Adventures in Charleston

Every year our family ventures to Charleston, South Carolina in April. The trip is arranged and executed by our lovely Grandmother. We venture down via Amtrak and spend a week absorbing sunshine, enjoying historic tours, and shopping until we can barely walk. It's lovely.

Charleston has a beautiful charm: the historic buildings integrated into the modern landscape, the secret alleyways with overgrown vines and cobblestones, and the water sitting at the edge of the city, allowing sea life to be closely admired by any who will take the time.





My Mum and me.

cuteness

So! I belong to the Applegang. We consist of four rowdy girls that grew up on an apple orchard together. The title was given to us pretty much at birth, and has traveled with me everywhere. Well, two of those girls are my lovely cousins, whom happen to be sisters, and they both just happen to be pregnant! I am so excited for both of them and couldn't resist designing them a card. I used the same layout but used the background to set them apart. Corey loves polka-dots and Kate loves butterflies. These cards were such a joy to make and I just had to share :)

the process

it's all about the process. this is my most recently completed painting: my heavy sand dollar heart.





i used watered down acrylic like watercolor for the octopus and sand dollar. i thought that would make them look more dream-like and fluid.




if you look closely you can see a clear stamp almost- in the middle right of the canvas. the light is hitting the painting just right in that spot. i actually stenciled a wallpaper pattern over the background of the painting with a gloss modge podge. it was more of an experiment than anything. it creates a cool effect that you won't notice at first. again, i was hoping this would give the painting a more magical, dreamy quality.

i heart vero

Last week I found myself flying to Vero Beach, Florida with my friend, Becca. How could I pass up an invitation to the beach? We went to a small, gated community on the water and stayed with her grandmother, a 90 year old fire-cracker of a woman. As we toured the area of Vero, I quickly found that no one in town occupied our age group. Every person was either over the age of 40 or under the age of 15. I learned quite a bit on this trip. The elderly in Florida love their tans, and their booze. It's manatee mating season and they like to do it in three's. Blue Heron's are as tall as me. I've learned the true meaning of tar-heals by walking on a dirty beach. Rollerblading and strong allergy medications are not a good combo. And although perfect weather can never be guaranteed, you can still get a tan with overcast skies :)










this was the view from our bedroom!

Aquarium FUN

The New England Aquarium is amazing! I could get all nerdy about how cool it was, but I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.



We walked by a tinted window and when I peaked inside, I found a room full of penguins!


This fish really wanted a vogue picture taken. My camera shutter was open for a couple seconds, and he stayed perfectly still.


This tank was home to a giant school of fish.




Jellyfish chaos.

My future's so bright...

(hehe) I couldn't resist.


and some endangered species love, swimming in a sea of coral polka-dots:

owl suit

what i've enjoyed lately:

owl suit doodle and flower shops


solo trip to the vegas aquarium


watching stella grow... slowly but surely


observing sam-the-cat as he fishes