Did anyone else use those books growing up where you'd write letters to companies and groups to get freebies?  Well, I did.

Here's my version, culled from teh internetz and friends and such (soooo modern):

Tomato seeds (If you've "forgotten" your code, enter Code 1: P8039, Code 2: U6, select tomato)

Adorbs birds (Collect them all!)

Sub Pop sampler (tunes) (More free downloads...um, everywhere.)

Drinking (Hope this is in your town -- If so, get there reallllly early and leave early bc events are usually filled to the brim with gross.)

That oughta get you started.
Who said we're in a recession?



 

In Korea spring comes earliest to Jeju-do Island, and by the end of February the yellow rape flowers are beginning to bloom. By festival time in April the entire island is awash with bright yellow flowers, which last for the entirety of spring.

The Jeju Rape Flower festival is one of the most famous festivals in Jeju and attracts large numbers of visitors every year. As well enjoying the wild flowers, visitors will fully enter the festive spirit with the festival’s various entertainment events.

The rape flowers you can see just about anywhere around the island. I recommend checking out one of the Halla-san trails, where you'll find some really breathtaking views.

***
So now, I will also think of a field of yellow flowers and festive celebrations when I hear rape.  Awesome.
 

The Invitation

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.

 -- Oriah Mountain Dreamer

with slide show! 

Wheeeeeee....go Nellie! :-)

We're hosting a trunk show!  New Yorkers, check out Miranda Caroligne's wares at our place on Saturday.  

And Sunday is Craftylicious Day.  Scheduled so far are bustles, pasties, utility belts, fairy hair, and wing making workshops on one floor and then the repurposing area and step-by-step info about el-wire soldering and such on the other.  

FUN!

To Love is Not to Possess
James Kavanaugh

To love is not to possess,
To own or imprison,
Nor to lose one’s self in another.
Love is to join and separate,
To walk alone and together,
To find a laughing freedom
That lonely isolation does not permit.
It is finally to be able
To be who we really are
No longer clinging in childish dependency
Nor docilely living separate lives in silence,
It is to be perfectly one’s self
And perfectly joined in permanent commitment
To another–and to one’s inner self.
Love only endures when it moves like waves,
Receding and returning gently or passionately,
Or moving lovingly like the tide
In the moon’s own predictable harmony,
Because finally, despite a child’s scars
Or an adult’s deepest wounds,
They are openly free to be
Who they really are–and always secretly were,
In the very core of their being
Where true and lasting love can alone abide.

Cheeky Tours Of NY Homes 
Amazing photos. The interviews remind me of notes I used to pass in junior high, except the subject matter's just a bit different.  Swap "favorite home item" for "cutest boy" and there you go.

Smart Cartoon
This girl brings a less emo/mathgeek tinge to my xkcd and A Softer World online comic tours.  Go history!

The Yum & More Yum & Still More Yum
Seriously, the domesticara thing's sticking.  I'm a cooking fiend and these sites help keep my stuff edible.  No more swapping cilantro for bibb lettuce or sugar for salt just because they're the same color.  Plus, my burning technique (sacrificing an unimportant dish to the flaming kitchen gods before diving into the actual meal) is working well.  Plus plus, our grill and open kitchen rules. And having your own butcher helps too.  I actually look forward to making food.  Yay!  For restaurant recommendations, I revel in this Seattle/NYC blog.  Gotta give props to my tangled roots.  Mmmm.

Interactive Body Notes, Anyone?
I'd be so curious to compare the changes to this type of thing every 30 years or so -- Recommendations shift so much.  What's remained for a while: sleep, exercise, and meditation.  Well, we're finally catching up to meditation.  I'm a fan. 
Ooh, and how fun would it be to create a new gym class chock full of this stuff (nap time!), plus DDR and techniques to avoid carpal tunnel and blackberry thumb injuries?  Exercise for the new generation.  Plus, imagine if cafeterias and all restaurants included red, yellow, and green labels like the google cafeteria?  I still ate a bunch of red stuff (bacon wrapped cheddar meat loaf -- woohoo!), but at least I was more mindful of it.  

Public Art
Not to be confused with pubic art, or down there hair flair, which was discussed at great lengths (heh) during my weekend roadtrip to North Carolina.  (Google it if you must.) These hearts are all over Williamsburg and always make me grin.  Thanks, Chris Uphues, for your unabashed positivity.  Reminds me of all the Keith Haring everywhere when I was growing up.  We'd pass all of these cemetaries to drive into the city, so by the time I saw the big bold thick-lined Haring mural goodness on the walls, I was giddy with relief. 

Whimsy Art - Amy Jean Rowan - All That I Have
I may be a bad crafty feminist girl since I'm not really into all the mint and orange and swirl patterns and precious letterpress animals designs that populate etsy and other creative sites.  But give me good typology, a sweet saying and simple line drawings, and I'm hooked.  Thus, that Amy Jean Rowan art.