Fun Stuff

I had a fun weekend watched some movies and hung out with friends.
I watched one of my favorite Sherlock Holmes series, the BBC version with Benedict Cumberbatch, he plays the bad guy in the new star trek movie. I'm pretty excited to see it because of him.
I also found this awesome feature on the guys wardrobe on Gatsby, the costumer designer did a collaboration with Brooks Brothers.This is my inner fashion nerd coming out, I've always loved costume design.

I went to Target and I just happened to see this place mat on the summer end cap.

It was so happy and bright and adorable, it totally made my day. I'm kind of an octopus fan. There is a fun turtle print too.

I got to hang out with my friend yesterday, and she knows I love the bake and got me the cutest book!
I've seen it in the store before but I never would look at it, I thought it was all cupcakes, clearly if I had read the title I would have known better lol

It uses a lot of candy and pre-made items, but I think it really enhances the presentation of the baked goodness and they have colorful instruction pages and templates. I'm really excited to get started.

so cute!!!

 You should definitely check it out they have a lot of the book available to look at in the preview mode on Amazon.

We've been lucky to get another crop of broccoli before the weather gets too hot. It's so nice to have fresh veggies from the garden. They taste so tender and fresh! I forgot how quick and easy dinner is  when you're making veggies, just slice and steam. We've even got full size potatoes this season, I'm pretty excited that all our plants are doing well. It will be interesting to see how the green beans go....

Ok so that's all with me lately, I'm off to work on some drawing projects, Happy Tuesday to you :)

Top 5

Here's the latest random assortment of things I'm excited about lately.

1. Summer Movie Season
Well summer movie season is definitely upon us, I saw two movies this past weekend. The Great Gatsby which was good, even though it's not my favorite story. Although my favorite parts from the book were also my favorite scenes from the movie. Like when Nick first meets Gatsby at his party and when they have tea in Nick's tiny little cottage. Also the costumes were great, and the touches of art deco, I especially loved the way they incorporated Gatsby's initials into design.

I also saw Iron Man 3. Which I LOVED!! Yes I am sucker for Robert Downey Jr, and I love the way he portrays Tony Stark as a sarcastic, quick witted, engineering genius. This third installment doesn't disappoint, it supplies twists and turns that you do not expect from a three-quel, and it's fun to see the characters back together again, not to mention the new designs he's come up with. If you thought the 2nd movie was horrible I agree with you, but don't let it stop you from enjoying this movie. These two movies have got me super excited for July when basically everything else comes out.

2. Awesome Catcus
I have had my eye on this ocean inspired coral catcus for quite awhile, I first saw it in the floral arrangements at Northpark a couple years ago. I have seen them at a few places but they were always kinda pricey, and my track record when succulents are a little spotty. But when I saw this one for under $15, I jumped at the chance to buy it!

so happy :)

3. Polia Pillin
I was watching Antiques Roadshow and discovered a Polish couple who began making pottery together in the 1930's and became more established in later decades. The husband William, would throw the vessels for his wife Polia. She would use the pottery as her canvas and paint beautiful birds, horses, and portraits of dancers and women. Her technique is something I have never seen before, I am so intrigued by her use of color.

birds

 

love the varied colors

portrait

4.Stuffed Animal Book by Abby Glassenberg
Abby makes awesome stuffed birds and animals, she's very talented and sells pdf patterns of some of her stuffed creations. Now she's tackled all sorts of construction issues and design details. I'm pretty excited to explore everything she's addressed in this book. See more adorable videos of animals from her book here

5. Netflix Mother's Day packaging. This is just me geeking out over cool design concepts. I think it's always a design challenge to only use 2 colors and create a powerful statement. In this case the white print is used on the already existing red packaging. I love how the cute imagery from Brave pops out & grabs you, so cute and clever :)

What are you excited about lately?

Mad about Baz

I'm very excited to see Great Gatsby because Baz Luhrmann is one of my favorite directors. He's very theatrical and eccentric and I think you either love him or don't care for him too much.
To say that I am a fan of his is a small understatement, one of the best surprise birthday gifts I ever received was his Red Curtain Trilogy DVD set which includes Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge. I'm not much of a girly girl but I do love a great love story and Baz knows how to tell some awesome ones.

I remember when Romeo and Juliet came out in 1996, I watched it a couple years later and was forever changed, the more I watched it the more I grew to love Shakespeare and the more I loved Baz's sense of style, interpretation and presentation. He's seamlessly blends humor, tragedy, and love, I think that's what admire most about his movies. Well that and his amazing attention to detail..... and they way he can direct actors to give amazing, type cast smashing performances. Most girls will say the love Leo because of Titanic but I love Leo because of his performance of Romeo.

I love that he kept the original text, but everything else is modern, I love the costume design, the soundtrack, the cinematography the whole package, he thinks of every little detail and how it will add to the story. Below is one of my favorite scenes when they first meet.

Moulin Rouge is boisterous musical with modern pop songs and original songs too. Who would have thought Nicole Kidman and Ewan Mcgregor could sing? I think they are absolutely adorable together and Baz does a wonderful job putting his stamp on the musical genre. My favorite song performed in the movie is "Come What May" in the finale scene. But I love the instrumental song played in the credits "Bolero" and Rufus Wainwright's song "Complainte De La Butte".

And last but not least his first of the Red Curtain series, Strictly Ballroom, a more traditional tale out of the three movies, but no less endearing and entertaining.  Strictly Ballroom explores the competitive and flashy world of ballroom dancing and two unlikely partners who want to put their own spin on things. What can I say it's his first movie as a director and it's really sweet and I think it shows a lot of his personality and his background.

So are you a Baz Luhrmann fan? Are you excited to see Great Gatsby?

The little things

Going through difficult stressful times is never fun, but lately I've been trying to focus on the little things that make me happy.

I chopped off my hair and got new earrings

ombre purple awesome-ness

Because of our mild winter, flowers are exploding with blooms, some things haven't bloomed in years.

snap dragon

an odd bloomer the butterflies like

happy hydrangea

poppy surprise :)

I got to hang out with my friend and go fabric shopping for some new projects, that I will hopefully work myself up too.....soon :) It's so fun to geek out over fabric with someone that loves making stuff too.

Also we have Killdeer birds in our parking lot at work, they come around this time of year, even though they also call the beach home. I was pleasantly surprised to see babies in our parking lot this year, they have the cutest little walk and they shake their little tails. Yes, I am easily amused.

SO FLUFFY!

And this weekend I got to see Dirt's latest succulent offering. A mossy succulent turtle!! So freaking cute :)

Hope you are having a good week and enjoying the small things :)

Weekend Wrap up

This week was pretty busy, crazy and difficult. You know when sometimes situations aren't so great and you're frustrated and then it gets incredibly worse, and you think to yourself, "Wow, I guess things were not so bad before." That's where I'm at this weekend, it's been a struggle to focus on the positives but I managed to stay productive.

 I watched a food documentary, Step Up to the Plate, about French chef Michel Bras passing his restaurant down to his son. The restaurant is in the French country side but it's a very modern building and so is their approach to food. I'm really interested in chef's techniques and the cinematography in this film is amazing. The country side is so beautiful and it's entertaining to hear their story and watch them create.

I started reading Mindy Kaling's book. Her show has become my new favorite on Tuesdays. If you are familiar with her at all and like her work, I think you would probably like this book, her language is a little more colorful than on tv, but her take on things is pretty hilarious.

I've been trying to get back into painting, I bought some smaller canvases, I thought maybe I could do a series.  Here's the first one :)

Since I am a bit of a computer nerd, I was pretty excited to experiment with the new pattern tool in Adobe Illustrator CS6, for anyone that does graphic work this tool is a game changer! Basically before you had to draw the pattern piece once or enough for a repeat them build the pattern and duplicate it, it's hard to get sprawling patterns to match up, but this handy tool does it for you.
This makes me so happy!!

 I see Spoonflower fabrics in my near future! Here's some patterns I've been playing with.
Happy birdies and flowers I'm kinda obsessed with gray and navy mixed with pastel colors.

Earlier this week, I attempted to make a key lime pie, I used the wrong kind of milk, sweeten condensed is what you need, I was quite dejected. I really wanted pie, so I decided to correct my mistake and try again, with farm fresh eggs, I plan to have some for breakfast YAY!

So yeah, things could be better, and sometimes I feel like wallowing but getting things done is so rewarding. I'm going to keep focusing on the positive and start baking and creating more often.
How was your weekend?

Design Inspiration: Oilily

When I was in fashion school, I spent a lot of time at the best mall in the area, looking at all the stores and exploring all that fashion had to offer. On one of my trips, I discovered a Dutch based store that specializes in beautifully bright designs & prints for kids and women. I love how fun and whimsical their designs are and how functional they are at the same time. My favorite thing about their design aesthetic for children is it's not mini versions of adults clothes: they express the humor and whimsy of childhood in bright patterns. The clothes celebrate childhood and that's what is so wonderful. I wish more American design companies had this mindset, but thanks to the internet we can discover and enjoy awesome design from all over the world.

Speaking of which, I'm head over heels for their children's bags: bright, fun and functional.

Whale bag

fish backpack

truck lunch bag

and my favorite the owl bag

The prints are so happy and let's face it they have the cutest models ever!

love this outfit down to the cute little  boots

The boy stuff is cute too!

 

Their products for Women are of course more adult but the prints are still lovely and saturated.

Check out more here. Who's designs are exciting to you?? I 'd love to hear from you.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday!

pictures from here and there

Floral Sweater

It feels like I haven't blogged in forever......work has been really busy and this week has been devasting between Boston and West, it's reminded me to be deliberate in action and let the people I care about know how much I care every time I see them.

On a lighter note, I've been meaning to write this outfit post for quite a while and share my favorite spring flowers... the ranunculus, it kinda reminds me of a poppy mixed with a rose....they are kinda finicky and I have not really had success with them in the past, but this year we bought bulbs at Costco (yes that's right) and they came up without a problem :)

 Here is my awesome new sweater that I stumbled upon at where else but Target. I really like this floral print that they have this season, it's available in traditional items like tops, pants and bags. I think the print really gets showcased in the unexpected construction of the sweater. It's traditional from the front and spring time fun in the back.

Sweater: Target Merona brand(sorry it's no longer on the website, similar here) Top: Gap(similar here) Capris also from Target on sale now. If you really like the floral print, they have it available in other items.

my happy purple irises

I hope everyone has a great rest of their weekend :)