andy smith

oh you have no idea.

j/k, job!

andy smith illustrations.

BLU animation

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.


Billy just showed this to me and I'm floored. I love BLU so god damn much, this is totally insane. Can you imagine how much work this took? If you're not familiar with his greatness, see more here.

Etsy Find of the Day: Morelle

Really lovely totes by Etsy seller Morelle. They're so simple, but pay great attention to deal. They look really well-made and sturdy, which I can't say for a lot of the totes out there flooding this world right now.

Flickr: Vera

New flickr favorite: vera. So, so, so incredibly beautiful. There's something magical about her photos of people with their backs turned to her.





via ffffound.

united by books!

You guys are fantastic. It makes me feel so overwhelmingly connected to the outside world beyond this little box in front of me when I get as many replies as the post about book recommendations. I'm filled to the brim with suggestions now that I'm sorting through on wikipedia and amazon to make a decision, and a trip to the bookstore on my lunch break is planned! (the manhattan libraries suck ass, you have to wait on a list for ages to get a book and the closest to me is 3 aves away towards hell and is so gross I hate stepping foot in it)

Here they all are:

White Nights by Dostoevsky
Franny & Zooey (love it)
oranges are not the only fruit by jeanette winterson
anything by lorrie moore
david sedaris (read them all, I'm obsessed and can't wait for the next one!)
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (this floored me in high school)
The Dive from Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer
The Kite Runner (completely amazing, that reminds me to read his new one!)
unaccustomed earth by jhumpa lahiri (loved The Namesake!)
the autobiography of malcolm x
the fortress of solitude by jonathan letham
the yiddish policeman's union by michael chabon
anything by michael ondaatje
short stories by f. scott fitzgerald
Straight Man, by Richard Russo
Crossing To Safety, Wallace Stegner
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (I forgot that I wanted to read this, def going to check it out now!)
Anything by Stuart McLean about the Vinyl Cafe
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Little Prince by Antoine Saint Exupéry
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by marisha pessl
willful creatures by aimee bender
most anything by donald barthelme
the philosophy of andy warhol
king cat by john porcellino
the diary of a teenage girl by phoebe gloeckner
ANYTHING by Alice Munro
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (this sounds so good)
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
Eva Moves the Furniture by Margot Livesey
Cormac McCarthy's The Road
many Haruki Murakami suggestions:
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
sputnik sweetheart
norwegian wood
Hard-Boiled Wonderland
the End of the World


thank you thank you thank you

Out With Vegas, in With Vamp

Out With Vegas, in With Vamp, Swimsuits Offer More Coverage.

Super fabulous article in the nytimes today with really great photos.

enter hair tearing + fist clenching

I just had one of these moments at work. I have recently been branded the Computer Genius (note: I am not) and get really, really frustrating requests all day long.

more heeeelarious comics

via we are independently wealthy

Alexander Wang + Uniqlo

Super excited for Alexander Wang's line at Uniqlo coming out at the end of this month. mmmm!

read more about it

ps. thanks for all the fab book recommendations that are rolling in on the last post, I can't wait to check them out! Some of you have already suggested some of my favorite books, so I can tell I'll like the others.

I need your help: books!

Friends, I need a book to read. I'm in the mood for a good summer read. Last night I started re-reading The Rapture of Canaan for the 6th time. It's my favorite book of alltime, but I realized that I just need something new. I like sappy chick books and memoirs, but am open to new things. Reccomendations?

Also, sorry posts are sparse and lame lately. I'm suffering from, for the first time in my life, the most god-awful allergies known to man. I went to the allergist yesterday and found out I'm allergic to trees, plants, flowers, dust and mold! So hopefully my journey into finding what medication works for me will revive me back to my old self.

photo by boboniaa, looking adorable as always.

Etsy Find of the Day: Bottle Bottoms

I love these sturdy, eco-friendly glasses made of recycled glass bottles in the Bottle Bottoms etsy shop. They're a good excuse to throw some color into your dishes, though I wouldn't mind some made of clear bottles used as well (customs orders are available, it wouldn't hurt to ask!)

Lo Down

Apparently all I like to talk about lately is shoes. I'll try to talk about something else all week after I tell you this. I think the classic Vans are pretty cute, but I feel likey rather unflattering for girls, especially girls like me with Sasquatch-sized feet. But these Lo Downs are so fantastic! Their name says it all, they have a nice low-profile and I think they'd go nicely with dresses and jeans.

Montmarte Printed Scarves

Renee put some incredibly beautiful printed scarves available for pre-order in her Montmarte etsy shop. My government stimulus check just popped up in my good old bank account this weekend, so I'm feeling very tempted!

She also posted some fantastic African Mossi cloths that I'm in love with. We've had a piece of fabric up as a "temporary" curtain in our bedroom for 6 months now (story of my life) and I think one of these would be such a great replacement! Actually, all the fabrics on the website have me drooling.

Gifted Playlist For My Mom

She was very pleased.

Current Obsession: Moccasins

Have you ever been on a vacation and a style of something that's native to that area, or popular in that area suddenly gets stuck in your mind and you lose all ability to form a rational thought that maybe that thing will look ridiculous once you get back home with it? When I was in 4th grade my family went on a road trip from Seattle to South Dakota to visit my family (I'm actually originally from there but was very young when we moved away). Like girls coming back from vacations in Jamaica with cornrows and beads, I became obsessed with the idea of getting a pair of moccasins, against my mothers pleas to pick something else out. This of course was a very stupid idea and when I showed up to school with them on, it was like a bad dream where you show up naked. Humiliated does not quite describe how I felt.

So on the note of that tangent, I've recently been bit with the moccasin bug again and I want a pair badly. I've seen them popping up for a while now but it finally occured to me that they're a pretty nice little summer shoe I want to get- not to mention they fit nicely into the native trend that I love. Plus, I get the feeling I won't be laughed at this time. Here are my favorites I've seen around. It was hard to sort through them all, there are some very traditional styles, and some that are really just inspired by moccasins.



Clockwise from the top left: Minnetonka Kilty Suede Moc, A.P.C. Indian Moccasin, Jeffery Campbell Fringe Moccasin, Clarks Wallabee, Fairytales Are True Boat Moccasin, Sperry top-Sider Softie Moc, and Timberland Benin Ballerina.

thanks to Jenny's post for reminding me that I wanted to write about this.

Etsy Love

I think getting a package from an etsy seller is my favorite thing on earth. It's the most fantastic experience to get such a personal thing that reminds you they're a real person. Cutest package ever from my Mid West Vintage order.

Sadly I am slightly an idiot (ok a huge idiot) and measured my waist wrong for this belt. See, the belt length has to be BIGGER than your waist size in order to buckle, not the same (duh). So this little guy has to rest on my tummy over shirts rather than on my hips because it's totally a kids belt and only some kind of skeletor model could use this on their hips. But I think it works just fine. I've already been stopped 3 times by people asking where I got it.

ps. I know I missed a week of Etsy finds, but they will be back soon!