Novel Tea <3

Rain, rain - you can stay.

I love rainy days - boots, head-consuming hats, raindrop music. Spent the morning in hazy light listening to Regina Spektor Pandora & cutting/pasting/drawing. Voila.

Why the photograph is one of the greatest inventions of all time.

Photography allows the entire human race a chance to share experiences.

And, amazement.

Love it.

(Thanks Daddy!)

It's a bittersweet symphony, thats life

Spent the night in New Paltz, woke up in a dream. The pleasantly small ratio of people to square miles brings a calm over me that makes me question my present situation. I am a country girl at heart, I cant wait to be living, once again, in a place where I can buy eggs laid by chickens hatched walking distance from my frying pan. One day.

Anyway,
I don't pay for cable, so I rarely watch television, besides a few must-see primetimers (FlashFoward - if you havent watched it, hulu.com, asap.). But last night, at a friends apartment, I got sucked in by the powerful , almost gravitational pull of Law and Order. It amazes me. L&O episodes must be watched up until the last 60 seconds, when the solution to the hour-long riddle is revealed.  Producers know this. The moment that the last episode ends and the first note of the familiar "dun dun" jingle is played, the screen splits in two and a new episode begins. Add in a chilly night a pullout couch and a it is impossible to break free.
During my four hour Bravo binge, after not watching a straight run of television for months, I couldn't help but be amazed at the nauseating amount of BULLSHIT! that goes into commercial advertising. Americans watch so much television, they can't even see the blatant brainwashing used to scare/trick consumers into buying!
For Example.
Pharmaceutical commercials. Come on people, when the audio of a commercial is stuffed with smooshed-together warnings, side effects, and "fatality has been reported", played on top of frolicing actors gleaming fake sunlight off their glistening hair, skipping and smiling, you are being tricked.
Shampoo.Would a shampoo company hire a model with damaged hair for a shampoo commercial? No. So, if your hair is damaged, and you expect it to look the same, after a wash, as the liquidy waves spinning around some glamourous models head, you are being tricked.
Razors & Acne products. This always gets me! Yea, a triple blade is nice. But it probably doesnt work as well on 2-week stubble as it does on the already-smooth leg used to sell it. And Clearasil, for example, used on an unaturally bright red blemish on otherwise smooth skin is probably less effective on the average teenagers pebescent breakouts. Stupid.You are being tricked.
One last rant:
HOW MANY WAYS can AT&T rewrite their "Who threw the unused minutes in the garbage??", "But Mom, these minutes are old" commercials. Get some new material. God. Hire someone! It's a recession, they would be doing us all a favor.

Enough already.

Snow, man.

Snow.. October 15th.
I missed most of it behind a computer screen. Still, the cold dark season energy is in the air. I'm pretty excited to hibernate. I feel like people grow in the summer, and things change you stretch a little, and the winter you adjust. Sort of like braces, tightening, a little straighter, and it's uncomfortable and slightly painful. Then a month for your gums to calm and your teeth to admit defeat,and before you know it there's a wrench in your mouth do it all over agian. But right now, hibernate.


So THIS is pretty awesome.

Etsy, take # 2.

I've done this before, but it's time for an update. Etsy.com has been a favorite site of mine for years. I love the creative freedom, the community of artists. I browse not only to shop, but to be inspired.

Here are some good ones:

Gnome Beard ... warmer? Both practical & freaking AWESOME, the only thing missing is a chapstick compartment.

Oh, humor.

just Love it.

Monkey Mind.

My brain cannot seem to stay on one topic recently, so I figured I'd let loose some random, half-thought out thinks.
Certain numbers & dates are always around .
Nov 11.
May 18.
May 16.
12.
1004.
24.
I see them often, and for years, and maybe I just notice them because I noticed them once then twice then noticed how often I noticed them, and maybe the whole thing is just a snowball of observation growing ever larger- but, I strongly think not.
next.
There is something - eerie? mystical? transfixing? - about a full moon. Even an almost full moon. So obvious and huge and amazing and demanding of attention. I saw a Discovery Channel special on the moon once. The earth reacts - the water and energy - ovaries. The Romans called the moon "Luna." its something.
also.
Octopuses have six "arms" and two "legs" I had no idea.
There is something about spending money when your down, that just ... helps. I'm not sure why, perhaps new things, something to hold and touch that hasn't been exposed to whatever it is that is troubling you, allows for a new perspective. Or maybe, feelings of depression, feelings of inadequacy, create a compulsion to mask ourselves with material, to enhance our self image. either or. finally,

www.nataliedee.com is awesome & always has been.