A Special Happy Birthday Message….

Today is a special day. Not only is it Halloween, but it’s also the birthday of an incredible woman.

Looking at this picture, I can’t help but wonder about this young, beautiful girl. I wonder if she knows what she’ll accomplish in her life. Does she know that she’ll have two successful engineers for sons & a slacker nomad of a daughter, all who love her tremendously? Does she imagine that at age 54 she’ll be training to run a marathon, or that she’ll hike the Grand Canyon in the same year with her hiking club? Does this girl think about going back to college later in life and becoming a caring, accomplished nurse? I wonder if she imagines the paintings that she’ll paint later in life after decades of not having time to pick up a brush? I like to think that this girl dreams about all these things and more. I know that the woman she has become is still dreaming of more wonders for the future. Happy birthday Mom. Thanks for being such an inspiration to me. I love you very much!

Two Photos & A Brief Rant

Holy Moly!!! I am so sorry I have been absent from my Big Daddy duties for so long. I started by just getting busy & then got slammed with a terrible bout of stomach flu. I was also hit with a funk. A middle-of-October-I’ve-got-so-many-birthdays-coming-up-&-how-long-until-Christmas-Are-You-Kidding-Me? funk. Also, I had a total-lack-of-inspiration funk. I didn’t want to post about anything. I even watched Marie Antoinette one day while home & thought “meh.” I really wanted to love it, & felt so crabby when I didn’t. The costumes & sets were stunning, but the story left me completely flat. I didn’t think it was nearly as good as the biography by Antonia Fraser that it’s based on. So, if I’m such a crab ass, why am I posting again all of a sudden? Because today, I found my inspiration. This morning while the front desk was quiet at my job, I finished the third part of Errol Morris’ fascinating essay series in the New York Times. It is a commitment to read, but oh so rewarding! Here’s the basic setup: a photographer, Roger Fenton, took two photos of the exact same stretch of road in the Valley of the Shadow of Death during the Crimean War. One photo had cannonballs scattered about the road, the other photo didn’t. These are the two photos:

Fenton, Roger. Valley of The Shadow of Death. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin. VIA the New York Times.

Fenton, Roger. Valley of The Shadow of Death. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin. VIA the New York Times.

So the question is: Which photograph came first? Did Roger Fenton take a picture of the empty stretch of road & then place the cannonballs on the road for more drama for the second photo? Or did he remove the canon balls? For some this might sound completely ridiculous. Why even bother? There are two photos of the same stretch of road. Deal with it. But for me, this piece is exactly the kick in the butt my brain needed. There are so many questions that can be asked within this original problem. How do we know which photo came first? The whole journey is full of other questions that emerge within the exploration for the answer to the original query. I can’t even begin to elaborate on all the questions I had while reading & thinking about it. Plus, Errol Morris is such a great writer. I strongly encourage you to read the three-piece essay if you have time. The additional essays posted to the site are just as thought provoking as this one. So go & read! If not, at least try and check out one of his mesmerizing documentaries, Gates of Heaven and Fast, Cheap & Out of Control are my two favorites, but all of them deserve a viewing. Thanks again Mr. Morris for giving my brain the butt kicking it soundly deserved. I’ll be back to regular posting from now on.
Cheers!

Paper Stories

A beautiful booth at Renegade was the Paper Stories booth. I loved the pretty notecards I saw here:



I love the bittersweet series:


I love that something so pretty can say exactly how you feel! Paper Stories also has an Etsy shop that I’m sure will be loaded up with lovely new products soon for the upcoming holidays!

Put A Monster In Your Closet-SEIBEI

Did I mention how many cool t-shirt designers were at Renegade? I did? Good, because I have a ton to feature. I loved the SEIBEI booth. I love monsters & shirts like these are right up my alley:




I was sad to hear that SEIBEI had their cashbox stolen from their booth on Sunday. People suck sometimes. I hope that they weren’t put off enough to not return to Chicago & Renegade. I look forward to seeing more of the funny stuff coming from this company.

There Ain’t No Party Like My Nana’s Tea Party – HEY, HO!

Of course I had to use a quote from one of my favorite Flight of the Conchords songs, but today is all about tea. Specifically, the delicious teas from Herb + Ginger. They had a lovely booth at Renegade & I was drawn to the wonderful packaging. Here’s a picture of the products at the booth:

And here’s a close up example of the packaging with the adorable sugar tube:

But, the teas themselves looked & smelled fantastic:




Exploring their site, I was also impressed with the teaware:


The modernist in me prefers the sleek look of the top strainer, the romantic in me is in love with the bee infuser. I have the same dilemma with the dishes:


That’s the romantic. The modernist:


Both sets are lovely & make me long for that snap in the air when a cup of tea is JUST the thing. Cheers to you all & have a great day!