Wednesday, August 31, 2011

day thirty-one.

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did you know that? this sh*t is BANANAS

ok, so i used to be obsessed with Bill Nye the Science Guy when i was young. i mean WHO WASN'T? (ok probably most normal children, but you don't grow up to become a molecular biologist without a few early warning signs).

but anyway, i used to love this little segment he would have on his show called "Did You Know That" where you would be told some awesome little fact and then informed that "Now You Know!" so i was thinking that in my quest to try and make this blog a little more true to who i am as a person (which is multifaceted layers of awesome a giant nerd) that i would start a new recurring post wherein i share some awesome little fact or tidbit that i have acquired in the last week. think of all the interesting cocktail party conversations you will have!




so i'll start off today with BANANAS. did you know that you have essentially eaten the same banana your whole life? unless you are lucky enough to live somewhere where there are lovely local banana varieties (apparently the best tasting ones are in the Philippines) you have been eating the exact same clone of the Cavendish banana your whole life (this means each banana is genetically identical). and this is a GLOBAL phenomenon. a person over in China is eating the same banana twin as a person in Brazil and its identical to what i threw in my smoothie this morning here in the US.

this in itself kind of blew my mind. then i went on to learn that our beloved banana is now threatened by killer unstoppable banana fungus. sadly this is not such a happy tale and actually could threaten the future of our bananas. crazy enough, this actually happened before about 50 years ago and wiped out the type of banana our grandparents used to love. so be nice to your bananas, appreciate them. and lets hope some cool scientists can come along and save them soon!

oh and i'm totally not a banana expert. to learn more go check out Dan Koeppel's book Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World and listen to his interview on Fresh Air

photo source (1 / 2 via 3)

deep breaths...


sometimes your day is not going to start off great (it will take you a little under TWO HOURS to get to work because trucks flip over).
sometimes you will have to work with people that are completely fine with making you do all the work (and you will do it all - and do it WELL - because that is just in your nature).
and sometimes you won't get to spend just one weekend with your best friend in MONTHS because you both work too hard.

so then sometimes you just need to stare at pretty pictures of far off serene places (like Milos island in Greece) and make a mental note to go there someday because, oh man, you will have earned it.
photo source

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

day thirty.

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hurricane hello & tuesday tunes (karaoke edition!)


oh hello there! sorry for my absence and total fail at finishing up the August Break strong. SAD FACE.

so this big ole storm rolled into town over the weekend and it mostly just meant that i got to stay in my apartment alone with my cat wondering if i really should have made Bryan take the AC unit out of the window before he went to work... luckily no one in south philly was crushed by a storm blown AC unit and i still got to keep cool while being all domestic and baking a quiche and crocheting. over all the storm damage was minimal in my parts and i only had to go cable-less for a day or so (thank goodness for Netflix and all the illegal streaming on the interwebs that finally caught me up on this season of True Blood ;) sadly most of the roads that get me to work though are still under water so i got an extra day off this week and it took me roughly a million years to get to work this morning... c'est la vie.


anyways, i thought i would celebrate tuesday tunes with some of my most favorite karaoke songs. i can in no way carry a tune (and neither can my other half) but that does not stop us from getting up and singing. so enjoy these lovely mostly 80s tunes and give them a spin next time you find yourself in chinatown or koreatown after a few beers ;)



(photo sources: NASA and pinterest)

Friday, August 26, 2011

for the love of beer

so i'm a beer drinking girl. yes, i love a nice glass of wine and i'm partial to a gin cocktail, but if forced to choose, i'll pretty much always opt for a cold glass of good beer.

back in June, bryan and i took a little road trip and got to stop at a number of wineries and breweries. most excitingly was the stop we made at the Ommegang brewery in Cooperstown, NY (i.e. the middle of nowhere farmland where even google maps gets confused). Ommegang makes some of the tastiest Belgian beer this side of the Atlantic and i'm not sure much compares to their Three Philosophers quadrupel brew (read - high alcohol content) that is made with cherry lambic (pair with chocolate for happiest results). so if you ever find yourself driving through New York state or deciding from a beer menu that contains an Ommegang brew, by all means treat yourself.


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friday finds - hurricane irene edition


1. cloud mobile by BabyJives
2. yellow trail model raincoat by LLBean
3. red and white umbrella at Amazon
4. raindrop cannonballs by slide sidways
5. lightning bolt earrings by the angry weather
6. green hunter rain boots at Zappos

this week's friday finds are all inspired by hurricane Irene. this storm is set to hit the east coast this weekend and bring somewhere around 7 to 10 inches of rain to Philadelphia! but if i'm completely honest, a rainy weekend cozied inside on my couch (with some good movies and yarn) sounds pretty amazing after what was a pretty hectic and stressful week (sorry for the sparse blogging!)

now if only i had some of this bring rain gear to make the stormy weather even more enjoyable...

day twenty-six.

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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

wishing a happy birthday ;)


taking to the interwebs to wish a very happy birthday to pretty much my favorite person in the world and soon to be husband ;) you make me crazy happy and we always seem to have the best time even if we are just going grocery shopping. i'm almost certain that this is going to be the most exciting year yet and i love you very much.

sadly evil work schedules have made it so that we can't even see each other today (UGH, why do we work so much) so ill have to resort to online communication instead ;)

day twenty-four.

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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

tuesday tunes - lucy rose

so i'm abandoning the normal grooveshark widget format in order to share with you this new artist i've recently come across, Lucy Rose. i'm sort of obsessed with her first single, Middle of the Bed.



more info about her can be found at her official site and her myspace.

enjoy ;)

day twenty-three.

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Saturday, August 20, 2011

have a fantastic weekend!



how awesome is this tree house hotel in Costa Rica? pretty much need to stay at a hotel this cool sometime. i'm still a little amazed and mystified about the whole toilet in the tree trunk though...

clearly i'll be daydreaming of far off travel this weekend as i get some major work done all on fronts (i'll be in lab today, have much wedding stuff to do tomorrow, and have been crocheting most spare minutes to try and stock up my store for a hopeful holiday rush ;)

i hope you have wonderful plans!

day twenty.

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Friday, August 19, 2011

girl crush: Annie Clark



just needed to confess my total girl crush on Annie Clark aka St. Vincent. she's kind of amazing and currently rocking the cover of the Fashion Issue of Spin Magazine. if you haven't listened to her music yet, please do so ASAP.

new album finally drops next month which means i get to go see her live (again!) in November. last time I saw her she was opening for Andrew Bird and they delighted the audience by coming back out together for an encore of duets. Marry Me is a wonderful song, but even better when you get both Annie and Andrew.

i'm thinking that my girl crushes are going to become a regular feature (since i have quite a lot of them...)
so who do you fancy?

photo source: spin.com

friday finds - hand dyed



this week's finds are inspired by the unpredictable beauty of all things hand dyed.

1. printed silk dress by Threadware Clothing
2. chevron black and white bracelet by Son of a Sailor
3. ceramic spikes necklace by My Selvaged Life
4. the Constellation clutch by Scout and Catalogue
5. hand painted wedges by Toms

day nineteen.

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Thursday, August 18, 2011

current obsession: quilting


now i don't possess any fancy sewing skills but the amazing work of Carson Converse really makes me want to learn how to quilt! i love when people are able to take very traditional crafts and put their own modern stamp on them. and what's better than these bold colors and her geometric designs? i think it would be pretty to cool to have one of these to pass down to future generations.

oh and be sure to learn more about Carson in her featured seller interview on Etsy ;)

1. color block pillow cover
2. equilateral triangles crib
3. dusty rose triangle cards
4. eggplant cross card

day eighteen.

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Wednesday, August 17, 2011

brokenships




i heard this story on NPR this weekend about a touring museum displaying the artifacts from ended relationships. people have donated anything from letters and clothing to grand pianos and prosthetic limbs. for some reason i find the idea of this collection to be both overwhelmingly melancholy and extremely enthralling - i think i love the idea of looking at a simple household item that has such an emotional history.

it's also interesting to note that the two museum curators were once romantically involved.

the above images are all taken from the Museum of Broken Relationships.

so would you visit? is there something you would donate?

day seventeen.

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Tuesday, August 16, 2011

tuesday tunes - muppet edition


so i mentioned before on here my slight excitement that there is a new Muppet movie in the works. and NOW there is music to go with it! Listen below to hear classic Muppet tunes reimagined by some of my favorite modern artists like Andrew Bird, Sondre Lerche and My Morning Jacket.


thanks NPR!

(also i just about died when NPR radio was sponsored by PBR this morning... target audience much?)

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