Forgive me for this twee-ness

The last few days I've been semi-methodically clearing out feeds in my Google Reader in an effort to waste less time on the Internet. That sounds paradoxical and it totally is. But I have so much backlog from various blogs that I needed to clear out all the unread items so I could start over without feeling burdened. So that led, today, to me going on an Etsy binge. I haven't bought anything... yet... but that is not the point. Check out these tailor-made-for-Emily finds...

Bunny ring
They have owls too.

Sad owl print:
HER NAME IS MINERVA, FOR CHRISSAKE.

And this whole set of little drawings that I love! They are sort of Frog-and-Toad/Beatrix Potter esque. I think I like the raccoon and squirrels the best.

I wonder if my animal obsession is some bizarre nesting instinct. Sarah and I were just talking about nesting instincts (mine is nourished weekly by Bethany's three blogs chronicling her motherhood), and I think this is just further damning evidence.

Pandas make you smile

I sat down to watch this video sort of daring myself not to smile and instead just giggled the whole time. Pandas are such strange creatures -- they sort of roll into things, they look like dolls, or beanbags, or clay, or something. Anyway, but they are also pretty damn cute, and those little eeping sounds they make certain don't hurt.



(NPR via CuteOverload)

I have to add here that when I saw BJ Novak do standup a couple months ago, one of his funniest bits was about how pandas are endangered, but it's hard for scientists to get pandas to mate. "Pandas! Don't think other pandas are cute!" was the punchline, and I still think it's hilarious.

Daily Coyote

I've become increasingly a fan of the blog Daily Coyote. I wrote about it a bit before. The woman who writes it lives in a one-room cabin in Wyoming with her cat and a coyote she found when he was only 10 days old. (I still don't know how she has Internet, because her cabin sounds pretty damn far from anywhere: "a town of 300 people, where it's a sixty mile trip to the nearest grocery store and not uncommon to swing by the post office (or bar) on horseback.") I'm kind of fascinated with her, because she was once essentially another young urban professional woman and then, on a cross-country trip on a Vespa, she decided she loved Wyoming and wanted to live there. (I have yet to go back and read the archives of her "Vespa Vagabond" blog which I believe chronicles the story of that decision in more detail.)

So now there she is, with her coyote.

And he is amazing looking:


Just look at those feet!

Anyway, this has become yet another one of my kind of moments of Zen every day -- this and the much-blogged-about 3191. This is kind of a cross between 3191 and CuteOverload for me... it's cute but it's also sort of silent and incomprehensible in a good way. Filled with unspoken emotions.

And to continue on that consumerism thread of mine, I'm considering buying the 2008 Coyote calendar because if there is one place offline where it's marginally ok to admit your love of adorable animals, besides volunteering at the SPCA or something, it's with a calendar in your cubicle. Is that true, or am I just justifying myself?

EDIT: I think part of the reason why I like the coyote and the cat in these photos is that big poofy tail, kind of like my (parents') kitters (or Knucklehead or Waffles, or whatever his name is):

(Not the best pic, but you get the idea.)