Wish Gift List: Design for Mankind.

Today’s Wish Gift List is that of the ever lovely Erin of Design for Mankind

This year, my husband and I have our eyes on a cute little fixer-upper, so we’re keeping the holidays as inexpensive as possible. We’ve made a deal with our families that instead of exchanging gifts this year, we’d like to pay it forward to five of our favorite “unsung heroes.”


Here are a few affordable goodies we plan to gift the people that make our lives so much easier!:

1. I didn’t know there could exist a gal that loves coffee as much as I do, but my barista does. I plan to gift her this tea scoop’n’clip for her morning fix!

2. I’d love to gift my tech-savvy programmer the Notepod. He’s the smartest man I’ve ever met, and loves to create new Apps in his spare time. The perfect pad for the perfect pal!

3. My hairdresser is going back to school in the spring to pursue a career in graphic design. This comb USB drive is perfect!

4. Have you ever looked at the fingers of a UPS gal? Our poor delivery worker, Sharon, has the most paper cuts of anyone I’ve ever seen. So bad, in fact, that earlier this summer, she came in and asked if we had a Band-Aid she could have. I gave her a few, along with some cupcakes we had on hand, and we were fast friends. A few weeks ago, I spotted these cuties and can’t wait until Christmas to gift them to her!

5. My favorite librarian once told me that she loved her job because of how the new shipments of books smelled (I couldn’t agree more, and my Amazon bill is proof!). I plan to gift her a can of this New Book Smell Air Freshener. She’ll be thrilled!

You can find Erin typing away at Design for Mankind as well as shelterpop, diy life and design milk (I don’t think she ever sleeps!) She has some great themed gift guides going on right now on DFM, so fly over and have a look-see!

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Word: Wide Open Spaces.

Felix and Marta ring to say that they’ll be staying back as baby Eloise is teething. Her fever seems to be rising as does the decibel of those siren toned yelps in the background.

It is only then that I realize I am famished, haven’t eaten a thing all day.

Hair set, face on, I go the kitchen to chill the champagne.

Sweet Celeste calls bubbly and bright. She got the gig and will be opening tonight downtown at the Cigar Bar. I tell her to break a leg and she laughs like a bell choir.

I set the music low and lights lower.

Leroy phones. He’s working late and I really, probably shouldn’t expect him at all. Knowing Leroy, I don’t.

All is grand, as these types of things really are better suited for fewer folks anyway. Still, should any one else care to cancel …and que sera sera….I only fear that my skirt won’t fasten.

:: Many thanks to the author, Emily of Wide Open Spaces!

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Wish Gift List: Dilly Dallas.

Let the holidays officially begin! Starting today it’s my pleasure to play hostess to some of my favorite bloggers and their dream Wish Gift Lists. These are the gifts that they’d love to buy for some of the people on their own shopping lists. Pay attention because there are tons of amazing finds that I’d never have come across on my own!

First up, Dallas Shaw from Dilly Dallas

1. Good Clean Dog by Seattle based body-care company, Sweet Petula. This natural line of canine skin care gives the most sensitive (and stinky!) pooches a chance to smell sweet.
Gentle yet effective, all of our products are made with vegetable oils, herbal infusions and pure aromatherapy grade essential oils. Perfect for pampering your four legged friends.

2. Bonpoint. The French children’s couture house and online fashion boutique.

3. Alice Chocolates.

4. Lambretta.

5. larimaloom. Handmade clothes for women.

PS: Dallas will be posting her favorite holiday picks through December and also running a month-long giveaway, so hop on over to get the details!

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Word: Capturing the Seven.

I think I lost him…

Thank goodness I decided to wear these black boots and not those white stilettos my high-fashion mother wanted me so desperately to don on my wide, athletic feet. These cobblestone streets and high heels would have been a recipe for disaster. Or at least a host of cuts and scrapes taking residence on my knees.

No one could understand why I wanted to wear a short white dress. Non-conformist they called me. Who wears a short white dress? I do, I told them. I will, I asserted to them. I am, I proclaimed to them when they greeted me after the ceremony. It was then that they ceremoniously glanced from my perfectly pinned back hair on down to the thin strand of pearls around my neck and sighed with relief. ‘At least she did two things normal’ they were thinking. ‘Normal’. I had begun to hate the word about 6 months ago and it made my blood boil more and more every time I heard it. Why do things have to be ‘normal’? Why can’t they have personality? Or just be our way? Why not?

The plan was hatched after the third month of hearing “Why not do it this way? It’s the normal way to do it.” There was a reason we suggested eloping a year ago. It was to avoid days like this but of course neither side of our families could accept it. So as we went along with “their” plan, we wrote up our own. After the cutting of the cake we would each sneak off without detection; everyone would have had their fair share of champagne, vodka gimlets, and sugar by then. They wouldn’t notice as we left out of separate exits only to meet about 10 minutes away at our favorite bistro. They wouldn’t notice a thing.

And they didn’t. Except the photographer. I couldn’t help myself! I wanted to document the first day of the rest of our lives. As I was sneaking toward the exit to make my escape, I realized that I hadn’t brought my own camera and the hired photographer’s would be the one that I was taking with me. And so I grabbed it and ran.

And here I am now. One block away from my new husband; who will be ready to run away with me. To live our lives the way we want. As non-normal as we want. With a ‘borrowed’ camera and all…

:: written by Jennifer of Capturing the Seven

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Word: A Print a Day.

And the stars came down tonight and greeted me.
And kissed me.
And their kisses tickled my skin.
And they felt like what stars would feel like.
Or how I imagined them to feel like.
And I smiled for the first time in the longest time.
And I cried for the first time in the longest time.
And I lost myself.
In darkness. In light.
In dreams of stars and midnight.

written by Yasmine of A Print a Day

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Word: concrete and honey.

You may have thought this to be a romantic gesture.
Just as you may be surprised to learn.
That I am not part of this memory.
This girl isn’t me.
Do you not wonder what you were trying to hide?
Does she know you cut off her head?
She’s wearing red.
I don’t. I’d never.
Even though I feel like I’m bleeding.
I do like they buttons though. I bet you do too. The way they curve with the shape of her ‘topography’.
Where is this gate? Where did you take her?
Don’t bother answering.
I won’t be around to hear your response.
She’s too young. She wears ribbons in her hair.
What have you done?

written by Nicola of concrete and honey

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Word: Midwest Modern Girl.

and off we sped down the long and winding road
not knowing what the future would hold

we found calm in each others smile
wondering what we got ourselves into mile after mile

for the road was our escape
not carrying where we arrived or if we were late

you are more than just a crush
this journey was meant for the two of us

This week’s Word was brought to you by Danielle of Midwest Modern Girl. After you check out her blog, swing by her shop for some adorable paper goods! Thanks, Danielle.

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Word: The Bedlam of Beefy.

This week’s Word is brought to you courtesy of Uncle Beefy of The Bedlam of Beefy. Read on friends, I swear it’s like a novel excerpt…

Go get it. Go, go, go. Get, get, get. It was the long-running theme of her life. She always seemed to be the one to “get it”… but never actually got it. The getting was invariably for someone else. Friends, family, even complete strangers had all reaped the rewards of her attention and servitude but the swell of pride she’d take with her for her selflessness was often shallow and short-lived.

All her life she silently watched from the sidelines trying to calculate the formula that would see her rise up and meet her glory. The right shoes, the right hair, the right attitude, the right voice: it was all negotiated until she had no voice left. At least not her own. But others’ invasive whispers would menacingly creep through her company. Sometimes at night, in the quiet of her own head space, her voice just might bubble through the cacophony of external clamor. But even then it usually ended in a battle between self-deprecation and self-esteem which rarely stood a chance in the first place.

So much baggage and the excess weight fees were seriously steep to her emotional bank account. And her back was killing her. What was she pulling around all this time? Sifting through the sordid unmentionables of her life, she realized that all the things she thought she had needed to define herself and her worth just wound up being someone else’s shit. There was just no hanging on to it anymore. The universe is one bitch of a gate agent and had finally told her that, unless she wanted to pay the penalty, it was time to lighten the load.

“Go get it”, she finally thought. And now she got it alright. A one-way First Class ticket that would take her straight into who she was always meant to be. Straight up or on the rocks, this time the getting would be good.

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Word: marta writes.

flipflops were on sale,
so we both bought a pair

we glide high
above the trees
in the breeze,
my best friend n’ me.
we swing our legs
and make our plans
just like we always do.
there is no one
i’d rather sit with,
shop with, text with,
sing with, dance with,
drive with, eat with,
laugh with, be with.
just my best friend n’ me.

This week’s Word is right outta the mind of the fabulous Marta. You can read more of her beautiful words and coo over her adorable son, Benji at her blog, marta writes. Thanks so much for your contribution to Word, Marta! You captured it just so.
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Word: Two Brunettes.

this is it.

the last time.

It was.

I swear.

I am strong.

I am smart.

I will never look back.

I will never be ashamed.

I am beautiful.

I need only me.

+ + + + + + +

but.

He is part of me.

Thanks a million times over to Carolynn of Two Brunettes for flexing her writing muscles for this week’s WORD! If you’ve been under a rock for the past year or so and haven’t seen her lovely paper goods hop on over to Two Brunettes asap and take a gander.

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