have you seen/submitted to this site?
pretty cool
They Draw and Cook

rodney brooks, robot scientist at MIT


gotye, australian musician

here is some music to get you in the mood



i was having a bit of lie-in and i heard someone walk up to the front door and then walk away and I KNEW it was santa so I jumped out of bed and ran to get the package. Perfect wake-up call!
My secret santa package from the lovely Susan!


first present (from the red wrapping paper), coziest flannel pillowcase with PUPPIES. look at these guys.


puppy pillowcase was quickly added to the Pillow Kingdom.


a tasty-looking RECIPE and measuring spoons oh my god how did you know that I don't have any measuring spoons? even though i like to bake, somehow measuring utensils were an oversight when i was buying kitchen supplies and like, I'm really busy? so i never bought them? even though I actually kind of work in a cooking store. but now they are here. see guys good things happen when you do crazy and/or lazy things. yay universe!


peppermint patties to make the recipe with! omg and peppermint patties, ok, when i was a kid my best friend's grandpa would pick us up from school every day and he always had york peppermint patties and if you'd had a rough day he would sneak one into your backpack and he was the sweetest guy and whenever I see these I think of him. :')


a STOCKING! holy crap! my family doesn't do stockings, we do something else, so this is probably like my first actual stocking ever. muy exciting


stockings are good things, you guys. (i don't know who this mrs. fields broad is but she knows what she's doing with the chocolate and all.) and novelty erasers! yesterday i was with my brother in the dollar store and i was freaking out about all the novelty erasers and he wouldn't let me buy any! again the universe prevails! i'm going to go erase his homework with these.


i may have mentioned i like dark chocolate


and these are probably my favourite gifts out of the whole thing. Susan is so sweet, she sent stuff for my puppy and my fish too!


I'll get a photo later with Katie and her raccoon toy (how did you know raccoons are her favourite) when i visit but here is a photo of my buddy Raffi Torres and HIS new buddy Buddha


snazzy wrapping paper


!!! these are all highly pertinent to my interests. (Fahrenheit 451 comic looks amazing)


the gift of a WHOLE YEAR of puppy action for my retinas.


and a sweet letter from Susan, haha and don't worry, no sneezes! thank your kitties for being so careful!


thanks Susan! merry christmas!

I took these photos of my dad's bottle collection. He's had to pack them away for good, so I thought it would be nice to get some photos printed and framed for him for christmas. The frames have this really rich, dark walnut stain.
Which two should I get printed?

a)


b)


c)


d)


e)


f)

"That awkward moment…

When a beautiful woman is checking herself out in the public bathroom mirror to make sure she is still pretty


and you are standing therewaiting to wash your hands like


"

funny cause it's truuuuue
i hate clubs sometimes

my secret santa came. I'm in the middle of opening it now and I will post pictures and stuff soon but you guys I can't even handle this. this is all too much. I have too many feelings.

*********************** actual post now. *************************

this is the box. it was super heavy and big. look how big it is, it's bigger than I am.


There was an envelope that said "open me" and inside was a five-page letter. I read that first.

it was a perfect letter. It had doodles and tangents and penguins and sarcastic editorial comments and whale sharks.

Laying on top was this:


I was expecting the classic SS mixtape...but it was this.

the mixtape to end all mixtapes. an album by the supertalented amazing lovely Mike and Alvin...original songs and covers of some of my favourite songs...I still can't quite believe it.
the liner notes say that I am the first one to hear those songs and that depending on my penchant for sharing it could stay that way. I kept them all to myself for twenty-four hours. I listened to them going to class and when I left class late last night I walked the half hour to the train station so I could just walk and listen and it was peaceful and lovely. but now I want everyone to hear them. So I put them on soundcloud (Alvin, Mike, if you want that to change or you have a better way of sharing stuff let me know) and I'm posting them in this blog so everyone can listen. I put the CD in right away and listened to it as I opened the rest of the package. It made the whole thing very very magical.
I don't even know what else to say about this so I'm going to move on. please listen to it, it's amazing.
Amelia by Alvin and Mike by ladypilot84

so after getting all overwhelmed and teary and happy and stuff, next bit:

GLOW IN THE DARK SAND ART

ohmagaw I'm so excited. Haya has some glow in the dark sculpey for me and I think I'm going to use that to make dinosaur skeletons to bury in the sand art.

next was a jar-lamp that Mike made. He's such a pro it didn't even break, as happens with some amateurs who try and mail glass jars. It even came with a bunch of those flameless tea-lights, and he'd attached velcro to the bottom of each one so it stuck to the bottom of the jar lid. Martha Bautista. and it has incense in it so it smelled really good. it's such a lovely warm light.


Next were some awesome science books from the 60s - "The Forest" and "The Sea" from LIFE Nature Library and "The New Golden Book of Astronomy." I don't think I mentioned in my email but I LOVE these kinds of books. I have a bunch of the Jacques Cousteau ones and the Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia of Natural Sciences. These ones are so lovely and they're about my favourite things, whales and forests and bugs and mushrooms and space.


One had an old note inside, as old books sometimes do, that says "Fascinating book - many thanks, T". I love that kind of stuff. And in the ocean one, some of the pages were taped together and there was a note from Mike saying that those pages had some sad/disturbing photos of whaling and he didn't want me to accidentally look at them and be sad. This is where you say "awwwwwww" if you haven't already a billion times. I did.

Okay and the almost last bit.
In my email I said I liked childrens' books. The note on this wrapping said "I did manage to get at least one "children's book" in this package. Hooray for wish fulfillment!"
It was another hardcover book, called "Into the Forest". I didn't recognize it but the photo on the front looked kind of familiar.

first leaf: cue jaw drop.

:O :O :O :O :O :O :O :'O :'D

stevephotographs? oh my girlish insides

using the book to shield some very teary eyes

"stories collected by mom bautista, photographs by steve, cover by mike" ohhh mannnn

"The roses are growing. We are under the sun, me and Amelia. The blue sky is really blue. Then we picked yellow, purple and a red roses. Then a lot of more flowers to pick. We went inside the house."

"We're playing hide and seek and I found her. Then we saw a butterfly. Then when we were walking to the flower, then we lay down, we saw the sun. And then we were to my house."
"That's Amelia in the forest. She is big. She was walking and got thirsty. She wanted some juice. She was hungry too. Then it got dark. She saw a wolf. She got scared and she ran away. But it was just a wall."
"We just walking and I'm touching the sun. We walking to her house. She stopped and we saw flowers."
"I met Amelia at my house. We planted flowers in my garden. She helped me pick flowers for my mom. My mom said, "thank you." My mom liked Amelia. That's my friend Amelia. I love her because she is my friend."
There are more stories and more drawings. I keep reading them over and over again. I am overwhelmed.

favourite stevephotograph of all time.

amelia loves you? yes she does.
and there was a really lovely nice secret poem hidden on the inside cover.
and underneath the book was a neat folder from a high school in Hawaii with all the original drawings inside and a funny list of Mike's ideas for the package.

mike, thank you thank you thank you. I am blown away and flattered and shocked and amazed. also to Alvin and his musictalents, and your mum and all those kids and Steve and his phototalents and Haya and whoever else kept this stuff a secret because you were right, it was better to be surprised. I can't imagine how much work you put into this. I can't put into words how much this meant to me and how much I love everything. biggest hugs, all round.

ahhh! it came!
ps this blog is pic heavy. obviously. just opening it has probably caused your village to lose power already.

le box, looking intriguing


what! scarves! I LOVE SCARVES especially super pretty ones that have bouquets of musical instruments on them




know what I love even more than scarves? kids' books. especially awesome kids books like Stone Soup and The Brave Little Tailor and The Hungry Thing Returns


and the best thing about kids' books is that second-hand ones sometimes have UNBEARABLY ADORABLE THINGS LIKE THIS:


I allowed myself to shed one tear ONLY over this heartbreaking bit of adorableness


and then moved right on to super MARVELLOUS Keith Scharwath tote bag that is the perfect size and perfect depth and perfect everything.


ooh perfect elegant beautiful black notebook!


even better, containing some alvinquotes, alvinpoetry, and alvindrawings! WEREWOLF RELATED!
man does this guy know me.


splutter splutter splutter! amazing! I can't wait to read this book. It's been on my list for a long time and the cover is gorgeous.


more spluttering! wrapped in yet another lovely scarf, alvinglasses!




know who looks SUPER good in a scarf? that's right, my dog Katie.


wrapped in ANOTHER scarf, more splutter.




AHH!


yes, that's right. Alvin found a weird musical instrument that I didn't know about. AND sent batteries. It's a pocket-sized, electronic, super hip baby brother to my organ!


to top it all off, redonkulously nice letter.


this is my first SS exchange and this is the best package ever! You put so much time and effort into this and everything is so thoughtful. THANK YOU ALVIN!

I've recently become kind of obsessed with tattoos
I'm not planning on getting one soon, I've just been looking through galleries and found a lot of really unusual and beautiful tattoos...lots of inspiration for illustration and design in general

plz share










I am a sucker for black text tattoos