Keeping Up

I feel bad I haven't been posting to my blog. I do love pinterest, but it's still sad when I notice that there's no new months in the archive column of the blog.

So here is my latest shopping task: finding small affordable and thematically appropriate prizes for my students. In Postwar US History, I am making them host a 1950s theme DRY cocktail party in class. To make it more fun for them (since I assume it will already be awesome for me), I bought old swizzle sticks to give out at the door. I personally think these things are awesome. We will see how they feel. And then in my urban history class, I told them that I would give a small prize to anyone who had to use microfilm for their research project. I'm trying to buy enough of these tiny old license plate keychains to give one to everyone who ends up at that damn machine. So far I have 8.



(Neither of these images are things I've bought, but they're representative of what I'm going for. Ebay will no longer let me pull images for some reason).

Etsy Spree

As promised, another wish list. This is all etsy stuff, but no jewelry. Maybe that will be its own post someday. Stone. Ship card. Spring Demon. Bottle opener. Hair tie. Push pin. Scarf.TV pin. Hankie.

Shopping Spree: Housewares

Awesome playing cards.
A Moomin tray or two.
Crocheted sand dollar.
This MS. poster for my office.
Scented drawer liners. Lilies of the valley remind me of my grandma.
A chair I can't afford.
I covet this apple so deeply.
And this stapler even more.

Clothes shopping Spree

This is basically shit I want:

Princess Leia's Hoth boots. Thankfully not available in my size.

This tshirt, by a long-lost relative?

A sweater to wear over it.

And an amazing coin purse from my PR fave Diana Eng.

Dress. Dress.

Sunglasses.


Etsy and food sprees upcoming.

Best Facebook Ad Ever

Elle Shushan Fine Portrait Miniatures. How do they know so much about what I would like and so little about how much money I make?

Yarn

Yarn in three parts.
Part 1:

Part 2:
knitted stool I plan to make
Part 3:

Holiday links

Lovely gift guide from Creature Comforts
Goys doing Hannukah food
Microwavable mitten warmers
Image (and instructions) from Creature Comforts

Key

This key reminds me of Lord of the Flies for some reason. Scary.

Umbrellas

I waited a long time to find this third umbrella. And then I spent forever trying to find these very very very old links. I especially like this Victorian postcard depicting life before widely available, affordable, and legal birth control.

Predictions

1. I worry that Lost is now an extended interpretation of Job.
2. I think foxes are the next deer in hipster iconography.

Links

Where the Wild Things Are trailer via kottke
Fifi Lapin and LeSportSac together
Cootie catchers and other fortune tellers
Chic Chicago
GQ's slideshow of the 50 most stylish men also via kottke

Snapshot: Listening, Watching, Reading, Wearing, Wanting

The nogoodforme blog always does this feature, which is my favorite.

Listening:Fresh Air (from February 2008); Tegan and Sarah.
Watching: Blazing Saddles, Bladerunner, 30 Rock, American Teen, Rachel Getting Married.
Reading: Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations; either Coraline or 13 Clocks; The Bell Jar.
Wearing: new socks, a white button down Stephan gave me for Xmas; jeans his mom gave me a few Xmas-es ago; boots.
Wanting: these shoes, a basil plant.

Awesome Stuff I Loved in 2008

Websites that are bad for me: Facebook and Jezebel. Jezebel inspired this post.

Hard Liquor. In particular free shots won at trivia night at the Bucktown Pub and Bailey's during cards at R's.

Politics. Obama 08. Indiana goes blue. Minus Prop 8. Minus Blago scandals. Minus Bush's last minute policy bullshit.

Stephan's invented old-timey slang. We heard the term "jukie" in a song by Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks and decided a Jukie was a music hipster. Then Stephan invented other categories of hipster: a Nick (nickelodeon) is a movie hipster; a Nick at Nite is a horror movie hipster; and a picture boxer is a television hipster. I am proud to be a picture boxer.

Green beans. The year before it was broccoli; 2008 was green beans.

Children's Book Club: highlights include Watership Down and Howl's Moving Castle. Book club has also helped me rediscover the Chicago Public Library.

Sewing class at the Needle Shop.

Pants that were not jeans: cords, my striped guys, yellow chinos, and Bitten canvas pants.



What's going to be awesome in 2009:
*More sewing classes at the Needle Shop and more book club.
*Horses. The birds/deer of the future. Vintage horse buttons on ebay would be a good start. See above.
*Trips to San Diego, Springfield IL, and Chapel Hill NC.
*The revival of cloth napkins. My roommate did this in college, and hence I did. Now I have some pretty new ones, and I'm reviving the tradition.
*Inauguration.

December post

I am procrastinating, and I also wanted to get in one post in December. Shoes I don't need:
Those JCrew slippers:


Boots:


Elf shoes:


And some fancy guys:

For winter, I recommend

Vicks tissue by Puffs (thanks R!)
hot cider
The Long Winter
knee high boots and knee high socks
Lovely's broccoli soup (bring it back!)
The Apartment
cable and/or netflix
mint M&Ms
a space heater and a penguin humidifier

10 Things I love

You Are My Fave and some other blogs have been doing 10 Things I Love lists, I think inspired by the back page of Domino (my favorite part of the mag). Here's mine, minus fancy photo-shopping.
1. Turner Classic Movies
2. super fine point pens
3. vintage postcards
4. coin purses
5. leather riding boots
6. ice cream
7. Ikea fabrics
8. sea salt
9. white sheets
10. L'Oreal red Target lipstick

arty shopping, mostly etsy

Lion ring on etsy
White Fizzy Pop hankie (inspired by Willy Wonka, I assume?)
Pikapackage
Jonathan Wright Company greeting cards
this pouch on etsy
Personalized calling cards
this coin purse
I think with the powers of these things combined, I could pretend to be Amelie pretty easily. I'd accomplish a slightly twee, slightly nostalgic public persona in a snap. I stole this image from here.