Happy Friday everyone!

Maria Coma

Hilarious post on Rookie: How to be a Lady;

You will most likely have several womanly items to carry around with you. For example: gloves, car keys, a compact mirror, a loaded gun, a spare gun, and more. To carry all these items you will need a sturdy and stylish pocketbook. Although a lady can never have too many pocketbooks, try to coordinate with your outfits. Keep an eye out for large pocketbooks that could discreetly hold small children. Children do the best manicures, so make sure to snatch one up the next time you see one!

Would you live in a prefabricated ikea kit home?

What we think we look like and what we actually look like are often completely different. Tom Hussey shot the following photographs exploring the relationship between residual self-image and aging.

How amazing do the ladies of the Itty Bitty Titty Cabaret look swanning around the Helsinki Botanic Gardens?!

Over at the Atlantic; The Strange (and Formerly Sexist) Economics of Engagement Rings. I’m not sure what O’Brien means by formerly.

Rosalind asks what is real beauty?

We increasingly live in a society driven by the visual. Our days are filled with images, whether on the pages of a magazine or through idle clicks across the internet. A select few of these photos may be considered to be pleasing or beautiful as an art form – perhaps a portrait taken by Irving Penn, or a magnificent flight of fancy assembled by Tim Walker. However, the relentless exposure to snaps of other individuals invites us to become judges of appearance, whether we want to or not.

If your childhood plans had actually come to pass….

the magic faraway tree

I love Victory Rolls! Rebecca Jean of Midnight Maniac show you how.

Glamourologist writes about the History of the Tan.

Would you drink no-frills beer?

Wayward Daughter shares how she get her cute dark green manicure, complete with curly brackets.

Such a lovely way to keep track of your goals.

What’s this? Oh it’s just Kate looking adorable in her favourite outfit ever. Meanwhile, how to rock funeral-chic and striped trousers.

The babes at Rookie put together this sweet high-school-dance-themed photo shoot. Nostalgia ahoy!

A lovely look at Amy Revier and her loom over at This is Naive.

I think this is the best “how we met” story I have ever read.

Oh yum! How to make the perfect Bloody Mary!

Yes

Holy sweet-tooth batman! Sprinkles bakery plans to launch a cupcake vending machine!!!

These bookshelves are amazing!

The super-duper Jetta Vegas explains Why I’m not a militant vegan;

These days, I keep to myself. Sort of. I make vegan related zines and buttons in my online shops, I tag delicious meals I create #vegan and, above all, I lead by example. To me, this method is more effective. I don’t come off as pushy or militant. I simply show people how easy it can be to live vegan (in Seattle, WA, USA anyway). People respect that, and I feel like I’m able to reach out to more people because I’m not scaring folks away with frightening images and stomach-churning videos.

Over a Polk Dot Clothing, guest-blogger Lilou writes about redefining your goals for college.

Fajr on Getting Over Embarrassment. Some sound advice there!

Lady Doctors! Yes! I really wanted the next doctor to be a woman. Like really wanted it badly. This is so much more awesome than I could have imagined.

So some of the femme Doctor cosplayers I interviewed were clear about their motivations, but even the ones who were less conscious were clearly making up for what they saw as a lack of female protagonists. While there are plenty of awesome companions, there are no female heroes in Doctor Who. The companions are, definitionally, sidekicks. And femme Doctor cosplayers are very aware of this. They want to be heroes, not followers and sidekicks, however badass. And Doctor Who does not offer them a hero that matches their experience, who looks anything like them. So they invent her.

Three videos for ya:

And, an old video of me painting Easter eggs. Hope you all enjoy your long weekend! <3

It may seem like I’ve been slacking off, but have been sick lately. So here is a wrap up of the last two weeks, all for the price of one!

I spent a lot of time sitting in bed, drinking tea and scribbling in my journal. Oh, and eating oranges.

My ghost chair arrived. Isn’t it lovely?! It proudly sits in front of my dressing table in the bedroom and it makes getting ready every morning extra special.

We had an afternoon tea to celebrate three birthdays and to welcome one new person into our great big family.

I made tiramisu cupcakes! They were tiny and delicious.

When not sleeping off this head-cold, I’ve been painting and drawing in our spare room.

I indulged with a Lush Big Blue Bath Ballistic. It turned my bath water the most amazing shade of blue. I felt like a mermaid floating in lime scented deliciousness.

I made a delicious raspberry fizz with fresh berries and soda water. The umbrella makes it officially awesome.

Extra things that make me happy: it almost being warm enough to swim, re-colouring my hair, chair tea syrup (so quick and easy), shoes compliments, beaded bracelets, long Sunday lunches, three (!) trips for ice-cream, springtime, surrealist postcards, Mr K trying to teach me CSS, pancakes, Brotherhood of the Wolf, fixing my flickr problems and crinkly doonas.

What made your week snap crackle and pop?

Siri says some weird things.

Could this be the creepiest Halloween costume ever?

Ever wanted your boobs to look like they’re from the forties?

Jardim Botanico – 15-06-2008 | 05

Solanah shows off her petticoat collection in How to Wear a Petticoat.

How cute is Tami of My Moving Finger Writes? She shares the most amazing hair tutorial I have ever seen.

I’ve been bitten by the Downton Abbey bug. Suzzanne Morrison sums up how I feel about the whole thing pretty accurately:

“This is the happiest day of my life,” I said to Kate. We were on episode 7. Night was falling. I could actually feel my entire backside growing into the couch.

“Seriously,” Kate said. “The greatest.” She caught a bit of drool with the back of her hand. “My wedding was nice, though.”

“Mine, too,” I said. “It’s a tie.”

DIY animal toy planters and DIY tiny animal candle holders.

I’ve been spending a lot of time lurking on Rookie lately and I’ve really enjoyed the witchy-articles! Three amazing reads: The Season of the Witch, Your Teen Witch BFF and Literally the Best Thing Ever: Famous Goth Kids.

You ever looked at someone’s noes and thought “gee, that noes really looks like Raphael from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”? Yeah, these people have too.

Teacup| Into Every Life, A Little Bokeh Must Fall (a creative commons freebie)

Some of my favourites from Feminist Ryan Gosling.

Gemma Seager asks what is “Vintage” anyway?

How about this week, I take my sartorial inspiration in the form of Ulyana Sergeenko and Catwoman.

The funny things people say in Libraries…

These hand whittled hair sticks are made of… well… sticks! Such an adorable idea and cheap to boot.

Eden Gallanter talks about The Tango, The Qark, and the Allegory of Love on Coilhouse:

One of his most acclaimed (and disdained) paintings, The Allegory of Love,depicts Venus and Cupid in one another’s arms, surreptitiously in the act of stealing the other’s most prized possession.  They are both vulnerable and risking everything, making love and making war, a perpetual cycle without end.

You Are Beautiful

I must admit, I find The Happiness Project a little twee sometimes, but this post Be Happier: Wake Up Early really resonated with me. My phone set itself to daylight savings time two weeks ago and as a result I woke up an hour earlier than usual. It was the most peaceful weekday morning I have had in a long time.

How Blade Runner Predicted Future Fashion.

Two delicious cocktails made with Jameson Irish Whiskey.

1. The silver threads of my tasbih, 2. The Rope, 3. Web and drops, 4. strings

• No Impact Man (always a pleasure!) shares a story from the Talmud that prompted me to think about our interconnection & taking responsibility.

• Also via No Impact Man is this New York Times piece by Al Gore which make for some interesting reading.

• This photo set is awesome. ‘Nuff said.

• Would you like to snack on a candied scorpion? Sprinkle some pearl dust onto your ice-cream? How about a champagne-flavoured lollipop embellished with flakes of gold? These & more can be found at Edible. Definitely not for the feint of heart!

• I recently found Tina Su’s blog Think Simple Now & I think its awesome! Her article Dealing with Difficult People is definitely worth a look.

• Sleeveface always manages to give me a bit of chuckle. Described as “one or more persons obscuring or augmenting any part of their body or bodies with record sleeve(s) causing an illusion” you can’t say no, & now they have a book!

• ideeli gives away free stuff!

• Sonja asks; did you unwillingly support the wrong candidate in the American election this year?

• I’ve been rethinking my approach to fitness lately. Anti-gravity yoga looks fun doesn’t it?!

• Also from Elastic Waist is this Holiday Survival Kit! Hilarity abounds!

• I wish I had a home like this!

• If you need some consoling after a break up, why not try the R.I.P scented candle from Greece is for Lovers? It promises instant redemption & pleasant scents to burn away your blues. It is of course, too good to be true, but why not give it go?

My brother & I had a hankering for pancakes, so I whipped some up & we devoured every single one. Just like the Walrus & the Carpenter in Alice in Wonderland! Those poor tasty pancakes! Would you like some of your own? I’m sure you do, so here’s the recipe.

Bella’s Tasty Pancakes

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk

pinch of salt

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder & salt into a large bowl. Crack the eggs & add to the bowl with the milk & whisk vigorously! Let the mixture sit for about half an hour to let the eggs & the baking powder react. Whisk again & then cook in a frying pan (or proper pancake pan if you can afford one!) over a medium heat. Serve with all things delicious & share with a good friend. Makes about eight pancakes.

This is in my opinion, the best pancake recipe I have come across. I don’t like recipes that make you add melted butter, because the whole thing separates and gets messy & I don’t like recipes that make you wait a whole hour while the batter sits! I like my pancakes with raspberries & maple syrup. How do you like yours?

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