Yes!

I love all the inspiration and beauty I get online. Working in a very text-oriented, black-and-white-print job, beautiful blogs are necessary eye candy for me. BUT, I think the authoe of tehis Jezebel post hits the nail on the head when she talks about the sometimes pernicious effect of the "populist" ethos of these blogs-- as if you, too could have a life this beautiful, if only you applied yourself a bit more. And doesn't that turn "attainable" into another form of "aspirational"? How, then, are these blogs any different than Martha Stewart or Dwell or any other Aspirational Lifestyle media? I think they're not. Which is fine. Aspiration has its place. People want some fantasy and escapism in their lives. But, as I reminded myself upon opening Martha's May issue this morning, let's remember that all such media is created to present an image. And an image is never the full story, so let's not look at the aspects of our lives that aren't "blog-worthy" and feel we don't measure up, okay?

Jezebel: The New Decornographers: Bloggers With Beautiful Craftsy Lives

Here are my some of my crafty/lifestyle "inspiration" sites:
Young House Love
Design Sponge
Heart of Light
Ink on My Fingers
Oh Happy Day
Not Martha

Happy Friday!

Just Because

I know I before that I was going to post more... but then I got busy. Really busy. But not too busy to READ blogs. Never too busy for that. However, when it comes to posting, I think the perfect has been the enemy of the good. I've been feeling like I need a Focus and a Purpose or you, my 3 blog followers will be confused and annoyed by my randomness. But you know what? I follow a zillion blogs. I am collecting ideas from the internet all day. Mostly I print them out, and take them home and file them. Seriously, I have a specific folder I carry with me to and from work each day to collect the ideas I print out from the internet and file carefully at home, in my basket containing folders with names like "gardening", and "gifts", and "parenting". (Yes, I have a parenting folder even though I am not *technically* a parent yet. Don't judge. I believe in preparation.) Anyway, it occurs to me that that is stupid. I should be posting things here, so that they remain in a virtual collection, indexable and accessible anyplace there is internet access. And, heck, one of my 3 lovely readers might even find something I post useful or fun, or be introduced to a cool site they never would have found otherwise. Plenty of people have blogs that are just virtual collages, so why not me? It's not like I really have some aim to take over the world with my blog, so why all the insistence on Focus and Purpose? How about Just Because? (Well, because, Just Because can be hard for a type-A-ish personality like me, but that's all the more reason to give it a try.) Here we go!

This wallpaper (also pictured above) is seriously rad, but probably also seriously expensive. I think it would be awesome in a small bathroom. I am pretty sure DH would never go for it. (From That Girl via Basically Anything That is Awesome.)

I read Sam Harris' Letter to A Christian Nation and watched a talk he gave. He is an impressively smart guy. I am looking forward to watching his TED talk here. (TED is an interesting group that is about bringing smart people from different disciplines together and making their ideas accessible to all; you can learn more about it here.)

Making perfect hash browns, via the NY Times.

Found this "collage" site today through a link. Could be a dangerous time-suck. Crush Party

More tomorrow! Happy Monday!