we’ve all been anxiously awaiting the arrival of this design book to hit the shelves, but it’s finally here! for two long years, grace bonney has put her heart and soul into her new book, design*sponge at home and we can finally get our hands on the 400-page, 3.4 pound design*sponge book with over 700 photographs to inspire and delight us! grace has provided me with a few of the west coast homes featured in the book to share with you. sigh. i cannot wait for my copy to arrive and a free afternoon to indulge myself!

to enter to win a copy of design*sponge at home, simply comment below, and share with us what you’re most looking forward to in the book — is it the DIY projects? the home tours? the over 50 before & afters? do tell! comment by september 16th, and as always please make sure there’s a way to contact you. in the meantime, check out grace’s introductory trailer video to design*sponge — adorable.

• Home tours of 70 real-life interiors featuring artists and designers

• Fifty DIY projects, with detailed instructions for personalizing your space

• Step-by-step tutorials on everything from stripping and painting furniture to hanging wallpaper and doing your own upholstery

• Fifty Before & After makeovers submitted by readers of Design*Sponge—real people with limited time and realistic budgets

• Essential tips on modern flower arranging, with 20 arrangements

since the dawn of time, couples have had their communication struggles. he says — she says, roommate wars, and temporary power struggles. it’s just human nature for those flair ups to happen from time to time between even the most loving couples, bff’s and housemates. especially when it comes to decor decisions, diy projects, and home renovations. and sometimes those conflicts can be ridiculously funny — especially in retrospect! 3M frameworks has asked me to let you know about their newest endeavor, couple speak, and to invite you to enter their 3m couple speak giveaway.

got a funny story — and we all do — about a slight miscommunication (or a major one) when it comes to working together as a team at home? well, now’s your chance to share your couple speak with 3m frameworks. enter and you’ll have a chance at winning one of two $5,000 prizes, in addition to the weekly $250 prizes for translation submissions. If you’d like to enter your own for a chance to win $5k, go to their 3m Frameworks facebook page  to learn more. we’d love to hear them here, too!

• photos from the collection of chrisian montone.

i loved this video by Hugo Goudswaard i found on pelime. happy weekend, everyone!

Summer in San Francisco from Michael Winokur on Vimeo.

i thought y’all might enjoy a peek at san francisco’s famous fog. have a warm and cozy weekend, everyone!

HAPPY FRIDAY DANCE PARTY #3 from blaine hogan on Vimeo.

if you haven’t heard, blogger blaine hogan is hosting a Happy Friday Dance Party. blaine’s been having great fun (as you can see above!), but the truth is he’s a tad lonely without you, and is tired of dancing alone. so you can join in! this dance party is virtual. i keep hoping i’ll get caught up in a flash mob, but maybe this is the next best thing.

a video mash-up that you’re invited to join — just send blaine your video clip and he’ll add you to the party. for details, click here. happy dancing!

okay there’s nothing much i get more freaked out about than being on camera, but etsy storque was nice enough to invite me, so i couldn’t refuse their lovely offer to feature me on their video series “there’s no place like here”. if you’d like to take a look around my apartment and hear me chat about it, pop on over to etsy and watch the video. and, just for commenting, we’re giving away one of my new “please let me be the person my dog thinks i am” prints. thanks so much to eric at etsy, for a fun day of shooting! enjoy!

just because this is freakin’ brilliant – here’s OK Go’s new video for ‘This Too Shall Pass’, which features a Rube Goldberg machine, and was shot on shoestring budget, and reportedly done in a single take. i kid you not. amazing and bravo to ok go!

*video designed and built by ok go and Synn Labs.

i love this virtual tour down san francisco’s market street in 1905, and the music from air makes it. not much has changed — it’s still bustling! except apparently, at one point  you could you could still make a left turn, and, nobody was peeing on you. okay, maybe it’s a little bit different.

The first Dialogue episode is all about ‘Balance’, and oh, how I could relate to that. I am the multi-tasking queen, and I can tell you, it’s exhausting! In this episode, Erin asks this panel, “how do you, as an artist/designer/blogger, hold it all together? What does your work/family/personal life balance look like, and what happens when you drop the ball?”. Check out what artists Lisa Solomon, Jen Gotch and Kelly Lynn Jones have to share on the topic. I think you too, will more than relate. Great job, Erin!