Category: Personal

wiwo wednesday: chasing february warmth

clouds as quilt batting

I spent a long weekend in South Carolina warming up. Warming up from DC’s frigid temps, and warming up for Katie’s upcoming wedding! It was a relaxing and bonding girls’ weekend, with food-stuffed bellies and joy-filled hearts.

katie on the gray beach

Now that I’m back in the snow, I’m trying to savor the quiet, content moments of the trip. The grays of our last beach walk, the batting-like cushion of the clouds underneath our wings, the golden sunrises and the brilliant stars. I’m working on saving it all up, an inspiration cache.

silhouette number iron-ons

Of course, what’s a bachelorette party – especially in the Pinterest era – without a bit of DIY? My Silhouette and I have been having fun lately. I’ll be doing a lot of white-and-lacy projects in the next few months, and I can’t wait.

Marie started wiwo wednesday: What I’m Working On. I try and join her as often as I can to give you a peek into my creative process and my works-in-progress. See all my wiwo wednesday posts here.

a handful of pretty things

With only a slim agenda for the summer, it’s hard to stay inspired and motivated. I love to sit and read blogs all day on the couch… but what I’ll love more is having a few freshly made outfits or refinished pieces of furniture when summer’s over. So I’m trying to surround myself with pretty things, and I’m hoping they’ll remind me what I’m about, and the ways I prefer to spend my days.

andy warhol's butterflies, in the perfect frame

This Andy Warhol butterflies print has been keeping me company since sophomore year, when I bought it at the poster sale. I hung it on my blue wall beneath my orange measuring cups: these were my “art”. Now I finally have it in the perfect frame, and it feels so good. So good to still display this small piece of art that I love, and so good to let it grow out of its college “tape it to the wall” days.

ikea mirror covered in fabric discount stickers

I found this mirror in the closet. Why did I put it there??! I covered the IKEA “Malma” square mirror with these “closeout fabric” stickers back in high school. Maybe I didn’t think it was cool then? But now I’m obsessed. Thank goodness I have more stickers on hand… I’m almost done covering a second one.

60's yellow metal lamp

And this yellow lamp is too great. It’s metal, vintage, and bright golden yellow. I blogged it before in a thrifting recap (and looking back, the white frame is there too! i told you i’d use that stuff!). It appears to be missing a glass globe, so there was nothing to hold the metal shade away from the bulb. But rather than find a glass globe of the same size, I just chopped all the fabric off of an awful lampshade and have been using the wire frame in place of a globe! Perfect, and I love the light that comes from this guy.

Butterflies, bright colors, and making old things new again. Yes, I think these will be a good reminder of what I’m all about.

so much good news

sam graduated!

I graduated!

sam and brad graduated!

And so did he!

The best news: I’m finally done with engineering school. I received my BSE in Mechanical Engineering, with a minor in Art Studio: Photography. It was all so worth it, and I’m so excited to be an engineer. But I’m so glad it’s over.

The exciting news: I received the school’s Kennedy Prize for creativity in art!

The relief news: I passed the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, over which I had worried so. It wasn’t actually that bad.

And my favorite news… I’ve given myself a whole summer off before I start Real Life. I hope to work on plenty of projects and do a healthy amount of adventuring while I have the chance! It’s going to be a good three months.