And The Grinch's Heart Grew Three Sizes That Day

...oh wait, I'm confusing my holidays. But this is a similar transformation:

I have a long list of reasons why I hate Halloween as an adult, but do you know what melted my shriveled little heart this year?

1. Charles Schultz and Vince Guaraldi:



2. Having an actual kid around. Is this baby jaded or disappointed? No--he is delighted by that pumpkin! He is going to be a cow tonight. I can't wait.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Have you seen Animals Talking in All Caps yet? ALL CAPS MAKES THINGS FUNNY! (OK, no always, but this one makes me laugh so much. It's how I feel about IKEA, too.)

2. Recently, I noticed that Jack Daniels had changed its bottle shape and label a little. (Hey, I buy whiskey pretty frequently.) Here's a case study of the brand refresh by the agency that did it. Nice work--I especially love the new copy bits on the side panel (under "A Refined Identity).

3. And speaking of advertising, how about some Don Draper nihilism to kick off the weekend? You'll have to click through and wait through an ad (how meta!) but it's worth it to hear him say, "What you call love was invented by guys like me to sell nylons."

Convincing Myself

As I've let my inner hippie free, I've caught myself, say, doing yoga and nodding when the teacher says this will help the solar plexus chakra--which is then followed by the thought, "Carl Sagan would not approve of this."

However, this is Carl Sagan we're talking about. This is the man who contributed an essay to Marihuana Reconsidered, who approved that theme music* to the Cosmos series, and who famously said:
Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return. And we can. Because the cosmos is also within us. We're made of star-stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.

That last line is what makes me think Carl would be all for letting the inner hippie out.


*Sometimes I just leave that site open and let the music loop. It's great for irritating days at work.

Happy Birthday, Beryl

It's the birthday of Beryl Markham today. She was a horse trainer, pilot, and author (probably) of the memoir West With the Night, which I should read again and you should read too, if you haven't. (It impressed the hell out of Hemingway.)

She was friends with Karen Blixen, lovers with Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and was the first woman to fly solo from east to west across the Atlantic. Beryl was fierce! Let's all be more like her.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Active Active Active

In my new incarnation as Active Girl, I've discovered that active wear companies sell more than the actual active wear--they also sell comfy knit dresses that you picture someone even more active than you pulling on after yoga, or wearing walking around a ski town and drinking beer after an active day. (I am a sucker for marketing, no matter what lifestyle it's promoting.)

The issue? The dresses are all at least $80, and they are all in earth tones. So I decided to try copying this one:


I used the basic t-shirt pattern in my trusty Built By Wendy knits book, then added length and width by tracing a Lands End polo dress I wore all summer. Add a length of fabric to make a cowl and blammo: a pretty good copy of the dress, not in boring gray.

I may go back and add a kangaroo pocket to the front, since pockets are always useful and that would make it look more (wait for it)....active.

Look, A Poem

Happy birthday to English poet Denise Levertov. I don't know a lot of her work but what I do know, I like. Like this one:

O Taste and See

The world is
not with us enough
O taste and see

the subway Bible poster said,
meaning The Lord, meaning
if anything all that lives
to the imagination’s tongue,

grief, mercy, language,
tangerine, weather, to
breathe them, bite,
savor, chew, swallow, transform

into our flesh our
deaths, crossing the street, plum, quince,
living in the orchard and being

hungry, and plucking
the fruit.


(The opening lines play on Wordsworth's poem, "The World is Too Much with Us.")

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Happy birthday to Ursula LeGuin. She lives in Portland and writes for herself all day. That sounds fun, doesn't it?

2. While I love Bob Dylan's "singing," lately I can't get enough of people covering his songs. I'm listening to this and this, and of course my inner hippy is all over this.

3. Ah, this is true of so many things:


(Check out the other stuff from this artist--be sure to read the painting titles, too.)

They've Probably Already Had "Argus" Suggested A Lot

Did you hear that the Very Large Array of radio telescopes in New Mexico is taking public suggestions for a new name? They're upgrading the technology and expanding the center for 2012 and (thankfully) realized "EVLA" (Expanded Very Large Array) was no better than "VLA". (Although it is charmingly literal.)

Submit your name suggestion here.

(The VLA is the facility on which Carl Sagan based the setting for Project Argus in Contact. How many times do you think people have submitted that one?)

Proof

I went hiking with another person over the weekend (hi, Mom!) and got photographic evidence that I may actually be The Outdoor Type. At least a little.
Do I look like I've started using things like Dr. Bronner's and bar shampoo? Actually, that's just bed head.

I think the color in Millcreek peaked this last week, but it's supposed to be nice again this weekend. Be sure to get out and get your hippie on.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Last Week's Projects

Here are pictures of the pants and the hat from last week. Both projects turned out a little big, but look--projects! And PANTS. That I can WEAR!
For the pants, I used a Lisette for Simplicity pattern and some cheap "bottomweight" from JoAnn. These could have been fitted better (I'll probably cut a size smaller next time and maybe do some pattern adjustments to boot) but I wore them last week and didn't hate them too much. Considering my pants record, that's a success.

As for the hat, a cousin had a baby last week and what do October babies need most? Pumpkin hats.

More Sunday Night Conversations

Last night's catch-up with my best friend ranged from ADT to the human condition to Occupy Wall Street. During the human condition part, this exchange happened:

Me: "I don't know, I just don't think I'm ready to try dating on the Internet."

Him: "Oh my god. No."

And that sums up that human condition perfectly.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. It's the birthday of e.e. cummings today. Everyone write your emails in lower case and leave out punctuation to celebrate. We'll call them e.e.mails.

2. Check out this video of time lapse desert landscapes and nightscapes. Space and deserts: Everything my inner hippy wants.

Landscapes: Volume Two from Dustin Farrell on Vimeo.

Found here.

So Close To A Dinner Party

What's better than an IKEA dining table that gives you the impression of a Saarinen tulip table? Finding that same table on ksl.com for $20, of course!

It needed some Magic Eraser-ing and I still may need to touch up the top, but I am so pleased with this score. Suddenly I understand why people shop at thrift stores.

Now to score some chairs...

The Internet Is Made Of Cats

I'm pretty sure the Internet was invented to give us all easier access to funny cat pictures (this song backs me up). How else would someone have been able to share paintings of the Old Masters with the subjects replaced by cats?






In the words of Napoleon Dynamite, "There's more where that came from."

Tuesday Project Roundup: Take My Word For It

I made a baby hat AND tackled the colored pants this week. I think I'm out of my rut! But you're going to have to take my word for it, since I still need to update the photo library on my new machine and that will take more time than I have this morning.

But I made stuff this week. Really.

The English Song

How about some Sifl & Olly on a Monday morning? After all, I'm going to be using English all week.


I love all of it, but you know that my absolute favorite part comes at :49. I'll be walking around work today humming "Now that I know your English ways I'll translate all that Satan says!"

Friday Unrelated Information

1. I have the day off! I originally planned it as just a break from a really rocky September, but now I can hopefully get a new computer and have my friends help me with data recovery on Old Paint. Yay, shopping!

2. I can't say enough how nice it is to have friends so generous in sharing their skills.

3. Steve Jobs' 2005 commencement address has been making the rounds this week, and I highly recommend reading the whole thing. He was a wise man.

You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

[...] Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

And Now Goodbye, Steve Jobs

(Via xkcd. Check out the hovertext on the original.)

Goodbye, Old Paint

So last night my trusty little iBook (circa 2006) bit the dust. I left it open to make dinner and when I came back not only did it not spring back from sleep, it wouldn't turn on.

I knew this day was coming, but it's still going to be a headache to decide on a new one (and see if I can retrieve music and photos from Old Paint. They can do that, right?).

I have a plan for a machine until I decide on a new one, but just in case I don't post here until Monday or so, don't be alarmed.

Tuesday Project Roundup: The Definition Of Insanity?

My old roommate used to say, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again, but always expecting different results." By his definition I must be crazy, because I'm going to try to make pants again.

I've tried to make them a handful of times and they've never turned out how I want (when they turned out at all). But this fall, colored pants are everywhere; I'm a sucker for color; and it's almost as difficult to find pants that fit/are affordable as it is to make them. So I'm going to try again. It will be different this time, right?

I'll make a test pair as a muslin so I still have time to decide what color. Pink? Blue? Mustard? These pants are going to be so successful. I can just feel it.

(Images via my Pinterest; click through for credits.)

Something To Keep In Mind For The Week

In the words of Lady Brett Ashley, "It does feel good deciding not to be a bitch."

(Via)