Apologetic Crumbs

Inkblot must apologize for two things:
1. She is sorry she has been so unattentive to the blog as of late. She knows it drives you crazy when you pop up the blog for a quick look and there is NOTHING NEW! That's no fun. She is hoping that once she gets back up to school (around the 24th or so) she will be able to post every day again like she used to.
2. She is also sorry in advance for today's post. She knows she has done 5,000 So You Think You Can Dance posts in the past few weeks, but she can hardly resist letting you know her opinions about the dancers.

Anyway, tonight Inkblot is torn. Completely and horribly torn. Half of her is simply ecstatic over Pasha's leaving the show. Though he did extremely well for a ballroom dancer, he couldn't really compare to the others on the show. The other half of Inkblot is just devestated that Lauren has left. Inkblot wanted Lauren to win. She was the best of the girls, clearly. It's just so sad to see someone so talented not be given a reward for it. Of course, the connections and publicity she has gotten through her time on the show are surely plenty of reward. But it is always nice to be acknowledged as the best when you are. Although, choosing between she and Neil would be a pretty tough decision. It could go either way. Maybe Neil will get it. He deserves the reward as well. And Inkblot really thinks Danny deserves it too. She just thinks Neil moves a little smoother than Danny and his solos are a heck of a lot better, which means he is a better choreographer.
Inkblot just doesn't want Sabra or Lacey to win. Neither is good enough and they are both worse than Danny and Neil. Actually, combine the talent of Sabra with the talent of Lacey and you will still not have as much talent as Neil or Danny has alone. They are excellent dancers, but they don't have the extra something that makes them practically perfect in every way.
Well, Inkblot is going to get this post up and worry about all the links, pictures, details later. Happy Monday!

Wade's Jazz Routine - Night of the Dancing Flame

Lauren Gottleib and Neil Haskell with a "jazz" (really more modern) routine choreographed by Wade Robson. It's really quite excellent.

Wrap-able Crumbs

Wrapables.com has an awesome new Back to School section! Inkblot loves the coat rack (left) that doubles as a jewelry organizer. It would look so cute up next to the door.

The mustard-colored tote (right) looks like it could actually fit the two textbooks, one notebook, and a folder that Inkblot needs for English class. And she could stuff her wallet, keys, and mp3 player in there too!

Inkblot also likes the Wake Up! mug (below), though she doesn't drink coffee. She always needs something to remind her to just get the day started already!

Inkblot just adores the whole section. It is divided into separate parts like the bag section, the sleep section, the bath section, and the study section among others. Even the office supplies are cute, like the staple remover (below).

All these adorable things are at fairly reasonable prices too! Inkblot thinks she can afford to buy herself a little present (the adorable bookends she found!) for her dorm room this year! How fun! Be sure to check out Wrapables for chic back to school stuff as well as the rest of their site for awesome gifts and homewares!! Much love,

Inkblot

Another Robert Crumb

Inkblot thinks its time to share another of Robert's adventures with you... Robert is currently learning to be more interesting in his adventures. Inkblot thinks he is going inside the house sometime soon... but she will definitely make him wash off first! Well, here is his latest excitement!

Inkblot found Robert trying to steal her mother's parking spot!! Aah! It is clearly labeled Mom Parking Only. And Robert is most definitely not a mom. He just kind of sidled up slowly to the empty space and then sat right in the middle of it. Inkblot yelled at him before she thought to take a picture, and she couldn't very well go back on her scolding, so she took a posed picture of Robert with the Mom Parking Only sign. It was a compromise. Inkblot thinks Robert still understands the point: no stealing other people's parking spots! haha. Oh Robert... will your adventures never cease to make us chuckle (or at least wonder about Inkblot's incredibly odd personality)?

Much love,

Inkblot

Blogging Crumbs

Inkblot has been looking over Cookie Crumbs and its fairly dismal readership (not that she doesn't LOVE those of you who do read!!) and has decided that she will be going back and making some of the old posts a little more awesome. Inkblot thinks that there are a lot of links she should add in and a few of the posts deserve some more photos. If you have any spiffy ideas, let Inkblot know. In the meantime, here is another of Inkblot's obsessions: 43 Things. The idea behind the site, as Inkblot sees it, is that everyone should have 43 things they want to do before they die. This site allows you to make your own list of things (whether you have 1, 43, or 443) as well as make goals for yourself, chat with others who have the same goals and things, ask whether something is worth it (do you really want to go skydiving? Is a road trip a definitive rite of passage?), and explore others' progress. It's a delightful little site that doesn't end up taking your life like Babble or Facebook can. Check it out! Much love,
Inkblot

Haircuts and Unexpected Dancing Crumbs

So Inkblot got her hair cut yesterday. She went in thinking she would just tell her stylist (of around six years and her entire adult life) that she wanted something different. Her normal cut just wasn't awesome enough. I mean, you watch enough episodes of What Not to Wear and you start to wish you could have Nicorojo (or however you spell that bizarre name) do your hair too!! Not to mention Stacy and Clinton helping you shop... though Inkblot would totally pass on Carmindy's awful makeup. Honestly, the eyes are just horrid 90% of the time. Anyway... Inkblot, of course, lost most of her courage when Danielle asked her "So how much are we cutting off today?". And since Inkblot hadn't actually thought through what she might like instead of her regular cut, she just blurted out something about sticky-outy pieces and frizz. Danielle told her to let the layers grow out and then went to cutting. In addition, Danielle usually does this gorgeous curly thing since Inkblot never does anything to her hair (really... she doesn't even own a blow dryer or any hair products. just a brush and some bobby pins and hair elastics for dance). But this time, Danielle seemed to be channeling Inkblot's mother and gave Inkblot some sort of puffy wavy short hair. Not exactly what Inkblot was going for... She was thinking more rocker-sexy razored edges... Maybe she should bring in some pictures next time.
In other news, Inkblot is totally happy with tonight's So You Think You Can Dance results. Lately, she hasn't agreed a lick with the judges. Surprising since she usually says exactly what Nigel says before he says it. But Nigel likes Sabra and Dominic, and apparently so do the other judges... or so they are forced to pretend... Well Inkblot likes Lauren and Neil. Second place? Danny and Lacey. Those are far and above the top four. So who did Inkblot hope would go home tonight? Sara and Dominic. Who did Inkblot think would go home tonight? Danny and Lacey. And who did she think once the bottom four had been called out? Lauren and Neil (insert extremely sad face here... those are her top two!!). And who went? Sara and Dominic!!!! Woo hoo!! Inkblot was crazy happy about that. And last night, Inkblot liked most of the dances the judges didn't like and hated most of the dances the judges loved. She really liked Mia's choreography on the piece about her father, but she thought they actually didn't do a fabulous job with it. Neil looked really uncomfortable the whole time... he wasn't really playing the confident dad role like Inkblot thought he should. But on the topic of Mia... Inkblot is so so happy that she is nominated for an Emmy for the piece from last season that Travis and Heidi did with the park bench. The choreography in that one was phenomenal and Travis (of course) is phenomenal in everything he does and this was practically the only piece that Inkblot liked Heidi in the entire season. It was just spectacular. And now we can add the Wade Robson piece with the butterfly and flower that Hok and Jaimie did to the list of AMAZING dances. And Inkblot thoroughly enjoyed that weird one that Sara and Jesus (hardly remember him!) did with the kind of hobo-ish costumes. She was wearing a hat. Can't even remember who choreographed it... sad, it was in the top twenty show. But that piece was pretty good as well. There are quite a few that Inkblot is in love with. Time to collect the various videos on YouTube and possibly post them up here for the world to fall in love with. Well, that's all for now! Much love,
Inkblot

A Lack of Crumbs

So, it's 12:40 last night and Inkblot is on the couch watching Mad About You (the episode where Mabel is allergic to Murry) and she's all relaxed and ready for bed as soon as the show ends when suddenly the TV goes black and then the screen goes all fuzzy. (Snow!) Inkblot waits, hoping it will turn back on. When it doesn't, she flips to another channel to find something else to watch, but... NOTHING is on the correct channel!! Inkblot is flipping through all her favorites (TLC, HGTV, Food Network, even Disney!) but none of them are there!! Where did all her shows go?! Finally, after deciding to go through each channel starting at 2, she finds the TV Guide channel!! Success! She waits for it to scroll to Mad About You, then presses the corresponding numbers, then nothing. The screen is black. Then fuzzy. (Snow!) Inkblot was incredibly frusterated. Apparently, the cable company decided to switch the channels all around at 12:40 at night. Not 12:30 mind you, not 1:00, not even 12:45!! 12:40. What an interesting time... was 12:20 taken? How about 12:50? And Inkblot read nothing about it in the newspaper, there is no list of the new channels floating around anywhere in the paper or on the internet. Inkblot would just like to remind everyone of some of the simple rules of life... round numbers (like 12:00 or August 1st instead of July 31st), a little notice on things (a short blurb in the only local newspaper we have), and a bit of readily available information (a posting of the channels in the paper and on the internet as well as the correct channels listed on the TV Guide channel). Now was that really all that hard? Much love,
Inkblot

Skirting the Crumbs

So, Inkblot re-found (she had totally forgotten she had bookmarked it!) a fabulous website called Anatomy of a Skirt. Sadly, Inkblot hasn't really found any skirts on the site (they are her favorite item of clothing next to dresses), but she has found about a trillion other AMAZING items! The site sells handmade creations, mostly bags. They even have an eco-friendly section for all you land-lubbers out there! The site is easy to navigate and really pretty. Anatomy of a Skirt keeps a link to their Etsy shop on the front page, though most of their items are sold on their site. If the prices are a tad too much for us regular people, Inkblot noticed that they also have a Sale section!! That is probably the greatest thing since mp3's came out! And... here is the coolest part of Anatomy of a Skirt... they have a customizable Build Your Own Bag option. Currently, they only have two bag styles. But Inkblot thinks they will probably expand that, and guesses that they would be accomodating if you are willing to pay a little extra. Basically, Anatomy of a Skirt has Inkblot imitating Sleeping Beauty (enchanted, of course)! As always, much love,
Inkblot

Musical Crumbs

Okay... feel free to chastise Inkblot for having gone missing for a week! She does love you all, she just got all caught up in HP's latest book, the five day loss of her laptop (I suppose her mother borrowing it isn't exactly a loss...), and her feverishness several days ago. But now, Inkblot is back! And she's totally ready to share with you a mild obsession called Pandora. This site is as awesome as it gets without paying money. You just sign up (they send occasional emails pertaining to your Pandora use, but nothing else) and start listening to their unique radio stations. The way Pandora works is crazy awesome! You type in the name of a song or artist that you LOVE, and Pandora creates a radio station based on that song or artist and other songs and artists similar to them. You can create unlimited stations and add/remove songs and artists from your stations. Even better, Pandora learns from you! You can press a button as a song plays to tell it to stop playing that song or to never play that song again. Same with the artist. In this manner, it is totally customizable! And you can listen as much or as little as you like. It's on the internet, not a downloadable program, so you are totally safe and can use your account from any computer without having to set everything up again. It remembers all your stations and preferences, too. Basically, if you adore music, you'll adore Pandora. Inkblot has found countless new bands and tons of awesomeness... though she has been a bit less productive lately (you are totally right, Kate!). So check out Pandora Internet Radio as soon as you can!! And let all the rest of us know about the exciting bands you've found! Much love,
Inkblot

Crumby Crumbs

Inkblot is sick. She thinks she has some sort of feverishness thing going on... sad. So if she doesn't post for a day or two, that's why. Well, that and the fact that the new Harry Potter book (Deathly Hallows) comes out tomorrow so she will be reading until she finishes it.

Inkblot needs some sleep now.

Much love,

Inkblot

Harry Crumbs

Not Hairy Crumbs, but Harry Crumbs... Inkblot has more than one for you! Inkblot was finding some music online from the Harry Potter soundtracks, and came across a copy of the new book (Book #7 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) that has been leaked online. Inkblot is so proud of herself for resisting temptation. She simply paused at the download link and then moved on. It's just a matter of honesty. Even though Inkblot has already bought the book, so she would be, in effect, still paying for it... she made the responsible decision that it wasn't right to read the book before it is supposed to be released (on Saturday the 21st at midnight - which is Friday night for most of us). Inkblot is satisfied with her decision, though a little disappointed that she feels compelled to do the right thing.

Another Harry Crumb! Inkblot received an email today from Barnes and Noble, stating that the book has been shipped. This means that it could conceivably arrive early!! Sadly, Inkblot has assumed that Rowling's publishers have made deals with the shipping company to ensure the book's delivery on and after the 21st ONLY. But the tiny glimmer of possibility is enough to make Inkblot happy.

The last Harry Crumb is that Inkblot has heard that the new Harry Potter video game (Order of the Phoenix) is actually worth the money. Inkblot bought the first video game when it came out years ago, but it froze up on her when she got to a certain point in the game. Inkblot never took it back and complained, though she should have. Inkblot thinks technology has come far enough since that it is very rare for this to happen. And it's easier to return the items as well. Inkblot thinks she'll invest a few bucks in the game. That one and the Sims 2. Inkblot has wanted the Sims 2 for quite a while.

Midnight Magic!

Sims 2!!

As always, much love,

Inkblot

Various Itsy Crumbs

Inkblot has been busy today. She finally got a summer job, but the summer is half over. At least her job is on a nice schedule - 2 to 6! Yay! Only four hours a day, flexibility on times and if she needs a day off for some reason. Mostly simple office work. Since it's summer, there won't be a ton of people coming in. It's at her dance studio, so Inkblot gets to see all her old students and those of her friends who are still young enough to be dancing there. And the pay will be good.
Inkblot also backed up all her files on her laptop! Yay! This means she won't worry about something getting lost or destroyed when her mother borrows her computer while she travels for a couple days. Oh, don't worry! Inkblot can use the home PC to post.
Inkblot worked on her altered book today as well. She is making huge headway on a spread she started a couple days ago. She's really excited because she got some organizers from The Container Store and has them in use in her art space. If she has a couple hours tomorrow, she can get the whole area cleaned up!
And Inkblot also got a postcard from her friend who is traveling in Senegal right now!! Fun stuff! Apparently, she was talking to a friend over breakfast and they spoke about Inkblot's hometown for some reason and it made her think of Inkblot and prompted the delightful postcard. Inkblot wishes she could put the postcard up here, but kind of worries about the partial anonymity of Cookie Crumbs. For now, Inkblot thinks she'll just take some pictures of her newest crafty endeavors and post them up here in a few days to satisfy all our cravings. Much love,
Inkblot

Crumb-alicious Stuffies

While Inkblot wishes that she could be a fantastic knitter someday, she definitely can't do much more than a simple scarf. Inkblot can't even read patterns yet... But somehow, Inkblot plans to make these crazy-cool stuffed animals. These stuffies have something so cute about them. Maybe it's just that they are hard to knit... Maybe it's that they are dinosaurs, which Inkblot feels have gotten the shaft among today's kids. Or maybe it's that simple stuffed animals are so charming to Inkblot (the single color, single fabric style with a little embroidery... love!).












Inkblot thinks she might just do a simply sewing with fabric instead of trying to knit these cute stuffies. Hmm... Or she could just draw one... haha.

Extreme Crumb-finding

While finding sources for a post on Extreme Knitting (much like Knitting Crumbs a couple days ago), Inkblot discovered an exciting new/old blog. The site is well-established (been at their new website for almost a year but has had a blog for several years) but Inkblot has never seen it before. How exciting! The site is called Extreme Craft. And, of course, they showcase crafts and crafters who are doing new and exciting, and incredibly offbeat and wild things. Their latest post discusses a website (tamponcraft), focusing on the Pan Pipes made from tampons that actually play IN TUNE!! Looking at a few of the more recent posts, Inkblot noticed that Garth (the blog's brains) posted about the fabulousness that is the new Simpsons movie website. Inkblot discovered that site a few days ago, and hadn't had a chance to post about it. I'll tell you, it offers a host of fun time-wasting activities, including the freaking amazing character creator. You can go in this character creator thingy and practically draw your own Simpsons character without having to do any drawing! You just choose the sex, coloring, hair, mouth, nose, eyebrows, clothing, etc. Put it altogether and then save it to your computer or link to it from your blog/site, whatever. So adorable. Anyway, back to Extreme Craft... Garth's older posts seem to be a tad more on the chic craft side, though they are still nice and wild. Have fun perusing! Much love,
Inkblot

Shifty Crumbs

Inkblot's daddy sent her this video:

It's called Shift Happens. It's about globalization and the ever-expanding technology of our times. It's slightly frightening, but massively exciting, for Inkblot to think about. She means to say that it kinda sucks monkey butt that her junior year of college she will have to "unlearn" half the stuff she learned her freshman year because of how outdated it will be. Of course, it isn't like it happens over night and we will have to learn it out of nowhere. We will be adapting to the change as it comes, but it does seem sort of a waste for us to be learning all these things that won't even be useful to us in two years' time.
In relation to this technology race we seem to be having against ourselves, Inkblot has been trying to find a way to store humongous files (ooh! sidenote! Did you hear that Webster's Dictionary added 'ginormous' as a word the other day...) on the internet instead of on her computer to save space and have access to the files no matter where she is. Inkblot is having trouble figuring out exactly what she wants, though. Ideally, it would be more like a website than a place to download the files. Downloading is more for sharing files, but Inkblot wants to store them and access them in other places so she can work on them. She's thinking a lot about big term papers and long stories (possibly novel-length, there is one in the works!). Inkblot wants to be able to go to a certain website and look at her work much like she would look at a Microsoft Word document, but online so that she doesn't have to wait for the file to download, have enough space on her computer, upload the updated version back to the storage space, and then delete the file from the computer. It's just too high-maintenance. Inkblot wants something a lot like this blogger account. She comes in, has an easy to use formatting thingy (though she may like a few more extras like the ability to indent and more font options), can type up what she wants or copy/paste it, can edit stuff she's worked on before... And then everything is saved on the internet and not on her computer, and (barring a huge internet crash - cross your fingers, God forbid!) it'll never be deleted unless I want it to. It would also work where, if you didn't give anyone the link or the password (a password would be ideal) then your files would be safe from potential essay-stealers or whatever. If such a website-like-thingy-majiggy actually exists (yayness), please let Inkblot and her other readers know! And, of course, all technology-related thoughts, comments, ideas, fears, etc. are welcome. Much love,
Inkblot

Knitting Crumbs

Inkblot wishes she could knit actual crumbs, but for now she is "stuck" with finding knit-related crumbs. And here are two right now!

The left picture is a knit likeness of a Fender guitar. That must have taken so long to make! Inkblot can barely get the stockingnette stitch (the second simplest stitch in all of knitting) right! This must have been done by someone extremely talented. On the right is a knit-covered moped. Or maybe a scooter. Inkblot doesn't know much about motorized bikes... Anyway, almost every inch of this thing is covered! What's left? The spokes. haha. It looks so pretty and girly. Inkblot can think of a few of her friends that would love to ride around on this cute bike! Whoever made it would have had to create their own patterns for most of the pieces to make them fit the bike well. And it might be harder than the guitar, in that each piece must fit perfectly. But the guitar may be harder in that the pieces are smaller, more complex, and more detailed. And it has to closely resemble an actual guitar.

Inkblot isn't sure which one is better or more complex or cuter, but she does know that they are both winners! As always, let her know if you have seen any amazing knit things. Inkblot loves to see more crumbs! Much love,

Inkblot

Emma Gives Us a Crumb

Here is Inkblot's favoritest picture of her brand spankin' new niece, Emma:

Inkblot knows the whole "baby in the laundry basket" picture is a little old hat (or rather old tee shirt in this case... or old sock.) But there is something so precious about it. I think they actually hadn't set up the bassinet yet, so Emma really didn't have anywhere reasonable to sleep other than the carrier. She's grown a lot in the week and a half or so since her birth. Physically, of course. But mentally as well. She is so alert. Inkblot's and her mother went over to babysit whilst one parent went to the grocery store and the other parent took a shower and got some dinner. While there, they fed her and she kept looking around. Normally she would fall asleep after nursing, but she just yawned a bunch. And stared at her daddy. And stared at Inkblot. And stared at basically anything and everything that caught her interest. And every time she would start to drift off, she'd wake herself back up by moving her arms and legs around and making cute little noises. She was so interested and curious in what was going on around her. Inkblot was in awe. She just adores her niece. Emma finally did fall asleep, only to be woken up by her daddy when he wanted to give her butterfly kisses. Not exactly condusive to playing with a baby, dad... haha. Inkblot would like to thank Emma for falling asleep in a laundry basket, and thus giving everyone who reads this post a delightful little picture to enjoy! Much love,

Inkblot.

Dirty Crumbs/Floral Crumbs

Inkblot caught Robert attempting to garden today. He was digging a hole by a bush. He told Inkblot that he wanted to plant some flowers. Inkblot, being the sweetie that she is, decided that she would help Robert garden. She told Robert he wasn't ready for planting yet, but that he could help her tend to the plants. Here are a few pictures of Robert's adventure in gardening.

On the left, we have Robert digging his hole before Inkblot stopped him. On the right, Robert is playing amongst the flowers, helping Inkblot decide which ones need watering and pruning.

Over here on the left, you can see Robert trying to untangle the hose to water the plants. Robert was very excited about watering. Inkblot thinks it had something to do with the fact that Robert ended up playing in the water and getting soaked. But the sun quickly dried him off, so all was well. And it wasn't like he would be dripping all over the carpets or anything. Robert hadn't been invited inside.

And here on the right is another picture of Robert tending the flowers. He also helped Inkblot clear out all those leaves. Congratulations on learning to garden Robert!

Much love,

Inkblot

More Post It Crumbs

Excited by her earlier post on the Post It graffiti trend, Inkblot searched for some more cool examples of creative use of Post Its. So here are some more pictures of awesome artists using basic items in their creations.

This one on the left is by a guy named Duncan Wilson and looks like the pixel stuff from the Nintendo guys, but might just be colored tiles.

And the one on the right is a car covered in colorful Post Its. Apparently the car belongs to someone named Walt... hmm...

And this one over on the left is an entire room decorated in Post Its. The detail is amazing, too! They placed them perfectly. Inkblot only wishes she knows who created it.

This yellow one on the right really needs a close up view. Each Post It note is drawn on, each being its own piece of art. But collectively, they are like wallpaper. All the little pieces of art make one big huge piece of art. Beautiful.

Inkblot thinks these are amazing artists that have found a creative use for a common office supply. Their innovation is worth all the praise in the world. If you have other stories or photos of creative Post It usage, let Inkblot know. Much love,

Inkblot

These are not Crumbs.

As an American, Inkblot is deeply saddened to receive an email today about a high school in California. Apparently the students hung the Mexican flag above the American flag on their flag pole. What's more, they hung the American flag upside down. This atrocity does not seem to be getting much air time on the News channels or even the newspapers. Though it is getting a ton of publicity over the internet. Is it not the news media's job to report on the most interesting and important things going on in the world? If this story is causing such a frenzy over the internet, it must be important to people. And, thus, if it is important to people, it should be reported on news networks and in the papers. Inkblot must admit that she is a tad distraught over the symbolism of this event and the subsequent actions of the media. This was clearly meant as a stance that Mexico is better than the US, which is all fine on Mexican soil (in Inkblot's opinion). But as soon as you hit US territory, you should be expected to respect the country. This is an act of pure disrespect. And the worst part is that our country has become so weak that they will do nothing about this occurance. It is treason, yet our country will stand by and ignore it. Even our media will not give the event a nod of recognition. It is horrid to see our country losing its strength because people feel guilty that we are doing so well. Inkblot does not believe that the US just fell into its good fortune. She knows that there was a lot of work that went into making America what it is today (or more, what it was fifty or sixty years ago...). She knows that the choices Americans have made and the work they have put into their lives are what made the US great. But when we all decide that we don't deserve what we have worked hard for and made good decisions for... that is when our country will begin to meet its demise. It has already started. Are we no longer proud to be Americans? Do we no longer support each other because we know that we support democracy and freedom? Are we so "accepting" of everyone that we have forgotten to accept each other? It is a dark day we are living in that we don't take care of each other on a personal level and support our country on a governmental level. Inkblot would like to know of any other westernized country that would allow treason without so much as a news segment. Really, please post a comment if you know of any such country. Inkblot certainly can't think of one. As usual, much love,

Inkblot