week 35

I am in love with paint.

This week Justin and I celebrated two years together, and we celebrated by closing together at work. I'm getting a promotion! And our lease for this apartment is up in October so we're looking for a new place to live.

Week 35/52

get excited

After a horrifically bad day, a couple of phone calls that either left me in tears or made me want to punch a hole in the wall, and a boyfriend who was late for work, I'm painting. I don't exactly know where this is going, but so far I love it. It's awesome what a $2 pack of paint brushes and $4 washable poster paints will do to improve your mood.

inspired by...

The team over at A Beautiful Mess continues to astound me every day. It has been so cool to watch Elsie Larson's brand and business evolve from a one woman show to now a whole team of awesome people helping her and her sister Emma Chapman make awesome things.

When Justin and I moved into our first apartment last October, ABM was one of the first places I went to for decorating inspiration. They have fun, simple DIY's, and as their team has grown recently they've added more complex things (think power tools). ABM also has fun recipes and cocktails, photo ideas, scrapbooking, fashion and beauty posts... I think if you name it, they've probably done it.

Elsie and Emma wrote their first book, A Beautiful Mess Photo Idea Book, last summer. I have yet to read it, but I'm positive it's awesome. Yesterday, their second book, A Beautiful Mess Happy Handmade Home was released in bookstores nationwide. So excited to support these awesome ladies and their business.

Elsie, Emma and their team have also developed a couple of photo apps! The A Beautiful Mess app is one of my favourite photo editing apps. I love being able to add fun borders or doodles to my Instagram photos, and it's made adding text to photos a breeze. They have also recently released the Party Party! app that allows you to make stop motion videos and also has more photo editing options.

Elsie & Emma and the entire ABM team are unstoppable. In this crazy Internet ran business world, I'm so excited to see where they take A Beautiful Mess.

Find ABM on the internet... website, app, shop, official instagram, Elsie's instagram & twitter, Emma's instagram

run with the wolves

"Your mother did not raise you with a wolf in your chest so you could howl over losing a man."

Man. I saw this quote on tumblr this week and it hit me right in the damn heart. My photoshop skills are rusty and parts of this image really bug me, but I couldn't sit and marinate with this quote any longer. It struck a chord deep inside of me and hasn't let go.

I will not howl over losing a man.
Instead, I will howl over my lost innocence. I will howl over unrequited feelings and bruised egos. I will howl over the friendship you replaced with silence. I will howl over stolen kisses on dark residential streets. I will howl over the back and forth, the do you want me--do you really really want me this time? I will howl over losing cells that held panic attacks and the breakdown of the purest love I have ever known. I will howl a blue chair in a therapist's office: the one that held all my secrets as I spilled them out into the world. I will howl over friendships lost to depression, anxiety, and PTSD. I will howl over a family torn apart by lies and deceit. I will howl over the strain that comes from growing another year older. I will howl over an anniversary that hangs over my head every year, reminding me of how much I have grown and yet how far I still have to go.

I will howl over all of these things, and not waste one second howling over losing you.

Week 34/52

similarities

I love both of these pictures. Taken 3 summers apart, and each of them have something special about them.

The top photo was taken on Saturday when I danced in the rain. I miss self portraits. Not having a tripod or a remote is killing me, so I balanced my camera on the hood of my car and hoped for the best. It felt so awesome to remember I can still take self portraits if I want to... I just have to get a little more creative with my set ups.

The bottom photo was the photo that got me out of a self portrait rut in 2011. It felt so freeing to dance in the rain for the first time since the summer before I left for college in 2010. The act in and of itself was something that brought my inspiration back and made me feel creative again.

It's funny how dancing in the rain brings out the best in people.

inspired by...

Kara Haupt... Where do I begin to explain the fabulousness that is Kara Haupt? I first discovered Kara on flickr in 2010, and I have been keeping up with her work ever since. Her Instagram feed is flawless, full of adventures with her roommate/best friend, photos of her cat #piplukehaupt, and lots of creative energy.

Kara is the hashtag master, selfie queen, and all around driving force of a bunch of inspiring and unstoppable things. Kara is a design student at Pacific Northwest College of Art. She runs a business called Classes Kara Made, where you can find ecourses about art journaling, photography and iPhone-ography. And then there's #babevibes.

"Babe Vibes is about women and the power of calling oneself a babe. It's energy, vulnerability, sisterhood, and identity. It's about empowerment on a babe's terms."

Babe Vibes is something that I have followed very closely from its conception. It's something that I 100% fully support and will promote every chance I get. Kara is a card carrying feminist, and every day she pushes the envelope against the patriarchy a little bit more and inspires me to do the same. From her rants on twitter to the work she does with Babe Vibes, to the notes she writes herself, Kara Haupt is a force to be reckoned with.

The #babevibes tag on Instagram is one I use every chance I get. I love that Kara has created a little community where women can come together and revel in our babeliness. For me, #babevibes means positivity. It means confidence and fearlessness. And there's a lot of red lipstick.

Kara inspires me to break ground within myself, to discover those places shrouded in shadow and then use those discoveries to make the world better.

Find Kara around the internet... website, instagram, twitter, Classes Kara Made, Babe Vibes

rainy day

Venturing outside in the middle of a summer rainstorm is one of the best forms of therapy you can give yourself. Getting soaked to the bone while dancing in the rain makes everything melt away for a little while. Much like when I went swinging, I felt free. I felt good. After a week of one thing after another after another, with Robin William's death, everything happening in Ferguson, MO, the Steubenville rapist being set free and being allowed back on his high school football team, and coming to the realization that the anniversary of my trauma is coming up... this week felt impossible. But if there's one thing Cristina Yang taught me, it's that dancing it out always helps. And boy did it ever.

Week 33/52!

around here

The 10 minutes or so that I sit outside and drink my first cup of coffee and snap a few photos is my favourite part of the day. It ensures that I start my day off on the right foot, and I really needed that push after an awful start to this week. I also got a little crafty. I painted a pineapple with watercolours and doodled with coloured pencil a lot. It feels so good to be making stuff again.

currently, august edition

drinking coffee in the morning & peach iced tea in the evening

reading eat, pray, love (and i'm almost done!)

drawing with coloured pencils and i forgot how much fun it is

painting pineapples like nobody's business

longing to see my best friend face to face

watching season 8 of grey's anatomy & american greed with justin

enjoying quiet mornings & getting up long before the alarm goes off

waiting so patiently for fall (i'm so over summer)

finding so much contentment in the little things

craving java chip and/or a fat elvis sundae from adrian's

wearing ugly sweaters to combat that morning chill in the air

wishing you all a happy thursday :)

inspired by...

Inspired by... will hopefully be a new series to feature people (bloggers, creators, instagrammers, etc.) that are doing things that I love. First up is Elise Blaha Cripe. If you've been reading my blog for at least a year now, you might know that I've made it no secret that I look up to Elise in so many ways. I go back through her blog archives almost monthly when I'm digging for inspiration, something to make me feel like creating again. She makes me want to create stuff that blows my mind.

Elise's Instagram feed is one of my favourites. When I mindlessly scroll through Instagram in the morning while I wait for my coffee to brew, hers is usually one of the first ones I check for updates. Her photos are so simple and yet they're so full of life and joy and awesomeness. Her #eliselovesmornings project inspired me to take pictures of my coffee every morning. She inspires me to look at my every day life in a whole new way. Her photos remind me that there is always something beautiful within the mundane.

In April, Elise launched her very own Podcast: Elise Gets Crafty. This launch became an absolute game changer for my Wednesday mornings (or if I'm up before the sun, I listen on Thursdays). I love hearing Elise talk shop, small business, and creativity. My favourite guests have been Elsie & Emma of A Beautiful Mess, Ann-Marie Espinoza, and Jen Lara. Often after listening, I make lists of everything that pops into my head, whether that list involves blog post ideas or new photoshoots or things I want to save for. This podcast has sparked something in my brain and I truly love listening to it every week.

Find Elise around the internet... blog, shop, podcast, instagram, twitter 

on my walk

As much as I love summer walks and soft golden light, I'm getting pretty excited for fall walks so I don't sweat to death by the time I walk home. And for pretty foliage. I think I'm most excited for that.

Week 32/52!

see all on my walk posts here

iphoneography

Lately, I've been more compelled to carry around and snap shots with my iPhone than I have been to lug around my real camera (which also means I've been super active on Instagram lately). Since getting my iPhone in March, I feel like I finally understand the mobile photography movement. The best camera you have is the one that you have with you, and I am definitely more equipped to shove my phone in my pocket when I am out and about than to hang my big camera around my neck or over my shoulder and risk the weird stares when I start taking pictures of flowers at the grocery store.

Since losing my tripod, my phone is also how I've been taking selfies. Timercam selfies are always a work in progress for me... it feels like my first 365 all over again, running back and forth to see if I got the right shot or need more practice and need to take another one. It's nice to feel like I'm experimenting with a different method of photography.

I think all in all this iPhoneography movement feels good. It's different for sure, but there's never anything wrong with that.

around here

This is what this morning looked like. I woke up at 8:30 (all on my own!), made coffee, got dressed, and sat outside on the balcony to enjoy the sunshine. I was listening to yesterday's episode of Elise Gets Crafty and I went back inside to grab my camera because I felt inspired for the first time in a long time. I felt inspired to use my camera. I felt inspired to write. And it feels so awesome to feel this way again.

week 31

I bought a circle mirror at Good Will last week. It's my new favourite thing. I miss blogging and taking pictures and feeling motivated to make something besides paper daisies.

See you guys soon. xo

Week 31/52