The power of the Google Maps street view feature.

Andrew and I are in no way, shape, or form, prepared to buy a house...but my boredom often leads me to look at houses on Craigslist. Sometimes I like to look for places in California, Alaska, or Roslyn, Washington (so I can pretend to live in my favorite "Alaskan" town of Cicely), and other times I just check out what's available locally. Last week I just happened to find a cute little house on the lake. It resided at the end of a culdesac and even had access to a private beach. Pretty ideal, right? After realizing that through a number of circumstances there was a crazy possibility that we could actually purchase the house we decided we wanted to go have a look. Knowing only that it was north of Lakeshore Boulevard in Euclid, Ohio I started searching streets on Google Maps using street view and found it in a surprisingly short amount of time. 

The next day we got up fairly early and prepared for our visit. We stopped for breakfast at a Dunkin Doughnuts close to the lake house because Andrew had seen multiple commercials for their new waffle breakfast sandwich and he was convinced it would be awesome. It wasn't. The same could be said for the neighborhood that the cute house was in. It had the necessities, but nothing special. At this point in time I'm not sure that I would trade my local farmer's market, coffee shops, museums and favorite restaurants (all minutes away from our current home) for merely a lake view and a cute house (which could be completely ugly on the inside). 

We finished off the day by picking up an amazingly cheap mid-century dresser that we found on Craigslist. Thanks to Julia and Aaron we were actually able to get it home. Then treated ourselves to great food at Tommy's and some photo booth action at Big Fun. 

Nope, wouldn't trade it for a lake view.

There's a chilly fog covering downtown Cleveland that reminds me of San Francisco.

Friday was date night.

Our intent was to see Do It Again at the Cleveland International Film Festival, but it was completely sold out for both showings. I was a bit disappointed, but I had gotten to see some short films earlier in the week so that was good. I picked up a poster from the event while we were there. I can't wait to get a frame for it and hang it up in the office, it's going to look great. All the signage was hanging around Tower City and it looked really nice. We stopped for a picture before getting dinner.

Seriously Cleveland?

Borrowing.

As my friend Johanna would say, today has been a "ho-hum" day.

(I didn't mean to make a rhyme. Now I'm starting to imagine that scrawled across the pages of a children's book with me moping along the sidewalk. A project for later?)

Sinus infection = not wanting to be anywhere near my computer.

I've been attempting to fight off a sinus infection since early this week with no luck. It has eased up a little today, but I'm still not feeling myself. The worst of it was that I wasn't able to really enjoy any of the amazing weather we had this week. I was craving a bike ride on the tandem with Andrew but I just never felt well enough.

I did this t-shirt for musician Angel Taylor last month but never got around to posting it after she had approved it. I believe it should be available for sale on her spring tour.

Driving music.

Vintage Dharma.

I'm not sure who made these, but they're pretty great. 

One perk of being sick.

Furry friends to cuddle with.

Watching the outdoor cats.

Spring ahead.

Today my bathroom clock is no longer an hour ahead.

It's that point in the day when sitting at my desk becomes nearly unbearable. Knowing that the weather outside is so perfect isn't helping much either. 

A most wonderful combination.

I learned this morning that Jens Lekman is touring in Indonesia and the Philippines with Kings of Convenience  (insert enormous sigh here). I can't imagine how wonderful that concert would be. 

I'm not sure if this is actually a photograph of him in his home or not, but I'd like to think it is. When Jens stayed with me several years ago I remember him telling me about his pet birds that he allowed to fly around his apartment. More specifically, I remember him telling me how they "shit on the floor". 

Another LOST Tuesday.

In December, a group of artists participated in a show called The LOST Underground Art Show at Gallery1988. The result was a really awesome collection of work. This piece by Julian Callos is one of my favorites. I especially like how the shape of the image mimics the Dharma symbols from the show. The rest of the show can be viewed here: http://lostundergroundartshow.blogspot.com/ 

"...come with me, there's something you should see..."

One of my cats jumped onto my desk while I was at work at started playing my iTunes library. I walked into the house to the tune of "Long Drive Home" by Adem ironically enough. His albums are two that I have a strong emotional connection to. The pictures were captured over the past few days. I'm completely head over heels for the CIFF advertising and can't wait to pick up a poster at one of the showings. I pass one of their billboards every morning on my drive and the colors make me happy. We're planning on seeing Do It Again if nothing else. 

Two reasons why it's hard to get out of bed on the weekends:

1.

2.

"...oh, what a fool i was to think that i could get by on a smile and a wink..."

Driving home from work tonight. Thirty eight degrees, sun shining, windows down. Singing, shouting, along to Local Natives. The crisp smell of cold and a fireplace*. Suddenly everything was quite perfect.

*We used to call it the scent of breakfast meats. I think I will always remember that. 

New musical love interest: Local Natives.

Pre-Lost sketchbook time.

Short and sweet.

Sign Language - a short film from Oscar Sharp on Vimeo.

Barks and books.

I'm pretty sure that despite how much I love Dachshunds, despite how much I may squeal out of sheer delight every time I see one, we will probably never be able to tolerate owning a dog. Today I saw these, and I think they would be an almost suitable replacement for my longing for one of those quirky little dogs. Both are designs by Jonathan Adler, the one with the wooden base is available in his online store and the other is from his collection for Barnes & Noble.

Things that make Mondays better:

Amazingly good peanut butter cupcakes.

Also, finding out that one of my illustrations is going to be published in the Holland Herald, an inflight magazine for KLM airlines. I haven't even read the article yet, but knowing the subject matter I can promise you it will be amazing. I'll definitely share more when everything is said and done.