flying Monkey Monday

Lola is gorgeous! See more photos of her over at Aunt Peaches

Art:
♦A roundup of Wizard of Oz inspired art (I love the flying monkeys at the end of the list!)
♦Fantastic site full of vintage photos

Amazing:
♦I know I have said this before, but nature is freakin' amazing!
♦Great thought piece: "The Scars On My Body"

DIY:
♦Cool and easy art idea!

Feminism:
♦Don't hate female characters
♦Project Cosplay = awesome feminist geekery!
♦Wearing Stigma, a fantastic piece about wardrobe, patriarchy and body policing
♦For the dating ladies: An add on for OKCupid to help detect predators
♦What a Girl should be So awesome!
♦Women aren't bossy, we have executive leadership skills
♦Teaching Men Rape Prevention Works

Lol:
♦Cthulhu peeps
♦Peeping Tom-cat... reminds me a my fur-kids!
♦Even cats can appreciate classical architecture

Noms:
♦Hummus triple shot
♦Homemade Cheez-Its

Self Care:
♦Body Image Booster: Self portraits
♦A great list of suggestions for self care
♦Great idea: Protecting ideas from negative people

Thought piece:
♦Is news Media responsible for violence?

Microfilm Monday

Cutie-pie Stella. Source

Consumerism:
♦"Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed" (Wow, hadn't considered this.)

Disabilities/Illness:
♦Spoon Theory: explaining Lupus and its effects on daily life (This is a fantastic explanation for dealing with many disabilities/health issues; chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, cancer, clinical depression... the list goes on)

DIY:
♦Make a pinhole camera
♦Poster Wall Art (Very cool idea)
♦Home-made lotion bars

Feminism:
♦Advice on dealing with "Creepy Dudes" (It is a long read, but very worthwhile.)
♦ Lingerie Football League (How is wearing bikinis safe for tackling on AstroTurf?)
♦The other end of the spectrum: Prom-Dress Rugby (This looks awesome!)
♦Why is a woman having a positive body image and self love considered vain, or prideful?
♦"Skin Tone Tights" one color doesn't fit all.
♦Eye opener: Please stop calling illness a battle. (This post is about eating disorders, but the idea would also apply to cancer and other illnesses.)
Amazing excerpt:

"Women are pretty much expected to have pathological relationships with their bodies -- hence the usual bonding over self-loathing..."

Lol:
♦ Bargain Bin Blasphemy: Old LP's remade into Black-metal art
♦ Shakespearean Insults (Thou art a frothy, milk-livered maggot-pie!)

Mental Health/Self Care:
♦7 Ideas for being kinder to yourself

Modesty:
♦One Jewish woman's struggle with hair coverings (She decided not to.)
♦Another woman's journey toward head coverings
♦A very thorough post on finding flattering hats.

Noms:
♦Breakfast quiche
♦Cranberry Wild rice soup (Veg. but not vegan has half n half.)
♦Scottish Toffee

WTF:
♦Food fraud is common?!
♦Super creepy tableware (Stuff of nightmares)
♦My first meme coloring book
♦The Spider Who Couldn't Hide

Mysterious Monday

Source

Advocacy:
♦The true cost of $9.00 shirts...  (Please remember that when you buy, you use your money to vote for something. Choose wisely.)
♦Real talk about Queer folks and sex (Tip: don't ask overly personal questions, its rude)
♦A climate of control, rape, and violence:

• "A woman is beaten every nine seconds in this country. Just to be clear: not nine minutes, but nine seconds. It’s the number-one cause of injury to American women"
•  "there is a backlog of about 400,000 untested rape kits in this country—rapists who impregnate their victims have parental rights in 31 states."
• Here in the United States, where there is a reported rape every 6.2 minutes, and one in five women will be raped in her lifetime 

 If you read the above post and are feeling really down, go here now! (This sweet little dog will make you smile.)

Art:
♦Art + Science + cool
♦Amazing ...just wow!

Awesome:
♦"What is Art?" Quotes form famous folks.
♦I am not a huge fan of V-Day, AND I like zombie movies... But I would be terrified to receive one of these as a gift!
♦Do you have pets, and no dates? Do not fret!

DIY:
♦Message in a bottle necklace
♦Send a slice of cake through the mail? What???
♦Do you have tons of plastic toys laying around? Make a cool wreath!
♦Make your own soot sprites! (Soot sprites are little critters from from My Neighbor Totoro, and Spirited Away.

Lol:
♦Wiggly Eyed- Everything Is Staring At You (My fav)
♦Misidentified photos from Facebook.
♦Only "medium terrified"
♦"Manly" soap (The coffee one sound great! But urinal cakes...eww!)
♦I think that I would need a much larger book! (Smugness alert! Ha!)
♦Have you heard of owl burritos?

Noms:
♦Lentil Meatball Sliders (Veg)
♦Snickerdoodle Pumpkin bread (Veg)
♦Homemade Funnel Cake (Dangerously bad for you, but tasty!)

Mental Health/ Self Care:
♦7 Realizations That Will Help you suffer less
♦Free Yourself From Emotional Debt: Move Beyond Pain from the Past

Modesty:
♦Interview with the woman behind a new online shop caters to modest dress.
♦"Why I wear a headscarf" A very interesting interview.
(I find modest dress, and the motivations behind it fascinating.)

“If you could send yourself from 10 years ago one sentence of advice and it would actually be delivered….what would that one sentence be?” ~ Veronica Varlow

Mine would be: Trust your intuition! What would yours be?

Madrigal Monday

Source

Awesome:
♦Children's book about acceptance
♦Awesome working dogs (featuring several corgis!!!)
♦Find Momo (Think Where's Waldo, but with a cute dog.)

Diy:
♦Cardboard kids playhouse (would be great as cat playhouse too.)
[The Diy's are getting harder to find. Everything is all mushy, red, or pink. Ugh.]

Helpful Hints:
♦Jilliee's readers share a bunch of awesome tips
♦Looking at one's tattoo = acceptable, touching = rude/creepy (I have experienced this. I have a large tattoo across my shoulders, which peeks out of shirts. I had someone pull down the back of my shirt to look at my back!)

Feminism:
♦Malala has been discharged from the hospital!

Lol:
♦Scotch-tape portraits

Mental Health/Self Care:
♦A guide to dealing with haters. (AKA: Trolls)
♦Slow down, let creativity into your life
♦Seven tips to lower stress

Noms:
♦Awesome crunchy potatoes
♦Golden Snitch Truffles
♦Cream puffs with pomegranate cheesecake filling (G.F.)
♦Need comfort food? Texas Cheese Fries
♦Lentil-mushroom burgers (Veg.)
♦Old-fashioned doughnuts (G. F.) This is for you Nancy!

Have a great week!

Christmas Monday

Source

Awesome:
♦40 most influential corgis of 2012
♦Amazing ceramic sculpture
♦As a former grocery store drone, I love this piece!

DIY:
♦Gold painted ornaments
♦Melted snowman oranment

Fashion:
♦Denim make-overs (I don't wear jeans much, but this might be helpful to you)

Feminism:
♦Don't want to have kids? You are not alone.
♦I am all for family planning, but don't force birth control on women
♦I ♥ this poster so much!

Heros:
♦Irena Sendler smuggled 2500 infants and children out of the Warsaw ghetto!
♦A pajama companies raises funds to help women get out of forced prostitution.

Mental Health/Self-Care:
♦How To Have Sex Again After Being Raped. (Tough subject, but I felt that this may be helpful to someone.)

Noms:
♦Gingerbread cake with lemon-ginger cloud frosting (sounds soooo good!)
♦Gingerbread Cheesecake bites
♦10 Vegan bread recipes

WTF:
♦Pizza purfume???

Melt-a-way Monday

Source

This is uplifting and positive! (Just ignore the ad part at the very end.)

Awesome:
♦Fantstic quote from Fred Rogers
♦Donate used Ipods, make people feel young again!

DIY:
♦Easy to make laundry soap

LOL:
♦Wedding cake disaster!
♦Contest to make an even worse cake!

Noms:
♦Key Lime Melt-away Cookies
♦Tortilla soup
♦Charred pepper steak sauce
♦How to cook steak in your cooler?

Self care:
♦Sometimes you need to let it be (I can identify with this. I don't have hearing loss, but I do have auditory processing disorder.)
♦Let It Be ~ The Beatles
♦Advice on fashion, with a dose of kindness.

Farmer's Market Monday

Source

Awesome:
♦Amazing cakes...at Cake Wrecks
♦This story is cool. Their products are a-maz-ing. I wish I could afford them!
♦Fun tattoo
♦Nostalgia in photo booths.
♦"I has a sweet potato"
♦Great story, yet heart-breaking.
♦Misspellings, and grossest blindfold ever...
♦Is your dog stalking you?

A one corgi parade!

DIY:

♦Hanging beaded glass vases

♦Dog-fashion diy, a reflective bandanna for your pup

♦Flower pillow with fabric markers

♦How to make a tassel

♦Sort-of a diy...Bon Appetite's advice for going to the farmers market.

Fashion:
♦This lady is so inspiring!

News:
♦Caffinanted sea water

Noms:
♦Aunt Peaches's Armadillo Dip.
♦Peach pie
♦Heath Bar Crunch Mini Cakes
♦Make your own version of a Snickers bar
♦Peach pancake with cherry compote (If I had a larger skillet I would make this right now!)
♦Grilling dinners for vegitarians. (I am nodding at you Alli & J!)

Mental Health/ Self Care:
♦Having a toxic parent
♦The girls from Rookie are awesome; Food is not the enemy.

WTF:
♦"I keep crashing" FACEPALM
♦Giant cupcake poncho...and it cost $89!!!!

I found quite a lot of stuff for you this week. Hope you enjoy!

Mwa-Ha-Ha-Monday!

A huge thanks to: Striking Truths!

Awesome:
♦I ♥ Twinkie Chan. Her stuff is so cute! I love the cupcake scarf!
♦Need a smile? Click here!
♦True kindness. Very heartwarming.

DIY:
♦Giant sunflowers. (Aunt Peaches is awesome!)
♦Fortune cookie favors. (Would be fun for a New Years party.)
♦Make your own recipe book.
♦Water-color fabric paint used on a pillow. (Aunt Peaches again!)
♦Do you sew a lot? Make a needle book.

LOL:
♦Marriage agreement

♦Beagle vs. Lemon

♦This job posting made me giggle. (MWA-HA-HA!)
♦The 18 worst things for lefties.
♦The cutest ear-hair I have ever seen. (I promise it's not gross.)

Noms:
♦Chocolate Rolo cookies
♦Candied ginger
♦Coffee S'mores pie
♦Espresso Pound Cake with Maple Bacon Icing.
♦Bacon corn hash.
♦For the broccoli haters: The “Amazing Incredible Broccoli Surprise Sauce”

Psychology, Self Care & Positivity:
♦An emotionally positive way to clean your closet.
♦Random Love Punches.  (Just go check it out!)
♦Or if you need a more disciplined motivation check out: Random Ass Kicks.
♦Manifesto A Day. (See photo at the top of this post.)

Mellow Monday

Beware of little dog with big attitude!

This is so darn cute!

Awesome:

♦Alien Marries Predator...the cake?

Diy:

♦Make a rain chain. (I had never heard of a rain chain.)

Noms:

♦Fruit and Berry ice cubes. Fun. : )

♦Homeade Snickers Bars

♦Jalapeno popper dip.

Self-care/Inspiration:
♦You give others VIP treatment, how about yourself?
♦I want a secret reading room!


WTF:
♦Beauty products you don’t need. (I disagree with the lip exfoliater, mine are like sandpaper!)
♦This ad for permanent cosmetics is just ridiculous!
♦Bird poop facial?! Ewww!
♦Goofy new domain names...

Have a great week!

Melty-Monday

Cutie-pie shar pei patrol!

Awesome:
♦Terrible wedding cakes: What they ordered vs. what they got!
♦Super awesome beach cakes
♦I like the Bloggess's take on being child-free.
♦I don't normaly go for mushy stuff, but this proposal is pretty cute!

♦The F***ing Weather (funny, but obviously has swearing)

♦Eye bombing...cracked me up!

Noms:
♦To go along with the beach cakes, starfish cookies.

♦Rice noodles, with peanut lime chicken.
♦Potato chip brownies.

DIY:
♦Photo block art

♦Use an existing item to make a pattern.
♦Website that converts a photo into a cross-stitch pattern.

♦Make your own deodorant. (If anyone tries this let me know how it works!)

Feminism:
♦This is really irritating!

Self Care/Healing:
♦You're not perfect (What!?)Its OK, your human. (Warning: Some coarse language)

♦Another great post on how to choose a therapist.

Rest in peace, Nora Ephron:
♦Her Obituary
♦Aunt Peaches says good bye
♦An assortment of writers write about her
♦IMDB

Have a great week!

Messy Monday

Aww! Pouting kitty is cute! Source

Kitty cuddle pile!

Advocacy:
♦The truth about sweatshop products. (Long, but very informative post.)

Awesome:
♦Margaret Hamilton was a seriously underrated actress. She was awesome! She was a kindergarten teacher before acting, and was a huge animal rights supporter. Her Wiki and IMDB.
♦She did it: "I Paid Off $12,000 Of Debt In 14 Months." Hang in there, it is possible.
♦"Slice" of tea. (Weird, or cool...?)
♦10 fruits to try before you die.

DIY:
♦Repair your rain boots. (The secret is: duct tape)
♦Give tacky things a new life...with a faux pewter finish.
♦Make a Masquerade mask. (So beautiful!)
♦Chandelier pendant necklace (I may have shared this one before.)
♦Fabric luggage tags.
♦Recycled lid magnets

Self-care/Health:
♦How to make waking up suck less

Noms:
♦Chocolate Swirl Buns
♦Whoa! Double Stuffed Brownies
♦Recipe bonanza....frostings, fillings, and fun!
♦Vanilla Chai Tea Latte Cupcakes
♦Vanilla-Almond Iced Coffee **
♦A mug cake that actually tastes good.
♦OMG! Raspberry Cheesecake Popsicles!

WTF:
♦"Slave shackle" shoes
♦Camo-toilet paper cover. Creepy and weird!
♦Two writers takes on 50 Shades Of Grey. "Bad writing, plot holes," "Prince Charming is kinda a jerk" *Warning: may contain adult content, or coarse language.*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
**On a personal note: I have been having stomach issues. Coffee seems to be too hard on my stomach. I have pain, and nausea after having my morning coffee. *Sigh*

I quit drinking my cup of Joe, and I feel much better. I switched to decaffeinated chai tea. Yum!This may be a temporary issue, I hope! I love coffee and will miss it.

Apparently I am not the only one! If you have the same problem there is more info here.

Don't Leave, Don't Give Up! You Are Important!

This video From The Bloggess has been making rounds on the internet.
You may have seen it already, but it is important and worth sharing!

Jenny AKA: The Bloggess talks very candidly about depression, anxiety, and self harm.

Mental Illness can be scary, overwhelming, challenging, and frustrating.

There are solutions! There are people who can help! I can’t emphasize this enough: you are not alone!

Suicide prevention hotline: Lifeline

Mental Health & Psychology resources. (Psych Central is great! They have fantastic blogs too.)

Info/Help for:
♦Anxiety
♦Bi-Polar
♦Depression
♦Eating Disorders
♦OCD
♦PTSD
♦Self Harm
♦Sexual assaultThis is by all means not a comprehensive list. If you need help don’t give up, tell someone!

♥Love, and strength to you!

Otterly Monday

Grumpy otter needs his oatmeal.   (He totally reminds me of Wilford Brimley.)

Otter-tastic cuteness!

Awesome:
♦Flux Machine...crazy old photos...
♦Outtakes from classic film stars messing up their lines. (Swearing involved.)

Beauty/Fashion:
♦Side do.
♦Braided bun.
♦100 Fashion Icons.

DIY:
♦Magnolias...made from paper plates!
♦Make your own vinegar.
♦Stiched pendant necklace.
♦Not enough closet space? Make your own garment rack.
♦Dandelion T-shirt
♦Paper page bracelet
♦Seed tape...what a neat idea!

Entertainment:
♦Interview with Mad Men’s prop master.
♦An interesting article about the casting for Katniss in Hunger Games.
♦A film about the spread of western culture across the globe. "Beijing Punk"

Noms:
♦Black Raspberry Cream Cupcakes. YUM!
♦Raspberry & White Chocolate Honey Almond Meal Muffins
♦Chocolate peanutbutter popcorn.

Feminism:
♦Attention guys: Don't hit on women in a elevator at 4am...  (kind of no brainer in my opinion!)
♦Having grown up in a predominantly white town…I know next to nothing about other hair textures. This woman’s time line about her hair is fantastic!

Mental Health/Self-care:
♦How to spot fat talk (so you can stop it) Part 1 and Part 2.


Colors:
23 ~ Lavender
24 ~ Black
25 ~ Topaz
26 ~ White
27 ~ Purple
28 ~ Blue
29 ~ Yellow

MOONday

Hey, thats how my hair looks in the morning too! Source

I had never heard of porcupines with prehensile tails. Cool!

Art:

♦Incredible tattoos!

♦Amazing spring cakes.
♦Floral scultptures.
♦Money...warnings.
♦Not your childhood sand art!

DIY:

♦Fun poster art.

♦Poppy cookies +18 other flowers!

♦Make a cool bracelet.

♦OMG! Its giant versions of my favorite flower!!!!!

Fashion:

♦Fun with scarves.

♦Glitter shoes...but could just leave it as satin bands.

♦Decorate your shoes.

Feminism:
♦It about stinking time! Some dating websites have to cross check applications with sex offenders. (If only they were all required to do so!)
♦Geek girl for the win! A woman was fed up with a program written into her company’s chat channel. When ever something remotely provocative was typed it would reply “That’s what she said!” She wrote her own program that would reply with quotes from notable women! How cool is that!

Fun:

♦Terrible sheep cake....

♦Easter in Sweden...(Feather trees, and The Easter Witch...?)

♦ A huge collection of fairy tales has been discovered.

♦More book news: A huge collection of banned books discovered.

♦Its Pan Wow!

Noms:

♦Ice cream cone cannoli. Fantstic!

♦Oreo cheesecake frosting filled cookie sandwiches.

♦Classic appetizer. (Hint: bacon!)

Mental Health/Self-care:

♦Advice for teens (works for anyone.)

♦Would you give up TV for a month?(If you said yes, join Gala!)

♦"Don't tell me to get over it!" (I don't like it when people say this either!)

♦Stop apologizing! (Gala again.)

♦Ragen Chastain talks about weight bullying.

♦Make yourself a priority!

WTF:

♦Accidental zombie nails. (This is probably what would happen to me.)
♦Crazy shoe...art?

Colors:
16 ~ Silver
17~ Red
18 ~ Yellow
19 ~ Green
20 ~ Pink
21 ~ Gray
22 ~ Orange

Marigold Monday

Source

"Kids love to jump on the bed"

Activism:

♦Wow. America’s Next Top Model is in hot water for making a Native American contestant dress in a bad-stereo-type of Pocahontas. What were they thinking?

Although…the contestant seemed to find a way to make it positive in spite of all of the implied racism.

"Native Americans haven't had anybody in the celebrity industry," she said. "There have been a few native actors – Adam Beach, Irene Bedard – but there's never been a native so high up in the fashion industry who's looked at on a celebrity level. People don't want to listen to you unless you come from a place of power. There are a lot of improvements across Indian country that can be made. I want to start helping out and being a factor."

♦My how toys have changed over the years!

Beauty:

♦I am still on the fence about hair chalking....what are your thoughts?

Cuteness:

♦Cats...with...hearts...on...their...fur...!

DIY:
♦More paper flower diys! Aunt Peaches shows how to make hyacinths. Ingenious!
♦Cool patchwork pillows. (Use up some scraps.)
♦Make a flower pin.
♦20 Free printables for spring/Easter, courtesy of Mod Podge Rocks.
♦Feathers...made...of...duct-tape.
♦Felt insoles...sounds so comfy.

Noms:
♦A very interesting idea for making eggs.
♦Drool: easy raspberry meringue cookies. (Edit: egads! I forgot to add the link! Here it is!!!!)
♦Rasputin would love these...Carrot Cake Cookies

Stay positive:
♦Dealing with failure.

Mental Health/Self-Care/Recovery:
♦A great piece about recovery, body image, and society’s body ideal.

“…constantly asking myself whether my behavior is in line with my values or with my disease. And luckily the past four or five years the values have won out over the obsession.”

♦A very candid look into one woman’s life with depression, borderline personality disorder and Aspergers.
♦Good therapist? Bad shrink? How to tell.
♦Are you a chronic apologizer? (I know that I am.)

Colors:
26 ~ Gray
27 ~ Red
28 ~ Yellow
29 ~ Green
30 ~ White
31 ~ Gray
1   ~ Gold (Ironic that this is April Fool's Day!)

Special announcement:

Happy Birthday Scott!!!!!!

Mousetrap Monday

Isn't this the cutest pig ever?

More in cute piglet news: A french bulldog adopts boar piglets!

GO LOOK AT THE PICTURES!

Activism:
♦A step in the right direction for animals, but still not good enough!

Art:

♦Dr. Seuss inspired taxidermy.

♦Sea creature inspired lamps.

♦Excerpts form Wes Anderson movie. (All of the shots are from above. )

Beauty/makeup:
♦I don’t have the patients for complicated manicures…but this one seems pretty simple.

Crafts:

♦Diy a faux fireplace.

♦Want to make a giant rose? I do!
♦Mouse traps in crafts? It is surprisingly pretty!

♦Covering books with fabric.

Feminism:

♦The truth about the Pink Ribbon.

Fun Stuff:

♦I know, I know, this have been on the Internet for ages…but I still Like it!

Noms:

♦Goofy name, but tasty sounding, S'meaches!

♦Make your own vanilla extract.

Mental Health/Self-Care:

♦How to navigate negative thoughts.

♦Plain old good advice.

♦How to deal with criticism.

Colors:

5   ~ Lavender

6   ~ Scarlet

7   ~ Yellow

8   ~ Green

9   ~ Pink

10 ~ Black

11 ~ Amber

Monchichi Monday♥

Source

 

Some people have a thing for owls, or bunnies, but I think porcupines are adorable!

Advice:

♦Oh man, can I sympathize! I don't like my squeaky voice either!

♦If you haven’t heard of Sark, I highly recommend her. She writes beautiful, colorful books, about self acceptance, and cultivating happiness. She has a awesome blog too.

♦The Bloggess gives advice on manners.  (Take with a grain of salt folks)

Art/ Culture:

♦An interesting article that questions who created the famous “Vitruvian Man” drawing.

Vitruvian Man Source

♦I had no idea that the Muppets were so political!

     Bowie:

     ♦Rookie is on a David Bowie kick, and I couldn't be happier!

     ♦How to look like Bowie.

     ♦Behind the scenes of a glam-rock god. (First book listed.)

     ♦Labyrinth: Best thing ever!

         (Couldn't agree more. Although, Bowie's pants in the movie are really icky!)

DIY:
♦Make your own wall art.

♦Make your own roll-up storage for makeup brushes.

Fashion:

♦What the shape of shoes can convey. [The toe shape, pointed, round , square etc.] Square toes always remind me of the bad women from The Witches.

 Noms:

♦The kind of crazy that I love! Potato chip cookies. (I really want to try these!!!!)

♦Beautiful cakes free from the nasty tasting putty that is fondant.

Mental Health/Self-Care/Recovery:

♦Hooray for Kate! She kicked "The Bad Egg" out while at yoga.

♦As with a physical wound, sometimes psychological wounds need to be opened up in order to be cleaned out and healed.

♦More about The Bloggess’s red dress project.

WTF???

♦The Clockwork Orange/ local Serial killer fashion line…?

♦I know I posted this on Facebook, but it is still very weird!!!

I hope you all h ave a fun and stress-free week!

: )

Colors:

13 ~ Silver

14 ~ Gray

15 ~ Brown

16 ~ Green

17 ~ White

18 ~ Gray

19 ~ Orange

♥Dedicated to our friend Corey’s cute kitty Monchichi.