{ Eye Candy: Rugrats All Grown Up }

Ever wonder what became of your favorite nickelodeon cartoon characters? Ya know, incase they kept on growing up in cartoon world. Well wonder no further! The amazing Celeste {via Celeste Doodles} has a real talent for re-imagining your favorite cartoon characters. The above image are the gang from Rugrats, which while a lil' too young for me in its hay day, was still a well watched show of mine. Be sure to follow her on Tumblr and check out the rest of her work. It's definately inspiring (I know I'll be sketching tonight!).

{ A Pixar Conspiracy Theory }

A conspiracy theory regarding the Pixar movies? Sounds pretty wack-a-doodle to me, at least that's what I first thought...
I heard about this theory a few month back, and since it's been lingering with me for a while I kept looking (I have a 2 year old so it's not like Pixar movies aren't in the rotation pretty regularly) for any overlap in the films and low and behold, I did find a few! I won't get into mine, because Jon Negroni does more than an amazing job pointing out each overlap and signs. I mean those guys and gals at Pixar are pretty clever, I'm sure they weaved in some great 'easter eggs' for those bright eyed enough to see them. 

Negroni believes (and I might too, it's pretty convincing), that all of the Pixar movies actually exist within the same universe (beginning with Toy Story).  Every movie is connected and implies major events that influence every single movie.   

You will definately need to read more of this article to really appreciate it, here is one of my favorite mentions. {via}

In the beginning of Up, Carl is forced to give up his house to a corporation because they are expanding the city. Think on that. What corporation is guilty for polluting the earth and wiping out life in the distant future because of technology overreach?


Buy-n-Large (BNL), a corporation that runs just about everything by the time we get to Wall-E. In the “History of BNL” commercial from the movie, we’re told that BNL has even taken over the world governments. Did you catch that this one corporation achieved global dominance? 

Interestingly, this is the same organization alluded to in Toy Story 3:

Toy Story 3 (Buzz’s batteries)

{ Can I Just Live Here? }

As a new mom I'm sure I follow / subscribe to too many blogs and people about parenting (mostly cool things for kids), but today there was a post for these incredible outdoor play houses. Now my lil' man just has your standard run of the mill fischer price play house / slide combo (it was actually a craigslist find), so he doesn't need a new play house or anything, but the designer inside of me just SQUEELED when I saw these!

Meet the Illinois Play House from Smart Play house (appropriately named)! Smart Play House has tons of other great modern play houses, but isn't this Farnsworth House knock off the cutest? I'd totally live there (well if the darn thing was scaled up like 300%). I mean it's a straight up copy, but who hasn't copied this house (thinking of ol' PJ, and don't forget Bill Shell - ut arch knows what I'm saying).

::::swoon::::

{ Eye Candy: A First Trade Show Booth }

what a sexy booth number graphic!

I've designed a few trade show booths in my day, one for cdp and one for medmaps. But to have the ability to display your own personal work and really go all out is something I've often daydreamed about.

 The Creative duo at These are Things got the chance to do just that, at the National Stationary Show and whoa! is their booth and documentation impressive. It has just the right amount of handmade flair that makes my design heart flutter. I have friends who do plenty of craft shows and can't help but think of them when I saw this. Check the link for more and a time lapse set up video, but below are my fave.  {via}

{ Knoxville Murals: Sprucing Up Dead Space }

It looks like those Dead Spaces under the interstate by-passes are getting some love in north knoxville. A mural project was started a few months back by the north knoxville communities (Fourth and Gill, Parkridge, old North, and Knoxville) and led by Parkridge resident Lynne Sullivan and artist (chosen via contest last winter) Per-Ole Lind, also an East Knox resident. But it seems like the murals are finally taking shape and coming together and additionally bringing the communities together!

“It’s done more than create art,” Sullivan said. “It’s created community. And I hope it’s just the first of many projects the neighborhoods can do.” 

For additional pics see link {via}

{ Apparently Artists and Cats have a Bond }

While I'm no stranger to the benefits of having some great kitties. It's always nice to find others (artists I admire no less!) who share the same love for felines as me. Similar to the Freddie Mercury article, I'm in love with Dali and his beautiful Ocelot, and Warhol and his 25 kittens all named Sam.


The elusive, self-sustaining nature of the cat finds its human reflection best in the personality of the artist - as they often seek inspiration from their feline companions. similar to ancient egyptian culture - in the sense that they revered cats as borderline deities - cat domestication owed to the clear depictions of house cats in paintings from over 3,600 years ago. being viewed as both an object
of worship and an adored pet, the animals frequently were adorned with jeweled necklaces and gold earrings.{via}

{ Tweets worth a Laugh }

Found this chuckle worthy twitter feed, The Entitled Tech Worker from a friend via FB. It's a nice lil' commentary on how ridiculous those tech workers (out west typically) are.
Enjoy the morning laugh, My fave was (fyi ruby on rails is for the fail)

we deserve our salaries because we solve hard problems, like "using ruby on rails" and "hiring more of ourselves"