Doodle Placemat

I can’t get over how cool this Doodle Placemat is! WOW! Wishlisted!

(Would go great with James Victore’s Doodle Tattly!)

What Motivates Us?

(via)

Imagination as the Path of the Spirit

I keep coming back to this: Imagination as the Path of the Spirit John O Donohue. He asks: “What are the 7 thoughts you keep coming back to and that shape your life?”

Link Pack

(What FUN! Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra Simón Bolívar and the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble.)

– This made me laugh: A dog in Russia grabbed the reporter’s microphone and ran away during a live broadcast

– A short documentary on Nikki de Saint Phalle, an artist I admired deeply when growing up in Switzerland.

How to overcome fear.

– I can’t stop giggling at this.

First Day of the Week in Different Countries (I learned this the hard way when in my first job as a graphic designer in the USA I was assigned to design a calendar and I started the weeks on Monday. Right before the client presentation my US boss noticed the mistake. Oy! I have lived in the USA for 21 years now and can not get used to calendar views starting on Sundays.)

A love letter to black children and any black person whose inner child needs to hear this.

– Good listen: Imagination as the Path of the Spirit by John O Donohue. He asks: “What are the 7 thoughts you keep coming back to and that shape your life?”

Tasha Blank uploaded a new mix to Soundcloud. (Her dance virtual parties have carried me through the pandemic.)

– Rochelle Billow of kitchn tried the annoyingly brilliant TikTok trick for peeling hard-boiled eggs and WOW!

– Bookmarked this in my SoundCloud: Listening to nature gives you a real Rocky Mountain High.

– I asked on Twitter for non-alcoholic drink recommendations. So many tips! Check the thread.

– My friend Wesley Verhoeve birthed a photo book. I am so proud of him.

What To Do If You — Or Someone You Love — Is Going Through Pregnancy Loss. This is an important and way too little talked about topic. Been there myself. It’s a lonely, dark place. It shouldn’t be.

– Go get your kids and introduce them to Marcel the Shell. You’re welcome!

– Today is a good day to discover some poets you might have not heard of yet..

– I love this Colorful Backgammon Set. I used to play this game for HOURS on end when I was a kid.

– Yes to potato faces.

Can fungus help us better understand what it means to be human?

Distributed Work’s Five Levels of Autonomy

– I am manifesting Spring, by wearing some Flowers.

Leather Bag for my Brompton

I have become a proud Brompton owner during the pandemic. Not buying subway cards was the perfect excuse to finally invest into one of these beauties!

But I haven’t been very excited about the bags they offer that attach at the front of the bike. I just discovered (and ordered) this fancy leather one over on Etsy. Can’t wait to receive it!

Powder surfing to Debussy’s Clair de Lune

As we are heading into summer here, this is my post to say good bye to winter! I recommend fullscreen and sound on!

Beauty

“For me, beauty is a physical sensation, something we feel with our whole body. It is not the result of judgement. We do not arrive at it by way of rules. We either feel beauty or we don’t.”
Jorge Luis Borges

Frank Moth Prints

One of my favorite Instagram accounts is by Frank Moth. I just stumbled upon his iCanvas store. I’d totally hang these in my home.

Curious Elixirs

I am currently on day 54 of trying to experience myself and my life sans alcohol. (My goal is 90 days!) What an interesting journey this is, experiencing myself without ever escaping with a drink. I feel a bit like an onion, slowly peeling layers off, discovering new feelings and sides of me I didn’t know existed.

My friends recently introduced me to the non-alcoholic and delicious Curious Elixirs Cocktails. I am so glad they did! Number 2, pictured above, is my favorite! (I wish it contained less sugar.)

If you have been on a similar journey, what are your go to non-alcoholic drinks when socializing with friends?

Improve Your Critical Thinking

Loving with video where Erick Wilberding digs into the technique known as the Socratic Method.

(via)

Bear Shaped Cotton Throw

I love you, Bear Shaped Cotton Throw.

A Bit of Optimism | Simon Sinek & Brené Brown

A wonderful listen all around.

Be My Friend

This photograph by Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs hit me in the heart.

(via CreativeBoom / via Christopher)

Orange Peel Type Explorations

Loving these type explorations by Manfred Westreicher.

(via Chris)

Anywhere Can Happen

I am completely mesmerized by Argentinian director Fernando Livschitz’s short film Anywhere Can Happen.

Going To The Woods Alone

“Ordinarily, I go to the woods alone, with not a single friend, for they are all smilers and talkers and therefore unsuitable… I don’t really want to be witnessed talking to the catbirds or hugging the old black oak tree. I have my way of praying, as you no doubt have yours… Besides, when I am alone I can become invisible. I can sit on the top of a dune as motionless as an uprise of weeds, until the foxes run by unconcerned. I can hear the almost unhearable sound of the roses singing… If you have ever gone to the woods with me, I must love you very much.”
Mary Oliver

Stockholm Lover

Hell there, Stockholm Lover, you would look beautiful in my home. I shall wishlist you.

Hello. Again.

This hoodie made me look.

Kindness

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

– Naomi Shihab Nye

Tea Uglow | My Trans Story 2021

I applaud Tea Uglow for sharing her trans story.

(A few years back, I attended an AIGA conference in Minneapolis. I walked out of a quite boring session to grab a coffee and as I stood in line, I noticed the stunning, tall, very very well dressed woman in front of me. As it was her turn to pay for her coffee, she seemingly turned her very stylish purse inside out, unsuccessfully, to locate her wallet. The barista didn’t budge. I stepped up, ordered my coffee and paid for both hers and mine. I smiled at her and said: Love your stylish outfit! About an hour later, I am in the main conference hall and who steps on stage? Tea, the stunning, tall, well dressed woman from my coffee moment!)

The Secret of Synchronization

This is fascinating.

(via Kottke)

ESCAPE Bag

While perusing small shops in Saugerties, upstate NY today, I discovered this Forestbound ESCAPE bag. I gifted it to myself. As I was looking them up once I got home, I saw that you can get your own customized bag. What a fun gift.

(As a trained graphic designer I admit the shape of the P is killing me.)

Link Pack

That feeling when music touches you deep in your soul and is pure medicine. Jireh by Maverick City is that. And no, I don’t consider myself religious. I have my own version of church.

– Craig Mod shares Pizza Toast & Coffee — Japanese Cafe Short Documentary

Learning to Respond Not React, by Tara Brach

– I am coming back to this song.

– Here’s your daily dose of funny animal photos. The cat wearing tiny plastic hands made me laugh out loud.

– I thoroughly enjoyed this episode of How We Built This with the founder of Hinge telling his story. I mostly loved the part where he tells his personal love story. (It was turned into a short movie!)

– In words, images and video, teens across the United States show us how they have met life’s challenges in the midst of a pandemic. (via Chris)

LEGO Chocolate Cake. Funny. Show your kids.

– I don’t have a dog, but I have spent a good 10 min on this dog bed product page.

– Discover the first modern Kitchen–the Frankfurt kitchen-pioneered by the architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky (1926)

How to avoid bad decisions. An excellent read.

– Wow! A ten minute, one-to-one concert.

How to make cloud eggs. I need to finally give this a try.

– The We Work Documentary was released yesterday. Don’t think I have the stomach to watch it. I find Adam Neumann repulsive. If you have watched it, leave a comment below and let me know if it’s palatable?

– This 3D Printed vase is WOW!

– I am on an adventure to experience myself and my life sans alcohol for 90 days. (I am on day 42). I recently bought Good Drinks, a book with recipes for alcohol free drinks. Highly recommend.

– Not sure how I stumbled upon Kristen Lisanti on Instagram. But I am glad I did. I am intrigued by her Breaking Open, a six-week virtual course in what she calls applied mindfulness: meditating not just for our own peace of mind but to give us the tools to show up as safe people in the world. Registration is on a sliding scale, no one will be turned away for lack of funds. She is donating all proceeds to the Loveland Foundation and the AAPI Community Fund.

Say goodbye to moth holes in your favorite sweaters with these Cedar Wood Houses Fabric Protectors.

– This slow motion video made me look.

This is me, every time someone asks how are you doing?

Plant pedestals? Yes, please.

– These are lovely bookends.

The Extraordinary Life of Yayoi Kusama

What a fascinating house.

– There are currently 2193 jobs listed on the CreativeMornings Job Board, 652 of them are remote friendly.

Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude