dream come true.

Seriously though, SoCal is killing me. I need some trees and forests. Stat.

Free Thanksgiving Image Download!

2009-11-19T09:30:00.000-08:00

So my darling sister works at a museum, and brought home a bunch of neat autumn/thanksgiving scrapbooking paper, that was left over from a childrens craft they had over the weekend. (Ps: shameless plug, if you live in orange county you should check out OCMA's Target Sunday's, they have tons of stuff for families to do, and free admission!) But so she brought the stuff home and I started playing with it and ended up taking pictures and finishing the scrapbooking via Photoshop. (isn't technology amazing?) The results are now viewable on the etsy and website!

Here are the same pictures as above, but without all the dot&dash stuff on it! For your own use, whatever it may be:

Just click the picture for the big downloadable version!

Apartment Polaroids

2009-11-18T22:53:00.001-08:00

We moved in to a new apartment in October, and we've been having fun putting things up, filling the space, and basically making it a home. Below are a few pictures of it so far...

Everything looks better in Polaroid format. Even the rainbow of our bathroom towels!

In other news it's finally getting a bit chilly. So excited for pea coat weather! And my new flannel shirt! Winter is amazing. Confession: It's not even Thanksgiving and I've already started listening to Sufjan Steven's christmas cd. Last year Christmas passed and I felt I didn't get to listen to it enough, so I'm starting early. :)

That's all for now! Have a great day.

Eco-Friendly Home

2009-11-10T21:06:00.000-08:00

I realized recently that I love eco-friendly houses. This dawned on me as I watched The Ballad of Jack and Rose and realized I really really really wanted their house. Unfortunately I couldn't find any pictures online of the house from the movie. (Seriously odd, coolest house ever, and the movie sort of highlighted it, I don't know why I can't find more online.) The movie is rather interesting. Camilla Bella gets her hair cut like mine in it, which was kinda sweet.

But the point was, in my search I found another SUPER COOL eco-friendly house that this couple with 2 kids (a toddler and an infant) built in the woodlands of Wales. For even more information here's a link to their website. And check out the "similar buildings" link, for even more eco-friendly house goodness! With 2,000 pounds a very little other collateral they built the house in four months! So amazing.
Here are the beautiful pictures:

Someday I will have to resolve my inner conflict between living in the woods in an eco-friendly house and my fear of living in the woods, and my love of cities.

Love: Stacking Rings

2009-11-09T22:52:00.000-08:00

I am borderline obsessed with stacking rings. Perhaps because these are one of the things in the world of jewelry that I simply cannot make for myself. (I've looked in to it... I would need so many supplies and a workspace and such that it's just not feasible right now.) As such rings are one of the things I covet most when looking at other peoples shops. Here are some of the beauties I've found on Etsy. I hope you will find them as amazing as I do.

By Meetalls:

Colorful Rings - $36

Set of Three Wave Rings - $36

These by singleBbeautiful:

Pebble Stack-Recycled Silver - $198

Reycled Silver Textured Ring Squared - $20 (per single ring)

And this last one I actually own. It's brilliant, I always get tons of complements when I wear it. It's made by Pauper's Bounty.

Skinny Sterling Silver Forget Me Knot Bow-Tie Ring - $10

That last one isn't a typical stacking ring, but I think it would look lovely sandwiched between to thin sterling silver bands. Just a thought.

Anyways, there are some beautiful things for you. Enjoy. :)

Avatar / Tree of Life Necklace

2009-11-07T18:22:00.000-08:00

Do you know what I'm super excited for? The Avatar: The Last Airbender necklace I made today!

This was indefinitely inspired by the fact that Stefan and I have watched all of season 2 and 3 in the last few weeks.

The tree is a tree of life, and the gemstones represent the 4 elements. Light blue = air, dark blue = water, green = earth, red = fire.

Any avatar fan knows that these are also the four nations on the show. But at the most basic level the necklace is a reminder about the earth, and keeping the delicate balance of nature. (That happens to also be the theme of the show.) Another interesting point: trees require water, create air, grown in the earth, and feed fire. Kind of unrelated but still interesting. Anyways, I really like this necklace. I have one more tree charm and want to make another one with the same gems, but in a different style. Still working on it.

Off to go hang out with the amazing AUTUMN!

New Stuff!

2009-11-01T15:01:00.000-08:00

I've spent the last few days making a bunch of stuff which I'm really excited for! Seeee.....

And a few other things not pictured!

I learned to make little birds nests, which are really cute. I'm going to try to get my hands on more sparrows to add to the bird nests. Here's a close-up of the birds nest:

I have to edit and crop the photos and get them up!
I hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween.
-Edith

Wild Thing

2009-10-27T11:56:00.000-07:00

So Halloween is this Saturday. I don't really have anything planned, but despite this I have a costume idea: Max from Where The Wild Things Are! (Which is a beautiful film by the way... although the plot is a bit slow.) I already have super short boy hair anyways!

I told my mom this and being the amazing woman she is she told me to get a pattern and she'd see what she could do. Unfortunately I couldn't find a pattern online and got distracted with other things and am not home anymore so there goes THAT plan... But nonetheless, when it comes to dream Halloween costumes for '09, mine is Max.

jewelry launch

2009-10-20T23:18:00.000-07:00

We launched the dotanddashdesigns website about a week ago. The website was an accidental by-product of the web design class I'm currently taking. This is perfect though, because wanting to make the website better will help me further improve my web design skills. The idea to try selling the jewelry I make came to me about six months ago, as a goal to set for myself after I got back from Catalina. I worked on a lot of pieces over the summer, and came back with enough items to start with.

We're selling the items through our Etsy page, and so far we're doing better than I ever thought possible! (Thank you to the friends who bought things!)

I'm excited to make a lot more jewelry and put them up as soon as possible! I'm having fun making things that I find beautiful, and finding out that other people like them too.

This blog is to keep thing updated on what's happening with dotanddashdesigns, as well as other random things.

Have a lovely day,
Edith