Photo-bomb!

The craziest freaking picture I have seen lately.
Read the entire story: here.

Back to the Future

Well this is super interesting:  photographer Irina Werning  invites people to reenact childhood photos, in a project called Back to the Future.    See more HERE.

help me rhonda

If someone were to make these for me I would be happier than a pig in mud.

Ming Makes Cupcakes  is a lovely lovely site.

Brought to my attention by Little Miss Bossy.

so pretty

ok, I interrupt this incredibly long period of silence to show you some beautiful flowers: 

What I like:  

1. succulents
2. flowers that are almost black
3. lots of texture
4. dahlias

Saved the best for last: 

All images from Flora Grubb at The Cutting Garden. Go there now for even more amazing flower porn. 

HOpe you are having a great fall weekend!

exactly

Hugh MacLeod always has something interesting to say.

This sketch pretty much sums up my thoughts for this week.... maybe slightly more vulgar in translation than I would put it, but still.

hahahhaah.  I literally laughed out loud for a solid minute when I saw it.  Anyway interesting article as well. 

Erin Tyner on Flickr!!

Fade
Originally uploaded by Erin_T

I just discovered that Erin Tyner is on Flickr!! Not sure how I missed this before, as I am a big fan (recall my much anticipated purchase here).... in any case, see her pics in all their glory any day of the week at Flickr. com. YAY!

Amazing Poet Alert

Maya Stein
I have posted one of her poems here before, but I am kind of obsessed.  Maybe because it is like Ms. Stein has a private webcam into my life, and then she writes about the most mundane things with exquisite beauty and profound understanding? amazing...

Let the world spin as it spins

Eat the last cookies in the box.
Wear the same pair of jeans two
weeks in a row. See the orchid die, leaf
by leaf. Wipe the countertop carelessly,
so it’s sticky as spit the next time
you lean on your elbows wondering
what’s for dinner. Watch hours
of television. Call for pizza, for Chinese,
for the cable company to give you even
more channels. Drive by the gym
without skipping a beat. Wash your hair only
when it starts wilt, when the mirror
produces someone who doesn’t look like she wants
to get laid. Think about sex constantly.
Order cocktails. Play pool. Spend your money
on a massage, on t-shirts from the warehouse sale,
on inflation-priced bagels from the café down the street.
Ignore the obvious fact that the sheets
need changing. Occupy your bed gratuitously.
When you’re done reading for the night,
flop the pages open, straining the jacket.
Allow the avocados to ripen beyond repair.
Stain the kitchen sink with grape stems,
mango peels, olive pits with the meat
still clinging. Use vast quantities of paper towels
for a simple spill of water.
Lavish attention on the minute landscape
between your eyebrows.
Lose time. Ditch the mail into the bulging
plastic bag near your desk. Almost mistake it
for trash. Abandon the task of fixing
the dresser drawer. Turn your car
into a wastebasket.

And when it comes, fall with extravagant
ugliness. Grieve noisily into the balls of your fists.
Push your heels against the carpet, your chest squirming.
Feel the walls of the house vibrate with your pain.
Make pockmarks of your heart.
Collapse if you have to. It is like this.
The world spins as it spins.
No one knows,
even though we all know
this is between
you and you alone.
So yield. Commit your entire body.
Recognize your own astonishing anguish.
Tear it from your skin like a wolf
eviscerates her trapped leg. Shriek like
the downed bird you are.
Invest wholly in your damage.
Lap up each tumescent despair. Swallow
the pinbones of your loss. Caress
every razor edge of not enough. Gift yourself
long, bruising hours of hopelessness.
The world spins as it spins.
Your life is on that same axis,
half shadow, half radiance
and turning, always turning.

Holiday wishes

From the inimitable "I Can Has Cheezburger"....this about sums up my holiday spirit for the year.  hahahah....

If you're happy and you know it...

Everyday I get a little newsletter called "PhilosophersNotes" via email. The author of the newsletter has read HEAPS AND HEAPS of books on personal and spiritual development and prepared little "cliffs notes" style summaries. He has a subscription you can pay for, but I just get the mini (free) daily newsletter, so every single day I get these little blips of wisdom. Sometimes I pay more attention than others. Today, this one came up:

“Of course, we don’t love painful feelings like anxiety or depression. We don’t have to love or even like them, but we do have to accept them, as difficult as that can seem at times. Emotions, no matter how painful they are, are not the problem. The problem is dropping out of school or work, putting your family or duties of life on hold until such time as you can work out your emotional issues. Would you rather feel depressed while sitting alone in your room trying to figure it all out or feel depressed while getting your house cleaned or your project completed? (You may still feel depressed, but you have a cleaner house.) The heart of accepting your emotions (and, as you’ve seen, of reclaiming your will) is to do what you need to do despite what you are feeling. Accept and learn from your feelings, but don’t let them run your life. By remaining productive during difficult emotional episodes, you are more likely to improve your emotional state than if you do nothing but ruminate and wait for sunny skies.” ~ Dan Millman from Everyday Enlightenment Dan’s big on viewing our emotions like clouds passing by. Just as we can’t control the weather, we can’t (directly) control our emotions. When we can accept whatever emotion we’re experiencing and then DO WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE, we enter a different level of being. As Dan says, “The most constructive way to influence your emotions is to do something.” So, you feelin’ a little funky? Alright. It is what it is. Now, ask yourself, “Self, what needs to be done?” (Make sure you address yourself as “Self”--very important part of the process. :) Then... JUST DO IT.

[attention worried parents reading this: I am not at this moment feeling particularly "funky."]

I also happen to be reading at this time a book called "Happy at Last" by Richard O'Connor. (sidebar: how awesome is the public library? I love to just stroll thru and pick up any random book that catches my eye.). Borrowing from Amazon.com:

In Happy at Last, psychotherapist Richard O’Connor offers new thinking about how we attain and maintain happiness, and he shows us that it doesn’t necessarily have to come at a high cost or in a big package. Rather, we can be in command of our happiness by learning to control how our minds work so that we can identify and savor the hidden positive aspects of everyday life. To do this, O’Connor provides us with a set of skills that will help us re-wire our brains to allow ourselves more joy.

I am only a couple of chapters in, but the first two are pretty amazing, drawing on all these studies that show how the greater the wealth of the country, the more likely the people are to be miserable. How the Industrial Revolution put the "societal evolution" of man into warp speed, with no real hope of developing a suitable coping mechanism for a completely new way of life. I am not really good at explaining stuff.... just trust me, read it.

So what's all this about? To quote Abraham Lincoln, "Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." So, consider my mind made up!

word of the day.

Word of the Day:

Photobomb (verb)- to drop in a photo unexpectedly...to hop in a picture right before it is taken.

sarah: hey why is jimmy in the background of our prom picture?
ryan: idk, he must have photobombed it at the last second.

Cutest example ever:

See other adorable examples here: Cutest Photo-bombs on the Internet

****

In other news, I saw Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium recently. While it was not a very good movie, it had a lot of things going for it:

1. Dustin Hoffman as a wacky kook with some amazing eyebrows.
   
2. an adorable kid with huge brown eyes.
   
3. A vivid, amazing set (in a toy shop) with a sock monkey as mini-featured role.
   
4. Jason Bateman. With whom I am mildly in infatuated. This has a great deal to do with the fact that in looks and mannerisms he reminds me absolutely of my pal Chad Sloan, so watching a movie with him in it is a bit like spending time with a fun pal. Only a bit. :)

Also, the movie has at least 3 rather lovely quotes/passages (all delivered by Hoffman), which I will take the liberty of posting here:

Your life is an occasion. Rise to it.

When King Lear dies in Act V, do you know what Shakespeare has written? He's written "He dies." That's all, nothing more. No fanfare, no metaphor, no brilliant final words. The culmination of the most influential work of dramatic literature is "He dies." It takes Shakespeare, a genius, to come up with "He dies." And yet every time I read those two words, I find myself overwhelmed with dysphoria. And I know it's only natural to be sad, but not because of the words "He dies." but because of the life we saw prior to the words.

and my favorite:

We breathe. We pulse. We regenerate. Our hearts beat. Our minds create. Our souls ingest. 37 seconds, well used, is a lifetime.

how lovely is that?

A Dirty Job

I recently joined Audible.com, which is a great service for downloading audible books and magazines, and much lower prices than Itunes. Actually it pre-dates Itunes....When I lived in NYC what seems 100 years ago, my boyfriend at the time discovered this service and I remember him gushing on about it, listening to novels on his morning commute, etc. As I knew I would be doing a bit of long distance driving this summer, and a basic trip to the grocery store here involves a 20 minute drive with no radio service, I decided to give it a go.

My first pick: A Dirty Job: A Novel by Christopher Moore.

Here's the blip from Amazon:

Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy with a normal life, married to a bright and pretty woman who actually loves him for his normalcy. They're even about to have their first child. Yes, Charlie's doing okay—until people start dropping dead around him, and everywhere he goes a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Charlie Asher, it seems, has been recruited for a new position: as Death.

It's a dirty job. But, hey! Somebody's gotta do it.

I picked this because I had read Moore's Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, book which is irreverent and ridiculous but somehow really touching and inspirational all at once.

Actually, "irreverent and ridiculous but somehow touching and inspirational" might be a catch-phrase for Moore's work in general. The stories never fail to surprise, and while the characters sometimes seem a bit caricature-like, they are at the same time warm and funny and I often find myself tearing up a bit... and then laughing out loud.

While this audible book does not top the inimitable Jim Dale reading any of the Harry Potter series (really, what could?), it was a great listen. Now what to pick next....????

AWWWWK-WARD!

I come out of blogdom silence to bring you.... Awkward Family Photos.
A few choice favorites...

Trying out that favorite pose of the 80's, "the armshelf":


I have no witty comments to share about this image, which is to me somehow more disturbing than awkward:


I think this engagement photo really captures their love and devotion beautifully:


More of these beauties at the website.

I am a Grace

So I just took this online quiz to discover what "Mad-Men Era Female Icon" I am... and though the quiz was only 2 questions long I think it is kind of startlingly accurate! Take the test yourself HERE.

Female Icon Quiz ...

You Are a Grace!

You are a Grace -- "I need to understand the world."

Graces have a need for knowledge and are introverted, curious, analytical, and insightful.

How to Get Along with Me

* * Be independent, not clingy
* * Speak in a straightforward and brief manner
* * I need time alone to process my feelings and thoughts
* * Remember that If I seem aloof, distant, or arrogant, it may be that I am feeling uncomfortable
* * Make me feel welcome, but not too intensely, or I might doubt your sincerity
* * If I become irritated when I have to repeat things, it may be because it was such an effort to get my thoughts out in the first place
* * don't come on like a bulldozer
* * Help me to avoid my pet peeves: big parties, other people's loud music, overdone emotions, and intrusions on my privacy

What I Like About Being a Grace

* standing back and viewing life objectively
* coming to a thorough understanding; perceiving causes and effects
* my sense of integrity: doing what I think is right and not being influenced by social pressure
* not being caught up in material possessions and status
* being calm in a crisis

What's Hard About Being a Grace

* * being slow to put my knowledge and insights out in the world
* * feeling bad when I act defensive or like a know-it-all
* * being pressured to be with people when I don't want to be
* * watching others with better social skills, but less intelligence or technical skill, do better professionally

Graces as Children Often

* * spend a lot of time alone reading, making collections, and so on
* * have a few special friends rather than many
* * are very bright and curious and do well in school
* * have independent minds and often question their parents and teachers
* * watch events from a detached point of view, gathering information
* * assume a poker face in order not to look afraid
* * are sensitive; avoid interpersonal conflict
* * feel intruded upon and controlled and/or ignored and neglected

Things that make me Happy

Following the example of a host of bloggers I follow regularly including Rahree, Little Miss Bossy and Gala Darling, today I present a list of things that are making me happy:

1. Sleeping in my own bed. (this sounds pervy, but it actually has more to do with extended travel than extensive love life. trust me).
2. Sesame Seared Tuna. On the menu for dinner tonight as I resume my position as our home's resident Betty Crocker.
3. Making the final car payment!!!!
4. Opening a show I have worried about for approximately nine months..... and feeling really really proud of it.
5. Finally obtaining health insurance and making my first appointment for a fully covered doctor visit.
6. Crossing items off a bear of a to-do list.
7. A new web tool: www.mint.com. Amazing and FREE tool that tracks your spending and budget automatically. Just began this today but already feel in love with it!
8. Depositing checks.
9. Houston's gorgeous winter weather.
10. A hot bath in a very clean tub. (thanks Sus!)
11. Bonus: a great public library one block from my home that has an incredible inter-library loan system.

shwew! so much happiness over here right now.

Write a Novel

It is the first day of rehearsal for Hansel & Gretel, and here I am, writing a blog post.

I remember once hearing that it only takes 30 minutes of study per day for you to become an expert at something. I completely buy this.... evidence: I am an expert on "Friends" (yes, the TV show, don't judge). Why? Because I spent most of my college and young adult life watching one episode per day. I didn't even sit and give it my full focus, but just let it pervade my consciousness slowly, steadily, over time.

Sidebar: Must read Malcolm Gladwell's The Outliers, which I think will further confirm my crackpot theory.
See also: Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird, a book about writing and the creative process.

So basically, slow and steady wins the race. There is a reason old maxims like this stick around, no?

I have more to say about this, but for now I will leave you with a very very interesting post:
HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL IN 100 DAYS.

FLOOD

Have you heard about this? Venice is flooded! (ps. I just realized these pics are getting cut off on my blog... click thru to see the full picture.)


It's the deepest flood in 22 years. Says the Boston Globe: "Although this flood was severe enough for the mayor to ask tourists to temporarily stay home, Venetian floods are fairly routine, several occurring every year, and residents usually take it all in stride."
Wow. People, your city is underwater! Nice that you can take it in calmly now, but maybe consider retirement options elsewhere?
See more amazing pics HERE.

Etsy love

I haven't written a post about Etsy.com in a while, but I still love it. I am the WORST about my own shop, but I spend a lot of time looking at pretty things there, and love to buy handmade presents. Who wouldn't love these cuties?....

sockmonkey piano duet

e soule gnome print

What brings YOU here?

I occasionally check in to my StatCounter to see how many folks are looking in at this ol' blog.... where they are.... what keywords brought them my way.

Most folks come by way of "tara faircloth blog," "airstream diva" or similiar, which is cool. Here are some others that tickle my fancy:

• sexoholic anon salt lake city............i am thinking this is not an uncommon search. maybe my blog is not your best destination, but best of luck.
  
• airstream embroidery .....maybe i should give it a try!
  
• orff eat more tuna..... one post people, one post.
  
• nellie tara faircloth........ who you callin' nellie?
  
• dealing with divas as a stage manager..... hmmmm
  
• david duchovny nude on californication..... i beg you
  
• funny people.... alright, i'll take it
  

and my all time favorite.......... "airstream convince wife buy"

Random: floral design blog

ok, this blog is nothing if not random, right? You should see my Google Reader..... opera stuff, crafting, fashion, design, self-improvment.... there are well over 1000 articles coming my way everyday.

One blog I particularly enjoy is: HouseMartin, a blog about floral and home design. These bouquets she posted about recently were really just breath-taking to me. They make me want to drop it all and go back into floral design, open a little shop of my own, starve to death in a whole new way. :)

tiny secret: I am only half kidding.

Blast from the past

I just discovered a website that uploads high-res photos from olden times: Shorpy: The 100-year-old Photoblog. The pic above is our very first Miss America, in 1925. The one below is entitled, "Multi-Processor Computing: 1924." Very cool.