More than just a well designed map… get a really cool insiders’ guide to the City by the Bay!

-Ruthlessly edited to present only the most standout places in the city. We chose restaurants run by perfectionists who really care about their food, and truly understand hospitality.

-In addition to restaurants, the guide will tell you about hidden bars, the best view in the entire bay area, walking tours, underground dinner clubs, and a public park 15 stories up.

Everyone who purchases a copy gets access to our Twitter Concierge, who can do everything from reservations to recommendations, and is there to help with anything else that might come up while you’re exploring the city.

Via Boing Boing

I’d love to put together a collaged set, featuring our road trip… or my fav NY pictures… or maybe our prints… or Orignaux… I can’t choose!

Via Design Milk

New banner on the Etsy Shop, too! :D

And, on a related P&R note: support Leslie Knope 2012!

Via The Mary Sue

I briefly posted about this project before, and a few of these have gone up in the shop, but there’s really nothing like having the whole set complete and seeing it all, as a whole.




The collection took about 5 months, from beginning to end (with a couple of breaks, here and there). The time it took to complete each piece ranged from a couple of days to a couple of weeks, depending on the size and sewing technique I used. Sizes vary from 8″x10″ to 24″x36″. All the base landscape and still-life paintings were found at flea markets or garage & yard sales; half came with frames and half did not. I have no idea how much embroidery floss I went through, but many, many thanks to Cyd and my Aunt Betsy who supplied me with an overabundance it!

I hope to be able to put on a show soon (we had one planned for this upcoming First Friday, but those plans sadly fell through). Until then, you can view higher quality photos and detail shot on our Flickr stream! Now, on to more projects!

For now, enjoy this: today’s entry in NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day of NGC 3239 and SN 2012A.

About 40,000 light-years across, pretty, irregular galaxy NGC 3239 lies near the center of this lovely field of galaxies in the galaxy rich constellation Leo. At a distance of only 25 million light-years it dominates the frame, sporting a peculiar arrangement of structures, young blue star clusters and star forming regions, suggesting that NGC 3239 (aka Arp 263) is the result of a galaxy merger. Appearing nearly on top of the pretty galaxy is a bright, spiky, foreground star, a nearby member of our own Milky Way galaxy almost directly along our line-of-sight to NGC 3239. Still, NGC 3239 is notable for hosting this year’s first confirmed supernova, designated SN 2012A. It was discovered early this month by supernova hunters Bob Moore, Jack Newton, and Tim Puckett. Indicated in a cropped version of the wider image, SN 2012A is just below and right of the bright foreground star. Of course, based on the light-travel time to NGC 3239, the supernova explosion itself occurred 25 million years ago, triggered by the core collapse of a massive star.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Saturday: Our neighbor and friend, Pam, took Jack, Cyd and me to breakfast at The Dolphin at the very tip on the Wharf. We checked out the free membership day at MakersFactory (3D printing and lazer cutting!) and then wandered around downtown, talking to shops about First Fridays. We then did some grocery shopping and cooking for our “soup swap” on Sunday. Jack and his mom made some delicious corn chowder and minestrone, and I made some labels!

Sunday: Soup Swap at our new friends’, Jess & Brian’s, place. We ate, drank, mingled and walked away with a ton of great soups; I’m eager to try them all! It’s a really fun idea for a party, and we’re very much looking forward to the next one!

Via Shiny Squirrel