{ island adventures }

Last weekend Andrew + I finally made it up to the boundary waters for some camping.  We had great weather, zero bugs, access to a kayak, lots of fire wood, and great opportunities for some photos. Afterwards we talked about how peaceful and relaxing it was.  We might just make Bear Head Lake an annual travel destination for us.  All the photos from the lake and our day trip around the lake are here on my flickr page. 

{ Sneak Peek }

 

 This is Einstein.  He had a girlfriend Greta.  They were very friendly and bold.  I fed them gram-crackers, marshmallows and some water.  Einstein tried to carry away an entire gram-cracker at once, it was pretty hilarious watching him drag something twice as big as him through the leaves.

 

This was the view from our picnic on an island.

{ cacti }

In the midst of packing up to move this week/weekend we took a run to Lowe's, where I found these cute, and very cheap succulent cacti.  Andrew picked out 6 to go along with my 5.  We plan on planting them at some point and keeping them in our bathroom where it is nice and bright.  Of course I want to name them, but I did give Andrew the option to name his own.  He thinks I'm slightly crazy, naming everything ... anyways I got to name them all!!

These are mine,  they were all the beautiful ones.

These are Andrew's, they were all the most defined ones.

Lady + the Tramp

Beauty + The Beast

Jasmin + Prince Ali + Jafar

Snow White + The Huntsman

Cinderella + Prince Charming

life update

It has been a few days, maybe a week or so that I have not blogged any of my inspiration or design thoughts.  I mostly blog to share what design stuff I have been doing or thinking about.  I mostly do it for myself, but I know a few of you out there like to also know what I am doing from time to time.  

So...What have I been doing these last few days that I have not been able to blog?

Well there has been a lot of napping for a certain kitty

A lot of rainy days and thunderstorms <my favorite>

Celebratory flowers for a job offer!  Still waiting for a contract before I fully celebrate.

And a little more cuddling and knitting going on

This last weekend I also went shopping for some new shoes.
I loved the color!

And this afternoon I took a few pictures of all the foliage we've been getting from the rain -  more seen {on flickr}

Andrew and I have also been starting to apartment shop, which is just as time consuming and frustrating as job searching.  Tomorrow over lunch we are going to look at a place.  Hopefully things will start falling into place!

inspiration {spring & color}

The end of the week has come!  This week has snuck by me.  I have been working on a new project but it is not ready for turnover yet.  I have been teaching myself color theory.

Many of you may think {what more is there to know than "Roy G. Biv"?}

There is tons more! I've been researching the basics and how to apply it to graphics.  I've learned the difference in the technical terms of color theory. I've expanded my knowledge of how to use Photoshop color picker. I've had a few new ideas of color for my blog. And to make it even more fun I am developing a few graphics as reminders for myself & to put what I learned into good use  - {Learn  Apply  Execute Critique - Execute Critique - EC...}  Say "execute critique" 5x.  This was basically our studio regiment with a little inspiration, lists of deliverables, and all-nighters thrown in there.

So next week I will be spending one more week at home and will have lots of time to finish up my own list of deliverables for color theory.  On top of that I've added another project to my list. I want to create my own handwriting font.  I've found a few websites that explain how to do it.  I'm quite excited about it.

In addition I have taken some photos of the sprouting greens outside!
Consider this my inspiration for the week {flickr set < sprouts of spring}

inspiration {singing frogs}

This week I decided to travel home for my dad's birthday.  He turned 48 but for some reason I keep thinking he's 58, since everyone I know has older parents. Well it just so happens that for his birthday this year, we have had an early spring, or summer - I'm not sure what season it is outside.  Today it was 80, along with a high string of 70's this last week. Because of the weather all the buds are starting to come out {the rose bushes, tulips, trees, chives, cherry tree, mint and the over growing ivy throughout our rock walls.}  

My parents live in a log cabin on 3 acres of wooded lot with a retention pond at the bottom.  In the summer the frogs croak at night, and it's really quite pleasant to listen to them with the cool breeze coming in the window as you sleep.  This season they seem a little confused and have non-stop croaked day and night very loudly! I still find it very refreshing to listen to at night, and it's a great change from cars and people outside in the city.  Let's not even mention the star gazing potential at home.

As the sun was setting this evening I took a little video of one off the side of our deck in the front yard + a few pictures.

 

my first attempt at HDR photos

I love the soft sunset colors

I discovered a massive spider web!

you can see it better here. it's about 20 yards from the deck and 3-4 yards wide/tall

inspiration {aurora borealis}

This week's inspiration comes from nature and the beautiful colors in the sky. Both last night and today have been very exciting days to look for the beautiful colored photos.  I was really inspired and wanted to go "northern light hunting" this weekend.  Being in the city it's hard to get past the light pollution and the full moon we've been having.  But we've decided to wait till warmer weather and  go camping in Canada or near the boundary waters to find some this summer.  I hope to take some of my own pictures like this some day.

{As seen on flickr}

by *Jonina*

by timo_w2s

by Samantha Stuart