mesmerized

Legacy of Letters from Luca Barcellona on Vimeo.

via bb-blog

meet Rosie

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

More pictures and details coming soon.

a children's book that makes my heart flutter

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

How adorable is this picture? I love it.

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

the leather anniversary | Asheville

new (to us) wheels

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

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

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

the Ferris wheel

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

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

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

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…

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

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

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

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

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

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



(found via Poppytalk)

some weekend pictures

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

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

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.

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

Love them.

no caffeine needed

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

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

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

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

(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.)