Purple

As you may have guessed from seeing corn in the background of my pictures, I live on a farm.  I was feeling kind of frustrated and a little overwhelmed the other day, and being that fresh air does the soul good, I figured I'd take a little walk around my yard and up my road to help clear my head.  I felt so much better when I got back in.

1.  I picked myself a few flowers and weeds to put in a tiny antique vase on my kitchen counter.
2.  My farty, annoying, and always loving dog, Kona.
3.  Chris' grandma let me take her picture.  "Good," she said, when I told her I wouldn't get her face. / One of the many butterflies enjoying nectar on my butterfly bush.
4.  Flojo can't come out on walks, so she watches patiently at the window (and this always makes me kind of sad since we do everything else together).
5.  Where the kind of gravel road turns to complete gravel road.
6.  More of my weed bouquet.
7.  Another butterfly, and Kona's favorite position on the front porch.

When you're feeling overwhelmed or bummed out, what helps you clear your head?

hello.

How have you been?  This summer has been busy and awesome, and it doesn't look like it's going to change anytime soon!  Sometimes though, when I have a slow day and I can stop to play with my camera (and still try to figure out how to use it with all those settings and switches and buttons), read, thumb through old magazines looking for painting inspiration, watch Buffy on Netflix, or just sit outside with Flojo and watch the birds, it's nice, and I try not to think of all the work that's waiting on me...

So how has your summer been?  What do you like to do when you get a quiet moment to yourself?

Happy hatch day!

Happy Hatch Day to my beautiful, silly, playful, smart, loving, amazing baby, Flojo!  Today is Flojo's 8th hatch day and I plan to give her all the treats she wants.  I'd say I also plan to give her all the kisses she wants plus some, but that's actually every day.  Here are some of the most stand out memories from these last eight years with my best friend...

1. When she was learning to fly, first she would take a little jump and flap her wings two or three times and seem so proud of herself even though she didn't go more than an inch or two; then a few days later, after she got the hang of flapping, she would do more flapping but end up going backwards.

2. The time (shortly after she was able to fly a foot or two) she quickly ran down Chris' arm, stole a marshmallow from his bowl of cereal and then flew with her stolen loot toward her cage.  Until then we had no idea she could be so quick!

3. We were still hand feeding her when Easter came, so Chris put those little pastel plastic Easter eggs around her with one opened so it looked like she'd just hatched (second picture in this post).

4. The time she had to have Marvel Aid (bird medicine) which kept her up the ENTIRE night climbing loops in her cage, and every time she got to the top of her cage during a loop, she'd hang upside down with one foot, squeak a few times, then continue the loop.  It's was a sleepless night, but she was feeling back to her old self in the morning!

5. Each and every time she falls asleep snuggled against my chest, every time she quietly whispers to me and rubs her cheek against mine, every time she gives me one of her sweet kisses, each time I get to rub her feathers and watch her eyes get sleepy, and every morning I get to wake up and see her beautiful face light up when she sees me.

Lately...

Lately I've been thinking about my blog, but not actually doing anything with it.  I haven't been inspired to post anything lately, and honestly, I've been living life more lately rather than stressing over what I should post, when I should post, and how many people will read it.  I have to be honest, it's been refreshing.  Hannah and I had an almost 4 hour lunch yesterday during which we talked about how with instagram, twitter, facebook, etc., you almost don't need to blog anymore because people can keep up with you in real time.  It's so true.

I've been working on getting some new prints made, and with new prints comes more to organize (and I'm kind of running out of room with my current system).  I can't quite explain why making new prints gets me so giddy, BUT IT DOES!  Also, just a little FYI if you're in the market for new art, I'm having a 20% off sale on ALL 8.5"x11" and 11"x17" prints in my shop this week if you use the code FEBRUARY20 during checkout!

Also, speaking of Hannah, she made this to do notebook, as if she knew exactly how bad I am at time management and procrastination.  From now on I vow to keep this either by my laptop (where I tend to make most of my notes that end up getting lost) or in my bag so I have no excuse not to get work done!  Oh, and check out her shop, she makes really pretty cards, notebooks, and paper goods.

I know I've shared a picture before of Flojo leaning headfirst into a jar of peanut butter, but I don't think I've ever tried to explain just how much she LOVES granola.  Chris made two batches of granola yesterday (amazing man, right?) and it didn't go unnoticed.  When Flojo eats something she thoroughly enjoys, she tends to quietly talk and squeak while she eats.  It's always cute, and if you can imagine it, it's even cuter when it's echoed as she's talking and eating with her head inside a glass cookie jar filled with granola!

what i've been working on...

i feel like as time goes on i need longer and longer breaks from jewelry.  i know i'll always love raw stones and metal, but i just don't have the motivation i once did.  but what i am motivated to do is draw!  draw, draw, draw all day, draw in my sleep, draw in my head until i can draw on paper, draw all the time.  since the end of last week, in addition to drawing a few new things, i've been working on making some hand-pulled prints for my shop...

i've also got two more drawings ready to be printed, and one that was inspired by my pal beca, because i'm her number one stalker fan.  so what have you been working on lately?

i want to come outside...

so many times i've gone outside only to find flojo on the loveseat by the window watching me. she'll dance and talk and do anything she can to get my attention! each time i've seen her by the window, i've regret my decision to go outside without my camera. on sunday, i finally remembered to take it with me so i could take her picture, and a video of her dancing to get my attention!




flojo just makes my heart so happy! lucky for her, i won't be spending much time outside this week as it's supposed to be rainy, and i saw that the high temperatures are only supposed to be in the lower 70's, and even the upper 60's in the middle of the week! WHAT?! i love weather like that because it makes me feel so cozy and snuggly inside reading a book or working on jewelry.

so how was your labor day weekend? ours was good and bad. chris's grandma died on sunday morning, and even though we all knew it was coming, it's always hard to understand or accept a loss. monday was nice though; last month we'd signed up for a marathon to benefit the rachael horton compassionate care fund, which was started after rachael (chris's cousin) and her husband aaron died in an apartment fire in april. it was amazing to see the number of people (over 200) who came out to support rachael's dream and honor her memory. so i guess it's back to jewelry work for me. have a good tuesday!

the one where i show some home decor and share a music-related opinion

i'm not quite sure where i'm going with this one, but i have a few things to share, so let's just mix it up like my grandma does with all the food on her plate (side note - my grandma was in a near fatal car accident when i was young, and since her teeth and some of her mouth isn't real, i used to figure that made it so she couldn't taste anything, therefor explaining why she mixed all her food together). first order of business, the sun conure. i was given this sun conure statue a few years ago, and recently i've been thinking about doing a little makeover. maybe a year or so ago in one of design sponge's sneak peeks, i spotted a large white parrot figuring similar to these, and i've wanted one ever since. being the cheap skate that i am, i wasn't willing to pay what some of them have been going for, so i decided to do the next best thing: spray paint!

before and after. i'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out, and i think i have gloss finish to thank for that. now the albino sun conure can become part of the albino flock in the den. and you can ask my soul sister, i'm all about the absence of color.

lastly, on the home decor front, i was talking to rosita earlier this week and i told her that as luck would have it, i was in possession of a large antique frame in which the kona painting fit perfectly. i told her that now he looks like a member of royalty being surrounded by this huge gesso frame, and she was curious as to what it looked like. so here you go, prince kona bear hair of virginia...

moving right along, this is the part about the music. i've said it before and i'll say it again, i think the best music EVER came out of the 70's. and one song in particular just never gets old; whenever i hear this song i sing like i'm ann wilson and air drum like i'm michael derosier. i will tell you though that i only do this while i'm driving alone, although my right leg starts twitching for a little bass drumming when i have passengers, but i've managed to hold it together thus far.


my brother and i have discussed music from the 70's before at length, and his theory is that musicians in the 60's over-rocked and over-drugged and took the 70's as a decade to just mellow out, which is reflected in the music, but i think musicians in the 70's still knew how to tear shit up! so random, right? it was just on my mind so i thought i'd share! what's your favorite music? and have you done any DIY around your house lately?

p.s. mister dinosaur toes is now on twitter.

from film with love.

i swear i don't feel like i do, and i must not realize it, but i think i must talk about birds and flojo a lot. it seems like the first bit of concrete information people have about me is that i like birds, and if you're not a bird fan, please forgive me, for i know not the time i spend discussing my fine feathered friends. BUT, since we all know that i tend to gravitate toward all things avian, let's just go ahead and talk birds even MORE, and more specifically, FLOJO! i have a stack of pictures that i got developed a couple months ago, but i either haven't remembered to scan them in or i've been busy doing something else, although half the time i'm not sure what that something else is. behold, my beautiful baby (and some flowers too since i think i have a handful of other interests)...

and the deets in case you're wondering, i use 35mm film. and i'm a total film snob; i will fuss and cry and throw a fit if i have to use anything other than kodak.

february 16th is the best day ever!

because it's my baby's birthday! miss flojo, love of my life, celebrates her hatch day today! she's six years old, and honestly, i have no idea where the time has gone. from the moment i laid eyes on her, i knew i was in love. she was three weeks old, completely bald, and had barely opened her eyes. many would say she had a face only a mother could love, and maybe it's true, but the fact is, i love her enough for a thousand people and know that i've never seen anything as beautiful as her. so, happy hatch day to my best friend, my partner in pretty much everything, and my reason for getting up each morning!

speaking of birds, chris and i went up to the blue ridge parkway today (in the blue ridge mountains) to watch the banding and release of a golden eagle. it first came into the custody of the wildlife center of virginia when someone discovered that it was stuck in a coyote foothold trap. unfortunately one toe was severely injured and needed amputation, but only after the eagle was stabilized because of anemia due to severe blood loss. after about a month of recuperating, it was released today. because golden eagles are so rare around here, there were TV and newspaper reporters there, along with a pretty sizable crowd! i took my half frame camera to hopefully get twice as many pictures (but because i'm short and there were so many people, i wasn't able to get as many as i'd hoped) so i'm going to show you those soon!

i hope you've had a good hump day!

kitten update...and flojo, too!

If you remember from an earlier post, I became the mother to little kittens one Saturday afternoon after Chris discovered that their mother had been hit and killed by a car. Well, the babies that were once 4 ounces and fit in one hand are now about 13 ounces (it's difficult to tell for sure because they never hold still), six weeks old and so full of energy, just watching them makes me tired! The kittens are so cute and sweet, I find myself spending hours at a time just watching them play; I love the innocence of baby animals!

Although I may spend lots and lots of time playing with the kittens, that fact is, Flojo (aka Dinosaur Toes, aka Nutty, aka Kooky, aka Misses Baby) is my one and only, so I can't exclude her! Usually she doesn't like having her picture taken because she prefers attaking the camera, but today she was such a good little model!

I went to the pool this afternoon and spent time with my Grandma, and she force fed me cookies, brownies (no, I don't really like chocolate, but something about Grandma's brownies are so good...maybe the nostalgia) and coke. I got some sun, which can be difficult for me since I'm pale like an albino, but of course it was all almost completely gone by the time I got home! So, I'm going to do it again tomorrow with friends, and hopefully I'll have a tan to show for it! What have you done this weekend? Gotten in any swimming this summer?

two things i love around my home

I'd already picked out the two things I'd share with you this week, but then the queen of cute, Brittan, surprised me with a package, and I knew for sure that the other two things would have to wait; I NEEDED to share these! Last Christmas on Lifetime, Tim Gunn said something along the lines of handmade gifts not being thoughtful, instead, cheap. It stuck with me, and it really made me question things I've given as gifts, but as far as I'm concerned, I'd take a handmade gift ANY DAY because I know that love really goes into them!

The first thing I love is the sweet little needle felted owl, and green is my favorite color, too! The second thing I love (and it's definitely my favorite) is an original watercolor of Flojo, my baby. It looks just like her, with the tilted head focusing on something interesting! You can check out some of Brittan's amazing creations in her etsy shop, little owl arts!

Please don't forget to enter the photography print and notecard GIVEAWAY! And if you'd like to share two things you're loving, be sure to link up on Kassi's blog!

baby bananas

I do love fruit, and I quite like bananas, but I find myself only eating half before I'm feeling full, even with the help of Flojo. While browsing in the produce section at the grocery store today, I discovered something I've never had the pleasure of meeting - baby bananas! When I peeled one of these babies, Flojo did the usual, ran down my arm to get the first bite, and I couldn't help but giggle; we were enjoying a Flojo sized banana! Of course, I had to document the cuteness with pictures! Enjoy!