Thursday, March 31, 2016

week twelve // birthday week


(I could not get everyone to just *smile*. it's time for face swap, I guess. :))
My sister and my brother had a birthday last week!! Though we're "officially" celebrating my sister's 18th this coming friday (wish me luck making a flour-less chocolate cake. I'm not much of a baker. I'm more of an impressionist.) some of her college friends took her out to donuts and coffee, and, long story short, I went with them. 

My impression of college was that it was surprisingly unintimidating. (is that a word?) I don't know, there are these things in life that just seem like these huge milestones and things that seem not unreachable, per say, but far far into the future and it was... weird. disconcerting. I also thought college kids were supposed to be grown ups.

well, a little dip in the reality bucket for this girl.
I think this sums up my sister's friends & my (so far) college experience. So I'll just leave you with that. enjoy it in all it's glory.

and my brother...
This adorable cutie turned eight last week! WHAT

and he got an upgrade on his bike. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥



Tell me about how you celebrate birthdays!

Friday, March 25, 2016

fabulous friday : finds

Well who's ready for spring?? I am so into everything colorful and happy and summery and springy and wonderful.
flowers, any kind, are kind of my absolute favorite. like, how pretty are they??
I am totally crushing this notebook. I'm so wanting to try this. I love the drawn camera with the real photo in the middle. we'll see what I come up with!
Another thing I am totally full on crushing is this peasant-style dress that is so beautiful and springy. The embroidered-dark-blue-on-white s like my favorite thing of the season. anyone know what that' style's called?
Something about art journaling: my friend got me water color pencils and I was so excited to use them and if you guessed I was good at using them and made beautiful art you would be so wrong I might laugh. If I wasn't sobbing over my bad art. But maybe I'll share them next week as I "DON'T DO WHAT I DID" post. you never know what you'll see on here. 
I saw a ferris wheel today downtown and I got really excited and tried to make my sister promise to take me this summer. because ferris wheels are some of my favorite things about summer. because ferris wheels are beautiful. I have a whole perfect board for them. I like them that much.

check it out: Round & Round in Circles

What are you loving from this season?

Thursday, March 24, 2016

week eleven // campfire

 It's when all the good stories are told. When all the fun songs are sang. It's when summer is at it's peak.

Or maybe we're just looking forward to it.

Summer? we're comin' for ya, baby.









What's the most fun summer-thing you've ever done?

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

week eleven // the good ol' days

This, my friends, is the hard work of a good eighteen-plus years. In scrapbooks. 

We moved all of the scrapbooks upstairs to the parlor (instead of the basement) and even though the lighting was horrible, I felt the need to take a picture while they were briefly spread across the room.

Over the years my mom has done various degrees of scrapbooking, but it doesn't really matter - I like looking at as many pictures or reading as many words as are on the pages. I just have a thing for scrapbooks.

I mean, histories important, especially your family's.

I like every form of holding memories - old letters, pictures, clothes, music - each one is a puzzle piece that tells your life story. and I love that.
What's your favorite way to hold memories?

Monday, March 21, 2016

week eleven : bells will ring, sun will shine

 We had our first week of real spring weather and you can only guess how beautiful it was!

(probably to the moon and back.)

 I tried that tilt shift effect everyone has been so rave about and it didn't really work for me.

that last one was the result of like twenty pictures. which is not the way it was meant to be.

I guess there's a learning curve.



Enough to give you vertigo, huh? Then we could all pretend we were Jimmy Stewart from a hitchcock film.
How's your weather been? Any flowers blooming?

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

week ten : pi day, legos, all that jazz


In case you guys missed it, yesterday (March 13th) was PI day! because, like, it's 3/14. last year was the ultimate pi day, of course, being year [20]15, but this year I actually made a pie, which made it better than last year. 

actually two pies. key lime. but without the key part.

I picked that one because it said "Great For Beginners!" and only needed to chill for three hours (instead of six.) But mostly because it said "Great For Beginners!" and much less because of the chill factor if I'm really being honest with myself.

and I didn't even chill it for the full three hours because then it would have been done at like eleven o'clock and I already had a headache.

This story has no moral. so The End.

Another thing without a moral is that the laptop with all my pictures on it is dying (and has been since the week after we got it, a little under two years ago,) which means a lot of transferring pictures to another laptop with a lot of terminology I don't understand, so, since uploading isn't really happening at the moment, neither are blog posts. 

I might be back by the end of the week, but I might not be back til april. I'm just taking a little blogging break, to say the least.






What's your favorite holiday? ...Does it involve pie?

Friday, March 11, 2016

fabulous friday : under a canyon moon

a list of things that are not secrets:

1. how big of a andrew mcmahon fan I am
2. how much I love road trips (and driving, in general)
3. how much I love music
4. how much joy pinterest gives me

With a road trip on the horizon, I've been collecting songs for our road tunes cd and pins from road trips. Mostly deserts and canyons. a few maps and rear view mirrors. I'm ready to travel, how 'bout you?

Sign of the Wave
Maps for the Getaway
Night Driving
road to nowhere
Sky Full of Stars
desert drive

the sun ran out on a cold october

somewhere under a canyon moon

camera jammin' a slow exposure

california in her rear view

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

week nine : this is why we crank the dial to the right

Well, we're onto March! lovely, lovely march! Next week will be spring break, guys!! I have to friends I'm booking coffee dates with (one the week after so I can ride into school with my sister.) and a senior photo shoot, audrey hepburn style. I can't decide if I'm more worried or more excited about this.

Something I am excited about is that my dad booked a rental house in kitty hawk for the first week of may, so I'm rooting through old songs again to add to our Road Tunes 2016 cd. Suggestions are more than welcome!
monday : my mom and dad went out which is always our cue to crank the dial to the right. *coughcough if you're not already a walk the moon fan you should go be one now (like different colors and Anna Sun and work this body and lots of other goodies.) and they're from cincinnati, so what's not to like? they're basically locals.
 tuesday : This isn't the most flattering picture of me (my hair is kinda yucky looking on the end) my shirt makes me look wide and I'm not climbing in (or out) of my window, despite what it looks like. (let's not even talk about the mess my bureau is. the barnes & noble bag has a passage from Romeo & Juliet and I can't bare to get rid of it...) But this one is so much crazy I kinda like it.
wednesday : I've heard a couple people now, comment on Kentucky's sunsets and how lovely they are so I have my eye on the lookout now because who doesn't love a good sunset, am I right?

thursday : focus makes all the difference, doesn't it?
friday : she was surprised, to say the least. happy happy birthday, Elena! I hope you have the bestest year yet! ♥

What was your favorite year, growing up?

Friday, March 4, 2016

fabulous friday // surprise!

We're throwing a surprise party today for my sister's best friend... This little cutie, who just turned twelve. to be honest, I've never been to (or helped throw!) a surprise birthday party, so I'm excited! We'll see how it goes. Hopefully, I'll have my camera out and pictures will surface on here in a few weeks, but sometimes I just toss it aside and let the fun happen.

I'm debating where to stand when she walks in the door. behind her, so I get everyone jumping out at her? Or behind everyone else so I get her reaction?

I guess the obvious answer is facing her, but I would love a shot from behind her, too. We'll see how it pans out. I'll  probably miss the moment, whatever it is!

I'll leave you with this, though...

Cleaning up a picture & how it can make all the difference:
 Obviously, the shoes and blankets and such just distract from the picture...
 Okay, a ton, ton better, but there's still a book next to the basket and the blankets aren't a huge deal, but they are there... but worst of all (something I have to take out in post ugh) there's an ugly vent in the left corner.
SO much better.