Apr 29th 2007 11:11:40 pm

I wish I had something something inspirational, something fabulous, to tell you… but this weekend has been lazy. lazy & easy. I worked on my research paper (chapter five – can you believe it?) on Friday after going to a presentation at school by Randy Cohen from Americans for the Arts. Actually, he was inspiring. I take back my first sentence. He gave us lots of reasons why arts are important to our country – the social and economic reasons. Then, I had a Saturday morning meeting with my research adviser, and he said I am on track and almost done! how sweet!

What else did I do this weekend? Hmmmm. Ate at Bagel Sphere, shopped at the Saturday Market and Passion Flower, watched Smokin’ Aces (wouldn’t really recommend it), stayed up late talking with my sweet husband, exercised twice, shopped at Ben Franklin Crafts, made a new matchbox for a new Swap-bot swap, packaged up some stuff to take to the post office, worked on home work, but didn’t finish (Sorry, Sarah. My paper will be done by tomorrow!), worked on some wedding invitations, but didn’t finish (Sorry, Amber and Aaron. I will have a prototype mailed out to you by Wednesday!), watched Super Size Me (would recommend it), and did laundry. whew. kind of boring. sorry. I hope to have a more exciting life in the future, but I’m not promising anything.

2 Comments » Categories: Just for Fun, School

Apr 24th 2007 06:14:21 pm

I haven’t done one of these round-ups in a while… I just like collecting little pictures of pretty things from around the internet. It is a fun distraction. Lately, I have been liking brighter colors. I really think that neon colors are coming back in style (scary, I know), and although I am not ready to go that far, I am branching out from my usual pastels.

Seen above, from top left:

• Kate Spade Riviera Straw Ava Clutch – if I had the luxury of buying a new bag for each season, I would definitely go with straw this summer!
• Paper Source Chartreuse Dots File Folders – I actually purchased one of these pretty file folder sets in the poppy color, but I am not sure exactly what I will do with them, yet.
• J.Crew Lucie d’Orsay high heels – I really love these shoes! They have such a great shape and they come in kick-butt colors.
• Anthropologie Glass Menagerie cups – I saw these on another blog and thought they were really cute.
• bobbi brown Lip Gloss Trio – I always can find something lovely on the bobbi brown website!
• Amy Butler fabric – I know I post about this fabric on a fairly regular basis, but I have been seeing it a lot more frequently lately, and it always makes me want to sew something.
• Elliot Pillow from Elsewares – I just thought he was cute and since I don’t have a real dog, maybe a pillow version would tide me over!

2 Comments » Categories: Just for Fun, Lovely Things

Apr 21st 2007 03:39:11 pm

yo! My April Sampler arrived yesterday, and to my joy and excitement It was a nice thick envelope with lots of goodies. (Although, I did get my third copy of the November 05 issue of Bust – I wish they would contribute a newer issue.) I managed to pick my favorites, like usual. Check them out:

• Chi Chi Fever embroidery pattern from Sublime Stitching. I have never seen any of Jenny Hart’s stuff in person, so I was super-excited to check out this sample pattern. I may even use it!
• A three note card set from ephemera stationery studio on textured paper with lovely stitched details.
• An Alice in Wonderland mirror with pouch from My Favorite mirror.
• The very cool Starlets of Craft calender made by the ladies from Indie Craft Experience in Atlanta. Oh, how I wish I was a starlet of craft!
• Maybe my very favorite, a little apple pin from Fred Flare promoting their Next Big Thing contest. So cute!
• And, last but not least, a cute 1″ button from bibliogrrl with a city scene. I just like it – simple and sweet.

3 Comments » Categories: Crafts

Apr 20th 2007 04:25:37 pm

Maybe it is because my cousin Pam, who I totally admired, used to send me stickers in her letters when I was younger. Or, maybe it is just because i am a bit immature, but I just cannot shake my love for stickers! I remember thinking when I was around nine years old that when I grew up I was going to cover an entire wall of my house with every imaginable type of sticker, and then coat the wall with protective lacquer so that it would last forever. I actually collected stickers as a child specifically for this purpose.

Unfortunately, my conservative, self-conscious adult sensibilities prevent me from following through with the sticker wall idea, but I can’t break the habit of buying cute stickers. Luckily, I have signed up for lots of sticker swaps on Swap-bot which gives me some sort of purpose for collecting so many stickers.

While shopping for stickers for the Sticker Sheet swap, I discovered EK Success stickers. I had never heard of this brand before, but they make the cutest stickers! Their sticker brand name is Sticko, and my favorite Sticko types are the Classic Sticko and Cathy B. Pictured above are Birdhouses, Summer Amusement, Summer Camp, and Cathy B. Pretty Paisley stickers. You can get these stickers online, but I have found them in lots of stores, including the UO Bookstore!

3 Comments » Categories: Cute Things

Apr 20th 2007 02:57:30 pm

Ok, I know that I was a little harsh on shells the other day. I do not take it back – something about shells being the dead exoskeletons of little invertebrate creatures (yes, I have been watching a lot of Planet Earth) still grosses me out – but I have to admit that I am not totally against the beach theme. Palm trees, hibiscus, and sandy beaches are all ok by me. Isn’t this Island Toile Bedding from Pottery Barn Kids cute?!

2 Comments » Categories: Home

Apr 18th 2007 09:02:25 pm

The shooting that happened at Virginia Tech is just too horrible to comprehend, especially as I was walking around my own college campus today. It is so sad, I don’t know what to say… It really is heart-breaking and the story of Professor Liviu Librescu makes me cry and cry.

But really I am writing because I just heard two infuriating comments about the incident on Fox News. (I know, I shouldn’t even be watching that channel!) First, some psychologist on the Glenn Beck show said that the shooting happened because children today don’t have values and that college-aged kids are the “me” generation. I don’t even know how she got on that tangent. And then, Dennis Miller on the O’Reilly Factor said that the shooting could have been prevented if kids weren’t so desensitized by playing video games. He said that violence in video games made the kids at Virginia Tech not recognize that the shooter was an evil man. What?! Not only are these people blaming the victims, but they are basically saying it is young people’s fault that this happened. It really makes me angry when “older” people say disparaging things about younger generations. Especially after so many young people went through such a traumatic situation. Please, please, please, do not ever let me ever become one of those older people! What I have been most amazed with in the news coverage of the tragedy is the poise and eloquence of the college kids when they are being interviewed. It is especially striking when compared to blabbering idiocy of the talking heads on cable news.

5 Comments » Categories: Feeling Sad, Thinking

Apr 15th 2007 11:52:48 pm

You might look at that lovely montage of images above and think that I have an affinity for sea-themed accessories. You would be wrong. What is up with all of the shell and nautical stuff in stores right now?! I know that it is a summery theme, but I don’t like it at all. For some reason, shells gross me out. And, nautical just seems way too over-the-top traditional for me. I am sure there are cute ways to deal with shells and sea-type imagery, but you won’t see me trying it out in my home. And that bracelet? It is from Banana Republic of all places, a store that is usually simple and minimal, almost boring in its interpretation of trends. But, this season they just happen to have a cluttered, jingle-jangly, “Charms of the Sea” bracelet. Gah! It is hideous! (Although, I will take that statement back if you just went and bought one… then it is adorable.)

(Images above are from Pottery Barn, Banana Republic, and William Sonoma Home… but you can find shell stuff all over the place these days.)

6 Comments » Categories: Accessories, Home, Just for Fun

Apr 14th 2007 11:11:32 pm

All of these goodies were included in my Operation Haremail swap package! The package came from ewie in Wisconsin, and it was so fun to open. My favorite items are the cute bunny tissues and the Peeps-style stuffed bunny… and the glittery Easter stickers… and the chocolate bunny, definitely the chocolate bunny! What can I say, I love it all. Thank you, ewie!

1 Comment » Categories: Cute Things, Swap-bot

Apr 14th 2007 03:20:45 pm

These are all of the stickers I received in the Spare Sticker Swap #4 on Swap-bot. That is a lot of stickers! I received them from snarglebean, amIcr8tive?, and another girl named Rachel (whose profile I can’t find). For some reason I just love the sticker swaps. I am signed up for two more already!

Travis was kind enough to take me to the Ben Franklin craft store today so I could pick up some stickers and other crafty stuff for my upcoming swaps. There was so much scrapbooking stuff there it just about made my brain explode! I was overwhelmed by all of the colorful doo-dads and papers. Too bad I don’t scrapbook on a more regular basis…

The next swap I am currently working on is the My Tiny Box of Joy swap. I constructed this little matchbox-style box for it. The box is slightly larger than a matchbox and I filled it full of beads, buttons, brads, stickers, ribbon, and other what-nots. I hope my partner enjoys it! I had fun making it.

2 Comments » Categories: Crafts, Feeling Happy, Swap-bot

Apr 11th 2007 11:19:23 pm

I should have alerted everyone to this earlier so that you could have signed up, but I just participated in the best swap: Operation Haremail! It was hosted by Tammy of Polka Dot Mittens and it was totally cute. Above is what I sent to my partner Eva, in Finland. It got to her remarkably fast. She posted about it here. Lots of fun!

I am also in the middle of another sticker swap, and I have signed up for four other swaps! Check out my new and improved Swap-bot profile. We also released the new Swap-bot discussion forums a few weeks ago and they have been quite the hit, I think. I am loving everyone’s suggestions! There are just a lot of cool people using Swap-bot right now. It is awesome.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my last post. You really made my day. I wasn’t really feeling sad, I was just thinking about things. Sometimes I feel like all of a sudden I have become an adult and I don’t exactly know how it happened. I thought I was still 19! Oh well, things are good and I am looking forward to meeting more and more cool Swap-bot peeps! xoxo

1 Comment » Categories: Feeling Happy, Swap-bot