Homework!

I'm just about to finish up my last two classes at University of Phoenix for my Bachelors program. One of the classes I'm taking has me using In Design for my projects. And this past week our assignment was to make a magazine cover using a loyalty free photo or a photo that we'd taken ourselves. Of course I decided to make my magazine cover an interior design cover. So I took a picture of my dining room, and did some touching up in photo shop to make it look a little nicer, and then did this:

I used an old copy of Dwell I had laying around for inspiration. I think it turned out pretty good! I'm interested to see if my instructor agrees with me.

Heritage

I come from a family of artists. If you go to my Grandpa's house the walls are filled with artwork from his mother, aunts, grandparents. As well as art from my grandma's mother, aunt's, uncles, grandparents, and great-grandparents. 

My Grandpa originally went to school to become an architect. The other day I was at his house and asked to see some of his drawings. Of course I stole them and took them home with me so I could make copies to frame and put on my walls. Although I'm not as great of an artist as my grandpa... I do like to think that there are similarities in our style. (I'm the type of person who likes to think that pretty much every trait or thought is inherited.) 

When I took Drawing and Rendering classes in college my teacher pointed out that my best work was done when I used more loose lines (okay, scribbles) instead of trying to draw or shade with super linear liners. Although my grandpa's architectural drawings kind of have to be super linear, I noticed that there are scribbles in his shading and detailing.  

Here are my scribbles. It's just more fun to scribble. 

This is the type of thing my grandpa likes to draw now when he's bored in church. He explained to me that he starts by drawing some kind of line or scribble, and then adds on to it as he feels until it turns into something. He's pretty cool, my grandpa. 

Something

I've been feeling just a little bit blue today, and when I get blue I often have the urge to throw out everything I own, or clean, or organize. Today I had the urge to complete a major project in my house. Unfortunately, I have made a pact with myself that I wouldn't start any new projects until I have completed at least 1 old project. So even though I wanted to paint some doors white, I couldn't because my concrete floor in my dining room still has carpet glue on it. And since those types of projects are just too big to tackle on a regular work day, I decided to do some virtual projects. Now I have the satisfaction of reupholstering and refinishing my living room sofa and chair, as well as tiling and refinishing my fireplace. 

Here are my before pictures. And they actually are Before pictures because I've painted the room light gray and the baseboards white. There is also a different photo arrangement above the fireplace now. 

But I digress.

And After!

It may not be exactly what I want in the future, but I like it more than pink. And I had fun learning the new photoshop tricks that I used to complete this project. I also have that lovely feeling of satisfaction that I would have had if I'd actually done something today.

Christmas is Coming

It's almost time! I have finally finished my Christmas shopping, and am now working on wrapping presents. Here are some of my favorite Christmas decorations:

This is a ceramic Christmas tree from Scott's grandparents. 

I always wanted a Christmas village. And one day Scott's aunt gave us a complete city!

And of course, my beautiful nativity from my beautiful Grandma. <3

Sometimes I wish that the Christmas season would never end. I love being surrounded by the pretty lights and all of the little keepsakes that have been given to us over the years. 

Christmas music is more important than you give it credit for.

The spirit of Christmas, i believe, is highly dependent on music. Music sets the tone for just about everything in my life anyway. And this Christmas season is no different! Just like last Christmas, and probably every Christmas in my future, i've been listening exclusively to Sufjan Stevens Christmas albums. I find his holiday music to be much more in tune with the mood i feel should be present at Christmas time. SO to spare you (my 5 glorious readers whom i love so dearly) from having to listen to 99.9 and the same 10 obnoxious songs repeatedly, i've posted a link to my favorite of Sufjan's Christmas songs so you can have a little sample before you rush out and buy all the albums. Though i'm confident that will happen.

you're welcome.

The Ornaments

 Let's talk about decorating a tree for a second. Do you prefer the perfectly matched and fancy Christmas tree, or the messy sentimental one?

Personally- I favor the sentimental tree. Growing up, most of our ornaments were the ones that us kids had made in school for my parents and it was so fun to laugh and reminisce while we hung them on the tree. While my husband and I haven't been  blessed with children yet, we still value a sentimental tree. So our tree is filled with ornaments we've purchased together, or that were given to us by family members.

Each year we each pick a new ornament for our tree (usually after Christmas..) This year we are going to get a joint ornament and buy a new tree topper. Our star always falls off.

Here are some of my favorite ornaments:

I purchased this grasshopper from Anthropologie last year (my favorite store)

My mother-in-law gave me this ship ornament for Christmas a few years ago. (okay, it's also from Anthropologie...)

We have three of these tear shaped beauties. They belonged to Scott's grandma. I never had the good fortune of meeting her, but I feel honored to have something she liked on my tree.

My great grandma made this little pink star. It has been a favorite of mine since I was a tiny child. I had to beg my mom to let me take it with me when I got married. She has a few more, but this was her favorite too. 

Scott made this baby Jesus in his manger when he was really little. I think it's a peanut? At any rate, he brought it with him when we got married and it will be around forever. Unless it rots, or a dog eats it.

And I know you saw her yesterday, but here is our perfect tree filled with sentiment! 

Let the Holiday Season Begin!

Sometimes I feel like the Christmas season hasn't really started until we've found THE tree. When I was a kid this would happen soon after Thanksgiving because we used a fake tree (brothers have allergies... psh). So the tree would get set up within a week after Thanksgiving and we would decorate it and it would feel like Christmas for the several weeks leading up to that special day. 

Now that I'm married, and no longer live with allergy ridden siblings, we get the joy of using a real tree during the holiday season. This year we found the perfect tree at Home Depot. We may have made one of the employees cry when we took this baby home because he'd been eyeing it all week. (I say may have because... we left before we could find out) 

Here she is! Perfectly filled out, and exceptionally green. She's got almost a lime green quality to her branches. Almost everyone has asked "is it fake" the first time they saw her. But her beautiful perfume reminds us that she is not. And although she won't be up as long as some of the fake trees around town, she will make the season just a smidge more tangible as she emits her glorious scent. 

The other most important part of Christmas is the Nativity. Okay, in all actuality I suppose this should be my main requirement for the holiday since it depicts the actual reason for Christmas. Even though I admit that I subscribe, perhaps too much, to the commercialism of Christmas, I swear I spend just as much time sitting and looking at my nativity as I do at my tree. 

My mother collects Nativities. There was always at least a small nativity out at my house all year round, but at Christmas time the house was completely covered in them. I always loved helping my mom set them up. She even had several that were unbreakable so little kids could play with them. 

My grandma must have known how special nativities are to me, and she gave me this set the first Christmas of my married life. I have a plastic one from my mom too :-)