I don't wanna go back to work...but, then again, I do...

I hope everyone had a stellar 3-day wknd (for those stateside, anyway). 'Twas a good wknd for me. Some of the things I did included:

Rediscovering my favorite find of all time from the Sal Val.

Scoring this awesome Boots ring from a bakery in North Philly. The cupcake it sat atop was pretty delicious, but it was all the more delicious b/c my coworker bought it for me.

Receiving these awesome zines in the mail (1 2 3). Clearly these peeps knew yellow is my favorite color.

Baking a hot mess of a rainbow cake. Everything was going well until the actual baking-in-the-oven part. I left the layers in for too long, and then they didn't lift well off of their respective pans. So I cut my losses and made only the G-B-V (no ROY, or I in BIV). But the icing is good, and that I made from scratch. Actually, the whole cake tastes good but it's too rich for me, so I'm bringing it in for the "Real Men Read" group tomorrow afterschool w/my fave teacher. Those boys will eat anything.

Making a new canine friend. Kells--as in Book of the Kells--was a stray just adopted by my sister. And as he's a puppy (9 months), he has become the bane of Butters' existence during his short visit. The two boys are pictured above, temporarily coexisting in a peaceful manner and looking like brothers from another mother.

Going wedding dress shopping with my sister. She's getting married in October and I'm the Maid of Honor. I decided to dress up for the occasion, as you can clearly see (no really, I was wearing a dress. I just decided to dress it down b/c I thought I might be too overdressed for the suburbs. you know.).

Being given this awesome card by a good friend. She obviously knows me quite well.

Turning 5. I'm pretty psyched not to be 4 anymore.

holy scheissballz

via the FADER

Thank the Dutch wax print gods for the collaboration between Boxing Kitten and Osborn, who will debut the above style of the Osborn oxford in June. They look so good me thinks I might finally have to put out for a pair of these oxfords...

And damn Blogger for dulling the colors! Click the caption link for better color saturation.

Lindsay hit the striped jackpot.

Awwww, gurrrrrl, you done it again.

It is no secret that stripes are awesome right abouts now. And it is no secret that I like big, billowy clothes. B/c they make you look skinnier (don't try to change my opinion on that matter). So if you put the two together, you get complete awesomeness. Enter VDC. And this is why I'm completely bumming this post off of Lindsay, b/c these clothes need to be shared with more eyes. Anybody speak French? B/c it seems that neither of us would have any luck ordering in that lingua. Kein Französisch. Nur Deutsch und Englisch. Und ein bischen Lateinisch und Arabisch.

If my secret $ugardaddy is reading this blog, I would like dress #1. Very much so. Merci.

psych, one more post

Over the next couple of weeks I'll be listing some pretty awes (in my opinion) pieces from my wardrobe over on Laws of General Economy. As much as it pains me to list some of these pieces over others I've posted there, there really is no point in me keeping them, as I've either been unable to work them into my wardrobe or they're too big for me (and I'll never wear them). And I finally have to start paying school loans by the end of next month, so I need to make some cash quickly to pay those and other dues. But anyway, I'll be listing my Acne Jun Delta blouse (already up there), in addition to the above Ivana Helsinki dress, a Sunshine & Shadow tank from last summer (up for sale), a She-Bible dress, these Diesel booties (too big : (  ), and some other items. Because they are pretty sweet pieces, just not meant to be with me. If anyone wants to know when I list the items, feel free to let me know (via the emailz).

I love everything about this picture, spotted on the Storque. Wish I were going to the seaside for these few days off.

I hope all of my fellow Yanks have a lovely Memorial Day weekend, and I'll catch up with you homies next week, as I've got a weekend o' stuff planned. Get your nautical on, if you can; I'll be getting my funnel cake on.

Coloring Book Club - The Deets

CBC Taking an Indefinite Break...wah waaaaah

So I finally got my shit together and am making this official: the rules and regulations of our Coloring Book Club!

Sharesies! Partners will be assigned randomly each month (so that you get a new partner each time), and I'll then email everyone the email addresses of their partners so that they can then exchange mailing addresses.

The Coloring Bit. To keep everything uniform, everyone should color in/create one coloring book page for their partner, which they will then send to them by the end of the month via snail mail. But otherwise, do whatever you want! Rip a page out of an existent coloring book, photocopy and then color one from a book or zine, draw one of your own; it matters not! Just as long as there are black outlined shapes colored in with some kind of coloring device. And it's totally cool if the pages seem random in regards to your receiving partner, as partners probably will not know each other beforehand; random = interesting.

Sign Up. If you want to join the awesomeness, just shoot me an email at commasandclauses@gmail.com and I'll add you to the list in time for the next month's exchange. If I hear from you by the 7th of the month, you'll be put into the mix for that month (if you like)! It's never too late to join, and you're never too far away to receive/send mail (international peeps, I'm talking to you)! And if you're curious, more about the genesis of the club can be found here (but not that much more).

I just sent out emails for June, save for a few I'm trying to gather at the last minute. But again, feel free to join up for this month if you haven't yet! Also, if you've signed up but I don't yet have your email, please send that my way as soon as you get a chance. Thanks, dudes, and let the coloring soon begin!

a modern bard

via Like Neely O'Hara's Flickr. and as a note, I DO NOT find the first part of that funny. just the ke$ha part.

I have a three-hour commute daily in my auto-mo-bile, and to pass the time I've found myself listening to the radio more and more as of late. I've gotten tired of listening to the stuff on my iPod and I'm not afraid to admit that I enjoy the rap stations (okay, maybe I was a little hesitant in writing that). The hip hop music, as the kids say these days, has always been a secondary form of musical amusement for me. And knowing the lyrics comes in handy when I need to impress the students I work with, as does knowing how to crip walk (have you seen me? my skin tone could not get any whiter. but that--to my young scholars' surprise--doesn't mean I'm a c ).

Anyway, the above tangent was included to illustrate that I do not listen to top 40 stations, since what I'm about to say would make one think so. On my drive home today Ke$ha's latest noise pollutant was spun on one of the stations I listen to. I don't know what qualified her crap to be played on that station, aside from her reference to P. Diddy in "Tik Tok," but I felt enlightened after listening to it. Enlightened to the fact that Ke$ha is a horrendous lyricist. Let us examine some of her lyrics from said song, entitled "Your Love is My Drug":

"What you've got, boy, is hard to find,

I think about it all the time,

I'm all strung up, my heart is fried,

I just can't get you off my mind.

"Because

Your love,

Your love,

Your love,

Is my drug.

Your love,

Your love,

Your love.

I said

Your love,

Your love,

Your love,

Is my drug.

Your love,

Your love,

Your love."

And it continues, ending with her chuckling and whispering, "I like your beard."

I hope she wins a Grammy for such complex phrasing and profundity of thought.

um, how did I not know about this?

Actually, I remember hearing about Dance Dance Party Party awhile ago on the interwebs (was it on Refinery? Hipster Runoff?), but I had no desire to participate until today, until after reading the blog post on the Storque. Probably b/c I've been eating too much pesto pasta lately and drinking way too many Wawa milkshakes, since I had been Wawa deprived for the past five years. So I peruse the DDPP website, discover that there is a Philly chapter, only to actually discover that it is now defunct due to low membership. What the fug, dudes? Now that I actually read the article instead of staring quizzically at the picture featuring too much Am Appy (or is that another workout group, and I'm just getting confused...). So frickin' lame.

Anyway, point being: someone needs to rev that shiz back up in Philly so I can get my groove on sober and lose the Wawa-induced weight. B/c after no longer having my high school XC/track coach forcing me to exercise, I don't. move. Or start that shiz up in whatever town I move to next, since I decided I both am and like being a nomad. City #3 and I ain't tired of it yet, bros. Tangent.

Ilana Kohn SU10

Firstly, I just wanted to thank you guys for your kind words. They're a huge comfort.

Thinking of other things, I'm very excited about Ilana's soon-to-be-released Summer 2010 collection. Simple silhouettes and beautiful construction. And the dress I want (the blue and white striped piece) is called the Megan Dress. It's meant to be.

Speaking of animals one might find in a zoo...

The sloth with the stuffed animal and the animatronic-looking one near the end kill me. Sent my way by my bestie, Matt.

On a not so uplifting note, it seems that one of our dogs has a urinary tract infection and that one of her kidneys is kaput. For anybody that has read the digressions into my personal life here in the past few months, you might recall that our family dog of 15 years died right around Christmas and we subsequently adopted two dogs rescued from a puppy mill in February. If her functioning kidney does not recover, we may too have to put her down, which is immensely depressing for all of us right now. I'm hoping some miracle happens for her and that she pulls through.

---

Violet's kidney issues turned out to be worse than predicted, so my mom made the decision to put her down this evening. We just buried her in the backyard; it all happened so quickly. I feel especially bad for Butters, since she was his best friend. But luckily his other best friend, my sister's dog, will be visiting this weekend.

This video still makes me feel better, since the sloths' eyes and facial features (for whatever reason) remind me of Violet's. And that even though she moved so slowly, she ate her food ueber quickly (b/c she was one bad bitch, just like Maggie, my other dog).

Thanks for the sweet comments, guys. As always.

my weekend job

After finishing a 45-hour week at the school I work at on Friday, I was off to a six-hour shift leading an overnight at the Philadelphia Zoo, which was to be followed by an 18-hour shift Saturday/Sunday doing the same. I'm about ready for a nap. But it's a pretty stellar job because--unlike the other non-profits I've worked at--the Zoo's collection is actually living. Cool stuff always happens. A few weeks ago I was trained on handling animals from the education collection, and have since taught with ball pythons, blue-tongued skinks, chinchillas, armadillos, and albino hedgehogs. Pretty cool. They forced me to handle a Madagascar hissing cockroach, and you better believe that was the last time I am ever going to do that. Those bitches were huge.

Anyway, I brought in my camera this weekend to take some pictures of my faves:

The black and white colobus monkey. These guys have the coolest tails. I wanted to take a picture of the baby orangutan that's housed in the same building, but by the time I got off my shift, she was curled up in a cardboard box with her mother. But while the Brownies and I were doing our morning hike, the two of them were being fed, so I got a pretty decent view of her by herself for the first time. She's adorable.

The Rodrigues fruit bats. By far my favorite animal in the Zoo. I once saw one pee, and--being enthralled--I was like to the kids next to me, "Hey guys, did you see that?! He just flipped right-side-up to pee!" The kids didn't care.

The body-less ostrich. Eating leaves.

Either Coldilocks or Klondike. Lounging.

There are about 60 free-range peafowl in the Zoo, and they walk right alongside visitors; I almost tripped over this one after taking pictures of the Humboldt penguins. They make the weirdest sounds in communicating with each other (you seriously need to Google it if you haven't heard it), do amusing butt-shaking dances since it's mating season, and sleep up in the trees at night to avoid being eaten by foxes. Last night was the first time I actually saw a peacock fly (up to the tree he sleeps in), which was more graceful than I expected, since I was told they weren't very graceful fliers (I was expecting a drunken glide of sorts).

And finally, the naked mole rats. Or should I say, the naked mole rat orgy. At least that's what it looks like when you peek inside, since they are all sweatily sleeping on top of one another.

And... Nap time.

I Heart the Golden Girls zine

Buying myself a bunch of zines for my birdday and this is the latest of my purchases. And you get a free postcard with the Golden Girl of your choice. Thank you for being a friiiiiiend, self.

From Jackie Bos, who has to be one of my favorite illustrators these days.

via Onesidezero's Flickr

Cool mugs, brah.

WAHhhhhh

The day I can afford to go to London, I'm getting my nails done at WAH. End. Of. Discussion.

And check out the boo that owns the place (also part of the Levi's Craftwork thing in London). I can get behind the secondary "mission" of her salon space:

Have you guys checked out the progress of the new AC calendar?

That cat kills me. Below are some outtakes featured on Kate's blog.

2011 = movie theme. I'm all kinds of excited.

club deets and clothes

Dudes, I'm super psyched about how this coloring book club is panning out. I figure I'll give it another week to get all willing participants on board, and then we'll divide and conquer that shiz. In the meantime, could all interested parties send me your emails (por favor, to commasandclauses@gmail.com) so that partners can exchange addys at that time? Don't worry, though, if I already have your email. Thaaaaanks, dudes. You guys are killer.

Anywho, I visited the plainMADE blog today for the first time in a few weeks and added another dress to my summer dress wishlist. Behold, the Simple Stripe Dress:

And it comes in gray, black, aqua, or cobalt (pictured above).

Who wants to join a coloring book club??????

After some comments on my last post, I had the awesomest idea of a coloring book page exchange, b/c who doesn't like mail? And who doesn't like coloring? And so it is, a coloring book club.

WHO WANTS TO JOIN?!?!?

I was thinking something along the lines of everyone having a different partner every month, for whom you create a specialized coloring book page and mail her (or his) way. If you're down, be sure to leave your email (or email it to me) so that partners can exchange addys. And international boos, feel free to join, too! I personally care little about postal fees...

And no drawing required! Unless you want to.

I seriously love this coloring book.

I've been making personalized pages for some peeps at my school: two for my lover teacher, one for the librarian (my school bff), another for the tech guy (who I ask to buy me Wawa all the time, but he has yet to comply), and the above page for Summer, my coworker*.

And as the students love the copies I make from the book for them to color, thinking I need to invest in this gem per this here homegurrrl's advice. To keep the coloring alive, you see.

*I make her some of my pesto pasta weekly. She's preggers, so I don't mind.

they're baaaaaack!

Warby Parker sent out an email Friday stating that some of their sold-out styles--the Miles, Fillmore, Roosevelt, and Huxley--are available once more! Well, for pre-order. I was so pissed at myself when I waited too long in ordering the Huxley in Tennessee Whiskey (pictured above), which sold out after all of that publicity. Like seriously, I was sulking. But I got my order in today! For all interested parties, they expect to ship these pre-orders out by June 4th. AND my email inbox miracle came just minutes after I ordered the pair of Moscot Nebb's I've been humming and hawing over for 1.5 years. Two new frames, dudes. My yellow Donna Karan's can finally go on sabbatical.

United Bamboo at Lark

a & b

If only I made that kind of money.