Lost Boys?

I fell in LOVE with this little guy. He was hustling at the Chris Johanson opening at Jack Hanley on Saturday night. The show was amazing-- Chris had installed all kinds of fake walls and low beams in the gallery. It made it feel like you were crawling around a kid's fort. Probably why the kiddy ink artist was there. I asked him to show me some of his work-- he had B-I-K-E across his knuckles. Ahh... The sign read “ Skull & Crossbones Tattoos Here! 50 cents per tattoo! Cheap!”**** I did take a photo where you could read the sign.. but I liked this one, w/ the focus on his face, more.

Vignettes

Ali got me started thinking about little pieces of my pad that I love. Living in a small space with a roommate means that there are a lot of compromises. But here are a few spots I love just the way they are.

The first is on the bathroom counter where a girlie side of me I didn't know I had has come out. The pink jar is from Target, the blue from anthropologie, and the white from the Alameda Flea market.
This is a postcard made by my friend Casey Jex Smith specifically for this frame. He mailed it to my work address-- getting it was one of the best days working for the man ever! I got the deer at a flea market in Moscow, and the bird is an antique toy my mom found.

So Not PC.....

but also but adorable. I took a break from working hard to drop by the flea market. Found these invitations-- I can't wait to use them.

Spring has Sprung!

20 daffodils in a vintage vase I picked up at the charity shop.

Get thee hence!

This time of year is hard. Hard because of the bounty of delicious sugary goodness. The only way to be healthy is to avoid all grocery stores and strictly ration all these gems. I'll just admit. I'm a failure on both those counts.

Exhibit A
Sugar in its purest, most delicious form. There are two types of people in the world. Those who get it. And haters.


Exhibit B
One gram of fat (almost) per piece. So good. So very, very, very good. good. good. good. I am utterly powerless to resist these.

Exhibit C
How can something that seems so wrong be so right? Proof positive that the UK is more civilized than the US? Cross the pond these gems are available year round. And, they don't seem to be shrinking in size over there.

wish i was a baller..

Not really. But I do wish that I was a better photographer. That same same dim/dark mobile pictured last month looks so much better in her photographs. So glad it got a good home, AND that she likes it! For inspirational mobiles see this flickr set. More of my contribution here. I have to say, I'm kinda proud of the little guy. Special thanks to Molly A. who supplied me with vintage ric rac many years ago.

5 Year Plan

that has nothing to do with my obsession with all things Soviet! My sister's father in law (a very nice man) bought this for me at the SF MoMa recently. It's a 5 year diary. I love that it's just a few sentences every day, and that every year you can see what you were doing on that very day in previous years. You can buy one here. Bueno, no? (practicing my Spanish for upcoming adventures.....)

Lost Youth

I keep buying back pieces of it. Latest acquisition-- the shoes of the endless tropic summers of my childhood: Salt-water sandals. True, Dandelion Wine mentions a different kind of summer shoes, but these will always be it for me. My mom liked them because they stayed on, were indestructible, and didn't deform our feet like flip flops did. I like them because they're simple, but comfortable. I got them in the slightly shimmery champagne color. I'm also considering black or red-- though we always had navy blue when I was growing up. This site has them at a great price. Thoughts?

Things I LOVE about home 2

One of my many jobs in college was to help track down the art for this book. You can even see me thanked in the acknowledgments if you look. Needless to say, I'm a fan of Minerva Teichert's art, and really of her life. I love the idea of a woman in desolate Cokeville , Wy (where I have been many times, and thus feel ok about calling it desolate) making beautiful, big paintings in her living room.

When I was home I finally got around to checking out this exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art. I loved it. Should you be in Utah before the end of May make sure to check it out. This is my favroite piece in the exhibit. Found the image (which doesn't do it justice) here.

Oh, and if anyone is feeling generous, I'd love a copy of this.

Things I lLOVE about home 1

****BESIDES my friends and family****

Chocolate chocolate donuts. Those in the know get this one-- I almost feel like loving these makes you part of a secret cult. Available only at convenience stores in Utah, these little vices are worth every calorie. Really. I'm not a donut person normally, but these are amazing. And the fact that in civilized states there are drive through convenience stores where nice ladies will hand you one of these gems along with a delicious 79 cent fountain soda almost makes me tear up with home state pride. Even Nate S. (aka super food snob) was so smitten by these that he tracked down the original source and took a factory tour. Sorry for the lack of pix (none survived long enough for a shoot), but let's just say "you'll know them when you see them". In lieu of the actual chocolate chocolate donut, I present one of my favorite childhood reads: Homer Price

W-o-W!!

This packaging is so amazing. Although it almost defies interpretation, I'll just point out the following. The dude on the front is living the dude-iest of all dude dreams: having hot girls in swimsuits help use his water balloon launcher. Don't worry, apparently, this is a socially conscious enterprise involving handicapped assemblers (?!)

Emotion in Print

I have a collection of Asian stationary that is, well, awesome. This is my current favorite. Reserved for people who I really reely miss. I like that chairs are used to convey the message, "I am out of my mind with loneliness. Stay with me".

Nifty, thrifty?

I stumbled on these and immediately fell for them. Hard. But I wasn't a fan of the price.


So I turned to Darlybird (who first got me hooked on vintage floral studs-- I own 4 different styles of hers). And though she had many beautiful ones, none were the ONES. After attempts to get thrifty and crafty on ebay failed, I turned to esty. This search yielded these, and these, and most importantly the identical twins to the ONES these, and I bought them all. With shipping I got them all for less than the cost of the original. I love the world wide web!

my, what good looking garbage you have!

Loved this installation at the Headland's Center for the Arts a few weeks back. I apologize, but I didn't catch the artist's name, but it's one of these fine folks. I was there to see some of Casey Jex Smith's latest work.

mobile swap

An unwritten new year's goal of mine is to use many of the art supplies that I've stashed for the last decade or so. Ric Rac and pretty paper went toward my mobile for this swap. You can see the pix of the killer mobile I received here.

this school IS cool

I love all the great speakers I get to see. This week Ron Howard was here to screen his forthcoming film, "Frost/Nixon". Which was really interesting. Even better in the Q&A Ron asked ME a question. Yes, Opie himself. And, yes, I think I DID change the ending.

dada! (or surrealism)

depending on what camp you're in. I love etsy's home page and all the clever groupings they do. This one of Magritte-inspired goods made me smile today.

tweet!

I am in la-la-love with these. Despite my highly developed scheming ability I can't justify them. Yet. Thanks for point them out poppytalk!

to bag or not to bag?

I have, ahem, a lot of bags. I bought this one at Target the other day. Do I need it? No! Do I need it? Maybe. Jordan posted on its sister bag here, but I think I'm partial to the geometric trees. Thoughts?

i love baby blue

but I've deputized some friends to stop me before I go this far. These people are Quir-kee! Since Stephin Merritt makes some of my favorite music, I'll allow him all the quirks he wants. Though I'm trying not to take his new song personally.
* such a fun surprise to find this article on one of my favorite blogs this morning

My Friends are Awesome 2:

Big Al was out for the Tour of California. She rode in the women's race and did awesome. I also like how this picture of her taking a picture of me on the trolley car in San Francisco turned out.

My Friends are Awesome: 1

Sometimes when you have a bad haircut, of which the best part is a joke.....
You have very nice friends who send you hot hats from NYC to make you feel better:

Nautical

Love the anchors and ropes. Something about nautical themes just make me FEEL like it's spring. The orange and yellow scheme is extra awesome. Best part, finally checked out my local flea market, so this beauty only cost me $2.

Calorie Free

True. Every thirty-something career woman seems to have started a cupcake bakery in the last few years. Despite their ubiquity I still love them-- for eating and looking. Love the doily as the canvas for these little paintings. Very Thiebaud-esque, no?

It ain't easy being green....

I think it's hilarious that you can buy a humungo bag of all green M&M's. I like green as an alternative to all the red this time of year. Plus, these bags are big enough to put anyone in the mood!

Sexy Librarian...

What can I say? I love books, I love libraries, I love nerds. It's natural they should all finally come together. Not sure on the pricing for these guys yet, so email me if you're interested. Happy Valentine's! xxxo

20,000 leagues

I'm very pleased with how this candid of my friend A-mandy turned out. I showed everyone my "secret" spot at the aquarium, and this was the result

Happy New Year!

Behold the RAT!! I have embraced the year of the rat with this little rat tail. I hate to have to tell you but this style is SO coming back.
Rat FAQ's:
1- Yes, this WAS deliberate
2- Yes, this is temporary. VERY temporary
3- The little guy is approximately 5 inches long (and growing!)
4- Is it sexy? You tell me...
5- Yes, I AM working on getting a better picture. For posterity

Mix 2007

A few years back I started making a mix of my favorite songs of the year. Most have come out this year, a few are a wee bit older. Thought I'd share it with blog friends this year. I recommend MP3Sparks for downloading-- It's a legal, Russian based itunes type thing. Songs run around 12 cents a pop. A few of these songs are by yet-to-blow up bands, or albums not yet released (a few industry hookups never hurt, right?), if you're dying to hear something and can't find it, let me know. Happy Holidays!

Song	Band	Album
Right Or Wrong	Sloan	Never Hear the End of it
Same Old Drag	Apples In Stereo	New Magnetic Wonder
The Opposite Of Hallelujah	Jens Lekman	Night Falls Over Kortedala
Hundredaire	Hey Willpower	PDA
Magnets	Mary Cox And The Pop Rocks	EP 2
Carnival On 7th Street	The Clientele	God Save The Clientele
Nantes	Beirut	The Flying Club Cup
Panama	Casados	Passages
Every Day	Voxtrot	Voxtrot
Rolly Fingers	Women And Children	Paralyzed Dance, Tonight
How Low	Jose Gonzalez	In Our Nature
No One's Gonna Love You	Band of Horses	Cease to Begin
Fiery Crash	Andrew Bird	Armchair Apocrypha
What Your Baby's Been Doing	Small Sins	Mood Swings
Lazy Eye	Silversun Pickups	Carnavas
06 - Shout Out Louds - Impossible	Shout Out Louds	Our Ill Wills
Rescue Team	Johnossi	Johnossi
Let's call it off	Peter Bjorn and John	Writer's block
Present Tenses	Get Him Eat Him	Arms Down
In Tokyo	Stars	In Our Bedroom After The War
Ali Day	Euros Childs	The Miracle Inn
Knife	Born Ruffians	Hummingbird
Hey Boy	The Blow	Poor Aim: Love Songs
Breakin` Up	Rilo Kiley	Under The Blacklight
She`s Fantastic	Sondre Lerche	Phantom Punch (With The Faces
We Throw Parties	Los Campesinos!	There`s Only One T In Wichita

Swap Update

Over 90 of you (strangers, loved ones, all!) should have received your swap assignments from me.. I sent them out a week ago. But, since it was a manual process, there have been a few errors. If you didn't receive an assignment, please let me know, and I'll dig yours up.

Also, please ship your assignment by Monday at latest (that's a few extra days). I'll try to post some of the excellent gift ideas over the weekend, to aid in you holiday shopping. Finally, look for a flickr group to posts pix of your swap packages in soon.

Check it out!

My former roommate and dear friend Katie Brown (now DuRocher) is in this month's Real Simple Magazine. They have a full page on her conversion to Mormonism. I think she does a great job describing an extremely personal process. Katie's always been an inspiration in so many ways-- glad that the rest of the world gets to know her too.

Swappity - Swap

Due to all the interest I'm extending the deadline to sign up for 1 day (that's right folks, 1 day only). So you have through SUNDAY the 19th of November to send me an email with all the details for the swap (scroll down if if you need them).

Also, I wanted to clarify that $30 limit per package is a max. You DO NOT have to spend that much. Please make your package something you would be happy to be receiving-- if you're crafty or thrifty, so much the better. Jus tmake it great

I'll send swap partners out next week. If anyone has a good way to do that efficiently, please send me an email!

Sophisticated Frigidaire

I've committed to working through my stash of vintage buttons. These beauties are a small sampling of the vintage plastic, shell, and Bakelite buttons I've got. They're attached to super strong magnets. They add a certain vintage class to the typical fridge or magnetic board look, no? They're $5 for a tin of 5. If you have specific color requests, I'm happy to try to help you out-- just let me know.

Mao!!!

The possibilities really are endless. I made this bracelet out of real yuan's (Chinese currency) as a memento of my trip there. Ephemera lends itself well to these things-- wearing this reminds me of strolling around the Forbidden Palace and Mao's Tomb in Beijing. If you want a special memento like this, shoot me an email-- custom orders are so fun. These can also be made into super strong magnets.

Cause for celebration!

evlove has a new camera-- one that does a great job with close up detail. To celebrate I'm bringing back some of my favorites and introducing some new stuff that shows off the great detail.


Vintage robot earrings-- remember Tron? Yah, the movie was awesome looking, but kind of boring. These robots, ROCK however. They're about 1/2 inch tall. Super adorable. $10/ pair, and come in a mini aluminum tin (perfect for a stocking stuffer). Trust me, when the robots take over the world, you'll be given special treatment if you're rocking a pair of these.

Swap Update

About 50 Swappers have signed up-- located everywhere from Romania to Deluth. It's getting fun. You only have one week left to sign up (see instructions below). I'll be sending out swap partners next week. And hopefully posting some of the killer suggestions for holiday gifts.

Give what you want. Holiday SWAP

I LOVE getting mail and I LOVE getting presents. Especially when they come in the mail. The Holidays and all the madness that goes with them are almost upon us. I can't think of a better pick me up than a surprise in the mail. So here's the details. Come up with a package of stuff you'd like to get this holiday season, and send it to someone else. Gift giving Karma is bound to come your way, as you receive a present in return.

Please feel free to put together a creative package-- if you're crafty, so much the better. Anything is fair game-- $30 is the upper limit, but don't feel like you have to spend that much. Once I have all the swappers I'll create a flickr group where you can post pictures and hopefully links to where you found the presents-- making all of our holiday shopping a little easier, and a little cooler.

The details:
1-email (emilycox at gmail dot com) with SWAP in the subject line. Please email by November 18th (that's 2 weeks)
2- Include your
name:
email:
shipping address:
something you want this holiday season: (include link if you've got it)
your url for blog/ flickr/ web page if you've got it.
**indicate if you'd be willing to have an international swap partner
3-Put together a package of stuff you'd be delighted to be receiving.
4- Wrap it up real nice
5- By December 1 ship out a present to your swap buddy I assign. Value of gifts should be below $30. Please include stuff you'd really enjoy receiving.
6- Mailbox Bliss awaits.

Photo from Martha Stewart Online

long overdue

Special thanks to Ali and the ladies at Your Heart Out who did this nice piece on my favorite spot. I know most of you think of bracelets as the main creative output of evlove, but in truth my favorite things I make are ephemera boxes. Check out this one here, and of course the one featured on Your Heart Out.