enJOY it

project life : week 21.

May 27, 2012

Week 21 and I love this project.

(click to enlarge & the image above will be [somewhat] clearer)

Nothing too exciting. (Except photos of tomatoes one and two.) Quote this week is a rad one I found on Ali's blog last week.

Slipped a few of my new moo.com mini cards into a pocket and added a trimmed piece from a letterpress calendar (from 2009 – I want to say). That "HEY! So nice to see you again" card came with my moo order.

(You might notice the strange purple stripes on a few of the photos. My printer ran out of ink but I didn't want to waste them – into the book they go.) More information on that pizza and the decorating photos coming soon. 🙂

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

supplies / Paper Source circle label, Martha Stewart & Avery labels, Crate Paper patterned paper (c/o Scrapbook Circle), Ormolu camera button, Elle's Studio yellow journaling spot, SMASH number brads, Design A page protectors (which are available in this variety pack), Clementine core kit, Bebas quote font. I use a Fiskars corner rounder (it's not amazing, but it's lasted the longest of any corner rounder I've ever had). I am using a Zig Millennium 0.1 pen and Recollections glossy marker throughout this album.

Confused by Project Life? Start here. Have a question about how I am tackling this project each week? Check here. See all my Project Life posts here.
around here.

May 25, 2012

Good week, busy week.

Busy like a bee, you could say. And guess what : we have bees! Well, our wall has bees. Tough to tell if it's an actual new hive or if it's just scout bees (I am learning more and more about bees by the day). I woke up yesterday to a strange buzzing, but couldn't find the source. Came home from a few errands and there were seven bees inside the house, flying around the window. "Odd." I thought. I called a bee remover guy and he said they might be coming in through the fireplace. Went outside and checked the chimney (because apparently there should be an old bee flying around the entry source) and didn't see much. "No big deal, the ones inside will die" said the bee guy.

Awesome. I decided to wait them out. Paul came home for lunch, I showed him the seven bees at the window (which were now closer to twelve) and we went outside to look again at the chimney. Still nothing. And then Paul spotted a vent on the outside of the house that was swarming with bees. Ugh. My bee bravery, "wait them out mentality" went out the window. I called the bee guy back and we shut the door to the bathroom (that connects to the vent). Bee guy still thinks they are scouter bees, but he's coming out this morning to take a look and remove them (humanely! California needs honey bees!).

Thankfully, I am not scared of bees and these seem to be docile enough, but a swarm in the walls of my house?! Totally creepy. Also, dead bees all over your floor? Totally creepy.

But in happy news … I finished up the minibook I put together as a guest designer in Maggie Holmes Pieces of Me class. It was such a fun challenge to try on a different style and make it mine. My mini cards from moo.com came and I love them! The garden is doing so well! We should have lemons soon! And I saw our first tomatoes!

Life is good and soon to be bee-free. Happy weekend.
taking a minibook on the road.

May 24, 2012

Paul and I head to Palm Springs this weekend (so excited!) and I'm taking my summer book (with painted cover), some favorite pens, striped washi tape, a few labels & some cute clips.

I was anxious to get started last night though, and I added some wrap-around labels with "goals" (I know – geektastic) to the first patterend page. I plan filling this whole album with photos and text from this trip, but am not sure how much of it will actually be tackled while on vacation and how much I'll complete at home. I love Project Life so much, but I'm looking forward to documenting this trip in a totally different way.

Want more minibook inspiration? Here are two favorite minibooks I made while traveling – NYC & Kauai. And this is my favorite minibook of all time from our honeymoon to Bora Bora. Interested in filling in your own summer book? Shop here.
book report.

May 24, 2012
Recently read :

The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau. Chris is an online friend of mine and I was excited to take his newest book for a spin (I loved The Art of Non-Conformity when I read it a few years ago). This book is a collection of interesting case-studies, peppered with fantastic no-nonsense small business advice. It's exactly the sort of book I should have read in college. (Confession – I LOVED reading case studies in my business classes. Second confession – I would love to go back to college and take "entrepreneur" classes – but for no grades.)

Vanity Fair magazine. Not sure what's going on, but this magazine I have subscribed to for the past year is really nailing it right now. Love the long articles that take over an hour to read. That's how magazines should be. I want a magazine that helps me forget where I am. Recently I was fascinated with the article in the May issue about the Costa Concordia cruise ship that sunk and the long "Friends – 10 years later" oral history interview. (BTW – how has Friends been off the air for TEN YEARS?! oops! Just EIGHT YEARS. But still…) I am so looking forward to diving into the June issue (with Marilyn on the cover) this weekend.

Divergent & Insurgent by Veronica Roth. Books 1 and 2 of a young adult dystopian trilogy. (Think Hunger Games.) I read these on the recommendation of Kayla Aimee and totally fell through them. Super easy reads, but still well-written, interesting and action packed.

On deck :

Sunset magazine. Signing up for a subscription after paging through a few issues.

Happiness for Two by Alexandra Stoddard. I picked this up at Anthropolgie and was intrigued. I will absolutely share how it goes.

The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp. Ordered this one on the recommendation of Ali Edwards. It appears I am in a self-help/creative learning mode at the moment.

Any suggestions for fun fiction books I should check out? I've heard great things about the Art of Fielding…

Other posts you might enjoy:
take a hike.

May 23, 2012

Since our trip through Big Sur at the beginning of March, Paul and I have been trying to work more hikes into our weekend routine. We have never had "weekends" together in the traditional sense (first I worked retail and then Paul's intern schedule often had him at the hospital for weekend shifts) and we're taking advantage of the time. Sometimes coming up with things to do that get us out of the house but keep us from spending money is challenging.

Enter hiking.

We're living in a pretty cool hiking area right now – just a short drive south gets us to Malibu and a short drive north gets us to Ojai and Santa Barbara. We usually just check yelp! for hiking trails (we check yelp! to find everything) and in April made it to Point Mugu State Park & Circle X Ranch.

This past weekend, we hiked the Sulphur Mountain fire trail in Ojai (pictured above) and loved it. We'll be going back to all three for sure and might try Rose Valley Falls next.
40 pizzas / pesto chicken.

May 22, 2012
pizza no. 2 : pesto chicken.

occasion : the basil plants were due for their first major trim.

crust : our whole wheat usual.

sauce : pesto! This time around we had more than enough basil so we skipped the asparagus, but normally we follow this recipe (and love that we get extra green veggies).
cheese : jack & feta.

toppings : kalamata olives, chicken, onion.

thoughts : really fantastic. We've done this version a few times, but never using our own garden for the basil. I would recommend adding the feta for sure.
better than candy.

May 21, 2012

As I wait impatiently for my tomato plants to produce something we can eat, I'm pretty excited about the heirloom tomatoes we found at the farmer's market yesterday. I could eat caprese salads every day of the week.

The "recipe" is so simple : slice up a tomato, add some good cheese and basil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper & drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I told Paul if he was still on deployment, I'd consider one of these salads and a plate of brussels sprouts a pretty fantastic meal around here. 😉

both photos taken on the iPhone & processed with the PictureShow app.
photo walk : round.

May 21, 2012

I should have mentioned last time, you are invited to play along. Use my prompt or make up your own. Share on your blog or keep them in your camera. Take one photo or hundreds (actually, try for somewhere in between). This is a fun experiment that encourages you to look at items differently and keep the camera moving. I highly recommend it.

Hate the round idea? Here are some other photo walk prompts I plan on using in my neighborhood and on our travel adventures this summer : neon, stripes, blue, yellow, pattern, light, pink, text, corner.

All photos this time around were taken with my Canon Rebel xsi at 11:30 am. ISO was set at 100. Aperture was at 5.6 usually. See all photo walk posts here.
project life : week 20.

May 20, 2012

Week 20 and I am still in love with this project.

(click to enlarge & the images above will be [somewhat] clearer)

More and more photos. A ton this week were taken with my phone. And lots of writing – four decent chunks of text in the main pockets, plus a text-heavy insert this week.

My insert this week is a trimmed down We R Memory keepers page protector with the "what we've learned" text from this blog post.

The photo at the top is actually from April, but it worked here. I added a you're my favorite stamp to an Ormolu file tab tag.

The backside of the insert holds three instagram photos from Friday night – no real reason for 'em, other than I liked the three of them together and they were already squares.

Photo heavy left page. I included some text about the 40 pizzas project and a trimmed down summer book cover. To create the date card, I wrapped a white piece of cardstock in washi tape from Freckled Fawn. In addition to the normal date sticker I added a you are here stamped sticker.

Those basil photos are really some of my favorites.

Pretty simple right page too. I wrote some personal journaling (it's blurred because it's too personal to share on the blog, not to personal for a friend or family member who actually looks through the album) on that diagonal patterned paper c/o Scrapbook Circle. And I added more journaling right onto that hillside photo and text about our date night next to that instagram photo.

Cut a circle journaling spot from Elle's Studio (have you seen their cute new site?!) and added it to a photo of our sweet lemon tree.

And that's it! Can we talk about how much I love photos?

supplies / Paper Source circle, Crate Paper patterned paper (c/o Scrapbook Circle), Ormolu "Friday" button, file tab and "favorite tag", Freckled Fawn washi tape, Banana Fish Studio heart flap, Elle's Studio circle journaling spot, stamp shop stamps, Design A page protectors (which are available in this variety pack), We R Memory Keepers photo protector, Clementine core kit, Bebas quote font. I use a Fiskars corner rounder (it's not amazing, but it's lasted the longest of any corner rounder I've ever had). I am using a Zig Millennium 0.1 pen and Recollections glossy marker throughout this album.

Confused by Project Life? Start here. Have a question about how I am tackling this project each week? Check here. See all my Project Life posts here.
around here.

May 18, 2012

Busy desk, busy kitchen, busy brain. I am in the strangest, most exciting work period of my life so far. Riding the wave like it's my job and really, really enjoying it.

The past three weekends have been packed and I am looking forward to just settling into this one with no plans or obligations. We might go see The Dictator. We might go for a hike. We will absolutely celebrate happy hour. There will for sure be leisurely coffee mornings and we'll pick up another box of strawberries at the farmer's market. I'd love to take a few photo walks. I have a decent bit of fabric that is waiting for me to find the right neon paint (or maybe neon piping?).

Happy weekend. Hold on tight, May is flying.