immersion

incredible video of kids playing video games by photographer Robbie Cooper. 

who says kids these days can't concentrate? 

via nytimes

one little christmas tree

tomorrow we are going to buy our Christmas tree!  

image taken from the Library of Congress on flickr (they have thousands of photos up and add more all the time. I am obsessed.)

panettone

Every year around this time Steven stocks up on the super gross traditional Milanese Christmas bread/cake, panettone.  He loves it and will eat a big hunk every morning for breakfast from the time the panettone appears in stores in November until they run out of it sometime in January.  I hate it and will make a face it each morning as Steven eats it.  

Maybe I would like it better if it came in these delightful boxes by Purpose, but probably not.

via pan-dan

easy as pie

my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner this year was pie. Pecan pie with bittersweet chocolate, Pumpkin pie and apple pie.
Delicious!

puppy love, take two

my nine month old niece, Riley, loves Gus and Ollie even though they like to lick her in the face.  And they love her even though she likes to pull their hair and ears.  

I am not really sure if that's a look of love or fear on Ollie, but Riley's definately smitten.  

best laid plans

I love this blog, 1001 rules for my unborn son.  Most of it's pretty good advice not only for unborn sons, but for already born ones and daughters too.  

give thanks

Happy Thanksgiving!  

puppy love

Gus and Ollie this morning.  

sunprint kits

I got a couple of these for my nephews for Christmas.  

"Developed by educators at the Lawrence Hall of Science, Sunprints encourage an interest in the photographic process using only sun, water and a bit of imagination.  Place a fern, flower, or other object on the special paper and set it in the sun briefly.  Then rinse the paper in water and watch as a beautiful, long lasting image appears."

The kits were developed in the early 70's.  It's weird to think about how much the "photographic process" has changed since then.  

smart penguin

I'd watch more nature shows if more ended this way.

via the atlantic

sculpt

These sculpted leathers and fabrics by Helen Amy Murray (no relation) are amazing.  

via yatzer

snow tires

I read that because of state wide budget cuts there are going to be some roads that don't get plowed right away this year, so I am thinking of getting snow tires for my bicycle.  

I am also wondering if strapping Gus's crate on my bike's rear rack, and sticking Gus and Ollie in there together (which they would love and would keep them warm) is the way to fulfill my Wizard of Oz fantasies.  

image from dutchphototoday

all roads lead...

I love Ben Fry's "All Streets" maps.  They are images of the "26 million individual road segments.  No other features (such as outlines or geographic features) have been added to this image, however they emerge as roads avoid mountains, and sparse areas convey low population." 

via good

I love you but...

hilarious.  more here.

via smitten

bunny cake

I know it's seasonally inappropriate, but I was organizing my photos and found one of this cake I made last Easter and I still think is pretty funny.  (and I am pathetic and can't wait for spring.)

I made the bunny out of a jordan almond and a few jelly beans.  

Maybe I'll make a candy corn and chocolate truffle turkey to put on top of the Thanksgiving pecan pie.  

paper whites

I got some paperwhite bulbs today.  I love paperwhites.

photo from apartment therapy

bottle neck

We bottled the nocino that we made this summer in old Martinelli's apple juice and milk bottles and are trying to figure out how to ship flammable liquid Christmas presents. 

it's curtains

I am still trying to figure out what to do about the windows. I like these by Ravi Design.


but maybe that's just because they remind me of a bone china piece we made during our residency at the European Ceramic Workcentre a few years ago.

double trouble

Gus and Ollie:
we put a double sink in the laundry room a few months ago, thinking it would be good for hand washing clothes but mostly we use it for hand washing doggies.

Gus and Ollie played pretty rough and loud today and it had me a little upset and worried. Considering that this is what they were doing 20 minutes later, I think I over reacted.

ghostly

Is it weird if I think Philip Johnson's chain link Ghost House is pretty much the most beautiful house ever built even though it is an architectural folly not a house?


yes?


well, too bad.

more info here.

coolest staircase ever

from Cookie magazine, which is a great parenting magazine. I know it's weird that I occasionally look at a parenting magazine since we don't yet have kids, but the house tours etc they have are really great.

not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse

I saw these on etsy.  I am not sure they actually are Christmas ornaments, but they should be and are hilarious.  (although a little pricey.)  

I need to learn how to sew.  

Vincent Van Gogh mouse

 

R2D2 mouse

and my favorites, Adam and Eve mice.

sinking

When we moved into the studio the sink was gross.  The plumbing is a bit funny and the waste water is pumped up and out instead of going through a waste drain, so there were two cheap, ugly plastic utility sinks, one on top of the other, that were just really dirty and gross.  I scrubbed and scrubbed but they did not come clean.  

The idea of spending money on two new ugly, cheap (but not inexpensive) sinks bugged me so after looking around at resale shops for something better, I decided to make one.  

I bought two galvanized steel buckets ($12 each) and some shelf brackets, and pulled a sheet of stainless steel and a sheet of plywood that we had leftover from another project out of the garage.

Our neighbor at the studio is a blacksmith and he helped me cut a hole in the bottom of the bucket and stretch it so that the drain I put in would work better.  I cut a couple holes in the plywood, one for the bucket, one for a towel rack. 

hung the plywood on the brackets and...

Voila!  a sink!  

let there be light

We got the lights up in the studio a few months back.  the shades came from Rick and Toni's scrounging and the fixtures came from Ikea. It's hard to see but the cord is bright red, which I love.   

I may have to rename this blog, "Gifts from Rick and Toni and other things"!

we are the world

my mom sent me a link to this great collage of the front pages of 300 newspapers from around the world the morning after Senator Barack Obama was elected our next president.  

go here to see the whole collage and scroll over to see enlargements of each cover.

yule tide

for the past couple years we've had a dried pomegranate wreath on our front door which is looking a little worse for wear.  So, because of that, and because our front door is now bright red, I have been looking for a new wreath, and hoping that I can find one that will last a long, long time that we can reuse year after year.  

I like this one from Cardboard Safari.

via apartmenttherapy

herding cats

my sister in law and mother in law have cats and I think I am going to get a couple of these cat play houses for them for Christmas.  ok, maybe not but it'd sure be hilarious if I did.  

green monster

I am really jealous that Steven is at the ICA/Boston right now looking at Tara Donovan's exhibition and wish I hadn't decided to stay home instead of going with him.

have a ball

when I was in college the grocery store around the corner had a super ball machine just past the checkout line. I bought myself one pretty much every time I shopped.

I wonder what ever happened to all those balls....

cheap ass bastard

does anyone know how expensive window treatments are?  and why the heck do they sell curtains individually?  I mean, really, who is gonna buy only one?  

I hate the shades that came with our house.  they are ugly and janky and dark and did I mention I hate them?  But I have no sewing skills to sew something, and think that pretty much everything I have found is a rip off, so we're screwed. 

Our neighbors will see us naked.  

well, I have one idea.   

A year ago I made a whole slew of laser cut vellum drawings that I never took any photos of.  But recently I was looking at the work of valerie boy:

Jolynn Krystosek:

and Heather McGill:

And while I think they might hate me for saying so, I am thinking I can fashion something out of some rag paper using an exacto knife or maybe U of M's laser cutter.  

wish me luck.