Baby Animals: The Book

While in Pennsylvania visiting my boyfriend's family I picked up an amazing book at a garage sale called "Baby Animals".

It's a book full of glamour shots of baby animals, it cost me 25 cents, and it's awesome. It reminds me a lot of Kittens Inspired by Kittens.

Here are my faves:



Hilarious! I wish the rest of the text was as good. Mostly it's like, "We're baby ducks! Quack quack!" or "Penguins are wobbly!"



Love the soft-focus lens.



I LOVE that there are both "Kittens" and "Cats" and "Puppies" and "Dogs". Classic.

Mindblowing Murals

Yesterday when I went to vote at PS 38 in Brooklyn I encountered some truly Astounding Art in the auditorium. Each painting had a TotallyAwesome Title.

Here's a sampling:

DAZZLING DESERT



How good is that fox-thing, right? Do foxes even live in the desert? Who cares!


HAPPENING HIMALAYAS



Something's happening in these Himalayas, all right. A bad drug trip!!! Look at all those freaky animals!


SPICY SAVANNAH



Me-OW!

T-t-this D-d-dog is H-h-having the B-b-best T-t-time

Kids + Presidents = CUTENESS

Via Politico: "The caption from the White House Flickr feed: 'The youngster wanted to see if the President's haircut felt like his own.'"

Cuties.

Hop to It!

Apparently there is such a thing as rabbit agility competitions. You know, like dog or horse agility. But for rabbits.

15 year old UK twins Mathew and Thomas Haslam have been training over 20 rabbits to show jump in their back garden in preparation for something called the "Ultimate Pet Show". (I'm going to investigate this thing. It's got to be full of awesome competitions that we can't even imagine. Cat pommel horse!? Hamster synchronized swimming?!)



Both twins have Asperger's Syndrome and training the bunnies (sometimes for 7 hours a day! What!?) has helped them with their condition. Kudos to Bubbles, Lilac, Cuddles, Apple, Muffin, Beefy and the rest of the warren!

Dog Canvas

A little boy, Maxwell, drew on his dog with a permanent marker and then his mom blogged about it.

Look at this dog.



Hilarious.

"I eat everything, but sometimes I don't."

Remember that video of the cute little French girl who told that cute story about the cocodrile a few weeks ago?

Well, now she's written a letter to Santa. And boy is it cute.

Père Noël,

I would like a nice gift, and I would like to see you.

Because I have been very good throughout the year. I have listened well, I have cleaned up my room by myself and I had fun at school, and I have played with my friends.

Also, I am going to move, I will have a nice house and a mezzanine.

I eat everything, but sometimes, I don’t.

Then I would like to see you for Christmas and Halloween and talk to you. I would like to sing you a song-poem. When is winter coming ?

Also I would like to talk to you, but if you leave and go far away, I would like to see you in your house.

If I hug you, your beard will not sting, it will only tickle.

And I would like to go into your sleigh. How will I do that ? Do I have to climb up the trees ?

Kisses,

Capucine

Ugh. Love her.

And apparently you can buy t-shirts with her drawings and sayings and the money goes to schoolchildren in Mongolia or something!

This one says "The hippopotamus was allergic to magic," which was a totally ridiculous and awesome thing she said in the video.

Charley and the Old Navy Factory

The delightful Todd Oldham, creative director for Old Navy and self-professed Charley Harper fanatic, has combined his two loves and helped produce a line of Charley Harper products for the chain!



For those not in the know, Charley Harper was a wildlife illustrator who created charming, very modern works that have been reproduced quite a lot for calendars, greeting cards, etc. You can still buy some of his prints on ebay.



His work is a lot of fun, and the man himself seems like he was pretty fun too. The BF just gave me Birds and Words, which features his bird illustrations juxtaposed with his hilariously hokey and dad-humored writings.

Anyway, his stuff is great for kids. Unfortunately for me (but fortunately for kids!), the Old Navy items are geared at children, but if you have to buy any gifts for little ones this holiday these would be so well-received.

Aside from the t-shirt featured above, which is $10 and comes in two other styles, there are books, games, and a coloring book.




These alphabet flash cards are pretty darn cute, too, and would look nice framed or even just tacked to the wall with nice metal push pins. (I may buy these for myself!)

Everything is under $15, and for the next few days they are offering free shipping and 20% off if you use the code "20FREESHIP".