appreciation week - day 4! it's not what you know, it's who you know!

i TOTALLY appreciate my friends and family...most of you are pictured below in no particular order!
thanks for your love and support over the past year - my best in 2012! 

appreciation week - day 3! music makes my world go 'round!

i don't have a TV, but i have 6.6 days of music in my itunes library and a healthy addiction to my pandora iphone app. AND although i have zero musical talent and questionable rhythm, listening to and appreciating music is a major part of my life every singe day. except jam bands...eww...i hate jam music. 

here are a few of my recent favorites:

appreciation week - day 2! the library!

i totally TOTALLY appreciate all libraries, but since my august move i have been a patron (and more recently a volunteer) at the parkway central branch - the main library of the philadelphia free library system.

appreciation week - day 1! the schuylkill river!

i am using this last week of the year to highlight some special things that i appreciate.

happy holidays and all that jazz!

i am going to take a break from the blog until next tuesday. have a safe, festive and cozy weekend!

(image)

DIY thrusday...envelope sachets!

ok, you may have noticed my DIY trend...that the recent thursday posts are a mild attempt to use up my HUGE paper supply. baby steps! to that end, i used my envelope templates* from paper source for this project, but you can use whatever regular envelopes you have on hand. oh, and i got this project from an old issue of martha stewart magazine. 

a picture & a poem...reflecting

LXXXIV by emily dickinson

------------

we learn in the retreating 

how vast an one

was recently among us.

a perished sun

endears in the departure

how doubly more

than all the golden presence 

it was before!

(image: jessica viscius)

(poem from my copy of the collected poems of emily dickinson, 2003)

getting fantastical

artistic inspiration: megan whitmarsh

color work station, 2009

soft sculpture, 2008

yeti explosion

WEEKEND REVIEW - burr...i finally had to turn my heat on!

(not only did i get some quality time with my BFF bri this weekend - i also got to see a talented local band play on saturday: the great unknown. check them out.)

weekend distractions: AV edition

1. first person arts story slam at the philadelphia museum of art!
i like stories and i like when people tell them publicly...so i think that i am going to enjoy myself tonight at this special event (during 'arts after 5' at the PMA) where the theme is GIFTS.

(the story in the video above is pretty funny and the guy is from MN...awesome! i had a job where i had to go to the dump more than a few times...let me just say right now that it was not a romantic place.)

DIY thursday - pinwheels

want to use up some of that extra paper around your place...while also creating some festive new year's decorations? look no further than this pinwheel project!

a picture & a poem...tropical daydreams

(can i tell you a secret? i wish that i could escape to a tropical island from now until january 2nd...skipping all the hustle and bustle to instead leisurely read under an umbrella on the beach and float in the ocean. ahhh...to dream)

(image and poem via pinterest via alyssa nygaard via source)
(i heart ee cummings)

give a little...

let's be honest...you don't bat an eyelash when you buy a $14 cocktail or a $25 t-shirt. why not join me in embracing the spirit of the season and throw a couple of extra bucks toward worthy organizations doing some hard work. here are my favorite philly non-profits and a few global do-gooders.

weekend review...AKA my shins say HELLO!

WEEKEND DISTRACTIONS - zooey, zen and ice

sadly, i am not on the podium with these 1981 novice freeskate champions...they all look so happy!

1. a visit to penn skating rink:
even though i grew up in minnesota and actually own a pair of ice skates (and can skate backwards) - my chances to hit the ice often boil down to a single winter experience. i may sound like a skating snob, but a groomed rink makes all the difference, which is why i am going to skip a visit to the river rink at penn's landing and instead head over to the university of pennsylvania arena. they have open skating for a whooping $7 on the weekends. time to lace up and re-enact my stars on ice routine!

books i read last month

i usually read fiction, but last month my book selection was heavy on the non-fiction side. without further adieu these are the books i read last month:

a picture & a poem for december

wow, it is december...it is winter...when did that happen?

winter winds by les murray

-------------

Like appliqué on nothingness
like adjectives in hype
fallen bracts of the bougain-
magenta-and-faded-villea
eddy round the lee verandah
like flowers still partying
when their dress has gone home.

(poem source)

(image via wit&delight)

20x200 = great gifts!

ARTISTIC INSPIRATION - art prints for you and others!

this is my purchase - kite hill by paul octavious

do you have art lovers on your holiday gift list? look no further than 20x200 for unique affordable museum quality limited edition prints.

WEEKEND REVIEW...ocean breezes and baby faces

i had a wonderful sunny weekend with good friends and cute little people!

WEEKEND DISTRACTIONS: massachusetts-girl-time!

tonight i am heading to cape ann with my friend wendy to visit our dear friend kate. kate lives north of boston in gloucester - one of my favorite places on the planet. i am looking forward to meeting her new baby boy and drinking red wine and celebrating her birthday and smelling the ocean and LAUGHING...i am certain that there will be a lot of laughing.

edward hopper also liked gloucester, ma

have an awesome weekend!

(i will do some specific weekend distractions next friday...kinda gotten out of practice!)
(image source)

DIY Thursday: neck warmin'

once the cold weather rolls in, i'm addicted to neck-warmth. after some 70 degree days earlier this week, philly is finally feeling chilly. now is the ideal time for a DIY t-shirt necklace...warm and fashionable!

this project has been making the craft-world rounds, but i got my instructions from whole living magazine (and they said that they got them from the blog: cucumbersome.com, which looks to be abandoned.) i deviated from the instructions by using two t-shirts of a similar coral color.