friday five #40

i've actually kind of missed doing these, i was over them for a while, but now i'm back! at least until i don't feel like doing them again.

01. cans! - hey! did you know that blue moon comes in cans now? "brewmasters cans" according to the case. i know deep down that this is a step down in the beer world, but something about it seems fancy to me. it's just so much easier!

02. tiny books - boygirlparty is selling this adorable set of 3 tiny books as well as some pretty adorable designer sudoku collections over in her shop. i have always loved hee adorable little illustrations, mini paintings & stationary and i even own a couple of her necklaces! these would be perfect to take notes at cha in, but alas, i am trying to be thrifty!

03. craft critique - i'm super stoked to be reporting for craft critique! and, at one of the 2 most exciting times of the year for crafters, the winter CHA tradeshow in l.a. this time next week! you can check out my first article/review over on the website and look for tons from all of us during CHA!

04. nerd alert - you know how blog hopping can be, you click on one thing and an hour and 20 blogs later, you have a new favorite! that's kind of how i happened upon kinsey wilson's blog, and now i really want to take her "nerd alert" week long blog class for crafty organizational nerds. it's only $15, but like i said trying to be thrifty. i think i may just do it anyway, we'll see!

05. spring clothing fantasies - my fall and winter wardorobe has been pretty blah this year. basics are awesome, but not when you're just not feeling them. this upcoming l.a. trip has me thinking warmer weather clothes (although thus far the forecast is rainy and 60 while i'm there, but that's better than snowy and 5!). so i've been doing that horrible thing i do to myself where i go around bookmarking adorable spring-y thingies that i will not be able to buy, but will drool over about once a week, like this adorable open back ruffly top from jem that was featured on papercakes today. i love it!

friday five #31

01. wallpaper calendars - i've been using online calendars as my desktop since i got the macbook and this month there is so many good ones to choose from i'm putting them on rotation! currently using the one mike perry designed for design sponge. it seemed appropriate considering the impending move. next up; free people's and then wild olive's "diminutive feather."

02. kudu-lah critters - my pretty much friend/friend of a best shared these awesome little mason jar inhabiting creatures on facebook this week, she just put three really adorable ones in her new little muffin's nursery! there are 12 of them total, but i think i'm going to go with quadropus, squppy & of course, shark jr. thanks for the hot tip meredith!

03. andrew bannecker - this guy has been popping up all over my google reader lately, via all kinds of inspiring people i love so i thought i'd give his stuff a look. i have definitely found a new artist/illustrator (what's the difference sometimes) to add to my faves! that piece up there, "no turning back" would be loverly in my scrappy/crafty room! i'm also really into, "28 inches of fiery fury" and these new everyday creatures.

04. "timber" fabric - i happened upon this new fabric collection from jessica levit and fell in love. so deeply in love that i've half convinced myself that i'm going to make my own curtain for the crafty/scrappy room. i'm thinking of blue magnolia bird with a strip of these brown maple seedling helicopters at the bottom. i love her patterns and the concept of the little birds nests as the flower! so cute!

05. bloomers - after falling in love with american crafts' version of these flowery trims with the "dear lizzy spring" collection i was obviously dying when i saw these from websters pages! the color combo alone is enough to make me drool! we just ordered the multi-card for the store and i can't wait to get my mitts on them!

friday five #28

01. hey cupcake! lust - this time last year i was in austin, tx being shown what's up by the best austin tour guide in the world, miss kerry potter mccormick. she has defected back to nyc, and luckily i'll be able to spend my birthday with her here on the east coast this year, if only she had brought hey cupcake! back with her though! not only is the little airstream trailer, complete with rotating cupcake on the top, too cute for words but their vanilla dream cupcakes are the only bakery cupcakes in the entire world that i love! everyone who is able should be giving them a try, like right now. now.

02. iphone art - design sponge did a really cute guest blog entry all about awesome and well designed iphone cases, and i fell in love with these etched bamboo ones from grove. they have some really rad artist series cases and the option of uploading your own graphics to be etched for you and only you. you even get to pick the color of your bamboo and the outlying bezel color. they are a bit pricey, but look to be pretty sturdy and could end up being more than worth the bucks. perhaps they will be a post-birthday option.

03. halsey birds - yes, i have a quasi-quilty little spot in my heart for kurt halsey. i admit it! so i pretty much almost dyed when i saw his fireflies necklace at art star. i snapped it up and i wear it all the time and always get compliments on it. well, lo and behold art star posted a new weekend special today, spend $35 in the store and get a kurt halsey birds necklace free! that's an amazing deal, especially considering i didn't even know this new necklace existed. sadly i won't be able to get there this weekend so i ordered it up as a little birthday present to myself. but to all my philly peeps, go for it! it's a $34 necklace for free when you spend $35, that's insane! (ooh, also note how it comes in 2 different lengths, love that!)

04. spring cleaning apron - i'm working on a list things to do in the next year, and one of them is to complete a sewing project. i used to really enjoy sewing years and years a go, so it stands to reason that i will still enjoy it, right? the amazing fabric out there right now, not only from amazing fabric designers, but also from scrapbook companies i already love (cosmo cricket, basic grey, mme & more) is pushing me into action. i think my project will be this sweet scalloped apron from fig tree quilts. i love how it's designed to use just one "jelly roll" from moda and a little extra for lining and the scallop. i think i'll be using this jelly roll by joel dewberry, but may also still decide to get adventurous and mix my own fabrics. i could see how this could get silly expensive, but i'm going to fake myself into believing it's an investment, haha.

05. custom calligraphy address stamp - this little pretty jumped off oh so beautiful paper and straight into my "want" folder this week. how amazing would this be when we finally find an apartment? it's beyond beautiful, and just right for my handwriting hating self. just another reason for the universe to align and find us something already!

friday five #23

01. marathon's chicken matzo ball soup - i met up with my friend john at the marathon grille on walnut street (philly) for a quick post-haircut (me)/post-coachella (him) catch up and i decided i wanted a little snacker so ordered up some matzo ball. ohmygod! this chicken matzo ball soup is probably my new favorite soup of all time. so, yummy, buttery and delish. if you're in the area, get like 6 bowls, right now!

02. sprinkled shell top - liked this on anthro's website, looooved it when i tried it on in the store. it's not the lightest top ever, because of the shell pieces, but it's gorgeous and i need it. like. now. maybe i can use my upcoming trip to indiana as an excuse?

03. cheeky cherry - you know how you sometimes get lost on the internet? you're searching for an image, and then you end up on someone's blog, and then you're clicking a link to a store they design for, and then you're falling in love with something new? that happened to me a couple of days a go, but i had the happy accident of coming across a stamp company i really, really love that we are going to start carrying at the store! one of the collections i'm most in love with is, sadly, not available to retailers yet but will soon, thank garsh (as emma pilsbury would drawl). they're little vargas like girls and i need them all. can't wait to see the new designs of these girls that they'll have available to us in june! in the meantime, we'll be stocking up on the anya & ian stamps, as well as the wild sprouts a.s.a.p. can't wait!

05. invisible monsters art - it's no surprise that even though we haven't found an apartment yet, i've been dream room planning for a couple of months now. this new screenprinted poster by kevin tong for the "invisible monsters" by chuck palahniuk anniversary is sooo in one of my main color zones right now, and i def need it to be in our future apartment. bad. i feel like it may just inspire a whole room, living room perhaps?

04. new broken social scene - an always favorite, i'm pretty excited for the new broken social scene album, "forgiveness rock album" which releases on may 4th! and now that i've heard the full album preview on npr.org, i'm even more stoked. it feels like a perfect spring album, ideal for driving home at night with the windows down and a hoodie on. i'm really, really into it.

friday five #22

01. droolworthy books - the second round of penguin putnam classics are out and about in the world and i am, yet again, dying! the odyssey is one of my favorites. i also really love alice's adventures in wonderland, even though it makes me slightly crazy that the colors don't really go with the rest of the series. i guess it will just need to have it's own shelf on my imaginary not-yet-built or thrift-shopped bookcase that's just for this series of books!

02. multiple easters - due to my mum having to work part of the day, and it being the perfect holiday to meet more of the boy's fam, i was fortunate enough to have multiple easter's! this resulted in a face that hurt from lauging and smiling, a super full tummy and a really awesome easter. (fun fact: the boy can apparently pull off pink gingham in a pretty major way. who would have guessed it?)

03. chocolate covered gummy bears - i happen to have the best mum ever who knows me all to well. therefore my entire easter basket consisted of about 3 pounds (literally) of chocolate covered gummy bears from the rocky mountain chocolate factory which she drove 3 hours round trip to get to. beyond yum.

04. bloomers - you know those new scrappy products that you love so much you check on their status every day? well these bloomers trims from webster's pages are it for me! i can't wait 'til these are released! the colors are making me drool, and even though i'm not normally a flowery kind of girl i find myself wanting to cover, like my whole life in them. i die.

05. a future blog re-do - i'm not a digital scrapper by any means, but someone posted a link to danielle thompson's new kit for kitschy digitals, called vintage cameras and i fell for it. i'm still working out the logisitics, but it's going to be perfect for me to re-do my blog with! it's been needing a little overhaul for a while now, but i've been hesitant to do so because i still love these colors so much, but with this kit in hand (so to speak) i'll be able to keep the colors and still give it a new look.

a spring to do list...

... because i officially deem it spring simply because i just can not take any more winter! but first, let's check in on how i did with my autumn check list.

not the worst ever, i was wearing heels more than ever before in the beginning of autumn. i'd say i crossed booking my bristol trip +. perfect fall boots have been attained (even if it did happen in the winter). 3 shows is a pretty poor showing but it's almost to 5 right? i didn't get enough harvest moon for my taste, but it did happen.

and now, on to spring's edition, i'll try to remember to work on this one a little more diligently!

p.s. that first notepad is from boygirlparty and the second is from knock knock. go check out all their awesomeness for all your list needs!

oops-it's-no-longer-friday five #19

01. ryvita - i am now obsessed with these crackers. rhian & i are quasi-planning on me sending her boxes full of lucky charms in return for her sending my boxes of ryvita pumpkin seeds & oats. so crazy yummy, especially with hummus spread on them!

02. whip it! - i was kind of nervous to see this since i really wanted to love it, but had heard mixed reviews of it but i did in fact love it like crazy. i definitely recommend it to any and all of you. love ellen page and love, loved kristen wiig.

03. new shout out louds - the shout out louds are one of those bands who i wouldn't necessarily think of listing in my favorite bands but i'm not quite sure why. i consistently love every album they put out and they're good, easy listening when you're around the house or on a long car ride. their new one, "work" is no exception.

04. graham carter - nicole and i saw a bunch of graham carter's work in an awesome little gallery in bath, england and kinda fell in love with it. i especially love his prints on wood.

05. st. pat's game - so stoked on the st. pat's devils game! we finally got our tickets (along with tickets for the april 2nd blackhawks game)! the devils will be wearing their old school green & red jerseys and hopefully my st. pats devils shirt will come in time to be worn to the games! here's hoping the break did the devils some good and the games are awesome.

dream bedroom... sigh.

so who else is guilty of putting together dream outfits, rooms you can only dream of affording and wish lists full of things you will never actually buy? why must we torture ourselves? since i have officially started looking for an apartment, with a goal of late april or may, i have naturally started building dream rooms that i may not be able to afford, but can certainly try to d.i.y. my way into. here's all the bedroom inspiration i have picked up so far.

01. "high strung" green walls perhaps (jamaica posted this on tumblr a while a go, not sure where it came from) 02. birch wallpaper on 1 wall (might be able to paint this instead?) 03. gorgeous, dark wood side tables (love the shape) 04. killer wooden stereo to plug the ipod into 05. dark purple rosette quilt (will stalk on anthro wish list) 06. bartlett pear sheet set (soooooo will not spend that much on sheets no matter how much i love them) 07. textured, deconstructed, perfect gray pillow 08. alexander girard pillow 09. feather printed rug tucked under the foot of the bed 10. live what you love letterpress print 11. meerkat print (preferably in an ornate oval frame) 12. multiple john murphy style frames (could be thrifted & painted)

friday five #15

01. core impressions - core'dinations is pairing up with some awesome manufacturers who have patterns & colors that they use on a semi-regular basis and combining them with their embossed cardstock line to create packs of sandable, embossed paper. that means you can now play with that amazing cosmo cricket woodgrain, classic jenni bowlin label shape & jillibean soup's all over numbers pattern by sanding them down to reveal another color or just leaving them all embossed and lovely! can't wait 'til the collections packs start shipping!

02. distinguished animals - ryan berkley is obviously a genius! he illustrates very distinguished portraits of various animals and give you a little story about said animal as well. kristina bought me this cheetah print as part of my birthday fun package in june and i love him, i mean just read his little bio, "After cataract surgery ten years ago, this cheetah realized that an eyepatch can be a real conversation starter with the ladies. His eye has long since healed but his social calendar remains quite full." genius. you can shop his etsy, buy framed prints at urban or get these rad coasters! i think "meerkat" will be my next purchase.

03. coachella possibilities - do i dare dream that i might finally make it to coachella this spring? it's a slight possibility, and i would totally die! especially if i not only get to go with john & jasmine, the usual coachella suspects, but also get jen & vee to come along on the indio adventure. 3 full days of amazingness.

04. night owl paper goods - letterpress, cards printed on actual wood, adorable branding & lots of sweet little characters = love. also, they have some pretty awesome stuff on sale right now. i just bought some sale goodies and will be making a mini album out of a bunch of the wood postcards! on a somewhat related note, i can't wait for the ny stationary show in may!

05. wallpaper lust - i am soooooo not creating dream rooms for an apartment that i have not even found yet. that would be crazy, right? : / aaaaanyway... i am in a pretty major phase of big, crazy, graphic wallpaper lust! look at that gorgeous peacock feather stuff from ferm! and there's some gorgeous white birch tree wallpaper that you may or may not be seeing in a future blog entry that may or may not be about my dream rooms.

friday five #13

01. royal typewriters - specifically those made in the 50's and later in gorgeous colors! they are so pretty and timeless. i have a junky old olympia and i am seriously craving an underwood cursive typewriter but i would love to score a vintage salmon or teal royal. but, in the meantime i will get by with a little help from crafty folk's typewriter stickers.

02. "contra" - the new vampire weekend album came out tuesday, sara berry clued me in to the fact that you could listen to it on npr's website before it's release and i'm pretty into it. it's probs going to be perfect to get us all through the end of winter and ready for a fresh and fun spring.

03. the boy can atc - the boy & i went to kristina & dawn's new years day housewarming party (vee came up too, yay!) and one of the first thing's miss k yelled in our general directions was that everyone had to make an atc card for the house before leaving. i thought the boy was going to be not so into it, but he was totes into it and slammed out a killer card complete with painting, stamping and even rub-ons. i'm a lucky miss!

04. fuggs - let me get real serious here for a second. i hate uggs, like haaaaaaaaaate them! but my toes have been frozey this winter, so i caved and bought some fuggs (as in fake & fugly) last month and i kind of see what it's all about. they keep my feeties warm, are super easy to slip on and they oddly enough make your legs look cute and small by comparison. hell must have truly frozen over.

05. tattoo possibilities - wintertime is tattoo time and i'm so ready for a new one. i have it narrowed down to just a couple of pieces by one of my favorite artists, julie west, and i'm pretty sure about location, now to just donate blood before (so annoying that you can't for 6 months after), save the funds, make final decisions and make the appointment! yay!

2009 christmas wish list

so in lieu of a friday five this week , i'm doing 25 christmas wishes!

01. a new wool coat, this one has pleats! 02. frye whipstitch hobo in "cognac" 03. shark mittens! 04. custom address stamp from paperwink (kristina turned me on to these, so good!) 05. prague (my airfare from london, not the city itself!) 06. "sagaform" dishes from huset 07. felt lowercase alphabet scarf 08. new penguin hardcover classics 09. steve madden "stardom" flats (studded, pewter faux snake skin! they're like an 80's hair metal video in shoe form!) 10. more ink for the lifestyle letterpress system 11. wooden fox necklace by joanna rutter whose shop is currently down : ( 12. "big love ring" in winter colors by pink saguaro. jen spotted these! i heart the gray one! 13. yellow bird project hoodie 14. dublin! (again, not the city itself) 15. sweetheart tree necklace by lisa leonard 16. julie west "chubby book" 17. "and then..." limited edition screenprinted poster by julie west 18. 2010 critter calendar (printed on wood) from night owl paper goods 19. always the fold over mid-city tote in grey by foley + corinna. always. 20. the chalet watch in walnut woodgrain by nixon 21. repurposed vintage paint by numbers united states cut out from somethings hiding in here 22. ever since they were in the anthro catalogue last year; "benjamin button boots" by matisse in brown have been in my dreams 23. orla kiely "tripp" large tote 24. "anna" plaid dress and "athena" braided belt (yes, i still shop at delia*s even though i'm 27) 25. a merlotte's mug (can't wait for true blood!)

it's good to have wishes that are totally out there, right?

friday five #07

01. monsters of folk - i don't know if i can really even explain my monsters of folk experience in terms that will be able to do it any sort of justice, but i'll try. i had heard rumblings of this "super group", but had just put them in my mental to-check-out-list until my friend john off handedly mentioned that he had a spare ticket for their philadelphia show at the academy of music, which i jumped on. these 4 guys, m. ward (solo work, she & him), conor oberst (commander venus, desparacidos, bright eyes and solo work), jim james (my morning jacket and solo work as yim yames) and mike mogis (bright eyes + 5 million other things) have written, performed, produced or appeared on like 70% of the albums i love most in the world and their degree of musicianship is INSANE (and you know i don't use caps!) anyway, the show was definitely one of my favorite performances of all time, if not the favorite. it was obvious that these dudes all really dig each other and thoroughly enjoy writing & playing music together. they performed some of their songs from their album as well as a ton of each others' songs for 2ish+ hours and it was amazing! beyond words.

02. screen printed tour posters - i have written before about my love for a good gig poster, but i just have to revisit it since the past week and a half has yielded two! kristina & i scored the amazing screen printed typewriter tour poster (pictured up there) at the get up kids show last thursday, and then i also scored an amazing one with metallic-y bits at the monsters of folk show monday. i die. now they just need a good framing so they can join the art wall.

03. new york magazine - just go ahead and subscribe now. new york magazine is the perfect length for a weekly reading, an awesome mix of news & entertainment, and it always supplies me with at least one or two interesting stories i want to share. i love it so much that i will even forgive it for this weeks cover story about how there are bands back in brooklyn. duh, nym!

04. chapstick "classic" - any of you who know me in person know that if i can't get my hands on my lip stuff it's all over. in fact john and i had to dash to the locust deli pre-show because i almost started hyperventilating sans-lip moisturizer. anyway, chapstick medicated used to be my go to love, but then they switched it all around when they changed their packaging and so i had to start using burts bees instead. it's good, but it's no chapstick medicated. anyway, on said pre-show dash for lippy stuff i made a wonderful discovery, chapstick "classic" is in fact chapstick medicated!!! rejoice with me.

05. penguin classic hardcovers - i think i have blogged in the past about my desire to read the classics that i somehow skipped in my earlier days. i started with pride & prejudice and am enjoying it so much that i'm slowing my reading down so that it doesn't end. and it's making me wonder what other classics are out there that i would love as much as this one. and now the design/literary world has given me yet another reason to keep reading; penguin hardback classics designed by coralie bickford-smith. gorgeous repeated images, printed and debossed on cloth hardcovers. so yum. my favorites are the picture of dorian gray, madame bovary, great expectations and oliver twist i am putting them on my christmas list, and have already visited them in the book store. you can drool over them all here. how beautiful will they be on their very own set of shelves?!?

friday five #03

01. american mortals - so the fact that i take the train into philly every 6 or so weeks just to get my hair done should be pretty indicative of just how much i love it. heidi has been doing my hair for close to three years now, and i totally love her, plus it's just a fun place to be. and it didn't hurt that they brought me candy corn part way through my hair cut. not bad.

02. terrible yellow eyes - the oh joy! blog turned me on to this collection a couple of weeks a go, and a bunch of the pieces have been rotating as my laptop wallpaper ever since. cory godbey has created this project that hosts a huge bunch of different artists' work inspired by where the wild things are. there are drawings, illustrations, graphic patterns, collages and all kinds of other awesome pieces, and they can all be viewed on the terrible yellow eyes blog. here are some of my favorites. i also stopped in to urban yesterday, post-haircut and their whole middle floor looked like the forest in the book! i wanted to curl up in it, or at least take a bunch of pictures.

03. yellow bird project - okay, so i know we all love band shirts, but in my case they usually end up collecting in bins under my bed so i've been cutting myself off. but with an organization like yellow bird project in existence i am officially back in band tee buying business! ybp has some of their favorite musicians, singers & bands design their own tee shirts and then lets them pick the charity that the proceeds will benefit, an amazing idea that has so far brought us this rilo kiley tee to benefit free arts for abused children, this au revoir simone tee to help fund transportation alernatives and this guy from the dears to help the pediatric cancer community among others. and if you're still not sold on the band tee things, feel free to spend some time playing with the indie rock coloring book!

04. turning summer clothes into fall clothes - umm... so i went a little too crazy shopping in philly, but that point aside, one of my absolute most favorite things about fall is turning summer clothes into autumn friendly outfits with tights, boots, maryjanes & grandpa cardis! this process is especially fun, for me anyway, when it involves getting a cute summer dress on clearance and being able to wear it right away, no matter how crisp it's getting outside!

05. "the brothers bloom" - i think i gushed a bunch about this movie when i saw it at the alamo draft house in austin with kerry at the beginning of the summer, so i'll make this brief; rent this movie! i mean seriously, it was written and directed by the same dude who did "brick", so just do it! it comes out this tuesday and you will absolutely adore it! love adrien brody & mark ruffalo together, love how completely expressive bang bang is, love rachel weisz's wardrobe & obviously i totally love joseph gordon-levitt's cameo!

friday five #02

01. "home" by edward sharpe & the magnetic zeros - seriously, you need to listen to this song now. it makes my heart so happy and at times, i even giggle while listening to it. a.) it's catchy as eff b.) who doesn't love singing along in an accent? and c.) well i never have a "c" but you get the point. listen. love. get addicted. especially since this song is ripe for commercial use and i'm sure it will be overplayed and hated on soon enough, so love it while you can!

02. night owl paper goods - i got hooked on this little company back when kristina put their wood hello card in her sis kit, and when they came out with a wood calendar at last years stationary show i def swooned a little bit. well, this years stationary show has come and gone and night owl has graced us with another awesome release! my favorites this time around are their new "hybrid" cards that combine their printing on wood and scrumptious letterpress, like the otter one up there that says "thought i otter say thanks !" i die. also love the "2010 critter calendar" those are all printed on sustainably harvested wood! and their new calling card/place cards are making me wish i threw dinner parties on the regular!

03. empanada mama - ohmygodsoyum!!! kerry and i had lunch at this place monday afternoon before i caught my train back to jersey and it was unbelievable! we got 4 or 5 empanadas each and pretty much went to town. my favorites were the brasil & regaeton. unbelievable. (p.s. those are their catering prices, not per empanada, haha) i definitely want to go back and try like everything they make, and maybe even manage to save room for a dessert empanada next time.

04. gigposters.com - show/concert posters have come a long way from those high school show flyers and are an art form all of their own these days. i have this one hanging over my bed, and it's one of my favorites. this is the perfect place to search posters for shows you've been to, be inspired by amazing art, screenprinting & such and you can even buy some of the posters on the site. you can also find rad new bands to love on by searching the posters of some of your favorite bands to see who they've played with and then give them a try!

05. worlds colliding - one of the drawbacks of having close friends who live far away is that they don't get to meet each other often! but since kerry was in nyc for a wedding when i was in brooklyn to visit k we got to all hang out, and i love that they love each other! we got to party on the roof top, have brunch, talk about boys, walk chloe, go shopping and partake in the worlds largest burritos! plus, obviously we had to make the walk to bushwick country club for photobooth time!

friday five #01

since i love doing list entries so much and sometimes get blog stumped, i thought it might be a good idea to do an entry every friday with things i'm loving at the moment. so, welcome to the inaugural "friday five"!

01. "popular songs" by yo la tengo - i love when an album's cover art makes my heart go all fluttery, and a beautiful album cover like this one also serves as proof of that awesome new jersey/texas chemistry! yo la tengo done good when they picked an amazing sculpture from texas based artist dario robleto for their newest album, and the music's not half bad either, haha. almost all of these tracks are perfection on a cool rainy day, and my so-far-favorite is the 5th track, "periodically double or triple" which makes me want to shimmy dance with a cute boy in a dive bar somewhere.

02. the limited edition julie west chubby book - adorable name aside, check out the stats on these artist series books; 6"x6"and one & a 1/2 inch thick books packed with 10 artist designed postcards (one of which is a calendar), 100 lined pages & 150 blank sketchbook pages. julie west is one of my favorite artists of all time, to the point where my next tattoo is one of her pieces, and so i really can't wait to house all my thoughts, schemes, mix drafts and everything else for 2010 in this chubby book. julie's shop is sold out of them, but you can get them here, as well as some other places online.

03. jemaine & bret - seriously! how have i only just started watching "flight of the conchords" this past week? i know everyone loved jemaine in eagle vs. shark, but i'm a bret girl for sure, and now i am totally going to have to nerd out and check for him in lord of the rings as "elf escort" (or maybe not). i mean, how can you not fall in love with dudes when they do stuff like this in every episode? i'm only halfway through season one, but i die!

04. supayana - kerry's friend yana makes these amazing shirts by repurposing vintage & secondhand mens dress shirts into awesome ladies tops and sells them, and other cute pieces, on etsy! when i visited austin in june and kerry was doing most of my styling she threw me her "yana top" and a thick belt to go at waist level and i have to say i got a bunch of compliments! the tops are super comfy, super wearable, but still really interesting. and now, she is making these sweet shoelace necklaces that i can't wait to get my hands on, not to mention my need to own a "yana top" of my very own!

05. the romantics by galt niederhoffer - i absolutely adore this author's first book, a taxonomy of barnacles because it reminds me a little of a wes anderson style movie. so, when i saw she had a new book coming out it was hard to wait for it to come out in paperback, but it's here! i'm about halfway through and so far i like it a bunch. it seems less dense and quirky then taxonomy, but it's still enjoyable. i'll let you known how it turns out!