So Long, Lovers

Last week, I read a quote from some young scene-stealer who declared Mariah Carey was plaaaaayed out. The newbie said she was past her prime and stated that she should give it up. How someone could spit this blasphemy about such a classic and understated talent was shocking and sad! Naturally, it got me thinking about Design Boner (as the similarities are obvious) and that got me thinking about metamorphosis.

Normally, I would get sappy and long-winded with you. I would tell you that my aimless fingers keep trying to blog upon an invisible keyboard, when they're not busy picking up the pieces of my broken heart...

But this post isn't so much a goodbye as it is a herald - an overstuffed, glittery butterfly announcement - for change and I would like to be brief.

Design Boner has had nearly four years of ad-free, snarky fun and I'm proud of this. The blog, as it is, will remain up because we like it and hope you do too. But there's more out there besides bathroom accessories, wallpaper, and trips to IKEA and it's time we turn our focus.

So, Lambs, remember us for what we were: smart, funny, and not entirely about sparkle and boners (but mostly).

Bonus Bone: Chris Jordan's Intolerable Beauty

Boxcar, Seattle 2003

Chris Jordan's photography focuses upon the Intolerable Beauty of our mass-consuming ways. By visiting American shipping centers and industrial dumps, Jordan has seen the vast stacks of by-product and waste and he's both drawn in and repelled.

Circuit boards, Atlanta 2004

These images are staggering, mostly due to the sheer volume of all this garbage! We can't not buy things, we can't not waste, and it would take a miracle for everyone, everywhere to start carrying around re-usable produce bags. A lot of us are still trying to get our neighbors (eh em) to recycle - period. But each of us can become more aware of how we use what we buy versus how we waste it.

Crushed cars #2, Tacoma 2004

So we'd simply like to ask you to pay attention. Maybe this means you'll choose the yogurt in the container that can be recycled over the one that can't. Or perhaps you'll turn over a whole new green leaf and become a composting freak (way to go, Mama C!). Hopefully, you're already on board - recycling, shopping farmers' markets, using the heck out of your cell phone before getting a new one - and this post will merely inspire you to push your dedication further.

For these reasons, I, Cardboard, declare these images - this motive - a Design Boner.

Worth the Week: Mille

Mille

I'm happy with this photo for three reasons:

1. I'm learning to use my new camera better and it's starting to show.

2. It's a lovely - and still! - portrait of my Mille (who is typically captured as a blur of nose and fur).

3. ORANGE! This bright, crazy orange wall is the very wall that inspired the tag line for this blog. The time has come to paint it over now but it'll always be orange underneath.

Take one photograph,

trade thought for order and words,

call it Worth the Week.

Worth the Week: My Own Personal Sunset

My Own Personal Sunset

My commute home from work involves almost one hour, split between two trains. It also often entails gum smacking, brassy cellular blah-blah, and the litter of afternoon teenagers. Sometimes I am like LOL but usually I say, "FML" and wish I was anywhere else.

It was one of these latter moments, one in which I was on the edge of hurling my unobtrusive and COMPLETELY SILENT book at these obnoxious folk, when I noticed this sunset. Everyone else - busy smacking and yakking - did not.

This was mine - all mine - and it was the quietest, most lovely sunset I ever did see.

Take one photograph,

trade thought for order and words,

call it Worth the Week.

Bonus Bone: Abacus

Abacus Wall Decor, at CB2

I would love this in a child's bedroom or maybe in an entryway. Everywhere else, I'd use a calculator.


For these reasons, I, Cardboard, declare this a Design Boner.

Worth the Week: Trump Tower

Trump Tower

Darth Trump.

Take one photograph,

trade thought for order and words,

call it Worth the Week.

Worth the Week: Ice Jellyfish

Ice Jellyfish

The back porch/fenced-in area of my condo building does some crazy (cool) things in the winter. Our ice situation, for example, is an absolute menace. To empty out the trash bins, one must risk paralysis either by icy steps, icy jellyfish, or icy stares from neighbors because our gate is broken again.

Take one photograph,
trade thought for order and words,
call it Worth the Week.

Bonus Bone: Picnic Plates

The weather was so totally nice in Chicago yesterday...

So this time, when I found myself waiting for my ride, instead of shivering and swearing, I was squinting and smiling. As my face soaked up the warmth of the sun, I actually started to think of spring. And then, since I was hungry, I started to think of food.

Picnic Palette Dish Set, at ModCloth

The sun, the snacks, the several minutes of trainspotting - it all got me in the mood for a picnic and these plates are so totally cute.

For these reasons, I, Cardboard, declare this a Design Boner.

Worth the Week: French Fries IN the Sandwich

French Fries IN the Sandwich

Heat and I are a couple of hams. We ended up at Lucky's Sandwich Company only because we saw it on TV. Well...that and who wouldn't want to try out a sandwich that has the french fries already in it?!

Last Wednesday at Lucky's was nearly empty, perfectly cozy for a slow, snowy night. The sandwich though...? It plates up more slices of legend and bravado than it does bacon or steak. The fries, we understand now, are ideal filler, which may allow the eatery to skimp out on the meat.

But it was still a feat to eat this beast and, when I'm not clutching at my chest, I hold my cholesterol trophy high [ack!] and proud.

Take one photograph,
trade thought for order and words,
call it Worth the Week.

Worth the Week: Bus Stop

Bus Stop

Waiting for the bus sucks. It especially sucks when the city slashes service, when it's Chicago-Style cold out, and when the good ol' gams are threatening collapse after an hour and a half of vinyasa yoga. Vin-yow-sa, rather.

But waiting does provide the chance to see things from a different angle - a gloomy and don't-put-your-tongue-on-that angle, maybe - but something new nonetheless.

Take one photograph,
trade thought for order and words,
call it Worth the Week.

Bonus Bone: Gimme Cupcakes Tea Towel

The cupcake - such an iconic, innocent, and one might even say, American image. Now mix it with the curved tongue and pointed claws of a flying (swimming?) dragon and you've got a playful new exotic feel.

And the tea towel is made from the softest (I've actually felt it) flour sack cotton so the literal feel won't have your hands breathing fire...Cupcake.

Gimme Cupcakes Tea Towel, by lovelane on etsy

For these reasons, I, Cardboard, declare this a Design Boner.

Worth the Week: Lazy Valentine

Lazy Valentine

This past Valentine's Day was glorious...gloriously lazy. I had plans for laundry, for a walk or some shopping, but I ended up spending much of day in bed. I couldn't choose one photograph to show my snuggle so I opted for these three: my Bird, my bed, and my Mille Bean.

Since it was the day of hearts and of chocolates, I would have loved to include the blurrily charming portrait of my true valentine, Heat. I found his glimmer of chest hair to be cozy and true but he decided it gauche.

Take one photograph,
trade thought for order and words,
call it Worth the Week.

Worth the Week: First Decent Photo with My New Camera

First Decent Photo with My New Camera

The lovely and creatively supportive Heat just bought me a new camera. Thank you, Heat! Even with a dirty lens (oops to all those smudges up there), my new-to-me Nikon D100 is a million steps up from my former Kodak POS.

I've been wanting to work with an SLR for awhile now. I know that I've improved my photo skills with the (not-all-that-terrible) Kodak but the features are undoubtedly limiting. I was becoming lazy and getting auto-focused into a rut.

After finally picking up, or might I say bench-pressing, my Nikon, I rediscovered that photography is hard! Not only am I dealing with a lot more weight but I'm also struggling with actually having to work. The image above - the old timey fridge - is just barely out of focus. I'm flashing right back to high school and Intro to Photography, when Mr. Bloomfield glared at me over every print I turned in and said, "You sure you don't need glasses?" He was right; I did.

Now I wear contacts (Thank you, Mr. Bloomfield!) but appear to still be a bit shaky-handed (Thank you, Mr. Coffee!). The photo above is aiiiight - interesting composition, decent color - but I know I can do better. So I will continue to play and learn because, like all things worth the work, reward will come from practice and the ability to focus.

Take one photograph,
trade thought for order and words,
call it Worth the Week.

Bonus Bone: Volumes Fabric

Stacks of books are a big theme at my house but I wouldn't necessarily say they are a decorating choice. I just love the books, ergo, I gots them everywheres.

Well, wait. I don't have them in my window sills (curtains)...or completely covering my bed (sheets)...and I certainly don't wrap them around me when I cook (apron).

Why hello, Volumes fabric! Thank you for coloring my obsession in Rose, in Gold, in Teal.

For these reasons, I, Cardboard, declare this a Design Boner.

Worth the Week: Warehouse Worktown

Warehouse Worktown

The fam was in town this past weekend. We all piled in the car (yes! CAR!) to attend a small and delightful wedding expo thinger. The chic and indie wedding show gave us a taste of bite-sized brisket, vintage pin-ups, and such a lovely script. Yet I couldn't help but notice the space - a very cool industrial-turned-entrepreneurial warehouse.

I would love to work in a space like this. The quiet, open hallways - with brick and vents and NEON - opened onto gently marked doorways. There was even an indoor bike rack! And, most importantly, this building is about a...um...seven minute bus ride from my house.

So far my shiniest employment option is Ballroom Dance Chicago but I don't think I have the technical expertise...yet. I'll have to see what else is in the space because I think Mr. Sketch (that blurry finger up there) would kill me if I contacted The Dark Angel of T-Shirts...

See more of the neon sign fun HERE and HERE.

Take one photograph,
trade thought for order and words,
call it Worth the Week.

Worth the Week: Harmony

Harmony

Part of me has always wanted to be a back-up singer. Standing up in front, ripping through the high notes, and actually hearing yourself, just isn't my thing. (Not that it could be my thing, the three-pronged American Idol panel would insist.) But if I could, and decided I should, I would wear all black, bounce my weight from leg to leg, and sing strong on that back beat.

This secret preference was made positively clear last Friday night when I sang karaoke - alone! - for the first time ever. Sure, I felt a little cool (even though most of the credit belongs to Mr. Fishbowl Margarita III). Mostly though, I just felt silly.

But these fellers - these two guys with their two parts balanced on their one-mind track - they were not silly at all.

Take one photograph,
trade thought for order and words,
call it Worth the Week.

Bonus Bone: Boudreaux's Butt Paste

Boudreaux's Butt Paste, at drugstore.com

I think I first encountered this product, this beloved Butt Paste, as a gag gift. It sat unused in my bathroom closet until, in gushing desperation, I grabbed for its happy baby tube.

I can't remember what that original ailment was that made me decide to finally use this hilarious joke medicine. But since then, I've caked it on scrapes, burns, rashes, super dry skin, and, during this recent terrible cold, a tissue-abused nose. It smells a bit of cocoa and shares consistency with sculpting clay but, most importantly, it works.

Oh and hey, I've heard it actually works miracles for diaper-raw baby butts!

For these reasons, I, Cardboard, declare this a Design Boner.

Pink Pig, Flying

A criticism I never thought I would utter...?

La Vie en Rose Sun Jar, at Delight

...Not improved by pink.

ORIGINAL Sun Jar, at Cool Stuff Cheap

Worth the Week: Congestion

Congestion

I was really sick this past weekend. So instead of running around playing shutterbug, I was stuck home on the couch with Photoshop and a big ol' box of lubed-up kleenex in my lap.

This week's photo is a mash-up of two photos, the only two things I actually accomplished this weekend: sneezing and Artichoke Pie. The layered image is inspired by the poisonous tickle of an angry sinus and the ability to view Masters of Horror often, instantly.

Take one photograph,
trade thought for order and words,
call it Worth the Week.

Happy Birthday Cardboard!

Porcelain & Cardboard

Happy Birthday my dear friend! Hope you bowl a perfect game this year!!!

XOXO
Love, Porcelain