Productivity has become a bit of a hot topic in my life for some reason this week, so I’m going to share something with you all that has changed my life.
No, really.
It probably has something to do with the onslaught of wedding planning, as well as the capabilities of my iPhone, as well as the inability of my brain to hold on to pertinent information, but I am becoming a sucker for any and all automated ways to keep my life organized.
The number one way I do that these days, is with iGoogle.
Some of you more tech savvy kids out there are going to be nodding with me and going: yeah, duh, Google is the greatest thing in the universe.
But I also know, quite personally, that some of you are going: Waaaaaah? Eye-whatsa-oogle?
iGoogle, is kinda like MyYahoo used to be (if you ever used it). Except for it works.
It’s a customized Google landing page, where you can add little boxes (or widgets) that gather feeds or information from all the various internet sites you may use from day to day. Twitter, Facebook, GMail, Flickr, RSS feeds for your favourite blogs via Google Reader (which you should also be using!), Google Docs, Last FM, MySpace, BBC news – there is a widget for pretty much everything you could come up with.
No more wasting your time, clicking through all your bookmarks, no more missing out on pertinent information. Every update, for everything, on one page, topped off by one of a large number of adorable themes that change based on the time of day (the one I use is called Teahouse, and there’s a matching GMail theme to go with it!).
So, now you know. Use this knowledge, and thank me later.
So, yesterday, as we were sitting at the dentist, word started spreading on Twitter that LeVar Burton was hosting a tweetup at a bar in Yorkville.
Since Liam had the afternoon off due to dentistry, we started talking about it – how it might be interesting to go.
Liam was a huge Trekkie as a kid, as were most of his friends growing up in Thunder Bay, so he was all for going. I on the other hand waffled for little while. While I was certainly familiar with Star Trek (though never self identified as a fan) I was definitely a Reading Rainbow fangirl:
If you knew me as a child you know one thing for certain: My nose was in a a book 90 percent of the time. Watching Reading Rainbow made me feel a little more normal about my love of literature.
Suddenly, I realized that the little kindergartner inside of me would pretty much black out at the opportunity to meet one of her heroes. I had to do it.
So we went.
And it was amazing.
LeVar is pretty much one of the kindest, most genuine, most attentive celebrities I’ve ever met. He made time for everyone in the room. I was able to tell him how much I appreciated what he’d created in Reading Rainbow, and he really seemed pleased to hear it.
This all probably sounds silly to most of you, but he pretty much fulfilled a childhood fantasy for me, and I’m still floating around today, on a little bit of a high.
So here’s my advice to you: if you ever get the opportunity to do something you wanted to do as a child, but may have thought you outgrown: don’t think twice, do it! Your inner child will be eternally grateful.
Ok, so I never managed to get those recipes up – and they are coming, I promise, but I have been distracted by my birthday present – which finally got here at the begining of the week, and on which I am writing this very moment.
That thing is, my friends, an iPhone.
Yes, yes I have become one of those people.
To be fair, our contracts had run out, and Liam got a great deal – although I did tell him there was no need for something so extravagant.
But here it is, the precious little thing, and I already love it dearly.
So thank you to my boy. You figured out my hearts desire, even when I myself didn’t know what that was.
So, you know my favourite designer? The one I can’t afford, but drooled over at the flagship store in Covent Garden? Orla Kiely?
One word:
Target.
It may be more melamine plates and acrylic mugs than fair-isle sweaters and leather messenger bags, but it’s something (my fingers are double-crossed for a future GO International collaboration, though).
It’s been printed and pressed, and the band – a little outfit cleverly named Provincial Parks – is having a party to celebrate – so you should be there. I will be there, anyways. I would like a copy of my work – and the music inside it’s pretty awesome too (sort of a sparkly-shiny indie rock with some poppy undertones) so I’m excited about getting a copy of that as well.
I tend to swoon over adorable, high-end childrens magazines. This one is free and on the internet, so I don’t have to feel weird about paying money for a magazine about something I don’t have (yet).
And really, I would wear every last outfit in there if they made it adult sizes. There is some gorgeous, swoon-worthy stuff. Check it out.
It’s a pumpkiny season, and there is a bumper crop of squashes out there to be scooped up at discounted prices, so a New York Times collection of pumpkin based recipes is pretty timely. Plus, pumpkins are delicous.
Ombre is pretty. Crafts are fun. These pretty and fun ombre crafts live in that unique Martha Stewart universe where crafty projects end up looking high end, and elegant. You know, as opposed our own dimension where the words “Crafty” and “Elegant” are often mutually exclusive.
Karen over at Say It With Pie has long sung the praises of these hand made, artisinal undies. They went on sale, so I finally broke down and bought a set – a days of the weeks set, to be specific – because who doesn’t love an adorable days of the weeks set of underwear? And they’re typographic underwear, no less! Monday is Cooper Black!
Karen says, on top of being really cute, they last forever, and are super comfy. So far I’ve already found the latter to be inordinately true. These things are heaven. Plus, I am strongly behind any operation that simply does not believe in thongs. Sing it, sister.
Which is a method of getting really neat, old-fashioned, artfully flawed images using a digital camera – along with a old twin lens reflex cameras’ viewfinder. I’ve always loved the way these shots looked, I had no idea producing them was so easy. If this works with my little Canon point and shoot (which it should – it has a pretty awesome macro setting), I’m totally gonna start searching for an old twin lens camera when I thrift.
Just a new blog find filled with pretty-pretty things of all varieties. The kind of pretty that inspires rampant and uncontrollable urges to be materialist. But so do many of the pretty-pretty blogs I read. Sigh. It might be time take a break from reading those for a little while. Just until I stop hemorrhaging money.
A retro-revival nineteen-thirties-style carnival – complete with concessions, candy apples, carousel, ferris wheel, and circus show. I was very sad when I found out I missed this entirely this summer. There’s always next summer though.
We had some on the weekend. They were delicious – totally the best hot-dogs I’ve ever had (although, it should be said that they don’t really resemble traditional hot dogs all that closely, so consider yourself forewarned). They are little artisinal sausages (that taste a bit like teensy fresh salamis) accompanied by one of four (locally sourced) cheeses and a one of a dozen sauces (cooked up individually by the best chefs in the city using fresh, local ingredients). A lot of internet types seem to be upset that portions are small, and the concept pretentious. I would tell them that if they want street meat, it’s readily available. This is not street meat, it’s a culinary novelty (and a cheap one at that – certainly the cheapest way to have lunch made by Jamie Kennedy – via his 25 cent sauce offering). If you’re a foodie, you’ll love it. If you’re more of a steak and potatoes kinda person, feel free to steer clear. I, for one, found it delicious and delightful.
A great sounding mineral makeup company. Vegan, enviromentally friendly, super inexpensive, safe for sensitive skin, tons of colours, cute packaging… Need I say more? Oh, ok then, there are free samples to be had (free! I know!). Go. Run. Get some.
An amazing sounding diner cooking hardcore American comfort foods – but always with a twist. There are over 900 menu items! This place sounds like priority number one for when we finally make it to NYC. The cookbook sounds amazing too.
I’ve been looking for a cute bag for a long time, and I’ve finally narrowed it down to a Moop duffel in black. The bag is sturdy, has lots of pockets and is water resistant, the companies run by an awesome lady, and everything is environmentally friendly, handmade and designed from scratch. What can’t you find on Etsy?
I just added him as a flickr friend. He’s so web 2.0!
I would also like an Obama 08 t-shirt at some point, because I think his campaign logo (you know, the O with the swoop?) is some of the sexiest logo design I have ever seen. I like this version, in particular (but for the record, I also like this one, which has nothing to do with politics, it’s just super cute).
Gah. I wish I was American so I could vote in their exciting, history making election instead of our boring, boring, boring and depressing one.
Stephen and Stephane’s respective charisma combined couldn’t match the charisma found in Obama’s left pinkie.
Do I even need to explain to you how awesome this is? Awesome. Buckets of awesome. Unfortunately it is also millions of dollars worth of awesome. Those are swanky digs, even without the fact that everything in every room is a custom designed clue.
Usually I avoid “big” words. My short tenure as a journalist instilled in me the idea that big, fancy, complicated, and antiquated words are an unnecessary and pretentious indulgence and they are only normally used by people who haven’t figured out how to properly use a thesaurus. The smartest people I know – oxford and ivy league educated professors and people – used precious little of them.
That being said, I am currently enamored with the following words.
Woeful
Languorous
Verdant
I think that in the right context they are wonderfully expressive.
My only worry is that I won’t be able to find wool felt. It is hard to come by up here in Toronto, for some reason. Polar fleece, I can find oodles of, however, and it may have to do for this particular project (once fleece starts to get nubby and worn it sort of starts to look like felt, so it should be o.k.).
Pink, and peaches, and cherry blossoms, and candy, and dollies? A holiday dedicated to being a girly-girl?
What?
What?
How did I not know about this earlier!
All I can say is, that baby’s totally getting celebrated next year.
That reminds me of this AMAZING mini-series I watched a few weeks ago Kelly Osbourne: Turning Japanese. Yes, I watched it. Yes, it was amazing. Yes, I like Kelly Osbourne – I find her spunky and irreverent. Deal with it.
Boy was she right, I LOVE IT. So much so, that I ordered it from Amazon so it would arrive on it’s release date. I already had it sitting on my shelf at home.
But it was ok, because my mom traded it in for a gift card. Now, I haven’t been to Urban Outfitters in a while, but it turns out the place is much more than just genitalia shaped pasta, and ironic T-shirts. There’s pretty much A TON of stuff there right now that I LOVE that looks like it would fit right in at my apartment (most specifically in my bedroom which is the last room in my house that needs sorting out and decorating).
I like the retro birdcage bedspread, because I do not have enough retro in my life as it is. One can never have enough. Plus, there are matching curtains.
I’ve always wanted a sparkly thing to hang above the bed. I like sparkly things. I like staring up at sparkly things.
I often faint and think “man, I wish there was a sofa here to catch my fall.” Well, there’s always this product. Extravagant furniture I don’t have the money or room for? Yeah, that would be nice, thank you.
There’s also the most likely suspect/bedspread. It’s got a kimono theme. Guess what Asian accruement I am obsessed with right now? Yeah, I might just actually purchase that one. It’s purty.
But I also like this adorable quilt It would match the vintage quilt block I’ve got hanging over the window.
Check it out!
My very first torontoist post!
Feel free to comment over there if you like it, or don’t like it, or just think indie rock pigeons making out is the most adorable thing, ever.
Check this out. Coloured bubbles! Not to mention an enthraling invention story. I’m always a sucker for those. I totally want some “zubbles” in my stocking this christmas (via gizmodo).
We’re back from the T-Bay, and I’ve posted the resulting pictures on my (sadly underused) flickr account. It’s a rather pretty drive, I highly recommend it. I apologize for any blurry pictures as they were mostly taken from within a moving car.
the Sis on 