amanda briggs at dear ada

paper love.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of discovering a wonderful blog, love made visible. I love the sweet links she's got to fresh people and things I'm not seeing on other blogs. I found this really great notecard and envelope company barizaki there, which uses images of beautiful, old correspondences with real vintage stamps to create their unique and one-of-a-kind products. I would be thrilled to recieve a letter in one of these envelopes any day.

And I also found my new favorite notebook resource, five and a half, who creates the most wonderful notebooks and journals using repurposed, found papers and then binds them together. Each page is different so there is surprise at every turn and each book is unique which makes the one you get extra special.

A thousand thank-yous to love made visible for these two fabulous finds!

the pressure of sunshine.

I was talking to a friend today, lamenting the fact that it was pouring out. The first real rain of the fall. He said it's the official end of summer and after a moment of thought, I realized that it was actually ok with me that it was raining. It's a bit of a relief to not feel compelled to be in the garden or outside at the moment. I'm sure I'll be feeling differently by mid-November but for now it's nice to have a little relief from the pressure of sunshine.

5 weird dog things.

Surfed today. Found some great links that I'll blog about over the coming days. This one particular post from insurgent muse made me laugh, laugh. Especially in light of my rather embarassing dog alias post from the weekend. I guess the deal was to list 5 weird things about your pets and then tag 5 others to do the same. I'm not joining in on the fun unfortunately, but I am sharing this fantastic list she came up with for her dog Fidel, just because it makes me feel like I'm not alone in my dog obsession. It's too good.

1. FIDEL, what is up with pawing at and re-arranging the sheets for five minutes, then spinning in three circles before you finally lay down to go to sleep. Enough already.

2. FIDEL, I've seen you attempt to eat your own poop, but you turn your nose up at the natural, organic dog food I buy for you, what's up with that?

3. FIDEL, why do you repeatedly attempt to hide your greenie when you know Sam is just going to come along and steal it out from under you. I'll let you in on a secret, you're never going to outsmart him.

4. FIDEL, why do you paw at the bed and cry until I lift you up there, when I've seen you on multiple occassions jump up there to get a toy. You're not fooling anyone.

5. FIDEL, seriously, what's the deal with your ears? One flops down and one stands straight up like an antennae, and when you're really relaxed they both stick straight out the sides of your head making you oddly resemble Yoda.

screaming color.

I haven't been to the farmer's market for a few weeks, so I stopped by this morning to get some veggies as a gift for a friend who is making us dinner tonight. I was wondering about the colors I'd see today since we're now in the middle of September. New season, new fruits, vegetables, flowers in their prime. Would it be noticably different from summer's color palette? Well yes indeed it was, I soon found out. Screaming gorgeous colors, a bit darker, more subtle, mixed with the sparkling hot hues of late summer. Dazzling.

Eggplant purples contrasting with hot yellows, nestled against tomato reds. I had no idea peppers came in such a range of stunning colors. And oh my god, the beans. Long, stick sized purple ones and pale waxy yellow ones and sturdy chartreuse green ones. Painted looking squash in greens and whites and yellow. The textures, the smells, the colors. It was a morning of breathtaking, colorful fun.

There's more color on flicker, september farmer's market.

mixed up pretty.

This is one of those annoying posts featuring something I love, but can't really provide much information for. I found these lovely bags on the tokyo artist mansion website, done by the artist Kodue Hibuno. Unfortunately, I can't read japanese, so I don't know how to actually get them. Sorry. Regardless, I think they are wonderful and inspiring.

dog aliases.

I stumbled onto graphic designer Aaron Draplin's blog/site, draplin, a little while back. I think I discovered him through these cool little Field Guide notebooks he made, of which I can't find anymore of and aren't listed on his site. Oh well. Regardless, in checking out his site, I discovered his undying love for his dog, Gary. And a particular favorite aspect of Gary on the site, is the list of all of Gary's aliases. So good! I want to copy this. Bear with me dear reader, because I can't help myself. I need to do the same thing for Ruppert. DPK is notorious for coming up with silly nicknames for the dogs and they are now an ongoing narrative within our household. Of this, I apologize for in advance.

Ruppert. Ruppert Sir Poops Alot (he really does for such a small guy). Ruppert Sir Lick Toes of Poops Alot. Sir Poops. Rupperto. Ru-pear-toes. Schmumerto. Smooth Pear Toes. Rupperto, mumerto, schmumerto, bawerto, guerto, duerto. Schmu. Goo. Boo. Boo boo. Slug. The sponge of love. The chunk of love. Love bug. Le cochon d'amour. The snuffler. Little boy. Baby boy. Old man. Buddy. Poo. Poops. Poopers. Poopert. Schmoop. Schmupert and of course, when in a pinch, Ruppert.

There. Now that's out of my system. Thanks for the indulgence.

a grown up bedroom.

I love this spread from this months House and Garden magazine. The soothing colors and sophisticated use of pattern makes me swoon. I love, love, love the hand-printed grass cloth wallpaper from Twenty2. I wish that I was grown up enough to live in a house with rooms like these but I don't think it will ever be so. I'll just have to be happy admiring them from afar.

satorialist love.

I love the blog, the satorialist. It's so smart and nice and fabulous. A rare and refreshing combination, especially when talking about fashion. Plus it's a wonderful source for ideas for the perfect uniform.

sweet birds.

How sweet is this pattern design by Asa-Hanna Carlsson? I love the illustrative hand used to create the motifs as well as the whimsy of the subject matter itself. A cotton blouse in this pattern would be fabulous.

I also love her black bird illustrations (big surprise). Framed or on a tee shirt, I'm in love.

alma allen sculpture.

Oh my, oh my. The sculptures of Alma Allen make me weak in the knees. Organic in form and material, they are at once primal and precious. Check out his wonderful site, allen pearce that features his breathtaking sculpture as well as a gallery of his dog fritz carraldo's photo's. Amazing art and dog love. Now that's a combination that's near and dear to my heart.