It’s February 29, y’all! LEAP Year!

In honor of our special day, we at LEAP Design would like to give you a gift. Are you ready for it? It’s really big. Bigger than a Big Mac. Bigger than a Big Gulp. Bigger, even, than Big Ben.

It’s big.

You guys, it’s a day.

A whole day. Your very own day to do WHATEVER YOU WANT with. So go. Put your phone down, get up from your computer, and go do something unexpected, something inspiring, something that you wouldn’t do on any normal Wednesday.

Need some help? No sweat — we’ve got you covered. Here’s a list of 29 things to do with your extra day:

1. Learn how to juggle.

2. Bake some bread.

3. Get a puppy.

4. Eat dessert for every meal.

5. Call someone you haven’t spoken with in a long time and tell them you miss them.

6. Go to the beach.

7. Go to the mountains.

8. Take a nap.

9. Take a yoga class.

10. Take a walk.

11. Take a friend out to lunch. Your treat.

12. Paint a mural in your house.

13. Volunteer your time.

14. Climb up on your roof and look at your street from a new angle.

15. Bring a picnic (and a friend) to the airport and watch the planes take off and land.

16. Invite friends for dinner; cook something you’ve never cooked before.

17. Write a letter to a friend and mail it.

18. Send a real birthday card (made of paper) in time for a friend’s birthday.

19. Take a long, hot, bath.

20. Read a book you’ve been wanting to read.

21. Fix something you’ve been meaning to fix for a while.

22. Ride a bike.

23. Bake a cake and bring it to a friend.

24. Take a hot air balloon ride.

25. Go skiing.

26. Go to the zoo.

27. Go hear a band.

28. Get a kitten.

29. Sing a song. Out loud. Loudly. Over and over again.

Happy LEAP Year, friends. Go enjoy your free day!

This is making the rounds on Facebook right now — if you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favor and check it out. It’s a collection of amazing street art from 2011, curated by Street Art Utopia. Their site’s tagline is We declare the world as our canvas, which just makes me happy. And so grateful that these folks are out there forcing us to look at the world differently.

Here are a few of my favorites, but really — go look at them all. You won’t be sorry.

(Thanks for the link, Bo!)

Sit down friends. I have something great to show you. Really really great. It’s a new iPhone app called Paper Town Friends created by clever Robin Rosenthal. Paper Town Friends features a bunch of paper cut-out characters for you to dress with their very own paper cut-out clothes and hats and accessories.

Robin cut out by hand all the tiny clothes and shoes and hats in the app. And get this — they’re even tiny in real life! Teeny crocs — with holes! A wee shriner’s fez! Baby batik tunics! It’s all just so freakin adorable.

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And I love the effect it creates. The wonky shapes. The messy, decoupaged feel of it all. It’s like a soothing balm for the over-vectorized, over-digitized soul. Sweet and smart and omg so fun! Hooray for Robin! Yay for us! And okay, maybe I’ll let my kids play with it too.

The fantastic-beyond-compare SwissMiss blog is turning 5 and I’m so sad that I can’t attend the bash. So instead I’m participating virtually, via the Flickr party. There’s some great stuff there — be sure to check out all the other well-wishers’ wishes.

It’s officially Spring here. Time for crazy days at the park.

Have a great weekend friends!

Way back in 2008 I met someone who changed my life for the better.

Kirtsy was throwing a party with Guy Kawasaki, at his house. We had spent the past 3 days toiling in the sun, stuffing swag bags, arranging tables, organizing shuttles and managing preparations for a party that was as grand as any of our weddings. Finally we all disappeared into the hidden corners of Guy’s house to change into our party clothes. The transformation when we all emerged was glorious. Everyone was sun-kissed, flushed with excitement and beautiful. As we walked around reveling in our creation, I found myself in front of Lisa Albrecht and Adrienne Adair (Laura’s favorite art director), both of whom I had met just that day. When I complimented Lisa on her amazing earrings, I never expected what came next: she took them off and gave them to me.

Turns out her dad makes them. By the hundreds. Gorgeous, hand-blown, colorful glass discs, suspended on long, slender, silver rectangles. They are unlike anything I have ever seen before. Despite Lisa’s pleading with her dad, he won’t sell them. Instead he gives them all to her to wear. Their deal is, whenever someone compliments her on them, she gives the earrings to that person. Have you ever heard of anything that exuded such good karma? I hadn’t either.

I was so shocked that I actually accepted them.

Then, holding my own earrings in my hand, I started feeling bad. Here she is at this huge party with gorgeous earrings and now she has nothing. So I offered her mine. They paled in comparison to the candy-like drops she had given me, but it felt better. Then we went off and partied and didn’t see each other again.

Every time I wore my new earrings, which I did often, I got complimented on them. (But I never give mine away. Sorry.)

Then one day I got a box in the mail. Inside was the entire contents of the picture above, including a letterpressed Thank You note. It was from Lisa (and her father). Thanking me for giving her my earrings. Does that make any sense to you? She gives me gorgeous earrings that cause everyone who sees them to notice them, I give her an old pair of earrings that no-one even notices anymore. And she sends me a thank you present?

To this day, my heart leaps for joy whenever I see her.

And I want you to know her. In addition to giver of beautiful earrings, she is the brains and brawn behind the amazing LaundryTree, purveyor of Soap Nuts.

Don’t know about SoapNuts? Dude, they are a fruit. That gets your laundry clean. And they totally work. And they’re completely, unadornedly, all natural. Isn’t that a beautiful thing?

Beautiful Lisa being painted by the lovely Katherine Center.

So go check Lisa out. And if you meet her, be sure to compliment her on her earrings. And tell her how much I adore her.

Then upon closer examination I noticed the call to action:

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This is one of those things that can turn a normal day into a great day. Know what I mean?

The brilliant and beautiful Katherine Center has done it again. This time in the form of a video addressing the statement Mom 2.0: Defining a Movement.

I can’t wait to see Katherine in Houston next month at the Mom 2.0 Summit. I feel like time spent with her, regardless of what we’re doing, is quality time. Do you know people like that? I’m lucky to.

Speaking of Mom 2.0 Summit, have you registered yet? Please do. I promise you won’t regret it.

Oh wow.

500 colored pencils. Delivered to you, in groups of 25, over the course of 20 months.

And bonus — they all have gorgeously evocative names, like “Drizzly Afternoon,” and “Tea with Milk,” and “Lemon Ghost.” Lemon Ghost, people. Don’t you just want to lick that?

Oh, and double bonus, they also have display cases that turn your collection into an art installation in its own right:

Brought to you by the fine folks at Social Designer. See the whole set here.

(Thanks Liquid Treat.)

Well here we are. The O’s or the Aughts or the Two Thousands or whatever we’re calling them are a wrap and will soon have an identity like the grunge 90s or the new wave 80s or the disco 70s.

Here in UpsideUp land, we’re gearing up for our annual New Year’s Day bash — an all-day affair filled with friends, family and food. And lots of it. It’s a thrilling way to ring in each new year and it gives me an opportunity to marvel at how lucky I am to be surrounded by such awesome people.

As my gift to you, the awesome people who live in my computer, I bring you once again my recipe for Collard Greens, which, along with Black Eyed Peas and Pork (hog jowls, ham, bacon, whatever), crown the trifecta of required New Year’s food here in the South. They’re supposed to bring you luck and fortune, which I imagine no-one would say they didn’t want at least some of, and, bonus! these collards are crazy good. So go for it — make your own luck! Twenty ten, for the win!

Braised Collards of Deliciousness

- 4 bunches of collards, long stems and tough ribs removed
- Salt
- 1/4 cup brown butter (recipe included)
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 chipotle chile en adobo, all chopped up
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Pepper vinegar (recipe follows)

Wash the greens thoroughly in a whole lotta water (I fill my sink and wash them in there). Place the dripping wet leaves in a pot of water, add salt (to taste). Cook the greens for about 10 minutes (until they”re all wilted and reduced down quite a bit). Remove to a bowl. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water.

Heat 1/4 cup unsalted butter on medium-low until it turns brown and nutty. Strain off the milk-fat solids. (This is something I make a big batch of ahead-of-time and keep in the fridge.) Increase the heat to medium. Add the onion, garlic, pepper flakes and chipotle, stirring occasionally until the garlic is lightly colored and onion is soft. Add the greens, their reserved cooking water, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Cook for 30 minutes and taste again for salt (they can use a lot). You can continue cooking until the greens are “within an inch of their life” or you can stop here. The longer they cook, the better they”ll taste.

Serve with pepper vinegar on the side.

Recipe for Pepper Vinegar: 1 cup white vinegar + 4 oz serrano chiles. Drop the washed and dried chiles into a bottle that has been freshly washed in hot, soapy water. (A narrow neck bottle is preferable so the vinegar can be drizzled rather than poured, but it doesn”t really matter.) Bring the vinegar to a boil in a small pan, then transfer to the bottle (via a measuring cup or some other easy-pouring device). Let it sit uncapped until cool. The peppers will absorb some of the vinegar. Add more vinegar to fill the bottle, then cap and set aside in the cupboard. The vinegar will be best if you make this ahead. But you can speed the process by including one pepper sliced into “coins.” Plus, the discs look cool floating around all the whole peppers.

(Thanks to Deborah Madison for the original base recipe, and especially for the brown butter secret. You have been helping me for many years to make people’s New Years just that much luckier and fortunier.)

(Edited to add: I linked the Black Eyed Peas above to my friend Laura’s New Year’s Black Eyed Rockin Peas con Queso recipe. These peas go great with Collards of Deliciousness.)