Holidays Gone Wild

For the most part, my neighborhood is tastefully decorated for the holidays in restrained strands of white lights and only the occasional fauxflake. (I wanted to take a picture of our front yard for the blog, but yesterday I had the sudden realization that Austin is a small town of distinct neighborhoods, and I don't really want any cyber stalking psycho killers to sneak in and chop me up into little bits while I'm sleeping. Perhaps I have been watching too much Dexter. ) I like that our house looks neat and tidy, but I was hoping one of our neighbors would go insane with the colored lights set to induce epileptic seizures, animatronic reindeer, and inflatable snow globes with Santas trapped inside for all eternity like Superman's dad on Kal-el. Or whatever. I just wanted some drama, you know? So today I am jettisoning all semblance of taste to bring you some tacky Christmas bling blung. You can always count on me to klass up your morning. If I lived in the swank neighborhood of Dyker Heights in Brooklyn, I could hire these folks to jazz up my yard.

dyker heights

The tree is pretty rad, actually, but I am not feeling the creepy creche. Plus it must cost a boatload to have your house done up like so. Like, enough to buy two Wiis. It's obviously a case of keeping up with the Joneses, though, because the entire neighborhood looks like Santa got a little airsick and made a few special deliveries.

dyker heights

Or maybe he just had a bit too much of the spiked nog?

dyker hieghts

A reminder that there are bigger, bolder forces than Santa at work here: perhaps we should lay the blame for this one squarely on the mouse.

dyker heights

I think the reindeer has plans to take the Grinch out... for the greater good, of course.

lauderdale

Meanwhile, in Ft. Lauderdale, this family is "putting Christ back in Christmas" by setting their 60,000 LED lights to DANCE to Emerson, Lake and Palmer's, "Nutrocker."

hedge fund house

Last year, The NY Times reported that this billionaire hedge fund manager's home attracted countless visitors with its extensive light display. Due to the massive hit the financial sector -- and hedge fund managers in particular -- have taken, his display has probably been downgraded to something along these lines this year:

hedge fun downgrade

Hopefully he can rustle up the liquid assets to purchase enough electricity to power this baby.

I don't know about you, but where I come from, "fancy" holiday decorations look less like shining examples of wealth and more like this picture from here:

christmas lights

You know -- completely random small ornaments tacked on at completely random places with no sense of an overall scheme. It appeals to my sense of homeyness much more than the Dyker Heights hood, quite frankly. So does this one.

christmas lights

Ah, yes. Whither the humble plastic statue, lit from underneath to spotlight evil Santa who just wants to have a little holiday fun? My advice: keep to the lit path, friends. You don't want to lose a leg in a Christmas "accident."

tacky lights

Some people accrue so many decorations over the years that they have to build a corral to keep them from escaping. This beauty was featured in Park Cities People, which is a local paper that also serves the Preston Hollow neighborhood in Dallas, future home to one George W. Bush. Wouldn't it be hilarious if G Dub's neighbor was responsible for this? The power drain on the local grid alone might compromise security. Oh deer.

If you're feeling the recession pinch and don't have the cash to purchase 500,000 lights, or if you are even vaguely eco conscious, you could just dial the holiday fervor down a notch.

light car

I really hope that reindeer sings siren songs about ice cream and cookies. With a display like that, homeboy best be serving up some treats from the hatchback.

Still not cheap enough for you? How about this:

grinch sweater

What is there to say about this gorgeous green Grinch sweater the sweet picture itself cannot tell you? Only that it's available on Ebay and already has 11 bids on it. I know what I'll be making next year...

Well, dear readers, Karly and I will be taking next week off to indulge in holiday shopping, eating and general gluttony, but we'll be running some super sweet vintage posts sure to dazzle all but the 5 of you who have been reading DC since the verrrrry beginning.

In the meantime, have a fantastic holiday break full of animatronic deer and inflatable Santas!!!

'Cuz Catching Up is Hard To Do

Normally the holiday season is especially slow for me.  Most people are thinking less about having a website designed and more about which Christmas sweater to wear to the big party.  Not this year, ut-uh-no-way.  Everyone and their sister needs a site, or an ad, or a poster laid out.  I've been enjoying filling my days with lots of multi-tasking and creativity, but my RSS feed is suffering dramatically.  The blogs I normally spend half my day drooling over have barely had time for a second glance, backgrounds have changed, trends have come and gone, writers HAVE MOVED TO NEW HOUSES for crying outloud, and I was none-the-wiser.  It is a sad sad state of affairs.  So this year for Christmas I'm submitting a very special request to Sir Claus for a little free time to catch up on some of the blogs I so adore:

It's no secret that I'm in love with blogger-down-under, Raina of If the Lamp Shade Fits, but as it turns out, there is more than one great design blog making it's way north from below the equator.   Designalogue chronicles the creative life and interests of miss Camilla Molders (check out her new wallpaper, above).  Camilla has exquisite taste, an insane art collection and her Aussie colloquialisms are sure to warm your icy heart right up.

Lauren Kilberg of Double Takes never ceases to amaze me with her super sleuthing abilities.  She manages to find thought-provoking images that are both intelligent and witty, her topics range from interiors to art to music yet they always manage to share a common theme and support the strong vision of this always entertaining blog.  I can't wait to catch up!

If it's Hip, It's Here is easily the most well-researched blog in my RSS feed.  Girl, where do you get all your information?  Each post is backed with 18,000 supporting images often showing a designer's process from start to finish.  Did I mention that she almost always debuts something I've never ever seen?  It's kinda unreal.

When I'm in the mood to literally salivate all over my keyboard, I cruise on over to fellow Craft Mafia member Jesse's blog, Bread Baby.  Jesse seamlessly weaves hilarious stories from her past with present day adventures in the kitchen.  Bonus:  each post is anchored with a new recipe.  Jesse is vegetarian and I assume she doesn't mind if I modify each of her suggested dishes with a healthy topping of bacon.

Do you see this screen shot?  You probably think it is just another gift guide.  Wrong.  This is Tula's list of possible gifts to give Amy Sedaris should she ever have the opportunity to meet her in person.  So, are you all with me in realizing that Whorange is one of the funniest blogs ever?  (PS, Tula, your hair looks great today)

When I want to see good design oddities or just be reminded that I live in Texas and it's hot and it never really feels like Christmas, I cruise on over to Even Cleveland.  As a reward for good readership I got to see how to make macaroni snowflakes.

For drool-inducing themed round-ups, Eye Spy is always a great place to stop.  The above is from E.S.'s most inspiring counter-balanced-weighted light round up.  How can something so ridiculously specific be so good?  I don't know, but ohmygod it was amazing.

For great art round ups I turn to le zebra bleu.  C'mon, where else are you going to find the works of renowned artists recreated entirely of vegetables?   These are things we have to see, people.

I'm pretty sure my ovaries did a little kick when they saw the kiddy costumes posted on Please Sir the other day (don't get excited, ma).   Cruise on over there for quick snapshots of art, fashion and interior design.

Exquisite Function is awesome times five.  Yep, there are 5 ladies contributing to this clean-lined design gem and every one of them always posts something great.  How does that happen?

Woodley Park Zoo chronicles the adventures of a new DC resident living on the Red Line.  Her love for the hot pink shoes above and proximity to my old hood keep her near-and-dear to my heart.

Austin's snarky misprint magazine has an addictive blog, which follows, in no particular order:  armored cats and squirrels, motorized unicycles, Norwegian death metal, and drinking pepsi out of cans found on the side of the road.  I read this every day, but mostly I wanted to add it to the list because I know that co-founder, Bryan, will crap his pants when he sees that I've rotated and drop-shadowed his logo.

And finally, when I need to be reminded that no matter how good I'm feeling about myself there is a 12-year-old girl in Chicago that always has been and always will be cooler than me, I turn to Style Rookie.

Right now I'm subscribed to exactly 80 blogs on my RSS reader.  On the rare day when every planet is aligned, I can see all of them, lately, I have seen very few, but to all of you out there that I haven't had a chance to visit lately, I hope to see you soon and I miss you dearly.  Find something cute for me!

 

Sloppy Seconds: Decor Stew

Today I have lots of Christmas cookies to bake, so what will I be serving up on the blog?  Why, interior soup, your favorite!  Today's the day where I reach deep down into my desktop folder of tricks and pull out a few of my favorite images that I've collected over the last several months.  As you may remember la folder ain't organized so don't expect any fancy linkin.  If you're dying, just dying to know where a certain thing came from, hit me up in the comments and I will super-sleuth it up for ya. Stop banging your spoons on the table, soup's served:

Sorry dudes, as may be apparent by the casual layout of these rooms, I seriously need to relax.  and bake.  and take a little more time to daydream about my own decor.  More tomorrow

KISSES!