MINIMEGA

This morning I wanted to show you an amazing paper store I just discovered (thanks to Oh Joy! for the heads up): Minimega. Minimega is a design studio based in Denmark, which seems to be run by a lovely graphic designer named Sarah. Check out her blog here and website here (in Danish and English).

How great are these paper bags? They come in all different color stripes and are printed on 100% recycled paper with vegetable inks. You can buy one color in sets of 20 (smaller bags) or 15 (bigger bags) for €2.50 or a multi-mix (smaller bags) of colors for €13.50. Here's the kicker however. Right now Minimega only ships to addresses in the European Union. Sad, I know. Now's the time to take advantage of all your ex-pat friends and family members (Elise, I may be giving you a call!).

Besides adorable paper bags, though, Minimega also sells other paper goods: sets of really sweet notecards, sheets of wonderfully patterned wrapping paper, and brightly colored blank page notebooks. There is so much to drool over, I don't even know where to begin.

See more of these lovely offerings here and sign up for their mailing list here.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: PHOTO OF THE DAY

Do you check out National Geographic's Photo of the Day? Every day they choose one fabulous photo--sent in by amateurs and professionals alike--to feature on their website. Some of the shots are absolutely astounding, like this one of dew on a spider web.

Looking for inspiration, a connection to nature, or a mental vacation? Check out photo of the day here.

SCREENSAVER SAVVY

Just a quick post today as I am running out the door. I recently discovered a new screensaver that I wanted to share with you. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of their magazine, Real Simple designed an analog clock screensaver (top) that features brightly colored numbers which are hidden and revealed as the seconds tick by. Certainly a pretty way to conserve computer energy! Download it for free here.

I also thought I would share my current screensaver with you: Fliqlo flip clock designed by 9031. I have used this elegant screensaver for over three years; I absolutely love it and am constantly getting compliments on it at school and work. You can also spot it in countless home tours on blogs and design magazines. It seems that every designer and artist has it on their computer! You can too if you download it (for free!) here.

Enjoy!

EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP

I went with a friend this weekend to see this new documentary about street art: "Exit Through the Gift Shop". It was fabulous. Very funny. Very cool. And a real treat for art nerds like me who have been following some of these street artists for a long time. The film takes you behind the scenes with artists like Shepard Fairey, Space Invade, Swoon, and Banksy, showing you how they work and tag. Living in New York and being a graduate student, I am very wary about dropping $13-$16 to see a movie. This one, however, was well worth the expense.

The movie is still only playing in select cities; check out the release schedule and get more information here.

PER YOUR SUGGESTION: EMAIL UPDATES!

Thanks to a kind nudge from reader Donna, I have now set up an email subscription service for the blog! If you prefer to get your obsessive fix directly in your inbox you can click the sign up link at right (under the "Want More?" heading). You will be asked to input your email; I promise it will not be shared with anyone else. After that simple step you can look forward to receiving an email every time I add a new post! Pretty cool, huh?

As always, if you have something you would like to see posted or added here drop me an email or write a comment to share your thoughts. Input is always welcome!

(Interested in my graphic design skills? See more of my portfolio here.)

BAG IT UP (PART 2)

Part two of my Earth Day celebration features another vendor I met at MoMA Green Day: Baggu. Baggu seems to create an excited frenzy in the office every year during this event; people love their bags so much that Baggu usually hands out all of their freebies--over 200 samples each year--within the first hour of the event! I managed to pick up a purple one (perfect for a Williams girl) right before they ran out. That also meant that I had a chance to speak to the two lovely ladies--Emily and Pia--behind the Baggu brand. After talking with them for a couple of minutes I was completely convinced that Emily and Pia were not only wonderful people, but also had a great eye for color and design (Pia was wearing one of these necklaces and I instantly loved her!), and had a great business model!

Baggu bags are ethically produced, made of one piece of ripstop nylon, and can hold up to 50 pounds! They are endlessly reusable, sturdy and practical. Each Baggu folds down into a small, convenient pouch so that it is really easy to throw it into your purse, suitcase, whatever. If yours starts to show wear you can mail it into Baggu and they will recycle the material and give you a credit towards the purchase of a new one. Baggu bags come in three sizes: Baby Baggu (lunch bag size), Baggu (shopping bag size), and Big Baggu (laundry bag size). You can buy them individually or in sets of 3 or 5.

Check them out at their website here or buy them and watch a super cute video (about using your Baggu as wrapping paper) on Amazon here.

(Have you sensed my tote bag/shopping bag obsession yet? See it for yourself here, here, here, here, and here.)

BAG IT UP (PART 1)

There are not a lot of perks that come with being an intern. The best is usually getting in free to other museums or getting a discount at the gift shop (working at MoMA means I use that discount A LOT). But on Tuesday MoMA employees celebrated Earth Day with a "Green Fair", hosting nearly 20 vendors that sell eco-friendly products or promote environmental awareness. What does that translate to? Lots of great design and lots of free stuff. Today I want to introduce you to my two favorite vendors--both of whom gave me some great freebies and were really friendly and nice. First up: LunchSkins.

LunchSkins is a super cool company that sells reusable, dishwasher safe food "baggies". Meant to replace the countless plastic baggies we all grew up with in our lunch boxes, these beauties are made of durable food-safe cotton, are hand-sewn and double-stitched, and feature a hook-and-eye velcro closure. They come in myriad patterns and bright colors; after all, who said bringing your lunch had to be "brown bag"? I particularly love the shark pattern!

Snack bags run for $7.85 and sandwich bags go for $8.95. You can pick up your own LunchSkins at their website here.

ILLUSTRATED CITIES

I agree with Black*Eiffel. These "city" prints by Blanca Gómez are wonderful! I love the overlapping trees, the tiny happy dog, and the "New Yorker" style lettering. Fabulous.

Check out more cities and more loveliness in her portfolio here.

PARTY POMS

Speaking of parties, I just discovered another amazing Etsy resource: Party Poms. This store sells countless "Party Poms" a bright flowery puff ball of tissue paper. Sold in different colors, numbers and sizes you are pretty much guaranteed to find a combination that fits your celebration. They even come with monofilament (clear fishing wire-like stuff) to hang them up right away.

Check out the rainbow goodness here.

(Thanks to Party Perfect for the heads up.)

BELATED BIRTHDAY

I have had several nudging requests to share photos from my birthday party two weekends ago. Going through the photos I took from the event, however, I was disappointed by how grainy most of the images were given the low lighting. With a little editing I have managed to salvage a couple shots by switching to black and white. Above you can see some of the table set up: an orange and yellow daffodil centerpiece; a multi-tiered display of animal-cracker topped cupcakes; and another tray of cupcakes with flags that spelled out "happy birthday kaj".

At the last minute I also decided to make tiny little favors for two of my friends who were helping me with set up and clean up. Heading to the MUJI section at MoMA Store I picked up these small stackable storage pots for about $1 each (you can't beat a sale and employee discount!). At home I filled them with different candies---jelly beans and reese's pieces---to create a mini color spectrum. Finally, I topped them off with a small blue label and wrote "thank you!" in my patented block capital lettering. My friends were delighted to receive them and it made me realize that it is really fun to show people you care with a small, sweet, and unexpected gesture.

But I still haven't mentioned the star of the party: the cupcakes! I ended up making 60+ cupcakes despite the fact that there were only going to be 15 people at the party . . . oops! This meant that I acted as the 'cupcake fairy' for a week, giving out cupcakes at school and work. I used three recipes from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes all of which were absolutely delicious and relatively easy to make. After much deliberation I decided to make Devil's Food Chocolate, Chocolate Chip, and Apple Spice (only in the cookbook). Each was topped with either store bought dark chocolate frosting (a girl can only do so much!) or this amazing cream cheese frosting. If you make the cream cheese frosting I highly suggest halving the amount of confectioner's sugar; I used only 2 cups and they were the perfect level of sweetness. Finally, I topped the Devil's Food cupcakes off with non-pareils or dark chocolate shavings, the Chocolate Chip cupcakes with multi-colored sanding sugar, and the Apple Spice cupcakes with rainbow balls and animal crackers. I was pretty proud of the results!

Check out more shots of the cooking and the party on my Flickr photostream here.

PUKA PUKA DOT MOBILE

I have been looking to add a mobile to our apartment decor for a long time (that and a collection of bouncy balls, a movie marquee, a photo booth . . . the wish list goes on and on!). I was originally thinking of something black and modern (like the one I mentioned here), but this soft "polka dot" mobile by Puka Puka is super adorable. I know it is supposed to be for "babies", but I think it would be wonderful to have two or three of these hanging above a long dining table. They would certainly give a pop of color to a white-walled rental!

See more lovely handmade mobiles, even some intended for adults, at Puka Puka here.

CAMPER TWS

I agree with heysusy*. These camper "ballet pumps" are absolutely wonderful. I have always had a soft spot for Camper's beautifully made and designed shoes . . . I just couldn't get over the monster price tag! If the $160 ticket for these puppies doesn't dissuade you, you can pick up your own pair at the Camper website here.

COME SAIL AWAY

Yesterday the Etsy front page featured a collection of nautical items. It seemed like fate since my boyfriend and I had just signed up for a weekend-long sailing certification in June. Living in NYC makes me miss all the sailing and swimming I did throughout my childhood summers; I am truly a preppy beach bum at heart!

Anyway, I thought I would do my own selection of sweet sea-inspired finds from Etsy to get us excited for summer! I was surprised at how many really cool things I came across.

1. Moby Dick Silver Lariat, Leviticus, $20
2. Recycled Sail Tote Bag, reiter8, $75
3. Ahoy There Letterpress Print, letterpress, $10
4. Ivory Sailor Knot Headband, marcelacamargo, $14
5. Hey Sailor Sterling Silver Studs, f1nneran, $16
6. Anchors Aweigh Pocket Mirror, McYarnpants, $6

Hope you like them as much as I do!

TINA FEY

I love Tina Fey. She's hilarious in this interview with David Letterman. Enough said.

(Thanks to swissmiss for the heads up.)

THE ARTIST SPEAKS

GOOGLE SEARCH STORY

I agree with swiss-miss, the video creator at Google Search Stories is awesome. I made my own little video self portrait above, hope you like it! Head over here to make your own search story; it's a cinch!

(Also, I wanted to thank you all for your kind birthday wishes! I had a fabulous weekend and will try to share some photos of the party with you as soon as I get them organized.)

SILVER JUBILEE

Today is my birthday. I am turning 25! I would be hesitant to share that with you except that recently I have been coming across a ton of really adorable birthday cards and invites. Yesterday I discovered the printable balloon card above at Kate's Paperie which seamlessly fits with my balloon obsession (I ordered 30 balloons for my party tomorrow!). I love that it could be a thank you note, a greeting card or an invite! You can pick up a set of 12 for $16 here.

I also wanted to show you the absolutely adorable free e-cards available on the website Pingg (I have written about Pingg before here). Planning my little birthday shin-dig over the past few weeks--with a cupcake and cocktails theme--I immediately went to Pingg to design my invites. Given the fact that I absolutely adore bunting and garlands this bright e-card invite was perfect. I also love the fact that Pingg gives you tons of options for your design: email, print and snail mail, make thank you notes etc. You can even upload your own design and, with your event website, allow you guests to upload photos of the event later. Love it! Check out more of their awesome birthday designs here.

AVOCA CIRCUS RUG

Now that the fuzzy glow of WINNING 78 IN A ROW has been sufficiently recognized, I am getting back to the main goal of this blog. I have had this lovely throw blanket earmarked for some time now. I love the brightly colored plaid and, despite the warming weather, I think this would look wonderful on a cream or white couch.

Get one at the British store 'Utility' for £79.95 here.

PERFECT. AGAIN.

I know this is supposed to be an arty blog that focuses on design. I know this. However, sometimes there are moments that are just so amazing (like this last year) that they transcend that rubric and simply must be shared with any- and everyone. Last night the UCONN Lady Huskies won their 7th National Championship, completing two perfect back to back seasons and setting an unbreakable win record of 78-0. I am a HUGE fan of UCONN basketball; there are famous stories of me attending games at 6 years old and being the loudest fan in the arena (thankfully I was a cute kid so people didn't get too mad at me)! These women have truly made me and their countless fans proud, playing with unwavering poise and tenacity over the last two years. The stats are unbelievable--they were only down 0.2% of the time in the second half of games during the past two seasons, they regularly beat ranked opponents by 30, 40 or 50 points, they only lost one game (the championship game against Stanford last night) by fewer than 10 points--but you can read about them all here.

If you are curious to see what such perfection looks like, here are a couple of videos definitely worth seeing:

ESPN Sports Science: Looking at Maya Moore's Insanely High Level of Play

'History': A Look Back at the 78-0 Streak, Narrated by Robin Roberts

A Recap of UCONN First 6 Championships (also see the other amazing UCONN videos in the sidebar of this site)

You can also click on the photos above for more shots from the game on my Flickr site.

I promise to return to regularly scheduled programming tomorrow. I just had to share the good news!