Friday, April 29, 2016

fabulous friday // road tunes (best of)

One of my favoritest parts of a road trip is the music. Every trip my dad burns a cd with a hundred plus songs to listen to as we drive. The first cd we have from this tradition is from 2004 and they continue only missing two years (2008 and 2014, when we didn't go on a road trip,) up until, well, now.

In years past we didn't stream a ton of music on our own, and then by the time we did, we didn't have a ton of new music. But a few years ago, thanks to grooveshark, we started to explore more music for ourselves (probably around 2010, which is when I remember hearing about Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber for the first time - crazy, right??) and making our own lists of songs we wanted on the next road tunes cd. So while it's become a kinda family thing, my dad doesn't tell us what ends up making the final cut (though most of requests do) so it's always a little bit of an exciting surprise on the way there!

So here are some of my favorite songs to drive to that you should definitely get for your next road trip. Trust me, it will make it that much better!

Where the Streets Have No Name - U2

Mountain Laurels - Rogue Valley

Leaving California - Maroon 5

America - Simon & Garfunkel

Book of Days - Enya

Graceland - Paul Simon

Maps - Hey Ocean!

Love is on the Radio - McFly

All Over the World - ELO

So Young - the Corrs

Scenic Route - Lost Dogs

Driving Through a Dream - Andrew Mcmahon in the wilderness

Moon River - Audrey Hepburn (obviously the classic, but whatever version floats your boat.)

What are your must-have tunes for the road?

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

week sixteen // messy hair don't care

Last week was kinda a messy-hair-don't-care week... a long, crazy week. I made so many to-do lists (which were all extremely repetitious) along with a calendar and a mini to-do list for each day. I could have done better, I guess, but most of the jobs I left are the fun, easy ones anyway (packing, finishing my first art journal of the year - four pages left! - finishing menus + shopping lists, a few birthday scrapbook pags) plus, obviously deep cleaning the house (and car!) before we go. But isn't work so, so much better when you have a reward to look forward to? 

On Tuesday I read Walk Two Moons in the hammock, in my bathing suit, (somewhat) dripping wet, while the sun went down, and cried over it a little bit. It was one of those kinda magical stories that's so tragic it makes you happy. I didn't take a picture to remember it, but it's all in my mind and it'll stay there maybe enhanced a little by imagination.

On monday the pool was so nice and clear and beautiful we all stuck our feet in it and some even changed into swim suits to play in the sprinkler...
(photo credit to my sister, Elee.) 
I know is this kinda gross and maybe if I'd been there I would have told them not to do it, but when you're their age common sense is sometimes not as strong as it should be... Besides, ya gotta live a little.
So then on Tuesday we really *did* go in... I really cannot tell you how happy we all are to have the pool looking so blue and cheerful and happy and oh, who's ready for school to end and summer adventures to begin? *raises hand*
Songs for the week: Head Full of Dreams & Army of One by Coldplay... is it just me or is "lasso the moon" a reference to It's A Wonderful Life? It's not like they'd be the first British band to pull that trick...

and last but not least, some of my flower inspiration from my Pinterest board. gotta love spring! ♥

(and a note to some awesome readers who left awesome comments with lots of excitement: the dried flowers post is still very early in the production stage and not even in my drafts yet, but it is coming!)

Friday, April 22, 2016

fabulous friday // what I'm up to

*quick note: I'm leaning against my closet door, not my bedroom door. My bedroom door is perpendicular to my left shoulder. If that still doesn't make sense, THIS post might help.*
reading // just finished Walk Two Moons (I cried.) and The Hot Zone  also obviously Robert Frost and his beautiful poetry. Next up for literature is Hope Was Here and Alas Babylon.

watching// Meet Me in St Louis. (quirkiest movie ever, I swear!) also rewatching Lizzie Bennet Diaries every tuesday and saturday (along with the days they came out four years ago, can you believe it?)

listening// Brand New, Ben Rector. Aquaman & Anna Sun, Walk the Moon. anything Andrew Mcmahon. Amazing Day, Army of One, and Head Full of Dreams by coldplay (because they are my faaaavoriiite.)

wearing// Awesome, wonderful workout clothes. I got these super-duper yoga pants and I've barely taken them off all dang week they're that comfortable! Also trying to break in a new pair of flip flops and my tennis shoes at the same time... life is hard, man.

looking forward to// that vacation I've been talking about non-stop for the past few weeks... yeah. so, that's happening. ;)

pinning// whoop, whoop! another milestone reached: 1k followers!! ...it's making me a little bit sad, though, because it's just a measly little "one". I'm looking forward to when it at least says something like "1.5k" currently finding friendship bracelet tutorials to make on our 10 hour drive. Love THESE, beaded bracelets (HERE and HERE) and cord and embroidery floss bracelets (HERE and HERE.)

loving// Target. Also books. and clothes. BASEBALL. art journaling, especially dried flowers... post on that in just a few weeks!

What have you been up to lately?

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

week fifteen // hammock

Hammocks and I go way back... Like, my dad, before I was even born, spent a summer in mexico and slept in a hammock the whole time (we still have it. In fact, we dragged it up from the basement the other day.)

About a year ago, I went on a backpacking camping trip (five miles has never seemed SO LONG) and the scout leader and her daughter slept in hammocks like pros... and then I went to a retreat and some of the girls there had hammocks that were ay-mazing... and then of course, abbey from abbey deerest is rave about hers... and we all know I might secretly aspire to be her.

So naturally, when some friends at scouts mentioned that they had 'em at costco, I jumped at the chance and had one within days.

And it's beautiful.





*last four photos taken by my younger sister, Elee*
What are you loving this season? (please tell me it's a hammock!)

Friday, April 15, 2016

fabulous friday // restart for 2016

Things over here have been a little crazy since I posted about how we were going to transfer pictures to a new computer (which also involves mass deleting. see ya later (read: never again) little suckas. nice knowin' ya.) I said I might be taking it easy for the next while or so (maybe til april, maybe not.) but the show must go on, so I tried to keep delivering two blog posts a week.

Before that post I had regularly been posting a weekly update with (give or take) five pictures, one from every school day, and a fabulous friday. 

After that post, some of you might have noticed my weekly posts consisted of a series of pictures from the same photo shoot. What happened there? 

To be honest, I stopped taking pictures. Not completely, but I'm down to photo shoot a week. I don't take a picture a day anymore. and haven't, for the past few weeks. I've really only picked up my camera once or twice a week.

and I don't know if you can tell, maybe it's all in my mind, but I feel it's made my pictures lately have take a huge turn for the better. It was exhausting taking a picture (almost) every day and when I looked back on the week, there wasn't anything I was particularly happy with. Nothing I dislike, maybe, but nothing that made my heart sing, either. 

that said, not every photo since has made my heart sing, either. But two things: ones is, I'm learning to delete. big time delete. if I don't like it, if it's out-of-focus, if it's cutting people's head's off, delete it. Unless it's the only picture left of Grandma (and with cameras in everyone's hand 24/7, you'd better believe it's not.) it can go. Really. let go. and secondly, something I've realized along that road was that I'm much more of a multiple photos kinda gal. When I take a series, it feels complete... and then, if I want, I can choose one or two photos that really speak to me from that series, but I'm not a take-one-shot-be-done photographer. 

So I guess that files me under "Over-Shooter."

But I guess I don't mind.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

week fourteen // science experiment

I've been totally slack these past few weeks, as far as photography goes. So, like, here are the pictures from this week.

They were doing something that had to do with how things dissolved so they naturally gathered a ton of things that might or might not dissolve and did a little experiment. (along with everyone guessing as to what would dissolve & what wouldn't.)

Go science! am I right?


Ha. look at those fingers. Still have lots of egg dye on them. It's taken weeks to get through all of the dye and you wouldn't even believe how many hard boiled eggs! They finally started in on clothes pins. Same dif. *shrug






 that face that face SHE COULD BE A MEME, YES??

Friday, April 8, 2016

fabulous friday // Audrey Hepburn Shoot

I know I was just mentioning Audrey Hepburn last week, but dang, I can't get enough of her. She is so classy. so poised. so elegant. so, so... beautiful. 

I guess in a lot of ways it's every girls dream to be Audrey Hepburn, right? 

...If it isn't, you need to go read up on audrey hepburn (I definitely have a few favorite movies to suggest!)
Two drifters off to see the world
There's such a lot of world to see
We're after that same rainbow's end, waiting, round the bend
My Huckleberry friend, Moon River, and me

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

week thirteen // egg dying

We tried egg-dying for the first time last week. My mom grew up doing it, but since we don't really celebrate Easter, we'd never done eggs before. This year my brother got it into his head that we wanted to dye eggs, though, so my mom went out the day after easter and got an egg dying kit. and here we are...

to be honest, the lighting was pretty fantastic. We were in the back of the house (which faces south) so we don't get a lot of direct sunlight, though we do get a lot of light in general, which creates lovely soft light.







Saturday, April 2, 2016

fabulous friday // wait until dark : some thoughts

I'm having a little celebration here, because I found my glasses that had been missing for a week (they were in my jacket pocket... alas, warm weather.) I didn't realize how much I'd miss them. I've had contacts to wear, so it wasn't like I was totally stuck (my worse eye is like 20/60 so it's not like the end of the world) but I didn't realize how much I would miss the actual glasses - having them on to focus or off to relax, it's become a sort of ritual. and rather comforting. I don't know, that sounds weird, but I appreciate my glasses a lot.
Last night some of my sisters and I watched Wait Until Dark yet again in (more or less) celebration of my sister's 18th birthday. The last sister who turned 18 pulled an all nighter an we watched five hitchcock films - our first - that turned us into avid fans. But that's another story... ♥

Not only did I claiming the prize for keeping my eyes open the Entire Movie - excluding blinking + a brief visit upstairs to assure my brother my parents did not mind him staying up with my other sisters to finish watching cupcake wars, even if he had finished his andy griffith episode - I was also extremely drawn in by trying to figure out who knew what (you, as the viewer, know almost everything.) I was again totally amazed by the fantastic plot, ay-mazing lighting, and even the Audrey Hepburn portraits in the background. After studying photo after photo of Audrey Hepburn in prep for a senior photo shot (finished editing those today so keep an eye out for them!) I recognized famous photographs in the background - which naturally left me inspired anew. Man, she's gorgeous!

But we also watched an interview, A Look In The Dark, with Mel Ferrer and Alan Arkin (the main bad guy,) who had some fantastic points to make. One of which my mother has been saying for years, and I thought he summed it up very well...

"... The more you show people, the less work they have to do, and part of the theatrical experience is what you bring to it. We're not coached to bring anything to the experience any more. If you're watching a scene where someone is getting beat up behind a couch and you can't see it very well, then your mind goes to all your own personal nightmares and what could be going on behind the couch that you can't see... and that feeds your own emotional life. But if you see every graphic moment then it lets the audience off the hook so they're not sharing the experience of what's going on or contributing anything to it." 


and that, in a lot of ways, is why my mom has always limited the movies we watched in general because it does stunt your creativity, as apposed to books which grow and strength that creativity and your empathy. 

...Your thoughts?