Here they are, on the busiest shopping day of the year (I just made that up), all of the Stickers & Donuts Gift Guides in one nifty place. A big theme in this years gift guides seems to be immaturity. I’m okay with that.

You can use these guides for all the birthdays, Christmases, and Hanukkahs to come (also, good for stocking up during after xmas sales, you just never know when you’re going to need to catapult a baby*). Until the internet explodes, we’re your own personal shoppers.

So, click on each image to be joyously swept away to the appropriate gift guide. If all of this linking bothers you, just visit the Gift Guide 2008 tag and scroll away.

*See Gift Guide for the one with the maturity level of Michael Scott for more information.

We’re not sure when we’ll return, but we imagine we could have a few more posts pre-2009, so check back! Otherwise, we’ll see you in January! Enjoy the holidays! xoxo

Alright, in usual Friday-fashion, go see all of the fab Gift Guides we posted this week. Next week, we’ll have a nice summary page so you can shop on easy street.

Now, here is a special feature for this Friday, because it’s the holiday season. You get a sneak-peek into some of my favorite holiday media (okay, I know the graphic is semi-lame). Believe me, it was hard to choose favorites. I have a box full of xmas books in my mom’s attic that I drag out every year, risking death on those rickety pull-down stairs. I am ashamed that I have left off such favorites as Eloise at Christmastime, The Chanukkah Guest, and Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins (especially this one! love this one!).

10. The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming by Lemony Snicket ($9) I don’t even OWN this book yet, but I found it at a bookstore and think it’s hysterical. It’s written by the author of the Series of Unfortunate Events, and published by McSweeney’s, which means it has fabulous illustrations.

9. Auntie Claus by Elise Primeavera ($11) I discovered this book when I read the story through the windows of New York’s Saks Fifth Avenue, which stunningly recreates a different xmas children’s story each year. I love the bright illustrations.

8. This classic 1964 movie of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer ($13), with Burl Ives as the narrator, is an xmas favorite. Luckily, it’s on TV every year about 2000 times so I’ve never had to purchase it. I actually discovered this as a teenager, so I don’t think it’s one of those movies that you had to grow up with to enjoy. The abominable snowman cracks me up every time.

7. How can a movie buff like myself watch Home Alone ($13) 2x every year with such great pleasure? Little Mccully Culkin before he got married at, like, age 15. So cute! If you don’t think you can endure the entire move, you can at least watch the trailer for kicks.

6. I did not expect to like Elf (2-Disc Set, w/Special Features) ($30), but between Will Ferrell (who, I’ll admit, doesn’t always thrill me), the Zoey Daschel rendition of my favorite xmas song Baby It’s Cold Outside, and the heartwarming holiday message, I was won over.

5. As far as I’m concerned, if you like the Jim Carey version of this story, you are a traitor to humanity. The cartoon version, based directly off of Dr. Seuss’ classic tale, is wonderful, if not just for the song You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch. Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (50th Birthday Edition) ($13)

4. Growing up I would turn through Peter Spier’s Christmas! ($13) again and again, thinking of my own holiday traditions and making up a story for the family inside this book. Without any words, Spier tells a simple tale of how one family celebrates Christmas. There are no plot twits, just simple family traditions like decorating the tree, grocery shopping, and opening presents.

3. Imagine my college roommate’s delight freshman year when she realized that to the start of the Xmas season was only complete after I replayed Raffi’s Christmas Album ($13) at least 10 times (Raffi is most famous for singing Baby Beluga and he usually sings with a group of children). This is one of those items that might be annoying if you didn’t grow up with it, but if you have kids you can start them on their obsession now. That way, by the time they enter college they might be freaks me.

2. Love Actually ($9) is an amazing movie not just for the holiday season, but since some of its main scenes take place around Christmas, I try to wait until December to watch. One of the few xmas movies that I think can stand alone as a film, not just a holiday film. Heartwarming, but not so heartwarming that you want to puke.

1. Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters (various prices at half.com, some less than $1) is perhaps my favorite holiday book. How it can possibly be out of print, I have no idea. It’s a children’s mini-chapter book with plenty of beautiful, full-color illustrations. Historically accurate, it tells the story of Southern Christmases, both in the slave quarters and in the master’s house. Inside the cover, my mom inscribed it for me, saying something like “I hope your Christmas is always wonderful, no matter if it is in the Big House, or in the Quarters.” Definitely one of those “true meaning of christmas” books without hitting you over the head. For some close up pictures, go over the jump. (more…)

Scroll down and revisit this week’s post. They’re good! Especially yesterday’s gift guide & the Knock Knock interview!

And, here are seven artsy things I liked on the internet this week:

(1) Kitsune Noir’s new desktop wallpaper:

(2) The Office Jello Stapler Card Set

(more…)

I have to give credit to Tricia for thinking of this one, and for making me feel, for a moment, as if I could be both as smart as Rory Gilmore and unemployed!

Rory Gilmore was the star of the now-defunct series Gilmore Girls. Rory lived with her young mother Lorelai, and they bantered back and forth for seven seasons. Rory was smart, witty, and had great journalistic-inspirations. She just happened to be almost exactly the same age as me, so I followed her through high school and college, and in her final season when she graduated (from Yale), I graduated college, too. (And also BAWLED for the entire episode because Rory was graduating, and I was graduating, and it was the end the series.) Anyway, Tricia & I love Rory, and so did my college roommate (who I think would like nearly everything on this list).

The point of this list is TWO FOLD. FIRST FOLD: Rory is smart, fun, and classy. SECOND FOLD: Because I am unemployed, and I am like Rory, we are now pretending Rory is unemployed, and would like to get gifts for use during her new-found free time. Is that too complicated? Tricia and I are complicated people.

1. I love these little Great Ideas Books (6 from amazon.com, $40) from Penguin. They’re small, beautifully designed, and each contains a single essay that you feel like you should’ve read at one point or another. Rory would definitely use some of her unemployment time to educate herself.
2. Although Rory is more of J Crew or Banana Republic kind of girl, we want you to be able to afford these gifts, so this classy Swing Jacket from Old Navy ($35) is just the thing. I figure Rory will need something to wear to all of her interviews.
3. SNACKS. You can get these anywhere (including a vending machine) and put them in a fun movie box, maybe with a gift card for netflix. Rory & Lorelai ate lots of snack food, including popcorn, and the classic tub of ice cream when depressed. In stressful situations, they were always snacking (and never gained a single pound.)
4. Rory was never a morning person and loved her coffee, so on unemployment she’ll certainly need a way to get up in the morning. Her and her mom had lots of kitchy things, and I can imagine one of them might be this Van Gogh Coffee Mug with the Disappearing Ear (Unemployed Philosophers Guild, $13).
5. Rory’s witt and journalistic-aspirations lead me to believe that she would love Sarah Vowell, the This American Life super-star, history-geek, and humorous essayist (also, Violet in The Incredibles!). Her most recent book is The Wordy Shipmate (amazon.com, $20).
6. Tricia tells me that Rory loves Elvis Costello, and I believe her because Tricia has superb-musical memory and I do not. Elvis Costello’s Momofuku (amazon.com, $13).
7. Lorelai, at the very least, enjoyed random, bad movies. In unemployment, I think Rory might try to take a crack at classic Ed Wood, who is known for being one of the worst movie directors of all time. This movie collection Ed Wood: A Salute to Incompetence (amazon.com, $9) includes two discs and SIX movies, like Glen or Glenda? and, possibly the worst movie of all time, Plan 9 From Outerspace.
8. More classy apparel. Also interview worthy. Jeweled Satin Ballet Flats (Old Navy, $10).
9. Rory probably wouldn’t WATCH the complete series of her life, but if you are unemployed you certainly have the time to sit in bed and watch seven years worth of re-runs. Gilmore Girls: The Complete Series Collection (amazon.com, $145).
10. Finally, I think Rory would appreciate a simple, black satin dress. Since she’s not employed, she doesn’t have the money to get a brand new J Crew dress, but this Satin Rossetta Belt is a simple detail from J Crew, and it’s on sale for only $20.

We want YOU to join US.

Our fabulous editor Tricia is soon taking a Stickers & Donuts siesta, and so we need someone else to join the S&D Team as a Guest Writer or, possibly, an S&D Editor-at-Large. As an extra bonus, your salary will be exactly the same as mine (that would be $0, unfortunately).

Here are a few reasons why you might want to write for S&D:

• We already have readers, so your posts will get an audience.
• You’ll have freedom to come up with your own ideas and write about topics that interest you.
• You will get experience blogging, or be able to link back to your own blog.
• You might be able to score interviews with cool and artsy people. (more…)

First of all, I know you’re dying to hear the outcome of my annual Thanksgiving Day Turkey Making Contest. This year, a Sarah Palin Turkey took home the grand prize (it really looks like her, doesn’t it?!), meanwhile my Tur-Doggen (er, I just made that up) was a bit more “experimental” (sorry, Bear, you were a very docile dog) and though my turkey it didn’t walk away with the prize it did… walk away. (more…)

I will fully admit that I’m neurotic, and possibly as paranoid as Woody Allen. That mole? Cancer. Pain in the tooth? An infection about to go straight to the heart. Out running? Probably going to get stabbed. It’s exhausting being me. I was also 50% psychology major, so psych and therapy jokes tickle my funny bone.

PS THIS GIFT GUIDE IS CLICKABLE! Click on the images, and get shopping.

Want to hear more about these products? Read on! (more…)

Tricia & I are now ready to introduce our Official Stickers & Donuts Gift Guides! Starting today, we’ll be posting multiple gift guides each week until xmas. Hopefully, these guides will help you shop for those “special” (ie “unique”) people on your list. (Tricia and I ourselves are rather “special”.)

We also have some ALL NEW Special Features on some of our gift guides. These include:

• The Stickers & Donuts Triple Star (***) Stocking Stuffer Seal of Approval. This is our way of saying the gift is tiny, and will likely fit in a stocking.
• IMAGE MAPS! YESSS… finally Stickers & Donuts is playing with image maps. Some of our Gift Guides will be fully CLICKABLE. Yes, that means that you can click on each product in the gift guide image, and you’ll be taken directly to that product’s web-page.

So enjoy! The first Gift Guide is coming today!

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:

• Tricia became obsessed with many things
• I become unemployed, then blogged about it
• We found 10 accessories for book lovers
• We have established that Ray Fenwick, though not my boyfriend, makes super-cool things that you can purchase
  

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.

BONUS LINK TO COOL BLOG POST ON ANOTHER BLOG

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:

• Still giving away 10 ipod accessory sets until 12pm 12am tonight (11/14)!
• Giving away Mrs. Grossman’s Sticker Prize Pack until 12pm 12am Sunday (11/16)

CATCH UP ON THIS WEEK’S S&D READING

• How about an interview with the Creative Director of Mrs. Grossman’s?
• Dream about Penguin’s book and posters sets, including George Orwell posters by Shepard Fairey!
• Check out the Pushing Daisies Fashion Guide. Full of bright, cheery outfits. Also, fun stuff going on in the comments section.

BONUS: Click here or on the image above for an entertaining widget full of widgets. (Via Design You Trust)