I love this video. Not because of the skill involved, although this young girl is doing something I would never in my life have attempted. I love it because I know the feeling. We all do. Doing something for the first time can be very scary.

How do we make ourselves do scary things? We summon our courage, that's how. It's so good to know that we can all be courageous.

I think that what Ms. Aamodt says in this TED talk about dieting and weight rings true. What it means is that we should all focus more on healthy eating and not worry so much about how much we weigh. I know I've heard that before and so, probably, have you. But she speaks eloquently about weight, in a way that ought to make us all less critical of ourselves and others.

If you have an iPhone or iPad, I guarantee that it will do things that you don't know about. I found this Buzzfeed list by way of another quilter's facebook post (thanks to Frieda!) and I learned a few things. The real trick will be remembering them.

It's good to know how to save a google map so that you can access it even if your device can't connect to the internet (#3) but the trick for deleting a wrong number in the calculator is something I'm more likely to find useful:

I didn't know that you can add a folder to the icon bar or the domain name trick in #17. It's nice to learn new things!

I have a tumblr blog, although I don't post to it often. It's one of those things I'm going to do more often "once I finish this book." (There are so many things that are on the list for then. Sigh.)

Anyway, I do subscribe to a few tumblr blogs and the Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of them. They post some fun photos. This one of crown jellyfish caught my attention because they are the Pantone color of the year. Woo hoo! Do you you think they know?

Did you know that goats are a thing on the internet? The things I learn from the kids…

The first video is longer, with extra goats. The best part is just after 1 minute.

Here is the same video, but only the funny bit. The quality is less good, but you don't have to wait for the grins.

Pantone released it's color for the new year: Radiant Orchid. Read more here.

Here's a quote from the Pantone site:

“While the 2013 color of the year, PANTONE 17-5641 Emerald, served as a symbol of growth, renewal and prosperity, Radiant Orchid reaches across the color wheel to intrigue the eye and spark the imagination,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. “An invitation to innovation, Radiant Orchid encourages expanded creativity and originality, which is increasingly valued in today’s society.”

“An enchanting harmony of fuchsia, purple and pink undertones, Radiant Orchid inspires confidence and emanates great joy, love and health. It is a captivating purple, one that draws you in with its beguiling charm.”

If you like purple, this may be your year, but I'm not persuaded that this is my color of the year. As it turns out, the choice of emerald last year didn't do much for me either. Have you noticed a lot of emerald out there in the real world? I have not. And I haven't used much, if any, emerald in my quilts. However, I would like to find a little bit of this purple in fabric… it's a hard color to find much of.

In related Pantone color news, my son, Chris, told me about @everycolorbot on twitter. If you follow @everycolorbot you will be tweeted a random Pantone color every hour. If for no other reason than it makes scanning through your tweets prettier, it's worth following. (As you can see from my phone's screenshot, I don't follow a huge number of folks on twitter.)