age of consent.

here is the best song to dance around your room to instead of cleaning like you were supposed to be doing. it makes me feel so happy and so sad in all the right places.

fat dog.

there is this doggie day care place around the corner from cris' house and they have a big fenced in back yard area and there are always a few dogs in there hanging out. i like to go over there and watch the dogs because it's funny to just see 10 dogs playing with no humans around. normally when i go over there and start talking to the dogs they all freak out and come over and start barking, but yesterday there was this big fat black lab sitting in a half-full kiddie pool looking extremely nonchalant. and it cracked. me. up. i thought it was funny then, i thought it was funny 3 hours later and i still think that it is so so funny. i'm not quite sure why. today i was inspired to draw the scene so that i can remember this dog forever. i love you fat dog. xo!

{this is probably my stupidest post of all time}

baby beluga.

i haven't posted anything yet today because between running errands and doing some actual work, i've been mesmerized watching qila and her new calf swimming around at the vancouver aquarium on their beluga cam.

driving.

i love andrew bush's photographs made while traveling along the highways of the US. i always feel a bit like a creep looking at other people while i drive, but i can't help wondering what they're up to and where they are going {and why they are driving 40 in a 55, sheesh!}. he's got tons of these photos and it was really really hard to choose just a few to show, so you should go look at his website and/or buy the book!

{found via new shelton}

walking.

'we should go forth on the shortest walk, perchance, in the spirit of undying adventure, never to return-- prepared to send back our embalmed hearts only as relics to our desolate kingdoms. if you are ready to leave father and mother, and brother and sister, and wife and child and friends, and never see them again--if you have paid your debts, and made your will, and settled all your affairs, and are a free man--then you are ready for a walk.'

'i think that i cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless i spend four hours a day at least--and it is commonly more than that--sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from all worldly engagements. you may safely say, a penny for your thoughts, or a thousand pounds. when sometimes i am reminded that the mechanics and shopkeepers stay in their shops not only all the forenoon, but all the afternoon too, sitting with crossed legs, so many of them--as if the legs were made to sit upon, and not to stand or walk upon--i think that they deserve some credit for not having all committed suicide long ago.' - henry david thoreau

{picture from flickr user fractured fotos}

when the revolution comes...

according to the national endowment for the arts, more americans identify their primary occupation as artist than as lawyer, doctor, police officer or farm worker. drawing from the census, the endowment has compiled what it bills as the first nationwide profile of professional artists in the 21st century - nearly two million americans said their primary employment was in jobs that the census defines as artists’ occupations.

overall, the median income that artists reported in 2005 was $34,800 — $42,000 for men and $27,300 for women. over all, artists make more than the national median income which is $30,100. artists are more highly educated, but earn less than other professionals with the same level of schooling and now represent 1.4 percent of the labor force, or nearly as many people as the active and reserve armed forces.

{image from vermeer, info from the new york times}

the man, the myth...mingering mike.

in the late 1960s a teenager named mike stevens imagined himself as a soul-music superstar named mingering mike. he created his own hand-painted album jackets - each intricately crafted, complete with gatefold interiors, extensive liner notes, and cardboard "vinyl" records with labels and painted-on grooves. some albums were even covered in shrink-wrap and included price stickers, as if they were purchased at actual record stores. between 1968 and 1977, he painted some 50 lp covers and nearly as many 45s picture sleeves.

these albums were discovered at a D.C. flea market by dori hadar, a soul record collector who subsequently tracked down stevens. hadar wrote a book with him called mingering mike: the amazing career of an imaginary soul superstar. check out his website for more info on this crazy story and to hear a few real recordings of mike's songs.

{found via the morning news}

papyrus.

dear papyrus,

you are so ugly. i hate you! why are you everywhere? i find you much more offensive than comic sans. please cease and desist.

best wishes,

cake.

loving lucretia.

not only is vain and vapid a fun blogger, she's also a wonderful seamstress. she recently opened an etsy shop full of really cute stuff!

tween time.

i just spent the last...oh...2 hours reading fashion blogs written by 7th graders. yeah. not to sound like an old lady or nothin' but being a teenager now must be so strange! when i was in middle school i wore band t-shirts and my dads old pants. were you "fashiony" at all?

{fashion robot, yonctopus and hannah cheetos}

super fun.

i just bought a super nintendo off of ebay. i sort of hate video games but i've been longing to play the mario-triumvirate {that's mario world, mario kart, and dr. mario} for about a year now and i finally caved in. after a few days of playing this is what the inside of my brain is going to look like.

{nintendo hack via cory acrchangel}

mark and me.

whitney likes taking pictures of jonathan in front of rothkos.

{via string}

mathmagic.

this weekend i went home to my parents house to hang out and eat {free} dinner. i brought a peach pie that i made my dad as a late father's day present and even brought twenty-twenty home for a visit. i thought that i was the one giving gifts, but my dad gave me a dvd of donald duck in mathmagicland!

it was one of my favorite cartoons when i was little and i'd been scouring the shelves of thrift stores for years trying to find a copy of it. we watched it and ate pie and it was great.