A roundup of cool links to design stuff and ideas and people in the blogosphere

A few things I think you should know about:

This woman beat me out of a job at Cafe Mom. Yes, I was going to take this blogging thing to the big time.  I tracked her down and found her all over the place. It turns out I like her.  So, Happinest meet Up Mama's Wall.  Up Mama's Wall meet Happinest, and Mamazine.  Yes, you are welcome to my 25 regular readers (That's right, I've grown!).

Here's Undrgrnd. Sign up for their daily newsletter and buy lots of cool, design-y things for your home that you don't need.  The good news is that they are marked down, a lot.  Like sometimes by 80%.  Enjoy.  

Also, in case you're feeling stuck.  Here are some ideas from Free Idea Factory.  Why didn't I think of that?

Finally, that agent who liked me and then changed her mind about my new anthology, sort of changed her mind again and now she has submitted my essay about hating my dog to the NY Times Modern Love section.  I tell you this because I need your good vibes.  You know, from your lips to God's ears and all.   

Literary failure, square dancing, and Stinson Beach

Well, there is good news and there's bad news.  And there is some medium news. First the bad.  Apparently my spit shining skills aren't up to snuff because the new agent on second thought just sort of dumped me and my little book proposal, leaving me stranded once again in the literary wasteland. 

The medium news is that because I am now so mature and well-seasoned I can see this with a modicum of perspective and attempt to take a few lessons. 

Here's the first, an oldie but goodie: don't write with "the marketplace" in mind.  Just write what you want to write and try not to think about how anthologies are dead and memoirs are in.  Kay Ryan, our new Poet Laureate wrote a terrifically funny essay that is in part about all the extraneous chattering that writers do in an attempt to connect, when really, just maybe, what they should be doing is writing. Read it here. Really, it's so good.

The second lesson I am gleaning from my most recent literary failure is that one should never send an agent a poorly formed, undone half-book hoping that said agent will recognize in said mess of pages a true spark of genius.  It's not how it works.  Duh.

So, as Howard Junker says, Onward!  To what, I don't know.  I'm thinking of becoming a nurse or maybe a nursery school teacher.  

Ok, now the good news: Mark & Chelsea's wedding was super fun in a million ways.  

The mister and me at the wedding

A few highlights:

Stinson Beach's most perfect weather of the year.

Wedding vows exchanged against the backdrop of kids and dogs frolicking on the beach.

Eating leg of lamb around a campfire and then getting to go back to our nice beach rental and sleep in a bed.

Mark's sister's family band consisting of her seven children, two of whom were wearing kilts.

Following mother-daughter fiddlers through town to the reception.

Two clogging nieces.

Late-night chicken wings (an true moment of wedding inspiration).

Learning a wedding reel dance that included do-si-doing and swinging our partners.

Square dancing

Dancing for non-squares

Hip hip hooray for love and marriage and all that fun stuff!