Free Eye Candy

Pixelgirl Presents offers hundreds of free images for your desktop or iPhone. Most are illustrations, but there are photos too. Take some time to browse through and download a few that appeal to you. Here are a few of my favorites.

The Getaway

My husband is the greatest. For Christmas, he surprised me with a plane ticket to visit my friend, Jane, in Utah - FOR SIX DAYS! I know, he's awesome. Not only did he buy the ticket, he cleared the dates with Jane, took some time off work for himself, and arranged a day of babysitting with both my mother and mother-in-law. Yes, he's incredible.

And what did I do during this fabulous six days? I read three books. I watched hours and hours of tv. I took naps. I ate delcious, decadent food. I shopped. I lunched with some cool people at a cool place. And spent lots of down time with a pregnancy-induced sickie. It was the greatest getaway ever!

I was around kids, but they weren't my own and I didn't have to bug them to do stuff, discipline them, or worry about their bedtime. I helped make meals, but I wasn't responsible for planning menus or feeding an entire family. I made Jane oatmeal cookies when she felt like some, but didn't have to rebuff her tireless nagging to drive to the store late Sunday night to get milk to go with them.

In the end, my husband and I both agreed that six days was too long. But five days seems just about right and he admitted how hard it was to be with the kids every day. He said he loves and appreciates me for staying home with them and trying my best to make our house a home. (And this is coming from someone who was already arguably one of the most hands-on & helpful Dads I've ever seen.) My sweet hubby said he wants me to send him on a trip like that every year. And since it's a little easier to get away, now that our boys are a bit bigger, I think I'll take him up on it.

And the best part? He didn't even give me grief about all the things I bought! Probably because I am the greatest bargain shopper ever and two thirds of the things I bought were under $4. Somehow this was the only picture I took of my trip.

Thanks to all the people who helped babysit: our mothers and our sisters, and several friends of mine. I owe you guys!

Read Blogs the Fast & Beautiful Way

Does anyone still read this blog?

Google Reader is awesome. If you don't have one set up, you should do it now (for free). I can easily subscribe to blogs I like, and read the new posts in easily half the time. I like being able to share a post with my husband, and star my favorites for future re-reading. The only downside is missing the beautiful layouts of all those bloggers who spend so much time making their site look pretty. And of course, if you want to comment on a post, it takes a couple extra clicks.

But thanks to a tip from Making It Lovely, I've found a new way to keep up with my posts, comment more often, and enjoy those pretty pages: Google's Next Button. You add a "next" bookmark to your browser toolbar, and every time you click on it, you're taken to the next post in your reader. To add the Next Button, go to Settings in your Google Reader, and look under the Goodies tab.

Another great thing: when you get to the end of your list, and have read everything, you get a page that says, "Congratulations, you have reached the end of the internet." And when you click on "end of the internet" you get the following page. I love it!

I try to follow that advice.

A Worthy Carnival

I haven't participated in a blog carnival since since Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer gave up Works For Me Wednesday. But this morning I heard about a monthly carnival where you can link up the post you like most from the last month. Please check out the excellent links at The Saturday Evening Blog Post.

Project Runway Walk 2 - Fashion for 3

This week the Project Runway designers were treated to a challenge of designing for a top supermodel/actress - the lovely Rebecca Romijn, who happens to be hugely pregnant with twins! Rebecca looked great, but I'm happy to see that some supermodels put on weight while pregnant, even in places other that their tummies. Her face was a little fuller, but just as beautiful. I think this was a great new challenge, and certainly an area of fashion that could use some designer attention.

I loved almost all of the looks - there were only a few that were kind of out there. I wish that I had access to so many cute little dresses (in modest versions) when I was pregnant. Christopher's fuchsia top with black leggings and Johnny's black dress with white trim and a beautiful flower were favorites of mine that didn't make the top 3. There are so many designers still, you really have to watch Project Runway yourself to get to know them, but let's talk about the top and bottom three. The judges were all women this week, with Monique Lhuillier filling in for Michael. And I loved when Heidi mentioned that all four of them have been pregnant and certainly appreciate good maternity design.

Ra'mon's purple, racing stripe cocktail dress was crazy. The bust was beautiful, but it fell apart after that. The silver side panels did nothing for a pregnant body and I was not impressed by the lack of versatility. That kind of dress would have to be very well fitted to a pregnant mom, and by the next week her belly would have outgrown it.




Mitchell had a great idea, shorts on pregnant models (as opposed to the rest of us) look great and can be very casual chic. It's too bad everything turned out so poorly. Yes, Mitchell, it's so sad that you didn't go to fashion school like everyone else, but if you can't make your designs fit your model, and you can't sew them well, you have no place on this show.




Malvin is a weird egg. And he created a weird egg top. He called it his mother hen look and originally planned for jodhpurs, to look like chicken legs. Thank you, Tim, for talking a little sense into him. He admitted some problems with his "sling" top, but it's so odd. The judges didn't even know what to say.

The judges loved Shirin's dress and coat, and so do I. The braided seam above the baby bump was beautiful and the neckline had a great look too. The whole thing draped and fell very well. And the coat was just an added bonus, well-made with a fun, printed lining.




Althea did a black dress, that could be worn for an evening event. The intricate stripey straps were really great, and she managed to pull off a long look, while keeping it form fitting. (She said she used jersey.) This was the fanciest dress, and she did it well. It was slimming, despite room for a tummy carrying twins.

Louise made a sexy little lingerie-style dress that Rebecca said she would wear on a date with her husband. The judges admitted that it's not a versatile look, but the details were amazing. The lace applique, pleating, layers, shoulder straps made this a special piece.

And, drum roll, the big winner is Shirin! No surprise here, the judges loved her design and told her she should be in maternity wear. I think they really liked Althea and Louise's dresses too, but the wearability and versatility of Shirin's design put her over the top.

As for the loser, we say Auf Wediershen to Malvin, our own little bizarre egg. I was already predicting this last week, this guy's designs just don't fit in. I'm singing the song, "One of these things is not like the others." Mitchell got very lucky, I don't think he can make it through another week of shoddy work.




Have I mentioned yet that I love that Lifetime has started a 30 minute Models of the Runway show that gives a little perspective from the models. It also shows the designers choosing their models for the next week. You can catch it on Lifetime after Project Runway, or watch full episodes online.