FEELING UPLIFTED

How amazing is this?  Simply made out of helium balloons and large swaths of cloth, this canopy grazed the grounds of the Venice Architectural Biennale.  How lovely would it be to lay underneath it and watch it ripple with the breeze?  Check out more photos of the biennale here.

And now on a completely different note: I finished my finals!  I handed in my last two papers today and will delightedly spend the rest of the week/weekend finally getting around to holiday celebrations!

Most posts to come soon!  Hooray!

GETTING IN THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT

. . . an unusual Christmas greeting to keep the smiling going.  Enjoy!

KEEPIN' IT SMILEY

Here's to a smiley day!  Strangely it is about 60 degrees here in New York and I have just finished writing my second paper (though it needs major editing . . . )!

This card just seemed to sum up the feeling of this morning.  It's such a great idea (even the envelope is happy!)-- I might have to steal it.  Until then, pick up the real thing at this lovely shop here. 

AMAZING.

I know, I know: I have been gone more than "a couple days".  But you are just going to have to wait a little while longer for new posts so I can finish whipping these final papers into submission (or maybe they are whipping me? It's hard to tell at this point).  In the meantime do yourself a favor and check out the blog Fuck You, Penguin: a hilarious blog where cute animals are "told what's what".  Still need convincing?  Click on the image above to sneak a peak at one of my favorite posts.  I mean really, who do Red Pandas think they are?

UPDATE: I literally have to stop reading Fuck You, Penguin entries right now because they are making me laugh so loud in the library that people are starting to stare.  Maybe I have reached the point of delirium or maybe, just maybe, the idea of swearing at absolutely adorable animals is comic genius.  Helpful hint: read this somewhere you can laugh out loud and not be looked at like you are three final paper pages from the deep end.

BIG PUSH!

I am in a big push to get a ton of work done over the next couple days.  I need to finish one paper, write another one, and  beginning researching yet another.  So, I might be missing in action for a little while.

In the meantime, check out Google's new search engine (here) which allows you to sort through LIFE magazine's entire photographic inventory.  This photo dates from April 1947 in Stalingrad, Russia.

YAY?

I really like this bag.  

And I ate a donut today. (Okay, I ate two.)

And I think I just passed my French exam.  (Fingers crossed.)

And it is supposed to be raining here in New York and instead it is sunny (at least for winter-time). 

Dare I say that things are looking up?

See this fair trade handwoven clutch here.

ADVENT CALENDARS

Black*Eiffel has done a lovely "round up" of wonderfully designed Advent Calendars (here) - a great way to get in the holiday spirit!  One of my favorites included these downloadable advent numbers from d.Sharp Journal (here).  They're like typological candy!

WRAP IT UP!

I am starting to get very excited about the holidays (most likely because it distracts me from the endless unwritten pages facing me) and wanted to share with you some very fun wrapping paper from two of my favorite stores: the Container Store and Paper Source.  You can buy all of these online  and, while slightly expensive, they might just make that present seem a little more special.

From top to bottom:

Chilly Dogs (Recycled!): The Container Store, $7.95 for 2 sheets of 34" x 22"

White and Red Woodlands: The Container Store, $9.99 for 12" x 30"

Merry Merry Merry: The Container Store, $8.95 for 10" x 30"

Taxi Wrap: Paper Source, $3.50 for 1 sheet at 20" x 30"

Candy Canes: Paper Source, $2.25 for 1 flat sheet, $7.95 for roll wrap

Polar Bears: Paper Source, $2.25 for 1 flat sheet, $7.95 for roll wrap

BEYONCE (PUT A RING ON IT)

I watched this video for the first time over the holiday and, well, despite my enormous amounts of exam-time work I cannot stop watching it.  The reasons are as follows:

A: Beyonce has the most amazing legs (she's the next Tina Turner!), hair, eyes, body . . . basically, she's my idol.

B: Each one of the dance moves is incredibly silly (see the Justin Timberlake SNL parody here; make sure you scroll to the 4 minute mark, unless you want to see a very funny weekend update with Justin also) but Beyonce makes them look incredibly hot.  

C: I secretly (or not so secretly) want to bust this out in the club. Not sure if I could pull it off though . . . anyone care to join me?