It's 4am and I'm wide awake. That big red patch just woke this whole house up, the weather is ridiculous as Thomas just said. The wind was so strong and was blowing the rain in the craziest, loudest way I've ever heard. I felt like I needed to go to another room to get away from the noise but there was no getting away from it. It was kind of like being on an airplane, your trapped and it's loud, but on the bright side no one was kicking my seat and I didn't have to get up so the person next to me could pee.

What are you supposed to do when you're supposed to be asleep? I'd never make a good insomniac. This storm is supposed to last for the next 24 hours and if it's anything like the first few hours I think California might just slide right off into the Pacific Ocean before the day is out.

Bacon Wrapped Chicken

So delicious! So easy. And the leftovers... so tantalizing!

It might be Valentine's Day

But everyone around here has a really bad case of the Mondays.

I was powerless against their typographic wiles

I logged on to Etsy just to see what was going on and I found the DoNotDestroy shop packed with vintage fun. These canisters popped up on the second page and before I had a conscious thought the four were in my shopping cart and I was entering my Paypal password. What's more fun than Helvetica canisters? Nothing! Nothing at all. I've had the accompanying "Salad" bowl for a few years now and hadn't realized I should have been hunting for this canister set. Don't tell Thomas, but the shop owner said she'll see if she can find the matching "Spaghetti" jar. HEYOOH!!

What are you reading, NPR confused about trends

(Screen shot of npr.org taken 2/10/11 at 9:35am)

Between yesterday and today NPR completely shifted its take on trends and trend forecasting. Yesterday Linton Weeks wrote an interesting article about trends and how the idea of trends has really only come to light over the last 50 years, and in that time period we've seen trends come and go. Fashion changes and as products become trendy they fall out of populous favor. The article's final conclusion is that once a product hits trend status, it's over. Ubiquity decreases allure.

Then, today, Ilya Marritz wrote a piece about the Pantone color system and how the company sets the trend forecast for the color palette of new products. They hire designers and whisk them away to a secretive white room in Europe to develop and influence the color trends for the next year. The article ends with this gem, "But if designers disregard the trend, they risk irrelevance — just about the worst thing imaginable for any label." Disregard and become insignificant.

So here's my take away...
Article 1: If you're trendy people will ignore you.
Article 2: If you're not trendy people will ignore you.

Great! Thanks for clearing that up NPR. Well done. I'm going to stick with what I love. It's not what you wear, it's how you wear it. Own your style and people will follow, trendy or not.