9.12.11

so cute, Parisian even company promo video

Dear Epouse Moi Cocotte, if you hire me I will gladly move to Paris!
Isn't this promo for this event company dreamy?

8.12.11

working

It's been a productive afternoon. 
I've been working on a big special order of Christmas ornaments that needs to get mailed tomorrow...
I'm taking a little break, then it's back to embroidering. embroidering, embroidering.

30.11.11

My holiday etsy shop just went live!

Get your own hand-made, 100% wool felt ornaments at
a better look - click on the photos to go to the etsy listing











28.10.11

A little hint about my halloween costume...

These ears will be making their debut Saturday night at a Halloween party along with the rest of my costume. Pictures of the whole outfit to follow, so keep guessing at what I'm going to be!

21.10.11

I love my hometown

Do you read From Me To You? Jamie is gorgeous and retro and just posted this guest blog on Oh Joy! about Kansas City! Gotta love this animated gif. Makes me miss home.




triangle quilt

I've been getting back into fiber art/traditional needle craft in the last year and a halfish since leaving art school. My mom is a fiber artist, so working with textiles is not something that's foreign to me. Not being able to practice printmaking at the same pace as I did in undergrad has been a difficult adjustment and I've been coping by tackling various sewing/knitting projects. I made this quilt recently as a gift for two dear friends, and I thought I would share it. 

It was incredibly hard to photograph this, as it is 95" square, and our little attic apartment is just not that tall. You should be able to click through the image to see a larger version.
I really love this quilt and how busy and bright it is.

20.10.11

braids...

put my hair up in braids and I can't decide if I like it or not...

30.9.11

22.9.11

hair Wrap!

I am terrible at cutting my hair on any sort of regular schedule. When I was in college, I only found a regular stylist my senior year and then I promptly moved after graduation. Then I found an AWESOME stylist in Kansas City, but the salon she worked at went closed (the offshoot of the darling room, the I love you shop in Hammerpress down in the crossroads). So then last spring, before I went to Europe in February, I had my haircut at a Beauty Brands. The stylist was nice, but put a ton of moroccan oil on my baby fine hair, which made it feel great, but also greasy. I didn't think the cut was bad (I just disliked the product) so I visited her again in early May. That was the last time I got my hair cut! It's super grown out, and the ends are a little frizzy because Colin and I hadn't been using the shampoo I usually do because of the craziness of moving and me just plain not trying to find it faster. So we used Aveno shampoo from the drug store, because it had nice packaging, and my hair paid the price. It was intensely fuzzy. I just traded up to my old shampoo (a store brand version of Biolage that I actually prefer to Biolage) and my hair has gotten a little better. Needless to say, I am fed up with my hair being blah. It's grown out, has more or less no shape and is longer than I usually keep it. So today's the day to cut it! I'm actually planning to show the stylist my driver's license picture to get it cut like that. That photo is from right after the stylist at the I love you shop cut my hair really nicely. It won't be a big change, but shorter and more shaped.
This is what it looks like now:
Not bad, but really boring.
These are some inspiration photos:
 I want my hair longer than Anne's so I don't get that awkward shoulder flip out
 My hair isn't curly, but I like the length and simplicity of the cut on Amy.
 Carrie's hair is the closest to what I want.
This is a youtube video blogger, I don't remember who she is, but her haircut is nice.

23.8.11

12.8.11

Brooklyn!

We found an apartment! In Brooklyn!
Colin and I have been here for just over a week and have had an exhausting experience trying to become renters in NYC. It's crazy here and you have to have so much more paper work than any other city I have ever lived in!
But after an exhaustive search and several real estate broker changes, we have found a wonderful little 1 bedroom, top floor apartment with lot's of storage and skylights. Oh, and it's certified that the building has never had bed bugs. Which is wonderful, because frankly, bed bugs gross me out. We move in at the end of this month, which means there is much moving and furniture and logistics planning to be done as we get closer to the big move.

I am going to miss this sublet we've been staying in, though. This little studio has wonderful light. There are 6 huge windows! It's a beautiful space, and I'm happy we got to spend our first two weeks here.
We get to move on to somewhere else temporary for the next few weeks, before we can move into the new apartment... I'm not looking forward to continuing being transient (i.e. living out of a suitcase, which I've been doing since June. JUNE!) but I know this will all be over once we are settled in September.

29.7.11

What I've been doing with my life for the last Month+

A brief summary of my time in Europe from June 23rd to July 28th. 
Mostly in the Netherlands. Summarized in photo form.

July 1st - Den Haag
We went to the M.C. Escher Museum in what was a city palace of the queen's mother.


July 4th - Amsterdam
Canal cruise and the city museum. Isn't the architecture wonderful?


July 5th - Delft
We visit the delftware factory. They had some amazing geometric tiles. 
 
Old Delft city hall. 
 inside the new kirk
 Colin and I climb the tower at the new kirk and you can see all of Delft and outwards to other dutch cities! 


July 6th - Haarlem
We visit the grote kirk. It's giant and imposing, but really neat architecturally. 
There is an organ in this church that Mozart played!


July 7th - Den Haag
We visit the ritterzaal, the knights hall in the Hague, which is now a site for royal ceremonies. 
Note that big, curtained throne.
We stop for ice cream at the most amazing dutch ijs salon, Florencia.


July 16th - Scheveningen  
Colin and I visit the shore of the North Sea at Scheveningen.
Notice the sea defense bunkers behind me in the 3rd photo.


 July 17th - Arnhem
We visit a wildlife preserve with an art museum in the center of it. 
We bike all over in search of wildlife and see none but bunnies.
We do see this neat pavilion designed by Gerrit Rietveld though.


July 19th - Breda
We are going to visit the graphic design museum in Breda and while walking through a park we experience free range chickens?
The while building is the main church of Breda.


 July 21st - Cologne, Germany
We visit the Hohe Domkirche St. Peter und Maria, a GIANT cathedral right outside of the train station.
The floors have amazing mosaics and tile works. 
 
The church itself is absolutely huge and very gothic. 
I had a german beer with our schnitzel for dinner. 


July 22nd - Alkmaar 
We visit the friday cheese market at the Waagplein. The porters are awesome looking in their white outfits and colored boater hats.
 
That's alot of cheese. It better be Gouda! (haha. Cheese pun. Good-A, get it. Gouda?)
Yeah, never mind that the dutch pronoun Gouda as How-da, not Good-a like we do. 
 Later in the afternoon we go back to Amsterdam on our way home from Alkmaar on the train.
We visit the Dutch WWII resistance museum and we pass the Waag, or the old weigh house in Amsterdam!


July 25th - Den Haag
We are going to a last dinner with most of Colin's classmates before everyone begins to leave the Netherlands.
Colin though this restaurant name was too Wonky to pass up a picture!


July 26th - Paris, France
Colin surprises me with a day trip to Paris for my birthday. It was very sweet.
I loved that we could just catch a high-speed train and go to another country!
We visit the love locks at the Pont de l'Archiveche bridge near Notre Dame and wander through the left bank. 
 Lunch at le Bonapart. The awnings are great.
I had Laduree ice cream after lunch at the Printemps locations. 
 We visited the Luxembourg gardens.
 Back to another Laduree, this time on the Champs-Elysees for early dinner.
This is my desert, a giant pistachio macaroon with pistachio cream and berries.
Colin gets an icy mint and blueberry cupcake. 
We also buy macaroons to take with us.  
 
The colors are SO gorgeous. I'm really exited about a Laduree opening in NYC. 
It's going to be Colin and my weakness, those pretty macaroons.
I also bought two new longchamp totes. 
What can I say, they're cheaper in Europe. And I like them and they last a long time without looking beat up.
And it was my birthday and I was going to treat myself!

We're finally back though. The spending has not stopped as of yet however. 
Look at these awesome platforms I got at Madewell today for only $59!
Now all I need to concentrate on is finding a job and apartment in NYC asap.
Colin starts his new job in just about 2 weeks in the city, so we're really pressed for time!