cleaning house, and finding treasure.

Me and my laptop have been through a lot together since I got it in... lets say, 2007. I have a couple external hard drives that I load everything onto when I need to clear out some space, but I have not done a full overhaul EVER. So, since the end of last week I have been going through seriously thousands of files, deleting, organizing, and cataloguing them properly. I have now freed up 40GBs of space, 31 just today. All I have left to do is document my Safari bookmarks, and I can wipe this baby clean and start over with Snow Leopard and Adobe CS5. Yay! It is about time.

Anyway, while I was going through all of my pictures and images saved in the hugely messy "Inspiration" folder I had on my desktop, I decided I should put a few things up on here. Some of these artist absolutely deserve a full post to themselves. (coming soon ??) I apologize that many of the sources are unknown... I have been saving up imagery for years without paying much attention, shame on me.

[[ sources unknown unless otherwise noted below. *'s below indicate that the artist will be getting their own post soon. ]]

 - "Z" - by Jessica Hische on her project Daily Drop Cap *

 - Ferris Wheel Image (title unknown) - by Alice B. Gardens (found on Creature Comforts)

 - Web Page - by Andres Yeah

 - Bone Girl (title unknown) - by Audrey Kawasaki (my favorite painter thus far) *

 - "The Shining" Movie Poster - by Moxy Creative *

Some of these others I am determined to find the sources for! ...but for now, I need to eat some dinner. 

(side note: I think something like this may need to be a weekly feature...)

harry potter?

Quite a while ago Pat started listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks. I made fun of him because I thought it was really silly to be listening to a book instead of reading one, and Harry Potter at that. I have now officially eaten my words completely.

I initially resisted the Harry Potter obsession due to my little sisters constant attempts at impersonating a british accent, and based on my impression that this series was for children after the first movie was released back in 2001. Therefor I never really had any desire to read any of the books... until the story started getting a bit darker, as evident by the films. Then it sparked a bit more of my interest.

So, over the summer I started listening to each of the seven books chronologically while it was a bit slower at work. I JUST finished the second part of the last book 'Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows'. 1) I currently feel like the biggest nerd ever. 2) It was soooo good. 3) I would definitely listen to the whole series over again, in fact, I might at some point. 4) I am kind of sad that I finished it, that must mean it is good. And 5) I would absolutely recommend the Harry Potter audiobooks (as read by Jim Dale) to anyone who has some time to listen to them.

My apologies to Pat. ♥

[[ harry potter box set. and yes, pat does own this. i bought it for his birthday. ]]

P.S. Sorry Edward/Jacob lovers, I'm still NOT into Twilight. :)

weekend adventures 14

This weekend was super relaxing because I had no where in Portland to run off to. It felt kinda nice to stick around at home for a few days.

friday
A few months ago I had met up for dinner with my friend Laura from my days in Ashland at SOU (here & here). Friday night she sent me a message letting me know that she was back in Corvallis and that we should meet up again soon, so I called her up and we went out for drinks and pizza at Crowbar downtown. It was really fun catching up some more. We had sort of lost touch after a bit of a falling out back then, but obviously, we are both completely different people now. It is weird to get back together with someone like that because it is almost as if no time has passed. Makes for an easy 'new' friend. Anyway, we had a lot of fun and ended up going back to my house to play some games on Hayden's new xbox Kinect, which is super fun by the way. Unfortunately I got a little bit too in to bowling and ended up scrapping the leather off of my favorite pair of boots! :( :( :(

[[ me/laura then: 2004. laura now. my ruined shoe. me on saturday wearing my new oversized menswear shirt from h&m. screenshots of me and pat playing w the kinect. ]]

saturday
In an attempt to recognize one of my New Years Resolutions I started organizing some seriously messy areas of our house, like the 'vacant' but not so vacant bedroom we have yet to rent out. It took me all day, but it is a lot more organized now. I still have a long way to go though with all of my art supplies which can no longer be stuffed into the hall closet. I need an office again... bad. After all of that, we had some people over, most notably Pat's friend Adam who we had not seen in a while, along with Megan, who I convinced to drive the hour down to Corvallis at 10:30pm! Now that is a friend. We ended up having a lot of fun. :)

sunday
Sunday was a super lazy day. We had biscuits and gravy, courtesy of my lovely boyfriend (delicious as always), watched movies, played games, went to sleep. The end. Super relaxing. Just what I needed. In fact, today I actually feel refreshed for once.

new years resolutions

Everybody thinks about them... this year I decided to write some of them down. Let's see how well I do with numbers two and five. I have a few more plans for the future as well... but they all involve me working towards a niche of my own, so I will group that in with number 10.


First off, and most importantly:
- Always be good/true to myself and others. ♥

nye @ the nines

To celebrate New Years Eve 2011, me and some friends decided to get a suite at The Nines hotel in Portland and party in style. There were some minor mishaps, but it turned out really well and was a ton of fun! We started up in the suite, and then made our way down to the lobby for the party being hosted by the hotel. I had made up some mustache champagne glasses for the occasion, and I think they turned out really well. We had a ton of noise makers as well as huge "2011" balloons, which are now sitting in our back room. We drank champagne, danced, ran around, bumped into some people we had not seen in a while, laughed, and partied. Not a bad way to ring in the new year.

Here are some pictures from the party:

[[ keep calm and party on. mustache champagne glasses. sam. pat. jimmy/pat. group. me/tiff. megan mustache. dancing. kissy face. megan/tony. polish. elevator mirror. jason/tiff/me. "J" champagne bottle. sleepy pat/tiff. balloons. ]] 

Happy New Year!

new toys!

I got some pretty sweet gifts off of my Christmas list this year, here are some of my favorites:

From Pat

1) Juicer. I have been wanting a real restaurant grade juicer for forever so that I can make myself delicious greyhounds at home! It works like a charm, and we have definitely been testing it out. 2) 'Tattoo Mystique'. One of the books I asked for. It has really interesting visuals, I think I will be coming back to it for inspiration pretty frequently. 3) Clover planner by Poketo. I love having planners to physically keep myself organized. This one is the perfect size, I love the organization, and it has the most charming little illustrations throughout each page. Thanks babe!

From Dad

1) Remarkable Top. Super slouchy and comfortable long sleeve top that reads "Hello Again". So comfortable and an instant favorite. 2) Peacock Tights. I have had my eye on these for a really long time, so happy to finally have them in person. I have yet to take them out for a spin though. 3) Cave Cadence Satchel. I love love love this purse! It is a little smaller than I expected, but the coloring is amazing. It matches everything. (labeled "from: Santa"). 4) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles DVD. I found this one in my stocking. My dad/step mom thought it was hilarious. I used to love these when I was little. Such a tomboy. 

From Mom

1) Cannon Powershot Camera. The one that I asked for! Finally I have a point and shoot of my very own that actually works... (I have had some major issues in the past). Hopefully this one lasts. 

From Meguenther

Megan surprised me with some great xmas gifts over new years weekend. 

1) "J" mug. She picked this out without even glancing at my Christmas list! This girl knows me. Now all I need to do is buy myself the matching "P" mug. 2) 'Encyclopedia of the Exquisite'. This book is not only pretty informational, but also very well designed. It contains little sketches that mimic those of the early 1900s (my favorite style)! Thanks Megan my love. Your present is coming soon I promise!!!

Thanks everyone!

weekend adventures 13 :: Christmas

For Christmas, as usual, Me and my little sister Meagan head over to our moms house for Christmas Eve dinner and gifts, and then venture over to my dads for PJs, a little sibling rivalry before bed, and presents in the morning. Not that we ever actually stopped with the whole Santa Clause thing, but it is back in full swing now that we have Dest, which I highly enjoy.

12/23 - 12/26


thursday night (christmas eve eve)
I went with Pats family over to his step brothers house to see him and his girlfriend Mandee's new born baby boy Maddox. Let me just say that infants freak me out a little bit because they are so small and so fragile that I have no idea what to do with them. Right when we got there Mandee sort of shoved him into my arms, so I really had no choice. I have not been near a baby that new since my little sister was born... but seeing as I was in fourth grade the only thing I really remember about that was being unimpressed by her lack of playability. Maddox has the smallest little fingers I have ever seen, so I was pretty much in awe of that. To my surprise Pat actually (completely willingly) scooped him up and held him for a long time. It was a little bit precious. After dinner I had to take off to my moms.

friday (christmas eve)
I celebrated Christmas Eve at my Moms house with my little sister, Grandparents, and step dads family. I got my camera (!) and me and Meagan played around with it for a solid hour taking silly pictures of ourselves. I gave both my Mom and Grandma Norma the paper ornaments that I made and I think/hope that they really like them. After a while we took off to Dads place to meet up with everyone and open our Christmas PJs, one of my favorite traditions. For their Christmas gift, all of us kids had been working on a re-write/illustration of "The Night Before Christmas"... we were probably up until about 3:30am finishing it up.

[[ naughty list? being silly w the little. i surprised meagan with my old ipod touch, she was super excited. ]]

saturday (christmas)
I woke up to an extremely excited Dest trying to coax me and Meagan out of bed to open presents. Everyone made it downstairs eventually and the rest is as follows: Stockings. Locate santa gifts. Open other presents. Take lots of pictures. Clean up the mess. Jump in the recycling bin to pack it down. Make a big breakfast complete with mimosas. Hang out, relax, and watch movies all day. Awesome multi-course dinner. More movies. Exhausted. Sleep. I got a lot of the things off of my Christmas list, and some amazing extras, but more on that later...

[[ presents. dad reading our christmas story. leah & jenna. patty & dest reading her new 'cookbook'. cherry pie. hot chocolate. christmas dinner: butternut squash, cornbread, crab cakes, salmon, steak, and veggies. pumpkin pie. ]]

sunday
I slept in, for once, It was glorious. Then after eating mashed potatoes for breakfast, (I couldn't help myself) we all went downtown to do a moderate amount of shopping and go to dinner. We went to a restaurant called Irving Street Kitchen courtesy of my Grandparents on my dads side. It was one of the most amazing dinners I have ever had! Not only was everything delicious, but out server was extremely knowledgeable about the menu and brought me one of the best mixed drinks I have had, after I simply described to him that I wanted something with gin, and do not like sweet complicated drinks. I am really excited to take Pat here sometime in the near future, because I think he would really love everything about it! Especially the most amazing fried chicken I have ever tasted. Then it was back to Corvallis.

[[ irving street kitchen. delicious gin drink. best fried chicken ever. decor. rainy portland street. coffee ice cream/chocolate cookies. butterscotch pudding. ]]

I hope that you had a Happy Holiday celebration as well. I will speak more about my new goodies tomorrow. :)