Holy crap! Is anyone watching Mad Men?

So much great stuff last night! It was the night of cool character revelations. Don has roots in PA coal country? Peggy wants to smoke weed? Pete and Judy can Charleston? Joan plays the accordion? I thought I knew these people.

Hey, all of you people who went to Italy with me...

…and even all of those who didn’t, take a look at this. My friend Fran sent me the link. You know how people take those funky pics of themselves looking like they’re holding up the leaning Tower of Pisa? Apparently, when you snap those same pics from a different angle, it looks like a “mass-hallucination tai chi class.”

I wish I had done this when we went.

The red beauty in front is a dahlia

This week's flowers from the Farmer's Market:

Last week's are still looking quite well:

The sweet smell of school

I was jealous of all the kids getting their new notebooks and pencils for back-to-school, so I treated myself to some Mr. Sketch scented markers. The raspberry one is divine, and it's taking me back to my elementary school days.

Of course I will be staying far, far away from the black licorice one.

I have to go to China!

To see this. It's a children's bookstore in Beijing, designed by a Japanese artist. Fabulous. I want to walk through that tunnel of color.

Oh yes, I'm certain this will end well.

The latest TV news:

"In 2010, Showtime will premiere a new ten-part documentary series titled Oliver Stone's Secret History of America, created and executive produced by Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone. The series, two years in the making, will focus on events in our nation's history from the last 60 years that have gone largely unnoticed or were under-reported. Stone and a group of historians traveled to national archives in various countries to research materials used in this series. Topics covered include President Harry Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan to the origins of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Stone will narrate each of the one-hour episodes."

Oliver Stone. Doing a documentary on history. This would be like me making a documentary on the Canadian sport of curling if, in addition to having no respect for curling or any of its participants, I had made a career out of twisting the sport of curling into an unrecognizable falsehood. And spitting on some Canadians in the process.

Who greenlights this crap?

A wonderful thing happened at my apartment today.

The craft room wall went from this:


...to this:

...to this!

And the kitchen wall. Oh the kitchen wall! It used to look like this:

Then it looked like this:

And now it looks like this:

Isn't that magnificent? Hooray for organization! Hooray for fabulous Ikea shelving! Hooray for parents who come to your house and hang your fabulous Ikea shelving so you can get organized!

Thanks, Mom and Dad.