Christmas is around the corner - or at least in department stores so I can talk about it here - and I've realized that I've moved into a new category of gifts this year: the home decor gift. These are things that would spruce up my apartment, add a super cute touch to the drab walls and carpet, but never in my life can I justify purchasing them for myself.

If I'm caught wandering around a craft/knick-knack store, someone please get me help. Mom? I'm not kidding.

But here's what I've caught myself coveting so far...and already rearranging for:

loop de loop lace shelf

birdcage wall jewelry holder

tree shower curtain

all items from urbans

Austin Music

Went to a great show last night at The Parish on sixth street. It seems like a great venue for shows, sort of cozy with hard wood floors and walls, strings of lights hanging from the back wall, opposite the stage.

Two bands performed: The Low Anthem and Blind Pilot. Low Anthem is from Providence, RI so that was funny to be seeing them in Austin as opposed to both of us being closer to home. Great moody songs and the band seemed super talented, changing instruments between each song. One of the strangest moments was when the lead singer put down the french horn looking instrument he was playing, picked up too cell phones that were calling each other and held them up to the mike so that this eerie back and forth calling echo was created. Very cool.

Then Blind Pilot came on after the fastest set change ever, props for that. They're from Portland, OR and have played at the Parish before during SXSW. Hopefully they'll come back again because they were great performers. The crowd was rocking and throwing their arms up in the air by the end. Their CD will be my next purchase.

An Unlikely Weapon

Screening on Wednesday night from 6:30 - 8:30pm is the new documentary An Unlikely Weapon: The Eddie Adams Story. The Blanton Museum of Art is hosting the event which will include a Q&A after with David Hurne Kennerly and Alyssa Adams.

Eddie Adams' work in Vietnam will be familiar to many people. I'm looking forward to a more in-depth look at his life and work.

Quaker What?

So fall means yummy warm oatmeal to wake you up in the morning...

But this new Quaker campaign takes oatmeal to a whole new level. Be sure to click on the View the Gallery page to see what combinations crazy people came up with (crazy people who have way too much time on their hands.)

Quaker PB&J Oatmeal?!

Bikes and Food

Two good segments on WNYC recently:

David Byrne, of Talking Heads fame, spoke with Brian about his new book Bicycle Diaries and his experience biking around NYC. Austin has such a rep about being bike friendly but certain friends new to the city have told me otherwise. I'd like to see if Byrne has ridden in Lance Armstrong's hometown and what his thoughts are about Texas drivers.

I also really like the book's cover:

Next, Michael Pollan returns to chat about his new book The Omnivore's Dilemma for Kids: The Secrets Behind What You Eat (which is what all my little baby cousins will be getting for Christmas from the Grogans this year) and the PBS program 'Botany of Desire', an adaptation of his first book. Check you local PBS on Wednesday October 28th and 9pm!

Here are some more book covers just because they're really cool still lifes:

And check out Michael Pollan's website as well.

Bikes and food - perfect for fall.

Weird Books

Librarians post things like this. I think my favorite is the Pop Up Book of Phobias. Cover below:

New York, I (sort of) Love You (even from Austin)

I listen to my iPod a lot at work because scanning and editing images keeps your hands busy but little else. Thankfully, my favorite WNYC radio station sends me daily podcasts of the Brian Lehrer show which help me pass those endless shifts at the computer.

I couldn't stop grinning while listening to this recent show. I loved Paris, Je T'Aime - I remember watching it in Brooklyn at a good friend's apartment, surrounded by all the wonderful people I had met in NYC during those four crazy college years. So I'm hoping for a similar repeat, this time loving New York from Austin:

In specially selected theaters NOW!

Prepare next week for some Archives fun!

Monday Oct. 26th: Salvaging New Orleans: Archivists' Response to Hurricane Katrina

Panelists discuss archival recovery during Hurricane Katrina, featuring Michael Baimbridge, Senior Records Analyst for NARA Southwest Region; Brenda Gunn, Associate Director for Research and Collections at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History; and Karen Pavelka, Lecturer at the Kilgarlin Center for Preservation of the Cultural Record, University of Texas at Austin.
6:30 pm, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, Sid Richardson Hall Unit 2, 2313 Red River St.

Tuesday Oct. 27th: My Life in Disaster Preparedness, or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love FEMA
David Carmicheal, Director of the Georgia Division of Archives and History and former president of the Council of State Archivists, discusses his experiences with government records and disaster planning and response on a national scale.
6:30 pm, 10th floor atrium, Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library, 2313 Red River St.

Friday Oct. 30th: Archives Preservation: Remarkable Challenges, Unbounded Opportunities
Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler, Chief of the Document Conservation Laboratory at the National Archives and Records Administration, discusses the ordinary--and sometimes extraordinary--measures required to protect archival and manuscript materials during use, exhibition, and emergency situations.
6:30pm, Room 1.126, Garrison Hall, UT-Austin Campus

Saturday Oct. 31st: Archives Clinic at the Austin History Center
Bring in your personal and family records to receive advice on archival management and preservation from students and faculty from the University of Texas School of Information and the Kilgarlin Center for Preservation of the Cultural Record, along with staff archivists from the Austin History Center and other Austin archival repositories.
1-3pm Reception Room, Austin History Center, 810 Guadalupe Street.
In cooperation with: Society of American Archivists, UT Austin Student Chapter; School of Information, University of Texas at Austin; Austin History Center.

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