The well-structured backpack

The only thing more ubiquitous than arm tattoos in the Bay Area right now is the well-structured backpack.

You, sir, with the arm tattoos, facial hair, and well-structured backpack, welcome to Oakland.

Green, Blue, Coral

The more rectangular the better!

Black, Light Gray, Dark Gray

I, personally, have no reason to upgrade backpacks. I bought this Dakine 'Garden' in black houndstooth back in 2011 and it's held up remarkably well:

Through a lot! So thank you, Dakine. I've got my eye on you for my next one...

From the dotty collection, where I may have just bought this.

Fair finds - Part 2

Remember when I reported that I would diligently follow the amazing crafters I ogle at craft fairs by utilizing a folder in my bookmarks bar? Yeah. Well. That was like two whole laptops and fresh starts ago. Perhaps a better system will be to chat about them here and tag appropriately as "gifts". Yes. Let's try that.

And now, jewels to remember from Maker Faire, Bay Area, 2015:

"Be still my heart"-pottery. Such beautiful platters, mugs, and bowls, oh my.

Hand-painted laser-cut wooden jewelry. Kicking myself for not buying a constellation brooch.

One of a kind marbling effect from scraped-off graffiti. 

The tailored fashions of my Lois Lane alter ego. Dots to boot.

DIY graphic design

Look around this blog. I designed it. Well, Blogger designed it in the web sense of course. But the colors, the font choice, the polka dot background? That's all me.

And I can't seem to find the right brown.

I'm obsessed with including brown because in graphic design it's seen as dependable, stable, strong, grounded, and somewhat sophisticated. I'm trying to play you with color, you see. I want a medium-dark wood grain, but that's not an option. So I continuously tweak the brown when I see it on a different monitor and think yuck, no.

Does anyone want to guess how many times I've changed the brown color?

Nobody? This is a boring post, I know, but the answer is numerous. 

For the first maybe year of this blog the edge background was this beautiful blue with pink, yellow, and wood-grain polka dots:

I made it in PowerPoint and I loved it. But then I looked at many many more blogs to get a feel for what professionals do. They mostly had less contrast between the edge background and the text background. The eyes like that. So I changed mine. I still have blue, and hot pink, and brown, but now it's much more tame. More professional. 

But on the way to this look, I did consider some other options, such as:

Dots did have this background for a few months.

Is anyone bored yet? I hope not. 

Let's see how different Dots could look with the current polka dot edge background. Behold:

Everyone loves blue. Here nothing else has changed. I like this, but it's missing brown.

I love all medium and dark greens. And I love this green and orange. But not here. And not with the blue-gray.

Pink and taupe, say nope.

Just no.

What you find when you tinker around with one color knob is that the other knobs need to change. This can be infuriating. Real graphic designers surely have more sophisticated tools to help get it right. So now I'm curious. What do they use? And how do they approach a blank page?

Untrained minds want to know. It will help us procrastinate.

And now that I think about it, this post just may qualify for my Feb. DIY challenge!

Formal polka dots have happened

The Academy Awards were kind of a letdown for me this year, sartorially. Nothing blew me away. There was the pretty, the flawless, the boring, the dated, and... where was I? Oh right. I was falling asleep.

Upon further investigation I found two looks to remember:

I could try my whole life and never have eye make-up as perfect as this picture of pregnant perfection, Olivia. And Emma, I know people think you phoned this in, but when you have that body and that face and that hair and that youth, you can do whatever the hell you damn well please. I consider this edgy meets formal meets understated, and you rock it.

But where I really found some fun was at the after parties. I mean, formal polka dots, people:

Leslie is like, Girl, this is how you do formal polka dots. Who puts sheer polka dots on their midriff? Elisabeth Moss. That's who. And I don't hate it. Both get bonus points for knowing that polka dots should be paired with a bold lip.

Don't like the background color of this dress in the images on the left. It look dirty, like it was dipped in bong water. On the right, however, well... now we're talking. This may be the Zooeyest of all Zooey dresses ever donned.

Although sadly not in the polka dot realm, these are my best of the best. These are the dresses I'd buy if in a position to buy amazing dresses:

What's going on there, Karen O, and why am I insanely drawn to it? Evan, that color, that cut, that slink. Well done. Hate the hair, but well done. Oh Penelope, you hot mama you. That dress looks comfortable yet sexy and fun. On me the black would not do, but of course that doesn't concern you.

All images screen captured from Jezebel.

Holiday gift guide 2013 - Relax and enjoy

Did you notice that it's November and December is barreling towards us? If gifts have got you stumped, maybe I can help. Let's wrap your mind around a gift giving philosophy that may simplify your life - the philosophy of theme gifts. Now relax and enjoy...

Theme One:  Hell no, I will NOT embrace winter. Summer and sunlight, I beg you, come back!

This robe (and this one and this one) and Mira and Dita and Heidi finger flair

Fuck those gray winter days in the face by donning a sunny warm glamorous robe (all hail that confident yellow) and some fun bright nail polish (that you hope is being applied over a good base coat, which is a great addition to this gift). Worthy robes are hard to find - you might have better luck in person at stores. If the fab robe doesn't work out, this isn't a terrible substitute.

Theme One, Part Two:  Let's get beautiful

head bliss, face bliss, body bliss

You know those cold winter Saturdays or Sundays when it's just too cold to leave the house? Stay home and play with these lovely novelties. Who doesn't love at least the idea of a mini spa day, no wallet required. (Did it just occur to anyone else that it sounds like I'm writing for a women's magazine?) Add value to this gift by adding good warm knee socks.

Theme Two:  Stop bitchin about it

Subscription, to kitchen porn (online subscription equally desirable), AB book, apron to end all aprons

This is a unisex gift idea for anyone bitching about kitchen deficiencies. An almost identical gift could be made for a number of hobbies/complaints/whatsits. Add value to this gift by buying an item from that Alton Brown book. I really wonder what he recommends for digital meat thermometers. And this apron down there --- stop the electrons. Let's pause and covet. (I'll take one in Meadow and one in Ginger.)

Theme Three:  These A) yuppies don't need anything, or B) people sure love to walk, or C) people are nerds.

Doses of heaven in gift boxes:  Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Botanic Garden

Memberships! Only an asshole wouldn't love a year-long membership to somewhere local and awesome. (OK, this particular theme may not be good for people-phobes, germ-phobes, and knee-pain sufferers.)

Theme Four:  I actually have been listening

My baby

You can shut up now. Here's the thing you felt was too expensive to throw your money at, but as my major gift to you, the cost makes sense, somehow. I may not love this but you sound like you really want it, so I'm totally covered if this is a bust. But in this case - these are the dopest sneakers and the dopest shall be had by thee, my dopest.

And thus concludes my 2013 gift-giving philosophy.

Diane's dots

Diane Keaton oh so cleverly likes dots as well, I see. But one thing she doesn't seem to like is color. People who don't like color cannot be trusted. I'm watching you, Diane.

Diane Keaton on Pinterest

Diane's dots

Polka feet

one, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war.

The arrival of new seasons always makes me yearn for new shoes (how utterly cliché of me, I know). Miz Mooz has been my drug of choice since 2011, although I tend to buy and return them, like a sick joke. Those teeny blue polka dots peeking out from that brown pair above... I may need those.

More from MAM

The Milwaukee Art Museum was just about the perfect size for a 2 hour run through. I started up top with the Georgia O'Keeffe (WI native) and winded my way down and around to the exit, catching many cool sights along the way.

Have a look...

I'm a sucker for blues and greens. Here I'm in color combo heaven.

Want... to... pet... it..

Fitting for a state with many beer bottles

The paint was so thick

And of course, polka dots :)

Mod Dots

I somehow expected ModCloth would have lots of stylish items with polka dots. They had a few. What caught my eye mostly was this blouse on the left. I like it. Makes me want to study hard on a bench under a tree with glasses on. I also love this dress on the right, although it's probably too short for my comfort. No thanks. Cool shape and color though.

Somehow I'd like to find items like these, but not imported and made with higher quality materials. Oh, and affordable. File this under *impossible*.

Possession of good brandy and martini skills required.

Polka dot dress

This, my friends, is the quintessential polka dot dress. Damn you, J. Crew, for reading the pictures in my mind and then presenting them to me in the flesh at a price tag that makes me envy rich people.

Can a non-redhead pull this off? I think most definitely.