Mountain Day!

sent:

[sadly, this isn't from mountain day, but a trip the B2 girls & company made out to vermont for Fall Break our senior year. in a similar way to Mt. Day, there was lots of bonfires, apple-picking, sheep-shearing, and maple syrup eating and canoeing to be had]

reasoning:

Happy Mountain Day! i still remember my first year of college, when the bells rang at 7AM, and Lizz and my neighbor, NaLee – who we love – ran around the halls, banging on everyone’s door and signing her “it’s Mountain Day” song.  i have no doubts she was adorable doing her little dance, but we wanted to kill her even though we were too tired to actually get up and do so. during my time at Smith, i was always swamped with work, and suffering from sleep deprivation that i didn’t actually do much on the days of Mountain Day. but now that i’ve been out for almost 2 years, I miss having Mountain Day so much. Just over the weekend, I was thinking of how good some apple cider & cider donuts would taste right now. there’s talks of a trip into Maryland for some apple picking this weekend. this is probably going to be the closest and best opportunity for me to pretend that i’m still in school, and idyllic New England.

The Prick Cushion

sent:

reasoning:

post on Crafty Bastards vendor favorites coming up soon.

‘it’s just a little prick’. this was the most memorable one that made me wish I was a more capable sewer in need of a pin cushion. they also sell girlie bits, bacon bits and zombies on their website or etsy.

Keri Hilson – Knock You Down

sent:

reasoning:

the scenes of keri hilson in her underwear rolling around in a lush white bed are more than a bit gratuitous… but i can’t stop listening to this song. it may not be deep, poetic or metaphorical, and its message may be cheesy and borderline gloria gaynor ”i will survive’, but its reassuring to know relationships do sometimes go through breakups and they can painful. it seems like common sense, duh, or as REM said “everybody hurts… sometimes”. but its funny how alone and hurt breaking up can make you feel, when really its something that everyone goes/has gone through.

ork city neighborhood posters

sent:

reasoning:

love these screenprinted city neighborhood posters – they come in pretty colors and other sites including Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Great Lakes, Los Angeles, Manhattan, NYC, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto (soon to come!), and adorably, The Heart. most posters are $22 and will ship via USPS in 1-3 business days.

The United States of McDonald’s

sent:

reasoning:

driving down a seemingly barren highway suddenly interrupted by big box stores, Stephen Von Worley felt inspired to ‘gauge the creep of cookie-cutter commercialism‘. mapping out McDonalds locations across the United States with the nifty data tool, Aggdata.com, he came up with this. notice how the McDonalds hug the coasts and borders of the US to form essentially what is a map of the US. the United States of America? or the United States of McDonalds? Hmm…  The farthest isolated spot in the 48 states from a McD’s is between the tiny Dakotan hamlets of Meadow and Glad Valley: 107 miles away, 145 miles by car. I wonder what mapping the McDonalds across the globe would turn out.

MA Hyatt boycott

sent:

Boston Globe’s Governor Threatens a Hyatt Boycott

reasoning:

for people who think the labor movement is dead, or unions are no longer necessary – blatant workplace violations like this are still happening.  3 Hyatt hotels in the Boston area laid off their entire housekeeping staff, citing challenging economic conditions, and replaced them with workers from an out-of-state firm they would pay much less and provide no benefits for. Originally, the staff trained the new workers under the pretense the new staff were only there to fill in on vacations and holidays. But after the morning shift on August 31, the workers were told not to come back to work the next day. it seems government officials rarely get involved in labor disputes, unless the industry affected directly relates to the operation of the country (ex: Reagan laid off the air-traffic controllers), the fight usually remains between the workers, the union and the company. But Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has stepped in, strongly denouncing the layoffs and threatening a boycott of the Hyatt Hotels by Massachusetts employees.

the Back & Forth

“I understand first-hand how difficult it is to manage through the current economic challenges without compounding the disruptions the times have caused,’’ Patrick wrote. “But surely there is some way to retain the jobs for your housekeeping staffs, as other hotels have done, and to work with them to help the company meet its current challenges, rather than tossing them out unceremoniously to fend for themselves while the people they trained take their jobs at barely livable wages.’’ – Governor Deval Patrick

The action “directly threatens the 600 associates who work in Hyatt properties and who live and work in Massachusetts at a time when businesses and individuals are cutting back on travel during the worst economic period we have seen in decades. We do not understand why the governor is putting more Massachusetts jobs at risk instead of working with us to find jobs for employees affected by the realities of these unprecedented economic challenges.’’ – Phil Stamm, general manager of Hyatt Regency Boston

The fight is still going-  last update I could find, lists the boycott growing with support from taxicab drivers, politicians, businesses leaders, and organizations, like the National Employment Lawyers Associations originally set to hold a conference at a Hyatt, canceling reservations.

stretch shelf by Pete Oyler

sent:

reasoning:

The design blogs (Lost in a Supermarket, Minimalismi, Curated + many more) were all over this Stretch Shelf, even Urban Outfitters. I like it b/c it’s functional, has an element of DIY, and totally fits into the “why didn’t i think of that?!??” category. made of cast rubber and machined aluminum, the shelf is essentially like having a giant rubber band that sturdy enough to hold and fit oddly shaped items on the wall in a connect-the-dots type of fashion. living in a cramped rowhouse, i’m begining to realize how useful storing upwards on the wall is, this would be perfect for spaces in the hallway or my room. one blog posed the question of what happens when the rubber dries out and it cracks, I’m hoping the shelving kit comes with some sort of sealing solution to prevent this. design schools are supposed to teach design, but also practicality and sustainability, right?

Oyler is a RISD graduate, you can check out more of his work here.

Amy On Traveling

Amy T. is one of my longest, closest friends. I’ve known her for more than 10 years, starting with our younger days at Princeton Chinese Language School teaching Chinese Knotting and trying to learn Chinese. She’s been one of the busiest people I’ve known, always off doing amazing things – getting involved in this program, applying to this school, making plans with friends to visit this place, etc.  She just finished this great roadtrip across the country where she and her friend Pin recorded their scavenger hunt as they drove from NJ to CA to drop Amy off at Stanford where she is starting an engineering Ph.D. yep, she’s incredibly smart, well-traveled, laid-back, totally fun, and i get to call her ‘friend’.

considering my incessant wanderlust, i was inspired by this recent NYTimes article Q&A With Beth Whitman, a Woman’s Perspective on Solo Travel to ask amy about her traveling experiences. this is the first in a new series i’m starting of interviewing friends on a topic they have expertise on or at least a lot of experience in. I’m still working on finding an appropriate program to record skype conversations, somehow the one i was using didn’t fully record, and also deleted itself after the trial 30 days was over. so, against all journalistic integrity, parts of this are paraphrased. BUT without further ado: Amy on Traveling.

Why did you choose this type of program for your next travels? [Amy's headed to Romania for a Habitat for Humanity trip]

I’ve wanted to go to Eastern Europe for awhile. Plus my friend, Nancy, brought up the idea of a service trip. I’ve heard Romania is beautiful, this just seemed like a great opportunity.

Is it better to be a tourist, a student, or a worker?

I prefer a combination of all three. i like having some structure, and it’s safer to travel as a group.  I liked being a student abroad because it made everyday things like late-night food runs, or figuring out a library system seem like new.

Any advice for travelers, especially women traveling alone?

I really don’t like traveling alone. Even if it’s 2 girls, it doesn’t feel safe. its better in a group, guys will look out for you. it’s sad but that helps a lot.

Why do you keep traveling? Any life or world lessons learned?

Ease into traveling, its much easier to travel somewhere where you know the language. So if that’s English, seriously, go with England first. Without sounding corny, I keep traveling because you really can learn so much from new and different people and cultures.

What other places are next on your list?

I’m trying to see more of the US, I think we forget there are some great places right in our own country. I’ve also wanted to go to Italy for a long time. I love Italian food, great art and architecture.

B2 reunion in Colorado

just came back from a long weekend in Winter Park, Colorado.

Jen and I went to visit our rockstar culinary Shana who’s cooking in kitchens and snowboarding every chance she gets. [photos by JH]

we went for her 23rd birthday

along the way, we fought off nature,

warmed ourselves by a bonfire,

attempted to bake,

and french-braid,

but mostly caught up on sleep.Indy, the cutest dog ever, joined us one ridiculously lazy afternoon

but quickly resume drinking.

one great thing about winter park, CO: $1 shots

there are perhaps too many pictures of these, i claim the right one, jen has the left

it was a good time had by all.

Colorado was beautiful, it was nice to go someplace where everyone knew everybody, food was delicious (homemae bagels, which you can’t even get in DC!), drinks were cheap and people just hung out to chill and have a good time. it was a most relaxing, gluttonous and fun reunion. i really like how much we’ve stayed in touch, and made an effort to see each other after graduation, despite all of us living in different places of the country and the world. these are the girls i’m hoping to open the B2 bakery/bar with – Shana in the kitchen, Jen having designed the space, and me being the bar, of course.

why women’s colleges are still relevant

sent:

Forbes Why Women’s Colleges are Still Relevant

reasoning:

i feel like i may spend the rest of my life explaining why i went to a women’s college, Smith College, or whether i’m a crazy radical lesbian [some of those may apply depending on the day]. the relevance of women’s colleges has been something i’ve definitely grappled with, but ultimately i always come to the conclusion that they are still needed and important today. certainly my college experience would have been different if it were co-ed, but now that i’m out in the ‘co-ed’ world, i can’t say i feel like i missed out on a lot. there were periods when i wish i went somewhere else, but that had more to do with the intensity and ‘bubble’ of Smith, less with its single-gender demographic. being in an all-women environment doesn’t freak me out but i’m rather comfortable in it. i learned to really speak up for myself at Smith, and so much of my personality and interests have started and evolved from my time there, so i can’t say that I regret having gone there. now if only the alumnae network could kick in to get me a job, i’d be singing the ultimate praises of the school from every high place in DC. but in all seriousness, i’m glad i went.