stuff from my muggy day:

It's hot out today... so hot I might melt into a puddle!

I always forget how all-over-the-place Maine's weather can be.
One day I feel like an ice cube and the next I'm dreaming of swimming in Sebago!

This looks nice and cool... and I want to go now.
~
Here are some things I've been browsing this
muggy-humid-sweltering day:

Camilla Akrans has awesome photography.
I really like the rosy processing too!

I also love Bersa photography.
What would it be like to be a glam photographer who travels all over to take pictures of pretty girls in pretty places? If you didn't have a travel companion you loved, it might get awful lonely. However, if you did... it sounds like it'd be fabulous. (Akrans and Bersa via LundLund)

I found these pictures of Twiggy today, aren't they fun? I love photos like this, they're super fun. I'd hang these in simple black frames somewhere in my pretend studio-office. The place where all of my ideas float around and where I crank out awesome photos and prints and stationary and fabrics. Someday... I bet it'll happen. Oh, and my favorite quote by Twiggy? When asked why she was retiring: "You can't be a clothes hanger your entire life!" (hehe)


I've also been working today on some graphics. Since the office has been slow (knock on wood) I've been puttering with an idea that I cooked up while laying in bed last night. I really need to learn to resist the urge to drink delicious coffee past 8pm. At least my java-induced states of midnight delirium helped me come up with these goodies...

I like patterns a lot. This one was pretty simple. I just made a grid in Illustrator and got to work. I have at least six color variations that I have saved on my trusty external hard drive, but this one is a favorite.

This one is truly my favorite product from my morning spent in Illustrator. I want to print it on everything! I want to make a reversible duvet cover that's soft and smooth and cool and crisp feeling. I want to make a cotton skirt out of it to make my older sister model for me. I want to make a purse out of it (in several colors and fabrics). I want to change the colors, blow it up, shrink it down... etc.
You catch my drift.

~

A couple of sites that were cool:

The Minimalist from the NYTimes has 101 Simple Salads.
Pioneer Woman gave me a refresher course in photography.

another rainy friday...

It's raining in Maine today... again. Will it ever go away?
Today all I can think of is the Peter, Paul, and Mary song:

Rain, rain, go away, come again some other day...

So, here are some pretty things that have caught my eye and helped my quiet morning and afternoon slide by.

Davie & Chiyo have very cool things on Etsy.
Love this purse! It'd look very snappy and elegant with the outfit I'll be wearing to a wedding next weekend. Alas, I do not have the 85 Buckaroos required to own this baby.

Aaand while I'm in drooling-for-handbags mode, how about this?
Cotton Purr has cute hand bags, and I want this. So snappy! Plus, it's got a wrist strap, which is essential for my handiness seeing that my hands are 100% full 90% of the time. I could see this with jeans (of course) and my white ruffled tuxedo-esque shirt that I got for $12 at Marshall's this spring.

Something else that was pretty that distracted me from my silent office (not that I'm complaining). Found on Etsy by Erase and Repeat. Purples are pretty, no?
~
Ok. Now that I'm done drooling (wiping chin and desk),
I'm on to idea-stealing.

Very cool way to store jewelery. I hate how my necklaces are stored in a million and one Sign of the Sun boxes. They're always all tangled up, plus, I often experience moments of serious panic when I can't find something because one of the boxes has fallen behind my desk. Those moments of discovering the fallen boxes do rock though... somewhat like Christmas!
via Decorology via Together We Think Funny

I love this idea from Made by Girl.
Would it be a terrible, unforgivable thing to steal the idea and make note cards out of something like this? I can't wait for my big graphic design independent study that's coming in September. We (the minuscule art department at St. Jose's) actually just got a new room that will be converted into a print room/embossing room! The room belonged to none other than the IT office. We (the IT office) stored all of our dead computers, servers, keyboards, mice (not the furry kind), and monitors there. So, the room previously known as "the dungeon" and "the graveyard" and "that awful closet" is now going to be where I spend a lot of time. Cool!
~
Idea-Stealing? Check. Now back to drooling:

My heart belongs to the farm. You can take me off of it, you can sell it, you can even put me on a boring college campus. But you'll never make me stop wanting to be a horse-loving/owning country girl.

This is so pretty. I want what my family calls a "Gentleman's Farm" when I'm a big kid and have kids and lots of money (haha). Wouldn't a country home with some pretty little nags be nice?
~
Ok, I've rambled about all the things I want.
Now about the things I have:

I love my family.
I love my education.
So many opportunities that too many people don't have.
I love my country
... regardless of the current leadership's faux pas.
I love my new rain jacket that my Mom bought for me!
Lord knows I need it with this weather!

happy friday!

My 10 day week is finally over! Hopefully the office will be slow and uneventful today so I don't start my weekend super stressed. So far the coffee has no grounds in it and there's fresh creamer. Hooray!

The agenda for the weekend?

This weekend is the Yarmouth Clam Festival!
(photo via my flickr)

above: part of last year's Carnival
below: the parade--Yarmouth FD

All in all, it's a small-scale affair with a small-town feel.
But large-scale fun, if you ask me.

Erin Vey takes great pictures of people and their pets.
Her flickr is great too.

It's pretty hard to take good pictures of animals, she must have a really nice camera. Someday, grasshopper. Someday.

Judy Garland Jewlery is cute/fun with a little taste of vintage.
Found her via Old Sweet Song.
~

New find: dry erase paint
It's probably been around for a while, but I'm just now finding out about it.
So cool! Now my mind is running wild with project ideas...
IdeaPaint has plenty uses for dry erase paint, and I want to see all of them in action... what if your wall was stucco or someone did a bad job sheet-rocking?

Jan Von Holleben has some pretty interesting photography ideas.
I'll have to keep it in mind for the next round of photo classes.

~

have a great weekend!

93.5

Today is Thursday, which means tomorrow is Friday. And you know what that means? I get to ditch my work clothes for jeans and a tank top very soon. So far today I've drank coffee with an illegal amount of coffee grounds in it, proceeded to spill some of that very gritty coffee on my favorite pants, and stole a bagel from the cafeteria... I could really use a Friday.
Something positive (besides the close proximity of Friday)?
I got a 93.5 on my EMT-B class final last night.

Some pictures from our Acadia National Park trip in June:

Acadia National Park is a grand place to be

even when the sun isn't shining

and the tide's so high that the waves splash you in the face.

This tomato recipe from Pioneer Woman looks delicious!

This wedding hairdo is gorgeous. I love the hairpiece!
I love elegant hairstyles. Found on A Little Sussy.
Nicole Hill Gerulat is such a talented photographer, and I love her blog too.

Emma Watson (Hermoine) appeared in Teen Vogue.

and she is so pretty. I love this photo shoot.
It makes me want to be a fashion photographer so bad!

I may actually wear a hat if it was this cool looking.
Found on SheBreathes from the Nobis SS09 Collection.

~
I just love Pride and Prejudice. One of my favorite quotes?

Elizabeth: Are you to proud Mr. Darcy?
And would you consider pride a fault or a virtue?
Mr. Darcy: That I couldn't say... Maybe it's that i find it hard to
forgive the follies and vices of others, or their offenses against me.
My good opinion, once lost, is lost forever.
Elizabeth: Oh dear, I cannot tease you about that.
What a shame, for I dearly love to laugh.

I too, Elizabeth Bennet, love to laugh, which is why I'm focusing
on my 93.5 and ignoring my coffee mishaps!

~

today is humpday: thank goodness

Today is Wednesday, and thank goodness for that. After working all weekend, my week is shaping up to be the longest I've had in a long time! Here are some things I'm finding interesting to start my mid-week morning:

Last night was the All-Star Game between the American and National Leagues, and the American League won as always. It was the first time me and the boy got to cheer for the same baseball team! (He's a Yankees fan, I've chosen the correct team--Boston).
(photo via NY Times)

Tonight is the final for my EMT-B class... eek!

Every day on my lunch break I watch TLC's What Not to Wear.
Should you be on the show? This quiz may enlighten you.

I love this necklace from Free People.
(They also have tons of fun clothes)

on the way to Meadowbrook

on Sebago Lake

laying in the grass at school

after a thunderstorm last summer

I've been looking through my old photos from classes and just random on-the-sly shots, and I'm realizing that I am obsessed with clouds. They're puffy, there's tons of texture, tones, and a lot of contrast to be captured... maybe it all stems from cloud watching when we were little. Regardless, I am obsessed with taking pictures of clouds!
(all pictures via my flickr)

~
Cupcakes and Cashmere is a great little blog I found today.

The Polaroid Photography of Grant Hamilton is odd/cool.

~

It's a Family Fourth!

this is how I feel right now... I'm tired of all this stormy weather!

but, I am getting very excited to spend time
with the family over the Fourth!
I love the Fourth of July... makes me glad to be an American.
(aww, cheesy moment)

We're going to see Diana Krall in NH on the 3rd!
I'm so so so excited, and the best part?

It's a family affair.

~
ps. i love the NYTimes blog.

and this picture of Billie Holiday.

I want to see Stormy Weather with Lena Horne.
Perfect for rainy days!