See No Evil

Charlotte Bjorlin D'Elia bracelets

Let's Take A Moment For Cake!

I love cakes in all forms so when my friend Dominica sent me this version of the King Cake I decided to investigate. Turns out...... it's supposed to look like this.
In other cake news, I found these on passiveaggressivenotes.com which is a great site kind of like the snarky version of postsecret.

Everything I Have

via Black*Eiffel
This is a gorgeous concept by Simon Evans (showing in NYC, from London) titled "Island Time" where the artist has photographed every item he has.

"The title of the show Island Time is a reference to Robinson Crusoe and the hand-made objects that were critical to his survival on a desert island—a metaphor that draws connections between the state of being shipwrecked, to the role of the artist as an outsider, to the artist's personal biography living as an expatriate in a foreign city. Evident in the work is Evan's preoccupation with counting and charting—an activity also key to survival as a castaway."

He's also got a piece entitled "100 mix-CDs For New York".
I regularly make mix CD's for anyone who seems even remotely interested, so this one seems really cool. Last Mix CD titles I made:
Megalomania
HardCore Girls
Elsewhere
Awwwww Shit Mix

Happy Up There Friday

From Royksopp. This song is so Friday perfect and the video is amazing!

The Downfalls of Renting.

One of my least favorite things in life is moving. It's probably not high on your list either but I've had this chess game going with my landlord company for a while and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to end up under a bridge at some point.
They keep trying to get me to sign leases all the time, raising my rent, writing me threatening notes about moving my bike (the presence of my bike in different locations has caused quite a problem for them apparently nothing can be done in the world when there's a stray bike in the garage), and through it all they are totally unavailable when I discover mold in my bathroom.
I call the maintenance guy around 15 times and he comes and says (quote)
"yeah, I think this building is cursed. More problems here than I can even tell you about. You should see what your neighbors had to deal with last summer with mold."
And I'm just standing there...... feeling like I'm going to be diagnosed with some crazy lung mold any minute now and debating whether I can run and grab my Flip Video camera and record this whole thing.
Of course, I call the office and go on a 15 minute tirade about all this to which they reply "we'll come over and fix it.... it's not harmful mold of course." Because obviously, they think I'm stupid.
Anyway, I wrote a post not so long ago about the joys of not having a mortgage and how great and free I feel not having that tying me down to which I now reply that there are downfalls of renting as well. On top of that, the bridges here are still full of ice and not at all appealing.

Throwing Stars

Epaulet
I can't think of any reason why I shouldn't have these on my fridge for when I need some ninja in my life.

An Actual Conversation

Overheard at Barnes and Noble
"I hate orange wedding flowers. It reminds me of jail jumpsuits.... and hunters."

There With Bells On

Made Her Think All of these rings are on sale for under $100 by the way!

Creative Genius.

via What Possessed Me
This is really worth watching, it's an amazing talk by Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat,Pray,Love) about where creativity comes from which is something I think about. Where does talent come from? Genes? Practice? If you've read "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell he thinks that it takes 10,000 hours of practice plus some luck.

ElseWhere

Will Govus has been taking these sort of creepy/beautiful photos which remind me of a 70's horror movie.

Making A Shank

I used to have this weird urge to learn how to weld things..... I guess it's still kind of there. There was a boy who said he could teach me but that whole thing fizzled out and I forgot about it until I started thinking about making shanks.
Maybe I need to take some kind of metalworks class....
I think sometimes you just have to make something and when I make something it usually involves a junkyard, concrete, or something heavy and/or ruining to clothing. There's so much thought work and moving parts to all of the work in my regular job and while this is satisfying I think there's a big part of me that likes to be able to put 30 hours into something and say "There! There it is, my chunk of concrete."
There's something about that process that just feels good and I suspect a lot of other people get this type of satisfaction from spring cleaning or running a marathon. We need something to point to besides a word document to mark a milestone.

Tellin' Time

Brand new watches from Nixon.
via Sub Studio Design Blog

Rich, Brilliant, Willing

I've wanted a curved floor lamp so long that I think it went out of fashion in my own mind. Now, I want this:
Rich, Brilliant, Willing

Silhouette Theater

silhouette Masterpiece Theater

Listen Up Guys: Dress Pants

Ok, I know you all have dress pants out there. Not suit pants, but those dress pants that you wear to work and not much else because making them look casual is a little tough. Last week I saw the most perfect dress pants outfit that I have ever seen at Barrique's and really wanted to ask the guy for his picture but wanted to avoid being creepy so I'll just have to verbally re-create it for you. You can wear them anywhere you want to appear to have some style (like dates or out on the town) and look so much better than if you wore jeans and a button down (and so much more personality) First things first:
1) Shoes - Dress pants do NOT need to be worn with dress shoes. This is the best way to make them look more casual. You can wear them with this kind of shoe:

Victorinox
or rock them with these. Ignore the grey pants this guy has on and imagine the grey pair of dress pants that you have sitting in your closet for Monday morning meetings or interviews. They have to be a little tighter at the bottom (you can have them tailored to fit this way and this look is huge right now). They go really well with beat up Converse as well.

2) Belt. Another great way to make your dress pants look cooler. Take that boring leather work belt and put that away for weekday wear, if you're brave, rock a studded belt instead. If that's not your style, try a belt buckle that you can find at just about any vintage store.

Rag and Bone
3) Shirt. This one is important. Blazer and T-shirt is the easiest so I suggest starting there. There are a couple of rules with this. Do NOT go with the T-shirt from the 5K you did last summer. In other words, use one of your good T-shirts. I'd suggest one that's black if you're unsure but I've seen some really cool pairings with colored and vintage shirts (like the D.A.R.E shirt you still have in the closet somewhere.)
If you want to go with a white tee and a casual blazer, that looks good too if you went the belt buckle route.

Belts

Rag and Bone
If you're thinking of buying one of those big, fat belts for spring, rethink it in favor of the "double wrap" belts that are absolutely everywhere.

Prioritizing Everything

"Where's your calendar?" a coworker asked me this morning.
"My what? Oh, ummmm..... "

I am one of those people that gets "the newest greatest idea" every 10 minutes only to discard it the next day. I get an actual great idea a little less frequently but I'm at a point where I have a lot going on and need to prioritize things. Being the sort of person that decides things last minute, gets distracted easily, and changes my mind on a dime, you can imagine how hard this is probably going to be. It's important to me that my side projects don't get in the way of my regular job and vice versa but being a modern sort of girl, there's a lot of blending going on. I realize that some of these ideas are probably pretty ridiculous (#7: Make or work on a zombie movie. I mean come on what am I, a 15 year old boy?) but some are just difficult to manage (dear blog: you are not allowed to take over my life).

Here are my options.
1) Make a list. This could be a to-do type of list and I could sub-category into: important, pretty cool but not productive, and probably not going to happen. I could envision this list going on forever and ever though. Simply writing things down more doesn't actually get anything completed.
2) First Come First Serve. Just do the first project straight until completion before I start something new. As a chronic un-finisher of things, this might be beneficial for me.
3) Get a Damn Calendar. This would have to be slightly more mapped out than I'm normally comfortable with but I was thinking of designating days and times for certain projects. The downside to this is that every time I sit down to do some writing....... I just sit there. At 4AM, I pop up in bed and MUST get something down immediately which is going to be a problem for the whole calendar thing as I don't plan to designate 4AM for anything but sleeping.

What's the best way to organize and prioritize?

Rodeo Nights

Topshop

I Might Start Drinking Johnnie Walker

after I saw this commercial. It's badass.

If Anyone....

If anyone asks you if you are shy.... say yes.

Creepy Hands

I'm not sure why every single nail place insists upon purchasing and displaying these body-less hands in their shops. They don't give me ideas on how to do my nails, they don't really serve as a good decoration, and they are mostly just kind of weird and creepy. I almost stole one yesterday for some reason. Here's what I did come up with.

It's Kind of Like Meditation

Maditi Photography
These photos relax me like a great latte or several episodes of Intervention in a row.

Kid Cudi N Kanye

I kinda love it.

An Actual Conversation

Overheard at Liliana's

"This wine smells and tastes like Band-Aids."

Virgin America Finally Makes Planes That Aren't Disgusting.

Yeah Virgin America! I don't know how many times I've sat down in an airplane with this look of complete horror on my face knowing that the plane hasn't been cleaned in weeks. This isn't limited to one airline or one airport. It's all of them. I won't even touch the security troubles I've had because last time I flew through Denver I was pretty sure they were going to call security on me. They tried to separate me from some of my make-up and then manhandled my new purse.
Annnnnyway, Virgin America has made us a cool plane. That looks and probably is clean. You can choose your meal from a screen in front of you, there's sweet looking reading lights, and it's designed really well.
The truth is, I don't think we're so violently opposed to raising the prices for a plane ticket (it's not my favorite either but just hear me out). What really makes me feel ripped off is that the seat that just cost me $300 has someone's half of a ham sandwich on it. That the plane is filthy, the technology is outdated, the TV's are half broken. Then at the end of the flight they are all "remember to pick up your garbage and take it with you" and I'm all "$300 would pay for a cleaning service to clean my whole house."
So these pretty new planes make me feel slightly better.

ooh la la

Elise Overland
I would so rock this whole thing.

Who Makes This Stuff?

So I'm trying to help cook something which means I'm sitting on the counter drinking and talking and generally being distracting. This is the only way I can "assist" in cooking. I know, it's easy. I know, it's out of fashion to be that completely helpless in the kitchen during the dawn of the dinner party. I get it.
Sample (but real) kitchen conversation:
"Do you have any salad tongs?"
"No, I have a zester."

Long way to go.

Anyway, I'm apparently the last person on the planet to see this site but if you haven't seen it yet it's This Is Why You're Fat. Get ready to lose 40 minutes there. I wish I would have thought of this.

Cross My Heart

I tried to find this shirt once I saw this. I couldn't. Probably not the same if I make it with puffy paint.

The Streets of..... Anywhere.

designYouTrust
I've been dreaming of Tokyo lately. And Paris, and the Amazon. And so has everyone else apparently. I have heard things like "On The Road" and Holden Caulfield a lot. I've seen numerous photo/ art projects online about global street vendors. Is there a resurgence of travel happening?
I'm talking about travel too, not vacation. I'm talking wear the same clothes for days - find yourself a favorite market - meet the locals - bought an open ended ticket - ask yourself big questions kind of travel.
On a small scale it's admittedly kind of escapist but on a larger scale it's perhaps more of a growing by leaving things behind. What better way to get some perspective on your job or network by thinking about it in India?
Maybe it's the economy making us want to leave the whole tidy mess behind. Maybe it's that we, uber stressed out workaholics that we are, actually need more than a long weekend to re-connect. Maybe we've adjusted to the fact that plane tickets are going to cost you at least $350 no matter where you go so it's feels like a rip off to only stay somewhere for a weekend. Or that we need to go further to actually get away from the reach of e-mail and iPhone.
Here's the extra bonus: lots of companies worried about making payroll are doling out enforced vacations. Perfect opportunity to get to Guatemala. If your employer isn't doing this, ask them if they would consider a sabbatical. You might be surprised at how willing companies are these days to save a few bucks.

If you spend a lot of time at your desk wishing you could go somewhere and absolutely cannot..... I'd suggest watching these.
Hideous Kinky
Y Tu Mama Tambien
King of California (they are treasure hunting, similar concept)
Romancing The Stone
Any Indiana Jones (except the newest one)
The Beach

Chairscapes

Daniel Syplenko via Touch Puppet

Merrily, Merrily, Merrily

Pedal Mafia

Is Faithful Outdated?

I've read a lot over the last few months about loyalty. Or lack of loyalty rather. I grew up thinking that I'd get a career, find somewhere amazing to work and work there forever. I figured I'd meet someone perfect, marry them and that would be forever. You get a house and you stay there. But that dream has been replaced over the last few years as I started to realize certain truths.
1) There is no job security. Our generation has come up with a million ways to make money. I've thrown fashion shows, written press releases, designed fliers, planned events, and even carried a couch. None of this is required office hours but it made me pretty happy (minus the couch thing I hate manual labor).
2) There might not be one perfect person. That's not to say that you shouldn't develop lasting relationships, those are essential but is it possible for the nature of those relationships to change over time without emotional drama?
3) Some of us don't want a house at all. Seriously.

I'm not so sure human beings, or at least the group that's currently under 35, are meant to be faithful to much of anything and is that such a bad thing? Maybe yes and no. It's a bad thing if you don't have those close relationships around you when you need them. If you only have people around you as a means to an end you'll end up sorry when you have a really rough patch and have no one to commiserate with. It's a good thing to not feel constrained by obligations to a job, or a certain city, or a mortgage payment.
So what do we value?
Perhaps this is getting, like the internet, more and more fragmented. We have more options than career and family. We can decide more openly where our loyalties will lie. Some people go in a weird direction with this and assume it's all about them. That everything is a means of self improvement. I've dated those. Run.
What do you think? Is it still career and family just repositioned or are we losing loyalty?

Knives O' Love

These are cool. Little mini rusted customizable butcher knives by Elizabeth McGrath, you can never have too many. collect them all. Remember on Real World 1 - that weird couple? Didn't they give each other something knife-like for Valentine's Day?

Metronomy

Metronomy. More goodness from London! Sometimes I feel like I should try to date someone from London. We could have amazing discussions about all the great music coming out of the UK lately over fish and chips. Which obviously I would make because in this dream, I know how to cook.

Beaux vêtements

All from La Garconne. I am 100% for sure getting that skirt. I have reservations about plaid, but not shiny leather. The boots are $1200, so that will need a little more thought....