The Ugly Duckling

Over the weekend, I traveled to central Oregon to hunt for thunder eggs, a rock that is roughly the size of a baseball, almost perfectly spherical in shape and hides gems within it's hard exterior.

When I arrived at the site, I thought I had mistakenly found myself in a 1940's jailbird movie. Everyone was bend over, chipping at the ground with their picks, dirt accentuating the features on their eager faces.

After two, maybe three fruitless swings, I heard a distinctive *Ping* from the end of my pick which I would soon come to recognize as the cry of a thunderegg. In a little under 90 minutes of the pinging ringing in my ear, I unearthed 15 lbs of thundereggs. Sadly I was not able to get any of them cut because I was too close to quitting time, so I have not yet had the pleasure of enjoying the inner beauty of my eggs. But I look at the eggs on my dresser before I go to bed and think about how amazing it is that within the plain, if not ugly, exterior lies a surprising and mysterious beauty. Is that the perfect symbol for nature, or what?

Ad of the Week 5-25

From May 2007 Conde Nast Traveler

Whence is the flower

Today is the birthday of Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of my favorite 19th century Poets. He started his careers as a Unitarian Minister, but when his wife died in 1831, he questioned his faith and began to write and give lectures which he is famous for today.

While Emerson's subject matter varied widely, it is his writings on nature that I find the most meaningful. The Rhodora (below) is my favorite example of how Emerson uses romanticism to explore equality in nature as well as the reason things happen in our lives. The idea that everything in this world has an equally important place in the world is a comforting thought and has permeated my writing over the past five years.

The Rhodora
On being asked, whence is the flower.

In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes,
I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,
Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
To please the desert and the sluggish brook.
The purple petals fallen in the pool
Made the black water with their beauty gay;
Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool,
And court the flower that cheapens his array.
Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why
This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
Tell them, dear, that, if eyes were made for seeing,
Then beauty is its own excuse for Being;
Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!
I never thought to ask; I never knew;
But in my simple ignorance suppose
The self-same power that brought me there, brought you.

Every Good Boy Deserves a Favor

There are certain characteristics of music that allows it to worm its way into our heads. For me, if a song has jazz undertones to it, like a walking baseline or tempo change, it will nip at my ears like an old ex of mine.

That’s why I’m so drawn to Amy Winehouse right now (aside from the VaVaVoom factor). Although very contemporary in lyrics and attitude, her music and sultry voice is firmly rooted in jazz and motown. This particular song, Rehab, has been stuck in my head for about 10 days now with its fantastic hand rhythms and horns in the background.

When I played another one of her songs for a friend, he was mostly ambivalent towards her. So instead of feeling smug about trendsetting, I am forced to consider what impacts our musical influences. What is it that simultaneously makes me want to sing this song aloud and make Alice down the street want to bash the radio in with a baseball bat?

All you need is love

We all have secret obsessions -- for some it is reality television, science fiction, etc. -- my secret obsession is that I read the New York Times Wedding Section every Sunday. It is one of those obsessions that you do not share for fear of being judged.

The Whitney/Mandel Wedding story is one of my favorites. I love Rebecca's quote, "If I could have found any way to live happily without him, I would have done it". When Rebecca breaks up with David (Seinfeld writer), he retaliates by writing an episode of Seinfeld punishing her with the "Bizzaro Jerry "man hands" episode; she explains they are not man hands, they are farm hands.

I guess for me love drives everything I do... Why should you do anything if you do not love it, laugh at it, laugh with it... It is what I live for... So I encourage everyone to read the New York Times Sunday Wedding Section (not the entire section -- just the main story).

Muppetational!

Yesterday morning, faced with a twenty minute wait to be seated for breakfast and a rainy waiting area, my friend and I wandered into a little antique store to kill time. We found many cool little treasures, the highlight of which was a tin Muppet lunch box...I had to buy it.

While I had been searching for a Superman lunch box for ages, I couldn't be more excited by this find. I have paraded it in and out of restaurants, stopped total strangers on the street, and introduced half of my office to it; all the while graciously accepting their admiration of my luck.

"How much did you pay for it," they'd ask. "Only ten dollars," I reply shaking my head in surprise. "A bargain at twice the price," they'd say. And I 'd point out each of my favorite Muppets.

This morning, I had a grin from ear to ear as I carefully wrapped my bagel sandwich and Cheese-It's and placed them inside. I whistled the Muppet Show theme song as I walked down the steps into our lunch room that for the first time reminded me of Kermit the Frog.

It begs the question...What is the connection between this pure kid-like-happiness and this little lunch tin? Is it a nostalgic trip down memory lane of watching the Muppets as a kid? Or is it the sheer cleverness of Jim Henson who gave amazing life and character to little bits of foam and felt. Either way, I now have the smiling faces Kermit, Fozzy, and Rolf to brighten an hour of my day.

Hide-a-bed of My Dreams

I used to think that hide-a-beds lead the least sexy lives of all in inanimate objects. Their functionally gives them a free pass to play with the cool chairs and tables in a room, but they are often ridiculed for their funky shape and uncomfortable nature. Guests grown at their site, owners apologize for their existence, and certainly, nary a child has been conceived on a hide-a-bed. But then I came across Mobelform's hide-a-bunk-bed in this month's Dwell Magazine. Fun. Playful. Stylish. Dare I say, Sexy? I love the clean and modern lines and the Transformers like mutation. Just imagine the fun of the sleep over in that hide-a-bed!

Welcome to the Design Collaborative!

We've all had the experience. You see/hear/taste/smell/feel something and suddenly BAM! A light bulb burns brightly in the forefront of your mind. You feel a rush as your synapses start firing wildly in all directions at once. You become flush with excitement as the little abstraction grows like wildfire and gains a life of its own. If you're anything like me, you hurriedly scratch notes on the closest bit of scratch paper before these thoughts flutter out of your head; then turn excitedly to other creative-minded people and excitedly explain your inspiration and new idea. And that is what The Design Collaborative is all about. Sharing and discussing inspiration to stimulate creativity in yourself and others.

I implore you to share what inspires you. Upload pictures, poems, videos, songs, recipes, whatever inspires you, however often you are struck. And tell us a little bit about it…what is it, where did you find it, what strikes you about it. Who knows where it may lead?