proud big sister

Last Wednesday, Kayla had her Senior Art Show at UPS.  I couldn't wait.  Not only was I going to leave work early to head down to Tacoma...I was going to head down early to get Kayla's surprise. The second Kayla told me that her Art Show was more important than her up-coming graduation, I knew that the parents had to come.  They had thought that they should come as well, but had decided to just wait until the graduation to see her art.  But, everything worked out and they arrived in Seattle a few hours before the show.  This was about 2/3's of the surprise because my Uncle Bruce just happened to be in town for business and he was also there for the surprise.  SOO AWESOME!

I walked up to Kayla and then the parents soon followed.  She was in awe and there were TEARS!  Yes, we got the girl to cry!  It was so great, the best moment ever.  Then, my Uncle Bruce strolls by looking at her sculptures and she is surprised again.  She was speechless.  Finally, we made Kayla speechless...so wonderful.

We pulled it off...and it was better than I ever thought it would be.  Also, it was awesome to have family here and Kalin and I are looking forward to the weekends to come with family coming out from both our sides.

oh santa barbara

Sometimes that beautiful city, Santa Barbara seems like a dream. An alternate reality. But, it kind of is.

Kalin and I are planning a trip down there for a wedding in June and it so happens the wedding falls on the same weekend as the UCSB graduation. Oy. Not a hotel in sight has any sort of remote availability, via internet information. Not a campsite is open at El Capitan or Carpinteria State Beach. Hmmm. Only this fabulous city is not big enough to fill with proud parents and various other visitors to their city.

Craigslist was my next move...but they are all booked. Then, vacation rentals. Actually, I think I quite like the idea of vacation rentals. They are typically cheaper, have a kitchen(ette) of some sort and offer you a little bit more. This is where are search currently is hoping for some luck. We found that you can stay in someone's Yurt in the Montecito hills (...i am almost ready to commit to this sort of availability). We have some prospects, so it is looking as though all is not lost.

I love love love this city, but it is so ridiculous on so many levels: job availability, housing prices, hotels costs/vacancy...but any opportunity to go, I'll take it.

etsy bliss

I sometimes spend a good majority of my Internet time clicking through Etsy, my favorite crafty website. My favorite function is the pounce feature. You can see what has recently been purchased as well as what other items are available from the same seller. There is so much creativity and on this site that I get inspired with a million ideas. I have made a felt ninja similar to one on this site that is more in line with Kalin's crafty side.

Here is an idea of something that I would love to make, or something similar to this:

I've been really into felt lately, and this is a very cute little felt purse. So, perhaps this will be my next project, although I have a few in the works already. I should try to finish one first before starting a new project.

But, check out etsy, get ideas or better yet, BUY SOMETHING! I've made three great purchases so far.

darcy.

i love darcy. and i love darcy's blog. her blog will be much more enjoyable to read than my own. so, read darcy's blog because i love darcy.

good day, sunshine

This is a pic of Kalin's momma and popster who came up to visit us for the weekend.  We had an absolutely fabulous time.  The sun was out and it was warm, which made me oh so happy.  But, Keith and Julie arrived Friday afternoon and we both met up with them for dinner Friday night downtown.  We went to my absolute, most favoritest restaurant in the whole wide world, Purple Cafe and Wine Bar.  It was absolutely delicious.  All the food there is just full of incredible flavor and the service is excellent.  So, if you are ever in Seattle, you should grab something to eat from this place, or just peak in to see it's incredible interior.  Plus, it's called "Purple"....of course I would love this place.

But Anyways, our little apartment was super clean and we were able to show them where we lived (while we were still here).  It was fun to have people over and kinda entertain...we should do more of that.  But we made plans for the next day to take a trip over to Bainbridge Island, just a 35 minute ferry ride from Seattle.  It was absolutely the perfect day.  The sky was clear and we loaded our car onto the ferry and took off.  Bainbridge is quaint and has a few stores and boutiques on it's main drag.  We missed the little Farmer's Market that was happening, but I'll save that for the next time that I get out there.  Julie and I made our way to Esther's Fabic store, which was great and we each got some new things!  OH!  and we also ate at Cafe Nola, which I knew of from my favorite Food Network Host, Giada DeLaurentis on her Weekend Getaway show.  It was an awesome recommendation!

Kalin and I decided that we were going to cook for one of our meals while the parents were in town.  We kept it low-key with pizza and salad, but we all had a great last meal with them.  The next day we went to church and showed Keith the Locks, since he'd asked multiple times and got to watch a few boats go through.  Then they headed home to celebrate Trenton's 15th birthday.  

Kalin and I realized that starting with this past weekend, we have so much to look forward to in the coming weeks with family in Washington.  It is a great feeling to have something to think about and look forward to that makes the days and weeks go by faster and faster.  Next up: on Wed the 23rd, we will be viewing some amazing art structures from my sister Kayla for the opening of her Senior show.  She has been the biggest reason for me to move up here that it has been so wonderful to be close to her during these last two years of her college career.  I can't wait for the show!  Then, soon after, we'll have Taylor, Kalin's sister showing off her skills on the Soccer field!  

Life is good!  And we love love love love our families.  

adventures in letterpress

I signed up for a letterpress class for the spring and it has brought me quite a bit of joy. Ever since I was researching wedding invites like a crazy person, I found that I love the look of the "letterpressed" invitations: the deep impressions into handmade paper with a beautiful ink and some sort of whimsical ornament or design to complement the overall appeal. In the end, mine were ink-jet printed, but I got to put them all together, but I'd like to think they were perfect.

So, since that time, I have come across more information on how one actually is able to make letterpressed items. Briarpress is this all-encompassing site that has all the info anyone could ever want on the subject. There is even a classifieds for searching out these old 100+ year old machines that are required for printing.

Back to my class, it is at this fabulous place, Pratt Fine Arts Center, where you pay money, receive no credit and are able to just create. But letterpress is more involved than I thought. First, our wonderful instructor, Lisa, crashed my reality of my precious ideal letterpress wedding invites as she HATES it when the paper is deeply imprinted and filled with too much ink. That, is simply, not truly, letterpress. Ok. Whoops. Guess I was wrong. That's ok, I was just worried about operating this huge old machine that is slightly quirky and in the mean time, trying not to have my fingers crushed.

Alas, I decided to come in during the one of the open studios to finishing setting my type (tiny little letters in various fonts that you have to put in opposite and upside down of how you actually read it).

Our first project was business cards. I printed mine during the open studio time and was quite proud of myself...until Lisa got to see them in class on Tuesday. My spacing looked off, one of the "l's" looked like it was set higher than the rest and inked too much. This is so much harder than it looks.

And that is why I am happy there are no grades.

But, next time, I'm printing on fabric. And I'll check my spacing.

brrr and bikes

It's been a bit crazy with the weather here in the pacific northwest.  We had snow on friday, a rainy saturday.  Kalin and i decided that we would brave the calm on sunday to take our new bikes out for a spin.  Kalin had been riding my old mountain bike that was even too small for me and i was riding my purple cruiser whose chain keeps falling off.  Last saturday, after a walk to see the movie Persepholis, we couldn't resist the bike sale next door.  I found a friend in the blue fuji hybrid (being that I was not interested in a mountain bike and I am just not cool enough for a road bike...yet) and Kalin found a killer deal on a schwinn mountain bike.  we got ourselves some helmets and we rode home!  I proceeded to sell the kid bike of mine on craigslist!

But we weren't able to take them out until sunday.  I had wanted to take the Burke Gilman trail that runs right by our apartment further than I had.
So, we were off.  I love seeing new places, so it made for an interesting ride.  Discovering a new Metropolitan Market was quite nice and then 12 miles later, we arrived in Lake Forest Park.  We stopped by the book store there and got a sample piece of bread from Great Harvest Bread Co.  It was time to head back.  I was quite a wimp on getting back.  Aches!  But thanks to Kalin's encourgement, we made it back, a bit sore and hungry...plus quite a few rest stops on the way back.  It was a wonderful day!  Living up here, even if it's cold but not raining, you have to get outside.  Or else, it's cabin fever.  

I'm quite thankful for our new bikes...it will get us out more on the weekends (and farther than our feet usually take us).  We're thinking of taking them on the ferry next weekend to explore an island or the penninsula.   

Sunny days are hopefully coming to stay for good.  I hope!