The Nest

For the past few holidays, instead of giving people stuff, I have given money in their name to a beautiful organization called Heifer International. With the way the world is today, sustainability and the gift of self-reliance can make a huge difference in the life of someone who is living in poverty. Heifer does this with gifts of various forms of livestock and instruction on how to care for, breed and raise the animals. I love to see the faces of both the animals and the people and how much they love and depend on each other.

If I were to fall in love with a woman, it would be Misty Tosh. She is fierce, fun, feisty and gorgeous. The beautiful, colorful blog of her fascinating life and travels makes me want to sell everything and run off with her to Baja and enjoy margaritas and Coronas on the beach.

…where you can vent your frustrations out by throwing dishes, wine glasses and picture frames against a wall. The owner of the Smash Shack,  Sarah Lavely, then donates the smashed pieces to local schools and art programs. What a fun way to get out your aggressions. I see a “girl’s night out”: cussing, screaming, tossing, smashing, laughing.

Jay Hilger of bittbox fame is creating a font from the collaboration of other designers: each designer picks and creates their own letter. I will do some doodling today and give it a shot. Hmmm…the C is calling me.

Tonight I am going to visit the West Street Market and then try to view the photos of Franz Szony at his gallery downtown. I love his style of freakish photography and Photoshopness. It would be great if he could do his version of portraits of all the famous faces in town. This woman above is definitely a wine walker.

The lovely Michelle Kaufmann has a nice blog about creating beautiful green items for your home. I have admired this very cool woman for several years now and her business has really taken off. I still dream about visiting (and living in) a Glidehouse or the Lotus.

The beauty of design does not always have to be visual. The beauty of words can have an even stronger effect. Leo of Zen Habits has written a glorious post on the way the work world is changing and evolving. Many of his rules for work have become part of my life instantly, like a religion. His prose flows like a musical river of comprehension, and the ideas we have all had, but have never put on paper (or digitally), come together succinctly.

Here is a lovely pink bouquet from AfricanKelli and her motley troupe of blogging friends who have been making my Friday more fun. We all seem to be sharing a brain, since our posts are spookily similar.

I am always inspired by women who don’t go with the flow and branch out on their own lovely trees of life…okay, enough poetry for today.