Select a Wi-Fi Network.

I'm going to start collecting Wi-Fi network names. I've come across some fantastic ones lately. This one appeared on our way to lunch today. 

Granny Squares.

On Sunday I took a class at JoAnn's to learn how to crochet a granny square. I've known how to crochet for many years now, but I've never been able to look at a crochet pattern and learn it myself so I was definitely excited to learn something besides the basics. I caught on pretty quick and have been working away this week at making more. My goal is to finish a blanket big enough for our queen sized bed. In the meantime, Emma seems to be enjoying the pile of pieces quite a bit. 

An attraction.

I have found myself quite attracted to these shoes. I have no idea when or where I would wear them, but they are the perfect combination of vintage and fun and I think colorful shoes are the best. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for me, they are way out of my price range. 

Country Living Fair - Columbus.

My boss gave us the opportunity to attend the Country Living Fair in Columbus. I've only looked at and bought Country Living magazine once and that was only because the house that I grew up in was featured in it. And I wouldn't say I'm a fan of most "country" aesthetics, but considering I spend so much time working on Taylor Swift cards I felt like this outing could be really beneficial reference wise. So today two of us headed down to C-bus to check it out. I would have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. There were a lot of Anthropologie-esque displays in the booths. Many of the vendors were simply there with antiques (which I love). And the over the top country/crafty stuff which I loathe was easy to pass up. There was also a lot of great quilt inspiration which I am always gathering. I think I will finally be starting my next quilt this winter.

 

We ended our day with Jeni's ice cream. A-maz-ing. I had a scoop of Backyard Mint and Dark Chocolate which turned out to be a pretty killer combo.

Oh, and did I mention we ran into these guys when we took a potty break on the way down? Yikes. 

Chicago. (Or the weekend in which we walked. A lot.)

We decided to take a weekend road trip to Chicago for our first anniversary. A getaway for just the two of us was exactly what we needed. Andrew had never been to Chicago, and the fall is my favorite time to be there. I made a playlist for the drive including Sufjan's Illinoise (of course) and some other fall favorites to make the drive a little better. My aunt and uncle gifted us a room at the amazing W hotel which was designed like no other hotel I've ever been to including elevators with 3D diamond graphics and black lights. (Looks like a still from our hit spy movie, right?)

We spent our weekend doing some typical Chicago touristy things. Navy Pier, the Sears/Willis Tower Skydeck, Millennium Park, and the one I've been wanting to visit for years, The Shedd Aquarium. 

 

Before we headed home we drove a little west to tour the home and studio of Frank Lloyd Wright in Oak Park. I was expecting to fall in love, but it was just way beyond any expectations I had. Unfortunately we weren't able to take any pictures of it, but wow, it was so incredible.

We had a great weekend that left us with very tired feet (did I mention we never once took a taxi? Okay, a water taxi twice, but we definitely walked about 20 miles this weekend) and a terribly filthy windshield. We ran out of wiper fluid which was driving me crazy because I hate dirty windshields. I wash mine usually once a day. I was really not looking forward to driving to work the next day with this:

But I didn't have to. Andrew snuck out and washed my windshield while I was in the shower this morning. Which really, for me, was the best part of the whole anniversary weekend. 

One year.

Yesterday Andrew and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary. We drank a little wine and watched a video of our wedding for the first time. It made for a lot of laughs. 

 It's pretty amazing how fast a year can go by. I wouldn't have wanted to spend it with anyone else but him.

Blue Steel.

I got Andrew to model some of my recent shirt designs for me. Here are some outtakes. 

(The Art in the Square shirt was a collaborative with fellow bear, Charlie. Also, I once had a fish named Blue Steel. He was really, really, ridiculously good looking.)

A restful weekend.

Once I wrapped up some freelance work this weekend I promptly went into rest mode which consisted of petting the cats, working on my vintage owl embroidery kit , and watching Andrew kick around a soccer ball while enjoying some amazing weather. 

HTML Patchwork.

The nerd in me is completely in love with this. It represents a 216 hexadecimal web color palette. Each piece includes it's six digit HTML color code which is hand embroidered onto it. The quilt is an Open Source Embroidery project. More information can be found here: http://www.open-source-embroidery.org.uk/patchwork.htm

(Images from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/http_gallery/)

In Target now.

I mentioned before that I have been working on the Taylor Swift card line at AG. Currently there's an endcap at Target featuring Taylor cards and I designed, illustrated, and handlettered about two thirds of the whole program so I'm pretty proud of that. I bought a few of my favorites to keep for my portfolio.

All images are  ©American Greetings.

Roommates.

It's funny how a few simple room assignments from someone at a college can create friendships that are so great. 

One of my old roommates, Shoko, is in town for the week. I lived with her for two years, Erica for three, and we got together for lunch this weekend. I've been seriously missing school and that whole lifestyle these past few weeks so it was really nice to be with people who experienced that with me. 

Shoko and some other CIA alum friends are having an opening this Thursday at a gallery in Coventry that I'm excited to attend. The information is below if any fellow Clevelanders are interested. 

Dirigible whale.

I was just scouring the internet for some reference images of a blimp and came across this. My mind is blown. 

(http://www.massaud.com/site/en/#/works/design/transport/6439-manned-cloud)

Labor Day.

I'm really glad I don't have to go to my real world job today. It means I get to have a quiet breakfast at our favorite coffee shop, Phoenix, with Andrew before he heads to work. I really enjoy sipping my mocha without interruptions from my phone or e-mail, or having to solve some minor crisis in greeting card land. Having the day off also means I have a whole extra day to get caught up with my work. Before I got too busy with that, I wanted to share a shirt design that I finished up for Joe Plante last week. This shirt was based on summer and there may be more seasons to follow. 

Finished. Starting.

"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" is quite a funny take on the original story by Jane Austen. I'm excited to see that they're going to be making it into a movie with Natalie Portman as Elizabeth. I imagine it will be awesome...especially if Bill Murray decides to make another appearance as a Zombie. 

I'm starting this book of short stories by Miranda July next. I liked her movie "Me and You and Everyone We Know" so I took a chance on this in the discount section at Barnes and Noble. I think that short stories are sometimes more interesting than novels.