Hill Country Respresent.

[Illustration from Rudat's blog]
I've been really getting into this Moleskine business. I'm trying to force myself to draw something new every day.. I'll post those soon. For now, I want everyone to check out Susan Rudat's blog and see her illustrations. I noticed her amazing work on skineart.com and she happens to be living in Wimberly, Texas. The Hill Country is evident in a lot of her work. My favorites are the ones that involve the river and knotty trees-- definitely what I miss most about that San Marcos.

Here's my own photo from Hamilton Pool in Austin, Texas from a few weeks ago...

Summer Pop

Kate Spade tivoli cork clutch = Creative and classic. Love it.

Sounds for your Soul

I don't have much to offer today, but I can tell you that I can't stop listening to Theologins by Wilco, from their 2004 album A Ghost is Born. If you haven't heard it, cough up that 99¢ and purchase!

Freshly Picked Circles

From my Moleskine.

Sew Ready.

I hate the word craft. I think of stenciled country-cute white trash crap. Today's "cool" crafts are now called DIY projects.. GRROOD NEWS: Sew Crafty is Houston's first craft studio and sewing lounge and it's opening this weekend. Finally.. sewing classes in Houston that don't aren't taught by 70-year women. (I snagged the image above from their website).

The grand opening will offer free sewing and craft classes. I doubt I'll make it down there, but I do look forward to eventually going to a Gocco class. Gocco is a Japanese form of printing that I had no idea even existed until yesterday.

This cute card from Jules128's Etsy Shop was made from GOCCO:

and that is cool. Bye.

Tiny DIY Project

A cute thing I saw on Martha Stwart's website. It's simple.. just cover the tin with self-adhesive cork and label away. I'm just picturing a bunch of labeled tins inside the drawer of a super clean parson's desk that I don't have. I'd be so pleased with myself.

Who rides thy bicycle?

Every month I have a meeting at Fluor Corporation, a huge engineering, procurement, construction and maintenance organization. That doesn't mean much to me, but the huge campus-like offices always seems so drab and impersonal. To my delight I saw this floral bike at the bike rack and it warmed my heart that some goof rode this to work everyday.

Come Fly With Me...

I've been looking for something kooky and fun to put in my room. I have way too much yellow and decided that I need some blues thrown in there.. so I started looking for nautical maps and aeronautical trinkets and found this awesomely vintage looking hot air balloon and wall hook from NauticalSupplyShop.com. Not quite what I want, but it'd be so cute for a baby's room. I know.. gag me.

Vertical

Nope, this isn't a game of Get The Picture--I take random pictures of whatever catches my eye, and as I was browsing through my pictures from this week, I noticed most of them had a vertical stripe theme.

1. rain on my front porch
2. hanging blinds in my bedroom (yuck)
3. planted flowers downtown
4. gift bags in my backseat
5. part of the Niels Esperson building downtown...it's the only complete examples of Italian Renaissance architecture in Houston. Designed by John Eberson, the Esperson buildings were built in 1927 and 1941, respectively. They are elaborately detailed with massive columns, great urns, terraces, and a grand tempietto at the top, similar to one built in the courtyard of San Pietro in Rome in 1502 (wiki!)

Feeling Girly

I'm feeling extra girly today.. recognize the frills.

Also loving this jewelry by Lizzie Fortunato, two sisters teaming up to create nostalgic, toy jewelry and successfully selling it at high prices whilst receiving major press.

Frexican Fiesta!

A French/Mexican party for Jon's friend ( and now mine too!), Arthur, who after visiting Texas for a month, departed for France yesterday. A Frexican party is not complete without fajitas, cinnamon and cayenne spiced sangria, trifles, moustaches, margaritas, cocktail umbrellas, dos equis, Camus and of course great people!

We threw together the theme a night before the the bash and made the beautiful Frexican sign....a group effort enjoyed with Fat Tire.

You're Safe Today!

Dutch study shows Friday 13th not more unlucky

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Unlucky for some? Dutch statisticians have established that Friday 13th, a date regarded in many countries as inauspicious, is actually safer than an average Friday.

A study published on Thursday by the Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics (CVS) showed that fewer accidents and reports of fire and theft occur when the 13th of the month falls on a Friday than on other Fridays.

"I find it hard to believe that it is because people are preventatively more careful or just stay home, but statistically speaking, driving is a little bit safer on Friday 13th," CVS statistician Alex Hoen told the Verzekerd insurance magazine.

In the last two years, Dutch insurers received reports of an average 7,800 traffic accidents each Friday, the CVS study said. But the average figure when the 13th fell on a Friday was just 7,500.

There were also fewer incidents of fire and theft, although the average value of losses on Fridays 13th was slightly higher.

(Reporting by Tineke van der Struik; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Black Joe Lewis and The Honey Bears

Last night I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Black Joe Lewis and the Honey Bears show at Warehouse Live in Houston. I'd never seen or heard them before but let me tell you, they were so much fun! Just by watching the eight-man band, you can see they're having an effing blast on stage.

They opened for Mates of State, and everyone in the audience was like.. "hmm.. these guys are way better than Mates of State," albeit the two bands sound nothing alike. Would Mates of State have a song called Bitch, I Love You? If you're in Austin tonight, check them out at Emo's. It might be the last chance you get until they hit the summer festival circuit. Photo cred.

Bloody Good

My friends Mom had extra tickets to see a show, so Last night I saw Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street and it really blew me away. I think I would have had a hard time following the plot if I hadn't seen Tim Burton's movie a few months ago. No lie... I had a hard time following the movie. It takes me awhile to get into groove of listening to every Cockney'd word of a song.

I'm no Broadway connoisseur, but it was like nothing I'd ever seen. From beginning to end, all ten characters remained on the stage playing instruments while acting and singing.

This production of Sweeney Todd won the Drama League, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Revival of a Musical and was awarded a Special Citation by the New York Drama Critics Circle.

Even though music plays a key part of the story telling in any Broadway show, there's something organic about watching the characters emote themselves through instruments. I had to wrap my head around the fact that the actors had to remember lines, music, songs and choreography without LITERALLY skipping a single beat.

Aside from the strange concept of all the actors staying on the stage throughout the performance, the show was awesome. There was good jokes, interesting use of props and KILLER meat pies. GO SEE IT THIS WEEKEND!!!

Don't forget about yo' Dad...

Father's Day is June 15th.. we've got a Pre-F-Day Astros game and yummy lunch plans. Whatever you do, you'll need a card-- Here's some adoreable handmade cards from different Etsy shops, for purchase or inspiration. Because all Dads appreciate 'adoreable', right?

Bombus

Piggytails Stationary

Silhouette Blue

Papered Together

Get'chr Moleskines

After seeing entries from other peoples' Moleskine journals, I'm totally ashamed of the crap-crap I've been scribbling into my own. I need to remember to take my time, use color and focus on the details that make illustrations so charming. I found these at skineart.com, the first is by Mattias Adolfsson and the second, Jeff Dekal.

In other Moleskine news, I'm looking forward to purchasing one of the city guides, perhaps for... Paris? Oui oui! We'll see.

Sumo Hair

So I've got nothing today.. but last weekend my brother, Cameron popped his head out of the water and happened to look like he was wearing a sumo helmet.. so I had to share the comparison. I'm sure he's thrilled!

Fantastical Photos

BEST. IDEA. EVER....These photos were inspired by children's crayon drawings. They're so whimsical, fictional and sweet-- I love these use of tissue flowers and elaborate costumes. You could easily see all these photos in a super-hip glossy magazine. More at fishki.net

Plant Thereapy

Call me a nerd, but I was soo excited when I received a terrarium for my birthday. A couple months ago I saw something about the terrariums at the Ace Hotel lobby in Portland (ALL of its interiors are amazing).I'm out of town just about every weekend so I've had some trouble just keeping my mint leaves watered and alive, so this is perfect. I can't wait to add to it.. Thanks Chelsey :)

Dots

Yesterday we had brunch at Starlite, a swanky little joint in Austin's warehouse district. Food: excellent. Service:so-so. I had some bitchin' eggs benedict. They seemed short-handed, so I'd definitely go back some time.

Our table was directly under this sparkly chandelier and cool piece of art that looks like it was created with stolen paint samples from Home Depot. It's a neat idea... and I want to give it a try, but not use a depressed little girl's face.