Scenes from the weekend.

Headed to see Zeds Dead with The Brother, The Boyfriend, & The Best Friend.

Yes I am wearing shorts in the first photo & yes that is a peter pan collar...am I taking it too far? Haha. 

Siblings minus one

Sleuthing

What did you do for Easter weekend?

It's here!

I know you've all been clinging to the edge of your seats to see the project I've been working on this week (or not, haha) and I'm excited to say that it's finally time! As I mentioned a few posts ago, today is my best friend's 20th birthday. He came into town a few hours ago and I'm so psyched to spend the weekend catching up and hanging out. Now, about the secret project...it was his birthday present, hence the secrecy. But now that he's opened said gift, I can share it with you! 

I had SO much fun making this "coffee table scrapbook", as I had to go back in time through photos, tweets, texts, inside jokes, major life events, etc. The idea for the book came to me at the last minute (as usual) so I rushed to get it done but in the end, it came out beautifully. Even more beautiful is the fact that these 68 pages (yes...68) don't even BEGIN to convey or commemorate every aspect of our friendship, and all the great memories we've made over the past 14 years! And I think a relationship like that is worth celebrating.  

 I'm not going to share every page with you, as that would make for a RIDICULOUSLY long post and I don't want to bore you with our dumb jokes, BUT I will share some of my favorites. Enjoy! 

The night before/morning of my move to Austin. Yes, all of those mustaches are my hair. 

I hope you're having a blessed Friday! I'm ready to dancedancedance to some Zeds Dead to ring in the eventful weekend ahead. Do you have any exciting Easter plans? 

Making Faces.

PS the secret project is officially complete! One more teaser photo before tomorrow's big reveal (:

I have an errand face.

It’s this blank stare I get while shopping, walking down a hall, shoving through a crowd at a concert when I’m alone. It used to be a subconscious thing, some sort of camouflage to blend in with my surroundings. A survival mechanism to 'mask' my awkwardness. I’m just this girl going about my business, don’t mind me.

There came a point when I could physically feel my face go flat, and I’d try not to stare aimlessly too much. I don’t wanna give off this rude vibe, so I worked on it. Smiled at people if they caught my eye, the whole deal.

Well, tonight I totally got called out on the errand face. I was walking out of Walmart with my bags, almost to the door and I heard someone yell in this big booming voice, “SMILE!!!” …umwhat? I half turned, smiled wide, cracking up as I did. Some guy with his wife smiled back at me with an expression of “Oh c’mon now!” as they took their cart and headed inside. It just got me thinking about the message I’m sending as I go about my day. I don’t want people yelling at me to smile all the time! The world has enough negativity floating around without me adding to it, unintentional as it may be.

Next time you’re out and about, think about the vibes you’re giving off. I’m not saying fake who you are for the benefit of others, because that doesn’t do anyone any good. I’m saying be yourself. I want to be the kind of person I’d like to meet; friendly and approachable. Not having to be told to smile by a total stranger because I look so depressed when actually, I’m the farthest thing from, haha.

On that note, I hope you’re having a good night! The other half of my brain will be in town tomorrow and I just can't wait! 

This, that, & the other.

A bit of awesome for your Thursday. 

1/Reserved light-pink crochet okapi necklace

1. I am absolutely in LOVE with this crocheted necklace from okapiknits! It's the perfect spring accessory. Completely inspired to try something like this (do I dare? Haha). Her shop is a beautiful collection of eclectic knit and crochet work. 

2/Ladybird Likes giveaway via Dainty Squid

2. This giveaway from Ladybird Likes via The Dainty Squid! The Ladybird Likes shop is full of handmade jewelry and brooches with a hint of vintage, and you can't beat the prices. I'm in love with the collection of vintage fashion lady brooches as well as the mini map bunting wrapped around a wooden spool. So creative! Find out how to enter the giveaway here, but hurry because it ends April 8th. 

3. This recent post by Kaelah of Little Chief Honeybee. So motivational. I've been lacking in the encouragement department lately and her words really lifted my spirits. I highly recommend this blog in general; it's a great read and her design work is amazing! 

4/The Thrown

4. A beautiful truth that I lose sight of all too often. 

5. I'm totally nerdy for Merriam-Webster's Top 10 Lists...currently loving their list of Top 10 Words for Unusual Colors Worth Looking At. It's pretty interesting. My favorites are verdigris green and bisque, though smalt is pretty fun to say. 

6/Bookworm Dress /Veldt Dress

6. Aaaaah! The Velvet Bird launched her spring line this week and I couldn't be more excited. These two dresses in particular are practically begging me to adopt them. We shall see! I'm pretty excited for Vanessa in general; it's been cool to watch her shop expand over the past few months. Hopefully it continues! I love her designs! 

7. This post by Chelsea of Seablanket. I know I'm not the only one who saves magazine cutouts for inspiration, but now I have proof! I also found this post by Zoe of Ladybird Likes, detailing her creative process; the magazine trend continues! I love hearing about  people's methods of growing their ideas. How do you gather inspiration for new projects? 

8/The Thrown

8. Last but not least, this print. When I had long hair I wanted to do dreads before I chopped it off...but I was more in a hurry to chop it all off I guess. Regardless, I'm a huge fan of dreadlocks, and this picture is just plain cool. 

Take a moment to do something for yourself today. I've got some work to do before I can enjoy this long weekend (the best friend comes into town tomorrow, AND it's his birthday, SO EXCITED!) buuuuut I plan on taking some time out to paint my nails (I need some color in my life!), take some photos, and recharge. Maybe have a lazy hour of working on the chevron throw, who knows? 

What's inspiring you today? 

Spotify, or My (Kind Of) Open Relationship with Technology.



Completely unrelated photo! Woohoo!

Hey friends! This week is crazybusy (I say that a lot, don't I?), but that’s alright because I’ve got a brand new best friend to get me through it: Spotify!

That's right, Spotify. I’m going to wax transparent here and say that I didn’t realize it was a universal music player, like Pandora but better. I’d heard about it but never checked it out…if there’s an app for something mentioned in a commercial, I generally tune out. I don’t have an iPhone, I don’t have a smart phone; I don’t even have internet on my phone. Hence, moot advertisements ignored, I go about my day. Spotify-less, apparently.

Fastforward to about a week ago when I FINALLY got curious enough to look it up and see what the buzz was all about (forever late, as usual)…and AWESOME DAY when I realized that all of my song-at-a-time youtube search days were over! Because here, albums are all in one place and I can listen to them. For free. Forever.

Even better? I can make playlists!!!

But you clever minxes already knew that! This is the “curse” of having been raised to appreciate technology from a distance. My family didn’t get cable til I was 16, and I’m pretty sure we had dial-up way longer than was necessary. I’m not naturally drawn to tv or the internet, or the fanciest computers, or the flashiest new phone on the market (maybe because those things cost serious dollars...? I dunno). You’re talking about the girl who recently bought a $4 VCR at Goodwill, and whose vinyl collection gets more use than her iTunes account.

I mean.

That’s not to say I don’t LOVE technology sometimes. I love my laptop. I love watching dvds on my laptop. I love my phone, basic as it may be. I love programs like InDesign and Picasa (I would say Photoshop buuuut…I don’t have it anymore. And didn’t even really understand it when I did. So). I LOVE FONTS. Blogs and Etsy shops and the internet in general: not bad things, guys. Not at all!

It’s that just, for my humble slice of life-pie, sometimes it’s too much. There was a point in my life where I seriously considered graphic design as a career goal (don’t look at my layout for evidence of that…this is a dream that never left highschool, haha), but I knew too many people who “wanted” the same thing, and they were already so far ahead in their knowledge..it was a bit discouraging, and I was already pursuing so many other interests. But despite feeling behind-the-times, I still did some design work. There were plenty of late computer work nights with my co-editors completing layouts for the highschool paper, as well as the literary magazine. I was completely in love with it, but had to bs my way through quite a bit of it because I didn’t know the basics, and it took me away from what I TRULY loved: art, and hand-crafting in general.

The fact that I am living in a digital age makes me laugh, sometimes. I don’t understand how or why this is my chosen life-timeframe, but whatever. My friends joke a lot about my grandma habits (crocheting, sewing, baking, etc) and my way with technology sometimes falls into that category, I think. I enjoy blogging but the first month proved to me, yet again, that technology is fun once you figure out what the heck you’re doing (true for most things, no?) but it also comes with a price. And that’s how I know I was never destined for graphic design greatness. As much as I love editing photos, learning and applying HTML, and “designing” some cool whatever, I can’t spend too much time in front of a computer or my eyes will melt out of their sockets and I'll explode, Raiders of the Lost Ark-style. Incorporating blogging into my lifestyle has stretched me to a certain extent, but it’s gotten better with time and knowledge.

I’m rambling now, but here’s the bottom line: I have to create things with my hands, or I will die. It’s as simple as that. Design a cute card or stationary template or graphic with some fancy font and special software, that’s great. I respect it, do it myself sometimes. People whose careers revolve around working with computers (le Boyfriend) or creating incredible web designs blow my mind; they’re like magicians, making awesome things appear from codes and files and text that looks like straight gibberish to me. If I did some serious research maybe I could get the hang of it, but it's just not my passion, so kudos to you guys with those madskills!

At the end of the day, I’m a handmade kinda girl. Sometimes it feels silly when there’s all this technology to save me the time and energy, but…this is me. I can still balance the two by working on a project and jamming out to music (or ogling episodes of Mad Men? Yeah?) at the same time. And that’s usually what happens.

PS how this went from Spotify is awesome to my lack of computer skills, I don’t know, and I apologize, haha. Here’s what I’m listening to lately:

Birdy*

Bon Iver

The Civil Wars

The Fratellis

Fun.

Gotye*

Good Old War*

Lovedrug

The Mountain Goats

Of Monsters & Men*

The Staves

Zed’s Dead (seeing them Friday! Ahhh!)

 

*featured in Christine's series of Tunes-day posts. She finds the BEST music. Do you have any great Spotify recommendations for me?

These purple walls need to go.

I live for late work nights fueled by music, but I wanted to break and post something. So. 

Apologies for the lame photo quality. Hope you're having a good night, or already catchin' some zzzs! Tomorrow will be here before ya know it. 

PS this is one of my favorite shirts, even though I've never listened to the band once. I bought it for ten cents at a Goodwill in San Marcos for a redneck-themed party my friend was throwing that night. I chopped off the sleeves and took in the sides...paired it with some daisy dukes and bright red cowboy boots! Such a fun night, and who doesn't love dressing up? (:

The Sunday Post.

Oh man oh man...is the weekend already over?! Poop. I spent the past 48 hours erranding and working on a superspecial craft project! As in, totally top secret. Which is why I'm going to share a sneak peak: 

...and actually this is only half of the mess. If you keep going, paper and other craft things make a wide arch on the floor to my left. But if I showed you that, I'd give it away! 

Here's something exciting that I CAN share, however!

 I got my stitch swap package in the mail, and a few other goodies besides!

Such a beautiful piece of art. It went up on my wall after I took this picture. 

The bag is perfect for carrying small embroidery projects around, and those BUTTONS! Ahhh I can't wait to use them! And of course she sent beauuuutiful embroidery thread in some of my favorite colors. Of COURSE. Thank you so much to my new friend in Virginia for my stitch swap gifts! I love them so much!

Quick sidenote: I haven't heard a single April Fool's joke today...kinda weird? Maybe because I've been holed up in the house with my secret project and Spotify on full blast. I get really awkward and gullible sometimes so it's probably for the best, haha. 

I hope you had a great weekend! What kinds of crazy pranks did you pull today?