The good folks at AAF-Omaha put on a great event called Meet the Pros Monday and Tuesday. Pat yourselves on the backs; it was a well-run event. On a whim (and with Darcy's kindness of sharing her hotel room), I took a quick jaunt north to Omaha Monday after work. I got to see my pals Darcy Hinrichs, Stefan Mumaw, Von Glitschka, and Steve Gordon. What a delight, in the middle of the (HOW) year to see my HOWie pals! Can't wait for June! 

Lovely sink designs, found here, to match those gorgeous faucets.

Here are my two favorites. Which ones are yours?

Thanks for reading,
Cami  =)

I stumbled across these and thought I'd share. Some are more beautiful than practical. Some I just WANT.

Which one(s) tickle your fancy?

Thanks for reading,
Cami  =)

I've said this all along. Ask a kid! You'd be AMAZED at the ideas kids have. Remember when you were a kid?!

Originally found on this website. Thank you for posting it.

And thank you for reading this!
Cami  =)

On the plus side, the visuals are tasteful. On the minus side…the wording…I can't…OMG. 

See the remaining three ads here. And the article on Fashionista here.

Thanks to Adam Hall (@atomcreative) for the heads-up, and the comment, "oh to have been in on this brainstorming session."

Thanks for reading,
Cami  =)

p.s. Your comments are always welcome, especially on crazy stuff like this.

It's quite the attention-getter when Stanford neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky says, "Get a load of this, can you believe what nature has come up with?" Turns out there is some fantastic connecting-the-dots going on concerning the parasite Toxoplasma gondii—yes, the one you catch from cat feces. A crazy-haired (yet level-headed) researcher, Jaroslav Flegr, took the leap to think that his kind of crazy may not be just in his head. The article in its entirety, unfortunately called "How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy," can be found on The Atlantic's website. 

Jaroslav Flegr had a hunch that this single-celled parasite was altering his personality in very subtle ways. Sounds crazy, I know! Since parasites affect other mammals, why not humans? Then he thought that if it were affecting him, then others may be affected too. Then he started proving it with research. In a nutshell, it (subtly) makes men "more introverted, suspicious, oblivious to other people's opinions of them, and inclined to disregard the rules." Interestingly, infected women show almost opposite symptoms. They (subtly) became "more outgoing, trusting, image-conscious, and rule-abiding than uninfected women." Both genders "became less attentive." Bizarre! 

Then others started doing similar research and are extending the mind-boggling finds. For example, Glenn McConkey from the University of Leeds discovered that the T. gondii parasite "has two genes that allow it to crank up production of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the host brain." What?! 

I found a tiny little note on the kitchen counter tonight when I got home. It was written by Son, who will turn 13 in just a few days. 

Life is a Story
"Life is a story where you are the author. You choose what happens. It can be long or short, happy or sad, angry or peaceful, fun or boring. You choose which story. But all stories have an end. Some have happy endings, some have sad. But always make sure your story is told. Because I want to read your story. And mine. I will try my best to make it happy, fun, and full of joy. And I will pass it on." —Nathanial, 7:04 a.m. February 5, 2013

Simple? Yes. Lovely, yes.

Thanks for reading,
Cami  =)

I just saw this on one of my favorite blogs for creative inspiration, Colossal, and I think my brain just exploded a little bit. Brain-exploding eye candy, this is.

These are not carved marble, or sculpted porcelain. This artist, Li Hongbo from Beiging, has cooked my noodle. They're made from PAPER! And yes, oh yes, how I want to play with them!

Go to the gallery's website and drool. Go to Colossal and explore the other amazing visual brain candy. And if you happen to go to this artist's show at the Dominik Mersch Gallery in Sydney, Australia, please, for pete's sake, TAKE ME WITH YOU!!

Enjoy, and thanks for reading!
Cami  =)

I'm a synesthete. It is very hard to describe what it's like to people who don't have it. According to Wikipedia, synesthesia, "from the ancient Greek σύν (syn), "together," and αἴσθησις (aisthēsis), "sensation," is a neurological condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway." In other words, things that others experience with only one sense, we experience with more than one.

My synesthesia affects me with relation to colors, numbers and letters. For me, every letter has a corresponding color, and usually a number. Like 5 and K are both brick red, but 5 is smooth and K is rough. You can imagine how confusing this gets when I'm typing an alpha-numeric code, for example, as I have to type them one at a time, and with one finger. When they're all jumbled up together, It's hard for me to tell the difference between the 5 and the K—I have to say it out loud. The letter L and the number 9 are also similar (inky blue-purple), as is 2 and C (both sunny yellow). This picture represents the colors I see in the letters of my name.

The only other time I really notice the synesthesia is when names have similar colors. For example, the names Jared and Derek are the same colors (orange, white and purple) and they're easy for me to mix up. I used to work with a Jared and a Derek at the same time—so frustrating to both of them, I'm sure, to have their names mixed up when they're not that similar!

For most of my life, I had no idea that everyone didn't experience letters/colors/numbers like I did, and about six years ago I found it had a name! Any other synesthetes out there?  

Thanks for reading,
Cami  =)