Friday Links (Fancy Dress Party Edition)

A determined soul will do more with a rusty monkey wrench than a loafer will accomplish with all the tools in a machine shop.
- Robert Hughes

Boy golly. I just got thrown another wrench, ducklings. Although this is largely a good wrench it is still necessary to recalibrate some plans – which is rather turning out to be my constant state of existence these days. Details about this good wrench to follow pending some scheduling and finalization. My we’ve gotten secretive here at Small Dog Headquarters!

Anyway, I’m editing more website copy and banging out a last minute press release and then reveling in a marathon phone call with Marie. Tomorrow Margot is throwing herself a going away party with dinner and drinks at a favorite restaurant and then going to see what Peregrine called “THE STUPID FLAPPER MOVIE, YAY!” Long pearl necklaces and dark makeup encouraged.

This hotel. “I want to go to there.” American hotels make a big song and dance about their continental breakfasts – usually consisting of stale donuts, separated juices, and crumbly cereal. A real continental breakfast (on the actual European continent) is a magnificent thing by contrast. I can’t wait to have one again.

I may not be a fashion maven, but I am a beauty junkie. No. Honestly I’m not even that. But if it came down to choosing between good clothes and flawless skin, I’d take the latter every single time. And a tube of really good red lipstick.

First Richard III and now this, all archeologists should probably report to British car parks immediately, quite possibly just in Leicester. (And of course I get Douglas Adams stuck in my head for the rest of the day. “The car park! What are you doing in the car park?” “Parking cars, what else, dumb dumb?”)

Here’s a tribute to one of the masters of stop motion animation. Which, since it produced Wallace and Gromit (among other great wonders) I will hear not a word against. That plus Jason and the Argonauts is another childhood favorite that everyone needs to see.

Know your insult.

Margot’s throwing a 20′s themed going away bash tomorrow: dinner, drinks, and The Great Gatsby. Tiffany designed several pieces of jewelry for the film and apparently there was an intense amount of security on set. Lots of it isn’t my favorite, but I admit that Daisy’s diamond headband is so unbelievably over the top that I kind of love it.

People. People! Like any other app or site it’s a tool. I don’t have Pinterest angst, but I can see how people can get it by forgetting that it’s a tool and thinking it’s a competition. (Which can sum up a lot of life and cultural problems, frankly.)

How cool.

Commiseration

“I’m out for more clients. Which makes me sound like a hooker. Great.”
“Nothing wrong with the world’s oldest profession!  My assignments often include solicitation letters, so…”
– C. and Beth ponder the virtue of their pens

We did family photos with J.’s clan a while back and we just got the proofs. A few thoughts:

The camera does add 10 lbs, even after you’ve lost 20.

I am white as a ghost and probably should learn something about bronzer for future photo ops

Makeup in general NOT heavy enough.

For the first time in photos I feel like I look my age, as opposed to 5-10 years younger, I can’t tell if I’m a fan of that or not.

My sisters-in-law are gorgeous and gorgeously photogenic.

I believe sincerely in eye cream.

Holy cow. I’m short. I mean, duh, but seriously. My 11 year old niece is nose high! Heels next time, I think.

By All Means, Let Us Observe Tradition

“What do you want?”
“Just coffee. Black – like my soul.”
― Cassandra Clare, City of Bones

I scribble this to you, kittens, from a largely empty Starbucks after dropping J. off at work and limping towards an extra sugary hot chocolate to make my early wake up time worth it. I have become one of those coffee house freelancers… how quickly we sink to cliche! It’s vaguely depressing. But then again, that may just be the Monday talking.

Mothers’ Day

An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy.
-Spanish Proverb

My mother, as has been established, is certifiably awesome.

Some of my favorite memories with her have been the day trips we took together, when I finally got out of the twerpy teenager phase and could really appreciate them. When we lived in Belgium she and I went down to Versailles together overnight, just the two of us, just because. We also wandered through Antwerp, Ghent, and Brugges. In the UK we did Cambridge regularly. It was great fun and I didn’t appreciate them close to enough at the time.

But I’m going to make darn sure I do the same with my spawn. Those hours or days, just the two of us that she carved out just to be with me, we’re just extended “I Love Yous” with hyper impressive scenery.

Maman à Versailles.

So, just in case I didn’t say it enough then, I love you back, Mum.

Friday Links (Every Day I’m Hustlin’ Edition)

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
― Confucius

I have neglected you. In my defense I have been editing/tweaking website copy, knocking together an article for a Hawaiian magazine, and creating blogs and posts for DC startups. I’m literally working one end of the country to the other! That and the cold that plagued me for all of April decided to make a return visit, much to my irritation. Here are your links, tell me what you’re up to this weekend!

In honor of both Friday and that Jazz Age movie, you may have heard of it, that I can’t decide if I want to see in theatres or not.

 

Loved this short article from Elle. I’ve been thinking a lot about clothes the past year. We’ve invested in building Jeff’s new work wardrobe and I’ve been paring mine down to get rid of old, worn, or out of date pieces. I read a book that really made me rethink my clothing choices and have since been looking to build a wardrobe of high quality clothing that will last long, wear well, and age appropriately – which feels ridiculously difficult in an age of fast fashion to start, compounded by the fact that at my heart I am a jeans and t-shirts kind of girl. I’ve fought it, but there it is. I can do that or a little black dress, but precious little in between with aplomb. It’s a work in process.

…I’m listening…

It may be the packing, storing, shifting, and donating – it could definitely be the nearer and nearer move – but whatever the reason, I’ve got decor on the brain. And assuming that all of our funds will go to rent itself, decorating will probably have to be all imaginary, alas, and we’ll use crates for furniture. Which is where cute pieces like this come in.

This pinterest board exists. You’re welcome.

This week I used coding for the first time for a freelance project. It was laughably simple and small but boy I felt my face light up as it made sense. Then I read this article and tumbled straight back down a well of inadequacy.

Fascinating.

Indiana Jones meets the Wind in the Willows. I know everyone knows them as pests, but I always found it funny to come outside in the morning, when my family lived in the English country and see mounds of dirt that had sprung up overnight from moles tunneling away. The dog would go crazy trying to dig down into them.

Loved this. It’s important.

And the winner of headline of the week is…

Fun for travelers and global enthusiasts a like!

*Snort. Yeah, I can see it.

Friday Links (Working Girl Edition)

“Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

(via)

Well beloved minions! It’s my first Friday as a totally self employed woman and do you know – it kinda rocks. I’m still busy beyond belief, I’m still scrambling around, but the projects I’m working on are fantastic, the experience is already leaps and bounds ahead of where I was, and I’m learning all sorts of new programs, ticks, and skills.

The pay is small, the hours irregular, and the projects all completely unrelated. It’s bloody incredible! I should have gone for full time freelancing years ago! I’ve got a couple of clients that I’m doing virtual assisting for (one of them none other than incredible and incredibly prolific Caitlin Kelly!) doing everything from research, to editing, to press releases, to social media, and now on to professional networking and branding. It’s a brilliant apprenticeship! Once I get all my current projects well handled, I’ll start sending out more pitches of my own and see where I can go.

Here are you links, kittens. Even in the midst of this sea of change you know I’d never forget your need for a little light Friday reading. Let me know what you’re up to this weekend.

In case you haven’t seen it.

Librarians are awesome.

Busy as I am, I know of no one who’s this desperate. Although frankly who knows what our space in London will be like so maybe I need to look into it.

This brings back some mighty fun memories. King Mendenbar for me, please, and Edward Cullen can take a flying leap for all I care. (And with that I’ve lost a significant percentage of my audience…remember this is a safe “team” space, everyone!)

I admit it, I am somewhat conflicted about many Disney films for these very reasons.

Visions of the future from the past.

This made the rounds across media a couple of weeks ago, but I don’t think I shared it anywhere. And it very much needs to be shared.

I was a good kid who didn’t get pregnant, do drugs, or generally mess up. You’re welcome, siblings. (More importantly you’re also welcome, parents.)

Here’s a great article about the role that dance played in women’s liberation in the 1920s – possibly my favorite decade.

One of The Girls works at Colonial Williamsburg, which means I get archeological gossip before it hits the presses (the delights of historical nerdiness!) so I’ve been sitting on this one for about a week. Which is morbidly hilarious because it’s long been established in the courts of historical gossip, to say nothing of the historical record, to be true, but now they have proof, alas for those who have dismissed it as slur and slander all these years! Being an adopted Virginia girl, we learned about the Starving Time in school, but I suspect it’s often left out of other history books. Suffice it to say, looking back, I really do marvel that the US ever materialized, the odds against it at every turn were astronomical.

Freedom!

The difference between a job and a career is the difference between forty and sixty hours a week.
~Robert Frost

A pictorial account of my day, thanks to an utterly fictitious account of William Wallace:

Leaving the office:

Huzzah!

Getting home, turning on my computer to view my freelancing and personal task list, which has doubled:

Wait…

The universe:

Condescending Wonka Robert the Bruce meme.

There’s no rest for the wicked, kittens! (Serious post forthcoming, but first I have stuff to do!)