Category: links

Taxes and this and that

Wow, this week kind of got away from me.  I’m so glad it’s Friday.  I’m excited to sleep in tomorrow but less excited about getting started on my taxes. *gulp*

Meanwhile, here are a few things I saw online and wanted to share

Throughly charmed by these photos of Japanese mascots dealing with the tight spaces of city life.

This has shook me to my core; I’ve been using post-it notes wrong this whole time.

Aww…Penguin swims 5,000 miles every year for reunion with the man who saved his life

Yum…I made a double batch of this green sauce and made enchiladas using leftover pulled pork from last week and it was tasty! And now I have 4 bags of leftover sauce in my freezer which makes me feel extremely satisfied 🙂

That’s it for now.  I’m working on a book review for Monday that includes a giveaway.  If you’re interested in China or have a kid who will study China at some point you won’t want to miss it.  And between you and me, your chances of winning are probably pretty good 😉

Hope you have a nice weekend.  See you next week!

Around the interwebs

Just a few things I saw around last week.

Loved these portraits of mixed-race families.  Growing up in a mixed-race family means that things like this catch my eye.

Crayon Pop, one of my favorite K-pop groups, has made it big and is opening for Lady Gaga!  Here’s a nice write-up about them.  Sadly, Crayon Pop isn’t opening for when the tour comes to Salt Lake, if they were N and I would probably try to go.

The Trauma of Parenthood – I think our culture is starting to talk more about this but there’s still a lot of room for improvement.  Pursue kindness over ideology. For a person whose suffering has been met with judgment, a sympathetic ear can make all the difference.

Our weekend was nice–our town had its been rodeo celebration.   One night at the rodeo I  volunteered in the concession stand slinging nacho cheese and on Saturday we took the kids to the big parade.  I’ll post pics soon!

Favorite blogs: Cluck Cluck Sew

I finally finished the baby quilt I’ve been working on for the past couple of months. Now I just need to take a few photos and get it boxed up and to the post office. I’m already planning out my next quilting project

Cluck Cluck Sew is one of the bigger quilting blogs so you might already know about it, but it’s one of my favorites. It’s always fun to see what Allison is working on and I really like the patterns she  creates and sells. She has also created a great collection of free tutorials (I used this one to make this baby quilt).

I’m not sure yet, but I’m leaning towards using Allison’s Pow-Wow pattern for my next project. It’s a bit more complicated than the straight squares or half-square-triangles I usually gravitate towards but still seems very manageable.

And I don’t know when or for who it will be for, but I really want to make one of her Suburbs quilts. Those little houses just slay me.

If you’re interested in quilting and don’t do so already, Cluck Cluck Sew is a great blog to follow.

For Your Friday

Yay for 3-day weekends! This weekend E is attending his very first friend birthday part and then on Monday N and I and my in-laws are going to take him to see the new Miyazaki movie, The Secret World of Arrietty. I’m so excited!

And of course I’ll be squeezing in some cabinet-painting in there somewhere 🙂

Before you start your weekend there are a few things I wanted to share with you.

-If this was our local weather guy I would definitely watch the local news more often:

-Not quite sure what’s the big deal about Jeremy Lin?

-Would you want to have your picture taken with a camera as big as a New York apartment?

-I really enjoy blogging but sometimes it can make me feel a bit insecure. (Does that happen to anyone else?) I thought this was well written and keeping it in mind might help.

That’s it, guys. I hope you have a lovely long weekend!

For your Friday

Tonight N and I are going to dinner at Cucina Toscana (which we’ve been wanting to try for ages) and then to a comedy show. I can’t wait!

I hope you have a great weekend. While you’re waiting for it to start here a couple things from the ol’ interwebs that caught my eye this last week:

I Heart Art: 20×200

20×200 and Tiny Showcase are two of my favorite places online to browse for affordable art. I’ve bought a few prints from Tiny Showcase over the last few years, mostly work by Scott C and Jen Corace, but I haven’t bought anything from 20×200–yet.

I have a voucher to 20×200 that I bought on one of those deal-of-the-day sites burning a hole in my pocket and these are some prints that have caught my eye.

Vogue JUL07:pg145 (Ripeness is All) by Lauren DiCioccio
(I LOVE these pieces by DiCioccio.)

28 Camera Drawings by Christine Berrie
(The vintage Polaroid camera N gave me earlier this year is the same model as the one in the upper right.)

Memories of Festivals by Tatsuro Kiuchi
Squeeze by Gary Petersen

What do you think? Do any of these (or anything else on 20×200) strike your fancy?

Synchonicity

With all the talk about photography lately I thought it noteworthy to mention that today is World Photography Day. As far I can tell isn’t a real holiday…yet! Let’s get together and make it happen, people!

I found out about it from the latest issue of the Photojojo newsletter which has a great roundup of photography ideas and inspiration. If you like photography I recommend subscribing. It’s always fun and interesting.

I especially liked this link from this last newsletter. SO great. I wonder if I could get E to model for photos like these.

So if you get the chance, have fun and take some pictures this weekend to celebrate World Photography Day!

How Pinteresting!

No, I really don’t need another way to waste time on the interwebs. And yes, I’ve joined Pinterest anyway.

If you haven’t heard about it, Pinterest is a visual bookmarking site where you can save all the neat and lovely things you come across online. There’s a social networking aspect built into it (what doesn’t have one these days?) so you can follow your friends’ bulletin boards. I’m using it to keep track of crafts I want to try, ideas for home decorating, style inspirations, etc…

If you’re interested you can follow my boards here. Pinterest is still in beta so you need an invitation to join but if you want one let me know (leave a comment with your email) and I’ll send one your way.

Blogs I like: Design Mom

I know that a lot of people already read Design Mom but I thought I’d say a little something about it just in case someone doesn’t. It’s one of my favorite blogs. Gabrielle Blair is a mother of 6 (!) and blogs professionally about design and parenthood. Her blog is definitely more aspirational rather than super practical but I find it inspiring in an non-intimidating way. Her tastes are more modern than super cutesy and I usually like most of the things she posts about.

Take these glass bottle lights she recently made with her kids. Aren’t they great? I’ve love to make some but don’t think I’ll be able to fit it in this year. Maybe next year. I’m filing it away in my mental holiday craft folder.

Photo via Design Mom

Since her blog is so popular Gabrielle has the opportunity to do a lot of great giveaways for her readers. All this week she’s hosting some amazing giveaways. You should check them out. And if you think there isn’t a point to entering giveaways I’m proof that someone has to win. I recently won a $100 giftcard to myretrobaby.com from her blog! I haven’t decided what to spend it on yet but I was thrilled.