slipping past

An idea slipped past me just today after lunch.

It had sat for a long time on the edge of my awareness before it got bored and sailed out the door on a breeze so slight it felt like imagination.

Now I am having to find a butterfly net, large enough to catch it, but soft enough to keep the idea from unraveling or fraying about the edges.

The cowgirl in me wanted to just get a lasso and rope it up, so it would never escape me again.

Then I remembered that ideas require whispering, and a chance to come back on their own to live happily ever after in the stable of my mind and the house of my experience.

- Julie (my friend since before nursery school)

a communications primer

because you can't get enough of Charles & Ray Eames

from smashing telly

flotsam & jetsam

Louise brought these back from Thailand over a year ago in her suitcase. She visited last weekend on her way back to Thailand & brought them with her. There's 3 big ones & ten little ones. She says she only paid about $1 for the little ones because they were factory seconds. The only thing wrong with them seems to be that they're not perfectly round. But I think that makes them more beautiful. I think she wants me to go into the floral business. Floral arrangement anyone?

what is genius?

This is from last month's ted conference. It's almost 20 minutes long but if you have the time it's worth watching. It's about genius and managing the anxiety of the creative process.

all boarded-up

NY Times :: striking images of Cleveland's nearly 10,000 foreclosed-upon homes - since 2007

california retreat

NY Times :: a beautiful home southeast of Carmel in the Santa Lucia Preserve designed by Lake Flato Architects from Texas

freeze frame

A unique collection of more than 20,000 images - dating from 1845 - 1960 - is being made available by the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge. It is the result of a two-year digitization project that brings together photographs from both Arctic and Antarctic expeditions. The most interesting are those from the ill-fated Scott Expedition from 1910 - 1912. Watch a short narrated slideshow from the BBC.

feeling blue

Most people seem to steer clear of the color blue but it can be used as both a bold statement as well as an effective neutral. Blue can be tricky. It took me two tries to get my bathroom right. I finally settled on Ralph Lauren Celery (VM117). Below are some best picks for blues.

more blues

1. Farrow and Ball Blue Ground (210)

2. Farrow and Ball Pale Powder (204)

3. Benjamin Moore Heavenly Blue (709)

4. Sherwin Williams Gulf Stream (SW6768)

5. Benjamin Moore Iceberg (2122-50)

6. Benjamin Moore Windmill Wings (2067-60)

life in topanga

deer in the backyard - again. this is probably going to get old at some point & I'll quit posting pictures of deer. but these guys were young & really cute. they were watching Mezzo (our cat) on the deck & acted as if they wanted to play with him. finally something spooked them & they bounded off into the distance.

kitty contest

view gallery of entries

sign up to be notified of the top 5 - then vote for the grand prize winner

life in topanga

a beautiful Sunday on the Backbone Trail - BBT#8

life in topanga

deer in the backyard . . . . . life is good

from a fellow blogger

This is a posting that appeared yesterday on the scoop. It was in response to another's blog posting about losing her job and having a bad medical diagnosis all at the same time. I thought the response was extremely thoughtful and worth sharing . . . . .

One of the first blogs I checked in on this morning was designvagabond, where I was saddened to find a post from my dear kattyface who lost her job on Friday. Since then she's also found out about some health problems, only made greater by her loss of a steady income and insurance. It was the last line of her post is what really got me thinking ::

"I don't feel much like posting anything today, as design seems completely frivolous by comparison to everything else that is happening."

This isn't the first time I've heard someone express this sentiment, or something like it...

I, myself, have felt that when I'm not feeling well - either physically or mentally - that maybe posting about a pair of shoes may be "inappropriate," or, as kattyface stated, "completely frivilous". Even in my own house, Jw and I have had several conversations about the repetitiveness of what we find on design blogs; about whether or not there's a point to any of it "when things are so bad everywhere"...

It's an interesting thing to think about. Back when the election was still an upcoming event, the SCOOP received emails and comments about "sticking to the design stuff" - because that's what people want :: to have a place to escape to and take a break from whatever negative & stressful things are going on in their lives or in the world. I definitely agree that there is a time when things will feel frivolous, as kattyface is feeling right now about posting up things on her blog. She has a lot to deal with and maybe she will look to other blogs (or a TV show, or a magazine, etc.) for a bit of a pick-me-up... In one way, yes, putting things into perspective and realizing that browsing through images of interiors, drooling over cute handbags and coveting handmade goodies on Etsy is all pretty superficial - but, on the other hand, finding places to escape to so that you don't become too overwhelmed by the negatives is truly invaluable. I mean, that's exactly what I did just this morning ;)

The image at the top this post is from a poster design by PJ Chmiel .... In all of the talk of the economy and getting your finances in order, it's interesting to think more about what it means to make wise investments. Here's some of the text from Chmiel's poster that really struck a chord with me ::

"Life in years to come may not be the same life we enjoy today, at least in a material sense, but it can be a lot more rewarding than the work/shop/TV/sleep/die life that most of us now lead. The key to weathering the storm lies in joining together in closer-knit groups of family and community; the solutions will not be coming from the top-down, they will be happening from the ground-up... and that is empowering. This is a friendly nudge imploring you to take stock of what you have, imagine the worst-case scenarios, and learn how you can come out with an advantage no matter what the future holds. All of the things i suggest are things that you can probably use anyway, and most make good common sense. Keep in mind that your money could become worthless, and ponder what a tragedy that would be. If you're hungry and there's no electricity, your priorities will change; you might gladly trade your iPhone or your flatscreen for a few potatoes. I hope it never comes to that, but please don't consider it an impossibility, either. Try to stay positive, find strength in your family/ community."

I think that a lot of us (myself included) are going through some much-needed growing pains, and that we just need to be patient while we wait for better times to come.

for the love of chalkboards

chalkboard paint from Rustoleum

chalkboard cloth from Vogue Fabrics

random beauty

clean goes green

from the container store

food for thought

Here is the Washington Post's Mensa Invitational which once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary,alter it by adding,subtracting,or changing one letter,and supply a new definition. Here are the winners:

1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the  subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time. 

2. Ignoranus : A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

3. Intaxicaton : Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

4. Reintarnation : Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

5. Bozone ( n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little signs of breaking down  in the near future.

6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high 

8. Sarchasm : The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

9. Inoculatte : To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

10. Osteopornosis : A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

11. Karmageddon : It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right?  And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

12. Decafalon (n.): The gruelling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

13. Glibido : All talk and no action.

14. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

15. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

16. Beelzebug (n.) : Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

17. Caterpallor ( n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate  meanings for common words. And the winners are: 

1. coffee , n. the person upon whom one coughs. 

2. flabbergasted , adj. appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.

3. abdicate , v. to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4. esplanade , v. to attempt an explanation while drunk. 

5. willy-nilly , adj. impotent. 

6. negligent , adj. absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown. 

7. lymph , v. to walk with a lisp.

8. gargoyle , n. olive-flavored mouthwash.

9. flatulence , n. emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.

10. balderdash , n. a rapidly receding hairline.

11. testicle , n. a humorous question on an exam.

12. rectitude , n. the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.

13. pokemon , n.. a Rastafarian proctologist.

14. oyster , n. a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.

15. Frisbeetarianism, n. the belief that, after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there. 

16. circumvent, n. an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

thank you Vicki!

unica home contest

recent entries to the contest, see more here

you still have until Feb 28 to enter your own cat in a box

design & the law collide

NY Times - Photographer Mannie Garcia, who contends that he owns the rights to his photo not the AP says "I'm so proud of the photograph and that Fairey did what he did artistically with it, and the effect it's had."

a success story

designed by Linnea, executed by Louise

flotsam & jetsam

Kurt Vonnegut said  . . . . if you think my desk is a mess, you should look inside my head.

life in topanga

a grey president's day

food for thought