Paper Kites

Can you believe it? I actually managed to complete a color pencil piece!

The title is Paper Kites from a name commonly used for this type of butterfly (Idea leuconoe).
What do you think? 

Planning Ahead

Attention all those looking for a gift for my birthday (in March lol).

That is all.

A Beautiful Sunny Saturday

Today was so wonderful. After it being so cold and dreary and rainy here for the last few days, today was perfect and bright and sunny and a surprising-for-january 70 degrees. So Monika and I took full advantage of the day until she had to go to work. We went to the Brooks to see the Book Binding exhibit and the Scholastics exhibit with some wonderful friends from our bible study group. Being at the Brooks is always so refreshing. Like just stepping out of the world for a moment and getting lost in the stories and histories and characters of the art. And seeing such wonderful pieces of art by high school students in the Scholastics exhibit is quite motivating.. I need to start putting the time and effort into my work that it deserves.

We also went to Starbucks and sat outside with some lattes.

Iced Caramel Macchiato and White Chocolate Mocha. Yum.

Such a good day!  And we spent some time goofing off taking pictures (because yes we are just that cool, see pictures below)

See. Because we are just that awesome.

And this weekend is also wonderful because my sister and Monika are staying over with me. Here is a typical night with Bekah over....

Essentials.

Gibson's much?

We have too much fun in our cold weather accessories.

Orchard House

I want to do something splendid before I go into my castle-something heroic, or wonderful-that won't be forgotten after I'm dead. I don't know what, but I'm on the watch for it, and mean to astonish you all, some day.  -Louisa May Alcott, Little Women


I love love love this soundtrack from Little Women. I can listen to this music over and over. Also really great music to paint to :) Orchard House is so beautiful and full of charm and magic. It feels so classic and expectant and lovely. I think I have also decided that Little Women is going to be part of the Reading Contentment Challenge that I am joining in this year. It is such a wonderful book that deserves to be reread and reread.

And, further regarding the soundtrack.... I kind of want to one day walk down the aisle to Orchard House and leave to Under the Umbrella. Is that a little crazy? I'm pretty sure that this fact should say something significant about my personality :)
Anyway, my music of choice for today is Orchard House from the Little Women Soundtrack. Enjoy!

But There Is The Dream of Someone Else

Of course from the title you must have guessed that I happen to be watching one of the best classic-favorite movies...

 One of the best quotes of the movie. Alongside...
"-Don't cry ShopGirl.
-I wanted it to be you. I wanted it to be you so badly."

*Sigh* Classic. That is all. No other purpose for this post. :)

Musical Monday (or Tuesday)

Yeah. Tuesday, again. But this time, I think I have a really great excuse. Snow is a wonderfully beautiful excuse. As is spending the day drinking something warm in a coffee cup sitting inside watching it through the window. As is venturing outside a few times to play in it and gather enough for snow cream. As is admiring a magical part of God's creation that literally makes you stop and be in awe at his creativity. I need something whimsical and fantastical and lovely in honor of the snow for this week's musical choice.
Unfortunately this artist has no videos that I can find anywhere to use in this post so you will have to trust me when I say that you should definitely click on this link and go listen to these two songs. Or any other piece by this group. It is some of the best music to listen to when you want to inspire your creativity. I will probably, at some point, post about every song on their album. But here are today's Music choices (Be sure to click and go to the site and then listen!):

The Day Rachel was Born by Apouria

and
Theater of Human Life by Apouria

Snow Day!

So magical. Peaceful and quiet and lovely.

 My dog enjoyed the snow too... When she wasn't sinking in it :)

I think she wore herself out...

And I made snow cream!

It started melting after I added sprinkles.

You'll have to forgive all of the over excitement. We never get snow here, and I am loving the winter wonderland!

Moving Day

The time has arrived folks. Tomorrow (or technically today) is the day. I will be moving to my home for the next year(ish)- I will be house sitting for that length of time. Pretty excited about having my own place. Packed yet? Absolutely not, ha. I mean, I think that's probably what I should have done during Christmas but then surgery happened and all that fun stuff, so here we are.
I am pretty excited about getting to have people over/play "Monica" (from Friends). OH. And I get my own kitchen.... I can feel lots of baking coming. And I am going to try to cook more as well. I even used one of my Borders gift cards that I got for Christmas on a new cookbook:

I so am ready for this new adventure :)

Musical Monday

Yes, I know. It is not Monday. For whatever reason my brain never seems to grasp when it is actually Monday, because I plan on this post all week long. Then Monday comes around, and I actually remember thinking to myself (more than one Monday in fact), hmmm, now I need to decide which song to put on my blog for Monday.... Maybe I should have done something like "A Tune for Tuesday" or something like that. Regardless, I have like a billion songs that I have been planning to do for the past however many weeks it has been since I did this.

OH! But before I proceed, I need to tell you about my wonderful friend Kristina and her blog post! Kristina did a feature on my art and jewelry on her blog yesterday, and it is absolutely beautiful - it pretty much made my day or week or month :) Here is the link to the post : My Etsy Christmas  And while you're there, check out her blog and become a follower - She's pretty awesome herself :)

And now, without further ado, this week's Musical Monday **drumroll please**

Sorry I couldn't find a better video to go with the song. I debated on which song of hers to put up here, and there were others that had actual videos. But I've been listening to her new album since I got it as a Christmas gift from my wonderful Monika, and this song has just stuck with me. It feels so light and fresh and airy and freeing.... like a new day and new beginnings. Maybe I'm just feeling that way overly much from the new year, but there are changes happening, and I'm loving the sense of "new"ness. So yay! The first of probably many Sara Bareilles songs to be included in Musical Monday. Enjoy!

Reading Resolution

Still recovering from surgery (wonderful headaches!), I find myself definitely still awake when I should be sleeping. Fortunately, this gives me the opportunity to just browse through blogs and other page links that I find through blogs I already follow. I stumbled upon this challenge tonight. I think this is going to be wonderful, especially since there are several books, both in classical literature and christian fiction favorites that I have always meant to read again and that are definitely worth that second read. I think this is a resolution that I can actually keep! Here's the button to the challenge: