clocky

too clever. this little alarm clock will take off across the room if you hit the snooze button! no more re-snoozing, which i have been guilty of a bit lately. it's a little pricey ($50), but it was too cute of an idea to not share (found on better living through design.) also availale in shag.

greendimes.com

what a nice idea. even though you could probably stop a lot of your junk mail through your own efforts (and for less that the amount this site wants to imagine it would cost you), greendimes.com seems to offer a nice service. for $36/year they will reduce your junk mail, protect your identity (by reducing the number of credit card offers that come your way), and plant a tree each month. seems like a decent deal to me. might be a nice gift idea, too.

beautiful

this necklace is just beautiful. it's from tiffany & co. but isn't outrageous ($150). it's very much my style and would look stunning on me if i do say so myself! add it to the list of other items i post here that i lust after... (found it on outblush)

cool blue hue for you

this is super cool. you hook the little clylindrical device on your faucet and it lights up the stream of water whenever the water is turned on. i would install one on my kitchen faucet, but i think it's too space-agey for my kitchen. maybe a good gift idea for mom? hehe. found it on uncrate.

wall art

i found some wall art i really like from kenneth wingard (via dress your nest). this would be great in either my bedroom or in my living room. i'm thinking the living room is a bit more desperate for decoration once the christmas tree comes down. plus, this won't break the bank too badly.

snow day... well not for me

i love the midwest. in 2 days, it went from 60 degree weather to 6 inches of snow. gotta love that. i was so tempted to call in to work today, especially as each and every newscast was advising people (which includes me) to stay off the roads and not go into work if at all possible. but, i'm at work. i got to spend 15 minutes scraping/pushing/heaving snow off my car. what i wouldn't give for a garage... the office is pretty dead. i'm surprised that there are even this many people here. hopefully the snow lets up around noon like they said, so that the afternoon commute isn't too bad. we shall see...

i love good luck

i'm so excited, but not after some serious frustration.

i've been wanting to see this play, argonautika, downtown through lookingglass theatre. i finally decided last night that i wanted to go this coming saturday afternoon, since the matinee is two-for-one tickets ($24 a ticket, rather than $48 and up for other weekend shows). i went online and, of course, sold out. so i called the box office. yes, they had 2 tickets, but they were obstructed view (cannot see the gangplank - unacceptable) and across the aisle from each other (not much for a date).

so i decided to check other saturday shows later in the run (only goes through dec 23rd). almost all sold out, one show had corner balcony tickets available (far from ideal), but i was about ready to take anything at this point. i checked some other shows and when i found nothing, went back to that date to buy the ucky balcony tix. not available. aaaaaaargh. so i was very bummed.

i called the box office back to see what they had, and she told me that two tickets were available for this saturday. i said, "right, the obstructed view ones." nooooo. two front row tickets near the center aisle had opened up right then... for this saturday. i snatched those up as quickly as i could rattle off my debit card number. whooohoo! i get to see this play - i was seriously afraid it wasn't going to work out. what great luck to call at just the right moment. i can't wait to see it.

reviews: variety.com, the reader, chicago sun-times, metromix, theatermania.com, timeout.com, chicagocritic.com,

adoring this sofa

okay, so i scrolled down on bltd (getting tired of typing it all out), and saw this couch from cb2. i love it, love it, love it. the lines are great, it's different but not too out there. the price is pretty darn good, too. if only i could justify $800 for a couch i don't need. i hope they carry this one a while (read: until i'm ready to buy a couch). i love the high arms and high back. definitely would need to give it a good sit, though, to check the comfort factor. looks like it would be fine, though, especially with a bunch of bright throw pillows. this would go perfectly with my current living room color scheme.

how i'd love a fireplace

this is really cool, if not a bit too expensive for me at the moment. i love fireplaces, but living in an apartment, or even condo, i don't have much choice in the matter. my previous two apartments had fireplaces but my current abode does not. even when i did have a fireplace, the cleaning, storing and buying firewood, and other un-fun aspects of the ordeal made me hesitate to have a fire, despite how much i love the ambiance and aesthetic they bring. this beauty runs on ethanol (organic, clean burning, etc) and doesn't require a chimney, gas line, or anything. you just mount it on the wall and fill up the reservoir and voila, fireplace in any room you want. there are empty spots on the walls in both my living room and bedroom if anybody has an extra $1260 (x2) burning a hole in their pocket. spotted on better living through design (quickly turning into my fave site if that isn't too obvious).

willydilly

also spotted on better living through design, this lamp is just lovely. i really like the lines and that it is simple, but not particularly predictable or boring. it's got a unique touch. also, it doesn't break the bank. you can get it for only $145 here. not too shabby.

sun in a jar

saw this on better living through design today and thought it was such a cute idea. solar panels store sunlight so you can enjoy it later on. i love how warm it looks.

preordered!

'tis the season already. the company choir practices in a room adjacent to my cubicle, so despite me feeling like it is waaaay too early to be singing Christmas carols, i get to hear them 2-3 times per week (groan). some may enjoy it but i do not. it does offer me a nice segway into this find, though:

for those of us with excellent taste in tunes (we know who we are), i highly recommend this cd box set of Christmas music from sufjan stevens (go hope). 5 discs for $19, plus all sorts of other cute and fun goodies - i challenge you to beat that. go ahead. try.

you can even go to the record label's website (asthmatickitty.com) and listen to any of 5 discs streaming (requires quicktime). i am doing that as i type and i'm totally sold. it is a mixture of classical carols/songs and original tunes, and i love it so far (and im only on disc 1). perfect to pop in while putzing around the house during that time of year (or whenever, i suppose).

i'm trying to decide if i should buy his michigan and illinois cds (only $10 each!) as well and maybe a t-shirt ($12 and made from american apparel tshirts, so they are sweatshop free and super fashionable), or if those go on my christmas list (hint, hint!). anyway, definitely check this out. oh, bonus, shipping is only $2. yeah. sold.

cute idea

yeah, this is a clever idea, but $250?! i might mod up something like this to have in the kitchen to get stuff off the high shelves above the cabinets etc. i think i could probably do it for under $25. definitely cute, though. for sale at urbanpeel if you want to fork over the big bucks. found this on better living through design.

this is very cool. it's modern and unique but has a definite warmth about it. the post mentions changing the angles of corrugation in the cardboard to create the designs. i would love to learn how to do this, wonder how hard it would be. i'm guessing pretty tricky, but might be worth the effort since i'm guessing this thing isn't cheap. via inhabitat.

more diy cuteness

also from poppy, cute idea for using those cute brightly colored maple leaves (perhaps too late in the season, but creative nonetheless). full instructions with pictures here. not sure if mine would turn out as nice as these, but might be fun to try.

fridge = lite brite

saw this on poppy (one of those aforementioned design sites) this afternoon. the instructions are highly detailed and very complex (you click through them by clicking the numbered images at the top of the page), but the end result is very fun. i don't think i would be able to justify painting my fridge to accomplish this end, but i'm thinking it could be adjusted to any magnetic surface. going to have to check out other portions of the website this is at. diy funness all the way!

new bike on its way

i'm very excited to receive my new bike. i had it shipped to mom and dad's so that it wouldn't be left at my apartment in the little bitty lobby. it is pretty slick and i'm definitely looking forward to lugging an appox 20lb bike up the stairs to my 3rd floor apartment instead of the 30lb bike i have been lugging up the stairs. it's a kestrel talon, which until i started shopping around, was not a brand i had even heard of. i also got a killer deal on it, which is good since i would expect be looking at upwards of $2200 or more for a bike with the features that this one has, and my budget was not near that.

a coworker was joking around last week at the amount i was going to pay, and said "well it comes with pedals, right?" and the answer, of course, is nooooooo. but i do have my pedals already purchased and ready to attach to the bike. i just need shoes to attach to the cleats to attach to the pedals. otherwise, i'm sitting pretty good as far as my gear goes. need some gloves, too, but those aren't too much of a worry. hopefully i can stop by and check out some shoes some time this week! these are the ones i think i want, but have to make sure they fit (as a bonus, they are also under my expected shoe budget, so keep those fingers crossed).

a gold mine in my parents' basement?

i have a few design websites bookmarked that i check every other day or so, depending on how busy i am at work. one of them is better living through design. they post several unique and clever items (mostly furniture and housewares) daily. i giggled when i saw this item, then gasped when i saw the price ($747 for the 16" bedside version!) i can't stop thinking about the (only slightly more tacky) gun lamps in my parents' basement. maybe spray painted gold, they would bring in a small fortune (wouldn't that be nice).

i'm an aunt!

forgot to post this earlier in the week, but my sister and her husband had their baby, lucy helena denning, on october 1st. everything went smoothly and mom and baby are doing great. you can see hospital pictures here, lucy's first day at home here (so precious), and some more random baby pics here. i'm excited to go up to michigan to meet my new niece. thanks, mindy, for having the baby 11 days early so i have the long holiday weekend to come on up!

teachers packing heat?

eek! i saw this story today while browsing the headlines. shootings in schools have been in the headlines way too often lately, but this just not seem like the solution. concealed weapons for teachers scares me and seems like it would cause way more problems than it could ever possibly solve. additionally, the expense and danger would be beyond reasonble.