Happy Friday

Hello and happy Friday to you on this beautiful fall afternoon. We've experienced some crazy winds (up to 60 mpr) this week so I thought this paper art work would be appropriate to share with you. Created and constructed by artist and illustrator Jayme McGowan. It's really cool to see her process on how she creates such intricate cutouts. Have a joyous holiday weekend!

Meet Joe

EVPhotography & pumpkin print

Hi everyone! Today I want to introduce the special person in my life that gets me going, calms me down and puts a smile on my face every time we are together (which just happens to be a lot these days). The funny thing about our relationship is that we went to college together, took the same classes, yet never even glanced in each others direction. It wasn't until he started freelancing as a photographer that our lives crossed paths again. We were work friends for close to 2 years until we started hanging out outside of work. Our relationship grew and developed over our love for tennis (that's what we did on our first date), and since then it has grown to include the outdoors, camping, cooking, and music. The thing I love the most about him, is that he just gets me, in all my silly and goofy ways. I don't have to cover up any parts of who I am when we are together. I get to be me, for good, bad or sad.

We've been living together now for 5 months (and dating for over a year) and although there have been some adjustments and compromises, I still can't believe that he hasn't gotten sick of me. I know that may sound like an odd thing to say, but it's true. Don't you find it fascinating to know of people that have shared there lives together for years or even decades? It's something that sounds so out of reach these days, but I look up to those who can work through issues and come out stronger in the end. Here's hoping :)

hello sunshine

Happy start to your week everyone! How was your weekend? Did you do something adventurous, fun or scary? I did something all of the above this weekend- Joe and I hosted our very first dinner party on Saturday night. Besides having to run out and buy more chairs so that we could all sit in the same space, we roasted our first beef tenderloin, which came out pretty tasty and we indulged on apple pie with a scoop of pumpkin ice cream from TJ's. All in all I'd say it was a success and I can't wait to host again :)

Happy Friday

fall harvest no.2

And a good Friday to you too! I have been bursting at the seams for the work week to be over...and it almost is! Tonight my friend Alise is hosting craft night at her new home. She lives about an hours drive from me in the city so I've made plans to spend the night. hehe...I can't remember the last time I had a sleepover, but I'm excited just the same. All of the talented ladies that are coming are so sweet and the best part is we all get along. I'm planning on making some paper crafts and gifts tags for the holidays, which I will happily share with you once we get closer to December. Geez, can you believe it, Christmas is almost (almost) here!? I guess I'm starting early in part because I'm happy to be finally getting a REAL tree this year. I know, I know..but yes I'm really that excited :) Happy Friday to you and thank you to all you lovely ladies for your kindness and encouragement this week. It always means the most!

Pssst...

Hop on over to on the brink of something beautiful today to see what I created from all this crafty goodness! Thanks again Kel for inviting me to create this DIY post for you and your readers :) I had a blast putting it all together and hope you enjoy it too.

Blog e-course

So, I've been thinking lately, that I'd really like to change/shake things up around my space here. My blog serves as a place for me to share my photographs, crafts, and designs but for a while now I've been wanting to get my hands dirty and dig into the guts of how it all works a.k.a HTML, CSS jargon that both facinates and irritates me at the same time. I'd really like to get more of a handle on this and challenge myself to create a space that truly reflects my vision. Don't get me wrong, I love this little space I've created but I want to push the creative factor even further. So I was so excited to read today that Katrina (who has a web and design background) is offering an 8 week course with a focus on the blogger format. Her lesson plans involve everything from how how to customize your pages and layouts with CSS to how to stylize images with banners! You can check out all 8 lesson plans that this course will cover and view a sneak peak video of whats to come! The course begins January 3rd 2011 and to make the deal even sweeter it's only $5/mo for as long as you wish to be a member of her premium content subscription! Oh, I can hardly wait to get my hands on manipulating code and fueling my creative engine once more! I have some ideas in the works, which I'll share with you along the way :)

Orchard weekend

Happy Monday everyone! How was your weekend?My family and I took advantage of the beautiful fall weather this weekend and enjoyed some time apple picking, corn a-mazing, cider drinking, and pumpkin picking, phew! Here are a few of my favorite picks from this weekend.

The Laws of Art

I thought I'd share with you today one of my daily reads. You though we wouldn't notice is a blog about exposing people/companies who blatently copy someone else's design or artwork and try to sell it as there own. This is a open blog so anyone can post anything they suspect might be ripped off or stolen. Before doing this, of course you must check your sources! At times the frauds get caught and are forced to take down or stop selling "their" work. It's pretty amazing to me that people think that they can just use whatever they find out there and use it for their own needs. And to turn around and sell it?? Your talking major guts and shame!!! Such as this photo, which was taken by a photographer who later found out that a Polish clothing company had taken the image and was selling it on t-shirts! Really, how desperatly uncreative and lazy can people be? At least it's good knowing that people are looking out for others and trying to protect what's rightfully theirs.

Original self-portrait by Rockie Nolan.

You're sew cool

It's Friday and time to unwind, unravel from this weeks work and get ready to play on weekend's time! The other day as I was glancing over my sidebar, I noticed that my followings for my blog keep growing. I wanted to take this time to say "Thank You"...you. To all that share with me every week, who encourage me, and take the time to drop me a line :) You are my driving force and it puts a smile on my face every time, really!

Want to know more about how you can get your own photo layout and starburst medallions just like the ones used above? Check out the inspirational blog of Pugly Pixel. Katrina runs this creative machine and is so so sweet for allowing fellow bloggers to download her crafty creations. Just please remember to read her terms of use for her clip art here before you get started. Thanks a bunch Katrina!! Happy weekend everyone :)

The Goodwin from West Elm

It's been decided and done! A few weeks ago Joe and I placed an order for our biggest purchase to date... a couch!! I couldn't be more excited to be receiving this comfy piece of furniture in a few weeks, just in time before the cold of winter sets in too. If your in the market for a couch or simply some fun decor ideas West Elm is the place to check out. The prices are affordable (our Goodwin rang in at 25% off the purchase price), the quality is comparable to that of Crate & Barrel and a growing number of their products are made under sustainable conditions. How can you beat that?

Goodwin in Slate.

Hello October

I'm just catching up on things from this weekend. It was so great to ease into the season this past weekend by spending Friday all by myself. I spent the day running errands, taking a cardio bootcamp class, and sprucing the outside with pumpkins, gourds, and purple mums! I even had time to carve my very first pumpkin while the seeds toasted up all yummy in the oven :)
For those of you who are just as head over heels for this glorious season as I am , I'd love to hear how your spending it!

For those of you who are looking for a seasonal lift, stop by That's Happy blog, and download a cute owl desktop wallpaper calender by illustrator Lisa Rupp. I have it on my work desktop, and love the hint of autumn it brings to my 9-5. Thanks Lisa for sharing!