Urangoo Baartarkhuyag is a 24 year old Mongolian woman living in Provo, UT. She was recently diagnosed with AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia) and must have a bone marrow transplant… like, NOW. Without the transplant she will die within the next 6 months. The transplant weighs in at a hefty $350,000.
Just yesterday I had an experience where I almost had to choose to go untreated for a hickup concerning my thyroid cancer because it would cause me to be booted from the study which pays the bill for my $4,000/month leukemia medication. Ultimately I did not have to be treated and therefore make that choice. I honestly can’t believe that our country just allows people to go untreated to the point of dying.
So let’s give the system the middle finger and help Urangoo get that transplant. Stop what you’re doing and donate some dough. If you’ve got $20 bucks to spare, awesome. If you’ve only got $5, that’s awesome too. Be part of something bigger than yourself.
A couple of weeks ago a handful of my girlfriends and I got together to drink wine and pretend that we were artistic. The class was lead by the artist, Amber DeBirk, of Urban Scrap. My goal was to make a cool retro belt buckle like the one on her site. I failed miserably by somehow creating a buckle thinner than my actual belt. Yes, I have mad skills. Ultimately I ended up with 3 pendants that I might not be too ashamed to wear and 1 that looks like a purple and cream egg. Looks like I’m still in the market for a belt buckle.. but the effort couldn’t have been more enjoyable.
Contact Amber to set up your own party or stop in at one of her upcoming shows to purchase her designs.
We flew to Denver to surprise our friend Kendyl for her bday and to celebrate Kell’s bday and Halloween. Since we were going straight from the airport to the party, we had to get dressed in the stalls at Denver International. I hadn’t seen Kell’s costume yet, so I about lost it when I came out and saw a life-sized anime gnome waving at people and welcoming them to Denver. He really embraced the role. It was probably my favorite part of the trip. Little Elliott as a wookie with a mustache was a close second.
You thought I just strung a bunch of unrelated words together to get your attention, didn’t you? The Bloodybelly Comb Jelly is a sea creature from the deep. What a strange and fabulous little creature.
Chiara Butista aka MILK is an enigmatic artist from Tucson, Arizona. Her work is insanely detailed and appears to be riddled with symbolism. Many of her subjects, which sport antlers or tentacles, are captured in chaotic, angst-ridden moments which are balanced perfectly by femininely decorated backgrounds and cartoonish animal friends. You could scour these images for hours and still find new details every time you revisit them. Check out her myspace page for more and larger images which show better detail. Her pieces will be available for purchase at her site once it’s functioning.
Yay! Two of my favorite things together at last! Mike Libby, starts with real insects from around the world which he dissects and restructures using old pocket and wristwatch parts. You can purchase his pieces at Insect Lab, for between $375 – $2200. If that’s too rich for your blood, consider one of his giclee prints. The grasshopper is my favorite (and most expensive, of course). I love the little gears and springs on his hind legs.
I’ve talked a bit about priorities and achieving goals and I think I’ll start to share mine every once in a while. One of my goals is to visit a U.S. National Park that I have never seen before, every year.
There are currently 58 parks spanning 84.6 million acres. Yellowstone was the first national park, established in 1872, however the National Park Service wasn’t officially established until 1916. In June of 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt (oh how I love that man!) signed executive orders which consolidated the various National Parks and Monuments and placed them under one federal umbrella. He vastly expanded their numbers and highly publicized his vacations to the parks, encouraging others to visit them as well.
I found this mammoth map identifying all of the National Parks Systems areas. And here is a list of the parks, their locations and the year they were established.
Right now I think my top 3 choices are the Olympic, Grand Canyon and Yosemite National Parks both because they look incredible and because they’re relatively close.
I’m having a hard time getting into my usual happy Halloween frenzy. Maybe some Halloweeny posts will help.
I’m sure some movie geek out there can comment on how accurate this chart is. I have no idea. What I do know is that it’s a totally sweet idea! If you’re really wild about the design, you can get it on your very own shirt, here.
How can I stop obsessing over Dead Man’s Bones when they keep producing such fantasticness?! I love this perfectly nightmarish video for Dead Hearts. It takes a bit to get going but the creepy wishbone is totally worth it.
Urangoo Baartarkhuyag is a 24 year old Mongolian woman living in Provo, UT. She was recently diagnosed with AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia) and must have a bone marrow transplant… like, NOW. Without the transplant she will die within the next 6 months. The transplant weighs in at a hefty $350,000.
