My friend Dave is the awesome.

He sent me this:


Which makes me happy.

Apparently it's called The Tea Party, but we can't find any info about the artist. Maybe you can help?

ETA: Thanks to newport2newport's mad googling skillz, I now know that the artist is Frederic Soulacroix!

Send a letter today...by post.

Via the amazing Ze Frank, here's something that will put a smile on your face. Two artists handwrote 467 letters and postcards to the residents of a tiny village in Ireland. They're awesome.

I guarantee this story will a) reaffirm your faith in humanity and 2) make you want to send a letter.

Things That Are Awesome....Colleen Pencils

Some people like gadgets, others like first edition books...me? I'm a paper and pencil gal. And O. M. G. I want these. BAD.

Twelve years ago, the Colleen Pencil Company recognized that pencil slats could be made from any wood that the machinery could cut, and created a varied set as an artistic exploration....Twelve pencils are presented - each marked with the number in the series, the HB grade, the bilingual (English and Japanese) wood species and country/area of origin, and a most unusual number - the specific gravity of the pencil’s wood. Some species are familiar, and some are more exotic.

Colleen, unfortunately, is now out of business. And all we can do is stare longingly at these pictures.

Covet with me, will you?

Today in Things That Are Awesome...

This made the rounds a few months ago, but I never posted it here...and I can't help but be madly in love with it!

Digital Regency Dress Up Doll? Yes, please! And the UNDERWEAR is accurate!!! Warning: You will lose hours of your day with this. HOURS.

Edited to Add: OMG...There's also a REGENCY HERO Dress Up Doll. I am now appeased for never having owned a Ken Doll. Well, until Aprilynne Pike sent me one. Aprilynne is awesome, no?

In which the author covets walls.

Ok. So I think I've said that Eric and I are casually looking to buy an apartment. I say casually because we're not entirely unhappy with our apartment...where we pay a fairly low rent for a fairly large kitchen and a terrific neighborhood that we simply couldn't afford if we were to buy.

That said, I go through my moments of wishing that I could sit on the couch, look around the apartment and cackle "MINE!" at the top of my lungs. But mostly, I refrain from doing this. And then I see things like these super amazing wall decals from Dali Decals at Etsy, and I WANT them. I want these swirling poppies... and i want this fancy chandelier... and i want this tree, complete with bird (i also want to be able to keep an orchid like that alive for longer than 6 days)... and, i'll confess (although this will scare the pants right off the Eric), this makes me kind of want to decorate a kid's room. Although I totally understand that is not the same as wanting to have a kid inside the kid's room.

But man do they all make me want walls to call my very own.

pure unadulterated awesome

My first album -- are you kidding?! If I were an actual musician, with an actual marketing machine, I couldn't have done better!

Uncanny!  

Now you try...don't forget to come back here and link to your cover! 

1. Go to Wikipedia, select a random article: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. Go to Quotations Page, select a random page of quotes

www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. Go to Flicker, select an interesting photo

www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

My new favorite blog...

I just stumbled upon The Art of M. S. Corley...check it.



And don't miss his re-envisioning of HP, Spiderwick and The Horrors of Literature...

off to seattle...like alice down the rabbit hole

i swear i'm going to blog more. as a present for being so very patient, here's a nifty little video that makes me smile:

a genius speaks of love

I've learned something that many women these days never learn: Prince Charming really is a toad. And the Beautiful Princess has halitosis. The bottom line is that (a) people are never perfect, but love can be, (b) that is the one and only way that the mediocre and the vile can be transformed, and (c) doing that makes it that. Loving makes love. Loving makes itself. We waste time looking for the perfect lover instead of creating the perfect love. Wouldn't that be the way to make love stay?

Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won't adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is to sign on as its accomplice. Instead of vowing to honor and obey, maybe we should swear to aid and abet. That would mean that security is out of the question. The words "make" and "stay" become inappropriate. My love for you has no strings attached. I love you for free.

(sigh)

Tom Robbins...timelessly eccentric. Worth a try.

Read Still Life With Woodpecker...if not for a treatise on the true meaning of love...for a heroine with an unhealthy crush on Ralph Nader. When you're done...try Skinny Legs and All...if not for a smarter look at the Arab/Israeli conflict than any middle eastern scholar can give you...then because it opens on "newlyweds driving cross-country in a large roast turkey."

I promise...you may be perplexed...but you won't be disappointed.

puppetry...on a day for quiet contemplation

it's been a while, i know.
here's a little something for your patience.
xo, sarah