Jennifer

sunday snapshots

08/14/2011 by Jennifer 3 Comments

I guess I will share snapshots on either Saturday or Sunday. All I know is that I like alliteration and consistency :)

This morning, I have woken up in Portland! What a beautiful city. I love this place. We arrived last night from Umpqua after my dear friend Adrianna’s wedding.

Like I said, Adrianna and I go way back almost twenty years. We used to try to figure out how we were related since we were born on the same day. She is my oldest friend and unofficial twin.

Last night, we fit in some time at Powells’ and this morning we are going to explore a tiny bit more before we head back to California. Here’s what’s on the list:

Insomnia Coffee Company

by terri’s treasures photography

I love their tea lattes and oatmeal, as well as the overall atmosphere. Yummy!

Lodekka

via hula seventy

Need I say more?? I have wanted to go here forever! Hopefully they’ll be parked out on the street.

Voodoo Doughnut

via my paper crane

Yeah… I feel sick just looking at these.

Oh, and we will go to the Saturday/Sunday market! So excited for that. Then it’s back to my native land.

excitement overload

08/12/2011 by Jennifer 4 Comments

I have so many exciting things to share today! I’ll start with yesterday, which was my friend Sara’s 21st birthday. We went out to one of my very favorite restaurants, Kasbah Lounge, ate some delish Middle Eastern food, and belly danced, something many of us had sworn we would never do. I was finally able to give Sara her birthday presents and now I can share them here!

A few weeks ago during my photo adventure in Davis, I found this beautiful wine bottle tote in a tiny antique store. It was one of those things that I knew I should give away, but really, really wanted to keep for myself. Isn’t the pattern so great?

Then, I crocheted her a wine bottle cozy using this pattern from Crochet Spot:

The little bow is courtesy of my new sewing machine. Yay!

Lastly, I bought some fusible web, which I think is the best thing on earth! And I covered a moleskin using a wonderful tutorial from CraftyPod.

Oh, and I tried to something similar with stripes…let’s just say I didn’t really think before I start cutting and sewing. I ended up with a weird mess, but I decided to cut the fabric into hearts for the front of the card and for other random crafts.

Fun, fun!

Another exciting thing about today is that I officially have an internship for the school year! I will be working with formerly homeless children. The job description sounds like a challenge, but also like a dream to me. After meeting with my supervisor, I drove the hour and a half back home and went over to see my sisters. And look what my sister Adalin gave me:

A crocheted “J” necklace! She is seven years old and already a pro. But she thinks “pro” sounds boyish, so she likes for me to call her “profesh.” I taught her how to make a circle today :) Pretty soon, we’ll be moving onto flowers.

Last but not least, today is exciting because I am packing for a fun weekend road trip to second favorite state of all. My friend Adrianna is having a wedding ceremony on Saturday in Oregon and I haven’t seen her in a few years because normally, she lives in Alaska. Oh, I’m so excited! We have known each other literally since age zero. A good friend of mine, Haley, is coming along with me, and we’re going to hang out in Portland while we are there. Portland is my favorite city. I want to live there soooo much, but only in the summertime…

I could go on and on with more exciting things because I just have that attitude today, but I have to go and pack before seeing Crazy Stupid Love tonight.

Hope everyone is having a very nice Thursday evening :)

color wheel wednesday: coral & teal

08/10/2011 by Jennifer 5 Comments

Today I want to talk about coral and teal! My favorite color scheme of the summer. During the whirlwind of finals and projects in May, these colors reminded me of the ever so close, blissful freedom called summertime.

obsessed with these! (via anthro)

(source)

(via pinterest)

alicebgardens on etsy

(source)

(via pinterest)

These truly are summer colors to me. They remind me of warm weather and popsicles. As my summer is sadly coming to an end, I am doing all that I can to live up the next two weeks. It is a time of birthday parties (happy birthday to my bffs Steph yesterday & Sara today!!), weddings, beach trips, road trips, cleaning and packing, winding up all my yarn (less cool), and appreciating the lack of stress in general.

At the same time, I am kind of excited for school. I have missed being around such a smiley community. I am going to have a wonderful roommate and apartment. And, I…miss…studying? I don’t know if I mean that or not, but I’m looking forward to some quality solo library dates.

Anyway, happy Wednesday! Does anyone else have colors they automatically attribute to summer?

“it’s not where you take things from-it’s where you take them to.”

08/09/2011 by Jennifer 6 Comments

I finished my cowl over the weekend with this yarn that I completely fell in love with.

I stopped a few rows early, so it doesn’t fully cover my head when I pull it over, but I might end up adding more rows later. While I love this pattern a lot, I might want to make cowls to sell. So, right now I’m working on a yellow one by improvising and using my own pattern.

Lately, I have been thinking about originality. Some people claim that nothing is original. Everything is recycled. I tend to lean toward this perspective. But then when we create things, it isn’t encouraging to think that what we make isn’t original, right?

History is recycled. Fashion stems from all different eras. Millions of people follow the same recipes, directions, tutorials, etc. What is original? I love this quote because it shows how much of a part our hearts have to do with authenticity. Authenticity is not Originality. Thank goodness :)

watercolor gift tags

08/07/2011 by Jennifer 4 Comments

This was my project of the day, yesterday:

I love watercoloring, because I can choose to be 100% imprecise.

And I lovelovelove my gift tag cutter, so this was a great excuse to use it.

Also, something crazy happened yesterday. My mother and I invested in a sewing machine! I had a change of heart, I guess. It was also super on sale, and we’re getting free classes.