I’m feeling incredibly uninspired lately with blogging and the internet as a whole this week, so I just thought I’d share some more snow day photos. It was really nice after having kind of a crummy weekend, I pretty much made up for that and treated it like it was a Sunday. I got lots of paperwork kind of things done I’d been putting off forever, we went on a long walk, made an amazing dinner (those are roasted pears and onions at the top – such a delicious side dish), watched District 9 (wow, it’s incredible), and went to bed early. Today it’s a slushy mess, and everyone – as Billy likes to say – is hopping off of the sidewalks to avoid puddles like they’re in a real-life Super Mario Bros game:) Billy has to work weekends now that his school schedule changed this semester, so it was really nice to have a whole day together before that’s a very rare thing. Thanks, snow day.

No school, no work – it’s a snow day! I haven’t had a snow day in ages! This morning I woke up and raced to the window to see what the weather had brought us overnight, and peering out the window while it was still dark out took me back immediately to snow days as a kid. I’d wake up, fingers crossed, and sit glued to the local news, patiently waiting for my school district name to scroll by at the bottom under school closures. And if I was so lucky, I’d go back to bed and sleep til 10 – when it was time for my brother and I to curl up on the couch with some lucky charms and The Price Is Right. We don’t have a tv, so instead Billy and I headed to the diner down the street and read The New York Times while eating omelets. Almost as good as The Price Is Right.

The snow is still coming down hard, so these pictures may look like not much yet, but I think it will be quite a pile out there by the end of the day.

I’m very picky about giveaways, but when this one came along I knew it fit the bill because I’d promote their cause any day. RxArt is a nonprofit that works with the latest and greatest contemporary artists (William Wegman, Sol LeWitt, Frank Stella etc.,) to place site-specific installations in hospitals and outpatient centers. Their ultimate goal is to transform these cold, sterile environments into happy escapes with the power of visual art. Their latest and greatest project is a CAT scan machine designed by Jeff Koons, to be unveiled in Chicago’s Advocate Children’s Hospital in the coming months. Sounds awesome, right? Well today they’re giving one lucky reader a set of their super awesome two-edition RxArt coloring books that artists like Takashi Murakami, Ryan McGinness, and a ton of other artists contributed to that you can read about here and here. The first edition of the coloring book is sold out, and many consider it to be a collectors item.

So, all you have to do to enter this awesome giveaway is visit their site and check out what they do, the projects they’ve worked on, and the artists they’ve worked with, and come back here and comment with your favorite project they’ve worked on, or artist they’ve worked with (could be your favorite artist that contributed to the coloring books!) and I will pick one random commenter on Thursday at 8am EST who will receive both coloring books.

UPDATE: thank you for all of your wonderful, touching comments! I’m sure RxArt is incredibly appreciative of your support and insight. And congrats to the winner, Lexie!

Some Monday morning music for you – a new song from Jamie Lidell called “Compass” from his new album of the same name due out May 18th. It’s amazing, and I can’t wait to hear the rest of the album, especially with news from Pitchfork that “talented people including Beck, Feist, Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor, Daniel Rossen, and Chris Bear, Wilco’s Pat Sansone, legendary R&B drummer James Gadson, soul belter Nikka Costa, Beck keyboardist Brian LeBarton, and producer/songwriter Gonzales” helped out on this album.

When I first heard Jamie a while back I was shocked to put a face to his voice, especially when you listen to his song “Another Day”, which is my go-to cheering up song. You just don’t really expect a guy who looks like he stepped out of a Wes Anderson movie to have that voice.

It was a restless weekend. I decided quickly on Saturday that I’m so, so ready for Spring and that I’d be totally fine with Winter ending asap. It wasn’t a bad weekend at all, it was just one of those weird blah ones where the highlights included rearranging the living room and watching every single episode of Parks and Recreation on hulu (hooked). Even Wendy was acting strange and sitting in strange places (see above). But that’s ok, I have a 4.5 day work week and then a 3 day weekend to look forward to. Also wonderful is that the sun doesn’t set until 5:30 lately, and that makes me a happy camper.

ps. my cowl was made by my talented step-sister (you should have her knit you something!) and that polar bar print hanging from the pants hanger in the 5th photo is a print I won (won! I never win anything!) from atlantic treefox.

red, originally uploaded by oh-so-quiet.

This weekend I’m looking forward to rest and catching up with all the little things I had to ignore all week while I was sick. I haven’t been sick like this since I had mono a few years ago, and it’s taken a lot out of me! I’m sorry to those of you who may have emailed me and I’ve ignored, I’ll get to you eventually.

But besides that, I have a new camera to play with, a (lighter than previously expected) snow storm on it’s way to watch, and lots of brunch eating, as you know I do enjoy partaking in.

I also just want to say thank you to the jury over at The Poppies – For Me, For You jewelry tied for second (with Lauren Haupt, who you may know I love) for best jewelry for the Jury’s Choice. I’m so honored, there was so very many other great jewelry artists in that category. Congrats to Maronon for winning 1st – what an embroidery floss loving bunch those jurors are:) And of course congrats to the winners in the other categories, so many of my favorite people were on there.

Have a wonderful weekend, and for those of you in the snow storm’s stronger path, be safe!

Speaking of horses, Conroy & Wilcox’s new horse head ring is amazing. Now if they would just make some type of nautical ship ring, we’d be set.

Ever since I found my ship bookends, I’ve been keeping a little list of vintage ship items on etsy. I just love them – they remind me of my Grandpa, and warmer days to come.

sources:
1 – 2 – 3
4 – 5 – 6
7 – 8

I know I kind of disappeared, but this cold ended up kicking my butt way more than I expected, and I ended up getting worse Monday and needed to take a break. But I’m back to civilization, though very behind. So all I can give you for now is this new song from Joanna Newsom, called “Good Intentions Paving Company” from her upcoming (supposedly 3 discs!!) album Have One On Me that comes out February 23rd. I know she’s not a crowd-pleaser, and her last album didn’t grab hold of my heart as much as her first did, but this new song is just wonderful to me. I completely agree with Kitsune Noir, it’s very Joni Mitchell.