smelling oranges

No. 2 pencils required… and probably an eraser or two

2011-11-01T12:06:00.000-05:00

Welcome November! I'm so glad you are here. And thanks to you dear friends who still check this blog occasionally. My absence will not be felt any longer. But I'm about to shake things up and change it all around. (Officially) starting this month, I'm no longer a graphic designer, but a full-time illustrator working for myself! Woohoo! If you've known me for long, you've known this was always my (and our) hope. A couple months ago we decided it was time to give it a go. I'm not going to lie, I'm scared to death. The past few months have been different, shaky, and full with unexpected things. But I'm also very excited to try my hand at this, literally. (Sorry, it was begging for a joke.)

So, here's what is coming up:
1. The blog will be getting a new header (hopefully this week), and will definitely be getting a new focus. My goal is to blog at least once a week, but hopefully once a day during the typical work week. The once a day thing is going to have to be felt out as I'm determined that each post should from now on contain some form of an illustration, done by me or perhaps an inspiration piece I discover.
2. As mentioned above, each post should include an illustration of some sort.
3. I'll be doing themes most weeks for my own illustration challenges which will probably be quite apparent on the blog, so don't get weirded out if there are a lot of posts about penguins one week and then umbrellas the next.

There are other tricks up my pencil smudged sleeves, but they are going to come in time. Perhaps that will make it more exciting. But I decided it was high time I break the silence and give myself some blog-public goals for where this old friend is headed. Things to look out for in the future, and if you feel so led, to encourage me about are:
• my new portfolio site
• an etsy store including items like calendars, custom portraits, random prints and more
• another blog with a focus on something I'm uber-passionate about
• my first official venture into children's book illustration

Buckle your seat belt. I have no idea what kind of a ride this is going to be.

my favorite time of year

2011-09-30T15:00:00.000-05:00

I can't believe September is leaving so soon. But I'm thrilled to the bone about the cool weather, the changing leaves, the sweaters I just unpacked… Yay fall!

September was an overly full month. I have a lot to catch up on, and much news to share eventually; but not now. Now I bask in the open windows, listen to the dog snore, and catch up on some long awaited pinning.

Happy fall friends!

[image via Cup of Jo]

so I may be a little obsessed

2011-08-03T10:13:00.000-05:00

If you haven't heard of Pinterest yet, well, now you have. Pinterest is an online bulletin board of sorts that you can "pin" inspiration, photos, any image to and label, categorize and source it. It functions as an awesome moodboard source so you can see all the items you've labeled similarly on one long screen. I think it is a sickness. I heard about it a while ago, but as I tend to do with all buzzing media ventures, I ignored it. That is, until last week. Within 5 minutes, I was hooked.

Finally a place to store some of my favorite delicious bookmarks and see a moodboard of inspiration! So, for now, since I never seem to be here, I'm probably over there. You can see my bustling boards here if you are interested.

[image from marta writes]

the Appalachians are seeping into my skin

2011-06-15T14:16:00.001-05:00

Stumbled across this new musician today, Jess Williamson. Her music is very simple and I'm loving it. Her banjo strumming and her gorgeous voice are quite the combo. Can't wait to hear more from her.

It looks like she is also a photographer. I'm particularly drawn to this image.

seriously crossing my fingers, and toes and whatever else I can cross…

2011-06-13T08:15:00.001-05:00

Have I mentioned the rocking awesome designer blog Oh Happy Day! yet? I seriously can't remember. It's one of my all-time favorite blogs along with many other people. But now, they are even more my favorite thanks to this little (understatement of the century) giveaway.

So here is me, trying to get work done and yet continually wishing for the 20th to come so that Jordan will announce the winner and my agony of waiting will be over. Wish me luck, and enter yourself if you so desire!

pictures like this

2011-06-07T08:13:00.001-05:00

make me smile. And laugh. And dream of ways for Rosie and I to travel like this. And wonder if the rider is in the circus. And what would it be like to be in the circus. And I wonder if I could wear those shoes.

(image from public bikes)

p.s. bike in image is my new bike. Long story. But I love it! And Rosie will too as soon as we purchase a basket for her to ride in…

pardon the absence…

2011-05-23T10:27:00.000-05:00

my last week was spent with these girls

doing things like cooking, playing, crafting, and watching Mark read ginormous books

I chatted with my neighbor for a bit

2011-05-03T13:47:00.000-05:00

Nice fellow. At a distance at least.

the week at a glance

2011-05-03T09:42:00.000-05:00

The days go by so quickly. Sometimes I look back on the day and think "did I even breathe through this one?" I was just thinking about my blog this morning and feeling the usual guilt that I've neglected it yet again. I want to blame it on busyness which is always valid, but in some ways, I don't want to have to have a reason. I think it is just the way I blog. It's sort of like reading for me. I would consider myself an avid reader, but I go through what Mark and I like to call "reading binges." I may have a month or 2 dragging through the same book and maybe never entirely finish it and then suddenly I'll hit a weekend where I read 3 or 4 books and be done. Perhaps these binges are a clue to my personality. At least they are of the healthy binge variety.

Yesterday I made an actual paper to-do list, which is something I love to do but haven't done in a while. It was long. Full of everything that really must be done this week. Until I made that list, I was feeling overwhelmed by the week. Wishing I could somehow magically insert 4 more days into the typical 5. But once it was all down on paper, I started to breathe more normally again. I found a different energy, sparked by the desire to mark something off the list. It's like those gold stars that I use to get in first grade on my desk paper when I finished all my homework and more. Those are a real motivator for me. It seems silly that getting to put a check next to something on my list serves as motivation, but I'll take it. I'm proud to say that nearly half my week's list was completed yesterday. And today will hopefully fair as well.

I have another list that tends to sit for longer periods of time and often I add more to it than I cross-off. This is my Projects list. All the ideas I come up with for decorating the house, fixing things, and personal art projects. It is an exciting list and I'm often depressed that I'm so far behind on it — like the yearly photo albums I really want to do to capture the images from each year of marriage and life. I'm 3 and a half years behind on this one, but I'm tightly crossing my fingers that I work on it this summer.

This week however, we have been tackling something off that list with a vengeance… the downstairs bathroom fix-up. Two weekends ago, on Holy Saturday, amidst all the craziness surrounding Holy Week and the music album (which is still yet to be released, stay tuned) and music for Easter morning, Mark and I awoke early and I said, "Let's demo the bathroom and put it the way we want." Amazingly enough, Mark said, "Great!" And we did.

Demo took all of one day and served to completely freak out the poor dog. So the last week and weekend we spent spackling and sanding on repeat trying to get a smooth wall once again after removing the construction bathroom mirror which is always GLUED to the wall. Yes, glued! Aggravates me to no end. Thankfully though, Mark whipped out his amazing sanding chops and I think the wall looks fantastic. So this weekend, we put a coat of primer and repainted the whole bathroom with the same color as before, but in semi-gloss for maximum moisture protection. This week, we must put the new light fixture, mirror and vanity into place and the bathroom will look better than it ever has.

So you may be asking, why the sudden need to do this after waiting for 3 years? Good question. The answer is quite simple: my sister, bro-in-law, and three little nieces. We are getting a happy visit in just 2 short weeks and being my mother's daughter, I've been obsessing over the state of the house and how to make it perfect for their short visit. Granted, this is the first time they will be seeing our house and I also happen to be faulted with a need to be known as someone with good housekeeping skills.

On another note, call me crazy, but I'm also running a massive yard sale this weekend for a couple families, including ours. So, amidst the bathroom reno and dust, we have piles, SERIOUS piles of stuff that I'm slowly working on organizing and tagging for the yard sale. This is my first yard sale ever and I am psyched. We've been brutal about getting rid of things this go around and so far I'm very proud. Even as I'm terrified that I'll completely screw up the sale somehow. But I figure you have to start somewhere. So here we go! Wish us luck.

Now, I just reread this post checking for spelling errors and general flow and I realized, there is no point to this post. I'm going to put it up anyway, because sometimes life is like that. It doesn't feel like there is a point, but it still happens. So happy Tuesday and I hope you are having a remarkable day even if it doesn't feel like one.

become someone else

2011-04-21T08:44:00.000-05:00

"When one reads books, he/she starts living it and identifies (or not) with main hero. These print ads for the Mint Vinetu bookstore, which sells lots of classics, focuses on the idea of becoming someone else. And provokes people to try on different personas."

Yay for reading! Yay for creative ad campaigns! Yay for books!

[ad campaign by Love, seen first on Black*Eiffel]

another photo obsession

2011-04-13T13:56:00.001-05:00

about a month ago, I discovered the Instagram app for my phone. Things will never be the same.

polaroids for music

2011-04-12T09:19:00.000-05:00

Mt Desolation - Departure from BABANUKI films on Vimeo.

Not sure about the song, but love the use of polaroids for the videos. Also really cool is that the artists recorded themselves on webcams or personal video cameras and were brought together through the polaroid concept of the video. Great idea!

(via Black Eiffel)

digesting saturday

2011-04-06T14:32:00.000-05:00

this is an instagram of some tangible things I accumulated on Saturday.

The intangible things are innumerable.
Saturday, April 2, 2011, I attended a 1-day conference called "Focus on Children's Literature." I discovered it just a few days before its occurrence. Thanks to a helpful little Knoxville email list I happen to be on, I was scouring the emails' many contents late one evening last week and happened to see this event in small little letters. My heart's beat quickened. I raced into our studio bearing the iPad and held its screen directly in front of my dear man's face. With pleading eyes, I asked that I be able to go at whatever cost to our wallet and our weekend plans. My darling man vehemently agreed and we proceeded to get me registered as quickly as our finger typing skills allowed.

Fast forward to Saturday morning, skipping much anticipation and dreams about what the day would hold, I abnormally awoke early, agonized over my attire and got myself to the school that was hosting it about 12 minutes early. My plan had been to get there a bit early, be able to scope the place out, settle my nerves and calmly drink my coffee until registration began. Ah, the joke was on me. My fellow attendees, I did not realize, were about 200 librarians and teachers, all eagerly anticipating Knoxville's first children's lit conference as well. And apparently all of them are used to getting up early and being at a school building. Who knew! Feeling a little behind already, I got myself into the building, successfully found my tiny packet of helpful info and unhappily attached the sticky nametag to myself. That's when I spotted the book sale table being set up. And so did every other eager beaver in the room.

Thankfully, I kept my wits about me and didn't rush to the table. I would not have survived such a daring move. Instead I maintained a safe distance and became a pro at peeking through tiny openings between varying heights, bent elbows and wide hips. In my attempts to keep this post less than a youth novel length, let's just say I visited that book sale table 4 times throughout the day and came home with that lovely stack of books in the top right corner of above instagram. Contents are:
Pretty Penny Sets Up Shop (which I first discovered here)
All Kinds of Families! (a favorite French illustrator)
Seasons
Being a Pig is Nice (author of The Jesus Storybook Bible)
Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit (first discovered here)
Applesauce Season (by Caldecott illustrator and includes a recipe!)
Busing Brewster (by one of the main speakers)

The conference itself was fabulous. Jack Gantos, author of many books including the Rotten Ralph series, was the first main speaker. He's a brilliantly hilarious man with witty stories and many surprising thoughts. He gave a great talk about what makes picture books work and he illustrated his points with about 20 famous books like Where the Wild Things Are and Ferdinand the Bull. I captured so many inspiring quotes from him and can't wait to read more of his books. "Read more books and get smarter."

Next up was a screening of the new documentary Library of the Early Mind which I actually posted about in anticipation here last June. Co-producer Steven Withrow was there to talk about it and he was amazingly insightful and had a passion for children's literature that was extremely contagious.

Skipping details about lunch, we went back into a panel discussion about the film and children's literature with Jack Gantos, Steven Withrow, and the last speaker, Richard Michelson. They covered many thoughts and also ruminated on the well-known NY Times article about the demise of the picture book. Upon mention of said article, I'm pretty sure I felt the entire room suck in their breath. My feelings on this topic are another post including a very large soapbox.

Finally, the event was closed with another great talk by author Richard Michelson about his childhood, ventures with his art galleries and career in authoring picture books.

After the event, there were author signings, more book buyings and a near purchase of an awesome poster by Mo Willems from R. Michelson's gallery, but some sneaky librarian woman hooked it first.

I have many more thoughts about this awesome conference, but those are for myself, one-on-one conversations and a much bigger story. Here lies my documentation of the event for myself and anyone else who may be interested. I proceed to again and again thank my sweet husband for allowing me to spend the entire day dreaming, thinking and spending money on my beloved passion of children's books. I also wish to thank the CCYAL for putting on this event and hope to keep posted of more things they offer.

Until further posts on the subject, I've begun to again count my pennies and save up for the annual Children's Festival of Reading! Hoorah!!

for my own inspiration

2011-04-06T12:15:00.000-05:00

Thank you for your brilliance Tomi.
[via his blog]

happy St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T10:39:00.000-05:00

Love this cake. I want a piece. But of course I don't have time to make this today and more importantly right now, I don't do food coloring, at all. But it is beautiful nonetheless. I love it.

Here's the recipe. Discovered thanks to Twig & Thistle.

anatomy of a cupcake

2011-03-15T09:39:00.000-05:00

(via Things)

let's sing it this way

2011-03-15T09:31:00.000-05:00

Happy Tuesday for those who have adjusted correctly to Daylight Savings spring forward. Rosie and I have not.

This made me laugh, aloud actually.

(via Society6, seen at Design Crush)

how could I not share this?

2011-03-14T12:48:00.000-05:00

We No Speak Americano ft. Cleary & Harding

Things like this just make me smile. And slightly flabbergasted. And somewhat heighten my feelings of incompetence and uncreativity.

chaos

2011-03-09T10:32:00.000-06:00

Well, our world has spun out of control. Most days I'm barely hanging on but Mark and I keep reminding each other to just breathe through and thank God for each day. Don't freak. Nothing bad is happening, just an insane amount of busy. Too many balls in the air and each time I drop one, the world just shrugs and says, "that's fine. here's 3 more." Despite all this, I decided to break the silence with a random picture post. Here's a couple shots from the past few weeks and some news on what's going on.

Here is one of my new favorite dresses.

I've decided to mock our culture and it's lack of dresses for everyday wear and I'm wearing more dresses. I love dresses. And thanks to ModCloth, one of my favorite online stores, my stock of dresses has increased without killing the bank account. This day I wore this dress to work from home and then Mark and I drove to Maryville for a lunchtime showing of Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical which was fantastic, made me actually cry and also made Mark and I giggle that we were the only ones in attendance without a child as an excuse. And yes, this dress has acorns all over it.

Next picture, Mark and I all gussied up and ready to attend the Knoxville 2011 Addy Awards.

(thanks Adam for the iPhone pic with fancy photo filter!)

If you are wondering what is in the background, we are at our church where Mark was recording for hours upon end and I joined for a couple hours to help with a particularly impressive "stomp-clap" group recording. So that pile is a drum kit covered with blankets to help separate sound, of course. More info about this to come, hopefully, but our church music team is recording an album right now. We've been practicing for about 2 months and started recording sessions. Mark is playing second guitar and I'm singing back-up vocals for many songs and lead on one. It's exciting and something we've never done before. The album is set to come out Easter week (appropriately so as it is an Easter album.) Just in case you are wondering, our group has a great folk element, a little Indelible Grace/RUF edge, and features great musicians on banjo, mandolin, electric guitar, marimba, and typical instruments such as piano, guitar, brass, strings, drums, etc…. Yes, all those together. You'll probably want to check it out.

But back to the Addy Awards. It was an exciting evening, and not just because I got to dress up which I never get to do, but because we actually won some awards! Mark got a silver for one of his web designs and I won a gold for my design for The Happy Envelope. It's my company's first gold! Here's a pic of the developer and I who worked ridiculously LONG hours on the site.

And while I'm tooting our horn, here's a program that our music team did for Christmas. It's an hour long, and has the Scripture readings and homily in the midst, but you can get a feel for our music style. You can jump around in the recording and hear great things like the children's choir belting it out. A little short of a quarter in is a dramatic Latin song that Mark plays the lead guitar on(!) and a couple songs beyond that is one of my favorite songs we do called Hail to the Lord's Annointed and I happily got to sing the lead on it with our worship pastor harmonizing. It was a really fun program to do. Mark and I created the advertising materials, which I need to take a picture of and post. We also got to perform a shortened version of it at a local venue called The Square Room.

Rosie is still quite alive and seems to be very happy with us.

She can often be found retrieving her beloved tennis ball in places like under the sofa.

Well, that's all for now from this girl. Work is calling, laundry has piled up and everything must get done before a marathon evening of singing for the Ash Wednesday service, practicing for Holy Week music, and then practicing til late for the recording session this weekend. I never thought music would be my life.

wild world and wild things

2011-01-31T12:13:00.001-06:00

My breath caught when I saw this in my reader today.

So stunning. If only it weren't so much. And I had a reason to have it gather dust on my shelves.

[via ImagineNations and BB-Blog]

sometimes I get lost

2011-01-31T12:13:00.000-06:00

Perhaps this explains it best.

Although Google Reader should be factored in there somewhere too. Facebook and Twitter are a come and go thing for me. I guess have short-lived binges with them. Google Reader and Gmail however, they are my best friends.

[not sure where I saw it first as it is making its way around the blog-o-sphere, but it comes originally from Fuchsia Macaree]

when I was kid, I really wanted a monkey for a pet

2011-01-25T13:09:00.000-06:00

It probably would have been just like this one. A golden snub-nosed monkey.

(from National Geographic, via Heart Charlie)

rosie the infamous high-jumper

2011-01-21T15:29:00.001-06:00

no autographs yet please.

oh rosie

2011-01-21T15:03:00.001-06:00

pardon the delay, but may I present Rosie:

about Rosie:
• 1.5 years old
• 20 pounds
• probably has some beagle in her which makes her longer and a little shorter than typical Jack Russells
• one ear always sticks up and the other always flops over (unless she's in trouble and then they both go backwards)
• sometime in her life, someone docked her tail so now she only has a little tail nub as we call it. It's pretty darn cute when that little tail nub wags.

• she rarely barks, so far the only thing that makes her bark is the vacuum and if she really has to go out and we aren't paying attention.
• she's scared of vacuums
• she's a super-tracker and would take down every squirrel on the street if we let her off-leash.
• she's incredibly friendly and will lick your face if you put it within range.
• she's wonderful with kids and very friendly with other dogs

• she would play ball for hours and hours
• she has mad jumping skills—the highest so far being level with Mark's shoulder (yeah, that's high!)
• she is pretty smart and loves to be trained
• she didn't seem to know any commands when we got her, but now has pretty much mastered "sit," "go lay down," "crate," and "outside." We're working on "stay" and better leash training.
• she is a fast, and I mean fast runner. We learned this the fun and hard way when she slipped out the back door when our friend's kid stood with it open too long and we just watched her race around the cul-de-sac and feared we'd never see her again. Thankfully, she already liked us and once she had her fill of running her heart out, she stayed put for Mark to get her.

• she has a "diva-butt" as I call it and refuses to do her business if the ground is too wet to find the perfect spot; even if it means we have to traipse around in the snow for 20 minutes and she is shivering and whining.
• she is a fierce, aggressive chewer. Thankfully though, she only chews things that we give her to play with. Unfortunately, everything we've given her so far has been destroyed in about 20 minutes (especially if it has a squeaker)
• she can shimmy herself under our couch (about 6-8 inches of space) to retrieve her favorite ball

• and she now has the coolest dog bowls around—one says Thirsty? and the other says Hungry? in big beautiful type.

Well, there she is. She would love to meet you and teach you to play ball!

design so beautiful sometimes it makes me cry

2011-01-19T09:34:00.001-06:00

Poster for "The Hold Steady" designed by Helms Workshop.

(via)

travelling pretty

2011-01-19T08:58:00.000-06:00

Please tell me that someday I can be this awesome little old lady. I love her so much without even knowing her. From her cute white curly hair in the stylish hat, the awesome oversized glasses, the fashionable scarf around her neck, and that coat! Oh, that coat! She makes old age look grand.

(via Design Crush)

mesmerized

2010-12-21T08:21:00.001-06:00

Legacy of Letters from Luca Barcellona on Vimeo.

via bb-blog

meet Rosie

2010-12-06T11:18:00.002-06:00

That's right folks, the Schafers have a dog.

More pictures and details coming soon.

a children's book that makes my heart flutter

2010-12-02T08:12:00.000-06:00

and for the iPad now, no less! Amazing.

Oliver Jeffers 'Heart and the Bottle' iPad Picture Book App

via swissmiss

oh to be a dog on a boat

2010-11-23T07:18:00.002-06:00

How adorable is this picture? I love it.

Paris Exposition: ship, Paris, France, 1900
Originally uploaded by Brooklyn Museum

the leather anniversary | Asheville

2010-11-13T15:36:00.002-06:00

new (to us) wheels

2010-11-11T07:28:00.000-06:00

Due to an unfortunate accident and unrepairable state of our favorite car, the Schafer family has been searching for a car for a couple weeks. Thankfully, the search ended a week ago. It was a long couple of weeks using a rental and then relying on our pseudo-trustworthy yet on the brink of fading to dust any minute Neon. Although I enjoyed some of the extra time I got driving Mark to and from work, the coordinating and planning it took was quite a pain. Without further ado, let me introduce the new(ish) addition to our little family: the Subaru Forester

She's a beauty. We found her at a great used car lot in a small town about a half hour from K-town. It's a great little family-esque run business and they have been wonderful to work with. We broke her in this weekend with an anniversary trip to Asheville, NC (pictures to come soon!) where we got to test out her all-wheel drive capabilities through the snow in the mountains. Yes, snow. She came through like a champ. We're looking forward to many a mile in this beauty as the holidays come up quickly. She doesn't know what she is in for!

3rd anniversary on the 3rd of November

2010-11-10T07:51:00.000-06:00

I have been married to this handsome guy for 3 years now. It's wonderful.

(I know this isn't a great Polaroid by most standards, but I love it. It perfectly captured the moment for me. The end of the day look, under the soft yellow of our bubble lamp. I'll get better at the Polaroid taking, but I'll love this picture for always.)

smell like a monster

2010-10-28T15:07:00.000-05:00

I'm thinking I like Grover better for these commercials. Sorry Old Spice guy.

the Ferris wheel

2010-10-14T15:21:00.001-05:00

My very first picture taken with my new Polaroid SpectraSystem. Mark gave me this gift a few days early since we were planning on going to the fair with friends on the 18th. I had high hopes of riding the ferris wheel and marking off #16 but the line was really long, and it was getting late and to be honest, it wasn't the nostalgic looking, quaint Ferris wheel that I was hoping for. But, I captured a picture of it. And I rather love it. I'm sure to most photographers and especially Polaroid photographers it isn't spectacular, bit I think it's wonderful.

#1 off the list.

26

2010-10-14T15:12:00.000-05:00

birthday pictures!

a gift from a coworker

flowers that magically appeared on my desk Friday afternoon

The post-it says 4 more days!

The first birthday present, given Friday night, for reasons that another post will show.

This is a Polaroid SpectraSystem that Mark found for me on Craigslist. I've been wishing for a Polaroid camera for a while. Apparently the couple Mark bought this from was a dear sweet older couple and the camera is in mint condition!

Birthday present #2! A lovely green (wool) coat from one of my favorite local shops Bliss.

Excuse the blurry picture, but for some reason I really like this picture.
Probably because I love the inside of the coat and my dress!

Birthday present #3 from my in-laws!
We bought a KitchenAid for the kitchen renovation and my in-laws
happily gave me the ice cream attachment. Hooray!

And we ended the evening with a birthday cupcake from the Cakery.

Yay for birthdays!

update break

2010-10-13T14:14:00.001-05:00

for something that I needed… laughter yoga.

sometimes you just need a good laugh. I need to remember that more often.

(via A Cup of Jo)

1 2 3 4

2010-10-13T14:10:00.001-05:00

when: September 11, 2010
what: baby shower for a dear friend's coming little one, known affectionately as Phoebe
where: our abode
why: because I like to overload myself with too many things to do. No, actually it was because I love this friend terribly and this is her fourth baby and the wee one needs things of her own. And because I like to host parties, something I've only recently discovered.
how: sheer determination, lots of food, some fun party decorations, and a lot–I mean a lot–of women packed in our house.

the invite

made by me and the front was heavily inspired by lovely design's invitation for her little girl's 3rd birthday (some details photoshopped out, obviously)

paper bunting decoration

the food table (before most of it was out and of course I forgot to snap a picture once all of it was out and before it was consumed)

and some presents

I think it was a lovely time. And now, we all are anxiously awaiting Phoebe's arrival any day now…

(And yes, the post title and invitation theme was inspired by Feist's song 1234 which was played at the shower sometime in the background mix. It's a good song and has a good music video which Mark loves, though I prefer the Sesame Street version.)

let the blogging begin, again…

2010-10-13T13:27:00.000-05:00

I've decided my absence from blogging is because I started to feel so behind and didn't know how to catch up. So I'm not trying anymore. I'm just going to post. Lots of pictures coming too.

Like these cute condiments that begged to get their photo taken.

26 feels good

2010-09-21T21:46:00.001-05:00

Thanks to a good friend for posting this great cover of such a great song on my facebook.

Birthday pictures coming up in the next couple days. For now, I must celebrate. Ba de ya!

the music that keeps me going

2010-09-17T11:57:00.001-05:00

16 days have passed since my last post. That makes me very sad. So much is going on yet I can't find the time to record it. I've been trying for days to get pictures up of the kitchen renovation (since we're done!) and even just some random every day snapshots. But it always takes longer than I have time for. Not to mention that the pictures we've managed to capture of the kitchen just don't do it justice. It is so much lovelier and perfect in person. I think we need a new camera.

Work has been insanely busy lately. Most week nights, Mark and I meet at home around 7:30 or 8. By the time we get dinner together, eat, and clean up, we typically have less than an hour to do something not work related before needing to sleep to start it all over again. But we are surviving, some days better than others. But as September comes, change always happens and this year is no different. There are changes coming in the next few weeks, all of which we are very excited about. So in the meantime, I listen to music. Lots of music. Here is one of my most favorite. I'm seriously obsessed with it (not a shocker, I know). It sounds like September. This song just helps me breathe a little calmer and hang on a little longer.

I'm also seriously obsessed with her boots. Perhaps I'll find some to purchase with my birthday money (did I mention my birthday is on Tuesday! 5 days!).

Happy Friday.

dancing in September

2010-09-01T11:13:00.002-05:00

Whew! August finished up fast. It was definitely not a good month this year. Overload of work. Massive house projects that refuse to be finished. Lots of late nights and more tired days. But, that is all behind us now! Good riddance August. September has finally come! I refuse to let this month go by without full-fledged enjoyment and celebrations. I will savor this month in the oncoming of fall, my glorious upcoming birthday (yay!), pumpkin spice lattes, the start of needing sweaters, purchasing discounted school supplies and much more with great abandon. Today I wear a new dress which I have been saving for a month to wear on this day. I'm working to my You've Got Mail soundtrack which always helps me usher in the new season and month. And tonight is the much-anticipated She & Him concert in Nashville! I'm so excited I was late for work this morning trying to get myself together. Hooray for September 1!

And while we are on the subject of music, here is a fabulous video to celebrate September by Earth, Wind & Fire. Don't you just love the amazing video effects and costumes and dance moves?! Oh man. Welcome September.

(thanks to a friend's friend on facebook)(and please note that it references September 21 which just so happens to be the best day of September, yes, my birthday!)

And in case you are interested, you can also see me posting on the new and improved blog for my work here and here. Keep an eye out for my design thoughts.

simon's cat

2010-08-20T14:33:00.001-05:00

I'm not a cat person, but I do find them to be quite funny and clever sometimes. I don't hate cats, but my allergies have continued to encourage my keeping a distance. This however is a fun and cute illustrative animation.

Happy Friday!

words

2010-08-18T14:15:00.002-05:00

I love this video. Beautiful. Clever. Unique. Love it.

(found via Poppytalk)

some weekend pictures

2010-08-16T11:11:00.000-05:00

a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit played with friends, where we discovered that either the game was a little to "before our time" or we're all just really terrible at nonsense factoids. Although Mark surprised us many times with some of his random knowledge.

an awesome chalk friend met on my morning walk.

a floral "tree" that caught my eye also on my morning walk.

name that movie… all 35

2010-08-13T14:24:00.000-05:00

I found this video a while ago and never got to share. So, for your Friday viewing pleasure:

35 Movies in 2 Minutes!

35mm from Pascal Monaco on Vimeo.

I really love the illustration/animation style. Very clever. I'm so drawn to flat vector illustration (opening credits to Monster's Inc comes to mind). I probably need to explore this more for myself. If you've ever worked with me you'd know how much I love to create vector icons!

(discovered on Drawn)

the mild obsession gets fed

2010-08-12T13:33:00.001-05:00

I've recently seen a trend of very long bangs and after another was pointed out to me this morning I remembered this amazing image:

Makes me laugh. Every time I see it. And if, like me, you find this to be quite humorous go read Indie Girls Deconstructed. Hilarious breakdown of Zooey plus it includes both Deschanel girls in one post. Can't help but love it.

(And for those who haven't seen it and attempt to click on the reference in the post to Emily wearing a Wonder Woman costume which links to a video that has been taken down—that is the episode in Bones Season 3, Episode 5 called The Mummy in the Maze. Yes, I'm that pathetic. Great episode though.)

(image first seen on rumination reading room)

penguins… what's not to love.

2010-08-12T12:28:00.001-05:00

Ran across this awesome ad campaign for these funny little birds.

Love them.

no caffeine needed

2010-08-11T12:25:00.001-05:00

Well, the blog is a bit silent as of late. There are many reasons for this but the 2 most important are 1. the kitchen reno and 2. a new schedule.

1. The kitchen. We are ridiculously close to the finish line for the kitchen. It has been a long month+. Last night we back-breakingly and painstakingly grouted half of the backsplash. We intended to do all, but learned a few things along the way and ran into the clock eventually. It looks fabulous though. I can hear the other half begging for its turn. We'll tackle it tonight. And finish the whole thing soon. This weekend is the goal. Seriously holding my breath and crossing my fingers… If I close my eyes tight enough I can start to see it complete.

2. A new schedule. A couple weeks ago, while climbing into bed, utterly exhausted and stupefied that the clock again read much later than I realized, Mark and I decided to make a change. We were both running around like crazy, doing too many things, keeping a crazy schedule and insanely long to do lists that never seem to finish. I for one was ready to throw in the towel, actually every towel I could find. So I made a list, of course. Well, more of a post-it note mini-list (have I mentioned that I love post-its?). Being the genius that I am, I realized that there are 24 hours in a day. Now I'm supposed to work 8 hours (at least). That leaves me with 16 hours to do what I please. And most doctors highly recommend 8 hours of sleep. So now we are down to 8 hours left. Amazing how that works. So breaking it up, I decided we needed 2 hours in the morning, 1 hour for commute to work (both ways), and 1/2 to 1 hour for lunch. Then, I was astounded at what lay before me. 4 to 4 1/2 hours leftover. I was dumbfounded. I calculated it again. But there it lay on my little post-it.

I don't know that I've ever seen those 4 to 4 1/2 hours. Maybe occasionally, but hardly ever since we started working like real adults. So that clenched it. We made a change. The biggest alteration was getting to work at 8 instead of 9. This little hour was a brilliant move on our parts. Even though I've always told myself I'm a night person, I actually can accomplish quite a bit in the mornings. And considering my creativity literally starts to revolt when it feels 5pm pass, getting to work an hour earlier and allowing myself to not only leave at 5 but actually take a lunch break is a whole new world to me. So far, it's been going great. We're still adjusting and definitely have our late nights with the kitchen wrangling, but another new incentive to get to work by 8 has been a parking space. You see, my office sits in a huge warehouse-esque building and there are marked spaces. If you don't get a marked space near the office, you must park down the side in the lower parking lot. It's not a terrible thing to walk, I enjoy it on nice days, but on these really hot days where I must tromp with (way too many) bags in hand, dress clothes, and most likely some sort of uncomfortable but professional shoes, the walk just makes my day start poorly. And it takes longer. Which requires me to get here earlier. Or risk being late for our daily meeting at 9:07.

So, thanks to the new schedule for encouraging sleep and more free time. And thanks to new lunch breaks which give me time to compose a much too long blog post since I'm feeling overly creative with my new-found sleep and apparently very wordy. Hopefully I'll be here blogging a bit more frequently now that I'm being reintroduced to free time. My delicious only knows how many links I have labeled "blogthis."

a weekend in pictures

2010-08-02T21:39:00.001-05:00

So much to catch up on. This was a great weekend. To help condense it and savor it, here are some of my favorite photos from the weekend.

Let's start with this lovely couple in their wonderful little baby blue beauty.

I like to think that this could be Mark and I someday. It reminds me of some stories Julia Child tells in her book My Life in France about her and Paul riding around France. They had a baby blue car. It was named something fun that I can't remember at the moment.

This was an incredible meal I made sometime around the weekend. It is a summer salad wrap. Quite lovely. Grilled chicken marinated in raspberry vinaigrette, red onion, lettuce, pecans, avocado, strawberries, and it called for gorgonzola which we tried but didn't love so the next night we ate the leftovers with feta and it was much better. I will definitely be making this again soon. And hopefully my kitchen will be back in order so I can make the tortillas which I much prefer.

Friday afternoon I went out for some gelato with my dear friend Kate. It was wonderful. And we sat on a quaint little bench outside the shop and had this view through the buildings:

Saturday we picked up my bike and I took it for a spin around the cul-de-sac. I also attempted a crazy ride down our hill and was quite enthralled. That is until I had to go back up. Nearly had a heart-attack. It is a wonderful, darling bike. Here are a couple closeups:

Isn't she a beauty!

And lastly, Sunday afternoon Mark and I ventured to the historic Tennessee Theatre for a summer showing of To Kill A Mockingbird. It was fabulous! We were so surprised how full the theatre was. We love shows here! There is always an organ concert to open any show and the organ comes up out of the stage. He played some wonderful tunes and really helped you get in the mood for a historic movie and different time. The movie was incredible to see on the big screen. Even got a few gasps out of some unknowing audience folks at just the right moments. A great summer experience.

Whew! I've got many more stories to tell it seems. Things about the state of the kitchen (boo!), and the exciting ride I had tonight with my neighbor's boys, and the many projects I'm working on at work and home; but it will all have to wait until another time.

i need some green sunglasses too

2010-07-30T12:26:00.000-05:00

GREEN

Green sky.
Green kitten.
Green pie.
Green mitten.
Green here.
Green there.
Green, green everywhere!
But...Ha! Ha!
The color green quickly passes
When I take off
My green sunglasses.

Poem from Kim's Place and Other Poems by Lee Bennett Hopkins with drawings by Lawrence Di Fiori.

Can I just say how much I love this poem?! So perfect for my day. And my life. Thanks to Scribbler for posting it!

Post-It Love

2010-07-28T13:26:00.000-05:00

I use post-it notes a lot. Love them dearly. Despite my attempt to be more "green" and recycle. Earlier today this video came to mind. I hadn't seen it in a while and upon searching for it, I was happily reacquainted with its loveliness. And now I share it here:

Post-It Love from Kreatif360 on Vimeo.

It's just so sweet! Really well done. Just made my day a little brighter.

*I cannot help but note how much I love her tights and especially her sweater in the last scene. Those side collar buttons are just adorable! And the stripes!

design couples

2010-07-27T14:16:00.000-05:00

(via IDSGN)

"In all professional fields you can find many couples pursuing the same path, but within the design community, this trend is particularly prevalent… Maybe it's the understanding and consolation you receive knowing someone is there if you wake up in a sweat-induced panic over kerning and tracking. Or maybe, it's being enamored by a potential partner's typographic talents. Whatever the reason, it seems that a designer marriage equates to many successful, talent fueled design tandems."

IDSGN is interviewing some extremely talented designer couples over the next few weeks. I'm so excited to read them all!

(Thanks to Mark for deliciousing it to me.)

did I mention…

2010-07-26T11:45:00.000-05:00

My bike is here!

It came in pieces in 2 boxes. With no instructions. I received an e-mail that it was coming and that there wouldn't be any instructions because they "recommend" taking it to a bike dealer and having them assemble it for my own safety. Love their version of "recommend." Hard not to take a recommendation when they make sure there isn't any way to not take it by leaving out the instructions. So, we dropped it off at a local Felt bike dealer and it should be ready Tuesday or Wednesday this week. Saw a couple of these bikes sitting in the shop (display only) and it made me really excited and also slightly freaked out as the bike is huge! Seriously huge. I'm going to be hard-pressed not to be crushed under it if I ever fall over while riding it.

Now I'm on the search for a totally awesome and of course very safe helmet. Here's the top runner:

from Bern. I think it definitely has the style I'm going for without the in-over-my-head-mountain-biking look. I am no mountain biker. And with my new fixed gear cruiser underneath, I'll be surprised if I make it back up our street hill on the first ride down.

I should however give the disclaimer though that this isn't actually my first helmet choice. This is:

from Yakkay. But considering it isn't available online and I'd only be able to pick it up somewhere in Sweden or Germany or who knows, I must consider it unavailable. Not to mention I have no idea how much it is supposed to cost thanks to the "find a retailer" issue. But isn't it just the coolest helmet ever?! If only I could swing over to Sweden and pick one up…

more photobooth love

2010-07-26T11:16:00.000-05:00

via Marvelous Kiddo

sometimes I want to get married all over again

2010-07-26T08:17:00.000-05:00

just to have wedding invitations like this:

Absolutely stunning. Design by the amazing Erin Jang.

still working

2010-07-24T09:16:00.002-05:00

My apologies for so much silence this week. It has been a long and busy work week filled with a lot of rain as well. This weekend we are starting the tile process. It's coming along!

someday this could be Mark and me

2010-07-24T08:56:00.001-05:00

Discovered this video interview yesterday with children's book author/illustrator Lane Smith and his wife Molly Leach. I just love them. It struck me as so fun that he is the illustrator and she is the designer of most of the books. Such a great couple.

And I love his stuff.
You can also find him blogging here about random and odd children's books.

lost in the lovely pages

2010-07-19T21:35:00.000-05:00

"So Mary Poppins put on her white gloves and tucked her umbrella under her arm—not because it was raining but because it had such a beautiful handle that she couldn't possibly leave it at home. How could you leave your umbrella behind if it had a parrot's head for a handle?"

This question and many more are delighting me at every page turn of the wonderful book by P.L. Travers. I can't believe it has taken me this long to read the classic Mary Poppins story. Especially when it has such an incredibly, enchanting cover.

(chapter 2, page 16)

making progress

2010-07-14T11:10:00.000-05:00

Well, the weekend came and went and here is where we are so far. Finally got the oven hood vent installed last night and the new oven pushed into place! Yay for being able to cook again! Mark fixed the drawers next to the oven so they slide in and out much smoother now. I've been working on cabinet lining options which I'll post about later.

The biggest slow down right now is that we still need to paint the front side of the cabinet doors. It has been raining for the past 2 days and although I don't know how true it is, I've always heard that you shouldn't paint when it is raining as it causes the drying time to slow down even more. So we are waiting for the weather to clear to start the door painting process once again. We've also been doing the refrigerator and dishwasher search. We weren't entirely planning on purchasing all the appliances at once, but they all need replacing so badly, we have the money in savings, and if we can find a great deal on them while we are in the upheaval phase, we'll bite the bullet.

After painting the doors we need to put on the new hardware, hang the doors, and then tile up the backsplash! It's already starting to look so different. It's so exciting!

the delightfulness at my door

2010-07-12T22:23:00.001-05:00

Today I arrived home to a wonderful package. You see, a couple weeks ago I entered a blog giveaway on one of my favorite blogs Vintage Kids Books My Kid Loves and I won! This wasn't the typical weekly giveaway that Scribbler hosts though. It was a grab bag of her picks. I was so excited to pull into the driveway and spy the package leaning against our door. Behold the goodness:

A wonderful pile of delicious treats! Among it are gems like Chicken Soup With Rice by Maurice Sendak and Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel and The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. And there are more obscure titles that I'm not familiar with such as Strangers' Bread by Nancy Willard (illustrated by David McPhail) and The Giant's Shoe by Jessica Nelson North (illustrated by Esther Friend). Each piece looks wonderful and I cannot wait to wander through them. I must admit though the one that had me squeal and run to show Mark was My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett and illustrated by Ruth Chrisman Gannett.

Ever since Scribbler reviewed it and I spied images such as this:

I have been searching for it. Hoping to see it for myself and take it all in. Now, thanks to Scribbler, I can mark it off the must find list and enjoy its loveliness.

still in pieces

2010-07-11T21:24:00.001-05:00

Here's the week in pictures and short comments:

After 1 coat of oil based primer (best for kitchens!) and 2 coats of the Bitter Chocolate brown, we knew we needed a third coat but Mark wasn't convinced about the color. So we did a third coat in a slightly darker Espresso Beans brown and called it done. (We used the Behr paint and primer in one for the new color third coat and it was awesome!) The color is much closer to the dark brown/black look that we were going for. It covered really well the third time too.

The back side of the doors are done. Tomorrow we can start painting the front side. (Best to wait at least 3-5 days to allow them to cure before flipping them over.)

Countertops came Friday! Love them!

Yesterday, Mark measured and cut the hole for the sink and we worked hard to get that sucker squared away in there. And this afternoon Mark finished getting the incredible faucet (from Ikea!) installed. Hooray! The spout of the faucet pulls down and becomes a sprayer when needed. Love!

Not going to feel great until the new tile backsplash goes up but it's starting to look better at least. (Minus the ugly drywall layer where the old countertop used to curve up.) Speaking of tile…

It looks awesome with the cabinets and the new gray countertops!

So that's where we are. Yesterday, we purchased the new oven hood vent and are hoping to install it tonight before we go to bed. Perhaps we'll finally get the oven in place too! Tomorrow, as I said before, we start the process of painting the front of the cabinet doors. Should take 2 days hopefully, depending on how quickly the coats go. Then they have to dry for 5 days before we put the new hardware on (yay!) and new hinges and hang them. And the final step is going to be the tile backsplash which we are excited (and slightly anxious) about installing. It's coming along!

my aha moment

2010-07-07T22:58:00.001-05:00

A couple weeks ago I received a random e-mail from the aha moment team for Mutual of Omaha (what? I have no idea what that is!). The girl said she had found my website and blog and thought I would be a fun participant of the aha moment videos. They were coming to Knoxville in a few days and would like to film me. After seriously questioning if this was for real and having Mark check it out too, I made an appointment to show up on a Monday evening at Market Square. It was super quick and painless (although the painful part came in the deliberation over what to wear and most importantly what in the world I would say was my aha moment). I filled out a permission form and then stepped into their little silver bullet of a trailer. A super friendly and almost fakely authentic (only way I can think to describe her) girl interviewed me while a guy filmed it from another room. I wasn't quite sure what I was saying and simply hoped for the best. Today, I saw the results. See my interview on the aha moment website. And no autographs please.

riding in style

2010-07-07T18:18:00.001-05:00

That's right folks. I am the proud winner of a Fat Tire bicycle!

After entering daily and relentlessly for over a month, I was rewarded with an e-mail today that I was selected as yesterday's winner. Huzzah! Should be coming in the mail soon. Now we just have to get Mark a bike too!

(the contest)

we'll be grilling out for a couple days | the kitchen reno stage 1

2010-07-06T11:55:00.001-05:00

The holiday weekend came and went. Mark and I now find ourselves lost among the chaos of our kitchen in progress. Starting Friday night, we spent a good chunk of time at Home Depot and followed it up with another early morning trip on Saturday to purchase a clearanced floor model stainless steel oven range that we had spotted the night before (Score!). The rest of Saturday unfolded with massive kitchen prep as we emptied the cabinets, heaved the old stove to the garage, removed all the cabinet doors and hinges, scrubbed everything down, taped around everything, and then used our good friend, Liquid Sandpaper to prepare the surfaces.

(Please note the holes in the wall where the stove should be. Those are thanks to whomever built our kitchen and decided to take shortcuts on doing things well and right. Lovely.)

We then rewarded ourselves with a break at our friends' house eating yummy food and playing with their adorable 6 month old.

Sunday morning we attended our church, chatted with some folk and then high-tailed it back home to scarf down some sandwiches before we primed it up. The afternoon raced by as we somehow juggled 5 loads of laundry and primed all the cabinets and both sides of the doors.

We again rewarded our focused efforts by lazying around the rest of the evening to celebrate the fourth with some other dear friends and their 10 month old kiddo. The evening was lovely and long as we stuffed ourselves, joined the masses in World's Fair Park to listen to the Symphony and then ooh and aah over the firework display (which one of the highlights for me was watching the 10 month old in awe of the lights flashing before him). We ended the festive evening with a not-too-rousing game of Scrabble and munchies.

Monday morning rolled around to us hitting snooze for over an hour and then finally hearing reality remind us that we still had cabinets to get a couple coats of paint on. The day was long but we sanded the primed coat (for added smoothness) and put 2 coats of dark brown on. Late last night we decided we'll need at least one more coat so that's on the agenda tonight. Picture of this stage to come.

Coming up… the countertops are scheduled to arrive Friday. We are forecasting a weekend of painting the front side of the cabinet doors (have to let the backs cure for 3-5 days) and putting the new countertops and sink in. Soon after we'll be attempting our first tile job as we do the backsplash and then we'll be putting the new hinges and handles on all the cabinet doors. July is going to be gone before we know it.

you had me at RFP

2010-06-30T12:08:00.001-05:00

One of Mark's coworkers sent this comic to us and said it reminded her of our story.

Wow. Amazingly so close it could be our story. Move the RFP (Request For Proposal for my non-design readers) to about the middle and change the adoption of the cat to a hopeful (soon!) adoption of a dog and you'd have us on paper. Love it!

(comic by Burt at Draw, Burt, Draw!)

the color of Monday

2010-06-29T10:06:00.004-05:00

Poppytalk is having a Summer Colours Week! I love these! I missed it yesterday so didn't put my pink picture on the flickr site but I am on the lookout for yellow today… Follow along. The pictures are incredible!

(zinnias via my kitchen!)

the joy of type

2010-06-25T15:09:00.002-05:00

We love typography. Our love of letters extends to decorating our home. We have a collection of letters on our mantle (I'll have to get a good picture of that once we are happy with the arrangement.) Recently we added a few items to the home decor that further express our letter love.

The new coasters…

They are made of felt and are so intricately cut it nearly takes my breath away.

And most recently, our new door mat. It states something different depending on if you are coming or going. Love it!

Come visit us and experience the letter fest in person!

a documentary especially for me

2010-06-24T13:59:00.002-05:00

Just ran across this trailer for what looks to be a spectacular documentary.

Oh man. Can't wait to see it!
(visit the site)

holding my breath

2010-06-24T08:58:00.002-05:00

We've applied to adopt a dog. The last 5 days have been a bit of a roller coaster on my emotions. But my hopes are up.

And I love this ad. More than words.

another reason to love September

2010-06-23T15:32:00.001-05:00

Tickets just purchased to see these two in concert:

She & Him. September 1.

So excited!

Maybe I can ask her where she got that amazing hat, jacket, and belt combo. I doubt I can rock it as well as she does. Now if only Emily Deschanel would be there too for some reason…

(images via this awesome photo gallery of She & Him)

up in the air in a wobbly little box

2010-06-23T10:58:00.000-05:00

maybe add this to the birthday festivities wish list:

(photo from Ocean City, New Jersey)

smile at the birdie

2010-06-23T08:48:00.003-05:00

Monday marked 3 months until my birthday. The dreaming has begun. Among my many thoughts is the desire to visit a photobooth. I'm becoming increasingly more obsessed with photobooths and having never experienced the joy of one in person, I feel that my 26th is a great time to do so. (and mark it off the list too!) I'm fairly positive this obsession increased because of one of my new favorite movie, Amelie and thanks to people like hulaseventy and her photobooth Fridays. So, perhaps a photobooth experience will be a festivity for my birthday and maybe I'll even ask for this book with this great cover:

And I feel my life is much enhanced by discovering photobooth images like this:

(via Heading East)

and especially this:

(via that American Photobooth book)

That one just kills me.

I can't help but wish that I had discovered these gems earlier in marriage. A photobooth image every anniversary would be such a great idea. Not too late to start right?

the taste of summer

2010-06-17T11:14:00.001-05:00

#14 marked off the list.

Blueberry pie made from scratch. I'm especially proud of the lattice crust.

Oh, it was delicious. Especially with French vanilla ice cream.

This is a great crust recipe. And I was fairly happy with this blueberry pie recipe although I did adhere to some commentors' suggestions about increasing the cornstarch.

me encapsulated in product

2010-06-17T10:57:00.000-05:00

Gasp! Ikea keeps coming out with items that scream my name. Really. I can hear it.

(find these here and here)

interesting concept, stupid name

2010-06-15T12:52:00.001-05:00

Mobile Art Lab in Japan created a picture book using an iPhone.

(via Minor Details)

we all get the slip sometimes

2010-06-14T14:38:00.010-05:00

I love this music video. I love She & Him. I think I'm addicted.

I think Zooey Deschanel may have edged out Meg Ryan. It's getting close.

not enough wall space

2010-06-08T15:31:00.004-05:00

Thanks to Vintage Kids' Books I now know about the amazing illustrator Winnie Finch. Her stuff is absolutely incredible. I love the cuteness of her characters, but almost even more so her amazing lettering! Seriously, drool with me:

(all images via imagekind)

That last one just makes me giddy. Now, to scrounge up money to buy some prints…

ironically not made of apples

2010-06-07T15:26:00.004-05:00

For some reason, I think this is really cool. There is something just so wonderful about fruit. The colors, the textures and patterns. Pure yumminess!

Created by Richard Thomas to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Apple.
(original here)

the art of hand painted murals

2010-06-03T11:57:00.003-05:00

UP THERE from The Ritual Project on Vimeo.

12 minutes. Very worth it. Wonderfully inspiring and quite incredible. I love the older man. I can only imagine the memories he must have.

(via Rifle)

I'll meet you at the top of the coconut tree.

2010-04-21T19:35:00.008-05:00

In early March, our church had a work day at a school down the street called the Fort Sanders Education Development Center. It is a great little school for special ed students mostly before they enter school for kindergarten. While helping paint a hallway wall, I happened to overhear the PTA President saying they were looking for someone to do a mural on the wall. I jumped up and talked to her about it. When I found out they wanted a mural based on the children's book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom I could barely contain myself. So I volunteered—despite the visual images in my head of my dear husband giving me the "are you crazy?" look and the stressed voice of reason in my head that started listing all the things I'm already committed to do. Nonetheless, I did the mural. Behold my last 3 weekends worth of work.

Thanks to my wonderful helpers and especially my so wonderful husband who ended up coming and helping for much longer than he planned. Awesome experience! Something to mark off the list that wasn't on the list. Yes for over-achieving!

only 2 letters off

2010-03-29T21:24:00.004-05:00

Discovered this song today and really still can't believe it is real. I've already requested that Mark learn it and sing it to me on occasion. Yes, it is that awesome.

Caryn Shaffer - Wesley Willis

UPDATE: due to the sad news that lala.com has been shut down (boo iTunes), here is a clip of the song on Amazon.

"we were here"

2010-03-28T09:04:00.006-05:00

Mark and I saw The Clogs in concert yesterday. We weren't too familiar with them before we heard about the concert. What captured our interest was that Sufjan Stevens and Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) were performing with them. We've seen My Brightest Diamond perform here a little over a year ago and love love love her (Mark actually did a video for her in college), but Sufjan has not been anywhere near Knoxville so we thought it was worth it to see him (even if he only played a little). We both began to listen to The Clogs new album and found it interesting. The concert however was wonderful. Their music is so much lovelier live. It's one of those concerts that there are many instruments, the music fills the auditorium and at times you are afraid it will end too quickly or not at all.

I'm actually not much of a concert person. At least not these strange "indie" concerts. I find the audience of these particular concerts to be extremely rude and distracting. There were so many people getting up and moving around, looking at their bright cell phone screens, whispering, taking pictures…. I hate how easily distractable I am. I much prefer the symphonies and jazz concerts where it feels like no one dares move for fear of missing something spectacular or breaking the mood. Symphonies always have an older audience and it is lovely. I always feel I must be very proper and have brilliant etiquette. I'm much more able to get enveloped in the music.

Overall, the concert yesterday was nice, but frustrating. The high point for me however was the last song they played. Sufjan and Shara both performed with The Clogs and it was a hauntingly beautiful song. I wanted to weep at its loveliness. It is very rare for me to feel that way about a song and I have been obsessively listening to the song all day as I process the emotions it brings. The recording on the cd isn't quite the same as the ambiance of the theater and the sound swirling around the room, but it begins to speak to the feelings. Be moved too.

We Were Here (feat. Sufjan Ste...

UPDATE: due to the sad news that lala.com has been shut down (boo iTunes), here is a clip of the song on Amazon.
or to hear the song in its entirety watch this video (which is the actual concert I was at just a few seats over from whomever uploaded this! but I suggest you close your eyes to not be distracted).
or just go buy the song. You won't be disappointed. I promise.

St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-27T20:18:00.004-05:00

seriously… I want a dog.

2010-03-16T13:23:00.002-05:00

via [BB-Blog]

the mountains are seeping in

2010-03-15T21:07:00.005-05:00

We took to the road this weekend for a dear friend's wedding. We both desperately wanted to fly there, but just could not justify over $600 a piece for a shorter trip. So Thursday night, we packed the cooler full of edibles and hit the road. Dallas is a 13.5 hour drive from our dear little house in Knoxville. We stopped somewhere unimportant along the way and finished the drive on Friday. The wedding itself was good, but I don't feel there is anything exciting to relate. The memorable piece from this weekend is about the mountains. I haven't been to Texas in a while and I have to say that we were both quite shocked at how flat Dallas was. And even most of the Arkansas we traveled through too. When we were still at least a half hour away from Dallas, we could see almost every detail of the Dallas skyline. It was so odd. Saturday morning, while Mark did the groomsman thing with the groom—I took a trip over to Frisco and hit the Ikea. (Yes, we really are that pathetic that we must stop at Ikea if we are within an hour's distance.) It was lovely to drive there and back and yet I was very unsettled at how flat it all was. I haven't felt this feeling before, at least not this particular form of homesickness, but I really missed the Tennessee mountains. It was such a lovely sight as we got closer and closer on the drive back Sunday. We kept going up and down more and the view got shorter and shorter. I really did feel like an idiot a couple times as I grinned widely to see all the peaks and valleys ahead of us. If you haven't done the drive on 40 between Nashville and Knoxville, it really is quite lovely. So many trees and so much off in the distance. Truly a sight to behold. I've been slowly feeling that this little town was staking its claim on my heart for this period of time—but I knew it to be so true as I came home to the mountains. Knoxville really is a lovely little place.

before 30

2010-03-07T20:39:00.009-06:00

I've been thinking about this list for quite a while. I like to make lists. A lot. This list is coming out of the realization of my upcoming 26th birthday in September and how that sounds really old to me. I know it isn't, but it has made me think about having more goals and attempting harder to attain them. So, here is my big list, in no particular order. Some are big things and some are small things. The before I turn 30 list. I will be updating and referring to this list hopefully a lot in the next few years. Here I go…

~~1. start capturing life with a Polaroid camera~~
2. begin a garden
3. learn French
4. visit DisneyWorld
5. start a family
6. send a children's book draft or portfolio of illustrations to a publishing house
7. rescue a dog
8. learn some front end coding
9. build a clothesline
10. sew clothes for myself
11. paint a really big canvas
12. start a family wall of pictures
13. make a new website for my portfolio
~~14. make a pie from scratch~~
15. renovate the kitchen
16. ride a ferris wheel
17. visit a photobooth

sounds like me

2010-02-18T12:43:00.004-06:00

the projects in my head

2009-10-19T11:34:00.003-05:00

I frequently have many project ideas floating around my head. I often scribble them down in my sketchbook, on post-its that find themselves affixed in odd locations, or in my moleskine notebook that continually rides in my purse and on various scraps of paper that may be within reach when an idea begins to surface or flesh itself out. Ideas often come at the most inconvenient times—take a couple weeks ago when I was running to a printer to pick up a project and bam! children's book idea hits me (this is the most frequent kind of idea that floats in my head—I've got 7 or 8 kids' book ideas in the works, mostly in my head). I frantically start pawing around in my purse while keeping my eyes on the road, grab a pen, find some random little envelope with a bit of gum stuck in one corner and then realize there is absolutely no way to write down my idea while driving down Kingston Pike in the middle of lunch hour traffic. So I put the free hand back on the wheel again and whisper the idea over and over again until I reach intended destination and can park. Usually at this point the idea starts to sound less exciting and ceases to excite me, but occasionally they will make it to scrap paper and then never see the light of day again. I have dreams of one day, in my retirement, pulling out a tattered scrapbook containing all my ideas and suddenly working them all out and becoming an amazing children's book writer/illustrator in my late 60's and dedicating each one to my grandchildren and my dear husband who never gave up on encouraging me to do children's books.

Well, lately I've had this type project rolling around in my head—at least for 7 months. And yesterday, during the second service sermon (which I was in because I sang in both services) I imagined another type project idea that would relate well to the first. And this morning, there came a third. So now, I'm going to attempt to embark on a type series project. My brain is still mulling out all the details of said project, but for once I decided to put it in the blogosphere and perhaps this would give me a sort of accountability to follow through and see where it leads. Soon this week I will sit down and put a description of the project and the parameters I'm mentally giving myself on here. I've said I will, so I will. Coming soon…

Alice.com

2009-10-01T09:03:00.003-05:00

I've been wanting to discuss my love for Alice.com on here for a while. My sister discovered it a few months ago and passed the info on to me. I was a bit skeptical at first, but always take a good recommendation seriously. I use it frequently and must say that although I love the laziness of shopping online from my cozy couch, the true love for me is how easy it is to watch my budget when I shop there. I always struggle at stores to mentally add up my items and make sure I'm within what I have to spend. Alice makes it so much easier as I can add and take things away from my total with a click. I also don't have to spend time in the aisles trying to decipher all the facts about every product on the shelf. I can just make my list on Alice, read the product info and reviews, AND Alice automatically adds any coupon that exists for the product! Wonderful! I actually made an order Tuesday and am expecting to see the lovely box on my doorstep when I get home this evening. Did I mention 2-3 day delivery and free shipping? Yes, free shipping! Always! Really if you haven't tried Alice.com yet, you should check it out. Makes life a lot easier. It really is true—everyone needs an Alice!

Also, here is another reason for love of Alice: Alice.com announces free samples + win a Mac Book!

there are no words to express how much I love September…

2009-09-01T07:46:00.002-05:00

My joy was indescribable this morning when I saw the date on the calendar and then looked outside and saw the cool crisp air just hinting that fall is almost completely here. I longingly glanced at my box of sweaters awaiting to be unpacked and my mound of tights that I'm aching to wear even though it is still too warm. And then, to top it all off, I arrive at work this morning to find a Pumpkin Spice Latte with a lovely post-it note on my desk! One of my coworkers wives has a love affair with Pumpkin Spice Lattes as well. We recently discovered this bond that we share that many do not fully understand. It's going to be a lovely month!

rethinking everything

2009-05-19T11:33:00.004-05:00

It is often a scary thing to acquire knowledge. Over the past few months I have frequently thought back to childhood and the beautiful innocence of it. Becoming an adult changes a lot, and although I thought I would have realized that several years ago, some things are just now starting to become overwhelming. Responsibility always sounded like such a great word when I was going through the shaky teenage years, but now, I realize how much responsibility I am faced with daily. Every decision I seem to make is either me taking responsibility or not. Every decision I don't think to make is still me taking responsibility. This is what makes my head hurt. There are too many things to consider and research.

Perhaps I should start where this all did. Mark and I recently started a Netflix membership. We have quite a queue lined up and have already watched many. The past month or so, we have been on a documentary kick. This is mainly because of Mark, but also out of curiosity. As a result of these, we have been talking about a lot of issues neither of us ever seemed to be concerned or aware of. Issues such as the medical industry, cancer, antibiotics, recycling, dentistry, midwives, processed foods, organic food, toxins, chain restaurants, shots... and the list seems to be continually growing. Now, I grew up in a very conservative Christian home where I was taught wonderful, rational, and loving things, but for the most part, never was what I learned to consider an "environmental freak." This also typifies my husband's upbringing as well. Things have changed. Maybe it is the quarter-of-a-century birthdays that we are both facing this year, or the conversations about having a family and decisions we'll need to make. Whatever it is, we've both started to take a really hard look at things around us and our ideas of "normal" living and starting to get concerned and confused.

Now, I realize that documentaries are often very biased and some do not present both sides of the argument or even the whole truth about the favored side. But they have caused us to start thinking. A lot. And research has ensued. This is all great, right? Of course it is. We should be thinking for ourselves and examining what's put before us. But it is really terrifying as well. Neither of us want to become conspiracy theorists, as so many on the web like to call those who discuss a lot of the pitfalls of these issues, but at the same time when you start looking into these issues the "conspiracy" called greed becomes extremely prevalent.

So, the point of this seemingly rambling post, I'm not sure. I am not a verbal processor, contrary to the stereotype about women. I have been really struggling to process all these issues and my inability to verbalize all my thoughts to Mark has been a source of frustration to myself. So, perhaps by writing something down, things will find a way to start sorting in my head. Maybe I'll write a post on each of these issues as I research them and make decisions. Maybe that won't be necessary or desirable. I guess we'll see.

In addition here is a brief list of the movies that have caused this mess:
The Business of Being Born—about the birth industry, mother and baby safety, and the prevalence of midwives everywhere but the U.S.

Super Size Me—about fast-food chains (most specifically McDonald's), obesity, and the effects of processed food on the body

The Beautiful Truth—a not so well-done documentary but it brings up multiple issues about cancer treatment, antibiotics, dentistry and fluoride, and organic foods.

on the queue to come: Sicko, In the Womb, Maxed Out, and hopefully Food Inc.
on the bookshelf: Fast Food Nation, A Cancer Therapy

someday…

2009-04-22T10:49:00.002-05:00

I will be illustrating a children's book and have a dog sleeping on my lap. Just like this:

[image from this grain edit article]

music to my ears…

2008-12-30T21:16:00.003-06:00

the lovely craigslist piano. Isn't she beautiful?
(and the ivories are yellowish because they are real ivory with the wood grain look and texture which apparently is very unique)

card sentiment

2008-12-18T23:07:00.003-06:00

Over Thanksgiving, Mark and I cleaned out the last few things from my parent's house in Kansas City. It was just a couple boxes on the shelf in my old room's closet. They were quite a treasure trove of my collected junk over the years. Among them are my rock collection, my shell collection, my McDonald's Barbie figurine toys collection, my coffee sleeve collection and random assortments of papers from elementary school to college. Apparently, I enjoy(ed) collecting things. This phase of mine has seemingly passed as now I tend to pitch things faster than anyone can blink. I usually figure that if I take too long to decipher my or Mark's feelings for something, we may keep more junk than we need. And I'm from a home that has had several generations' sentiments move in and collect in every available shelf and box. So I enjoy throwing things away more now.

With this in mind, I come to the point of my ponderous post, my largest collection that I have yet to rid myself of… greeting cards. It has recently been brought to my attention that they are an obsession for me. And I must admit it is true. Ever since I was little I have kept every card I have ever received. I have thrown out a few along the way depending on their attached sentiment or my enjoyment of the card, but that has only been a handful or two of cards over my 24 years of life. I have a lot of cards. Mark eyes them skeptically and questions what I want to do with them and I honestly don't know. I just love looking through them. When I was very little, my mom started a card scrapbook for me and I still have that and love to look through it over and over again. I would need several more books now to hold all my cards. So, what do I do with them? I have no idea, but I love my cards.

a first anniversary

2008-11-03T21:45:00.007-06:00

It doesn't seem possible that it has been a whole year since Mark and I got married and started this crazy new life. We went away this weekend to a cabin near Sevierville. It was beautiful, not only because of the colorful trees and silly heart-shaped jacuzzi, but also to just get away and think back. Although it sounds so strange to say we have been married a year, when we stopped and talked about all the things that have happened this year it seemed like it should have been much longer. Between the move to Knoxville, the job search, the church search, learning the grown-up way to make friends and the house purchase—I get a little overwhelmed just thinking about it. It has been a crazy but wonderful year. I wouldn't have asked for anyone different to share it with. Here are a few snaps from this weekend. Although they are not the best photos, I think they are lovely.

And yesterday, our actual anniversary, while I spent 6am to 4pm decorating Pottery Barn for Christmas, I received a beautiful bouquet of daisies with a single rose from my sweet husband.

What a lovely year.

happy birthday to me!

2008-09-22T13:36:00.003-05:00

Mark made me a delicious cake. I got some amazing presents from family including Juno and special Maryland coffee. And Mark and his parents got the lovely apple green raincoat for me. Yay for being 24!

a great Saturday

2008-09-20T11:07:00.002-05:00

The house is wonderfully clean, the windows are open, a delicious fall candle is burning and a Billie Holiday record is playing loudly throughout the house. Who could ask for anything more?

back in the saddle again… sorta

2008-09-17T11:04:00.002-05:00

Last week I started working 3 days a week for a studio that I've been doing freelance work for. 20 hours a week through the month of September. It's been really great to be back in an office, interacting with real people, and getting a paycheck a little more regularly. It's also been a strange switch. I'm back to a schedule now, meaning I have to actually get up in the morning, think about appropriate work clothes, pack a lunch, and attempt to be on time. I had forgotten how tiring it is to actually sit at a desk for hours straight, and my eyes are really showing the wear of it. The past several days my eyes have taken turns being incredibly bloodshot and tired. It's a great way to show up to work.

I'm really enjoying this opportunity and yet am so shocked at how quickly I can fall behind in the work environment. It's only been 10 months since I was at a desk job and yet, I feel the change of schedule hugely. I also have incredibly tight deadlines, which is great for my creativity but adds to the stress. I'm pretty sure I didn't ever have such tight deadlines at SCLE, but so far thankfully I've made them here. It's been a good feeling to have something productive to do 3 days a week, although the house is not looking so good and Mark and I actually ran out of some much needed clean clothing yesterday. I'm still figuring out the balance of work and home stuff. It's nice to feel useful again. And yet, it is difficult to balance that with the knowledge that this is temporary.

All this work waiting that I've had since I got married and moved has really lead me to realize how job focused our culture is. I've been amazed at how many people's first question to me is "what do you do?" and then followed by "where do you work?" Actually, worse than that, has been the drop in conversation when I've said I'm working from home, or I'm an independent designer, or I'm looking for a position. I constantly get the impression that I suddenly lost value and interest when I "confessed" that I don't have a job. Lately, it has been worse. Several people will ask "have you found a job yet?" and then follow it with a brilliant idea that I should apply for secretarial work at some place and then maybe I'll be promoted to a design position or something else. Coming up with pleasant responses to this has been difficult. My head usually follows a train of thought similar to: "Hmm, that definitely wouldn't work in the design world. And oh, that makes me feel great, as you are basically saying I must not be good enough for anyone to be interested in as a designer, so perhaps I should look for something else. Forget about that Design degree I worked so hard for and oh, it couldn't possibly be that the economy sucks right now and no one is capable of hiring." Thankfully I've successfully kept these thoughts to myself, but I'm beginning to feel as if I'm not allowed to not have a job unless I'm a stay-at-home mom, which we're definitely not ready for and I'm definitely not sure I want to give up design when we are. I was thinking about Spain the other day and how the first questions people ask you there are how your family is. I miss that. Why are we so focused on what you do and rank your value according to that? There is so much more to a person than what they can do.

Well, for now at least, I have an accepted answer to the questions. And, I'm working on that continued patience as apparently I'm supposed to be in temporary stuff for a while. I enjoy it, the insecurity just gets to me every once in a while. I need to remember that my value however does not lie in whether or not I have an acceptable job. But, there's a little mailer brochure calling to me right now which desperately needs to be finished before 5. Off I go, little designer that I am…

the time of year to buy school supplies and pumpkins

2008-09-15T11:07:00.005-05:00

(As a side note, I have not been intentionally neglecting my blog this time. My little 6 year old ibook decided to have a lot of issues last week including the battery refusing to charge past 32% and eventually the power cord smoking and burning a hole through itself. As I use that computer more than any other, I just haven't sat down to write or catch up on my friends' blogs. So, here I am, for now at least. Hopefully the new battery will arrive today…)

I love fall! It is my most favorite season. I love the clothes, the smells, the foods, the school supplies, and the list could go on. This morning, I almost pulled out my sweater box but decided I should wait at least one more week. Yes, it is a wonderful 75 today and has that brilliant fall coolness to it, but I'm not quite convinced that it will stay.

I also love the month of September. Such a lovely month. Not only does fall officially start in September, but my birthday also comes. I love birthdays! It's silly and I've always suspected that I would grow out of it considering no one in my family really cares about their birthdays, but here I am, 5.5 days away from turning 24 and I am so excited! Anytime I think of something special that could happen around my birthday, I always sing a quick little part of the birthday song, "happy birthday to me" and Mark just laughs and rolls his eyes. Birthdays are so fun. Sometimes I wish I was still a kid so I could tell people it is my birthday or that my birthday is in 5.5 days. Not to get gifts, I just want them to know.

Last year was a terrible, horrible birthday. Mark was already living here in Knoxville and was supposed to come to Arkansas for the weekend. The night before he was to leave, he got really sick and couldn't make it. Terrible. On top of that, no one at my work remembered my birthday, even just to say a "happy birthday" and that night, I ended up calling some friends to go out for dinner since I couldn't bear the thought of eating leftovers alone in my apartment. It was such a dreadful day.

This one is already turning out amazing and it is not even here yet. I've already received several gifts and know of one that I'll get on that actual day. My in-laws gave me a few gifts when they were here, and they also gave me some money for whatever else. So spoiled! It has been so fun to order some of the silly things like a movie or cd that I've been wanting for a while, but haven't wanted to spend the money on as there are many other married and house things that we need.

So my birthday weekend, as Mark decided we would call it, is going to consist of P.F. Chang's dumplings, funfetti cake, Juno, and probably at least part of You've Got Mail. Not to mention that one gift that Mark has been hiding from me for a couple weeks now. I feel like I'm 6 again! 5.5 days!