this past saturday, the dc metro got more snow than i think it has in the last 10 years put together! kind of fun to be snowed in for a day but i’m pretty over it now. especially since no one around here CLEARS THE SIDEWALKS! just walking to the metro is a broken bone waiting to happen. oh well, i just hope more of it melts before we head up to brooklyn for christmas.

Once in a while you find some cool stuff the sale area of Urban Outfitters… last Thursday was one of those times. I was picking through all the kitschy sale crap when I came across a little brown box labeled “perch! tiny basket”- I love tiny things, so naturally I opened it and was happy to find the little ceramic basket pictured below inside! So cute! Perfect for holding rings, earrings, and other little stuff, or holding nothing at all. And for $5 how could I NOT get it?

When I got home I looked up Perch! and found out it’s the Brooklyn based ceramic studio of Amy Adams (and a few other folks including a Kitty named Gus). They specialize in simple, beautifully designed ceramic tableware, lighting and other home accessories. I want one of everything! Especially the early bird pendant light,letter candle ball, and spot bowl.

Holy beautiful bird pictures! I found the most amazing website/photographer today.

Andrew Zuckerman is a New York-based photographer and film director who has received critical acclaim for his 3 portrait books - “Creature”, “Bird”, and “Wisdom: The Greatest Gift One Generation Can Give To Another” . The first 2 books are filled with portraits of wild animals and birds. “Wisdom” consists of portraits of different famous figures like Jane Goodall and Buzz Aldrin along with their words of wisdom. Zuckerman has a really simple, beautiful style of photography - just the subject on a white background. It seems to make them more “human”, especially the birds. For example the condor looks almost shy and timid.

Personally,  I like the “Bird” book the best, the colors and textures of all the birds are just incredible to look through and I could definitely fritter away a few hours just going through all the images on the site. I don’t have the actual book so if anyone needs a Christmas gift idea….

For your viewing pleasure I have included a few picture of the birds I really liked…

Now, I don’t normally play the lottery but I sure as hell want to after seeing all these ads for New York Lottery Sweet Millions. This campaign by DDB is amazing - it’s almost too much cute to handle. See for yourself…

(sorry the pictures kind of suck - I took them with my phone)

So I just came across this book, movie, blog called “No Impact Man” written by this guy Colin Beavan in New York. Colin and his family pledged for a year to try to live in a way that made little to no impact on the environment. No bottled water, no toilet paper, no new stuff, no imported foods etc. It’s pretty cool, and really inspiring to read about all the things him and his family tried to help their environmental impact. I don’t think I would be able to do it all but every little bit helps and there are a lot of little bits to be taken from his experience. One bit would be if you are going to buy something new, get rid of something you already have (sell it, donate it etc.) so you are not constantly increasing the amount of things you have. For example, I just bought 3 new pairs of shoes but I also donated about 20 pairs to Soles 4 Soles. Another thing would be going to the library for book instead of buying it - it’s greener and in the long run saves you quite a bit of money. Pretty simple stuff. Here is an entry I really liked, it’s a message from his dog Frankie in response to an email he received that said having a dog was not very green…

see the detailed polyvore image here

i registered on polyvore about a year ago and totally forgot about how fun it is! especially when you are bored out of your mind. today i made a little collage of all my favorite/most-used cosmetics. enjoy! (here is where you can find the actual page and links to all the products should you want to try them for yourself)

are my new obsession. For some reason watching people apply make-up is really relaxing for me and they are full of good tips and tricks. (ie. eyeshadow primer….why did i not know about it?) Alot of the looks aren’t really my style and seem like they would take forever to actually get right but there is a lot to learn from them and it’s a good way to find out about new products and techniques. I think the best ones are by Kandee Johnson, Lauren Luke (she even has her own line of make up now) and Michelle Phan. They are pictured below in that order. Personally I like Kandee’s videos the best, she is a professional make up artist so her tutorials are really good and she has a lot of other videos about hair and lifestyle stuff. Check them out!

Score! So bright and pretty!

What a sucky way to end the series. I think Stephenie Meyer got really lazy with this one or she was just out of good ideas. Read a better review/synopsis here.