Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year, Lovers.

BE SAFE AND AWESOME IN 2k9.



from Confetti Systems via Oh Joy!

AND KISS:

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Always short of time? Not enough moments in the day? Tonight you'll get an extra second to enjoy 2008. Use it wisely; perhaps an extra long smooch is called for.


An extra second will be added to 2008 to align clocks with variations in the Earth's time.

Immediately before midnight a leap second -- the first for three years -- will be added to atomic clocks around the world by official timekeepers.

Peter Whibberley, a senior research scientist at Britain's National Physical Laboratory, said the Earth's erratic rotation meant an extra second needed to be added.

"The difference between atomic time and Earth time has now built up to the point where it needs to be corrected, so this New Year's Eve we will experience a rare 61 second minute at the very end of 2008 and revelers... will have an extra second to celebrate."

Traditionally time has been based on the passage of the Sun across the sky -- a modern version of this is still used by astronomers to track distant stars and spacecraft.

However, since 1967, an atomic timescale -- the extremely accurate Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) -- has been the world's official clock and is used for broadcasting time signals across the world.

The accuracy of UTC is essential for the smooth running of GPS and the Internet.

By comparison, the Earth is far less reliable. It does not rotate at a constant speed -- it can even wobble -- and disruptions to its core, extreme weather, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes can influence the length of a day.

Therefore, leap seconds are occasionally added to align atomic time with astronomical time and ensure that the Sun remains overhead at noon.

Whibberley told British media anyone sober enough and who had a digital clock that picked up leap second information from a reliable source, would see the final seconds of 2008 as 57, 58, 59, 60, 00 -- with 60 being the extra second

If I Was A Rich Girl..


and a girl with fabulous NYE plans, I would be wearing Balmain tonight.

My 2008


2008 by explauren

FAVORITES:

Of Montreal- Skeletal Lamping. (might be the only album I gave any attention).

LOST. I watched my first episode this past September, I'm obsessed and so very happy I jumped on the bandwagon.

Tina Fey/Kristin Wiig. These ladies make me want to take improv classes.

Suze Orman. Kicks Ass. Makes me feel confident I can retire with millions someday.

Brazilian Food. Fried plantains & guacamole.

ZARA. Affordable clothes that look amazing. And are complete runway rip-offs. Sorry Prada and Gucci, but the truth of the matter is I would have never bought your clothes anyway.

French Macarons. Where can I find some in Houston? Other than the shoddy ones I make?

Getting Laid Off. I got to go Mexico and start a new job search. (Mexico here, here, here, here, and here.)

30 Rock. Again, Love Tina Fey. Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan and Jack McBrayer are hilarious too.

Eames Loung Chair In the words of Wayne Campbell, "It will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine."

iPhone. Clearly the best thing since sliced bread.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Financial Independence. I pay for everything, and it's made my relationship with my parents much more easy going.

Eating Healthier. It's become second nature (with the exception of the holidays, which, thank goodness are over.)

Learning to Sew. Took boring-but-helpful classes. Can hem a skirt no time flat.

Learning Adobe CS3. Frustrating but fun. I'm still learning, but the worst part is over.

FAILURES:

Working Out. Literally happened less than eight times all year.

GOALS:

Working Out. I want to run more than two miles without stopping. Not run out of breath when I walk upstairs, etc.

Give More. Of my time and energy to people. I can be selfish.

Invest My Savings. Because Suze would want it that way.

Find a job I like. Period.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Sin Agua





These photos are from a series named Absence of Water. I can't imagine why in the World (or London) anyone would stop visiting these decadent pools. They look as if they should be in a Wes Anderson film.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Daily Mugshot


DailyMugshot -- my favorite iPhone application.

It starts out real lame. I tried to keep the same face for seamless transitions, but that got boring so it's gets a little more spicy as the show goes on...

Friday, December 26, 2008

Update For My Shoe Friends:

My search for a great black winter shoe ended in the purchase of these puppies:
shown in brown for your (and my) inconvenience!

Love them or hate them, they make me almost average height.

Wrap it Up


Hey-O. Christmas is over. Was yours good? Mine was great. Did the three Christmases thing and it went smoothly. Got to see tons of family, eat tons of goodies and get home at a decent hour so I could chill the eff out.

Just wanted to make a quick post about this bow-thing -- I saw it on some blog (don't remember) but it's obviously a recycled Target bag. Fun and silly.. just like my nephew Carter.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Monday, December 22, 2008

Screen Diddly



Um...neato. Target is selling screen printing kits as a part of their Red Hot Shop series.

It's basically a collection of cool, quirky stuff you would find at smaller shops.
This would be such a cool gift idea! For me. Oh, hey how's it going?

Friday, December 19, 2008

Whismy Whim Pic


Just too pretty to not post... Happy Friday!

Cold Weather Music



The grey skies and cold weather has me jonesin for some John Vanderslice. Pixel Revolt was the soundtrack of my 2005/2006 winter season.

What are you winter songs?

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Crane Tree




Last weekend I found a baby Christmas tree in the trunk of my car. I wish I'd be lying when I say it's been shoved in there for over year and I had completely forgotten about it.

Instead of buying new ornaments and things,-- I'm trying to own less stuff --I made a bunch of white paper cranes and pipe cleaner snowflakes.

Genius.



Storage Stairs!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

The Arc of My Niece and Nephew






This was my Saturday with the kiddos...

1. sweet and loving.
2. grumpy, soda-drinking.
3. terrorizing.
4. Sleeping.

Orange Crush


I just came across these fun Christmas illustrations by Helen Dardik by way of my friend, Carly.

Dardik is a super crafty broad from Ottawa, Canada. Check out her blog, Orange You Lucky! for lots of fun projects and giveaways.

Temping Ain't So Bad


Yesterday I got hooked up with delicious treats. First, someone from the mail room gave me some dark chocolate with a cute wrapper (this person said they hated dark chocolate. What a suspicious character!).

AND there was a huge delivery of about 30 slow-cooked briskets. I got one because someone in accounts payable has the sickies. It was literally 20 lbs, which is more meat than I care to discuss.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Pretty Shiny Thing





Saw this screenprinted fabric calendar by Helen Ige on design*sponge.com. According to their article, they get peeved that you can't write appointments on it. Why would you want to? It's just pretty. I'd frame it and hang it on my non-existant office. Or even just tacking it onto an inspiration board?

Ridiculous



And in a fantasy world, I would add Christian Louboutin's Anemone Stiletto Pumps to my list.

UV Clean



Zapi, the personal toothbrush sanitizer.

Out of all the suggested gifts in the magazines, this is the only thing that has caught my eye. I'm obsessed with hiding my toothbrush after I use it. I hate ants, silverfish and the possibility of bacteria creeping out of the toilet and making its away across the bathroom to infest brush.Yeeeeuuck.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Winter Pup


Ah, I couldn't resist. Too presh.

Wish we had some snowy love here in Houston. The one year is snowed, I wasn't around-- it was on Christmas Day (!!). Blarg.

Image via Smashing Magazine

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Weak Week


I'm going to be honest, it's going to be a slow blogging week for me-- I've been a little busy with temping, traffic and errands. Fun, right?

P.S. It totally snowed in Sugar Land today. This happens never. Well, maybe three times in my lifetime.... still, we're excited.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Sequin Crush


Sequin

If I had a swanky-ass party to go to for New Years Eve, I would go all-out with the gaudy sequin crap. I mean, when else do you get the chance??

From Left to Right--

1. Elle UK
2. Antik Batik
3. Oli
4. Sonia Rykiel
5. Antink Batik
6. Stella McCartney

Friday, December 5, 2008

Whhhaa???




Venice is underwater and everyone is just hanging out. Normal.

Comfy Cozy


Cheers to your weekend. Stay Warm!

Image via Smashing Magazine

Year of the Mimosa





Pantone selected Mimosa as the Color of The Year for 2009. Their press release says, "In a time of economic uncertainty and political change, optimism is paramount and no other color expresses hope and reassurance more than yellow. "

Okay. Fotunately, I've been expressing hope and reassurance through the brightest yellow comforter since 2004.

Images via Domino Magazine

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Free Paper!


Just FYI--

SeeSaw Designs is giving away three of their cool 2009 letterpress calendars. Enter here.

Obscene Interiors



Here's a funny book-- Obscene Interiors: Hardcore Amateur Decor by Justin Jorgenson.

Justin dutifuly trolls through photos posted on male personal ads, grays out the men and then analyzes their awful decor choices. It's so so so hilarious. I urge you to check out this preview immediately.

He'll educate you with design tips too --

If you’re stumped for wall decoration maps are a safe stand by. They give a smart vibe without being turn-off smart like displaying the periodic table. That is, if used correctly, as in framed. When a map is crookedly pinned to the wall it says, “I’m lost. And I need to be reminded where I am. Every day.”

Decisions....


black shoes by explauren

I need/want some black winter shoes. Can't decide. Also, I rarely do anything fabulous enough for heels, which nudges me in the motorcycle boots. Le sigh, le whatever.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

True to the Game Photoshop


How cute is that? A LARGE scale real life version of photoshop. Just for reference, the whole thing is about the length and width of a pick-up truck. How's that for being from Texas?

agency : Bates141 Jakarta
creative director : Hendra Lesmono
art director : Andreas Junus & Irawandhani Kamarga
copywriter : Darrick Subrata
account executive : Nitya Priyahita
photgrapher : Anton Ismael

I'm just got my Adobe Creative Suite up-and-running in order to learn the tools of the trade. I started thinking about the manual process of process designers went through before computers were available. It certainly wouldn't have been easy to suddenly decide to learn something. Thanks computers. However,I'm totally liking Allison Wonderland-ish the idea of having a little photoshop station with paint, rulers and cute little tools.

Urban Quilts



Amy Ahlstrom is taking quilting to a new level. I'm fascinated by all the layers and colors. The high-action images show off her background in illustration. I can't imagine what kind of planning it requires from conception to completion. No surprise here-- Ahlstrom holds a Master of Fine Arts in Fiber from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fiber from Northern Illinois University.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

And It Was Love


A couple week ago when Chelsey was in town, we stepped into Kuhl-Linscomb, the amazing lifestyle store in Houston that will have everything you could ever want to put into your home, kitchen, office, etc. There was this gorgeous desk that we pretty much died over.

You're probably thinking it looks like an air-hockey table but it's quite divine. It can be found at Herman Miller which means it's expensive but worth it and not in my near future.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Ga Ga Gaaa

Wow.. that felt like the longest (and much needed) weekend ever. Thanksgiving was awesome. Got to have a Thanksgiving meal with Boyfriend's family, then my Mom and then my Dad. Haha, feels like Four Christmases. I made the pumpkin cupcakes, but they turned out looking.. vulgar. I don't even want to post a picture of them because it was disgusting.

I got to have lunch with my Elyse-- who is trying out for the Woman's Premier Soccer League this month in San Diego! Super exciting, wishing you all the best.

Also had drinks with the lovely Lindsay who is out in Chicago these days and has been recruited for my job search. It was so much fun reminiscing over our ridiculous tween times.

Unfortch, the boyfriend got sick for a a few days. However, It gave us plenty of time to watch hours and hours of LOST-- we're only on season three.

I started a five-week temp position today. Answering phones all day is mind-numbingly boring, but I think I will get a lot of books read? So with that said, my posts may be a little less frequent unless I get the courage to blog at work. That might be hard because their internet explorer (sick) doesn't even have tabbed browsing.

Peace fools.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Peace, Peace.


Hope your Thanksgiving was fabulous! Here comes Christmas....

Black Friday




With everyone freaking out over the economy, how could I possibly go out and spend a bunch of money on cheesy Christmas decorations? I enjoy the Christmas season, but I personally like to keep it simple around my own house (mostly because I could be packing it all up the moment I'm offered a bitchin' job). I don't want to lug around a bunch of useless crap, so I made this little spark of cheer for $3.00, with string, white pipe cleaners and bells.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving



Wild Turkey by John James Audubon. Ben Franklin was cheering for the Wild Turkey to be the national bird, but the Bald Eagle won. Ha, I can just picture us having a national holiday centered around roasting the national bird.

A few weekends ago we visited the Stark Museum of Art in Orange, TX. Most of their collection is southwestern, which I'm not crazy about but they did have a huge collection of Audubon's work. I'm a fan of the American White Pelican-- I think it would look perfect in my room.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Pumpkin & Ginger Cupcakes

This Thanksgiving is going to be my first with Boyfriend's family. It's not a huge deal because his family is close and I see them all the time. I will definitely feel as if I am part of their bunch. I already know what I'm bringing to the table...

The past couple of years I've been completely cupcake crazy, but the more health conscious I am, I've only baked for special occasions. I was super-pumped to find this recipe in a book my sister-in-law gave me for Christmas last year.

Pumpkin Ginger Cupcakes


2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground ginger
Pinch of salt

1 lightly beaten egg
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin, fresh or canned
3/4 cup cat-free skim milk
1/3 cup sunflower oil
3 tbsp. chopped candied ginger
4 tbsp. pumpkin seeds

Prehead oven to 350F. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan. In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients with a spon. In a larger bowl, beat the egg, pumpkin, milk, and oil with an electric mixer until well combined. Add the flour to the pumpkin mixture, mixing until nearly combined. Foil in the candied ginger, but do now overmix.

Spoon the batter into the prepared tin. Sprinkle each muffin with a few pumpkin seeds.

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Then remove the muffins and cool on a rack.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Hard to Pick...

My fascination with calendars has grown over the past few months, as I've been studying type and spending too much time on the design*sponge.

It could be argued that with the utility of cell phones, computers we don't NEED paper calendars, but I always like to have one for shits and gigs. Plus, it's always satisfying for me physically X-out days when I'm counting down to a special occasion.

There are so many talented people making fabulous calendars these days, here's a few of my favorites...



Match Calendar by Yurko Gutsulak


Polaroid Calendar by Alicia Block (Etsy: AliciaBlock)



Jellybean's Calendar (Etsy: jellybeans)




Linda & Harriet Letterpress Calendar

The new year is a'comin!

And if you're cheap-- you can generate and print out a cool paper craft calendar in any language. Mix it up with some fun paper!