Make It

The Wedding is On

Not that it was ever off, but I've been engaged for over a year and- after a few false starts- haven't made any plans for a wedding...until now. My hesitancy had nothing to do with Matt (all is good) and everything to do with bigger picture issues about where I am in my life.

I've blogged about my late 20's angst before and it appears nothing brings that out quite like a wedding. Because a wedding is a big deal. It's one of those now-I'm-an-adult kind of moments, and the thing is that I really didn't/don't feel like an adult. Money is a big part of that. Career is a big part of that. Vacation days, 401k's and dental insurance are parts of that. It was hard to think about planning a wedding/honeymoon and know that I would have zero paid vacation days off work to enjoy it. And while I haven't attained adult-like levels of success in any of those areas, I'm closer than I was last year. So let the wedding blogging resume! First up dresses...

Watercolor Shirts

Pretty, handpainted watercolor shirts from Rachel Rose. This almost makes me want to try a DIY version but I'm hesitant about the sheer havoc this could wreak in the wash. How would you heatset these inks? (via Lonny Blog)

Pizzas of Michigan

Slice has rounded up a list of some of the best pizzas across the state of Michigan. I'm happy to see some of my favorites represented. And, not that you asked, but here's my top 3 list.

1. Tomatoes Apizza - the Farmington Hills location, specificially, which boasts a coal fired oven, maybe even the only one in the state. Very, very good.
2. Supino's, Detroit- put an egg on it
3. Anthony's Gourmet Pizza, Ann Arbor - I didn't think I liked deep dish until I tried one from here.

I'm also excited about a new pizza spot opening up in downtown Ann Arbor, which will feature not one but two wood fired ovens and is going a little more upscale than most of the offerings around here (Tomatoes Apizza rules but it's in a freaking strip mall). A friend of ours is the chef there and Matt got a sneak peek a few weeks ago of the space in progress, pictured above.

Colson Whitehead in Vogue

Bad ass photo. His Twitter stream regularly cracks me up. (Photo credit)

On Being Good Enough

Amanda Hocking has been all over my publishing blogs lately. She's a 20-something phenom raking in mucho bucks for her self-published vampire novels. Success stories like hers and JA Konrath's (whose blog is a must read if you have any interest at all in the future of publishing) make self-publishing seem very tempting...very tempting, indeed.

I haven't read any of her work (I don't have an e-reader, though Matt just bought and hacked a Nook Color), but the general consensus seems to be that she's not the best writer. The other general consensus is that, her audience doesn't particularly care. I liked Novelr's take on the whole matter.

People are buying Amanda Hocking ebooks because they’re cheap, they’re easy, and they’re good enough to read. And that’s the metric that matters, really, because that’s how disruption works: it almost always begins with ‘good enough.‘

What Brand Can't You Live Without?

SwissMiss recently asked this question on her blog, and I don't know if I have an answer. Since I've started working in online marketing, I've started to think a little more critically about brand loyalty, and I realized that I don't really have any. The one brand I'm most loyal to is probably Apple, which she specifically called out in her post as not being eligible. So what other brand?

I'm kind of obsessed with my local grocery store, a small Michigan chain called Plum Market. I go once a week and I actually love the experience of shopping there. The staff is incredibly friendly, everything is beautifully merchandised and they have a salad/deli/bakery section that rocks my world.

But food is a necessity. What else? And the thing is, I don't think there's any brand that I can't live without (maybe Craigslist, does that count?). I don't even buy very many things anyway. I don't know if that makes me the worst person in the world to work in marketing, or the best.

What about you? Are you loyal to any brands?

A Whimsical Wing Chair

I had been considering making a slicover for my wing chairs in some leftover cream colored fabric that I have, but after seeing this photo on Lena Corwin's blog, I wonder if I should try something more whimsical.

Loving This Weird Bird at Wayne Pate

I really have to resist posting everything from RIFLE blog. I just adore Anna's style SO much, but I was especially struck by this recent inspiration palette for her apartment re-do, especially this Wayne Pate print (okay, and this Room and Board chair).

Street Fashion Photography - Past and Present

 

Via The Sartorialist, this trailer for a movie about the life and work of the New York Times' Bill Cunningham, the photographer behind the recurring "On The Street" feature. He sleeps in his studio? Really?

In other Sartorialist-related news, here's an NY Mag feature on him and his girlfriend/fellow fashion blogger Garance Dore.

A Silhouette Project I Can't Wait To Try

This DIY botanical silhouette via Design Sponge looks easy enough and I've already got tons of colored paper lying around just begging for a project like this. I didn't get into the whole "person's face" silhouette trend, but I really really love this more abstract style (and that frame is so good).