I thought winter was over...

Taken during the snowpocalypse in early February.Gearing up tonight for more damn snow. Boo, Indiana. Boo.

Daily Eye Candy

If men are allowed to produce interminable whining in the duration of their man colds, then I feel that I deserve the same privilege. Therefore: Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

I want to go back to bed with a nice, warm mug of cocoa, brimming with tiny marshmallows. And I want to drink it out of this cup.

Ticker Tape Mugs, $50 (set of two)

And for those of you that missed the reference, let me introduce you to Man Stroke Woman. This skit features the "man cold."

Cards!

It's no secret. I love to craft. I particularly enjoy making cards for others on special occasions. Hallmark may be handy, but I take pride in that little extra bit of love implied by a homemade card. Here are some recent creations:

For my mother's upcoming birthday (it's a good thing she doesn't know how to turn on a computer, let alone read this blog...!)

For a recent baby shower:

For a bridal shower:

New toy (that is being belatedly blogged...)

Between the insanity that has been the month of February, I got a new camera! I had become more and more disenchanted with the performance of my little point-and-shoot Nikon Coolpix. Photographs turned out blurry and the zoom just wasn't working properly.

I am the kind of person who loves to document. The agility of the little Nikon is what drew me to the camera in the first place (its size allowed me to throw it into my purse easily), but at the end of the day, I needed something meatier. So I researched and found myself drawn to the Canon Rebel T1i.

It seemed to be a good stater camera for something with more power and more reliability. At the end of the day, it is an investment piece for me. With HD movie shooting capability, it should work well for that far-distant day when Husband and I produce an offspring, of which I will be able to document every single moment of said offspring's adorableness.

In the meantime, I've been enthralled with taking reallyreallyclose images of everything in my house. I feel really good about this camera.

Friday Fashion: Pretty dresses, ad nauseam

BlindIrishPirate, as usual, comes up with the best sites. She's turned me on to Shabby Apple. The dresses are so casually beautiful, the fitting not tight and uncomfortable-looking or the construction tortured. Simplistic, elegant beauty; truly lovely.

Girl Next Door, $196.35.

Red Scallop Tiered Dress, $86.

Brown Scoop Neck Dress, $88.

Navy Pleated Dress, $88.

The first-ever Analrapist

I believe I have previously expounded upon my undying love for Arrested Development, the show that burned ever so brightly but too short. To quell my heartache (and satiate my needs until a movie comes out...except that it probably never will), here are Tobias, George Sr., and Lindsay paper dolls from Flannel Animal! I know, right! You've never seen anything more amazing!

These are wonderful, high-resolution printables, made by the Flannel Animal himself, Kyle Hilton, an illustrator. He may be my new god.

Daily Eye Candy

So, here's a confession: I kind of really want an iPhone. It's an irrational, irresponsible, bourgeois desire, I know. In truth, all I deserve is a dusty, old rotary phone (for you kids out there, a rotary phone is the kind that you had to stick your finger into and twist the dial in a circle for each individual number. And yes, I really did use one of these at one time even though they were a little outdated even by the time I was born... ...here, this is an illustration of a rotary phone. Yes, that was in fact a phone. I promise you I'm not clever enough to make this shit up).

I'm really hard on technology. As if you didn't already have an inkling. Computer destruction aside, I've managed to obliterate a flash drive, crush camera memory cards, do frightening things to nice, new cars, and generally destroy anything that is expensive and remotely high tech. I really don't mean to...it just seems to...happen. Much to my husband's dismay (read: "This is why we can't have nice things!"). I've only managed not to destroy my hand-me-down iPod so far because I mostly keep it locked safely away in my bedside drawer. I am simply a clumsy, oafish individual who belongs in some remote jungle, far away from Apples and Nikons and anything that came out of China and contains a microchip of some kind.

But I still kind of want an iPhone, the destruction of which, in my hands, would be inevitable.

Or would it? Perhaps "the first and only iPhone 4 case to meet military specifications," as featured on Gizmodo, would keep a new trinket safe!Aren't they pretty? And utilitarian! Perhaps this case is the answer to my maladroit tendencies! $50.

Daily Eye Candy

Here's a pretty neat site where you can customize your very own pair of jeans. As I was discussing just yesterday with a friend, we short-and-oddly-shaped have a terrible time finding suitable pants. I gave up on the junior's section years ago, because though the length was usually right, the shapes just didn't allow for ample, child-bearin' hip widths. So I moved to petites and have been moderately appeased (though this section can sometimes run into the dangerous old-lady-stretch-waist-underboob territory). Sometimes, you just want a pair of jeans that fit. If you're willing to fork over the cash, indi's Jean Builder Application just might be able to make all your dreams come true.

Happy Valentine's Day

I suggest you make this card for your sweetie tout de suite! Why give them a third-grade level cut-out of a heart when you can give them an anatomically-correct heart? Thanks to Cheeky Magpie for this wonderful printable!(photo courtesy of Cheeky Magpie. I will have to post my rendition soon!)

Wherein technology kicks my ass but I find a silver lining.

On the heels of a catastrophic hard drive failure on my work computer several months ago, within the last week, I've had to have my computer at work re-imaged due to viruses (thereby losing all of the fonts that I need and most of the programs, taking days to get working again), and last night a hard drive on my home computer died. At the worst possible time (I have eight years worth of "day job" work backed up and a vast number of deadline-sensitive freelance projects to work on rightthisminute). I hereby rename myself "Hard Drive Assassin" and would be happy to destroy your life and livelihood for a nominal fee.

I'm just a little bit frustrated.

But the best part (if a best part can be found) of having computer problems, is that I am married to someone who can work to fix the problems, reassure me that it wasn't my fault (...except it probably was...), and can get me up and running again, as fast as Amazon will deliver. But that's not all, folks.

He works hard every day. He makes me laugh constantly. He helps around the household, especially when I'm mired beneath hours of work and obligations. He strokes my head when I cry. He's learning to be a great cook. He is a wonderful son, brother, and friend. He takes time to make me feel special. He has a plan for when zombies attack. He knows when a treat will lift my spirits. He encourages me when I'm down. He has the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. He makes my life worth living. I love you, my valentine.