Little List: New Year's Resolutions

New Year's Resolutions. People have been dogging on these lately. Come on people TRADITION it's just fun.

I have one resolution this year. You know that question "If your house was on fire and you could only save one thing, what would it be?" Assuming my spouse and kids make it out of the house fine with their own one special item, my answer has always been "my laptop." Because it contains my journal, stories, art, etc. Things that can't be replaced. But now with DropBox and my new external hard drive (Christmas present from Seve!) I can free up my one item to be a cake or my favorite dress or something.

This year, my resolution is to make those irreplaceable documents/pictures more worthwhile and relevant. So, I'm going to:

1. Get a camera. A nice camera. And take pictures. Lots of 'em.

2. Draw more. (btw, image Kelly Thompson)

3. Blog/tweet more. It really amazes me how out of touch with social networking some people are. I'd like to second Rachelle Gardner when she says people who scoff at blogging/tweeting just don't get it.

4. That being said, I'm totally Facebook retarded and should probably fix that.

5. Write more. Finish this.

K, now that that's out of the way, it's time for me to make a big announcement: my mother, who has been writing and querying for the past four years, has just gotten an agent and her book has been requested by six different publishers. 

Congratulations, Mom! You're going to be a published author!

Little List: Artsy Internet Crap Roundup

Enjoy: via, via, via, and via. And yeah, those are earrings. And that video came out 2 years ago, not 25. Happy Friday!!

Little List: Snapshot

My life at this very moment:

-Listening to Yeasayer's Odd Blood (everyone click here)
-Reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Umbridge . . . Umbridge!)
-Wearing my new coat (remember?)
-Finding this song for Seve (HA! Middle school, right? Maybe elementary for you? Preschool? Am I old?)
-Watched Who's That Girl? last night. So silly.
-Loving Stina Persson, whose lovely art is responsible for my new header.

Oh, and visit Panache if you haven't already for a cool giveaway! Need.

Little List: let the leaves fall

Fall is only the greatest season ever for fashion. This is our first fall to spend in Rexburg, and we're excited to experience an Idaho Autumn! We're hoping it's not a week-long phenomena that quickly transitions into snow. I love seeing the leaves change, love the rain and love the earthy smell. Mm hmm.

 So, images courtesy of UO, here's my Little Fall Fashion Wish List:

1 Surplus Jacket
2 Leather & Canvas Backpack
3 Square Neck Dress
4 Flannel Shirt
5 Khaki Nail Polish
6 Varsity Cardigan
7 Infinity Scarf
8 Tights, tights, tights
9 Wedge/Heel Boots

Also, everyone needs to dig Little Dragon for their fall playlists:

Little List of online shopping I love but can't afford and even if I could I'm so appalled by their prices I wouldn't shop there anyway only actually I would because I love the clothes OH THE CLOTHES (and the shoes)

I can't find the exact post, but the Clothes Horse once blogged about herself in terms of being "not cool," as in she didn't consider herself a hipster or fashionista, but just someone who really enjoyed fashion. She admitted to not being part of any "scene" or following any particular trends--just wore what she liked, trendy or not, and that was that. I think a lot of us can attest to feeling that way.

Since marrying, I've reigned in my fashion spending, but that doesn't mean I don't covet the finds on these sites:

Pixie Market - dress $110, shoes $189, socks $101 = $400
Urban Outfitters - cardigan $40, skirt $70, shoes $98 = $208
L.A. Vintage - skirt $46, bodice $62, heels $54 = $162
Topshop - blazer $80, dress $60, shoes $70 = $210

Considering the pieces, these prices aren't terrible, but nonetheless not things I can afford. This is why I shop here, despite their reputation. I calculated a full outfit with cardigan, dress, stockings, shoes, hat and bag to be somewhere around $80 total. That's like, one sock from Pixie Market.

So, I'm pretty poor. As in, I'm poor and still pretty.

Little List: 10 Stupid Internet Pictures I Love

Most of them involving cats.

Little List (let's get lost)

As you all know, life is crazy and busy and crazy and busy. Here are some things putting me at ease lately:

via Dawn Tan

1. My new headphones!
2. Bombay Bicycle Club
3. The Hunger Games (who else has read this? SO GOOD. Mockingjay out next month!)
4. Interviews at work end this week - and to accommodate the new hires we'll be moving to the rockin' corner office! You have to see this place. Windows galore. I might actually feel inclined to decorate.
5. Knowing Seve will be done with his play on Saturday and then the rest of the summer will be dedicated to long, beautiful, unadulterated Seve + Jules time. Can you imagine? Longboarding, camping, Netflix, taco vans, Texas . . . caaan't wait!

Little List of Favs

Yup, inspired by Brandilyn's post on favorite things, and I invite you all to do a favorites post too!

1. What's your favorite hobby?
LONGBOARDING.

2. What's your favorite TV show?
I don’t really have one. But I like Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, and Pushing Daises.

3. What's your favorite restaurant food?
Drunken Noodle from Original Thai . . . it’s intoxicated with flavor!

4. What's your favorite thing to shop for?
Dresses online . . .

5. What's your favorite animal?
Puppies. All the puppies in the world.

6. What's your favorite word?
Milk. I just like the sound of it.

7. What's your favorite song?


8. What's your favorite YouTube video?


9. What's your favorite movie?
I would have picked Duckie.

10. What's your favorite childhood memory?
All those road trips in the Astro! (R.I.P.)

Search THIS Little List

It saddens me to read everyone's blogs and tweets about their spring break vacations . . . graduation and the working world have put an end to these for me, and instead of longboarding/sleeping/movie watching/cooking/baking/novel reading my heart out, I'm a busy copywriter staring out my office window at the beautiful weather I'm not a part of. Oh, well. Money must be made.

My little list today will focus on a search I did; a search of searches. Namely, the top ten searches that have led people to my blog. From least to most frequent, here they are, written exactly as they appeared when typed in a search box . . .

1 "panchae" - Trying to find Panache, I guess! This misspelled search always links to my various posts on Panache giveaways, even though each post has the spelling correct.

2 "garrypants blog spot" - My friend Jeff set up a blog dedicated to a tree he owns. Guess some friends of his were curious as to its humble life, and stumbled upon my blog which links to it?

3 "wrangler red we are animals" - This search leads to entry on Wrangler here, where I mused some thoughts on their controversial ad campaign.

4 "bloody butt ring" - Yeah, you read that right. Also in reference to my Wrangler post, taken from the phrase "But then again, is that a bloody butt crack I see? Ew." This comes up more often than the actual search for "wranglers red we are animals." What the crap!?

5 "MAN MAN RABBIT HABITS" - And always in all caps too! Ever since I did my quite recent post on albums I'd hang on my wall, this one comes up a lot. Why aren't users simply being directed to the band's site?

6 "ohnojules.blogspot.com" - Whoever was searching for my blog obviously typed this in a search box instead of the URL bar . . .

7 "jno jules" - Leads to my blog homepage. Who's Jno?

8 "van halen roller skates" - to this entry. Just go see why for yourself.

9 "kaysells mountains" - this has led people to this entry, specifically the phrase "I mean, Mary Kay sells make-up, right?"

and the most commonly searched term that directs traffic to my blog IS . . .

10 "zombie minnie mouse" - I get this at least once a week. And it takes them to this post, in which I wonder what to be for Halloween. No zombie Minnie here, folks.

I've searched each of these terms myself and my blog NEVER comes up, so it's a surprise to me how people have discovered my little corner of the world while Googling the likes of bloody butt rings. Oh, Internet. Happy reading, Googlers!

Little List of too much

Inspired by McKenzie's post on 8 albums she'd hang on her wall. I bumped the number up to 9 . . .

Bat for Lashes Fur & Gold
Picked this up after returning from China. I saw the music video for “What’s a Girl To Do?” and fell madly in love with Natasha Khan. Her voice, her style; all of it is pretty whimsical and dark and haunting and other adjectives dealing with moody beauty.

Beirut The Flying Club Cup
So beautiful. Everyone should listen to this album. This is my most recent love.

David Bowie Hunky Dory
Everyone thinks they're the biggest Bowie fan, and I'm no exception. I grew up on him and this album is my personal favorite from his catalog of work. I could listen to this album any time, anywhere.

The Smiths Louder Than Bombs
I've always been a Smiths fan, but Seve gave me this album when we were dating and it only made me fall that much more head-over-heels in love with him. "Is It Really So Strange?" is one of our songs, and it played at our wedding.

Daniel Johnston Hi, How Are You?
Seve introduced me to Mr. Johnston. In fact, he has a shirt with this album cover on it that he wears a lot . . . until I stole it. Now that we're married I guess we both own it. Daniel Johnston was always in rotation early on in our marriage, and his music will always remind me of that first year together.

Grizzly Bear Yellow House
This album was on repeat the whole season I worked in the Grand Teton National Park, and became the soundtrack to my time there. I even listend to this with headphones while hiking alone, which I'll admit isn't the smartest thing to do. Whenever I get in a camping mood, this is the music I reach for.

The Pixies Wave of Mutilation
My gosh I LOVE the Pixies! This album brings me back to high school . . . this is one of the few bands I loved at the time that managed to age well and stick around as my musical tastes developed.

St. Vincent Marry Me
As if I don't talk of my love of St. Vincent on this blog enough. I listened to this and Patrick Wolf's The Magic Position abundantly before leaving for China, which was such a happy time for me. Before entering the country we spent two days in Hong Kong, and I can't listen to "Now, Now" without thinking of the YMCA (the hotel we stayed at . . . yeah, it was really called that).

Tom Waits The Black Rider
It's hard for me to explain my love of Tom Waits to people. Another artist that Seve introduced me to, and his music can almost always be heard drifting out of our apartment. Apparently Scarlett Johansson is a huge fan of him as well.

BTW I should have bumped the number up to 10 and added Animal Collective's Sung Tongs, or 11 and added Man Man's Rabbit Habits, or 12 and added the Talking Heads Stop Making Sense . . . too many TOO MANY to choose from! But for now I'll just leave you with a song. . . I'm a little disappointed because I  wanted to feature individual song samplings after each album description, but I couldn't configure it . . . it ended up just placing the same song as the first widget for every widget. So, instead, I'll simply leave you with some Bowie:

Oh, and Happy Friday!

Little List and We Are Animals

Friday again! But a sad, gray one. Here’s a little list of five chill, gray Friday songs:

Has anyone seen Wrangler’s new ad campaign We Are Animals? From an advertising perspective, it’s a brilliant way to reposition the brand from old, pokey cowboys to hip youth. The ads come in a red series and a night/swamp series, and there’s like a bajillion of them, plus videos. Before you click on these links I should warn you some of the ads are pretty racy: red & night.

I can’t decide where I stand on it. When I first saw the campaign I was so impressed with the emotion and instinct behind it; the word “raw” comes to mind. And I liked the nitty gritty messy models. But then again, is that a bloody butt crack I see? Ew.

A Little List (and Pearl)

Friday Friday Friday! My favorite day.

Aside from being an American Mormon graduated 20-something copywriting female, who am I? Here’s a little list of some things you may not know about me:
1. I love dogs.
2. I don’t like pancakes.
3. I’ve met George W. Bush.
4. I support gay marriage (a post on that later).
5. I lived in Tagu, South Korea as a little girl.
6. I’ve been to six proms – for one I made a prom dress out of duct tape.
7. I wish I had majored in Geology.
8. I weigh 90 lbs.
9. I don’t like swimming, and I’m terrified of fish.
10. I’m a closet Tamagotchi fan.

In this music video one of my female crushes, Natasha Khan, describes her feelings of being torn between two versions of herself: the free-spirited, wild, free, childlike, fantasy-loving self; and the serious, business-oriented, worldly, self-absorbed femme fatale--in short, kind of a country mouse vs. city mouse feel since Khan grew up in the Hertfordshire countryside and now records in New York. In her music she calls this city-persona “Pearl” and feels as though she’s always in battle with her, but loves her at the same time.

Anyone else have a Pearl? Mine powered my ambitions and got me where I am today career-wise, but I sometimes feels like she gets first say in anything I do, and that my childlike self is dissolving. Some may call this growing up, but I just fear I'm getting boring, or simply losing sight of the things I used to love.

Little List (and a song)

I get so excited on Fridays. Embarking on a fresh, new weekend feels so nice since my week is dominated by an 8-5, know what I mean? Seve and I will be seeing the 11:30 showing of the Blind Side tonight at the cheap theatre. I'm so excited. I love me some sassy Sandra Bullock.

In fact, here is a little list of movies. Sandra Bullock's on it!

Movies I love shamelessly and are pretty much my favorites:

Heartbreakers, Whip It, Practical Magic

Movies I’m usually too embarrassed to admit I love and are pretty much my favorites:

Hot Rod, Anchorman

Movies I can totally admit outloud at a party that I love and are pretty much my favorites:

Lars and the Real Girl, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Movies a lot of people love but I don’t like:

Donnie Darko, 500 Days of Summer, Juno

Movies a lot of people don’t like but I love:

The Village, V for Vendetta, Heathers

Movies I was so pumped to see but were disappointing when they finally came out but now that some time has passed I’ve grown to really like them:

Nacho Libre, Marie Antoinette

Movies I grew up on but probably wouldn’t have liked had I seen them for the first time as an adult:

Labyrinth, The Last Unicorn

Movies other people like because they grew up on them but having seen them for the first time as an adult I don’t like them:

The Dark Crystal, Beatles’ Yellow Submarine

Movies I grew up on and would have still probably loved had I first seen them as an adult:
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Edward Scissorhands, Pretty in Pink

Movie I can’t believe no one’s ever heard of or seen:

To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar

Movie that I grew up watching and never thought was very scary but I showed it to one of my volunteers in Russia and she ended up crying:

Lady in White

On that note . . . have a Happy Valentine's Day with this little love song!

Anala by King Khan & BBQ Show

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A Little List

As seen in other blogs, I now present: things that make me happy.

1. It's Friday!

2. I'm seeing a 1950's Japanese film with my husband at Foreign Film Night!

3. Modern Family

4. My new, personal Twitter account (work got me hooked . . . more to following celebrities than tweeting myself)

5. My new headband (is this a shout-out to Panache? Yes it is!).

Also, Seve and I went to the temple last night and had the most wonderful time. We hadn't been in four months (because, you know, Russia) and for some reason I was nervous to go. Like I was going to forget everything. But it wasn't like that at all; it was great, and rejuvenating.