REALLY RAD RIFLE

I love Rifle Paper Co. products. No secret there! But I have never had the pleasure of owning one of their beautiful, elegant, illustrated calendars. With my honeymoon travel on the brain (Iceland here we come!), I am positively swooning over Rifle's new city calendars. Can't you picture having one of these on your wall to do a little mental traveling at your desk everyday? I would use it to inspire my travel bucket list with Istanbul and Cairo both very near the top . . .

See more lovely Rifle products here.

THE WEDDING FILES: HELIUM-FREE HAPPINESS

I just read on Oh Joy! that Geronimo—the fabulous balloon company which I extolled here—is now helping to conserve the world's dwindling helium supply by offering awesome groupings of helium-free balloons on a stick. How awesome is that?! They would be perfect for weddings (like mine) where the venue does not allow helium balloons, lest they get stuck up in the ceiling. I can totally picture staking a bunch of these beauties outside the front entrance of the church, or around the altar or even using them as directional signs to get visitors from place to place. The possibilities are endless!

They haven't posted any details about these new balloons yet but you can learn more about Geronimo in general here.

OLYMPIC INSPIRATION

This is a long post, hope you are still with me! I am sure you are tired of my Olympics obsession by now, but maybe you aren't tired of seeing beautiful, moving photographs? One of the things that is so amazing about the Olympics is that they only come around every four years, so athletes are left alternately heartbroken or triumphant when their event is over and they look back on the years of work they put in to get to that moment. It makes for some pretty dramatic photos and the New York Times photographers have been there every step of the way. Above are some of my favorites, but you can see many more stunning shots here.

On another note, remember earlier this week when I said I was struggling to find inspiration these days? Well, no more! Here are some amazing, invigorating, fun things I have seen around the interwebs recently and wanted to share . . .

The New York Times has done lots of great Olympics coverage including these fabulous insider looks at the technique behind winning difficult events, this confusing but fascinating graphic on medals, and this awesome look at Olympic torches over the years (I still think London is my favorite), not to mention this cool rundown of the fastest men of all time.

Saw these pieces in a Fab.com sale this week and swooned.

Yet another cool (and easy) DIY from Jordan at Oh Happy Day

A maze after my own heart.

These provide the perfect excuse to play with your food.

Single serving tastiness; I would like to try every one!

Brilliant bandages that blend in (say that five times fast!).

A beautiful web of information, in app form.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! See you back here next week!

FIREFLIES

You may have noticed that I am a bit out of it these days . . . time seems to be zooming by at lightning speed: my wedding is only about three weeks away! Since I have been spending every moment of free time checking off my endless wedding to do list items, I may have to warn you that I will be posting much less frequently than normal. But I promise I won't abandon you!

With that said I have been struggling to find inspiration that is not wedding-focused to share with you guys. In fact the only thing, of late, that I have found to be suitably jaw-dropping to post here is an exhibition at my museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, on the work of Japanese-born artist Yayoi Kusama. Not only is she the queen of polka dots (see above) but she has a work installed on the first floor of the museum that is positively incredible. Called Fireflies, it is a shimmering room of light and reflection that you are allowed to experience, by yourself, for one magical minute. It is so lovely it is hard to explain, so go see it yourself!

Learn more about the exhibition here.

OTHERWORLDLY, SURREAL SHOTS

Did you read that NASA was able to successfully land another rover on Mars early this morning? Amazing, right? It's so cool to think that there is a one ton piece of super sophisticated machinery on Mars this very moment, taking dreamy, grainy test photos like these above. While the rover is also capable of taking extremely high quality, high resolution shots, I have totally fallen in love with these fish eye/pinhole-style shots as they seem to perfectly capture the surreality of being on another planet. I hope NASA keeps the photos coming!

Learn more about the progress of the rover, called Curiosity, here.

THE OLYMPICS, CLOSE TO YOUR HEART

You didn't think we were finally past the Olympics references, did you? Silly goose! I am still watching hours and hours of coverage a day and I keep thinking how cool it would be if I could wear something that would signal this serious, fanatical approach to the Games to others. Enter this awesome DIY project from the blog Remarkably Domestic: a miniature Olympic rings necklace! Even if you only get to wear it every couple of years (have to represent the Winter Games too!), it is still pretty sweet.

Check out the full, super simple tutorial here or, if you are cured of Olympic fever, check out the beautiful ombre version here.

OLYMPICS IN A BOX

You may notice a bit of radio silence here at the O.I. over the next two weeks or so. I am so sucked into the Olympics that I am spending every free waking moment (and some in my dreams!) keeping up with the Games. So please do forgive me if I miss a day of posting here and there; I will be putting together this adorable 'olympics in a box' project from 'you are my fave'—a fabulous blog with amazing DIY ideas—and staring in awe at my television screen in front of feats of athletic awesomeness.

If you are looking to be inspired check out more of Melanie's magnificent ideas here.