party time, excellent!

good morning! i have lots of fun photos for you today from last nights 1920s themed holiday party here at the navy yard…it was a blast, and building 543 looked beautiful. here are some photos i got while they were setting up, followed by some taken at the party.

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stay tuned for a 1920s office style post!

music really can change the world.

when edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros, who i’ve posted about a couple of times, released their album up from below this year, they held a release party to raise money to help the gulu widows group of uganda so that they could start a farm to sustain their community. this group of incredible women have been widowed, abducted and abused as a result of the continuing warfare in northern uganda, southern sudan and eastern congo.

to thank the band, the women sang part of their song “home” after the first harvest on the farm…watch:

“home” in gulu from Voice Project on Vimeo.

the song is particularly meaningful, as most of these women have lost husbands and children who had to fight in the war.

i posted the band’s version not too long ago, here.

Read more about the voice project, which supports these amazing women in their efforts to reunite families in northern Uganda and live in peace, here.

pass it on.

pickin’ out photos…

whenever the images are ready for an upcoming catalog, our team lines them up in the hallway for everyone to look at. we pick our favorite and mark it with a post it note, and this helps them decide which images to use and which one goes on the cover. it’s really fun…these photos are for our march catalog, and they look great!

thursday poll – edition 72

good morning…hope everyone’s day is off to a great start!
for last week’s thursday poll i asked about our touched converse. there were several to choose from, and the most votes went to the hand drawn floral converse!
we’re loving tunics right now and we have quite a few different styles, so this week i thought i’d ask, which tunic is your fave?

the burbank tunic:

the davenport beach tunic:
davenport beach tunic

the pacific surf tunic:
pacific surf tunic

or the sunshine coast tunic:
sunshine coast tunic

now vote!!

wednes-diy

who doesn’t love snow globes? there’s something very nostalgic and whimsical about them.  plus you can bring a pretty little wintry scene into your home and make it snow whenever you want.  i found some instructions on how to make them, and it seems really easy…

these handmade snow globes from martha stewart are simple and sweet.  you can use almost any kind of jar to make them…the instructions suggest painting the lids in seasonal colors.  find the plastic or ceramic figurines at flea markets or hobby and craft shops, and synthetic evergreen tips at floral-supply stores.

next, sand the inside of the lid until the surface is rough and use clear-drying epoxy to adhere the figurine to the inside of the lid. let the epoxy dry.

fill the jar almost to the top with distilled water. add a little bit of fake snow or silver or white glitter and a dash (not too much!) of glycerin (available at drugstores) to keep the glitter from falling too quickly.

screw the lid on tightly, turn it over and let it snow!

the top two images are from anthropologie.

musical ornaments

if i had a christmas tree, these are the kind of ornaments i’d put on it. i saw these on pitchfork and I think they’re so cool – they’re recycled christmas tree ornaments made by the glass casters union in oregon, and proceeds from the sale of the ornaments go towards helping homeless and low-income families in oregon. this year’s designs include modest mouse, blizen trapper and the decemberists (shown above). i also like some of the ones they’ve done in previous years: