Why the Silence

At this time, after a rather long absence, I feel the need to explain why I sometimes disappear from the blogosphere. In addition to starting a new job and moving to a new place, which has kept me busy the past few weeks, this is what usually leads me to go quiet:
1. I try to avoid unfiltered drivel. There are plenty of times I have thoughts that I think might be blog-worthy, but sometimes those thoughts are never written because they don't make it through the filter. One example is the list of status updates I never want to read on Facebook (but so often do). It would probably offend too many people, and I would come off looking quite negative and judgmental. So, don't ask for the list; you're not going to get it.
2. I try to present fully formed thoughts. I am an introvert, which means I don't work out ideas by talking/writing about them. I like to think things through before presenting things—in a blog as well as in a work meeting and other situations. Sometimes an idea just doesn't get fully developed before I decide it's not worth posting, and I don't think you want to read my half-formed ideas or mindless ramblings.
3. This is not a journal. Many people use their blogs as journals, but I don't share every emotion or every fact of my life in the public sphere. I have no problem with those who do, but it's not for me. (See comment above about being an introvert.) I could share exciting events or facts about my life, but by it's very nature, this blog contains musings. I try not to share pictures of a family vacation without some sort of thoughtful or amusing commentary or daily anecdotes without some pithy response. (At least that's my attempt.)
4. Too many words. I work with words professionally, and sometimes it's hard to deal with more words at the end of the day after coming home from a day's work. The video here is exactly how I feel sometimes—"Never ever do I want to hear another word. There isn't one I haven't heard." In saying so, let me be clear—I love being an editor, and I love working with words, but an occasional break is always nice.
5. Sincerity. Because I don't blog for a living, I don't blog when I'm not in the mood. I feel sincerity is the key to good writing, and if I'm not feeling it, I'm not going to write it.

So, I hope to finish up some past drafts and post on the blog in the next little while. Thanks for coming back (those that still do) despite my irregular posting habits!

Domestic Fail

Image: Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When I was 8 or 9 years old, I was in a little cooking 4H club. My mom and aunt were the leaders, and there were girls in the club from the neighborhood. My sister and cousin were also in the club. It was a great experience—I still remember the importance to leveling dry ingredients with a straight edge, how to boil eggs to avoid the green ring on the yoke, and why it's good to combine all dry ingredients before adding them to the rest of the mixture.

The culmination of our little club was entering a baked good into the county fair. I made lemon bars from the old Lion House cookbook, and I received a blue ribbon. I still remember being very proud of those lemon bars. I could conquer the world if I could make those. I've had a lot of baking and cooking successes and failures over the years, but overall, I consider myself fairly adept at cooking.

Fast forward to today: I'm in a book club that's meeting tonight. We're discussing Stargirl (which I've loved since the first time I read it). One of the most vivid memories from that book is the description of Stargirl's yellow dress when she goes to the school dance. I thought lemon bars would be the perfect treat to take. (Because they're yellow. Get it?)

I set out this afternoon to make said lemon bars from the updated version of the Lion House cookbook. After they cooled a little bit, I tried them to see how they were. Let me tell you, they were a classic failure. They didn't cook long enough and the lemon flavor was too strong (it wasn't sweet enough). In looking back, I'm sure it's my fault for two reasons:

1. Lemon rind vs. lemon peel
The recipe called for "lemon rind." I'm no professional cook, but isn't the rind the peel? After a quick Google search, it seems some are of the opinion that the rind is the peel and others think it is the white part just under the peel. If it's the white part under the peel, I don't know how you get to it without using the yellow part of the peel. Well, I included some yellow and white part to cover my bases, but maybe it was too much. I was supposed to do the rind of one lemon. Maybe my lemon was too large, or maybe I shouldn't have included any of the white part. (Any help from cooks more professional than I would be greatly appreciated.)

2. I don't understand large time ranges
I was supposed to cook the lemon bars for "18 to 25 minutes." Is it strange to anyone else that there's a seven-minute range? What does that mean? You can't exactly do a toothpick test on lemon bars because they're too gooey. How do you know when they're done? I left them in for almost the entire 25 minutes, but after cooling, I tried to cut them, and they were totally soupy. Clearly, whatever time I cooked them for wasn't enough.

I'm not sure what all of this says about my cooking skills. It could be that my nine-year-old self was a much better cook than my current self. Or maybe my nine-year-old self was a good cook under the close supervision of my mother (who will always be the epitome of domesticity to me).

I could probably make some obvious reference to a saying about what to do when life gives you lemons, but I won't. Instead, I have just one thing to say about this experience: this website makes me feel so much better about my life.

Bouquets of Sharpened Pencils

I love fall. I understand that by so saying, some people may label me a heretic, but while some people are soaking up every last ray of summer sun left at this time of year, I start yearning for the signs of fall.

While many also insist you must live and enjoy the present (which I try to do), I think there's something to be said for having something to look forward to. So on this 20th of August, I hereby present the reasons I am looking forward to fall this year (and every year):

Image: Arvind Balaraman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

School. This is the first year since 2009 I won't be starting classes for fall semester. While there were a few years before my graduate degree that I wasn't attending school, I will miss walking around campus and enjoying the novelty of a new textbook. (I realize few people love looking through a new textbook, but with an undergrad in English, it was exciting to see the novels for the semester.) Perhaps this year, I will need to read a new book to keep the feeling going.

Fall leaves. I know I should appreciate the summer foliage. After all, I never realize how green the world is until a winter of barrenness melts into the budding green of spring. However, I love the fall colors. Nothing brings a smile to my face like kicking my feet through a muss of fallen maple leaves.

Image: Adam Hickmott / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Crisp air. I love not having to wear any sort of outerwear in the summer, but by the time September comes, I'm excited to feel that first crispness in the air that makes your cheeks flush (but not freeze like January). I love the first time I can see my breath on a crisp morning.

Image: foto76 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

New beginnings. Perhaps it's because the new school year starts in the fall, but the idea of new beginnings in September are permanently etched in my mind. I always see the fall as a time to start something new or to reflect on how my life has changed or improved since the last fall. Maybe it's just the general sentiment of change—the weather, nature, and my wardrobe.

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Holidays. Fall denotes the beginning of the big holidays to me: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Those holidays have always been the big ones in my family, and I love gathering with family. There are so many great things to celebrate, and as the dun of winter approaches, I love having these happy times to look forward to.

So now, of course, I feel like sending everyone I know a bouquet of sharpened pencils.

The power of positive thinking

So, I'm sitting here doing a little bit of work and sucking on cough drops to avoid having an uncontrollable coughing attack in the middle of the library. You know the attacks I'm talking about—they come on only when it's most inconvenient: in the middle of Sacrament meeting (preferably during a prayer), in a library, in an interview, or any other place you hope beyond hope that your throat won't betray you at exactly the wrong time.

But I digress. As I took out a cough drop, I noticed the wrapper has many motivational statements printed on it, which include:
- Seize the day.
- Buckle down and push forth!
- Nothing you can't handle.
- Take charge and mean it.
- Be unstoppable.
- Power through!
This has me wondering what the purpose of these messages is. At first, I thought, is Halls trying to be like Dove? But then I thought, they must be tapping into the power of positive thinking! The dear, thoughtful Halls manufacturers are trying to help the weary and cough-ridden by telling them to "power through" that cough! You can do it! "Take charge [of that cough] and mean it!"

I have yet to see the benefits of these statements, but hey, maybe I'll try "power[ing] through" next time I'm doubled over, with tears running down my cheeks, from the incurable tickle in my throat.

Beautiful things: Angela Liguori

I have a lot of things I need to be doing (and should be doing), but instead, I'm taking a break to look at beautiful things. Ever since working for Creating Keepsakes, I have been in love with different stationery, paper, and fabric. One of my favorite parts of being an editor there was seeking out unique materials to feature in the magazine. For a year, I wrote a column that featured four different products that could be used in paper crafting. We often had different companies send us different products to consider for the magazine. I remember Angela Liguori sending some beautiful ribbon to be considered, and I loved it.

When I talked on the phone with Angela, she was so sweet to talk to and gave me so much great information on her Italian ribbon, and I could tell she had a passion for book binding.

 

 I recently ran across her website again, and I fell in love with her cards. I love the vintage stamps on these:

Aren't they lovely? And, of course, I love anything letterpress:

Hooray for beautiful things (and time to discover them)! You can find more of Angela's products at her shop website, which is where all of these images came from.

Know your limits

How did I miss this before getting more education? Now it's too late—all I can do is hang my head in shame and avoid dinner parties.

New blog

So, I just started a new blog. It's true. Maybe it's that I miss discussing different aspects of media with my grad school friends, but I've learned a lot about media over the past couple years, and I feel the need to let my opinion be known. Now every time I hear someone at Church or elsewhere say, "You just can't trust the media" or some iteration of that phrase, where "media" is always bad and is always one large entity, I am slightly annoyed. Another reason for starting the blog is to help people understand that "the media" is not always bad.

I didn't start out graduate school with the intent to study Mormons and the media, but the fates led me to that topic, so my research has a Mormon spin to it. Because of that, the blog is from a "Mormon's" perspective. Don't worry—it's not the I-know-everything type of blog or the preachy-call-to-repentance type of blog. It's just a collection of my thoughts and musings regarding media.

If you're interested, here it is. If you're not, feel free to pretend you never read this blog post, and we'll all go on our merry way. And for you grad school friends—feel free to share your insights, or write a guest post! I'd love it.

Oblivion in Text

I have the talent (and yes, I consider it a talent) of being able to block out my surroundings when I need to focus on something or work on something without interruption. I've been known in the past to not respond to others around me until they say my name repeatedly because I'm concentrating on something else. This comes in handy as an editor and writer—I can forget whatever is going on around me and focus on the words (prospective employers, please take note). This helps me have complete concentration on something for a long period of time. 

As the saying goes, every virtue has its vice, and this uncanny ability to concentrate results in humorous situations sometimes. One of those happened today. I was in Provo at the HBLL doing some research for a professor when I received this text from my brother, who is also a student at BYU:
- Hey, how's Provo?

My confused response to him was this:

- Fine. Why? How do you know I'm here? Where are you?

His reply:

- Sitting right next to you.

I looked up, and sitting at the table right next to me was my brother, laughing at me. As we talked, we had both apparently been sitting next to each other for over 30 minutes before he noticed. I had even gotten up to borrow a book from the reference desk while he was sitting there. 

Well, at least I got a lot done, right?

The Best Valentine Ever

From my 8-year-old nephew. I guess he's in that "love is gross" phase.

Uncertainty Reduction

In recent weeks, I have devoted my time to studying for my master's degree's comprehensive exams. It's a pass-and-you-graduate or fail-and-you-don't graduate situation. It's also a show-everything-you've-learned-over-1.5-years-in-4-hours situation. No pressure, right? I can't even count the number of hours I've spent reading and rereading, and quizzing and being quizzed on inordinate amounts of material. (I still remember that the theory of planned behavior was introduced by Fishbein and Ajzen, despite it not being one of my main theories, and I blame Katie and Lincoln for that completely.)

In that time, I became reacquainted with uncertainty reduction theory. While it also wasn't on my list of main theories to focus on for comps, I've been thinking a lot about it lately. The basis of the theory is that people communicate in order to reduce the uncertainty between them. For example, a person may wish to know someone's political affiliation before beginning a tirade about an elected official, so they ask questions and look for reactions about political views before deciding how to approach the subject at hand. In fact, many communication scholars believe the whole purpose of communication is to negotiate difference—if we all thought and acted exactly the same, there would be no need to communicate.

I feel like my life is one big practice in uncertainty reduction. I'm a planner and I don't like uncertainty, and so my way of reducing the uncertainty in my life is to make a plan for how things will go. There have been many uncertain times in my life, and some have resolved exactly as I planned while others couldn't have turned out differently. While I strongly believe everything always works out for the best, I still struggle with uncertainty.

And yet, here I am again, faced with uncertainty—this time in the form of where I'm going to end up working, and the corollary to that: where I'm going to end up living. I hope both will be places I'll be for a good long time because I'm tired of moving or otherwise changing my life situation every few years. Stability is a good thing, and little by little, I'm working to reduce the little uncertainties in my life to achieve that.

Portrait of a College Library Patron

In the past 1.5 years, I've spent more hours in the good ol' Harold B. Lee Library than I'd like to admit. Over these months, I have observed many different library types or personalities. Because random ideas like this come to me when I should be working on other things, I'll share with you my findings. As I said, these findings come from hours of qualitative, ethnographic observation, so they cannot be generalized to a larger population:

The Dramatic Typist 
This is the person who, even though she is using a laptop with quiet keyboard, pounds the life out of the keys while typing what seems to be a very important paper. Many people go quietly on their way, and type quietly on their way, but this person prefers all in their general vicinity to know they are working under a deadline by making more noise than the guy snoring at the next table. And that brings me to my next type—

The Sleeper 
In my undergraduate days, I was all about the quick nap in the library. After all, 5 hours of sleep every night is hardly sustainable. I don't sleep in the library anymore, but many people do. My favorite version of this species is what I call the "Sleeper-non-Studier." These are the people who plop down at a table, and without so much as unzipping their backpack, fall asleep at the table. I have seen the phenomenon more times than I can count. Then, if you're having a good day, you'll see this same person, wake up with a jolt (usually with a string of spit from the table to their mouth) and leave the library in a rush. Keep in mind the backpack has still not been unzipped. Those poor, underutilized books in that poor, zipped-up backpack. These people seem to be oblivious to the main purpose of a college library. Speaking of oblivious . . .

The Blissful and Clueless
These are the people who merrily skip into the BYU stereotype of the student in love. Yes, these are those boyfriends and girlfriends who, beyond the annoying PDA, share a chair (despite there being an abundance of chairs available), whisper loudly to each other while their neglected books remain uncracked (those poor forgotten textbooks), share headphones while catching up on their Hulu shows together, and exchange googly-eyed looks with each other. Let's just remember this all goes on with 35–70 other people in their near vicinity who are all trying to ignore the annoying couple in the middle of the room.

The Socializer
These people come to the library to hang out with friends or roommates, or to find a date. The girls show up in their 4-inch Jimmy Choos (how anyone can wear 4-inch heals around campus baffles me), freshly applied lip gloss—and that on-the-hunt look in their eyes as they espy the table with the best-looking guy(s).
These are also the folks who sit eight to a table meant for four simply because they can't leave anyone out—except their poor textbooks, which still never get opened. This can also include guys who ask for help on simple Microsoft Word functions merely to get a date. (I may or may not have personal experience with this one.)


The Fidgeter
The fidgeter is among the most interesting library species. They hum to the music they're listening to, sway back and forth for no apparent reason, tap their pencil on the table, jiggle their legs to cause the entire table to shake, and mutter nonsense to themselves. They generally seem to be oblivious to the socially acceptable practice of library patronage—namely, to make yourself as inconspicuous as possible so others can concentrate on their studies. 

The Food Rebel 
It is a truth universally acknowledged that food is not allowed in the library. Recently, the HBLL has opened a snack zone where *gasp* food is allowed. For centuries, people have been sneaking in full pizzas in pizza boxes*, bowls of spaghetti*, tuna sandwiches*, and burned popcorn* to get them through their long study sessions. And for some reason, these furtive foodies must eat these items somewhere besides the approved snack area. Perhaps it's the thrill of the unapproved act that leads them do such acts, but I will probably never know for sure.
*I have seen or smelled each of these personally in my library experience.

While there are other library species, these are among the most prevalent and interesting in my recent experience.

Christmas Gift Guide

I love a good gift guide this time of year. There's nothing to get you in the holiday spirit like a list of completely useless items. So, here you have 2010's gift guide, with something for everyone on your list:

For the dyslexic on your list (to realize they're not the only ones who misspell words): The Great Typo Hunt.

For the vegetarian on your list (to keep an open mind): My First Bacon.

For any man in my family (I don't think any explanation is necessary if you were aware of the recent mustache-growing contest): the Mustache glass

For the opera lover (to feel a part of the next performance): the Viking hat

For the Mr. Rumsfeld (to keep an eye on any Klopeks in the neighborhood): Night vision goggles

For the person who pretends they like to read (to avoid the insincere "thanks" when receiving a real book): the book dummy

This, of course, is only a few of the many wonderfully useless gifts you could give this year, so feel free to share links to you own useless-gift finds.

10 things I've learned from graduate school (so far)

1. Professors need to be careful with teaching students theories of persuasion—the students may (read: "will") find a relevant application in class sooner rather than later.
2. You can safely blame the media for all of society's problems.
3. You can safely credit the media for all that's going right in the world.
4. There is no such thing as time, space, or reality.
5. Professors are our friends, and they want to help.
6. It's amazing how much you can get done around the house when procrastinating writing a paper.
7. Parasocial interaction has nothing to do with paranormal activity (sadly).
8. It's not okay to flirt with your professor—ever, ever, ever, ever, ever. (This seems like common sense, but you'd be surprised about some people.)
9. When a professor says, "You look like a grad student," it doesn't mean you look smart; it means you look tired and/or stressed.
10. After telling a professor you're not planning to pursue a Ph.D. and he/she says, "What a waste of a brain," he/she means that as a compliment.

Dream a Little Dream

So, last night I had a dream that the family and I went to a U2 concert. It was pretty amazing because we had incredible seats that were about 20 feet away from Bono. So in between songs, we would all just casually shoot the breeze with him and other members of the band. The greatest part of this dream was the location of the concert—in the thriving metropolis of Emery, Utah. I'm pretty sure it's a sign that on the U.S. leg of their 360 tour they will add in a show in Emery and we'll host them at the Emery house for their stay. After all, it's got a shower now!

Mass Hysteria

There are generally two schools of thought in language studies: grammarians who believe language should be governed by a set of rules instituted by a group of experts and disseminated to the masses. And then there are linguists who believe language usage should be governed the common man who speaks the language. For all those linguists in this world who believe our language needs no expert governing, I offer just one counter argument: parents naming their children.

I believe the state of baby-naming in our country is in utter chaos. Why is it parents think they need to be "creative" when naming their child? Even if a child has a normal name, like "Amy," it's spelled something like "Aymiee." No, really. After looking through a list of ridiculous names with my roommate, a junior-high teacher, I've decided parents are deliberately trying to make their children's lives difficult. Don't get me wrong: if a name is unusual because it comes from a different culture or is popular in a different language, I see no problem with that. I also see no problem with names that are a little unusual but are spelled phonetically, such as my own name (really, how hard can it be to pronounce "Maurianne"?). I just don't agree with strange new names or old names with ridiculous spellings.

Are these the people we want making decisions about how normal words are spelled, pronounced, or linked together to form sentences? I shutter to think. If those who name their children with reckless abandon (such as "Aliviyah") had control of any communication to the masses, I'm afraid we would have a true crisis on our hands. In fact, maybe we need a list of approved spellings for names. That way people who know nothing about phonetics or history of names can't mess up their children's lives by giving them names that are impossible to pronounce at first glance. Where's Samuel Johnson when you need him?

The New Grub Street

So, there's been talk for the past few years about journalists needing a license in order to practice journalism. There are debates on both sides of the issue, but the latest, from a senator in Michigan has me dumbfounded. What I find interesting is that his reasoning for journalists to have a license is to ensure journalists are credible and, as the article quotes him, to ensure they have "good moral character." I'm not sure what a license will do for morals. As we've seen the past few years, a CPA exam doesn't mean accountants will always act with moral conviction, and we all know the reputation of many lawyers, despite passing the Bar exam. Let's not even talk about the lack of licenses for politicians, such as the one proposing this bill, and the power they wield in governing this country. In fact, it's an affront to the profession of journalism. How many organizations have an official code of ethics, like the Society for Professional Journalists? How many college programs of study include a course in ethics? Nearly all journalism programs do. In my mind, that argument just doesn't fly.

Another reason this politician gives is that media apparently is in a state of utter chaos. Apparently no one can differentiate between legitimate news sources and those that spout mindless drivel and lies. I think he should have a little more faith in the judgment of the population in general. In fact, many people are concerned about "citizen journalists" who take it upon themselves to report the news when they have no credibility as a journalist. The proliferation of bloggers, online start-up news organizations, etc. reminds me of what was known as Grub Street in 18th-century London. After freedom of the press was established in London, a proliferation of new writers began writing and publishing because it was easier to do. Much of what was published was of low quality and many lies were also published. Because of it, Grub Street came to have a bad reputation as housing writers whose writing can't be taken seriously. Eventually, as often happens, the market righted itself, and the best writing and writers rose to the top.

I have a theory that we are now experiencing a new "Grub Street." Since the Internet has made publishing even easier than before, many people have decided to publish their views and "news" online. However, the cream always rises to the top. The intelligent, respected, and thoughtful bloggers and citizen journalists rise by gaining a following and reputation. Serious news sources become popular by their quality of news coverage and commentary. In my opinion, all of this worry about citizen journalists and lack of credibility is unnecessary. As the Internet matures, the new Grub Street will right itself, and the best, most credible journalists will rise to the top no matter where they come from or where they publish.

So, take a deep breath, Senator Patterson. Credible journalism isn't dying, so there's no need to create a government-controlled press. We still believe in the First Amendment; we're not China, and from the beginning, a free press has been necessary as the proverbial watchdog of government.

In honor of St. Patrick's day

Some simple dating advice

To those seeking sound dating advice.

Can Mercy Rob Justice?

So instead of working on the midterms I need to be writing, I've got some other things on my mind. This afternoon instead of holding one of my classes, my professor suggest we attend a rough-cut screening of Helen Whitney's new film on forgiveness. It was just the first of two parts of the film. The second part of the film is actually being screened at the University of Utah on Sunday. Because I haven't seen the second part of the film, I can't judge it positively or negatively because I haven't seen the conclusion. The portion I saw was, as she described, meant to create more questions than answers. One main question asked seemed to be, is forgiveness necessary, and is it always good?

Throughout the film, I saw example after example of people who either used forgiveness to cope with a situation or denied forgiveness and sought healing elsewhere for a wrong done to them. It was all very interesting, and it was interesting to see what she decided to portray. Religion was mentioned, and the ubiquity of forgiveness in the modern age--whether sincere or not--was an interesting concept addressed as well.

The whole time, I was thinking how interesting it is to listen to intellectuals grapple with philosophical ideas in a secular context that are often seen primarily in religion. These concepts, such as forgiveness, often become so complex and abstruse. I think it's also interesting that many think if you look at a complex problem through the eyes of religion, you are just being naive. I think that's evidence of the secularism in today's society, but that's another discussion for another day. Helen Whitney had some interesting insights, and I'm not trying to diminish that. However, the whole time I just kept thinking about what Alma said: "What, do ye suppose that mercy can rob justice?" We know the answer to that question is no, because then God would cease to be God.

That then brings up one of the great paradox of scripture: mercy vs. justice. I think philosophy exists solely to explore the complexities in the many paradoxes of the world. While the scriptures contain many, we don't value them for their complexity, but for their simplicity (such as the concept of losing oneself in order to finding oneself). For example, the paradox of justice and mercy is easily simplified by understanding that the Atonement of Jesus Christ fulfills the law of justice while still handing mercy to the sinner and sinned against. While many quotes explain this well, I particularly like this one from Elder Scott:
"The demands of justice for broken law can be satisfied through mercy, earned by your continual repentance and obedience to the laws of God. His mercy pays our debt to justice when we repent and obey Him."

It sounds to me like, you can't have mercy without justice, and you can't really have justice without mercy. It just doesn't work that way. So, where does that leave forgiveness? It seems the only real ubiquity about forgiveness is that it's necessary. Always. Perhaps the concept isn't as abstruse as those philosophers think.

Inspire Me

So, I'm not very good at updating regularly these days. But I came across a list of my most inspiring websites the other day. When I worked for CK, I regularly visited these sites for inspiration in writing and concepting articles, and there's something about beautiful things (like beautiful fabric) that makes me happy. So without further ado, here they are:
Amy Atlas Events (and blog): beautiful party food displays by one amazingly talented woman
Amy Butler: beautiful fabric and designs
Anna Maria Horner (and blog): beautiful fabric and sewing projects
Dear Lizzy: a blog by a genuinely sweet and talented woman I used to work with
Design Sponge: great home decor design ideas and inspiration
Oh Joy!: lots of fun fashion and color inspiration
Heather Bailey (and blog): fun, brightly colored fabric and sewing projects
Hostess with the Mostess (and blog): an idea for every party
Lotta Jansdotter: fun, beautiful things by a talented artist
The Martha Blog: okay, her reality is few people's reality, but her blog is kid-of fun. Trust me.
Orla Kiely: very fun patterns and things
The Paper Princess: the cutest vintagey paper products I've ever seen
Print and Pattern: paper and stationery inspiration with a European feel
The Purl Bee: Purl Soho's inspiring blog
The Ribbon Jar: Any and all ribbon you've ever wanted can be found here
The Rockstar Diaries: a recent find; fun and random stories from an east-coast couple (also check out her beautiful headbands)
Sandi Henderson (and blog): more fun fabric and designs
Sarah Jane Studios: lots of adorable artwork, especially for children
Shabby Apple: the cutest dresses you'll ever see
Style Me Pretty: don't think I'm a wedding-obsessed single girl for this one; it's got fantastic letterpress ideas, beautiful color palettes, and amazing photography (really)
Your Heart Out: fun updates on local events, talent, and shops