TEXAS BOUND

What are you up to this weekend? I am headed to Austin, Texas! Though we will only be there for about 36 hours, I am super excited to go and hang out with my fiancé's family and see where my soon-to-be sister-in-law has been living for the last several years. She just got a super adorable puppy, so there will be lots of walks and playtime. :) I am looking forward to lots of sunshine, swimming and eating myself silly. Hope you have something equally fun scheduled!

Keeping travel in mind, I wanted to share with you a beautiful new travel e-magazine that has been making the blog rounds. It's called Wayfare and it is chock full of gorgeous graphic design and photography. It's one of those publications where you want to ear mark every page and hop on a plane immediately. Check it out the pilot issue here.


Need something else to keep you busy over the weekend? Here are some fun things I have recently discovered:

Have you read the Hunger Games (I read all three in a week!)? Then you are definitely going to want to see this cheeky post.

Speaking of books, I can't wait to add this new classic to my collection.

Also, this is the coolest bookmark I have ever seen.

Instaprint is taking Instagram to a whole. new. level. Wow!

I knew McNally Jackson was cool, but this machine just made it insanely cool.

The Bachelor may be over (at least for now) but this artist is making me want to go back and relive its most hilarious moments.

I have always wanted to be able to dance, so this video and this video are killing me. So cool!

Some great advice that I often have to remind myself to head. Just say no!

Louis C.K. does it again. Hilarious!

For my UCONN fans out there, here's more proof that we can't wait for Breanna Stewart to arrive. Go Huskies!


Happy weekend! See you back here next week!

TOP DOG

It wasn't always pretty, but in the end it was perfect. King Kemba (Junior point guard Kemba Walker) led the UCONN men's basketball team to the school's third national championship last night, ending his team's season undefeated in tournament play (early season Hawaii tournament, Big East tournament and the NCAA tournament). While I am disappointed that the women's basketball team couldn't join them in the winner's circle, I am proud that the magnificent Maya Moore won an unprecedented third Wade Trophy and her second Naismith trophy (among countless other awards) this year.

As a lifelong fan of UCONN Huskies basketball, I couldn't be more proud today (like I was then). Read more about the victory here, Coach Calhoun's legacy here, and Kemba's skills here.

(I apologize for the out of character subject of this post. March Madness only happens once a year, but when it does I go crazy!)

DEDICATION, DETERMINATION, SPORTSMANSHIP

A beautiful summary of a beautiful streak (that, hopefully, will continue!). These women over countless years and in the face of countless challenges have continued to inspire and play their gosh darn heart out.

Talk about an inspirational story for the holiday season.

I know I am an unabashed UCONN fan (see here). But anyone who likes sports or has played sports, men or women, can appreciate the amount of dedication, determination and sportsmanship it takes to not only win, but to settle for nothing less than their absolute best (day in and day out, every minute of every game) all while respecting each opposing team they play.

I am usually too superstitious to post about the season while it is going on, but this was simply too important to pass up. I mean, really, it is one of the best Christmas presents I—or any UCONN fan—could have asked for.

Read more great coverage over at ESPN here.

And, on the off chance that one of the Huskies is reading this: congratulations!

p.s. How great is it to be a UCONN fan right now? The boys basketball team is doing well, the football team is the Fiesta bowl . . . awesome!

PERFECT. AGAIN.

I know this is supposed to be an arty blog that focuses on design. I know this. However, sometimes there are moments that are just so amazing (like this last year) that they transcend that rubric and simply must be shared with any- and everyone. Last night the UCONN Lady Huskies won their 7th National Championship, completing two perfect back to back seasons and setting an unbreakable win record of 78-0. I am a HUGE fan of UCONN basketball; there are famous stories of me attending games at 6 years old and being the loudest fan in the arena (thankfully I was a cute kid so people didn't get too mad at me)! These women have truly made me and their countless fans proud, playing with unwavering poise and tenacity over the last two years. The stats are unbelievable--they were only down 0.2% of the time in the second half of games during the past two seasons, they regularly beat ranked opponents by 30, 40 or 50 points, they only lost one game (the championship game against Stanford last night) by fewer than 10 points--but you can read about them all here.

If you are curious to see what such perfection looks like, here are a couple of videos definitely worth seeing:

ESPN Sports Science: Looking at Maya Moore's Insanely High Level of Play

'History': A Look Back at the 78-0 Streak, Narrated by Robin Roberts

A Recap of UCONN First 6 Championships (also see the other amazing UCONN videos in the sidebar of this site)

You can also click on the photos above for more shots from the game on my Flickr site.

I promise to return to regularly scheduled programming tomorrow. I just had to share the good news!

HUSKIES!

HOOOOOORAAYYYYYYYYYY!  The UCONN Lady Huskies have now won their 6th National Title, with their third undefeated season - 39-0 Baby!  While I am still sad that the boys couldn't pull it out against Michigan State on Saturday, this makes me pretty darn happy.  My family and I will be at the parade this weekend and I can promise some more glowing Husky-oriented remarks then.

Photos and video are from ESPN; read more about the game (and season) here and here.