.portland.

a dear friend made this awesome video of our trip home to portland over the holidays.

check it.



if you watch it to the end, you get to see a close-up of my armpit.

.30 day journal challenge - almost done! (a little late, i know).

.

i know the 30 day challenge has been over for a while . . . and i DID all my pages (except the last 3 . . i think i am just avoiding ending the thing cause i liked it so much)...

so here they are - a little late (and you can see the pencil on some of them because i can't find my gummy eraser- that's how much of a hot mess i am right now).

Journal Prompt 18: Music is one of my most favorite things ever!! It translates emotions that I can't even imagine putting into words. I love it. Today I want you to create a playlist of some kind. It can be your summer playlist, your July playlist, songs from your wedding day, or favorite songs of all time :) This one will be another fun one to look at down the road :)
i picked our wedding soundtrack . . .
1) candle lighting song "the three of us" by ben harper (instrumental)
2) seating of grandmothers, mothers and entrance of groom: "bridge over troubled waters" by simon and garfunkle (i KNOW! big hippie!)
3) entrance of wedding party: "forever" by ben harper
4) entrance of BRIDE (and flowergirls) "songbird" original by fleetwood mac, covered by denison witmer
5) unity candle ceremony: a song written and played for us by our good friend jacob white.
6) recessional: "tonight, tonight" by the smashing pumpkins (we were children of the 90s, i guess)

Journal Prompt 19: Today I want you to create a "guide to your city." What are the must-see things that you would want a visitor to experience in your city. This can guide can be for your city, town, or state. I am really excited to see these and to maybe even use them in my future when traveling!! Have fun with this!!!

i picked my favorite things about providence, RI where i currently live . . . come and visit and we'll do all these things!!

Journal Prompt 20: Here is the age old question, what is in your bag?? This has always been a great photo prompt that i have seen all over the blog world. Today, you are going to write about the contents of YOUR bag, or illustrate it, or take a picture of it, whatever :D
things in my purse: cds (the new she & him and the new jakob dylan), my ipod, pens, lots and lots of change, free drink ticket from a roller derby party, my passport, car charger for my phone, chapstick made by the wonderful neo hippie mama, cortizone cream for my bug bites, natural hand santitizer from whole foods, cell phone, keys, my wallet with the owl on it . . . sunglases . . . more . . .

Journal Prompt 21: What is your most favorite quote? A quote that inspires you, or your mantra. I literally have 4 journals from college filled with quotes that inspire me and make me smile. Today is the day to share your inspiring words with your friends :)
i have a magnet with this quote on it up in my massage studio. i constantly need it to remind me to calm down, breathe and give myself a little grace.


Journal Prompt 22: Today I want to know what your favorite holiday is!! There are soooo many holidays out there and the cool thing is that they differ depending on where you live, your family, and your religion. Teach me all about your favorite holiday and why it's your favorite :)
i never really got to celebrate many holidays growing up . . . just birthdays and christmas and thanksgiving and easter (but with no easter bunny and no baskets! and def NO halloween!) . . . it has a lot to do with my parents and their religious beliefs. but NOW i get to choose for myself and my family what holidays are important to observe, and while the man-friend and i aren't terribly religious at the time being, we do like to follow the marking of the seasons with different celebrations. the man-friend observed lent this year. and i. really. love. advent. i had never even heard of it while growing up. it wasn't something i knew about until maybe the last 4 years or so - but i LOVE birthdays and christmas and the idea of spending an entire MONTH anticipating the arrival of a holiday? fantastic! i love the symbolism behind each candle and the idea of coming together and talking about them as a family. it's sort of like a version of chanukah or something. i really like it. i mean c'mon, i celebrate my birthday for a week if i can get away with it! why not celebrate christmas for a month?


Journal Prompt 23: Today I want you to fill an entire page in your journal with one of the elements of art. As an art teacher, I have to talk about all of the elements of art...daily.
Here they are:
1. Line
2. Color
3. Shape
4. Space
5. Texture
6. Form
i chose space (negative space drawing of the sunglasses) and line to create the space and textures. i like it.

Journal Prompt 24: What is your most favorite place in the world? Is it a country, a town, a room, a secret place that no one else knows about? I know you have one, I want to see it!!
my favorite place . . . i have really been homesick a lot lately. i think it's summer and springtime that are the worst. who am i kidding? i ALWAYS miss home.

Journal Prompt 25: I want you to think about your day today. If you had to describe to me in one word, or one short phrase what would it be?? Us this phrase or word repeatedly on your page, trying out new fonts :)
well it was.

Journal Prompt 26: Today you are going to write out your favorite recipe!! This can be written, illustrated, cut and pasted, something. It is always really good to document these small little pieces of your life. Don't you think?
BEER BREAD!!! try it! so easy and SO GOOD! it really impresses the men for some reason. let me know what you think.


i have 4 more prompts to post and i'll be honest, i haven't done them yet. but i will!!!!


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yep, been homesick, been hot, got the WORST sunburn at beach day #4 yesterday, working a lot, looking forward to a few camping trips, my birthday and a special wedding anniversary next month and then . . . school starts again for the man-friend. how is summer almost over?

got an AWESOME post card from some very special friends today! they wrote a lovely note and picked an AWESOME card - you can't see it, but the rest of the postcard says "stumptown coffee roasters." the most delicious coffee that could ever be roasted comes from these fine people.
it's good to have love in your life, isn't it?

.photoshoot sneak peak.

{photo credit: Michelle Neal-Dimery}

thse are some of my favorite's from monday night's photoshoot. i'll post more once we have time to go through the whole disc. we had SO MUCH fun with our photographer, michelle! she did a GREAT job! and she is going to do even more great things in the future! as soon as she gets her website up, i will post a link. in the meantime, if you like for her to take any engagement, new baby, anniversary, birthday, wedding, etc photos for you - let me know! i will help you get in touch with her!

.tj loves: tea for two.

my matryoshka obsession has once again reared it's lovely head.

can be purchased here . . .


while you're at it - get one for yourself, too!

.30 day journal challenge day 9, 10, 11, and 12.

sorry i don't post these every day . . . some days are just too busy for me to get around to posting them! but don't worry! i am doing them.

i am also spending time with my new roommates, rollerskating, working in my garden, playing with my dog, and loving the summer weather (even though it' SO HOT, i can't complain cause it's usually FREEZING cold here . . . like 9 months a year . . . i'm cold).

so, here's the latest pages and their prompts:

Journal Prompt 9: Choose another person who is vert significant in your life right now. It can definitely be the same person that we wrote about on day 3, but I chose to do someone different. Anyway, this prompt is going to be all about those wonderful adjectives, and typography. Describe your special person with as many words as you can fit. For each word, try to use a different font or writing style. This is a great way to practice fun typography!

I created a picture of my man-friend based on a photo i took of him a few weeks ago. i used different fonts to create the different textures in the image (the beard, the plaid in the shirt, over the pocket and in the quote) . . . i really like how it turned out!

Journal Prompt 10: This prompt is all about collections. I am such a collector. I have too many collections but I love them all. I am definitely the type who moves on though to new collection depending on my mood and the seasons in my life. What do you collect? If anything. Do you collect buttons, clothes, shoes, friends, parking tickets, whatever!! Illustrate your collections. This will be fun to look back on someday and see how your collections have grown or have moved on :)

I didn't really have anything i collected in earnest, so i just walked around my house looking for themes in my life . . . so, i have a lot of: buttons (From various bands, events, etc), vinyl (obvi), feathers (mostly for crafting), sunglasses (can't say no to the perfect pair!), books (tons and tons!), coffee mugs (when i travel, i usually get one in the city that i go to), things with owls on them, vintage bathing suits (love those pointy cone bras in them! ha ha!), and vintage boots.

Journal Prompt 11: Hello friends. Today is another one of my favorite pages. And speaking of favorites, this is a page all about your faves!!

We are going to list your favorites in each of these four categories:

* TV shows: Glee, LOST, arrested development, the office and SNL (though i don't have TV so i have to watch reruns online or at a friend's house)

* Music david bazan (from pedro the lion), jenny lewis (and rilo kiley), great lake swimmers, over the rhine, red house painters (aka sun kill moon)

* Food local food, strawberries, curry, ice cream, lemonade

* Splurges vinyle, vintage, craft supplies, books at garage sales . . .

Journal Prompt 12: Journal 12 is all about trends. Whether you consider yourself "trendy" or not, I bet there are a few trends that you find yourself gravitating to. If not, you can create a page of trends that you think are lame too, it's up to you :)

for this one, i picked out all the ironic "hipster" trends that i follow . . . weather or not they are "good" (like my fabric grocery bags) or just plain silly (like leggings!) . . . i've made them painfully obvious. let's celebrate the ways that we are just like everyone else!!!

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in other news:
been eating well even though summer usually means less of an income for the man-friend and i . . . we've gotten our first two weeks of our CSA shares and that, plus great weather making our garden produce like crazy!, has kept our tummies full.

been taking some lovely summertime photos - like the construction on the interstate they've been doing . . . here's a mural that was on the overpass for I-95 . . . and the construction vehicles that are about to tear it down! ch-ch-ch-changes . . . it's sad to see a piece of art go . . . i wish they'd just let them stay and be free-standing walls . . . or incorporate them into the new architecture that goes up in the area . . .

.tj loves: peliCAN tee.

i want this tee. all proceeds from sales of this shirt go directly to help clean up the oil spill in the gulf coast.

while you're at it, get one for yourself too!

.30 day journal challenge day 4.

Journal Prompt Number 4: What does your heart look like? It can be literal, it can be symbolic, it can be broken and need fixing...anything!




i'm really happy with the way this one turned out. the process i've been using for this challenge is to read the prompt in the morning, think about it all day and once an answer comes to me i'll sit down with the pen and paper and work it out.

for this one, the idea came while shopping for vinyl records with my roommate, miss A, i was sorting through some emmylou harris albums when i had the vision of a heart shaped record. this isn't what i ended up with, but it's what got the ball rolling. i thought of all the allusions that could be made from the fact that my heart was a record or a phonograph or a record player . . . scratches, skipping, needing to be heard, needing to be dusted and cared for, having a message to relay, a sad song, a happy song, spinning round and round, feeling outdated, feeling pre-loved and thrown away, feeling rehabilitated and renewed, crackling with life, oozing romance and kitsch at the same time. i added the lyrics to an over the rhine song called "born." it is a beautiful picture of a heart growing and learning and loving and being willing to try again. the story for this song came from the couple that fronts Over the Rhine (Karin and Linford) and their relationship when it hit a rocky spot. allegedly, they bought a case of wine and drank a bottle every night until the case was gone - not that alcohol is a way to solve your problems - but this helped them to open up, to laugh, to remember their love . . . and there you have it . . . the urban legend behind this lovely song, this amazing band and part of the inspiration for my journal page.



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now it's off to bed . . . just finished a late night of watching the celtics lose to the lakers. whoops.

.30 day journal challenge day 3 and cover.

so i finally made the cover of my journal for the 30 day journal challenge. i created the drawing and cut it out and used mod podge to glue it on top of images i cut out of an (gulp) anthropologie catalog . . . i really like how it turned out (except for the wrinkles from me being too hasty with the mod podge.

i also completed prompt #3 -
Journal Prompt Number Three: It's always nice to share with someone why you love them. Today, I want you to draw a picture, doodle, sketch, of a person who you love, or admire. Then, write that person a letter telling them why they mean so much to you!
i chose my sister, miss D. she really is a fantastic person! the more i get to know her, the more i really admire her and respect her. she is about 6 years younger than me, but we get mistaken for twins sometimes :) i take that as a compliment. we really weren't close as children, growing up in a house so full of people and having such a big age difference . . . but after i finished college and she started coming up to visit me from time to time, we started being friends (rather than just big sister and little sister) and it's a totally new and lovely dynamic.

she is currently living in juneau, alaska and have the adventure of a lifetime (as is usual for her). this fall, she and a few friends are traveling to Ireland to participate in wwoof and i hope to be able to join her!

you can read more about her adventures at her blogs here and here. she's the bees knees.

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right now i am listening to a johnny cash vinyl and getting ready to work on my journal prompt for today. then we'll be heading off to watch the final game! are you a fan of the celtics or the lakers? me? i am in it for the pizza, the beer and the company!

.giveaway: spring cleaning!.

to celebrate having 10 followers, i am going to do a simple giveaway. it's just a collection of things from my own craft room that i pulled together while doing some spring cleaning. the items include: a pretty sequined mask, a paper flower, a grow your own dragon!!, an iron on british flag, some stick on tattoos, some glass beads, a hair decoration/comb made by ME!, some vintage flower patches, and a few cute pins. i might add more to the final package, but this is the bulk of it right now! just a few little cute things to help you get creative in your future crafting projects.

to enter:

leave a comment on my blog about what sorts of projects you are planning to tackle for spring cleaning (one entry)

become a follower of my blog (second entry)

blog about this giveaway (third entry)


the lovely winner will be drawn and announced on Wednesday, June 2nd!


alright, now i am off to take the pup to the park to go swimming! it's hot here and he's still got part of his winter coat on. i keep telling him to take it off.

.tj loves: sister photo shoot.

while i was in oklahoma, my sister {miss TC} and i had a sweet little badminton photo shoot together. these photos were some of my favorites.

.hello there.

this is part of what i've been up to . . . sorry i've been m.i.a. hope to have some time to myself again soon.

.miss E.

{photo taken by my big sister, miss S}

sorry for the lack of interesting posts . . . i've been preoccupied as i get ready for my trip to tulsa, OK to meet this sweet little lady. miss E. my big sister's new baby. that's right ladies and gents, i am a first time auntie!!! SO EXCITED TO MEET THIS CRAZY BABY GIRL! she's gonna be part pirate, part spice, part sweet, part imp, and ALL PARTS love love loved.

i leave Wed morning and get back the following Wed. This will be the first time I'll see my sister since last June and the first time i'll see the rest of my family since Christmas (they are all flying in to OK at the same time for a different sister's grad). don't worry, i'll get plenty of photos.

WEEEEEE!!!!!

.it's the little things #3.

these are some photos i took of things that make me infinitely happy.


1) finding oregon beer in rhode island. honing my tastebuds to alcohol in the lovely city of microbrews (portland, oregon) soorrrrrt of ruined me to most other (esp mass-produced) beers. i didn't realize i was being grown into a beer snob. it sort of just happened. happily, we can sometimes find the taste of home on the shelves of RI liquor stores (also the first place i've lived where you can't buy beer and wine in a grocery store, or on a sunday . . . hm). you have to shell out a pretty penny . . . but my motto is "life is too short to consume things you hate. why not fork over the extra dollar or two for something you enjoy?" yes, i am aware that this is shallow and does not apply in all situations. but it does apply where my acoholic beverage consumption is involved. please enjoy responsibly. 2) when the man-friend buys me flowers. it doesn't happen often, but when it does i cherish them and try to make them last as long as possible. daffodils are my favorite. i planted some bulbs in the garden last fall and they are all coming up and blooming now! squeeeee!!!!

3) Great thrift store finds. like this picnic basket that i've decided to use as my container for all my sewing supplies.
and this great owl piggy bank. $1.99. it is missing the gummy thing that keeps all the change from leaking out of his bottom . . . suggestions???? i'd like to actually use this to store change in.

what sort of things have been making you happy lately?


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tried on bridesmade dresses today . . . we found something pretty awesome that looks great on everyone!!!

.6 yr engage-aversary.

i forgot to post yesterday that it was our 6 year anniversary of getting engaged! Six years ago, yesterday, my special man-friend and i went on a picnic in golden gate park, san francisco (we were there for spring break). he was insistent that we find the shakespeare garden (on of my favorite authors) and though i didn't understand why it was so important to him and was just focusing on how hot, hungry and suffering from allergies i was, i humored him and we finally found it. we settled down for a nice picnic of things we had picked up from local corner stores along our walk through the haight/ashbury district of SF while we made our way to the park. the details of how we arrived on the subject are a little fuzzy . . . but i do remember him producing a ring (how in the WORLD he had found time to design and purchase this ring without my knowing is beyond me!) and say the words "will you marry me?" (the hardest words any man will ever say, according to him) . . .

our engagement photo taken by adam white (no website to direct you to, sorry)

both wedding photos also taken by adam white

i have photos from the actual engagement day and week, but this all went down in the prehistoric times before digital cameras were all the rage. this means, i'd have to scan them on to my computer before being able to post them. they are ancient. 6 whole years. :)

to celebrate our day (we aren't really the kind of people who celebrate every mile marker - i.e. first kiss, first date, etc, but the man has been busy with school so it was nice to use this as an excuse to spend some time together), i was first presented with a surprise boquet of my favorite flowers DAFFODILS! this was fantastic because it has finally started to be nice here in RI, after a winter of snow and gloom and this last week straight of rain . . . the days are suddenly sunny and warm. not sure how long it will last, but i love it! so, daffodils totally remind me of spring and the huge bouquet totally helped to bring spring inside the house!



then we went off to one of our favorite breakfast restaurants, nick's on broadway where not only did our waitress recognize us (she's a regular at the restaurant where i work), but we got cat called from the corner by some of my derby girls! ha ha!

we both built our own omlettes and split some french toast. i had pineapple juice (yum!) and he had coffee. afterwards, we both had to get to work . . . but it was nice to have connected for a bit in the sunny morning.



next big mile marker? hudson's 6th birthday is next week!