Paper Jellies

The talented woman behind The Butter Flying found me via Oh Joy, and I'm happy she did. Her paper jellyfish made my black heart melt just a little bit. Sylvie B. is a Montreal-based artist who cuts paper with the best of them. Lucky for you, you don't have the be in Canada to get a hold of her work. Visit her Etsy shop for her latest nature-inspired creations.

Sick Excitement

I woke up at 5:00 am today. This is unusual because I've been sleeping in until 10:30'ish on days that I do not work. The early rise is a mix of excitement for New Orleans (we leave tonight, stay overnight at the BF's grandparent's Lake house, leave for NO tomorrow, arrive in early afternoon) and the Theraflu I drank last night that made me pass out at 9:00 PM (I'm feeling all sore-throaty).

Even though our destination is only five hours away, I feel like it's a different country because come on, it is. CAJUN COUNTRY. Yes, good jokes in the a.m.

Thanks to the New Orleans D*S guide (+ reader comments) and the Domino Magazine Shopping Guide, I'm in good hands.

P.S. If you're traveling anywhere, a good up-to-date resource for delicious eats, and trendy, unique shopping is the Design*Sponge guides. I look at the Houston one all the time, and I live here. Check out the full list here.

New Orleans photo from David Paul Ohmer.

Magic Moment

How amazing is the SELF-PORTRAIT?? The first thing I noticed was the yellow-to-yellow/green-to-green-to-blue chromatic luck in the landscape. The sun on the tree and perfect swing position is just serendipitous.

I can't reduce the value of this image on luck alone, the photographer Pia Jane Bijkerk has a fantastic eye for this sort of thing (her blog is a daily read for me).

It was Just a Paper Bag

I know the holidays are over, but here's a simple wrapping idea that can be used all year. I found it on the always inspring blog, An Apple A Day.

See Ya.

Today is my last day at the current temp job. It's been real...stupid. Ha, no.. I'm thankful that I got a nice little five-weeker in so that I don't have to tap into my savings (said savings only exists because of my dear Suze Orman).

I'm spending my day researching for our trip to New Orleans (which we may take next weekend?). The BF's parents gave it to us for Christmas and we're super-pumped. Maybe we'll go see Benjamin Button to build the NOLA anticipation. And finish A Confederacy of Dunces(I'm the worst).

Anyway, we have Very New Orleans: A Celebration of History, Culture, and Cajun Country Charm, the beautifully illusrated guidebook by Diana Hollingsworth Gessler to bring us to the best food, shopping and sights. Are there any off-the-beaten-path places that are the bee's knees??

P.S. Be Cool.

Pixel Bathroom

Bisazza Pixelized Bathroom from The New Museum in NYC. Bisazza makes all the tiles for the New York subway system. Cha-Ching.

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