found art - 2 ply parachutes

i can usually fall asleep as soon as i put my head on the pillow & close my eyes. last night i found myself lying there with the windows open, my head spinning with feelings of anxiety and heart ache. bart has been out of town for just a few days, but i'm missing him like crazy. i'm not usually one to mush, but here we go...

he decided to take a year for himself just 5 short months ago. after years of a hectic work environment & personal struggles with his hands, it was time for him to fall back in love with art. he wanted to feel like an artist again - feel the joy & passion of storytelling.

like most artists, he'll respond to compliments humbly, but i think his talents are unlike anything i've seen. i miss you b. xo

check out 2 ply parachutes for a peek into his brain.

music to listen to - atlas sound

my dearest jaime plays this in the background - i can't get enough of it. atlas sound logo.

millenium park

saturday night was spent in bucktown/wicker park. it's definitely a neighborhood i could see myself enjoying. tons of thrift shops, boutiques & bars - next time i'm in town, i'll have to get there during the day. we grabbed some food & headed out for a night cap at nick's. while we were all pretty pooped from the previous events, it was nice to be out on town together.

most of the crew left on sunday morning, but a few of us were able to spend the afternoon getting lunch at millenium park & seeing those iconic grounds. i work at a landscape architecture firm & i hear a lot about it. i was pretty impressed over all. there are so many solid features. i loved the lurie gardens with big sweeping fields of purple & green. the kidney bean was another great feature, capturing & distorting the city, visitors & the sun. the face fountain was a riot - kids & adults alike were enjoying the humor & spray of water on a sunny sunday. the amphitheater & lawn were a favorite of mine - i'd kill to have an amenity like that in seattle. we spent an hour sitting in the sun under the blue skies & bands of metal. i would have loved to go inside the art institute's new modern wing, but until then, the overlook & sky bridge will do. i think i walked the entire way up with my hand on the banister, it was a gorgeous wood that contrasted the brushed metal details so well. all in all, a gorgeous day with 3 of my favorite people.

i leave in about 10 hours for stockholm. i'll be spending that time getting some last minute items crossed off my list & getting outside for the first run or workout in almost a week.

for more pics check here.

ms nora

after all of the wedding celebration, many of us stayed to enjoy more time laughing, catching up & seeing more of chicago. we were all lucky to hang out with the lovely nora on saturday. she is such a beauty, i can hardly control myself. it was the first time vickie & anna were able to meet kacey's wonder daughter, so it was extra special. xoxo.

for more pics check here.

julie & morgan 4 eva'

at any point in the weekend we had 8-10 girls & one male trooper in tow. most time was spent drinking short's brew, laughing & telling stories. it takes us a while to get anywhere, but i was so proud. we got to the church with enough time to take some completely distasteful pictures. once inside, we took an entire row at the church & we couldn't have been happier than to be celebrating such a great partnership & love together. they both looked amazing & so happy.

the reception was fantastic, filled with great food, music & people. we even got to spend a while dancing to morgan's band play (everything from phish to rolling stones). the entire celebration was finished with a lovely brunch & bloody mary's at julie's sister's house. the sun was beating down, the food was delicious - it was the perfect afternoon after a perfect weekend. congrats julie & morgan!

for more pics check here. top image via meranda.

s'more please

sunday was such a wonderful day, filled with coffee, fried eggs, cookie dough, walks to the park, movies, jammies, friends & yes, s'mores. my good friend chris is in town from manhattan, last week we discussed the idea of making marshmallow & set a date for sunday.

it didn't take long for it to become much more - s'mores from scratch. we started with a simple mallow recipe & a goodie from 101 cookbooks for graham crackers (have i told you how much love i have). after our failed attempt at the marshmallow (quick to the boil & not enough mixing), a product that looked like meat jell-o & tasted like gummy vanilla squares, we found this lovely recipe from epicurean. ta da - we had cups & cups of beautiful fluff that sat & turned into the most beautiful marshmallows. layer it up with the crackers, thursday's ganache - take a creme brulee torch to it & there you go.

i definitely recommend both recipes as the s'mores could be the perfect dessert for any type of event - birthday & dinner parties, baby & bridal showers or the marshmallow squares could make a lovely gift tucked into a canning jar.

photo by tonya doughty.

found winter

it's been a crazy few days here is seattle - in fact - it's a winter wonderland. i didn't do much searching for design, art or music this weekend, but i did find lots of time to play in the snow & get into the holiday spirit. i made me & the girls some elf ears* for santarchy & we painted the town red, literally. yesterday i spent some time on my snowboard, hitting up volunteer park, galer at 16th & denny way. it is just surreal to be in this snowglobe of a city. i hope all of you here are enjoying (have enjoyed) this as much as i am!

*to make the ears i simply cut two pairs of flesh colored felt, stitched a quick detail on the top piece of both ears, then sewed the edges together leaving an inch opening for batting. once they were stuffed, i closed em up with a straight stitch. after that i cut a slit on each ear for a clip barette to slide into or cut two parrallel slits to slide a headband through. if you decide to make some - make sure to reinforce with hot glue! i hope you enjoy my santa on the bottom, elf on the top shot.

holy mary!

it turned out good, real good. i was going to post a tutorial, but i'll save that for next year. it was a simple project & possibly one of the cheapest i've made so far. the veil was a sheet from value village & all of the trimmings were on sale at jo-ann fabric. i think i spent $10 total.

san francisco was a lot of fun. we spent friday in the mission & celebrating halloween in lower haight, saturday at rachel getting married (go see it, it's touching) followed by dinner & drinks in north beach & sunday we walked down clement, visited park life & strolled through the park. it was such a gorgeous weekend with my ladies.

happy halloween

happy halloween & hail mary! i'm in san francisco to celebrate with the sohn ghouls & ms. church. i think we'll be hitting up the castro for a night of debauchery. i can't wait to share our costumes with you & hope to have a full tutorial next week, better late than never right?

i hope you all enjoyed the week of fresh perspective. these girls are wonderful i tell you, just fantastical!

other insight

i asked a few of my girlfriends to post for me this week; it's time for some fresh perspective.

monday - found goodness from natalie, my free & curious traveler.

tuesday - add it to the blogroll from kristin, the lady that i share a parallel life with yet she surprises me with all sorts of wonderful things.

wednesday - etsy wednesday from teresa, my girl with impeccable taste that first introduced me to this glorious community.

thursday - craigslist finds from rachel, the flea market lover with fantastic style & personality.

friday - music to listen to from jaime, my lovely lady with the sickest moves & tunes to prove it.

image from saga.

got to choose the east

here are the shirts i made for divya & gautam after they left the emerald city for our nation's capitol. surely missed, surely. click here to see the larger version.

what's it say? nothing other than biggie's going back to cali lyrics.

christian siriano - spring 08

i know this is last week's news, but christian siriano's spring 08 collection is so gorgeous, i can't really handle it. grey with coral, yellow, lime green, blue - covet. i like to pretend that i know christian, but really i know his sister, shannon - i met her while visiting friends in richmond (she's amazing), now she's dating one of my good friends that i've known since elementary school. so, i kind of know him right?

found type

i stumbled upon this lovely old sign in petosky as kacey & i hunted down a place to get food & watch the sunset.


i arrived safely on saturday morning; it was a painful flight, but i was happy to be home, chatting with my parent aboard the new pontoon boat & basking in the sun. i've gotten to see most of my family, had the girls to fife, made it to petosky to see kacey (next time i hope to see more of nora & aaron), went to water aerobics with my mom & two aunts & picked up produce from the cherry street market. ahh. what will i do today you ask - be out on the lake with family, grilling, eating avacodos & fresh salsa, reading & dosing off. this is the life i tell you, this is the life.

i tried to upload more photos, but i can't deal with it, i'm on vacay & formatting is not happening properly.

friends & flowers

there are these sisters. i've known them since i was 3. i was lucky enough to have them here, one after another, for the last 2 weekends. i love you both.

i bought some peonies on saturday (ohhh how long the wait has been) & couldn't resist taking these pictures of erin getting ready on sunday morning.

feist does it again

first, this is my favorite song off the reminder album. i think they did such a great job capturing the emotion, playfulness & energy in this song. every time i hear it i want to get up & dance, now i want to run around with pyrotechnics going off around me in the middle of the woods.

this makes me miss my girls & the sohn's cabin. i want to run around & be silly with you all. i feel it all!

thanks for sending the link justin.

a night of make believe

my apartment was dimly lit, the little light there was provided by the white christmas lights in my window. i put on my warmest sweater, riding boots & my new snowboarding jacket in preparation for the night. it started off at six arms with natalie & stina to get ourselves hot liquored bevs; my drink of choice: mcmenamin's coffee (whiskey, frangelico & coffee). imagine our surprise when santa walked into the bar! we all got a little giddy it seemed; i pulled out my camera to snap pics & he gave natalie her requested candy cane. divya showed up & we headed down to the meridian 16 to watch enchanted. the movie was sweet, entertaining, funny & incredibly ridiculous. although, i found myself being a cynic: "how'd he learn to dance," "why is he following her around," "why would she forgive him for supposedly cheating just because he had 2 doves fly her a heart wreath of flowers." overall the movie was pretty good (i imagine it would be even better if i was a 10 year old girl who dreams of being a princess) & the night of make believe was even better!

create

here is a print that i made for nora. kacey & aaron hosted an event last weekend (in addition to a traditional catholic baptism) that honored and celebrated nora's spiritual exploration of the world. they asked a group of us to send something to dedicate to her on this special day, whether it be a book, a poem or just words of advice.

it took me a while to think of what to make & what i think makes me a more solid & spiritual person. i like birch trees very much right now; said to be tender by appearance, with unwavering strength inside (not to mention, i like the way they look in general). i decided to start with the creation of a birch forest. after that many ideas soared through my mind: a little girl hiding behind a tree or with her arms wide spread among them, when the word create came to mind; but more than just creating with your hands. my advice & dedication to nora is -

create; strength, ideas, opinions, community, power, love.

little girls in my designs

here is precious little nora in the owl onesies i made her a while back. so cute, she may have to be the face of my onesies in the etsy shop as soon as it opens.

i also found out that american apparel sells adorable sweats for kids. i think that i'll get those & a matching long sleeve shirt to do some screenprinting + embroidery over for my nieces as holiday gifts. if they turn out nice, i'll put those in the store as well.

diy cupcakes

this happened a while ago, but i forgot to post it. divya's mom was in town & made a small group of us some yummy grub. we decided to follow it up with a little "diy" cupcake session (it is the beginning of baking season right?). the vanilla cupcakes were baked, the frosting was dyed an assortment of colors & the sprinkle army made an appearance.

check out the lovely pics at your own pace.

lavender & weddings

as a handmade part of a gift for justin & yachi (who got married a couple weekends ago), stina & i joined forces for these sweet little lavender sachets. i received a big bunch of dried lavender from a coworker in august & decided to hand grind the lavender & use for sachets. after getting the lavender ready all i needed to do was:

1. cut 4 - 3.5"x3.5" squares of fabric (embroidery done at this point)
2. sew .25" hems on one side of each square
3. take two of the 4 pieces with patterns facing & sew .25" seams on the three, non-hemmed sides to make a 3"x3" pocket (repeat 3 for second sash)
4. flip right side out & fill 3/4 full with lavender
5. sew along the seamed edges (i did 4 scattered lines) to close the pockets