“I find it shelter to speak to you.”
– Emily Dickinson

I’m a firm believer that good people and good food is the cure to a lot of ills, even extraordinarily rough days.  Five years in with J. and I’m still incredibly amazed at how just hanging out with him makes hard things easier.  He’s my hands down favorite.  Unfortunately, in spite of a gloriously sumptuous dinner (tried scallops for the first time, if you can believe it – what else have I been missing?!), work is still a bit hectic today, kittens, so here are your links:

Here’s another Oscar nominated short film – and warning is a subtle sort of tear inducer.  Warning the second for pearl-clutchers, there are some hints a nudity but very faint, very stylized, appropriate to the subject matter (they abandoned the proverbial fig leaf) and truly nothing that I think would offend.  Don’t let that scare you off in anyway, because it’s really heartwarming and well worth watching!  (Update: alas, the vid has been made private!  Here’s a Jazz Age style cover of Macklemore’s Thrift Shop instead.  Also, pretty nifty.)

This photographer decided to do portraits of his daughter in the style of the Dutch masters – the results are great.

The latest recommendation by Peregrine – an excellent read!

London from space (I will be there in six months, I will be there in six months…)

Foldable, packable Hunter boots.  Genius.

Suddenly I’m feeling a desire for too much rouge and the charleston.  What a great cinematic find!

Tumblr find of the week – oh this brings back memories of middle school!  Peregrine and I once spent a whole afternoon choreographing a dance to an N’Sync song – not one of our proudest musical moments perhaps, but still quite funny to remember.

I’m not actually a major watch wearer, but this brand is singing a siren song to my wrist…

“There aren’t enough days in the weekend.”
~ Rod Schmidt

It’s been another week of lunches mostly at my desk, except for Thursday when a lovely friend rescued me and dragged me to the university art museum – which is really quite an impressive place with an extensive collection, but for the point here also contains the best cafe on campus.  A great and much needed interlude in a week filled with a lot of rejection (entirely vicarious, but it’s odd how it still smarts and still feels disheartening), and a bunch of changes at work, but that’s another blog post.

I’m tired, and grumpy, and not much feeling like myself, which is always a chore to get out of – like trudging through a pit of glue.  The mere thought of cooking dinner fills me with a churlishness fearsome to behold.  My weekend to do list feels acres long and two days to do it all in feels ridiculously short.  I am, minions, in short, out of sorts.

I proscribe myself tea and taking projects one at a time.  There’s nothing tea doesn’t fix.  Here are your links, amuse yourselves:

Do women worry more about “haters,” and should they?

How gorgeous are these folia wallpapers?

Holy crud, what a story!

I’d go to a Ministry of Defense dinner in a Tudor wine basement in a heartbeat.

For the Lady Mary lovers out there.

Look at these shots of Dutch tulip fields!

Curry – sustaining desperate people since long before midterm cramming and last minute dinners.

It’s official, Richard III has been found!  The whole story behind his body’s discovery is incredible, from finding the skeleton on the first day of the dig, to the confirmation of physical deformity that scholars have debated as being either truth or Tudor propaganda.  History nerds, revel in the awesomeness.

We’re all about the genderswapping here at Small Dog Inc., it allows us to pretend we’re like Shakespeare.

Ahem, Mr. President.

My childhood is a lie!

Here’s the story of two girls who left the Westboro Baptist Church.  Putting aside my own feelings about that organization, which are far from cordial, the tale of these girls and their journey from absolute truth to uncertainty is really powerful.

“There is little chance that meteorologists can solve the mysteries of weather until they gain an understanding of the mutual attraction of rain and weekends.”
~ Arnot Sheppard

Another hectic week, another near collapse…until Thursday when a reserve officer fell out of the sky (aka, the Sheriff’s Department) and took the front desk job! Praise Jupiter, Odin, and Quetzalcoatl! Already my life is substantially easier at work…although that doesn’t mean I got out of the office on time today. People do love to wait until five minutes until the end of the work week to get things done, don’t they? But at any rate, I have a pleasantly uneventful weekend lined with with research for the MP and a massively deep cleaning of the house. Here are your links, enjoy!

Even the greatest criminal mastermind can’t plan on everything.

If only I’d known, braiding my friends hair as a young teenager, that I could have tried this!  And now J.’s making “I liked your hair shorter” noises.  A history nerd can’t win.

This story is equal parts endearing and heartbreaking.

My stationary addiction continues without hope of cure.

Couture fashion fascinates me. You can say it’s over the top and impractical, and there are certainly designers who are, but haute clothes-making is an art that has dwindled in artisans to the point that couture houses are some of the few places you can find it. Not only that, but compare the massively priced but still cheap prom dresses of today to the creations of the House of Worth just a century ago – not even close. And those massive gowns were all done by hand; all the seams, the embroidery, the embellishment were individually created by someone without much use of machinery at all. We live in a world utterly removed from such work.  Here’s a short vid that shows, even briefly, the handcrafting that goes into a Chanel gown.

Still don’t want kids for a few years, baby enthusiasts stand down, but come on.  How adorable are these collections?! I had a whole Peter Rabbit tea set as a kid, bits and pieces of which are scattered about my parents’ house still, I’m sure. J.’s on the side of Pooh, I’m on the side of Potter – who shall win the battle to pick the decor of Someday Stormageddon’s nursey?  Now accepting bets.

Weekly sheep.  Seriously, I’m thinking of switching this thing up some, but I keep getting lazy.

“Well, look on the bright side, you know, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”
“I’m allergic to citrus.”
“Well, look on the bright side, you know, when life gives you lemons, swell up and die.”
– Scott Adams, Dilbert

Sorry for the delay, well-beloved minions, but (as I might have mentioned) this week has been insane, and the Universe saved her biggest punch for the end.  We got some rather surprising news – J.’s start date has shifted until September.

You may imagine the series of emotional shocks we’ve weathered in the last 24 hours, our internal seismographs are shot.  We’re reeling a bit here at the Small Dog Headquarters, but already sneaky plans are formulating to combat the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.  I’ll admit to a full half hour of hysterics, but never fear, it passed (many thanks to Peregrine, Mum and Dad).  We’re bloody but unbowed.  I’ll keep you updated.  In the meantime, and in the spirit of Just Getting On With It, here are your links.  I’m spending the weekend working on the MP and scheming to restore equilibrium, what are you up to?

I approve of modern takes on classical art.

Welcome, our future canine overlords!

There is a reason I refuse to eat these!

I’m kind of excited that Jay Z is involved with the perpetually delayed Great Gatsby film, let’s celebrate by testing your knowledge of hip hop and the Jazz Age.

Here are two NYT Magazine articles I enjoyed this week.  Tell me your thoughts!  I particularly loved the second article, but it does come with a trigger warning for sexual crime.

Downton Abbey is back, and the drama is alive and well!  Here is the Evil Overlord himself in a fun interview where we get some insight into the inspiration behind Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham – aka, my spirit animal.

If you’re grumpy (and goodness know I am) have a look at the most cheerful thing on the planet.  Damn happiness…

Here’s the weekly sheep.  I dunno, I’m sort of getting bored with them, I think it might be time for a new creature for a new year?  What say you, minions?  Sound off in the comments!

“The really idle man gets nowhere.  The perpetually busy man does not get much further.”
– Sir Heneage Ogilvie

Just a quick batch of links for you this week, ducklings.  I’ve spent the past three days at work scrambling to get a multitude of projects done, and have yet more projects to do this weekend.  Farewell, vacation, we hardly new ye!

I am shocked.  Shocked!  And so are these guys.

How fun is this photo project?

What a great tour!

I’m rather baffled that this is a thing – the years I spent with my mouth being forcibly rearranged have not yet left my memory.  They say beauty is pain (I say they’re not doing it right, but whatever), but I still think this is a silly trend.

I’m also baffled that this is a thing too.  Granted I’ve spend time, energy, votes, and effort keeping a lot of people (politicians, total strangers with breeding opinions, etc.) out of my uterus.  So, throwing a party to give people a tour strikes me as a bit weird – but I’m not exactly child friendly.  What’s the verdict, kittens?

Inspiring story of an artist.

This weekly sheep…clearly doesn’t have the hang of it yet.