Yes. Friday. Hard to tell when you are unemployed. BUT I have yet to veg out and watch any random tv shows like Matlock or Saved by the Bell, or, a worse fate, an entire Columbo movie. I have actually been quite busy!
Here is the week in review:
By the way, that picture of Barack Obama and me? NOT photoshopped! Okay, but I did buy a life-sized cardboard cutout of Obama (BEFORE I was unemployed). Yes, I took him on a picnic in the woods. And now he is in my living room. Although, sometimes I find him in the kitchen or the bathroom. Either my roommates are moving him or he’s alive.
HAPPY FRIDAY! FIRST OF ALL, we’ve added a BOOKMARKS page here on S&D with all of Maria’s & Tricia’s favorite links. This should provide several hours of entertainment.
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TWO S&D CONTESTS:
CATCH UP ON THIS WEEK’S S&D READING
BONUS: Click here or on the image above for an entertaining widget full of widgets. (Via Design You Trust)
In this second special installment of “Maria-and-Tricia-converse-with-Mrs. Grossman’s-aka-the-founder-of-the-STICKER-industry,” Creative Director Susan Eslick shares her current obsessions. Yesterday, we learned that Susan has used stickers to barter, and surprise waiters and waitresses. This made me reconsider that silly dream of, you know, being a full-time creative girl (read: struggling artist that supports herself by serving frito pies). I like stickers that much.
SUSAN ESLICK IS CURRENTLY OBSESSED WITH THE FOLLOWING THINGS (a few of which I have commented on):
1. OBAMA (Have you been to www.change.gov yet? You can even apply for a job on the site! Question. How many people do you think have applied to be the family’s puppy walker?)
2. CNN (I have tepid feelings towards Wolf Blitzer, but I love Anderson Cooper.)
3. Vintage labels
4. Stickers (I LOVE MRS. GROSSMAN’S CHUBBY LINE.)
5. Mad Men (Do you remember Maria’s fabulous Dyna Moe interview?)
6. Comfortable shoes
7. Typography from the 50s
8. Bahn mi (These Vietnamese sandwiches are so great! The best one that I ever had was from Ba-Le in Oahu).
9. Saving money
10. Italian ceramics
11. Cava
12. Small chairs
13. Manchego cheese
14. Eye glasses (The above glasses are from Eyebuydirect, where Maria purchased her last pair of glasses).
15. Fabulous packaging
16. Blown glass
17. Small kids in Halloween costumes
18. My cat.
ONE MORE THING LEFT IN S&D’S GREAT MRS. GROSSMAN’S SERIES!
A contest!
My dear bunnies, you are in for a treat! Mrs. Grossman’s has put together an exclusive prize pack for one lucky S&D reader. This prize pack includes Susan Eslick’s favorite stickers! To enter, email me with the correct answer to the following question:
What was the very first Mrs. Grossman’s sticker?
You have until Sunday, 11/16. The correct responses will be numbered, and the winner will be chosen randomly using this random number generator. And please title your email entry with something…you know…cute. Like “BALLER MRS. GROSSMAN’S CONTEST.” (Not that your chances of winning will increase if you have a cooler title. I am just fishing for a giggle. Selfish, I know.)
Tricia’s Notes & Picture Credits:
The font is Adam Gorry Lights by Senitel Type, which is available here. Image of Manchego Cheese from here. Bahn mi image taken by stu_spivack.
1. 50s Silk Blue Swing Dress, indigolace on ebay
2. Adrienne Vittadini Silk Scarf, sarmar04 on ebay
3. Lacina Top, Anthropologie, $39.95
4. Sunglasses, Forever 21, $2.99
5. Chirp and Tweet Dessert Plate, Anthropologie, $14
6. Red Wool Princess Coat, shop blue bird on ebay
7. Cupcake Apron, Boojiboo on etsy, $28.75
8. Painted Rose Hairclips, Forever 21, $2.80
I have to dedicate this post to my co-worker, Patrick, who recently lent me season one of Pushing Daisies. The exchange went somewhat like this.
Patrick: Would you like to borrow my season one Pushing Daisies DVDs? [Read: I would like to have someone to discuss Pushing Daisies with on Thursday mornings. Please watch quickly, and get caught up.]
Tricia: Umm…okay.
He gave me the DVDs, and I watched. In one day, I watched six episodes. Consecutively. Yes, I understand that this fact is a little embarrassing. Which is why, after the sixth episode, I left the apartment to get a cupcake. Then I returned, and resumed watching.
Produced by ABC, Pushing Daisies is the most whimsical, wildly imaginative TV series that I have ever watched. Visually, Pushing Daisies resembles a love child between Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Tim Burton (Ignore the biological impossibility! Imagination!). Since Amelie is my favorite movie, by far, it makes sense that I am utterly smitten with Pushing Daisies. There are even a few parallels between Pushing Daisies and Amelie!: the Pie Hole (Montmartre café), Chuck (English-speaking Amelie!), costume design, and the first episode of Pushing Daisies even features a song from the Amelie soundtrack!
The plot revolves around Ned, a pie-maker with the ability to bring dead things back to life with the touch of his finger. After reawakening the dead, Ned has a minute to retouch the person. If he doesn’t, the dead thing stays alive and someone else dies in exchange. Finally, if he touches anything that he had once revived, the thing stays dead forever. Make sense? I hope so. Ned and Emerson, a Private Investigator, use Ned’s extraordinary gift to solve murder crimes (and cash in on the reward money). Originally, this plan worked well worked, until Ned had to reawaken his childhood sweetheart, Chuck (!@#!@$%!$!@#!$%!!!!)
Ned can’t bring himself to un-reviving Chuck from the dead. Which is great, because I ADORE CHUCK! She is brilliant! Witty! Quirky! Charming! Adventurous! Oh, Chuck! How I wish I could be you! Chuck is a hybrid of Zooey Deschanel, Rory Gilmore, and AMELIE. Some of my favorite fictional/real people! So many exclamation points! Furthermore, Chuck always wears the most sparkling clothes! She pairs wonderful dresses with perfect little cardigans! Chuck joins Ned and Emerson, and the show chronicles the team’s sleuthing adventures.
So after six straight episodes of Pushing Daisies, what do I think about? How can I be like Chuck?! I subsequently went to this Pushing Daisies fan site (where all the pictures in this post are from!) to oogle at the Pushing Daisies cast (mostly Chuck). Chuck wears a lot of 1950s swing dresses, and ebay is the perfect place to find them. The dress up, up above has a Chuckish silhouette, and is well-tailored too! On trips to the morgue, Chuck frequently wears bold-colored wool coats, sunglasses and scarves so Mr. Coroner doesn’t recognize her. (Her disguises are kind of fruitless, but I enjoy seeing her disguises nonetheless!) I wear nearly as many cardigans as Mr. Rogers, and Chuck seems to be the same way too! I’ve always fawned over Anthropologie’s dainty cardigans. They’re always so cozy and detailed! Chuck also enjoys lovely hair things: Audrey Hepburn-sized hats and flower hair clips! When she isn’t at the morgue, Chuck helps Ned bake pies (and even suggests that the Pie Hole should serve CUP PIES…CUPCAKE-SIZED PIES…panda-precious!), and wraps herself in cute aprons. Lastly, a perfect plate for the Pie Hole’s famous Three Plum pie. Yummy!
Happy birthday to me happy birthday to me. I don’t like getting older, but I do like getting presents, and while I don’t expect to get these presents, I can always dream. (Like my magazine-style image? Ohlala!)
Sigh. Another year older!
Eight years ago, on this EXACT day (the day after the 2000 election), I had to deliver the daily news in my 9th grade Global Studies class. Legit. A daily ritual at the beginning of class, a student would present the top headlines. Selfish Tricia thought, “sweet! I have a lot of material to work with! An election with a questionable winner? Jackpot!!” But then, the guilt set in. I considered the beauty of altruism (both literally <a gorgeous word!> and philosophically), and bowed my head in disgrace over my selfish hurahs.
It’s wild for me to think that eight years have elapsed, with FAR more decisive results this time around. Between 5-11PM, Maria and I simultaneously watched TV and chatted on gmail. What can I say. We are adept at multi-tasking. At 10:41PM, while I listened to the joyous Chicago pandemonium outside my windows (it’s an especially good night to be a Chicagoan), Maria sent me this:
Maria: ohhh wow
i was just wondering
if like obama’s youngest daughter
is like “dad, i want a hannah montana bedroom”
can they do that in the white house?Tricia: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAAHAH <REFLECTION!: WORTH THE SECOND LINE OF CAPITAL CHUCKLES>
Yes, Maria.
I assume so.Maria: but aren’t they historical rooms?
you can’t be like, “I call lincoln bedroom! where can i put my hannah montana poster?”
….Immediately after the announcement of a new president, Stickers & Donuts thinks about these important matters. Insatiable curiosities.
If you’re feeling nostalgic, and want to reminisce on this extraordinary election, I suggest you browse through Stickers and Donuts’ Election Collections:
1. Election Collection I
2. Election Collection II
3. Election Day fun (everday is an Obama cookie day!)
Happy Election Day! I guess by now it’s pretty obvious who I’m voting for. I hope by now you’ve cast a ballot for your pick (or are planning to) and I also hope you’ve perused my Election Collection Part I and Part II. (150+ fab election-related links!).
Since my birthday is always right around election day (in fact, I was born the day Ronald Regan was elected prez), and it’s always not far from Halloween, I think of the day as a part of a conglomerate of holidays that kick-off the whole winter holiday extravaganza that ends on New Year’s Day.
My election day is shaping up to look like a less exciting version of the image above. But there is still time to make presidential-shaped snacks and wear pretty buttons! (more…)
11/15 — CONTEST HAS ENDED. Thanks for all your entries! Winners will be informed soon.
WIN one of these! We have TEN to give away! Just leave a comment below!
Yes, last week we gave away a poster. We didn’t want it ourselves or anything. It wouldn’t have looked perfect, for example, in a frame on either of our bedroom walls. So we were happy to give it away. Seriously.
Anyway, remember a few weeks ago when I reviewed an ipod case that looks like a cassette tape? Well, Stickers & Donuts and Proporta, who makes that case along with other ipod accessories, are giving away some cases for your third generation ipod nano (the squat one shown above). The prize pack comes with everything you’d get if you bought one for real:
How many do we have to to give away? (10) TEN!!! Yes. So that means this is one of those not-that-many-will-enter but many-will-win situations. Let’s face it, Stickers & Donuts does not have the same readership as, say, Teen Vogue. So your chance of winning? Pretty good.
You can win by leaving a comment below. We are going to pick randomly so you can say “Hello” and nothing else, but we do prefer you say something fantastic like, “I’ve been reading your blog for months and think you are fabulous.” It won’t improve your chances of winning, but it will improve our mood.
If you are comment-shy, shoot us an email (use the subject line “case contest”) and we’ll put you in the running with everyone else. You’ve got until November 14, so force your family members to enter on your behalf.
See yesterday’s interview with Jonathan Keller!
So I finagled some currently obsessed info out of JK and made a little picture to accompany the lists!
Currently Obsessed with:
Shrunken Quarters
Envelope-free ATM deposits that print an image of the check on your receipt.
iPhone solitaire (this may more properly belong in the second list)
Tompkins Square Park Dog Run
Grade B Dark Amber maple syrup
Hot Coca-Cola
Laser-cutters & 3d printers
Ongoing obsessions that I am working to reduce:
e-mail, blogs & the internets in general
Myself, specifically my face
Dust
The zeitgeist
A week ago we announced the Insound and S&D poster contest! A signed and numbered Black Heart Procession poster, designed by The Small Stakes (Jason Munn)! It’s time to announce the winner!
You’re a winner, MICKEY SILLS! (I feel like a first grade teacher, who is on the brink of showering you with Carson-Dellosa stickers!) Insound will contact you shortly, and you will soon receive your poster. Congratulations! :D
To everyone else: Don’t fret my dearies! More exciting S&D contests are coming up! WEE!
So many links, wordpress is breaking!
So, here it is, Part II. Tell me your favorite in the comments, or something I should add! And visit Part I!
Which do you like best? (Some of my favorites listed at the bottom of the page.)
CLICK to open the related page or product in a new window.
Am I missing anything? Let me know! I’ll update the page through election day as I find more relevant links! Wordpress is having trouble with all of the added links, I’ll add links to Part II through election day. Lots more there!
Obama & voting prints, merchandise, blogs, web-pages, posters, maps, and more. Click on each images & it will open the related site in a new window.
Have a favorite? Here are some of mine:
Web-Pages
Clothes
Prints/Posters (besides every other one from AIGIA, also these were quite hard to choose):
Other
Although I found many of these through my own ventures, searches, and a significant number were posted on multiple “big blogs”, I did find a handful of useful links in the following locations: notcot.org, Urban Outfitters Vote Blog, Urban Outfitters Store, SwissMiss, SeriousEats.
PS VOTE!!!
PPS If you want to link to this post, I’ve got some cool images you can use:
Yes, it’s different! I dyed it red and got bangs. Ohhh… you mean with Stickers & Donuts, well, yes, that has changed a little, too. We now have MORE SPACE thanks to my friend and co-adventurer Misa. I realize that now all of my other pages, formatted perfectly to the smaller width, are a little funny now. Also, I now have to blow dry and straighten my bangs. Change always comes with its share of problems.
As for this week’s current obsessions (for other weeks, click here)…
H-A-P-P-Y F-R-I-D-A-Y!
It has been a busy week here at Stickers & Donuts. We interviewed Ian Dingman. And we LOVED IT. Go take a look if you haven’t yet. (The interview seems long, but when you get right down to it, you’ll wish it were longer!)
We’ve had the pleasure of interviewing many cool people here at S&D, which brings me back to this Yellow Zilla Monster Print by Tad Carpenter who we interviewed for Tricia’s “Poster Party.” (more…)
