all things girls can tell

hero blog: uni watch blog

i promise i won't keep posting here about even vaguely sports-related things too much more, but this little nugget that cute erik shared with me a few weeks ago was too hilarious not to pass on... i present to you uni watch blog: it's a blog dedicated solely to discussing what sports teams are wearing. and i find it fascinating.

As you’ve no doubt discovered by now, you’re not the only one. But if your friends still look at you a bit funny when you point out a player’s sleeve length, or the wife rolls her eyes when you wax rhapsodic about the pleasures of a well-tailored set of stirrups, salvation is finally at hand. Now you can show your solidarity with other uniform obsessives and proclaim your citizenship in the larger uni-related community — and help support Uni Watch in the process — by enrolling in the official Uni Watch membership program. (from the uniwatchblog membership FAQ)

i totally enjoy their dedication to just excruciating detail. speadheaded by paul lukas, who is admittedly "a minutiae fetishist” and “an obsessive esotericist", he also keeps busy writing for publications you've probably heard of, like the new york times and GQ. so it's not like this guy doesn't have anything better going on other than musing on the sleeve length of those guys on the field. he just seems to prefer pondering the wardrobe decisions rather than obsessing over every single play like pretty much everyone else on the ESPN.com payroll, which is the kind of obsessiveness i can totally get behind.

so next time your friends and/or loved ones insist you hang out to watch some game you honestly care so much about that you didn't even know it was taking place until about five minutes ago, just smile a little smile to yourself and pay close attention the way paul lukas might (and perhaps check in to the uniwatchblog to compare observations the next day...)

ps. if this strikes your fancy in any way, i highly recommend browsing through the glossary. first, because it's a glossary for a blog, for pete's sake. second, it's a glossary of sports fashion terms. COME ON, MAN!

hero blog: apartment 2024

it seems i can't do a show without someone coming up and gushing about my canning diagram these days. canning, it would seem, is the new knitting, in the sense that it's a wonderful, practical, useful hobby that's been around, obviously, for ages and is experiencing a rise in popularity of late. and whenever someone starts going on and on about how they've just fallen in love with everything canning, i point them in the direction of my friend, marisa. marisa is a wealth of canning knowledge and she not only suggested the canning diagram to me, she was unbelievably helpful in providing me with all the guides, information and inspiration to draw it up. not surprisingly, she runs the ever-wonderful canning blog foodinjars.com, and one might say she's a little obsessed with preserving fresh foods - with amazing results.

while foodinjars is a fantastic blog, lately, i'm as much, if not more, smitten with her more personal blog, apartment2024. recently, she's caught the 365 photos (one photo a day for a year) bug, and with outstanding results. somehow i have yet to sign on for the personal task of documenting a photo a day (i'm sure i will eventually!), but i absolutely love traveling through a year with a friend solely through photos, and marisa's are a great mix of food (and food in jars! who would have guessed?), portraits + places.

so, if you have a moment, click on over to the apartment 2024 blog, or add it to your favorite rss reader for a nice little snapshot each day. enjoy!

hero blog: craft show explosion

i met my friends (and finally fellow philadelphians, kind of) kellee + matt, of overdue industries fame, a few years ago, when i approached them at handmade arcade in pittsburgh and exclaimed something like "i figured i'd come over here and introduce myself, because you guys have been at, like, every craft show i've ever been to, ever. so you must be good people to know." and it turns out they are incredible people to know. they're super friendly, funny, and great at what they do.

and craft shows are a big part of what they do.

and now, lucky for you (and me! and everyone we know!) they're so graciously sharing their tips, adventures, tricks, jokes and wisdom on the craft show/nomad lifestyle in their blog, aptly titled craft show explosion. they're slowly but surely tackling just about every aspect of the age-old 10 x 10 booth under the sun, and if anyone knows what they're talking about, it's these kids. for example, check out this lovely gallery they put together of totally successful booth displays on flickr - such great inspiration!

be sure to check back to craft show explosion often, and check back here shortly as i'll be posting a few craft show related tips of my own after my adventures in san francisco selling at my first west coast craft show.

 

hero blog: kate flaim, girl reporter

 

in browsing around the internet, i stumbled across the delightful blog of kate flaim. she has a great eye for photos, and posts about adventures with her CSA often, which means lots of fantastic seasonal recipes for us. not only does she have great voice that makes for a really entertaining read, but she's also not afraid to post when things don't go exactly as planned, which is completely refreshing. 

enjoy!

hero blog: catalog living

while it seems like the right thing to do to be happy for the most hilarious of blogs (which always seem to become coffee table books... or some kind of book, i guess), i have to say, sometimes it seems success for the funniest blogs can also be their downfall. things get complicated, and the humor and simplicity of the original, downright hilarious concept is easily overshadowed by... i don't know. just less funny stuff.

so fingers crossed, i sincerely hope catalog living continues not only to post, but to just keep doing what they're doing and not change one thing.  it's very likely i might fall off my chair giggling soon. the premise is pretty simple but so alarmingly funny - elaine and gary live in the absurdly stage-set pages of the catalogs we all mindlessly browse through when they arrive every few weeks in the mail. and the captions (featuring said elaine + gary) point out just how wacky some of these catalog stagers can be, and what they totally get away with.

and that's about it, really. seriously, though, go enjoy. just don't laugh too loudly at work.

hero blogs: good measure

 

this week's hero blog is that of a lady i couldn't be happier to call my peer. sam, of inklore design, posts really fantastic tips, finds, and inspirations often on her good measure blog and it's always a fantastic read.

the other day she posted a bit on the crazy taping project that seesaw studio undertook recently, and i've been thinking about it ever since. the walls here in the studio could definitely use a little added interest, so i've been doodling up interpretations of this project for my own work space. between that and the amazing wallpaper the kids over at tomte craft / vital industries cooked up a few months ago, it's mega-inspiration time!

enjoy!

hero bolg: zoo with roy

 

so, when it dawned on me exactly how much time i had spent working on the photoshop collage above, completely inspired by a post by the most hilarious phillies blog you could ever imagine, i knew right away it probably merited a hero blog post here.

for those who don't know, i like going to baseball games (i recently learned about myself that i basically will never say no when asked to go to a game). i particularly like the philadelphia phillies. while i'm not much of a sports-blog reader, zoowithroy (shorthand for the long title, I want to go to the Zoo with Roy Halladay) isn't your typical baseball blog. mostly because of posts on amazing and somehow rarely written about topics like "the philles as muppet babies: the definitive guide". for this reason, i like this blog.

and yes. you read that correctly - it's an entire post on which phillies players would be which characters from the muppet babies.

so, enjoy it. and i'll keep posting blogs that are totally worth any time you're willing to kill on the internet here as i realize they're totally worthy of sharing.

hero blog: hipster puppies (aka: dogs rule)

 

so, i couldn't help it. it was early saturday morning + i was poking around the internet while watching the west wing. and i totally submitted a photo of janie as a candidate for submission in the upcoming hipster puppies book. which is totally unlike me. it's just that, in case you've been living under a rock and haven't read it and therefore don't know, it's so effing funny - a perfect storm, really. hipsters making fun of themselves + puppies = true comic gold.

while i'm the first to admit i don't actually understand the whole "blogs becoming books" trend lately (the thing that makes a blog awesome is that you can check it once for like 30 seconds each day for a quick smile, right? are they going to mail me one new page each day for this book? they're not? nevermind.), this is actually a book i'd think about putting on my coffee table. mostly cause i'm a sucker for adorable dogs in people clothes. is that so wrong?

[and, i almost missed the best one - thanks to intern michelle for pointing it out to me - this post that refers to the "combination pizza hut + taco bell" song that i couldn't get enough of during the holidays is totally my favorite.]

behind the scenes

 

unless you have a typepad account, you probably don't realize all the fabulous things that go on behind the scenes of a typepad blog.

not only are typepad features top notch (especially for crafty bloggers), it's super easy to use and just really nice. but also! when you log into your typepad account, you can find an infinite number of really amazing, intriguing and gorgeous posts (and ultimately, more and more places on the web, if you're so inclined to click and click to your heart's delight). you can see the posts that other typepad bloggers are commenting on, favoriting and reblogging all from your typepad dashboard when you log in to post a blog entry. lately, i've been finding more great artists, bloggers and posts just by logging into typepad than i have in my jam-packed google reader.

what's fabulous about this whole secret community of awesome is that not only does the typepad dashboard make it easier for me to find amazingness, but it's made it easier for others to find my little blog here. people can see who's commenting on my posts and easily join in the conversation. it's kind of completely awesome.

lately, i've been totally loving the hewn and hammered blog and i just discovered the blackbird sings, who has a really lovely etsy shop as well. 

if you've been thinking about starting a new blog for your crafty or artsy endeavors, do check out more information here. you can give a typepad plus or unlimited account a try (with nothing to lose!) for two weeks (then you'll fall in love and want to blog with typepad forever), and when you're signing up, use the referral code "girlscantell" (that's me!) to get 20% off of your typepad account for a year!

super inspiration

 

every once in a while, someone sends me a little tidbit that i absolutely adore. like, head over heels can't stop flipping back to look at it / want to just become absorbed into whatever little world i've just discovered.

lately, that inspiration came from a link sent by my good friend, kellbot. from adam voorhes photography, it's kind of the photographic version of the type of visual representation i'm completely enamored of. go take a look!