Guh.

Very busy day today, and I have a three-day seminar starting tomorrow. I do not know what the seminar is about, or why it has to cut into my "cavorting with attractive men" time, i.e. weekends. However, it is titled "Possibilities Seminar," so perhaps it will open up the possibility of, y'know, not spending a whole weekend inside a hotel conference room.

Anyway, enough cynical wisecracks. I have been working on a thrilling post about FLOKATI RUGS, aka little dead furry sheep, but it's not quite done yet, so here is a samplng of other fantastic stuff I enjoyed having in front of my eyeballs today:

red + blue - at j'adore decor

Artwork by Lindsey Adelman - at Design*Sponge

prints from tracemyface on Etsy - at More Ways to Waste Time

How to...Make a Closet on Wheels - at Apartment Therapy Chicago

drool-worthy blue armchairs on Ebay - at More Ways to Waste Time (side note: I told myself that in my new apartment I would stay away from blue and instead focus on pink, teal and gold. I succeeded - there is very little blue. But Jesus if I don't fall for sky blue all the freakin' time. Case in point: the background on this blog. Someday, I shall have a room that is blue and white, and it shall be grand.)

And the favorite of today...

Craigslist Q&A in the New York Times!

I am a humongous craigslist fan (I can literally thank them for my job, my house, and all my furniture), and I love how populist and candid the founders are. Craig Newmark was on the Daily Show at one point, and the combination of awesome and awesome (him and Jon Stewart) nearly made me cry with joy. Fo' serious.

[image from the New York Times]

Moving Day!

Today was moving day at the office. Oh yes...they like to shuffle us around every so often. Kind of like how elementary school teachers shuffle kids around each semester, just for the hell of it.

I got the new seating chart a couple of days and and my eyes lit up. By some incredible stroke of luck, I was assigned to sit in the most scenic, sunkissed area of the office, right along a huge wall of windows. We're on the the 9th floor with a stunning view of Old Town, the airport, Balboa Park, and other scenes, so this is a big deal.

As 4pm rolled around, about half of the people at the agency packed up their desks and migrated either east or west. By and large, the Search Department and Account Services simply switched places. After scoping out my new desk all week, I was READY! The woman whose desk I was taking wasn't quite as quick, though, so I took a quick siesta on one of the couches in the small conference room.

Right around 5 I got all settled in and enjoyed my new space for a whole 30 second before I left.

Of course, now I'm sitting right by the entrance to the CEO's office. I am not sure how I feel about this. He's in the office pretty rarely. However - more importantly - I am now very close to the kitchen. No more long treks to get water or bagels!

(By the way, the image above is not my office. Though I'd be thrilled if it was.)

[image from Jackie Blue Home]

Am I crazy?

Or is this settee pretty cool? I like the pink upholstery combined with the nailhead detailing.

Yours for $375 on San Diego's Craigslist.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Well, not quite yet. But I've been researching trips and today I got the go-ahead from my employer to take a few weeks off in the spring. HELL YES. I'm finally gonna do it! Travel, that is.

Now, all I have to do is decide where in the world I want to go. So far I've narrowed it down to:

Thailand/Cambodia/Malaysia - Southeast Asia totally appeals to me, and I'd like to see some of the less-frequented places in the region (like Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam)

India - Just a sweet country. Take a look at my apartment and you'll tell that I embrace a lot of Indian things, whether they be food or pillows.

Tanzania/Kenya - I would love to see the Great Rift Valley and even climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. At this point, though, I'm tempted to go to Africa after I cut my teeth on my very first major trip abroad, but we'll see.

Peru/Inca Trail/Galapagos Islands - I've seen some trips that combine a trip on the Inca Trail with the Galapagos, and that sounds really awesome. The only downside of this trip is that I'd like to get off the American continent. Lame, I know. Maybe I'll do this trip next year.

Australia/New Zealand - Amazing, but the 16-hour plane trip scares me. Again, this is probably a trip for when I'm a more seasoned traveler.

As for Europe and all the usual tourist destinations - yeah, I want to see Europe, but honestly at this point, I'd rather sweat my ass off hiking in the tropics, sleep in a longhouse, and have other totally off-the-beaten-path sorts of experiences, rather than touring cities and seeing all the usual tourist attractions. And I kinda feel like the ecological wonders of places like the Galapagos are disappearing fast, while the beautiful cities of Europe will be around for awhile longer (right?)

Anyway, I could not be more excited about taking a trip. I can't even imagine how much it will expand my horizons and open my eyes to locations, people, cultures, etc. I didn't even know existed.

At this point, I am very excited about a Malaysia trip described on Gecko Travel, UK-based travel agency that specializes in eco-friendly tour groups of Southeast Asia (with small groups of 1 to 9 people). I like their mission and philosophy, and they've been nice about responding to my clueless questions so far. Anyway, we'll see. Is Malaysia a totally random place to go? That's exactly the point.

[image from geckotravel.com]

Yellow is mellow. And polka-dotted and frilly.

Oh god...I can't help it but I love this top! In the catalogue, it's shown on a tan model paired with white pants and high platforms, and it simply looks divine. Nevermind that it would look completely different against my pale skin. Anyhoo, it also comes in light blue but for once I prefer the yellow. Blouse, $78 at Anthropologie.

My latest shoe saga

Recently I spied these cute ballet flats by BCBGirls on the Nordstrom website, so I stopped into the store and browsed for a ridiculously long time trying to locate them. I enlisted the help of a salesman, who checked their site in-store and couldn't find them. Hmm...had they sold out? Had I hallucinated? Whatever the case, I accepted that I wasn't going to leave the store with my quarry, so I left (but only after hitting up the MAC counter).

The next day I checked the Nordstrom site again and there they were...winking at me in all their silver, lusciously detailed glory. But I knew some comparison shopping was on my horizon.

The breakdown:
Nordstrom: $88.95 plus $5 shipping
Zappos: $92.95 plus free shipping
Endless: $89.95 plus negative $5 overnight shipping

The verdict:
Needless to say, I went with Endless. The shoes arrived on Wednesday morning after I ordered them on Monday night, and I love them. Yesterday I traipsed around town wearing them with a pair of black shorts from Forever 21 and a gray tank top from Anthropologie, and was adorable and comfortable. Home run for Endless.com! Though some online commentators panned Endless, I had a good experience with them and will definitely consider buying from them again.

Buy the flats at Endless for $84.95 (for a limited time)

It's the COLOR, stupid!

Call it periwinkle, call it lapis... I bought a dress in a slightly darker/more intense shade of this color for a event tonight and let's just say I'm going to look fab. This color is pretty and feminine without being cloying, and it's heaven on blue-eyed girls like me. Plus it's a nice alternative to the more common shades of powder blue or lavender. Give it a try! Rebecca Beeson top, $35 at Bluefly.

PS. I might as well register my adoration for Rebecca Beeson tops. They come in cute styles and soft, high-quality fabric. I bought a couple from Bluefly recently and I adore them! They're also carried at Loehmann's (though the selection is spootty) and Anthrpologie (for horribly inflated prices.)