Today is October first and this entire month is devoted to Halloween, the best holiday of the year! This year, we start out with a bright look into the last half of the best ride in Disneyworld: The Haunted Mansion! Haunted Mansion Backstage had these photos of the Haunted Mansion in Disneyworld. Here’s what they said about it:

Not exactly backstage, but here’s a cool lights-on peek near the end of the Graveyard scene after a ride stop and evacuation at the WDW Mansion. Every time I ride the Mansion I wish for this to happen to me! Ride stops, eventually lights come on and a CM has to escort us out. Please! :)

Via: WIL WHEATON dot TUMBLR, hauntedmansionbackstage: Not exactly backstage,…

I LOVE Halloween, so the blog entries for this month are going to be devoted to the lovely holiday!

In this town, we call home, everybody hail to the pumpkin song!

Life’s no fun without a good scare…

SecondWatch Blog found some Swatch knockoffs in Milan. Here is a Google Translation of their site:

Milan yesterday for me eye fell on three watches are very similar in form and packaging in the New Gent Swatch. The watches are very similar at first glance to New Gent and the box is almost identical in form. The sale price is 69,00 euro, a unique choice as “expensive”. The brand has seen fit to “imitate” in the form of our Swatch.

I have seen lots of watches that are borrowing from Swatch’s style, but I haven’t seen any that are trying to pass as Swatches, right down to the packaging. Why does Europe have all the cool stuff?!

There are some days that shine a little differently than others. I don’t know if it is caused by extra neurons firing in my brain or if the sun hits the world at a slightly different angle, but there are days that are just prettier than others.

Today is one of those days and the vision of a snail crossing the sidewalk on our walk back home from dropping the boy off at school was lovely to me.

Whether it’s misfiring neurons or the slant of a late summer sun in the morning, I don’t care. I’m just going to enjoy the beauty and wish for more moments like this.

I snapped this photo of a little boy wishing he could buy fireworks at the local fireworks trailer last year in Arco, ID. It was such a beautiful moment for me.

Watching him look at the fireworks so longingly reminded me of my childhood experience of the Fourth of July. My family was Jehovah Witness, so I wasn’t allowed to celebrate the birth of our nation. I felt a pathetic longing every time I heard the cracks and whistles of fireworks going on outside our house while I tried to sleep. I felt guilty every time I enjoyed seeing fireworks lit by other families on the street.

That little boy, hanging out at the fireworks trailer, wishing beyond hope that he could buy some represents EXACTLY how I felt every year during Independence Day.

I love this tutorial on how to make a patriotic cake:

You can see the full list of ingredients on the Lifehacker website:

• Lifehacker: How to Make an American Flag Cake for the 4th of July

Ingredients:

• Two vanilla cake mixes (although you might want to get a third just in case you screw something up or want to make a bigger cake), plus any ingredients those mixes call for. You can make the cake from scratch, but we tried it that way this year and it tasted like a sugary egg sponge. Using a mix is faster and it tasted much better to us.

• Two Three containers of vanilla frosting. Any standard-sized store brand will do. (You won’t need all the frosting in both containers, but you’ll need more than one.)

• One bottle of red food dye and one bottle of blue food dye. It’s a little troubling, but you’ll use it all up.

• 8″ or 9″ cake pans, depending on how much cake you’re going to get out of the cake mix you bought. (Most cake mixes can make two 9″ cakes, so you should be fine either way.)

• A 4″ cookie tin top (or anything that can cut an even 4″ circle out of cake).

I saw this last year and it made me want to make the cake, but I had seen it AFTER the fourth of July, so maybe this year!

I love this manicure from Nailside: 4th of July nails.

I did a similar manicure last year: Pick Me! » Patriotic Fingernails

The wind has been relentless the last few days. Whenever people ask me about Daybreak, they NEVER ask me about the wind.

They ask me about:

• The crime: it’s nonexistent.
• The Mormons: they are cliquish and omnipresent.
• The Daybreak activities: there were more of them a few years ago than now, but that’s not really a bad thing because karaoke night is NEVER a good thing.
• The commute to downtown SLC: It’s LONG and miserable.
• The supposed “ghetto” of Daybreak: If that’s a ghetto, then you have lived a very soft life.

But the WIND!

They never ask about the wind that will:

• Steal your BBQ cover, leaving it a quarter mile away, stuck in a neighbor’s tree.
• Hit your backyard with hurricane force micro-bursts that leave garbage all over your yard and rip panels out of your vinyl fencing.
• Knock over your yard umbrella, even though it is fed through your picnic table AND an umbrella stand.
• Relentlessly wear away at your trees, your hair and your will to live as you try to enjoy the outside, ride your bike or even take a simple walk around the lake.

Sometimes they ask about the Daybreak Stench. The wind DOES bring that smell about once a month. I had a commenter complain about it:

As a recent resident of daybreak I just got my first ‘whiff’ and it is APPALLING!! It is absolutely unacceptable and the public should be told about it so they can make an educated decision about the move here. That landfill needs to be shut down!! It can not be healthy and it is a ridiculous statement that you made to ‘stop whining’. Insist on a higher level of living. Become active on fixing the problem…don’t pretend that it doesn’t exist. That’s just pathetic.

I find it interesting that the rich folk here in Daybreak think that the solution is to “shut down” the landfill. Where do they think their garbage goes? Apparently, they don’t want it to go in the county landfill. Do they think the neighborhood would smell better if each family had to deal with their own garbage? I wonder how they would like to have to burn, compost or bury their own waste in their own backyard.

As I said before, the Daybreak Stench doesn’t smell all that bad to me. It reminds me of a very happy childhood, just like the smell of a dead skunk on the side of the highway. So many people HATE the smell of a skunk, even if the animal died miles away, but at a certain distance, I’ve found that I like that smell.

I know I’m not SUPPOSED to like it.

I know that dead skunks and landfills are supposed to smell bad, but they don’t to me. This morning, the wind brought the Daybreak Stench into my open windows and I felt joyful. It reminded me of spring mornings in West Valley. It brought to my mind skateboarding on my orange, plastic skateboard all day long, around and around my block in Cherrywood. It made me smile.

I believe that ANY smell can be good or bad, depending on the memories that are attached to it. If you live a few years here in Daybreak and they are happy ones, then the Daybreak Stench will be a happy reminder of your time here. It will remind you of your early morning walks around the lake. It will bring to mind your happy bike rides along the trails, saying hi to the people you passed. It will remind you of the morning after a relentless wind when you finally found the right brick to put on your BBQ cover to keep it in place.

It’s like what William Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

Should you move to Daybreak? I don’t know. If you are an entitled elitist who believes that landfills should be closed down and insists on “a higher level of living,” then maybe this wonderful neighborhood isn’t for you. Go find another neighborhood and let a NICE person move here instead.

I love the story of Jane Eyre. Here is episode one of a modernized version of it:

The beginning doesn’t give you a good feel for the storytelling, so here is episode 2:

I’m so excited about this! It’s actually better than Sanditon (an unfinished Jane Austen novel) so far, but maybe Sanditon will get better. You can see the first episode of it here:

I’ve never read Sanditon, so that might be the difficulty I’m having with that series.

I like them both, though! Give ’em a watch!

I love these PBS remixes so much. They just make me cry.

Mr. Rogers was AWESOME!

I laughed my head off at this funny little prank. These guys dressed up like a secret society, complete with chanting monks, candles and a strange, presenting the tip ceremony and then called to order pizza. Hilarious!

Disturbingly Kawaii said:

See this is a prank. It’s fun, it’s funny, it doesn’t hurt anyone, and it gives the guy getting pranked a good story to tell with no skin off his back.

Via: Hank’s Tumblr: Guy stages a fake…

This video made me rethink everything I’ve thought about music and nostalgia.

Instead of listening to our individual music with headphones, we should be listening to our music together to create an identity as a family. I remember every morning listening to my New Wave music with my mom as we got ready every morning. It was really a bonding experience and I want to have that with Sean, so we need to banish the headphones and listen together, even if we have to listen to the Rainbow Connection over and over until I want to scream. In the end, it will remind me of this time when he is grown and gone.

Stacey and Dan bought me the BEST mini fingernail polish set last week! It’s called Life’s A Beach from Sephora. I immediately did a manicure the night they gave it to me because I loved all the colors. Mike talked me out of coloring a different color on each finger, despite the fact that they had conveniently given me TEN colors and TEN fingers to match. Instead, I took my favorites and made a manicure that I LOVE!

I used Havana Dreams for the base color. For the flower, I used It’s All About Me for the petals and IM Beauty for the center.

Here’s a closeup of the flower.

I had so much fun with this. I know this manicure will last about a week, but I’m so tempted to take it off to do another one with the colors from that mini kit!

Two months before he showed up on our doorstep, I watched this movie on Netflix: Happythankyoumoreplease

It’s one of those movies with WAY too many plot lines, but it was good. I did have a moment when I screamed at the television set, “Kids don’t just show up in your life like that!”

I am here to tell you now that yes, yes they do. And as of two weeks ago, we have full custody of an 11-year-old boy who just showed up on our doorstep in a strangely Dickensian manner.

I watched a video from Polish and Pearls the other day and was inspired to try one of my own. I did the rosebud manicure.

Here is a closeup of the rosebud:

I used the following polishes: (Continue Reading…)

Jenna Marbles made a great video about what she is awesome at and suggested that we all make that list and post it where we can see it every day.

This video is not safe for work, by the way.

I love how she finishes the video:

So make yourself a nice list and hang it somewhere you can remind yourself every day of something that you’re good at. So when that freakin’ boy is hangin’ out with Beth again, you’re startin’ to feel sad, just go to your list and go, like, “Oh, yeah! I make bangin’ grilled cheese samwiches. In your face, muthafugger! Ain’t nobody gonna bring me down!”

Man, I need to make that list for myself…

I just heard that Roger Ebert has died. This makes me sad. Here is the best speech I’ve ever seen from him.

So beautiful!

Here are my favorite quotes from Roger Ebert:

• The Quotations Page – Roger Ebert

I found this video of a cartoon by Disney called The Little House. I had seen it many times on television when I was a kid and even had the little record and story book for it.

The cartoon tells the story of the little house who originally lived in the country, but the city grew up around her.

Although the architecture and coloring is different, the houses are very similar.

Eventually, the city overtakes the neighborhood and The Little House finds herself surrounded by high rise buildings.

It very a similar story to the Up House.

In fact, in both stories, the house has been anthropomorphized as a female.

Both houses even fall into disrepair at some point in the story.

I think Up was such a powerful movie and so many of us were able to believe that the house was “Ellie” because we had seen The Little House as children. We had seen this story years and years before.

One of the first manicures I ever pinned on Pinterest was this one from normandlou:

• Lots of Dots – normandlou

I finally tried one on my own that looks awesome for spring.

Here is a close-up of one of the fingers.

For the base coat, I used On A Trip by Wet N Wild. It’s a lavender hue, even though it turned out almost blue in the photos.

For the dots, I used:

• I Need a Refresh-Mint by Wet N Wild
• OPI Flashbulb Fushia
• OPI On The Same Paige

I had a lot of fun doing this manicure and although it was twice the work of my Faux Nail Lingerie Manicure, I like it even better.

I love this video from Lancome about how to do eye makeup. For a girl like me, who LOVES makeup, but feels a little behind, videos like this are a godsend.

After I watched this video, I immediately thought that I couldn’t possibly do this without that fancy eye shadow from Lancome. The cheapest I could find it was for 38 bucks at Amazon, by the way.

• Lancome Color Design Eye Brightening All-in-one 5 Shadow & Liner Palette ~Midnight Rush~ at Amazon.com

The more I looked at the palette, however, the more I realized that I HAVE all those colors in my Sephora Makeup Kit, which ironically costs about the SAME as just one set of eyeshadow from Lancome. I can’t wait to try this out with my own eyeshadow!

A special thank you to Richard for pointing out Jenna’s Swatch in the movie 13 Going On 30. You can see it here on this YouTube video at the 5:32 mark.

Here is a screen shot of the watch.

It’s the Pink Champagne Swatch LL105. It’s not one I own, so I wouldn’t have recognized it if it hadn’t been for Richard.

I haven’t seen 13 Going On 30 either, but now that I see that there are some retro scenes, it makes me want to try it out.

Speaking of Swatches in places that I wouldn’t expect them. I saw a Maxi Swatch in the background in the British television series, My Mad Fat Diary. Khloe is sitting in front of one in Rae’s room in Season 1 Episode 3 at the 47:42 minute mark:

They’ve blocked the face, so I can’t tell which one it is, but it’s definitely a Maxi Swatch.

In Season 1 Episode 2 at the 35:04 mark, however, there is an anachronism. Rae is wearing an Indigo Lacquered Swatch, which only was released in the Summer of 2012. I know that’s really nit-picky, but Swatch didn’t even MAKE watches in that size back in the Nineties.

Of course, Coupling is its own anachronism. The British TV series is one of my favorite from the Nineties. Oliver’s “Naked” living room had a Maxi Swatch on its wall in Season 4 Episode 5 at the 15:49 mark:

Unfortunately, they hung the watch UPSIDE DOWN on the wall, so it looks really strange. It’s amazing to me how important that is. I can’t look at that picture without wanting to FIX the watch on the wall.

I feel a little silly documenting the glimpses of Swatches I’ve seen in movies and television, but it makes me happy somehow. It’s as if my past and my love for the watches transcended me and found itself in my favorite movies and shows, giving me validation. I’ll keep looking for them and share with you whatever I find.

My friend, Christy, linked to this entry on Pinterest:

• Blue Skies Ahead: Being a “Bucket-Filler” FHE

Its a children’s book called, “Have You Filled a Bucket Today?,” about the concept of doing good deeds for other people to make yourself feel better and happier.

You can see the book read here:

• Have You Filled a Bucket Today? – SchoolTube

It’s the perfect way to visualize why it’s so important to do good deeds. It’s the reason I pick up garbage on the side of the road when I’m out for my daily walk. It’s how I try to conduct myself every day. I have such a hard time explaining why it’s important to be nice to people, but this book is the perfect explanation.

The incredible NakedJen picked up these Loreal Nail Lingerie stickers for me at Sundance in January. I love them so much that I refuse to USE them. I have literally looked at them, planned on trying them out and deciding to “save” them for a special event at least three times. It’s not like I have a special event planned anytime soon. I just think they’re too pretty to just put on for the fun of it.

Instead, I made my own manicure, imitating the style. I used OPI’s My Very First Knockwurst for the base coat.

(Continue Reading…)

Warren Ellis gets asked why he doesn’t do “real” things to help the world because writing fiction is escapism, not actually building a better world. Here is his response:

• Warren Ellis’ Notebook

But fiction speaks to people.  Even fiction like mine acts to tell someone, somewhere, that they’re not alone.

You want tangible, social benefits to writing fiction?  There are people walking around today because other people wrote words that spoke to them.  That’ll do.

One of the portions of my vision is, “My creativity heals myself and others.” It’s my goal as a writer to HELP other people through my words. I hope that is true. Based on the response I’ve received, I think the best I’ve ever done is this piece:

• Pick Me! » When Your Best Friend Ditches You For Her Boyfriend

I wrote it back in 2004 and I STILL get comments from people saying that it helped them. I hope to write more entries just as helpful over the years. It’s my goal as a writer and it appears Warren Ellis feels the same.

Via: WIL WHEATON dot TUMBLR, Warren Ellis’ Notebook: Okay. Someone asked me how I feel about writing fiction in a world…

I love floor plans and when I saw the deviantART account for Iñaki Aliste Lizarralde, I squealed with delight. Mostly, because there is the floor plan for Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment from The Big Bang Theory. Click any of these to see it full-sized.

Here is Penny’s apartment as well. How she can afford so much square footage in Pasadena on a waitress salary is beyond me.

Here they are together.

After looking at it, I realize how HUGE these apartments are. Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment is easily over 1000 square feet. The cheapest apartment I could find in Pasadena on Rent.com was $1275 for exactly 1000 square feet. I can understand how Caltech University professors can afford that, but Penny is over-stretching her budget. How does she do it?!

Not very well, apparently…

Via: Floor plan of the Ricky and Lucy Riccardo apartment – Found in Mom’s Basement

I love this animated GIF I found on I CAN DO IT.

It’s the most adorable raccoon hugging a kitty. It just makes me happy to see it repeat over and over.

This GIF is taken from this video:

In the video, it appears that the raccoon is more intent on eating the kitty than hugging it, but it’s still SUPER CUTE!

I love this image from I CAN DO IT.

It reads:

Take what you need: love, hope, faith, happiness, courage, and peace.

The next time you’re feeling down in the dumps, imagine this paper hanging on a wall just for you and tear off whatever it is you need to make it through the day. Heck, take the whole dang paper!

A special thank you to Thom Allen for sending me the link to this candy heart that says, Pick Me! posted by cuteculturechick.

I love this little video from Passion Pit:

It’s strange to imagine everything I’ve said just floating around our rooms, like subtitles. I try to be nice, but what if the mean things outnumber the nice ones?

Via: Discopop Directory: Passion Pit go romcom

On Jan 31, 2013, at 10:03 PM, a NICE FRIEND wrote:

Hey. I stumbled across your website while trying to find some information about Daybreak. My family is relocating to SLC from ANOTHER CITY this summer. I have been hellbent on moving to Sugar House to be near downtown and in a diverse area of the city. Well, the more I look, the more discouraged I get at the prices and what you get for that price. So, today I started opening the search. Daybreak looks like the kind of place my 3 kids would love. I will hate being that far away from the city but a newer house would be nice with all the amenities it has to offer. Cutting to the chase, I am in-active (hate that word!) Mormon living with a very active husband. I wonder how life would be socially? I want to meet people who enjoy a glass of wine and going out. How is it being a non-mormon in that community? I know in Sugar House it is very diverse with lots of places to go out at night. Thanks for your help!

Dear NICE FRIEND,

Thanks for emailing me about Daybreak. I still live here and I still love it dearly, but it IS different than living in Sugarhouse.

I have ZERO friends in this neighborhood, aside from my sister and her husband, who moved here because we live here and another couple who were our friends before they moved to South Jordan. In Sugarhouse, I knew the people on both sides of our house and across the street. They came to my Halloween parties, which are decidedly non-Mormon parties, and they were great acquaintances. I don’t have that here.

In all honesty, I think it was because we didn’t have children. All the families came over to introduce themselves, but when they saw that we had no children for their kids to play with, they never spoke to us again.

On the other hand, your children will be PAINFULLY lonely in Sugarhouse. There will be NO children within walking distance to play with. I had the hardest time finding kids to shovel my walk or mow my lawn. They just weren’t there and my friends with children who live in Sugarhouse have to drive them to play dates. That is not the case in Daybreak. It’s like Lord of the Flies here and most times, you will wonder where the adults are.

You might have an easier go of it because your husband is LDS. That will provide you with introductions in the neighborhood that I haven’t had. Even if you only go to church with him every other weekend or so, you will have a much larger social life in Daybreak because of that advantage.

More importantly, crime is nonexistent in Daybreak. In Sugarhouse, our bike (and yard ornaments) were stolen, a man was arrested by the police in our backyard and panhandlers KNOCKED on our door asking for money. I haven’t had any problems like that here and I LOVE Daybreak for that.

The drive downtown is arduous, however. If you or your husband are employed downtown, then you will be looking at a 45 minute commute each way. That time estimate is a hopeful one, so if there has been an accident on the freeway or if it snowed the previous night, you’ll have to leave an HOUR before work to get there on time. The same is true if either of you is employed in Provo. If, however, you work in Sandy, West Valley or anywhere else in the central valley, you’ll be just fine.

Daybreak DOES have a wine club and all the people there are very friendly. I’ve only been to a couple of the get togethers, but they were fun every time I went. You can find them here: Daybreak Wine Club. They didn’t have anything like that in Sugarhouse, or if they did, I never found it.

If you had asked me a few years ago why we were so close to our neighbors in Sugarhouse, I would have said because our houses were so close together, but I live in a part of Daybreak where our houses are JUST as close as they were in Sugarhouse. I have NO idea why things were friendlier in Sugarhouse than they are here in Daybreak.

In the end, making friends as an adult is difficult. When we were kids, we were thrown together by school and proximity and sometimes I think the sheer repetition of seeing the same faces made them precious. As adults, it’s difficult to reproduce that experience. I wish I had an answer to problem, but I really don’t.

I DO know that whether you move to Sugarhouse or Daybreak, I’m perfectly willing to meet up with you for lunch. Moving to a new state is difficult, but at least you have one friend here already.

Best,

Laura Moncur

P.S. I’m putting this on my blog for other people who are trying to decide where in the valley to move, but I’m removing your name (and origin city) so that you stay anonymous.

It’s hard to believe there was a time in my life when I could buy a hamburger for 28 cents, but it’s true. This photograph of the Dee Burger Clown reminded me of it all.

One strange note, The Dee Burger Clown was a two-faced beast. He had a face on both sides of his head and you would think that would have scared me as a child, but it didn’t. All of that was before clowns were scary to me.

Every once and a while, Dee’s would put their burgers on sale for 28 cents a piece. Whenever that would happen, Carol would buy a couple of bags of their burgers and put them in the freezer. Over the next few weeks, I would have free access to a hamburger whenever I wanted. All I had to do was take one out of the freezer and microwave it.

Now, they weren’t delicious by any reckoning and they were rather small (about the size of a McDonald’s kid’s burger), but that didn’t stop me. I could add a slice of cheese and a bit of mayo and they would be a great meal for Stacey and me after school while we waited for Carol and Mom to get home.

As far as I can tell, the McDonald’s hamburger is about $1 now. How does that compare to the cost of a Dee Burger Hamburger in 1982? According to the Inflation Calculator, 28 cents in 1982 is the same as 64 cents now. Even today, a hamburger for 64 cents would be an amazingly good deal. Of course, all the Dee’s Burger joints were sold to Hardee’s in the late Eighties, so it might be that those incredibly cheap hamburgers were their death knell.

A few years after that, Hardee’s closed all its restaurants in Utah. Some of the sad and vacant buildings were bought by Burger King and the rest have become Berto’s, Alberto’s and Gualberto’s all over the city. Sadly, I still miss the Hot Ham N’ Cheese sandwich that Hardee’s used to have, but mostly, I miss the happy, Dee Burger Clowns who used to be all over town, with lights shining through their bellies and swaying side to side with their ever-inflated balloons.

Update 08-27-13

Here’s a photo of the Bountiful Dee Burger Clown from Facebook.

I read this article this morning and it kind of peeved me off.

• Tiny House Talk: Why Tiny House Communities Don’t Exist

I’ve talked about tiny houses and the problems that I have with them before. You can read those articles here:

• Pick Me! » Build Yourself A Home for $3,500
• Pick Me! » My Problem with Tiny Houses

Today’s article decided that the lack of tiny house communities wasn’t the fault of city planners. It was greedy land developers. When given a choice between building tiny houses and selling them to hippies and renting them to the rich, they choose the vacation property choice every time.

Greed… That’s why there are no tiny home communities? Umm… no.

The fact is, tiny home communities DO exist. We call them mobile home parks.

Mobile homes are tiny. They are portable. They are efficient designs that are very affordable. Why have the tiny house proponents overlooked them?

Because hippies don’t live in them, rednecks do.

Hippies are too good to park their homemade tiny homes in a mobile home park because that’s where the lower classes live. They don’t want to admit that their choice to simplify looks an awful lot like just being poor.

No tiny house communities? Not even in the mecca of tiny homes, Portland, Oregon? Not so! I counted TEN mobile home communities in the heart of Portland.

View Larger Map

Now, these might be mobile home communities that have certain restrictions on the size of the homes they allow in their park, so I checked the second mobile home on the list, Mobile Estates. I chose this one because a reviewer on Inside Pages called it, “a scumbag haven.” Of course, another reviewer said, “They have a lot of older mobile homes here. they have been here for a longtime. the park is clean. the people are nice. it is easy to find. stop by and see.” They sound like the kind of park that might be willing to have a tiny house on their property, so I looked at it up close and personal on Google Maps.

If they are willing to let a fifth wheel stay there, I’m sure they’d be ecstatic to have a DIY tiny home that looks like a little cabin. Why haven’t the hippies in Portland just JUMPED on this opportunity? Because “scumbags” live there.

Stop whining about city planners, vacation rentals and McMansions. There are tiny home communities all around you and you don’t even see them because you consider them unwashed masses. We poor folks have been living tiny for a lot longer than you hippies. You might actually LEARN something from us if you didn’t consider us beneath your notice.

I found this video on YouTube. It’s a slideshow of photographs from The Ritz.

I was starting to get worried because there were no pictures of me, even though I had been there that night. I know this because there are pictures of a lip sync for Killing An Arab and I remember seeing that performance. It was when Dawni was in Chicago, nannying for a family and I had to go to The Ritz alone. Fortunately, I found a couple of photos of myself in the mix. At the 4:51 minute mark, you can see me.

God, I loved that outfit! I wore that long, black skirt until it fell apart, then I mended the seams by hand and wore it for years after that. I used to love to wear it on windy days and feel the air play with the fabric around my legs. Why don’t I have a long black skirt like that anymore?

I think this might also be me on the right, but I can’t be sure. Here’s a freeze frame from the 4:58 mark:

It looks like my hair and I had a black, denim skirt that I wore quite often at The Ritz (same sweater, if you notice), so I’m pretty sure it’s me.

Of course, here is the missing piece in my love for the artwork of Syd Brak at the 6:08 minute mark. The walls of The Ritz were literally plastered with his work.

The posters on the left and right are ones that I do not currently own. I don’t even know what they were named, so I feel as if I’m on a quest to find out their origins. They look like Syd Brak’s work, so I’m assuming they are his, but who knows. He did have many imitators.

Watching that video was a lovely glimpse into my past. It was nice visiting, but I would never want to go back to that time of my life. Things are so much better now than when I was 19 years old.

Wil Wheaton posted this picture of John Waters’ mugshot. I had no idea where it came from, but I loved the picture so much that I had to track it down.

According to Dreamland News, John Waters sends out Christmas cards every year.

Every year, John Waters sends a personally signed Christmas card to a select list of friends and associates. Over the years, several of these cards have found their way onto the net, so I collect them here as a special holiday greeting to you.

Pictured above is 2006’s card, a genuine mug shot from the Baltimore Police Department.

I feel a little jealous that I don’t have an awesome mugshot of myself to send to all my friends in a Christmas card.

Whatever turn your holiday takes, I hope it’s a happy one!

I absolutely LOVE my latest manicure and couldn’t WAIT to share it with you! I call it Javablue Snowflakes and it’s so Christmasy!

You can see how I did it here after the break… (Continue Reading…)

They just reran The Shiny Trinket Maneuver on The Big Bang Theory last Thanksgiving. It had been sitting on my Tivo for the last month, enticing me to watch it again. It’s one of my absolute FAVORITE Big Bang Theory episodes because of this scene:

When Amy Farrah Fowler sees the present that Sheldon had picked out for her and starts singing, “It’s a tiara! A tiara! I have a tiara! Put it on me! Put it on me! Put it on me! Put it on me! Put it on me!” I feel EXACTLY like her!

I can’t believe Amy came onto Big Bang Theory only three years ago. Geeks girls like Bernadette and Amy were EXACTLY what that show needed. She was wonderful from the very beginning.

Their first date was hilarious.

Amy and Sheldon’s First Date

When Sheldon finally asked Amy to be his girlfriend (spurred by jealousy of Stuart), I just swooned.

It was totally funny when Amy asked him to meet her mother.

I thought we almost lost her when Penny’s ex-boyfriend Zach made her say, “Hu!”

God, how I wish they could find a good girl for poor Raj.

Today is 12-12-12 and in honor of it, Swatch is releasing a limited edition Swatch called Dodecahedron Colision.

To be fair, the watch they have designed isn’t a dodecahedron (a 12 sided object), but that would be rather difficult to wear one on your wrist, now wouldn’t it?

What the watch lacks in mathematical accuracy, it makes up in colorfulness and rarity. They only made 777 of them, so getting one will be difficult and expensive. I think I’m just happy to observe it from afar.

Photos via:

• 12 12 12 Dodecahedron | SecondWatch Blog
• File:Zeroth stellation of dodecahedron.png – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have highlighted tiny houses before here:

• Pick Me! » Build Yourself A Home for $3,500

Since that post almost a year ago, I’ve been following the tiny house trends and have found myself irked. There have been many times when I’ve wanted to post a rude comment, but have stopped myself. Apparently, I’m not alone, because the tiny house bloggers have started complaining.

• Tiny House Talk: Tiny Houses Aren’t Right For Everyone: And They Shouldn’t Be
• The Tiny Life: A Case Against Tiny Houses

Most of the rude comments are NOTHING like what I would say. They liken the tiny house builders to the sort of recluses who write manifestos. They complain about composting toilets or showering in confined quarters. They assume that the tiny house people want to outlaw all of the McMansions and force everyone to live in 200 square feet.

My complaints about the tiny house movement are more nebulous and, at times, feel more petty than those. (Continue Reading…)

Here is a shimmery manicure that is great for a Christmas party or any wintery day.

You can see how I did it after the break… (Continue Reading…)

I was feeling in the Christmas mood, so I did a Christmasy manicure called, Christmas Camping. You can see it here:

Click to read how I did this manicure and for more photos: (Continue Reading…)