weekend adventure

this weekend i am hitting the road with some friends. 
i am going over the mountains...

*source

to a place of creativity and calm.  i plan on doing lots of this...

*source

and perhaps even more of this...

*source

i plan on spending a lot of time here...

*source

there will (weather permitting) be plenty of this...

*source

and this...

*source

i hope to make new and deeper friendships...

*source

and just take some time to breath...

*source

i leave tomorrow morning early and i'll be back on monday.  so excited for this trip.  see you on the other side.

music love

some songs and videos that made me smile lately.  im in the mood for new music.  have some you'd like to share??

first one comes courtisy of the new album i've been listing to: Steel Magnolia.  this song is cute, and i *heart* the karaoke scene. imagine that! ;)



the second is a band called Oh Land.  amazing vocals.  found via: ilikenicethings. 


Oh Land- Wolf & I (Live) from Oh Land Music on Vimeo.

lastly one of my favorites ever: Adele and a live performance of one of my favorite songs off her new album 21  (im soooo excited for it to come out.  the 22nd is the US release date)



enjoy some music on this wonderful wednesday. :)

house hunting

last night we met with our real estate agent Deb Adams.  she's been with us through this whole journey the last couple years.  she is kind and has been such an asset to us.  she's working the prop department in the Quincy production of My Fair Lady, but took the time out last night to show us a couple home in a new home development here in Ephrata.  we saw two different places with completely different floor plans.  both 3 bedroom, 2 bath.  here are pictures of the one we liked the best.

we love how open it is.  love that!!  the other place felt smaller because the rooms were so divided up.  and this one has a cluster of rooms (shown above) and then the master bedroom has a separete entrance off the living room.  there is also a lovely little sitting room just to the right when you come in the front door.  the morning sun will come through that window... im thinking photo studio in the making!  ;)

so now the next step for us is looking at all the paperwork.  its one thing to see the listed price of a house and quite another to see the breakdown of closing costs, taxes, etc.  once we see if its within our budget we'll move forward with making an offer.  so as of today we're waiting on paper work. 

is it natural to start planning how im going to decorate even before i know if this is our house??  :) 

she is wise

a favorite (and local) designer/photographer, Tonya Doughty shared this a few days ago. 
true that.

a new tool

for editing photographs.  :)  the lovely Kimberly Scott introduced me to this app called LoFi.  it is a super easy way to take your pictures from either your phone or your camera files and enhance them with all sorts of filters, different film styles and cool frame effects.  i've been having so much fun playing with some of my favorite pictures and wanted to share.  kim has some samples in this post on her blog too.  her amazing photography plus this app = amazing!!

this is what the app looks like on your computer:

you drag and drop your pictures and then play with the options on the side.  here are some of my favorites that i've created so far:

you can download the trial of this app HERE and then once you're convinced you love it (and im sure you will) you can purchase it for $29.00.  happy playing!! 

things i love thursday

hello friends!  its thursday again and i thought i'd take a break from my rough week and share some of the things i {love} online currently.

i don't have a flickr favorites collage to share, unfortunately....  i have been limiting my flickr viewing time lately.  just for my own creative head space.  sometimes its good to back away from all the "inspiration" and search myself for creativity.

but i do have some fun links:

• pintrest.  um...have you tried this yet?  its too easy, and viewing other people's boards is like having a portal right into what inspires them.  im just beginning to pin things myself, but i can see how this will be addicting/invigorating.  do you pin?? 
• tips for the Twitter-curious.  a fabulous free class/blog serious all about using and getting the most from Twitter.  i just love Julie's style of writing, and even though i've been on twitter for awhile, i learned so much!! 
• the vulnerability kit from Scrapbooking from the Inside Out.  okay, these are so my colors. bright pink, lovely raspberry and the perfect teal color.  great combos!  i just hope there is a chance to win a kit this month, cuz its not in the budget right now.  so so pretty!!
• Self-Love.  the wonderful Viv McMaster (teacher of the You are your Own Muse class) is doing a feature on her blog right now all about self-love.  i am enjoying her posts and this one in particular was special to me.  loved the line: " being overweight does not equate unhappiness.  at all."
• the way she speaks.  a touching must-read.  i promise!
• plant a tree.  the lovely rhi and a project i just love!  

i hope you're having a wonderful thursday. 

in search of a home

the process of finding and purchasing a house is a journey chris and i have been on for awhile now.  i've shared a little bit along the way...  when we thought we'd found the house for us.  when we moved in and started renting while waiting for the papers to process.  when our mortgage loan was approved.  and then when the whole deal fell apart. 

talk about a roller coaster ride! 

since the deal fell apart back in september we've just stayed renting the little house until we can find something new.  but now that the snow has melted (hopefully for good) and spring seems to be on its way, we are eager to proceed and see where this journey takes us.  and so i'd like to introduce a new little feature here on my blog:

with this feature i hope to share a bit of the process:  house hunting, the decision process, meeting with the lender, packing and moving and ultimately turning the house into our home.  im really excited about this.  i think finding a new place to live will help me move past the bitterness and hurt i feel still living in the house we can't have. 

so please, join me on this journey!  i would love any tips and hints you have to offer and advice on future posts.  i think this could be fun!

we have an appointment for next monday to look at a couple places in a development in town.  who knows...maybe a new house is the way to go.  i'll share how it goes! 

quote of the day

"The life you have led doesn't need to be the only life you have." 
-Anna Quindlen

I saw this quote on a scrapbook page recently... it really struck me.  and its not that the life i have led has been bad; not by any means.  what hit me was the fact that in this moment i have the power to define what my life is.  and maybe the new definition doesn't match exactly to what my life was before this moment.  but you know what??  that's okay.  i can begin here live this life. 

five really good things

 the ever inspiring and truly real liz lamoreux did a post like this on her blog and so i stopped to take the time to notice.  and let me tell  you, i super needed it today!  dealing with the public at my job has hit a max level of exasperation these last two days.

so now onto the positive.  my five really good things:

1. we got our tax return today.  its not huge by any means (not like the other tax return checks i've been cashing at work.  they make me sick.) but for us its amazing!  with it we are going to be able to pay of a loan we have.  and that will free up $150 a month to pay on other things.  this is pretty much huge at this point in our financial life.  and it will put us in even better position to proceed with finding a home of our very own.  im pretty much stoked! (wait...do we say that anymore?) 
2. i have been really....well, floundering i guess, is a good word lately.  mostly struggling with "what i want to be when i grow up."  yea, i know im 24.  but im still figuring things out.  and in an effort to make some strides in that direction i am so excited to share that i will be participating in the upcoming Indie-Business Workshop 3.0!!  taught and hosted by some of my "living a creative life" heroes, this course is all about "starting, surviving and succeeding in the world of independent creative business."  my heart is pulling me in this direction and i can't wait to begin. 
3. the winners of Can You Duet 2 on CMT put out an album and im pretty much smitten.  im not a huge country music lover (i have varied taste in music for sure) but enjoyed them on the show and their album is full of catchy and heartfelt songs.  my favorite on is called "eggs over-easy" all about being together and making breakfast on sunday mornings.  pretty cute.  i've been enjoying it today. 
4. its friday so chris stays up later than on weekday nights (cuz he gets up at 3:30am for work) and we're headed to wenatchee to have dinner with his parents at our favorite Italian  restaurant Garlinni's.  just thinking about getting out of town is making me sooo happy right now! 
5. sunflower seeds have been my constant companion this week.  im in a blissed out salt coma right now.  something about sunflower seeds just makes me happy.  so i indulge a little. 

hello february

wow...all of the sudden february has arrived.  i thought last year went by fast, but 2011 is just zooming by.  i thoroughly enjoyed the little blogging break i gave myself in january.  i definitely needed the time to begin things, finish other things, and decide to begin new things.  its been a time of self-reflection and introspection. 

so, i guess that's kinda vague.  want some specifics??  :)

• i have finished designing all the pages for my 52weeks book and can't wait to begin the next part of the self-publishing process
• i was asked to create wedding invitations for a friend who got engaged last month and that got my mind literally spinning with ideas of creating print items (along with other things) as a business concept
• i am working on a new blog design for myself and am wanting to learn as much as i can in the process because i want to start offering blog re-designs again.  i loved doing them in 08/09 and i would love to really develop my skills in design and implementation in blog interfaces
• as you might have noticed in the above pictures, i am blond again!!  and i think this is the first time since i was 16 that i didn't do a before and after picture... crazy.  it was kinda spontaneous and i totally needed the feel of sunshine after weeks and weeks of the fog and gray that surround me
• i wrote a few more poems to finish up my project and they are some of my favorites ever.  i am embracing the poet inside me again and it feels so freeing. 

so that's what's new with me.  how was your january??  what are your plans for february??