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I have been a bit lackadaisical lately about posting, I even missed my Happy Friday post. So I thought the Sunday post could make up for the last couple days. There is no theme other than I just really liked all these images and when I saw them I had an instant emotional reaction to them. Be it happy, sad, disturbed, or touched.

Via Grey Likes Weddings
This signage is great. Not only is the photo wonderful but the content of the vintage sign is awesome. I am imagining it had adorn something spectacular like an elaborate
show in Vegas.

Via Tumbler
This is pretty and soft, images like this appeared a lot in student work in college. Maybe that is why I am drawn to it, it takes me back to my photo 101 class.

Via Still On The Run
This is weird, that’s why I like it. It’s like looking into someone’s dream.

Via Fffound
I am not sure if this was an actual Nike ad or just a concept someone
did but I think it is rad.

Unknown
This is so feminine and romantic.

Via Dado Queiroz
I like that this looks like an abstract flower as well as as a cup of silky smooth liquid that you can dive into to.

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Another glimpse into someone’s dream.

Via Yay Everday
I like to imagine what it was like when pictures were taken and what the circumstances were. Here I  imagine it was a very early in the morning and very cold out the shot was taken from the inside of a car and had just stopped raining and he
is on his way to meet the girl he is in love with for coffee. (I know I am a little crazy)

Via The Quiet Revolution
Feathers by design are stunning. The fact that when grouped  together they actually give flight to birds is marvelous.

Unknown
This is such a weird shot, and the woman looks so old too, which makes it feel sad and there is a sense of ending and despair to it, as if they are saying goodbye for the last time.

Via photonium*
This is a really cool TV, but I like seeing the reflection in the glass of the room it is in.

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The symmetry of flowers and nature in general goes by the golden rule ratio, so you have no choice but to find it stunning.

Via Deviant Art
This is probably completely photoshopped but I think the colors
and the sky are very striking.

Unknown
I like that the lights look like rain, event though this shot shows a couple in embraced it seems very lonely.

These images are stunning and sad, I just melt into each of them. I think they really represent a distinct mood and feeling with amazing precision. The photographer Michel Rajkovic lives in Asnieres, France his work can be seen at HERE.

Stones Path – Scotland 2008

Quand les nuages mènent la danse – France 2007

Fish in a mirror – France 2007

Hope – Scotland 2009

The Gate – France 2008

Summer Evening – Norway 2009

After the storm – France 2009

Last Trip – Greece 2010

It was a long day.

Via I Can Read

Via Spoonfed Design

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Via Smadani

Oh another Monday, it means the weekend is finished and the work must begin all over. Here are some very interesting and slightly bizarre images that I find beautiful and fascinating. Enjoy.

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This one is very realistic and reminds of Fantastic Mr. Fox, which I adored.

Via Fffound
I love the colors and retro font in this. You just do not see signs like this anymore which is such a pity.

Via Media Milita
This is just odd and I love it. I think its the diagram in the background and the muted palette.

Unknown
This one is very frightening, I wish I knew the context of this photograph. I wasn’t able to locate the original source so I don’t have any clue about it’s history, so it will be left up to your imagination.

Via Hidden Moves
Very Donnie Darko, I really like it.

Via Fffound
This should be my mantra on a daily basis.

Via Fffound
Very cool and again reiterates how creepy clowns really are.

Via AnaideiA
You can almost imagine how slow and deliberate this creatures movements would be like he stepped out of the Never Ending Story. I also think he would be extremely friendly and have a very low grumbly voice.

Via Behance
Another Donny Darko’esque image.

Via Way to Good

Via Dropular

Via kate*

Via My Love For You

Via Le Love

Via Flickr

Via Fffound

Via Fffound

Via Le Love

Via Girls Got a Face Like a Murder

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Simple minimalist redesigns of Quentin Tarantino’s films. I think they look great as a group and the similar color palettes create a sense of unity that carries the look and feel across all the posters. Posters designed by Ibraheem Youssef

Another group of  minimalist poster designs for a series of great tv shows. Created out of a love for posters, modernism and television, there wasn’t a client out there to commission such a job so austrian designer albert exergian wrote his own brief and created this self initiated series of posters throwing all of the above inspirations into the creative melting pot.

Spicy brownies! I think if you add spicy to anything it will make it better.  So that is exactly what my boyfriend and I made this weekend for a pre-valentine’s day treat. We adapted the recipe from a great food blog, Smitten Kitchen. However we tweaked the recipe a bit, we added cayenne pepper and smoked paprika. Instead of the dark chocolate cocoa powder we added some Aztec Elixir Couture Cocoa by Voges which is creamy and rich and has quite a bit of heat to it. We cut the sugar down by 1/3 and also added some chipotle chocolate hazelnuts. The brownies turned out excellent, a bit crumbly and not as chewy as they could have been, but that certainly didn’t stop us from eating them. Here are some photos of the process and the original recipe sans our modifications.

yield: 12 very large brownies

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dark unsweetened cocoa powder (this is where we substituted the Voges Cocoa)
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons chipotle powder (We added paprika and cayenne)
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cardamom (this was omitted)
11 ounces dark chocolate (60 to 72% cacao), coarsely chopped
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9 x 13 glass or light-colored metal baking pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, cocoa powder and spices (chipotle, cinnamon and cardamom), if you’re using them, together.

Put the chocolate, butter, and instant espresso powder in a large bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water and add the sugars. Whisk until completely combined, then remove the bowl from the pan. The mixture should be room temperature.

Add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Add the remaining eggs and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not overbeat the batter at this stage or your brownies will be cakey.

Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Using a spatula (not a whisk), fold the flour mixture into the chocolate until just a bit of the flour mixture is visible.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Let the brownies cool completely, then cut them int osquares and serve.

Tightly covered with plastic wrap, the brownies keep at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Valentine’s Day wasn’t always the consumer driven candy and flower centric holiday. Here is a bit of holiday’s history I found on Huffington Post.

“While the history of Valentine’s Day is sometimes debated, it clearly links back to a Catholic saint named St. Valentine.

The problem is there are actually three St. Valentine’s — one a priest, one a bishop, and little is known about the third. All were martyrs.

In 469 A.D., Pope Gelasius declared Feb. 14 a day to honor St. Valentine, one of these three men.

One legend says that a Roman emperor banned soldiers from marrying in the third century, but St. Valentine took issue with this. He became an advocate for soldiers and was executed as a result of his outspokenness.

Another legend says St. Valentine was executed for his beliefs in Christianity and just before he died, he left a farewell note for a loved one and signed it “From Your Valentine.”

A conventional and widely accepted belief about the holiday itself is that Valentine’s Day grew out of a Middle Ages tradition of celebrating Feb. 14 as the day “the birds began to pair.”

History.com notes that February has long been associated with being a month of love, and Feb. 15 was celebrated in ancient times as a fertility festival. Whatever its origin, it took off, and the U.S. Greeting Cards Association estimates Valentine’s Day is the second-most popular card-giving day of the year, only to Christmas.”

With that, here are some Valentine-centric images I have been collecting over the last few months. Unfortunately I accidentally deleted the list of where I found each of these images. (doh!) Enjoy, and spread a little love today to someone you care about.

I always seem to need just a little more time…more time in the day, more time to sleep, more time to work, and definitely more time to play.

Via Fffound
retro chic and classic, these were on fffound and also Design Sponge.

Via Yosigo
Now this is my kind of clock, infinite time.

Via Fffound
Very fun, if this is what you were counting down to.

Via ::sämyii::
i love this spin on a old classic turned retro modern.

Via Orrin
From a competition called Tick Tock.

Via Zafron.com
These clocks were concept art for the movie Benjamin Button, by a wonderfully talented and amazing artist, whose skills and talent constantly amaze me. My amazing boyfriend Kasra.

Via Anthropologie Catalog

Via katlantis

Via ubiquity_zh
This is great, I always feel like I only have the time I want.

These images just explode with subtle creativity. They are simple, funny, and irreverent. Enjoy.

Via FFFound
I think this is awesome, the colors are so drab and monotone. The fact that he has a thing of ketchup in front of him makes it even better.

Via hobbes313
This is so clever, there are a series of these kinds of images most that are all great. This one I think is in Germany.

Via Hoodablah
My family had one of the first Macintosh computers and it looked exactly like this.

Via Fffound
Another shot of just how simple and creative people can get. Outdoor art like this gives character to the city streets.

Via Share Some Candy

Don’t care if this is photoshopped or not hot chocolate makes me happy and happy hot chocolate makes me smile.

Via Fffound
I want to find a mailbox like this, just so I can draw hands on it. It’s like when you are a kid and you turn every shape and object into something that can come alive.

Via Hoodablah
I am sure this took a lot of setup and probably was a specific shoot for something, but the look of simplicity is wonderful.

Via Hoodablah
This is great, and notice the hershey bar in the background.

Via FFFound
Nikon air freshners?

Via Hoodablah
More happy hot chocolate with marshmallow clouds, what could be more fun than this.