A little Mali adventure. **updated** there's more!

I am absolutely enthralled every time there's a new post up on this blog:

Basically, she's back from traveling to and within Mali, she literally went all the way to Tombouctou, and is now writing out the story, little by little. It's amazing! What an adventure.

Yeah, it's a real place. Who knew?

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To follow along on her journey

start here

then read this

then this

then this.

And here's the latest post. I'm still enthralled! 

All photos by Seydu Keita. I got them from this post. 


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Here's another one! 

*****
And more! 
***
And this one punched me in the guts.

We're off to see the wizard of ... nevermind.

We have a busy weekend up ahead.

Ryan's oldest boy is turning twelve, and to celebrate we are taking him on a trip somewhere awesome for a few days. Since I hate stalkers ruining my good time in a new city I'll tell you where we went once we're back. Hint: it involves the kid going to a concert and us staying in a really cool hostel. I can't wait to tell you guys more about it!

For now though, here's a few more photos I took with my grandma camera: the Canon AE-1.

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Punk rock* bathroom graffiti!

(As always, if you click the picture you can see a larger version.) 

(Oh, and these are just photos of the photos, so there may be a bit of a glare on them.)

I'm still working on the manual focusing of the camera, so I know these are weird and blurry in the wrong places. I think they're charming, especially when I'm holding the photos in my hands.

*bathroom graffiti may or may not actually be "punk rock"

MY NEW TATTOO

CLICK THE HOWL to see my PARTY WOLF!

AWWWWOOOOOOOOO!

Things I Love Thursday

 In which I tell you about cool stuff I found around the internet. 

Le Blog de Vincent Mahe

I mean...look what he does with a boring old moleskine notebook!

(see more here)

Here's some cool drawings of naked ladies...follow the link, I'm trying to keep this blog vaguely SFW-ish. "Sleeping Beauties". 

And this is one of my favorites, he calls it "big apple a day, keeps the doctor away".

These sketches are only the beginning of a long list of what he can do. Check him out! 

Vincent Mahe everybody!

This GIF. 

From here.

This cat.  

The expression.

I can watch this and laugh for hours!

Paper sculptures. Imagine all the care, time, and patience that goes into these works of art.

These are all from PaperNoodle.

You should also look at their Pop-Ups section. It's amazing!

"Urban legends about illegal drugs."  

Some of them are so ridiculous. 

And some of them I used to believe!

Photos of women in Afghanistan by Paula Bronstein. 

American Marines

And inside a women's prison.

Images from here and here, all taken by Paula Bronstein.

HUMAN PLANET!

 I want to watch this entire series. Right now.

"Human Planet is an awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping, heart-stopping landmark series that marvels at mankind's incredible relationship with nature in the world today.

Uniquely in the animal kingdom, humans have managed to adapt and thrive in every environment on Earth. Each episode takes you to the extremes of our planet: the arctic, mountains, oceans, jungles, grasslands, deserts, rivers and even the urban jungle. Here you will meet people who survive by building complex, exciting and often mutually beneficial relationships with their animal neighbours and the hostile elements of the natural world.

Human Planet crews have filmed in around 80 locations, bringing you many stories that have never been told on television before. The team has trekked with HD cameras and state of the art gear to film from the air, from the ground and underwater. The result: a "cinematic experience" created by world-class natural history and documentary camera crews and programme makers."

Ah BBC. I heart you so much sometimes. 

This photo.

I found it here, but I really wish I could find the original source for it.
I bet there's more cool stuff where this came from.

This hilarious letter from the Cleveland Browns to a fan, written in 1974.

All four videos in the "Paranoid" series by Jack Vale.

This is too funny. Basically, he just talks into a cell phone about what the people around him are doing, and they get freaked out by it. Good times.

These "fantastical queens" photos. (Click for larger image.)

See six more here.

Homophones.

Hey. Bloggers.

You know that thing where you're looking at something, peering from a place of concealment? Like, when you're briefly or furtively looking at something, perhaps from around a corner?

It's spelled "PEEKING" not "PEAKING".

PEEK. Not "PEAK".

Learn it. Live it. Love it.

I've read three separate blog entries that contained the wrong spelling today. From three different people. Bloggers! I am disappointed.

What's in my big orange bag?

Here's the story about this bag, in short:

Once upon a time in Mexico, my friend Sophie and I took a bus from Xalapa to Puebla Cholula to meet up with a Mexican guy she met in Germany a few years previous to this encounter. He said he'd show us around his town. Well, this young man ended up being a total dickface, insulting us, tricking us (vegetarian) girls into eating pig skin and then laughing about it, saying my Spanish sucked, etc. I basically hated him and the day culminated in me sobbing in a back alley somewhere in Puebla with his friend because I didn't want to be at the damn Tiger Disco anymore!!!

Anyway at one point in the day we found a market, and in the market they were selling these bags. I spotted the neon orange one and was all like "Hell yes" because it was fifty pesos. He came over and said "Don't buy that, it's too dirty." (?) So I was all "I'll take it, and I'm never washing it ever. I swear." 

And I have never washed it.

And that was in 2007.

So...it's dirty. And the zipper's broken now. But I love it SO MUCH.

Introducing...MY ORANGE BAG! 

(If you look carefully you can see a pin of a luchador I found in the market as well)

And here's what's inside. I recently cleaned out all the unsightly receipts and loose change.

 1. My iPod touch. A must have for the bus. 

2. Grey sweater. I always carry clothing around because 

of the amount of time I spend walking around. 

3. Photographs I recently got developed. 

4. My ratty old change purse with cupcakes on it. I don't even...

I think I scored that at a dollar store or something.

1. My narwhal notebook, full of an alphabetized list 

of books I want to read. I literally carry it everywhere. 

2.My teeny tiny moleskine day planner.

3. The world's most embarrassing phone, now that 

everyone has iPhones. I swear I'm on my way to upgrading!

1. Wallet, from herbivore.

2. The only kind of pen I enjoy writing with.

3. Pretentious book for the bus.

4. SnapSights camera. It rules so much. 

This is the only camera I brought with me to Cuba!

 1. My pretty keys. 

The anchor is from Ryan and the camera is from my dad. 

2. Bracelet from Cuba.

1.My ultra cool "moo cards". 

They're mini business cards that you can 

personalize with up to 100 different pictures.

On the back they just say my name and my e-mail address

so they're useful in most scenarios.

And that's what's in my bag. TA DAAH!

---And in other news---

Wish me luck guys, I'm off to get my foot tattooed. 

 

UUUGH

 

I'm so looking forward for it being done forever.The last time was so bad. SO BAD. My foot skin is like paper, I swear I feel it tearing as I get tattooed. And my feet are super sensitive. 

But on the bright side it's gonna look siiiiiiick.

A walk in the park.

Walking Tank is always a great endeavor. He's a good walker, but boy he attracts a lot of attention. I feel like I can't just take him for a walk in my jammies or with bad hair, even at nine at night, because no matter where we go or what time it is I get roped into these weird conversations about him that usually go like this:

Stranger compliments Tank's looks.

I half-smile and say thanks.

Stranger pets Tank or stands at a safe distance and stares.

I stand there.

Stranger talks to Tank in high voice.

I stand there.

Stranger comments on Tank's size.

I fake laugh and say "yeah".

Stranger goes "Well, see ya later, have a good night, BYE TANK"

Tank wags his entire bum.

I say bye.

I never know what to say in those situations, other than really lame things like "Oh, he's just excited, he won't bite you.", that kind of dog-owner stuff. I hate small-talk conversations and usually straight up ignore them, but I love dog people, and I honestly believe most of the people who come over to see a dog aren't weird or creepy, they just want to see the dog. Especially such a weird looking cutie face. I mean...am I supposed to divulge more information about him at this point? 

"Oh yeah, he's cute but he's quite flatulent and he snores, so...yeah. There's that."

The weirdest thing is that nobody can agree on whether Tank is big or small. Ryan and I have overheard entire arguments about whether or not he's huge or tiny. Even I can't decide. I ask him all the time "Are you a man or a baby?" (But it's mainly because he reacts really funny to it. But I really can't tell sometimes.)

 Anyway, on the day we took these pictures last week, I was having a really rough time (due to some personal stuff) and so we found a quiet secluded path in the forest near our house to just walk the dog and not talk to all those dog people. It was really nice. I love these boys.

These were taken with my grandma's Canon AE-1. Which I love, even though we obviously still can't really figure out the focusing, haha. 

Click the pics to enlarge. That's what he said?

This is my favorite thing about dogs.

Ye olde head cock.