As far back as I can remember, the sight of beautiful paper was just like magic -- it was like a happy potion. This was especially true of gift wrapping paper. So when I picked up All Wrapped Up by Kevin Akers at our local bookstore, I was thrilled! Each page featured beautiful gift wrapping paper from the 1960's. Following are some of my groovy favorites...

{ Pages photographed from All Wrapped Up by Kevin Akers. Great book. Great buy. }

I go through this occasionally. No matter how much good food we have at home, sometimes, there's just nothing good to eat. I realize that this sounds strange and even ungrateful. But really, I'm grateful for all the food that we have. It's just that sometimes, I get bored with a lot of it.

So as I ran my errands after work, I couldn't help but glance at some of the menus of the restaurants I strolled passed. Nothing seemed to grab me though. So I proceeded home, hungrier than hell, desiring everything and nothing.

When I got home, I foraged through the refrigerator and cupboards. Thai green beens... nah. Black beans and cheese.... nope. Shredded wheat with frosting? Eh. Nachos? Fried tofu with baby greens? Noodles? Fish? No. No.. NO.

Wait a minute... oohhh... the last two slices of Acme Olive Bread. Yum! Olive bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar is yummy gooood. But when I saw the tomato on the counter, memory of Rabbit's delicious tomato cheese sandwich whet my appetite. Yeah! I found my dinner.

Topped with a ton of Trader Joe's four cheese mix, it was primed and ready for the oven. With a bit of freshly ground pepper and a cup of tomato soup, I was ready for a grubbin' dinner. Yum.

{ Inspired by Spot The Pot. }

Immensely *productive* today. During my lunch break, I found a YouTube tutorial demonstrating the Origami Mini Star fold. Great video and with a narrow strip of scratch paper, it was a total cinch to follow. I couldn't wait to get home and get started -- I had the best paper in mind for my stars.

I received a promotional poster from Veer several months ago. If you like illustration, photography and typefaces, I urge you to subscribe to their snail mail newsletters -- they're inspiring and often times, hard to throw away. I warn you, though... you may become a Veer promo pack rat. I'm relieved I kept the promo poster (I was close to clearing out my junk drawer last month but chickened out last minute), and in light of this project, I'm happy to be quite the junk mail aficionado.

So I cut the 22 x 36 inch poster into 11 x .5 inch strips. As you can imagine, I'll be able to make a ton of kewl stars!

{ Tutorial courtesy of Vinagurl. }

My alarm was set for 6 AM. I felt compelled to kick my ass at the gym before heading to work today, there was no question about it. After a weekend of super over indulgence, a stairmaster appointment was definitely loooooooong overdue.

Since I was wide awake by 5:30 AM, I got up, ate 2 cups of Trader Joe's Organic O's and enjoyed a freshly pressed cup of Peet's. I felt peppy and was out the door by 6:45.

On any other day, my car is usually the 2nd car in the lot (yes, my gym is *conveniently* located right smack inside the mall). Today was different. There were several dozen cars in the lot by 7:05. Though I expected the mall to be crazy today from all the sales and exchanges and returns, I didn't expect the shops to actually open their doors until 10. The shops were open at 7?!? There were people shopping and exchanging their holiday gifts by 7 am -- premeditated and smart if I may say so myself.

Anyway, by 8:30, I was at Starbucks for my traditional post workout coffee and stopped by Lucky Brand Jeans thereafter to check out their Sale. And, just as I had hoped and prayed for for a very long time, the cream sweater with red boxed stitching was on sale and HALF OFF! YEAH!! This was the same sweater that I had my eyes glued on since September and at the time, it was selling for a whopping $98! I felt giddy and happily bought the last sweater in my size by 8:45. Very sweet.... the early bird caught the worm. Now, if only our wacky SF weather will cooperate and stay chilly for at least another week... please oh please oh please...

Our home network runs on a Wizard of Oz theme: our wireless network is called Oz and my Fujitsu Lifebook is called Scarecrow. We also have a couple of Linux/GNU boxes by the names of Tinman and Toto. So when Doug brought home my black Macbook last week, although he deviated from our convention by naming his slick silver Macbook Stendhal, I chose to abide by it. The only thing that sucked was that my obvious choices were either Dorothy or Cowardly Lion. But Dorothy is a bit corny and really ... who wants to call their beautiful new computer cowardly?

Well, Doug and I saw the Wizard of Oz on TV the other night and thank goodness for this because the perfect name for my black Macbook came to mind right after Dorothy and her cyclone killed the Wicked Witch of the East. I've always loved the black and white striped socks worn by the Wicked Witch of the East. And needless to say, I've adored her magical ruby slippers from the first time I saw the movie. So, although Dorothy ended up with the ruby slippers, they originally belonged to the wicked one. So, in her honor, as a tribute to fantastic socks and fabulous shoes, my black Mac shall now and forever more be called the "Wicked Witch of the East". Welcome home, oh wonderfully-shoed wicked one.

{ Photo courtesy of Bag of Nothing. }

What's up with the crazy head toss? What's with the buggy eyes??? Did Prolog finally get the best of her? Did her attempts to trace through mind blowing Prolog style recursions drive her to an organic core dump? Well, almost, but that's not the reason for the wild head toss.

I woke up to find a lovely box in Doug's place this morning and after a violent unwrapping, I couldn't contain my excitement when I laid my eyes on the coolest packaging ever -- Doug bought me a MacBook!!! A BLACK MACBOOK!!!

I welcome 34 with open arms. Turning 34 is sweet indeed... this is the best present ever!! Thanks, My Love!!!

{ Wild head toss captured courtesy of my MacBook's Photo Booth. }

I hung out with my Uncle Audi last weekend and in light of PuglyFeet, he said that I would love love love Prague. He planted that seed in my mind last Saturday and three days later, it has already grown into a healthy verdant jungle in my fertile mind. Prague....

I requested time off from work today to study for my Lisp/Prolog final tomorrow evening and as I'm studying, another part of my mind dreams of walking over ancient cobblestones in Prague.

{Photo courtesy of voyages-photos.fr.}

I will send handmade gifts to the first three people who leave a comment and tell me they are interested in playing. In order to play, you must have your own blog and you must continue to ‘pay it forward’ by promising the same thing to your readers. Now, as far as the handmade gifts go, I don’t know yet what they will be. I also don’t know when I’ll get them sent. You may not receive the gift tomorrow or next week, but I do promise that it will get to you within the next 365 days! Sound good? I think it sounds great! Remember, I will be choosing the first three people who respond by leaving a comment on this blog post. The requirements are that you have your own blog and are willing to send out three of your own homemade gifts (whatever you want to make, no rules or limitations here).

Come on -- come out and play!

It's mad! Is it possible for one to contract ADD while blog surfing? What? I've become a what? A blogophile? NOoooooooooo! Say it isn't so!

Must.... throw.. wicked....computer..... out.....window....

Nora is out of this world. Perhaps Beethoven reincarnated.

Can you believe that it's mid-December already and I still haven't received the latest issue of Bust?!?! I know it's been on newsstands since November 24th. Though it was my intention to pore over my very own subscribed copy of Bust Magazine, I couldn't resist and I finally broke down and flipped through most of it at Border's Books earlier this evening. Well, so far so good.

What stood out most for me was their holiday gift guide. I liked Debbie Stroller's list a lot and the most memorable were hand-painted clogs by Montana Clogs, with clogs shipped directly from Sweden and hand painted in their studio in Whitefish, Montana. My favorites were Alpine Bouquet and Wildflower Chain.

And guess what? They have Dogs On Clogs! You can send a picture of your favorite pooch to be immortalized on your clogs. I'm very tempted to send one of Mojo!

{Photos courtesy of Montana Clogs.}

This beautiful brick red shoe is the latest and greatest from The Bite Collection by Crocs. This shoe tops the entire collection and candidly, it is the good apple in a barrel of very bad apples. It's called Breeze in Brick/Black and it also comes in two other colors: Black/Black and Natural/White. If I hadn't purchased my Sanita Marcelles earlier this month, Breeze would've been my December shoe purchase. The color is simply stunning.

{Photo courtesy of Bite by Crocs.}

I've been studying diligently for the last two weeks. When I’m not at work, I’m studying. When I’m not sleeping, I’m studying. When I sleep, I dream about Prolog. So as you can imagine, I look forward to the end of the semester next Friday, but even more so, I look forward to Bazaar Bizarre on Saturday, December 15. I’ve been looking forward to it since October!

I f so, I have the perfect solution to your problem. Go and get a copy of Modern Programming Languages: A Practical Introduction by Adam Brooks Weber. Leave it at your bed side at all times. When you find yourself restless and unable to sleep, grab The Book and turn to Chapter 19 and read. I guarantee that you'll be asleep in no time!

Note:
To the author's credit, Modern Programming Languages is well written. To my brain's folly, it sometimes resists learning by passing out.