Ask and ye shall receive

That's right, my grand scheme is working. All this harping on polar bears has scored me some goods. Kind people are sending things my way because I have so brainwashed them that if they see anything with a polar bear on it, they think "Amanda!" Yes, yes. It is working.

Exhibit number 1: This t-shirt that Susan, one of my dear friends I left in New York, sent to me. She bought it in Union Square (where she got her "Baby Seals for Obama" shirt), and intended to have it to me by election day, but I messed everything up and moved.



It did make it to me eventually, and I continue to wear it with pride. It is the perfect souvenir of my anti-Palin rabble-rousing days during the election, all of which was done, of course, on behalf of polar bears everywhere. Thanks Soozi!

Then.. Exhibit number 2: Tonight I get home and there's a little box waiting for me, with this inside.



Oh, how I squealed. A little polar bear ornament for my tree (going up as soon as I get back from T-day with the fam) from Julia of Dozen Flours. And just earlier today I was admiring a polar bear Christmas ornament online and trying to convince myself not to buy it immediately. Now I got my wish. Thank you Julia! I suspect Miss Julia is a person who is full of so much thoughtfulness that it comes out her ears, and manifests itself in such ways as buying a gift for someone she's never met, spending days perfecting cupcakes for a baby shower, and baking endlessly for everyone she knows. What a sweetie.

The cool weather has definitely swept into Dallas these days. I'm ready for pie and green bean casserole and football. And for bundling up in hats and scarves and cozy coats and boots. Speaking of boots, you know you're scraping the barrel financially (or just really busy?) when you're using a paper clip to zip up your boots. WTF? I need to get it together.



Anyone got a recommendation for a good shoe guy here in Dallas? I don't mess around when it comes to shoe repair - I need someone who knows their stuff. Like my beloved Hector in the West Village. I miss him so much. This boot needs its zipper repaired, and my gold sandals need the tip of the heel replaced. Plus I'm sure I could rustle up some other pairs that need to be attended to.

Meanwhile, I'm really all about the gloves these days. Love the gloves. This photo from the pretty, pretty, pretty Cherry Blossom Girl blog made me desire a long pair of gray knit ones..



Luckily I found a pair just like them at Target a couple weeks ago. Now just need a furry collar and a plane ticket to Paris and I, too, could be that French and chic.

Channeling Sasha Fierce

Is there any way to listen to this song without dancing to it? No really, I'm being serious. Please share your tips. Because when people walk by the cubicle and I'm doing the hand wag, it gets a little awkward.



What would the world be like without Beyonce? Really awful I think. I listen to her music and then think, "Yeah, I'm single!" and am, like, happy about it.

Dear Beyonce aka Sasha,

I heart u 4-eva.

xo,
A Single Lady

Meanwhile, as I was googling around for an image for this post (since I can't embed the video, WTF), I came across this image and felt it needed to be on my blog just for the sake of being awesome.



Happy Thursday!

One-word-answer meme

A shortcut entry. Because I've got to get to bed asap, and because it gives me an opportunity to plug Alicia's book.

So, hey everyone! I saw this on Alicia's blog and decided I'd fill it in instead of a proper post because, gee wiz, having a job takes up a lot of time. What a drag. Fill it out also, if you like, and I promise a post with more substance later in the week. Oh, speaking of Alicia, did you know that her book went on sale on Tuesday? Hooray!

Where is your mobile phone? Bed
Where is your significant other? None
Your hair colour? Brown
Your mother? Overseas
Your father? Funny
Your favourite thing? Kitty
Your dream last night? Blank
Your dream goal? Unknown
The room you're in? Kitchen
Your hobby? Yarn
Your fear? Unemployment
Where do you want to be in 6 years? House
Where were you last night? Bar
What you're not? Carefree
One of your wish-list items? Camera!!
Where you grew up? Burbs
The last thing you did? Dishes
What are you wearing? Flannel
Your TV? Recording
Your pets? Eating
Your computer? Mac
Your mood? Sleepy
Missing someone? Many
Your car? Dirty
Something you're not wearing? Denim
Favourite shop? Target
Your summer? Weird
Love someone? Waiting
Your favourite colour? Blue
When is the last time you laughed? Phone
When is the last time you cried? GossipGirl

Yeah that's right. There were a lot of sweet/sad moments in this week's episode. You know, Thanksgiving and families and all that jazz.

And because I don't like to post without a photo...



Tomorrow's a busy day - later gators!

P.S. - Are you watching the puppies?

Celebriteh

So I was (discreetly) catching up on some blogs today at work and got such a pleasant surprise, if a bit late. A photo of CJ won an honorable mention spot in Erika's dog photo contest! Yeah, I know, CJ's a cat, but cats were allowed to enter too. And CJ was the only cat to make the cut. He rocks!! I was so proud.

There were soooo many cute entrants. She put together a slide show of all of them - it went on forever, just one adorable dog and puppy photo after another, with a kitty thrown in here and there. I really am excited that my boy was in that top tier. What a bad ass. He's being very modest about it, of course. He gets some Greenies tonight fo sho.

Oh, and here's the picture. I didn't have to think twice of which one to send. I love this photo of him.



So one thing I'll say about Erika, other than that I love her blog, is that she's a huge proponent of adopting rescue/shelter animals, as am I. In fact, I recently bought this stamp to just put on the back of whatever's going into the mail these days.



It's from my new favorite etsy stamp store. You know me and the stamps. RubberHedgehog's area of expertise is animals. (They've also got a non-etsy store.) So of course you know what kind of stamp I was looking for that brought me to their shop. Uh huh, hello Christmas cards!!



I'd been trying to find a polar bear stamp and knew this one was it. Also purchased, for my sweet 7-year-old niece, is this adorable bookplate stamp.



It's going into her Christmas present, along with some Ramona books. I hope she loves them as much as I did. I also bought a hot pink ink pad for her. Nothing but the best for my pretty girl.

One last tidbit here before I go - what can you say about this photo? What can you not say? Just look at them.



1. I love the dress. Poor Laura's there in this frumpy brown thing and there's Michelle, a vision in perfectly tailored red. FYI it was made by her go-to girl, Chicago designer Maria Pinto.
2. This image says volumes about the years to come, doesn't it? The Obamas are just so young and modern and elegant and fresh and everything that the weary Bushes are not. Change is good. Change is so good.

More from Maker Faire

I still don't have internet. What happened is my DSL provider, after a week of thinking about it, decided they wouldn't be able to provide me with internet access at my new abode. AT&T, you done me wrong. On that note, does anyone need an AT&T DSL box? I can give you a good deal on one - it's less than a year old.

So I had to start from scratch with another company and am waiting for the box, etc., blah. I have found a few spots throughout the apartment which, at certain times of the day, get a somewhat consistent, if faint, signal. So I'm trying to squeeze this in.

Meanwhile, editing photos from Maker Faire doesn't require any webs (though uploading them did - I got lucky). So here are some of those.



A bunch of hula hoopers hulaing. Is that a verb?



A gnome on one of the art cars - the Chia Car. Who doesn't love a gnome?



Another art car, this one known as the Sashimi Tabernacle Choir. It's covered in Big Mouth Billy Bass and lobsters. True story: in college I had a Big Mouth Billy Bass. It was mounted in the entry hallway of my junior-year dorm room and sometimes we would turn it on when people were coming over so that it would serenade them as they walked in. Luckily my decorating tastes have evolved since then (somewhat - see obsession with polar bears).



I wanted one of these necklaces but was good and didn't buy it. After all, I'd been unemployed for two months and was facing a move in the coming weeks. They had a lot of fun stuff, including the popular typewriter key jewelry, which I am always charmed by.



That photo is from their website - The Weekend Store. If I thought my brother wore cuff links, I'd love to get him a set of initial typewriter key cuff links. I think they're the coolest, and plus he's the only person I know who wears a suit and tie to work everyday. He's fancy like that.

Speaking of what we wear to work, I have the rather agonizing task today of figuring out what I'm going to wear to work tomorrow. It'll be my first day. So one wants to be dressed nice, but not too nice. Casual, but not too casual. And it needs to be all ready to go so in the morning I can just throw it on because I'm going to have to get up at like 6:30 am and I haven't had to do that in a really long time and I doubt I'll have many wits about me at that hour.

Also to do today: finish unpacking my clothes (so can tackle above task), unpack the bathroom (so can make myself pretty), set up espresso machine (so can be coherent), and make stuffed peppers for dinner and banana nut bread for breakfast tomorrow (that's right, I got the Maw Maw recipe). Yup, I better get to work.

45-degree angle

Yes I am here! Moved in to my place in Dallas on Sunday. Things are obviously in great state of upheaval still--I want to get the kitchen unpacked first but I'm having to scrub down fridge, freezer, and all cabinets and drawers and shelves before I'll put stuff in there because I'm anal like that. So it's going very slow in there, and everything else waits.

The cable was set up today, so then of course the day was ruined for productivity (though I did make it out to Target). Also interwebs don't arrive until Wednesday, so I'm picking up little snippets of random wireless signals that go away completely every 10-15 seconds. So hopefully I'll get this updated in one of those connected snippets.

On Wednesday my friend Natalie is coming to visit along with her husband (who will be here on business) and her baby (who will be cute). This is her baby.



Yeah, woot for babies.

Lots to share but I'm just going to go on and get to bed and will wait until I can work at my desk versus on the couch with laptop held at 45-degree angle so as to best connect with aforementioned signal.

PS - Don't forget to vote. (Right, maybe if you lived in a cave.)
PPS - Oprah + 30 Rock in t-minus 3 days.