The One From Maira Kalman

I'm kind of in love this new-to-me blog (via sfgirlbybay) from the SUPER talented and creative Maira Kalman. If it's too tiny, you can enlarge the image by clicking on it.

The blog is from The New York Times and called "And the Pursuit of Happiness" which began as a documentation of Kalman's trip to the inauguration this past January. It's published on the last Friday of each month and highlights an American icon. The image above comes from her post on Benjamin Franklin, and you can click here to see the most recent post, on George Washington.

The One For Nashville

Text Red Cross to '90999' to donate $10 to Nashville relief efforts.

Click here to see it on YouTube.

The One About Derby Day

Happy Derby Day!

My parents are in Louisville right now with a friend of my dad's who owns one of the horses running today, so everybody put your money on Mission Impazible! I'm beyond jealous, but they're hopefully bringing back presents...

My mom is definitely NOT a hat person, so we've been pulling together outfits for what feel like FOREVER, and dad wore a pink and green paisley tie to The Oaks yesterday. How interesting...

I guess these are the fun things you get to do when you're semi-empty-nesters. I'll be at home babysitting they're puppy-child.

I think based on my need to own hats and pretty dresses...I really should have been invited to this shindig as well. Wouldn't today be so much better spent wearing this...

UPDATE: Congratulations to Super Saver, and that sleezy looking man who won the $100,000 bet.

The One About Sporcle

What can we learn from this? (you can click to make it larger)

Sporcle is amazing.

Texas dominates.

Mississippi, Arkansas and Kentucky fail.

A Texas suburb (or four) have higher populations than Jackson, Mississippi, Little Rock, Arkansas, and Louisville, Kentucky. Whoda thunk it?

And now that I've given you the answers...take the quiz here.

By the way, I scored in the 95th percentile, so boo-yah Sporcle - too bad I underestimated Texas.

What was I thinking?

The One About Southwest (and Ding!)

...with a rant at no extra charge.

Southwest is probably absolutely, positively, without question my very favorite airline. Granted, I fly pretty frequently on American because they have a very nifty direct flight from Birmingham to DFW, but on the occasion that it's less expensive (generally always) I pick a trip from Birmingham through Houston to Love Field.

....that was really weird, my Font box disappeared...

But, back to the point. Southwest is probably one of my all-time favorite things, and Ding! is their most genius idea (a list that also includes not having to pay for bags).

Ding! let's you plug in where you're interested in flying, and then it alerts you to inexpensive flights when they pop up. For instance...I've plugged in Birmingham (obviously), but am also interested in flights that involve airports in Dallas, Houston, Austin, or Las Vegas (for my girls trip in June...remember?). For a $55 flight to Las Vegas, because seriously - they can be that inexpensive, I just might drive to Nashville or Jackson to hop on it. Same goes for Houston or Austin - I wouldn't feel badly at all convincing girls to all convene in a city different from the "best college town ever." It's the perfect thing for me, who doesn't really care when I go to Dallas - just that I don't pay an arm and a leg to get there.

Seriously, these people are genius.

They ALWAYS have the cheapest flights (if you want to put forth the effort to make decisions earlier than three days before your trip), they don't make you pay to check bags which can seriously cost a fortune, and they have the best commercials! I love bags too.

Well then, after all of my discussion with you about the wonder that is Southwest Airlines, would you believe that there are people out there in the universe who are being mean to this wonderful airline?

This is a nice airline. Very unlike US Airways who tricked me into paying an ENORMOUS amount of money for a plane ticket AT THE AIRPORT because they couldn't figure out how to verify that I was indeed the Expedia ticket purchaser, with my name, going to the teeny tiny Norfolk airport, on the teeny tiny plane, that they could see in their crappy US Airways computers. Yes, red-headed horribly mean ticket agent in DFW - I'm talking to you! Let me tell you something - 5 am is not the time to be discussing the technicalities of airplane paperwork from Expedia with me...unless of course you've been assigned to confused people to the point that they believe they have done something wrong and deserve to pay crazy amounts of money to fly on your crappy airplane.

Enough of that rant.

The point being - Southwest is awesome. There are airlines that are not.

Kevin Smith, who is apparently famous but I've never heard of him (don't worry - I know that it's totally possible I'm just out of the loop) is all ticked off that they asked him to get off their plane in California. This man is large. He's so large in fact, that he bought two plane tickets - as he usually does - to fly on the airline. SO, when they seated him standby in only one seat, and he wasn't able to properly fit, they asked him to wait for a later flight.

Apparently, unfortunately for Southwest, the natural reaction for Smith was to rant and rave (in less than appropriate language) on Twitter.

Give them a break.

According to Southwest, they've given him a $100 voucher (for a flight he wasn't even meant to be on) and called him personally at home to apologize.

He's just enjoying making their lives miserable.

I understand - I would be mad as all get out if some stewardess asked me to get off the plane based on my weight...but give it a rest already. It's obnoxious. NOT TO MENTION, you had previously purchased yourself 2 tickets - clearly indicating that you do in fact need some extra room.

I'd love to hear what his next door neighbor thought...I'm sure he was pleasantly surprised that Southwest took an unpopular action in order to insure his or her comfort.

I once sat in a middle seat next to an incredibly large man wearing motorcycle boots, a cut off Harley Davidson t-shirt and a cowboy hat - I wish someone had said something to him!

The One About The Grammy's

Dave Matthews - why did you not win Album of the Year. Taylor Swift - why DID you win Album of the Year. Now I do know that the votes are over and done with before the Grammy's actually start...but did you HEAR Taylor Swift. Ouch.

I thought the Lady Gaga + Elton John performance was fantastic, he was probably LOVING the face paint and excessive sequins. Sadly, Taylor Swift was definitely the low point for performers (unless I'm forgetting something pretty heinous). Of course Dave Matthews was so wonderful I added him to my iTunes this morning.

On another note - WHAT was everyone wearing last night. They either looked completely ridiculous, or just downright boring. I mean, I love a pretty dress as much as the next person - but it's the GRAMMY'S people, not the Golden Globes. Why was there no color? Mary J. Blige looked gorgeous in fuschia, Fergie came in bright blue and Jennifer Nettles wore hot pink - but that was about it. Unless you count Lady Gaga's performance outfit (GOOD GRIEF), Snooki's bright purple, or Shaila Durcal's...whatever that is.

Everything else was black, cream, silver, NEUTRAL. I'm not going to pick best and worst dressed (mainly because I don't care and you don't either) but I will say that if I got to go to the Grammy's I wouldn't be wearing basic black - not to mention very revealing black, amazingly heinous, skanky and beyond ugly black - or even brown.

Lea Michele actually did look cute, especially compared to that time you looked like a 35-year-old woman - but I've seen people wear more interesting things to my sorority's formal.

OH MY WORD - WHAT IS THAT?

The One About The State of The Union

This might be the funniest thing I have EVER seen. A million thank you's to Jamie at ISuwannee for the seriously entertaining blog post on this very long afternoon. You've made my day.

The One About Haiti

It is impossible to understand or even imagine what the people of Haiti are going through. Especially today. A tremendous earthquake destroyed their tiny island just a few days ago - and now the aftershocks have created even larger and seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

There are numerous organizations working in Haiti to clean up the wreckage - physically, mentally and spiritually. One of these organizations has been in Haiti for over 20 years, and was working to provide medical care in this area long before last week. They have individuals working with their organization who live in Haiti and understand the deep ramifications of a disaster like this. Partners in Health works to "bring modern medical care to poor communities in nine countries around the world. The work of PIH has three goals: to care for our patients, to alleviate the root causes of disease in their communities, and to share lessons learned around the world."

The organization's Stand with Haiti campaign is focused on raising funds to alleviate the traumatic effects of this natural disaster and they are desperate for your help. Even the smallest donation - $15 - can make a huge difference in this effort ... and how big a difference can you honestly say $15 is going to make in your bank account?

To that end, Merchline and Fretto Prints have partnered to create a shirt that's proceeds will all go to PIH's Stand with Haiti campaign.

Not only is it adorable, but you'll be sending your money directly to an organization who is doing incredible work in this area of the world (and others). Click on the image to be directed to the website.

There are also numerous other ways to send love and support to Haiti. This shirt supports the Red Cross, my mom went and gave blood (again) today - she's got a habit of doing that, donations can be made to UNICEF, Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, Doctors Without Borders, CARE, Feed the Children, Oxfam and many many more.

If you want to go the high-tech route, try texting to one of these numbers:

Text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts
Text “YELE” to 501501 to Donate $5 to Yele Haiti’s Earthquake Relief efforts
Text "GIVE10" to 20222 to donate $10 to Direct Relief

There are also local schools and churches collecting supplies to be sent to Haiti, so watch out for those types of donation opportunities.

Either way, I would encourage you to do something. Help Haiti Rise.

The One About Lonny

Lonny Magazine officially debuted - and it's WONDERFUL. Not only does it have great things in it, but many of those great things link to the web, and the great things go on for days (or pages...195 of them to be exact). There are a few advertising pages, but they're limited, and what does appear in these pages is relevant to the reader. They're created one feature that spans 35 pages! Here's a little glance, but you can check out the whole magazine right here, or head over to Michelle Adams' blog (who launched Lonny with business partner Patrick Cline).

A few of the contributors and focuses of the features in Lonny are a result of the slow (or not so slow) death of print magazines. Both Kate Townsend-Simpson and Deborah Needleman's homes are featured in Lonny, and they worked as an editor, and Editor-in-Chief of domino respectively - before that magazine was shuttered. It has the distinct feeling of being a heart-felt, and hard-won collaboration beginning and ending with those who love shelter magazines, and the magazine format in general.

Simpson's Dining Room

Needleman's Dressing Area

The fact that you can literally shop right out of the magazine makes a HUGE impact as well. If you scroll over something you like, a box pops up, and links to the source. So convenient for readers...even better for the products featured. It's like the world's best, and most well-designed advertising.

For instance, Simpson's bathroom features these beautifully monogrammed hand towels...if you scroll over them you will see that you can have them too - from Leontine Linens, and if you want the wallpaper, well it's Waverly Light Foot Mural Document. Easy enough for buyers to get sucked in...

The magazine features everything from interiors (the obvious focus) to clothing and lifestyle. There is the inevitable feature on "going green," and the topic of trends (both fashion and interior) - such as "Ivy League" and "Spotted" make it light and fun. The magazine features everything from refurbished, antique typewriters, to easy, inexpensive ways to spruce up your home. Lonny even suggests using shoe rack to house beautiful shoes in the open - "turn your storage into unique stylish displays." Interesting...

Lonny features great ideas that stand alone, but also feature the ideas of influential people in the design business. Eddie Ross for instance. Previously seen on HGTV's Next Design Star - he has an easy style that is compiled of a few expensive investment pieces and classic, personal finds at flea markets.

Eddie Ross' display of china, glassware and silver pieces

The magazine also provides a great collection of "5 Tips For..." throughout. They come from the editor, featured designers, and contributors to the magazine. Eddie Ross provides his "5 Tips For Entertaining with Style," which makes perfect sense while reading the article focusing on his beautiful home. It's the best way to intergrate "amazingly put together, could never do it alone" inspiration from incredible designers, with "easy to accomplish for us everyday humans" information.

In general, this magazine provides an amazing amount of information and inspiration (for those people who have the money to redecorate anything), and it's jam-packed with resources. All in all, it a great response to all of the magazines that have closed in the last little bit - Southern Accents, Cottage Living, domino. This offers the same caliber of work - but it's less expensive to create (and less expensive to read - i.e. FREE). My one and only complaint for the editors is that someone should have been less worried about how the magazine looked and felt, and more worried about typos. Oh well - I'm sure they'll have that down-pat next go-around.