california dreamin'

well, i'm back from 75 degree california with a bit of a tan and a nice relaxed feeling. what a great trip! i saw a great little show by artist sarajo freiden at little bird gallery in hollywood (photos above), and also visited reform school. what a great shop! i wanted to buy everything in there, and i saw quite a few things that i've been oogling over on the internet but had never seen in person. it's such a different feeling to see something in the flesh.


i also had the HUGE treat of meeting erin from design for mankind, and she is quite something! i think i smiled for about 24 hours straight- she is so friendly and inspiring and wonderful, just like you would imagine from reading her blog! we talked about favorite blogs, what inspires us, what we both have in store for the coming months (she has some amazing things coming that you won't want to miss!!)...

i love that we can make friends in different places through the internet-- even though it seems kind-of strange and parents definitely don't get it (i still get the "be careful!" warning), it is amazing to connect through this fun little (well, MASSIVE) blogging world we are a part of.

and we visited san diego (my first time there!), and i think i'm in love. southern california begs me to stay every time i'm there-- i just love the sunshine and ocean and lifestyle.... maybe not the pollution, but the rest of it is calling my name....

a few other things:

check out my guest blog post on indie fixx today-- it's all about my eco-indie dream life!

my blog is in the easter reading guide list on desire to inspire today! check it out here-- it's full of blogs, old and new, popular and not-yet-so, that you won't want to miss!

glad to be back with you all this morning. :)
hope you had a happy easter, if that's your thing. if not hope your weekend was grand.

happy holidays!

well friends, i am off to my sweet hometown tomorrow morning, bright and early.

boulder, colorado, here i come! i am so so excited. this will be the first time i've been back since i moved to georgia in august, and i am practically jumping out of my seat. i *love* boulder at christmas time, and this will be a particularly lovely holiday, because one of my sisters and i both moved away from boulder at about the same time over the summer, and my family will all be back together again for a week!

i'll be blogging sporadically though the holidays.......
can't wait for 2008! i think it's going to be a good year. lots of good things in store.....

*wishing you a happy holiday full of love, cuddling, and lots christmas snow. :)*

a weekend in south georgia

ryan and i had a fantastic weekend down in south georgia for the thanksgiving holiday. we camped for three nights and did/saw way more than i expected-- we started out at skidaway island state park (images above), where we camped for 2 nights, took a little side trip to tybee island (images below), where people were swimming, it was so warm! i couldn;t believe it. ryan and i were laughing because we brought winter coats, and then it was sandal weather. we are clearly from colorado. :) but it turned out to be a good idea, because the weather took a turn and got pretty chilly.

then we spent a day in savannah, which is such a lovely town. the mansions are ridiculous, and it just has that old south feeling that i've been looking for since moving to georgia. atlanta doesn't quite have it, being the big city and all. we ate at this great restaurant for lunch called mrs.wilkes', and if you are in the area i highly recommend it. it was a big ol' southern meal, complete with creamed corn, collard greens, beef stew, fried chicken, and the works. (i, of course, was not able to eat a lot of it, being a vegetarian, and i was sure to stay away from the collard greens, which i suspected were cooked with a nice ham hock!)

then the highlight of the trip for both of us was a trip to the okefenokee swamp in the southernmost part of georgia, where we had high hopes of seeing alligators, but there were all hiding due to the chilly, damp weather. we canoed around the swamp for a good chunk of the day, and it was amazing. i mean, amazing. the water was this crazy murky black, and it looked like we were canoing through a sea of coffee. the vegetation is like nothing i've ever seen, and it was so quiet and peaceful. i'm bummed that we didn't see any alligators, but the swamp was definitely a place i would like to visit again. it was truly incredible.

all in all, a relaxing, satisfying, inspiring weekend. the best kind. :)

happy thanksgiving!

happy thanksgiving to you all! here are some traditional thanksgiving images for you to enjoy, pilgrims, cornucopias, and all!

ryan and i are off to tybee island, georgia (30 minutes from savannah, which we will also be visiting) bright and early tomorrow morning for a weekend getaway (our first thanksgiving just the two of us!!)-- we are going camping, and we're going to have thanksgiving dinner over a fire. tres romantique!

enjoy your tofurkey (or turkey if that's the way you fly), and have a great thanksgiving! see you monday morning.

{tybee island}

{savannah}

more SOFA artists that blew me away...

the amount of inspiring work at SOFA Chicago was incredible. looking back over my notes, i'm realizing how much amazing work i actually saw.

here are some more of my favorites from the show:

geoffrey gorman (who also shows at my mom's gallery, blink, in boulder, co)

michael bauermeister

christian faur (these are made out of crayons!! they were awesome in person)






shayna leib (these are made of glass!)

a few things from SOFA that i liked...

aude franjou

fabienne picaud



steffen dam



mayme kratz

SOFA Chicago- part one

well, after an exhausting 6 days in chicago at the SOFA show, i am back home to process everything that happened there. it was a really amazing experience, like nothing i've seen before. i'm talking $250,000 pieces of art, no kidding. dale chihuly had pieces there! i felt like an imposter artist (i'm clearly not on any sort of level with dale chihuly!), but it was really inspiring to be around so much great work. unfortunately i wasn't allowed to take photos of anything other than my own booth, but i'm going to research the artist and gallery names that i scrawled on my little pad to find some images of my favorites from the show. so, more to come over these next few days!

but for now....



our booth! (translations gallery, in denver, co)



and from above...

and the show from above... (it was massive)

and navy pier, where the show was held...

and a duck enjoying the chicago sunshine...

and us enjoying the chicago nightlife! (deanne (my friend who i stayed with), kate (translations gallery manager), and moi. :)

goin' to the windy city!

i'm off bright and early tomorrow morning to drive up to chicago for SOFA! i can't believe it's that time already. the tables look great, and i am so so excited.

so, needless to say, i will be taking a bit of a blogging break from tomorrow until monday, when i will be back with full posts about chicago, the SOFA expo, and an update on what happened with the tables!

have a great week and weekend!

weekend getaway

ryan and i just got back last night from a quick 3 day trip to new york city and connecticut for one of his college friend's wedding, so i thought i'd post some photos of the excursion. it was lovely, and it made me remember why i loved living in the northeast so much. those deep red luscious east coast fall leaves get me every time. as for the idea of living in nyc, though... yikes. i don't know if i could handle it. what an amazing place, but it seems so overwhelming to actually have to be there all the time. perhaps i'm a country girl at heart. :)

anyway, above are some shots from various parts of the weekend, and here are some photos of the leaves.....

weekend getaway

i just got back last night from a quick weekend jaunt up to new york city and norwalk, connecticut for the wedding of one of ryan's best friends from college. needless to say, it was a lovely excursion

georgia weekend: part 3, the aquarium

i am fascinated by jellyfish. have i ever mentioned this? i think they are just incredible, and i spent about 15 minutes staring at them at the georgia aqaurium this weekend.

there were many many other delights of the sea to view:

sea turtles...


tons of fish, of course...


sea horses (another fave)...


beluga whales (4 of them!)


and a 63 foot long viewing window into a tank that had an unbelievable array of fish in it, including 3 whale sharks (the biggest fish known to man), a hammerhead shark, and some sawfish in it. i love this shot with the silhouetted people.

it was awesome.

georgia weekend: part 2

i just wanted to share some more of the photos i took this weekend. it was so great to just wander around taking photos for 3 days!

these shots are from the centennial olympic park/ cnn/ georgia aquarium area (in downtown atlanta.) i know they are slightly blurry, but i am in *love* with these photos. especially the first one with the water droplets on the camera lens from the fountains...

{this is a photo of a pool with a fountain pushing the water around, lit up from beneath. beautiful, eh?}

howard finster's paradise gardens

{the folk art chapel}

on saturday morning, i dragged ryan and his parents up to summerville, georgia to go to howard finster's paradise gardens, and it was going to be the highlight of my weekend. it was closed when we got there!!! i could not believe it. i was so disappointed. it turns out it's only open by appointment now fow some reason. i got as may photos through the fence as i could, so i present to you the not-as-interesting-as-i'd-hoped images of the paradise gardens. enjoy!

autumn is coming...

it's becoming fall here in georgia, and i am *loving* it. these are some photos i took at candler murphy park in atlanta the other day-- the weather is perfect here lately!!! fall is my absolute favorite time; it's like a new beginning for me. i love the cool touch in the air, having to bring a sweater with you, sitting on the couch knitting and drinking tea.....

howard finster, visionary artist

in my quest for fun and interesting things to do while ryan's parents are visiting next weekend, i have been thinking a visit to howard finster's paradise gardens might be on the agenda.

howard finster was a folk artist who began his career as a bicycle repairman and part time traveling preacher. one day he got some paint on his thumb, which took the form of Jesus and told him to "paint sacred art," in a vision that changed his life forever.

he proceeded to live the life of an amazingly prolific and inspired artist, creating tens of thousands of pieces, and the house he created (paradise gardens) supposedly attracts tons of visitors. i can't wait to see it!

i think it's a bit of a trek out to summerville, ga from atlanta, but well worth it i'm sure.

a couple of fun facts:

finster gained national fame after his collaborative work on the album "reckoning" with athens, georgia-based rock band R.E.M.. the group filmed the video for their debut single "radio free europe" in finster's paradise gardens in 1983!


he also collaborated with the talking heads and created the cover for the album "little creatures", which was selected as cover of the year by rolling stone magazine in 1985.



a few more things made by finster...