my autumn to do list.

cutest to do list ever thanks to the always adorable boy girl party!

friday five #03

01. american mortals - so the fact that i take the train into philly every 6 or so weeks just to get my hair done should be pretty indicative of just how much i love it. heidi has been doing my hair for close to three years now, and i totally love her, plus it's just a fun place to be. and it didn't hurt that they brought me candy corn part way through my hair cut. not bad.

02. terrible yellow eyes - the oh joy! blog turned me on to this collection a couple of weeks a go, and a bunch of the pieces have been rotating as my laptop wallpaper ever since. cory godbey has created this project that hosts a huge bunch of different artists' work inspired by where the wild things are. there are drawings, illustrations, graphic patterns, collages and all kinds of other awesome pieces, and they can all be viewed on the terrible yellow eyes blog. here are some of my favorites. i also stopped in to urban yesterday, post-haircut and their whole middle floor looked like the forest in the book! i wanted to curl up in it, or at least take a bunch of pictures.

03. yellow bird project - okay, so i know we all love band shirts, but in my case they usually end up collecting in bins under my bed so i've been cutting myself off. but with an organization like yellow bird project in existence i am officially back in band tee buying business! ybp has some of their favorite musicians, singers & bands design their own tee shirts and then lets them pick the charity that the proceeds will benefit, an amazing idea that has so far brought us this rilo kiley tee to benefit free arts for abused children, this au revoir simone tee to help fund transportation alernatives and this guy from the dears to help the pediatric cancer community among others. and if you're still not sold on the band tee things, feel free to spend some time playing with the indie rock coloring book!

04. turning summer clothes into fall clothes - umm... so i went a little too crazy shopping in philly, but that point aside, one of my absolute most favorite things about fall is turning summer clothes into autumn friendly outfits with tights, boots, maryjanes & grandpa cardis! this process is especially fun, for me anyway, when it involves getting a cute summer dress on clearance and being able to wear it right away, no matter how crisp it's getting outside!

05. "the brothers bloom" - i think i gushed a bunch about this movie when i saw it at the alamo draft house in austin with kerry at the beginning of the summer, so i'll make this brief; rent this movie! i mean seriously, it was written and directed by the same dude who did "brick", so just do it! it comes out this tuesday and you will absolutely adore it! love adrien brody & mark ruffalo together, love how completely expressive bang bang is, love rachel weisz's wardrobe & obviously i totally love joseph gordon-levitt's cameo!

friday five #02

01. "home" by edward sharpe & the magnetic zeros - seriously, you need to listen to this song now. it makes my heart so happy and at times, i even giggle while listening to it. a.) it's catchy as eff b.) who doesn't love singing along in an accent? and c.) well i never have a "c" but you get the point. listen. love. get addicted. especially since this song is ripe for commercial use and i'm sure it will be overplayed and hated on soon enough, so love it while you can!

02. night owl paper goods - i got hooked on this little company back when kristina put their wood hello card in her sis kit, and when they came out with a wood calendar at last years stationary show i def swooned a little bit. well, this years stationary show has come and gone and night owl has graced us with another awesome release! my favorites this time around are their new "hybrid" cards that combine their printing on wood and scrumptious letterpress, like the otter one up there that says "thought i otter say thanks !" i die. also love the "2010 critter calendar" those are all printed on sustainably harvested wood! and their new calling card/place cards are making me wish i threw dinner parties on the regular!

03. empanada mama - ohmygodsoyum!!! kerry and i had lunch at this place monday afternoon before i caught my train back to jersey and it was unbelievable! we got 4 or 5 empanadas each and pretty much went to town. my favorites were the brasil & regaeton. unbelievable. (p.s. those are their catering prices, not per empanada, haha) i definitely want to go back and try like everything they make, and maybe even manage to save room for a dessert empanada next time.

04. gigposters.com - show/concert posters have come a long way from those high school show flyers and are an art form all of their own these days. i have this one hanging over my bed, and it's one of my favorites. this is the perfect place to search posters for shows you've been to, be inspired by amazing art, screenprinting & such and you can even buy some of the posters on the site. you can also find rad new bands to love on by searching the posters of some of your favorite bands to see who they've played with and then give them a try!

05. worlds colliding - one of the drawbacks of having close friends who live far away is that they don't get to meet each other often! but since kerry was in nyc for a wedding when i was in brooklyn to visit k we got to all hang out, and i love that they love each other! we got to party on the roof top, have brunch, talk about boys, walk chloe, go shopping and partake in the worlds largest burritos! plus, obviously we had to make the walk to bushwick country club for photobooth time!

lovelies...

i am constantly dragging stuff into iphoto for future perusal in times of dire lack of inspiration. sometimes i will find an image in there that i had completely forgotten about, but more often than not, these images live in the very corners of my creative mind for a little bit and then sneak up on me in a new, surprising form. these four lovelies are serving as major inspiration for a non-scrappy, but still crafty project that is spinning around my head right now. the colors, tones, textures, imagery and soft light that you just want to sink into will all hopefully come together into something really pretty.

p.s. the only downfall to the click & drag and my complete lack of iphoto understanding is that i don't know where these came from, other than that necklace which you can buy here. so let me know if you recognize where any of these are from and i will credit them.

autumn clothing cravings.

autumn is my absolute most favorite time of year, clothing included. i "need" all of this business from shopbop, red velvet, anthropologie, free people, joanna rutter, nixon, mod retro & others. why can't my funds be infinite?

friday five #01

since i love doing list entries so much and sometimes get blog stumped, i thought it might be a good idea to do an entry every friday with things i'm loving at the moment. so, welcome to the inaugural "friday five"!

01. "popular songs" by yo la tengo - i love when an album's cover art makes my heart go all fluttery, and a beautiful album cover like this one also serves as proof of that awesome new jersey/texas chemistry! yo la tengo done good when they picked an amazing sculpture from texas based artist dario robleto for their newest album, and the music's not half bad either, haha. almost all of these tracks are perfection on a cool rainy day, and my so-far-favorite is the 5th track, "periodically double or triple" which makes me want to shimmy dance with a cute boy in a dive bar somewhere.

02. the limited edition julie west chubby book - adorable name aside, check out the stats on these artist series books; 6"x6"and one & a 1/2 inch thick books packed with 10 artist designed postcards (one of which is a calendar), 100 lined pages & 150 blank sketchbook pages. julie west is one of my favorite artists of all time, to the point where my next tattoo is one of her pieces, and so i really can't wait to house all my thoughts, schemes, mix drafts and everything else for 2010 in this chubby book. julie's shop is sold out of them, but you can get them here, as well as some other places online.

03. jemaine & bret - seriously! how have i only just started watching "flight of the conchords" this past week? i know everyone loved jemaine in eagle vs. shark, but i'm a bret girl for sure, and now i am totally going to have to nerd out and check for him in lord of the rings as "elf escort" (or maybe not). i mean, how can you not fall in love with dudes when they do stuff like this in every episode? i'm only halfway through season one, but i die!

04. supayana - kerry's friend yana makes these amazing shirts by repurposing vintage & secondhand mens dress shirts into awesome ladies tops and sells them, and other cute pieces, on etsy! when i visited austin in june and kerry was doing most of my styling she threw me her "yana top" and a thick belt to go at waist level and i have to say i got a bunch of compliments! the tops are super comfy, super wearable, but still really interesting. and now, she is making these sweet shoelace necklaces that i can't wait to get my hands on, not to mention my need to own a "yana top" of my very own!

05. the romantics by galt niederhoffer - i absolutely adore this author's first book, a taxonomy of barnacles because it reminds me a little of a wes anderson style movie. so, when i saw she had a new book coming out it was hard to wait for it to come out in paperback, but it's here! i'm about halfway through and so far i like it a bunch. it seems less dense and quirky then taxonomy, but it's still enjoyable. i'll let you known how it turns out!

"bonfire party"

i could not fall asleep last night to save my life! but, at least i managed to remember quite a few of the ideas, plans & crafty schemes i came up with while i was lying there not sleeping, usually the ideas are all gone by morning! anyway, here's my "bonfire party" layout using pictures from my somewhat recent bonfire adventure with vee & k.

both of these papers were handed down to me from nicole, i've been meaning to play with them together for a little while now and these bonfire party pictures were the perfect excuse. i also loved bringing our old friend mr. campy out! i grabbed one of my all time favorite glimmer mists, "coffee shop" to cover the little maya road chipboard house, the "antique linen" distress stickles to make the marshmallows look a little toasted and i altered the shade of the fabric thickers to match that perfect american apparel tri-blend teal color by going over them with the (BG49) duck blue copic marker. i love having a little cache of mediums, tricks & ideas in the back of my head for these little instances!

anyway, lots to do today!

in the works...

lately i've been way more inspired to work on mini albums and layouts, rather than just cards, and i think it has everything to do with my recent ruthless clean out of my scrapping area. i think since i've gone through my entire stash somewhat recently i actually have an idea of what i own and finding myself excited about embellishments and papers i forgot i even owned, like those crazy old school junkitz letter stickers! 

since my return from austin i've been wanting to make my album about the trip, but i sometimes have trouble working on a project that i have such high expectations for.  i already knew i wanted to use the chatterbox wood veneer albums as soon as i saw it, and i have all my photos printed with the "color craft bonus picture" frame from big huge labs, but i've been having trouble deciding on just the right collection of papers. 

i always associate color combinations with certain people or different events and with this trip it was all about the modern/salmon-y red, avocado & teal inspired by a row of shops right off south congress street that i fell in love with on my very first day in austin. so, i have finally picked my final collection of papers (from 7 different manufacturers, yay!) and decorated the front cover of my album, now to work on the inside pages, decide between typing or printing my journaling and go on the hunt for some very large d-rings! wish me luck!

another spring.

maybe it's the gorgeous weather we've had here as of late, or maybe it's the fact that i played around a little with the "blue skies" collection or maybe it's just my desire to get more wear out of my floofy dresses, but lately i find myself craving a second spring. y'know, right between summer and fall. don't get me wrong, i love the summer/autumn transition with the crisp air, changing leaves, new boots & lots of tights, but i could really go for some soft shimmery light, blossoming branches and new beginnings right about now. alas, i will have to settle for flipping through some favorited spring-y images (from tumblr, blogs & such), having my windows open with some just-almost-crisp air and some beautiful end of summer sun. tough i know.