O My Organization another bout with bulk grains

I don’t want to just leave you hanging with a “Here’s how to fail at organization.” post as the kick off day to O My Organization week, so. I’m going to share a little tid-bit I am starting at my house that maybe I hope could possibly help maybe you or you or maybe you over there with the chai latte.I mentioned this before, but OBaby and I have oatmeal for breakfast together every weekday morning. It’s routine. It makes my life easier. We both like it.However, because it’s a daily thing, I find myself dirtying and washing the. same. three. dishes everyday. Pot, pyrex measuring cup (1.75 cups water), and the 1 cup scoop for the oats. The pot needs to be scrubbed down each time but that’s manageable and I usually rotate amongst our 3 sauce pans. The glass, well, I often put that right back away because, hello, it was just water that it touched. (What? Don’t look at me like that. You do it too.)But that darn metal scoop? I only have one of those and it’s painfully annoying to wash it by hand 4 days in a row. If only I could use it once for the entire week and not have to wash it every day…hmmm…::lightbulb::I decided that in the interest of saving my time and also some water, I am willing to sacrifice 4 sandwich bags.On Friday I took my 1 cup scoop and made 4 1 cup baggies of oatmeal, one for each day Mon-Thurs of next week. On Friday, I will do it again (reusing the same baggies, of course!).Tomorrow morning, instead of opening the dishwasher and the drawer in search of the scoop, I just open up the oatmeal container and find these pre-portioned bags happily waiting to be used:Organization Tip: As you go through your daily routines, consider if there are any (perhaps small) ways to make them more efficient.~~~~~~Update: I feel so dumbtastic about being all ‘O look! I came up with a good idea!’ about the baggies thing after reading what Ryley commented below:“OR buy a plastic measuring cup from the dollar store and leave it in there. It could be the OAT scoop!”Hello, WAY easier than pre-scooping and bagging once a week. ::facepalm::This? This is why I have you guys in my life. You’re great. And pretty.

the post about CBC that I wasnt going to write.

My name is Allison Olfelt and I am not a Mormon.However, apparently I was a speaker at a Mormon Blogging Conference last week.I know, it was news to me too. Literal news, in fact, when I read an article in the Desert News titled Mormon moms connect through blogs about the “bloggers, specifically the Mormon mommy variety [that] met in Sandy this weekend for the first-ever Casual Blogger Conference.”Really? Is that what that was?Looking back, I can see why Amelia Nielson-Stowell, the journalist that covered the story, was confused. There were Primary Class (the Latter-Day Saint Church’s name for Sunday School) curriculum and “Family Home Evening” kits being raffled off four feet past the registration desk. I was asked by another attendee if, having grown up in Tualatin, Oregon, I knew “Brother so-n-so” from the neighboring town’s ward.And most glaringly, an eight-minute evangelistic video produced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was aired in front of the entire conference.(I’ll give you a moment to process that.)(.moment.)Yes, I saw what Ms. Nielson-Stowell saw, and it confused me too.When I was asked by the creators of the Casual Blogger Conference if I would be interested in speaking on the Faith in Blogging Panel I was above all else, excited. It was not alarming to me that Mormon Mommy Blogs was one of the sponsors or that its co-creators were also co-founders of the conference. This was not because I have attended the Mormon church for a period of my past (surprise!), but because it was specifically communicated to me that even on the faith panel I was a part of, this conference would not be about religion. I answered with confidence when asked by friends and family if that conference I was speaking at in Utah was “for Mormons”. It was not, I had been assured, so I prepared mentally to discuss spirituality on the internet without getting into specific tenants of my religious practices (as I had been asked).But then, sitting at a table meeting the other members of the ‘faith panel’, many for the first time, I was shocked to hear the plan to air the LDS Church-produced video during our 1 hour session. I swallowed my shock for a moment, but then it bubbled over. I said it. I said that after all the clear communication by the CBC creators that this panel was. not. about. religion., I would have never in a million years felt appropriate playing a promotional video explicitly produced about my religion containing scripture being read by a high ranking authority in my church.I just wouldn’t.It was discussed in some detail, and an hour before the session was to start, the creator of the movie (a full-time employee of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) and I were told by a CBC co-founder to ‘just decide’ if it would be shown or not. Because it is not my place to tell someone else what to do, I went no further than to inform him of my own discomfort with the notion, whether it were my religion or someone else’s being advertised. It didn’t seem to fit with what I had been told was the purpose and message of the panel.Ultimately though, I conceded that the choice was his.And there I was a short time later along with the 300+ attendees, watching all eight minutes of what I will admit is an incredibly beautiful video about how a woman’s Mormon beliefs and her blog intersect. At a ‘non-religious’ conference.After the movie, the creator shared that he and the church hoped that its members would share it with their non-member friends.I was confused, too.I still am.

Cake Wrecks Book Tour Salt Lake City, Utah

If you don’t read Cake Wrecks, YOU NEED TO BE!

It’s been one of my favorite sites for a very long time. I remember the day I first discovered it, I spent HOURS reading the. entire. site. I still can’t get enough of it.

When I saw they were coming to Salt Lake I jumped on the chance to be a featured baker and serve all of their devoted fans.

I got to meet Jen and Jon (the brains behind Cake Wrecks) They were (/are) SO incredibly sweet. And so humble. Loved them. (can you believe I didn’t get a picture with them?? What was I thinking??)

I took this picture of the crowd laughing at hilarious cakes before the room REALLY got full. Boy, it was hot in there..

Have I ever introduced you to the BEST ASSISTANT EVER?!?!

This is Emily.

My Assistant.

I don’t pay her.

But, she loves me anyway.

Most of the time.

But we pay her in free cable.

And all the cup of noodles she can eat.

She loves those things.

But, I wont feed her coconut ice cream again.

Don’t ask.

ahem… Emily..

Cute, right?

This was our table all set up, I wish I had an after picture. It wasn’t pretty.

And the center of attention..

The biggest cupcake I’ve ever seen in my life! It was great…

I loved every second of being there. I met some fantastic people and I just can’t get enough of The King’s English Bookshop. (Plus, this one time, I saw Dooce there!)

p.s. Jen wrote an awesome post on this event too. And took pictures of the wreckplicas. Go check it out!6/29

the sri lankan people, an introduction

She sits on the back wall of the marketplace, pedaling fruits and vegetables that look familiar and those that don’t. She weighs them with experienced, weathered hands on an experienced, weathered scale.He catches our eyes and makes the universal sign for “take a picture”, then his smile brightens when we turn the camera and show him his likeness on a 4 inch screen, standing there amongst his produce. He asks if I want to stand there and sell things, and he’ll take my picture.He whisks us through the store out to the back and shows us eagerly, O so eagerly, how he creates his batik masterpieces. The steps, the wax, the successions of dyes, the batches of colors that are only the same once. The intricate pointillism-like scenes sprawled out on the purest of silks.  This store once employed 300 people, but that was before the war, he says. Now that the conflict has ended, tourism is beginning again. He beams of pride as he wraps our sweet Joy in a sari and tells us that his Sri Lanka, it is coming back.She lights up and quickly tucks her smile behind her arm. She holds our eye contact and the feeling of being enthralled is mutual. Her brother (?) stays stoic, he grandma obliges our request to take their picture.{copyright World Vision, photographer Matthew Paul Turner}He stokes the coals, a preparation for holy sacrifice. Sweat already dripping, he dumps a water bucket over his head. Heat off of the coals wafts toward me occasionally. As close as he is, it must be absolutely stifling.His relief is as evident as the crowd’s. He has crossed the coals, toddler son in arms, the baby that his god gave him and as thanks, he offers this sacrifice. My stomach churns, but I am wonder-eyed at his devotion. I try to see the beautiful in it.{copyright World Vision, photographer Matthew Paul Turner}:: :: :: :: :: ::Today was spent seeing different areas and customs of the people of Sri Lanka. We had several serendipitous travel experiences, such as just happening upon a very, very talented batik artist who did not hesitate to give us a spectacular tour of his studio and production area. And I am not sure if serendipitous is the word for being in a packed crowd of people and then suddenly lunging as a mass to avoid the curved, sharp horns of a free-roaming cow, but there was that today, too. So.Tomorrow we will visit our first Area Development Project (a community where World Vision works and facilitates child sponsorship) and I cannot, cannot, cannot (did I mention cannot?) wait to meet the beautiful babies and children there and to introduce them to you.

Video The Making of Ai Wei Wei's Sunflower Seeds..

"In the political areas  you can see the paintings, all the paintings always have sunflower seeds. Whenever Chairman Mao comes out there are sunflowers around him. That means Chairman Mao is the sun. And those are all the ordinary people who are loyal to the party; are the sunflowers. So sunflowers supported the whole revolution spiritually and in material ways."

via ArtInfo

from pdx w love and satire..

"hope atherton is better than charlie parker." --from portland w/ love scott wayne indiana.

i saw this plaque yesterday on my way to blue bottle in hayes valley to get a glass of their new orleans ice coffee. i was so excited to see this. i had heard about this project, but hadn't seen any yet.

it's a project that was conceived by scott wayne indiana, who is the sweetness behind the horse project, which i wrote about in june. american testimonial is an irrevrent pairing of hot, contemporary media darlings w/influential movers and shakers of the previous century. the hope is that viewers will stop and think twice about who in our society we deem to be important and for why.

personally i find hope atherton, kind of ehhh and jazz just kind of eludes and annoys me. but i like the thought of these two people from completely different areas paradoxically opposed. just another reason why i love san francisco...street art here is thoughtful and dynamic. by the by...there are 19 plaques and they are dispersed amongst 5 cities; new york, minneapolis, la, seattle and our beloved san francisco.

falling down the hole..

so being unemployed, i have had a lot of time on my hands. which is really wonderful. i spend a lot of that time on my lil mac. sometimes hours of that time (eeek). often i have no idea where the time goes. my friend katie calls it falling into a hole..."i fell into the reddit hole", "the superficial hole" or "the fecalface hole". although i love fecal face, the sounds of falling into that hole is a bit graphic and kind of yucky. anyhoo, those are some of the holes katie falls into on a regular basis.

one of my regular holes is: flickr. when i first joined flickr i thought it was just for photographs. you know the kind i'm talking about..."oh hey, nice composition." kind of photographs. which for the most part flickr is for that, however it's also become this great place for artists of all kinds to share and show their work. people post photos of their crafts, murals, embroidery, drawings, street art and art. i could go on and on and on.

it's amazing how many people are on flickr. i get lost for hours looking at all of it. not only are there individuals but there are groups one can join to post your wares. the community is impressive and inspiring. at times i spend so much time looking, leaving comments and perusing people's art that sometimes after i get off the computer i feel like i've been at a party! i'll go and meet my friends for coffee...and i feel like i have so much to say, but i have to remind myself i've only been on the computer for 4 hours!!! or lost in the flickr hole.

recently i stumbled on this woman's page, dwelldeep. i love the simplicity and tenderness of her water colors and drawings. the people, places and things in her drawings are so sweet and heartfelt it really comes across when you look at them.

i think one of the best things about flickr is that artists are able to document their work. you get to actually see where artists are in their craft.recently dwelldeep started a drawing a day.i check everyday to see what wonderful sketch she has come up w/. along w/ the daily drawings there is usually text and her cute happy face poking out from behind the drawings. i find them inspiring and positive. i hope you will as well.

Windows 8 et si Microsoft fabriquait ses propres tablettes

Selon des medias asiatiques, la firme de Steve Ballmer aurait l’intention de profiter de la sortie de Windows 8 pour lancer des tablettes tactiles sous le nom de Microsoft.

C’est le toujours bien informé Digitimes qui lâche l’information : Microsoft aurait contacté Texas Instruments et plusieurs fabricants taiwanais pour leur demander de fabriquer une tablette à son nom. Selon nos confrères, ce périphérique coïnciderait avec la sortie de Windows 8 en 2012.

Interrogé par nos confrères de News.com, Microsoft n’a ni confirmé, ni infirmé cette information. « Nous n’avons rien à dire pour l’instant » a déclaré un porte-parole.
Il n’empêche qu’un tel produit aurait du sens puisqu’il pourrait s’agit du maillon manquant dans la galaxie Microsoft, où l’on trouve une console connectée et des systèmes d’exploitation.

Cependant, il faut rappeler que Microsoft a essuyé quelques échecs retentissants lorsqu’il s’est mis à sortir des produits à son nom. Le Zune et les Kin ont laissé des traces… (EP)

Time lapse video of Mike Maxwell at work..

Time lapse of Mike Maxwell's, painting created over 2 days at The Shooting Gallery in San Francisco, Ca. Thank God for video cameras, you tube and creative spirits.

Jason D'Aquino Shows Curates..

Jason D'Aquino will not only be showing new work on July 10th at Last Rites Gallery, he'll also be curating Lead Poison a group show with a ton of today's hottest talent in the Pop-Surrealist genre. Jason has sent over a few images of work that will be on display, along with a few of his own new pieces. I'm such a fan of his miniature drawings on matchbooks, that I about screamed when I saw his pocket stitch kit (above). Lead Poisoning and Jason's Solo show both open on July 10th and run through July 25, 2010.

Greg 'Craola' Simkins.

One of Jason's phenom miniature matchbooks.

Chris Mars.

Tara McPherson.

Robert Williams.

Another new one from Jason.

Reader LOVE Lucia Fischer..

Reader Lucia Fischer contacted me recently with a sweet hello and photographs. Lucia traveled all over Europe carrying her favorite camera, the Holga, which she playfully refers to as the drifter, the wanderer, the vagabond. With her Holga, Lucia documented cities like Vienna, Hamburg, Venice and Prague giving each picture a haunting vibe. Beautiful.

sunday lazy blogging..

i have a bunch of posts to write for you guys...but alas i'm sipping yummy coffee and glued to my google reader.

i've been fascinated by binary code for a long time. it amazes me that 2 numbers can spell out so much. i saw this tote over on not.cot my new favorite site to zone out on. it says 'fuck you' in binary code, and although i'm really over apathy and overall whatev-ness in today's culture...i think this bag is pretty genius. it sold out on friday, but hopefully they'll have more soon. go here to check obsessively.

yes, Virginia, there is a brand new SuperTarget

It sounded too good to be true. A brand new SuperTarget store mere minutes from our house.A brand new dollar section.Brand new shoe aisles.Brand new home decor area.Brand new accessories display.OBaby insisted we go see it for ourselves (because he simply couldn’t believe it, he said). I obliged, but only under no uncertain terms that I would be purchasing a drink from the in-store Starbucks.(A Starbucks IN a Target?! I KNOW! Understand why OBaby needed to see it with his own eyes? On Earth as it is in Heaven, I tell ‘ya.):: tortoise�shell :::: aviators :::: ferris bueller ::Mind you, it was 50簞 and sunny out the day we partook of that new store smell, so I naturally purchased some new sunglasses. And then I tried other accessories with absolutely zero success.You know those newsboy hats? They’ve been ‘in’ for a while now, so I feel like it’s finally safe for me to approach them (it took me YEARS to buy skinny jeans), but y’all. Me in a trendy hat. It was bad news bears.I tried, I really did, to make the trendy hat work. I actually really like baseball hats on me, so I am bummed that this didn’t work out, but anyway you sliced it, I looked like a train conductor.“Tickets please!”PS: O My CHINS (I blame the baby on board. Yup. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.) Also? Apparently when I squeeze my arms together, my pregnancy chest extends all the way up to my neck.Heaven help me, I will never pose like this ever again.MOVING ON.Boy moms, does this ever happen to you? You’re perfectly content, even in love with the idea of having your little buddy/ies with their boyishness, cargo pants, tendency to disassemble EVERYTHING, and selective deafness for the phrase ‘Please don’t throw that’… until one day when you come upon the girl toddler clothes section at Target.When unexpectedly, �your heart goes pitter-patter-pitter-patter.There they are. The ruffles. The leggings, the sundresses. The miniature versions of outfits I would totally wear.:: pitter-patter-pitter-patter ::I love having boys. I really do… but maybe send an X�chromosome�my way next time, DanO?:: :: :: :: :: ::Thus concludes my ramblings regarding Target. You’re welcome.