snowday grab-bag.

if you've noticed the lack of the promised theme lately, so have i. somewhere along the way i lost my vision and have gone askew! (i just wanted to say askew.) however, i'm working on getting it back, with half of today's snowday grab-bag being j's (the letter we left off at)!

yeah, it snowed in virginia today. in november. for folks in northern virginia, this isn't a huge deal. but, we never get snow this early in the southeast portions of the state. i woke up to it, had lunch to it, and there's a looming threat of it later this evening. which is pretty exciting. i'm gearing up for a bit of a holiday-tastic weekend. norfolk has their annual grand illumination parade tomorrow evening. my mom and dad are coming into town for it (they live 40 minutes away in newport news). i'm going to attempt to decorate some this weekend, even though my roommate is completely anti-christmas. i am not. obviously. (which explains the garrish cheating in today's picks.)

1. colored lights. oh yes. when i was younger, i really hated colored lights. i approached christmas at a much more traditional angle, opting for white lights on a green tree with the standard hallmark ornaments. as my own style has grown and solidified over the years, i've gained a deep appreciation for vintage tinsel trees. you know - charlie brown gawked at them in "a charlie brown christmas". they made clunking sounds, and were portrayed as solid metal. awesome. you can't (read: shouldn't) put white lights on a tinsel tree. they beg for the rainbow treatment. so, in the event that i have white tinsel tree like i want this year, i'm throwing colored lights on it. 2. another cheat! i just blogged about this in a separate post, but i thought i'd summarize it here. i'm not a huge fan of the bond movies, but the books are top notch. i will be buying this beautifully designed quantum of solace anthology as soon as i find it at barnes and noble. 3. target ornament sets. if your family is anything like mine, their christmas trees aren't just christmas trees - they're investments that take years and years to perfect. my mom's christmas tree has been in the making since my brother and i were born. her mom's tree has taken even longer, consisting of over 50 years of a mix between vintage and modern ornaments. mine unfortunately tends to change ever year. that's why i love these convenient ornament kits you can buy at target. of course, you need to buy free-standing ornaments and accessories to really get your tree right, but these provide cheap and easy fillers while you perfect your own legacy. 4. and finally, another cheat. janelle monae, my new obsession. while you're out listening to britney's new album that you pirated (read: i pirated and burned you a copy), or kanye's new heartbreak, i'm jamming to a record that was released about 4 months ago. janelle's "metropolis" is a brilliant piece of r&b, pop, hip-hop, future love that stands out from every single one of her peers. where beyonce goes for the over-the-top diva, estelle opts for the reggae roots, and rihanna goes for the edgy teen-pop sensation, janelle goes for the weird. the eccentric. the concept album. (who does that anymore in the main stream?) you can read about it in the gushing post i made last week. i really, really love her, though.

before i stop this joke of a 40% post, check the holiday card i designed for this year. i might actually get them printed for once!