Category: Honor Roll

• Bird watchers, with a keen eye for color differentiation and a need for consistent descriptions came up with the color system that eventually became Pantone.*

• “I love effort. Effortless is for tom ford and maybe like two other people. No one else can pull it off, so just show you cared.”

     — Mindy Kaling on Twitter

• Weird Al on writing “Word Crimes” and the process behind his parodies.

• There are six missing letters in the English language.

• House & Garden is being relaunched with Stephen Orr, current editor at Better Homes & Gardens. Meanwhile, Architectural Digest is getting a refresh.

• Next book on my list to pick up: How to Read a Dress. (This review is what put it on my radar.)

• Running a business with boobs.

Small update from yesterday’s post. I had all of the options saved in my shopping cart at each site, and late in the day I noticed that the Benchwright Hutch had sold out since that morning! It was my favorite of the bunch and I was feeling a little regret for not grabbing it in time. Turns out my local store had one on display, and since it was the floor model and on sale, I got one at almost half off. So now I have a hutch with nothing to put it on, but yay?

And with that, have a happy St. Patrick’s Day and a good weekend!

* (See Kari? It made the Honor Roll!)

My sister and brother-in-law closed on their very first house yesterday! I’m absolutely thrilled for them, and I get to see the place in person today (in just a few hours, as of writing this)! I’m bringing our old bent-ply chairs with me for them. Brandon and I bought them circa 2002 I think, for our apartment. We used them there and in our first house, and now they’ll have a new life at my sister’s place. Nobody wants your parents’ old stuff, but perhaps younger siblings are eager for your hand-me-downs?

I’m going to take a million ‘before’ photos for them while I’m there, but this is their place, so I’m only getting as involved (or not) as they want me to be in the decorating. They’re excited, and I’m excited for them!

OK, on to the Honor Roll…

• What it’s really like to rent your home for film shoots.

• Daniel’s kitchen remodel plans! The comments are fun to read, too.

• Yep, I’m going to need The Bob’s Burgers Music Album. (Those songs are the only ones my kids will sing along to when I break out the ukulele.)

• Disney Bounding. It’s a thing.

• Sheila Bridges’ home tour is all kinds of inspiring.

• Relevant to our collectively nerdy interests: Crazy Otto and the story of Ms. Pac-Man.

• I do not have lovely handwriting, though I wish I did. Still, I love thinking that if I just found the right pen, magically my penmanship would be lovely.

• How OCEAN data played out in our election, and its role in the future of hyper targeted advertising.

• Using psychology to find common ground for liberals and republicans.

• Find love through hate. Seriously! There’s an app for that (and it makes so much sense).

• I think I need these earrings. I don’t often see that amber brown color in jewelry, but I love it. There’s a necklace, too.

• A quick cord swap is a huge improvement for IKEA’s Fado lamp.

• I work from home.

Our house looks amazing right now! Nothing like the pressure of scheduling a shoot with your home as the location to get you cleaning. The kids still need a lot of supervision (the two-year-old especially), so Brandon and I worked in shifts from morning to night yesterday getting this place looking its best, trading off on kid and cleaning duty. The video is a wrap, so all we have to do now is not touch anything and we have a fighting chance of it staying this way for at least a few more hours?

We have some birthday parties to attend this weekend, and then we’ve got to get to planning August’s. He’s about to turn six! He wants the same party he had last year all over again (everyone builds Lego cars and races them down tracks that we made out of rain gutters). If this is what he’s into, I guess we do a repeat! It certainly makes the whole thing easier to pull together.

Maybe we’ll pick up supplies on Sunday. I want to stop by the Sleep Number store while I’m out that way anyway — they reached out about working together on a possible post and I’ve heard good things, but don’t have any experience with them. The adjustable factor was a big enticement for Brandon because his back acts up sometimes and he thinks more support might help.

But on to the Honor Roll! I’m feeling super inspired by these paper village installations by Zim & Zoe for Hermes in Dubai, and below are a few more things that have been on my radar lately.

• 25 prominent women on their mentors and role models.

• I’m afraid of open bodies of water, so the Broomway is most definitely not on my bucket list.

• I hadn’t realized it, so maybe you missed it too, but there was a free Animal Crossing New Leaf update released in November. I had stopped playing, but it’s fun again with the new features!

• Archie for the modern age.

• Have you outgrown your once-favorite home stores? Here’s when they expect you to age out.

• Font? Heh, I think you meant to say typeface.

Sometimes Santa’s elves need a little help in the form of espresso. I picked up a peppermint mocha from my sponsor Dunkin’ Donuts last night when I was out, then came home and powered through the wrapping. Done! (Adding the ribbons and gift tags is my favorite part.)

Today, we’re heading out to make gingerbread houses with my family. My purse is full of gumdrops and sprinkles.

• Art out of the shadows. Clever!

• Niel Patrick Harris’ 73 questions is my favorite of the series yet.

• YES to St. Vincent’s take on the bikini magazine cover.

• A lovely video with an art director for the United States Post Office on how stamps are designed.

• Eero Saarinen documentary!

• Want to paint with the world’s pinkest pink? Go right ahead! Wait. Not you, Anish Kapoor. Sit down.