No Black Friday shopping for me! Instead I’m cooking and eating like it’s still a holiday while catching up on the interwebs and my heaping pile of work. Here’s this week’s dispatch of linky goodness.

+ My friend Brandon from FRANK emailed me their latest & greatest: a video of Little Scream’s newest single, The Lamb. What’s interesting is how low-fi the production is, it’s all lit with flashlights which is the perfect accompaniment to Laura’s delicate and expansive sound. Fans of Bat for Lashes, First Aid Kit and/or St. Vincent will dig this as well.

+ New to me Favorite blog: Plenty of Colour.

+ Officey goodness at Muhs Home. I’ll take one of everything please!

+ Holly Wales on keeping your employees happy.

+ I’m excited that my friend Jana’s quirky happy illustrations have a new internet home! Congrats on the new site, lady!
 

It’s deadline city around these parts until Wednesday, and though I have three sizable posts in the works, I doubt I will get to wrapping them after then. In the meantime, have you heard of this new documentary The Interrupters? It’s by the same folks who did Hoop Dreams & Typeface & it’s already garnering Academy Award whispers. Seriously, The Interrupters has a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, and that NEVER happens! So what’s it about? A small group of volunteers on Chicago’s south side that quite literally put themselves in harm’s way to try to intercept and resolve gang violence. Wow, right? It’s only playing this weekend at the Gene Siskel downtown and there are still tickets left for you locals. The rest of you chickens can head here for screenings near you.

I can hardly believe this, but it’s been three years since I sail on the S.S. Self-Employed. I might be a tad biased, but I really think I have the best clients. Yep. Hands down, no if ands or buts about it. I still marvel at the privilege of working with people I consider friends. Thank you for challenging me, keeping me in rent, and helping me chase my dreams.

Here’s to another, and another, and another year…

{Painting by Julia Dault, found via Mr. Pieratt}

*Updated: it’s especially timely today, because Jessica Hische just published this article on pricing & rights management and it’s absolutely a mandatory read for any freelancer or young designer. In fact, I think I will go read it again right now. Care to join me?*
 

Those amazing Studio Sweet Studio girls have another new project in the works, City Scout, where you can go to get the inside scoop on your favorite designer’s favorite haunts. So far just it’s just Chicago peeps, but Brooklyn etc are on their way!

Getting me some summertime at Meramac State Park in Missouri. See ya on Tuesday, the 12th!

Phew! You know what I didn’t manage to get done this week? BLOGGING. Between moving (tomorrow, in fact) and the usual level of craziness is a total game-killer for me. Next week isn’t looking too promising either because I have six days ahead of me without regular access to internet. (At that point, it will have been three weeks since I requested a service transfer from at&t. They must have some kind of switch-flipping Czar over there; his talented fingers are clearly in prime demand cause getting on their schedule is nigh impossible. AHEM.)

So let me do this list-style for now, if I may, cause it cuts down on time.

• 10 Tips for Better Writing. Great ideas here for switching up your sentence structure, flow, and add more depth. Fellow bloggers can relate to the constant struggle of finding new ways to describe how awesome/pretty/fun/cool things are. Eventually I start to sound canned and less sincere after awhile, so I’m happy for some tips to push my words more.

• My recent COLOURlovers posts here and here.

• Those lovely gardens up there are THE SEXIEST landscape design I have ever seen. Holy moly, more plants! More plants everywhere. All of the times.

• Who’s watching the Mad Men premiere this weekend?! Get your fix on the show and 1960s culture with this blog. Natasha’s also just released her book, aptly titled, Mad Men Unbuttoned.

See youse guys sometime next week, I’m sure I’ll be dying to post something just as soon as I can manage it!