Introducing ...

Friedrich Wilhelm Claus von Stauffenpuss

November 2009 in pictures

It's the last day of November folks. It's been a very busy month, but I at least managed to stick with this project.

Michelle Brusegaard free shipping

I love the tunics Michelle has on her Etsy site.

Her stationary and business cards are also quite desirable.

Michelle is offering free shipping from her awesome Etsy site through Sunday. Go snatch up some of this amazing artist who recently moved to Fargo.

Giveaway at Bleubird Vintage

One of my favorite blogs, Bleubird Vintage, is having an awesome giveaway from Paola Loves to Shop. Everyone should go enter. All you need to do is leave a comment on this post.

Nikon girl

Personally, I'm a Canon girl, but I used to be a Nikon girl. This made me laugh even if my landlord is currently ripping holes in my ceiling and it's 85 degrees in here.

PhotasticFriday: Flatlander

North Dakota is flat. Like really flat. Whenever I'm riding in a car, I can't resist taking photos of the endless horizon. The strait lines of the land seem to give sky more depth. I'm traveling out west next week for Thanksgiving where the mammoth sky seems to hang over the gross, dead terrain even more than in the Red River Valley.

Fall is my favorite time of year, especially on the plains.

WardrobeWednesday: Making my work wardrobe, well, work

So I got my first big girl job, and I start in exactly one month. I've been building my work wardrobe slowly and have most of what I think I will need to not feel like a college student anymore.



These are a few outfits that I'm looking into buying. What's your must-have in your work wardrobe?

MondayMust: Winter gear

I pulled out the crate of winter hats, scarves and gloves. It's been an incredibly mild fall here in North Dakota so far. Usually, we're in the throws of winter right now. Snow has barely fallen, and I hope it stays that way for just a bit longer. We've already shaved off about a month of our normal winter, and I'll appreciate that even more come March.

I have lots of gear and this is just a sampling. I could tell you a story about each one. I've noticed that about me and my clothing. I seem to remember where I wore things and what the special/non-special occasion was, who gave/ made them and the last time I wore them.

Knitting season usually corresponds with hat/scarf season. I never keep my own creations, but maybe I'll change that this year. I started a scarf for my aunt during yesterday's Vikings game. I'm using and seed stitch, and it's coming along quite nicely.

Next on my list is socks. Maybe I'll have a sock collage to go with it ...

PhotasticFriday: Santa's lap

As a kid, I was always kind of a ham in photos. Unlike my older sister Jill, I liked when our mom would force us to go outside and take our Christmas card photo each year. Part of that tradition usually included me picking on her, which might have also added to the appeal of the event.

Then came the sit-on-Santa's-lap photos. No thank you. This guy doesn't even really look like Santa — maybe a Santa that just ate a mud pie, but no Santa I'd want to sit on even now.

PhotasticFriday: Night out with my BFF

Cristen and I went out for pink drinky poos last night. Because we are now old women, we went out about 8 and were home for the 10 o'clock news.



Cristen and I have known each other for more than 20 years and attended grade school, middle school and high school together. We were on basketball and volleyball teams together and eventually became BFFs in college. I just looked back through some old pictures trying to find one of us from long ago, but it eluded me for now. Here's a sort-of oldie dating back about five years.



She's the best person in the whole world to hang out with.

WardrobeWednesday: My newest shoes

I had a very strange day today. But enough about me, let's talk about shoes. MY shoes. I guess we're back on me.



I got these Steve Madden Oxfords a few weeks ago, and they are my new favorites.



I wish I had gotten the black ones because I realized I'm often breaking the brown-black rule with my news shoes. Rules are meant to be broken.

TypophileTuesday: Periodic table of typefaces

Scribbleoneverything.com has a great piece of wall art for anyone in love with typefaces. The periodic table of typefaces is something I've seen on T-shirts and posters, but this one is a set of vinyl wall decals. It's brilliantly designed by Camdon Wilde of Squidspot. You can order them for less than $50. Now that's some affordable art (for geeks anyway).

MondayMust: Goop, Lonny and Garance

I just discovered Goop last week (I'm a little behind the times). It's a newsletter consisting of Gwyneth Paltrow's favorite things. Not sold? Neither was I at first, but I found a ton of stuff that I really like from this week's newsletter. Also, it's sort of entertaining to make fun of Paltrow. There's something about the newsletter I find kind of ridiculous. I DID get some good stuff out of it though.


Lonny Magazine
This is one of the coolest new online mags I've found. Having worked on a much smaller-scale online magazine, I have a lot of respect for those starting them up.


Garance Dore
I've followed (and loved) The Sartorialist for a long time. I even started a documentary project based on street portraits because of it. His girlfriend Garance was featured in Goop, and I must admit I like her style of shooting better. Plus she's French.

Giveaway over at off switch

OOh Ooh. Katie and off switch is having a giveaway this week. Everyone hop over there for a chance to win this awesome dress from cast couture's Etsy shop.

MakeAListSaturday: The elusive title

For my documentary class, we are making books of the photography project we have been working on all semester.



As I've mentioned before, I've been photographing a 96-year-old woman from rural North Dakota who became a hospice patient in April. For the book, I'm pairing the journal entries she's written since April with the photographs I've taken. Conceptually I know where the book is going. My obstacle right now is the title.

I want to somehow encompass the though of "journals" and "memories" but how to do that in a non-cheesy way has so far alluded me.



So I made bubble charts. Lots of them. Pages and pages. And still no clear inspiration.



Have any of you found a better way of brainstorming?

PhotasticFriday: Cat v. donkey

Milt and donkey

Photastic Friday: Dog v. human

Mort and Cristen

Big Red

In the Midwest we talk about the weather. A lot. It's ingrained in the agricultural base of our existence even if most of us have little to do with it anymore. We experience the extremes. It's not uncommon in the fall to experience a 70-degree day and wake up to 4 inches of snow the next. Let's just say we make the Weather Channel quite often.

Last week it rained several inches. And now the Red River of the North is again above flood stage. It's not at its mammoth 40-plus feet of earlier this year when the city shut down and major evacuations took place. This time forecasters say it will reach a mere 24 feet Wednesday (6 above flood stage) and slowly go back down, tapering into a cold, cruel hibernation for the winter.

Each spring, and now this fall, we watch the Red River take a giant breath. It's belly puffed out as it moves through our towns. The city tries to contain it, but it spills over north and south into the smaller communities. The Red reminds of of what nature can do.

In the spring, we are hopeful about the summer to come. After all, we just survived another killer winter in North Dakota. The Red swells and Mother Nature says, "Don't forget what I can do. See you next year."

We forget over the summer what a -50 degree windchill feels like. We get complacent as the snow tires come off and we can again drive at regular speed limits. In July and August, the wind is hot and muggy most days. In January it threatens to rip your face off. But we forget.

Then our summer quickly turns to fall. It's just a short fade into winter — usually just weeks. The Red swells and Mother Nature says, "You didn't forget, did you? Here I come again."

Halloween is all but over

I should have posted this yesterday because now it just seems old and boring, but Halloween was actually a lot of fun.



Troy's band played at The Aquarium as the Misfits, and it was quite hilarious. They've done other bands like Boston and Kiss, but this was my favorite.



I made Troy's skeleton shirt, and it looked like a 6-year-old's art project. What else can you do with short notice and nothing on hand but some felt and thread?



Someone should really consider bringing back the Devil Lock.

(For those of you that are wondering, I didn't dress up because I had to work until 1 a.m. on Halloween before meeting up at the bar. If I had worn a costume to work, it probably would have been the one time they sent me out on an assignment.)