Things I liked lately

This little cowboy has been making me smile since he came to live with me. Whenever I have a frustrating work/life moment, I just look at him and he instantly cheers me up. Thanks, Mr. Cowboy! :)

He came in this awesome packaging too. Incidentally, Kim Welling is a genius and you should buy something from her, or several somethings.

I already mentioned these Sharpie paint pens in this diy post, and I also used them on this notebook in the shop, but I haven't mentioned that since I got these, no surface is safe from me. I'm in love with their pastel opaqueness, and they write/draw really smoothly once you get the right ink flow going. I'm using them all over the place. The only slightly annoying thing is that you have to shake them up for literally like half an hour to get the ink flowing the first time. But I think all paint pens are like that. And I'm counting it as exercise.

The scottie dog has been keeping my headphones from getting completely jumbled in my bag, which is much appreciated, and the cute little stripey envelopes came in a set from Martha Stewart. I think I got these at A.C. Moore, but they're probably available everywhere her products are sold, which is everywhere. The envelopes are just the right size for the thank you notes I send with orders and remind me of fruit stripe gum, which everyone knows is the best tasting gum on the planet...for about 30 seconds...then turns into a wad of silly putty in your mouth. I haven't actually had any since high school, so for all I know science has fixed that whole flavor-vanishing problem by now. It's not like they have anything more important to do.

Other things:

DIY - This IKEA hack via Poppytalk is simple and perfect.

Travel - This list of the most charming places in the world. I think I've only been to one or two of these places...must do something about that. Also, I would probably add a few cities to this list, but you know, we all have our favorites.

History - Actually an old article that I came upon randomly last week when I was searching for something totally unrelated...the internet is magical sometimes and shows you just the thing you didn't even know you were looking for...anyway, it's an article about a dollhouse that was decorated by Charlotte Bronte while she was a governess (before she wrote Jane Eyre). She mentions in a letter to her sister sewing the dolls' clothes, though she wasn't terribly happy about it. I love finding out random things about authors whose work I'm so familiar with, or for that matter, artists too. Anyway, the dollhouse was up at auction several years ago. Can you imagine owning something like that?