a few scenes from my trip...

double click photo to make it larger.

wishing for really warm weather

I found this picture my dad took last summer. Makes me long for warmer days.

Have a great weekend!!!

And a Happy New Year!

Wow we have been pretty M.I.A. over the holidays, hmm?  Not sure about erin, but I've been somewhat lost in all the strange weather Cleveland winters have to offer... that said, Christmas in Ohio treated all of us extremely well - I'll brag more later :)

Best present = spending some QT with the family... including Jane :)

berry pink

Lately I have gravitated towards everything pink... weird if you know me. but i looked around today after recieving my coat from Nordstrom that my mom got me. (thank you!!) and at my iphone case, also pink. and was a little shocked!

I went into Club Monaco and saw all of their delightful berry brights, then found this really cute necklace on etsy. lovely.

We'll see how long this girly phase lasts. But it sure is making me cheerful now!

Happy Halloween!

Audrey dressed as Madeline at the Arboretum pumpkin fest

Whether you are going as Madeline or Freddy Crugar, have a safe and Happy Halloween... and a fab weekend too!

24 before 25

image via flickr

With motivation from Joslyn... I made a list of 24 things to do before 25.
And seeing as I only have about 2 months and a couple weeks, my list may be a little ambitious. But shoot for the stars right?

1. Hem and hang curtains for the bedroom
2. Learn to make a gourmet meal like my friend Lindsy.
3. Work up stamina to run 3 miles without walking
4. Try a printing project from Lena Corwin’s book. [maybe on the curtains I am going to hem and hang]
5. Write thank you notes to any teacher that has affected me later in life in ways that I didn’t appreciate then.
6. learn a new dance
7. make a batch of wine at swirll
8. throw at least 3 dinner parties
9. Go skydiving!!
10. co-host a Halloween party with a fog machine
11. Buy all Christmas presents before my birthday
12. send flowers to someone for no reason
13. Learn to bake… anything really… from scratch!
14. Read 10 books… any suggestions?
15. Finish reading the 2 books I am onto now.
16. borrow movies from the library instead of blockbuster
17. Buy a ticket to Japan
18. Save money to go to Japan
19. Copy Joslyn and buy a bike
20. and take a Sunday bike ride
21. overcome my fear of ducks and go feed them at the pond
22. Finish hanging things in my new apt.
23. Paint
24. Go to the Dallas Arboretum.

And as a side note I was thinking about my "list" I made when I was 15 of things to do before 25. One of those things was to go to all 7 continents, I have taken the liberty of pushing that goal back to 30... or maybe 35.

Also to recall my resolutions from this year... I transferred a few to this list. Fair right?

Flights are Booked for UK09!

I'm taking a trip next summer with my two sisters, Meagen and Erin, to the UK - basically celebrating Erin's graduation from high school. When Meagen and I graduated (6 years ago... yikes) we went on a trip with our cousins to Europe for a couple weeks, and Erin chose to stick to the islands :) - I'm in full support.





We leave out of Cleveland on July 29th for DUBLIN to stay in the Isaacs Hostel that my little sister chose - please, please, please check this place out - I can't even put into words how excited these photos made me. From there, here's the brief itinerary:

7/29: dublin
7/30: dublin
7/31: dublin
8/1 : dublin
8/2 : london
8/3 : london
8/4 : manchester
8/5 : manchester
8/6 : glasgow (Meagen and I will be turning 25 in scotland!!)
8/7 : glasgow
8/8 : edinburgh
8/9 : fly back to Charlotte

At that point, I'm guessing I'll probably be planning how to get back over there for good. Be prepared - I love traveling, but I'm terrible with the post-travel depression.

conveyor belt sushi

The restaurant, conveyor belt in the middle booths surround it

Probably one of the coolest concepts ever! I just got back from NYC and got to do the conveyor belt experience with my brothers who as luck would have it were in town too!

The conveyor belt

Mark (our traveling buddy from Denmark) also happened to Live in Japan for a while and now lives outside NYC so he was the conessieur to take us on the adventure.

Basically the premise is that you sit in a booth (or at the bar) and a conveyor belt circles around with colored plates of 2-4 pieces of sushi on each one. You grab a plate as it passes by you and then are charged by the color of plate that you choose. nothing is really labeled so you kinda have to go on what looks good but is a great way to try new things.... like sea urchin... but that is a whole other story.

our plates at the end

Apparently they have karaoke booths upstairs too... if you are into that. ;)

Fauna Rose Clevell

Craft project!! I was in a bit of a crafty mood yesterday and after getting a little inspiration from the artist in Austin I decided to enlist my little cousin Audrey in spreading the crafty disease.

2 weekends ago Audrey came over and we had a date at Chuy's. while we were there, Audrey drew this rad unicorn on the back of her menu. I decided to make a zany stuffed animal modeled after Audrey's drawing. As seen above.

So armed with my sewing machine, a little ribbon, some felt and googly eyes I headed over to the Taylor household ready to make this unicorn. Audrey redrew the body and head on felt before i cut it out. she even gave the horns ribs... pretty cute.

Audrey dubbed the goofy looking unicorn: Fauna Rose Clevell. If you attemp to try something like this be wary of the very skinny time consuming legs! my reccomendation is to make them shorter. :)

surprise!

I am just getting back to Dallas from another jaunt to Atlanta, but it wasn't all work and no play.

Although it was a work trip, we were graciously given 4th of July off (believe me, this is a BIG deal) so I decided I would surprise my family by driving up to our farmhouse where they were having a big bash (found out later this was on sat. not fri.) but still got my immediate fam visit in.

Rental car keys in hand, I do not recommend the Chevy Aveo, I drove to Charlotte that night and then on to the farmhouse for the day on the 4th then back to Atlanta early saturday morn to work.

The only one who was truly surprised (as I had o give up my plan to dad and the brothers in order to see them) was my mom and aunt. It was good. Here are a few pics of the newly and wonderfully renovated farmhouse.

headed north

I'm off to Cleveland (kind of) tomorrow for the 4th with my family- I haven't been 'home' since Christmas time and feel like Jane needs to meet the rest of the fam.

I'm really hoping to get some great photos for work of a few different live-work-play communities in the area that I seem to have been oblivious to until now, and am hoping for some good ol' QT with most of the family- sadly, erin's still in Germany (weird!) showing Deutschland how we celebrate in the US of A.

Have a great fourth, everyone!

erin's trip to germany!

My little baby sister (erin- 17 yrs. old) is in Goslar, Germany, until July 11th. She just left the States yesterday afternoon and, of course, US Airways lost her luggage after a rushed connection. They stick to what they're good at, hmm?

Anyways, any tips for settling-in to a country with a foreign language, foreign food, without your own belongings for AT LEAST another day or so?

"the itch"

photo courtesy of Keeping Up with MK

I need a vacation. I'm going to Hilton Head a few times this summer, which is going to have to do it for me... but I could really use a big one. Having grown-up in a really great family, I've had the chance to get to a lot of places with them and see some really, really, really amazing things- fishing for paranas on the amazon river in peru, touring a small swiss town with my cousins and sister, photo ops among the ruins in carthage... my grandparents are sharing their retirement with us, giving us a taste of what good saving can get you.

Next year we (my sisters and I) are going on a 2.5 week trip through the UK to celebrate Erin's graduation from high school, and the year after that we're doing a little private cruise through the islands of Indonesia (did that sound casual? Because I could probably pee my pants right now with excitement..) but this year I'm just going to kick it on the beach... having sweet dreams of trips over "the pond."

River Thames... england denmark

ok... so after my computer crashed (for a week) and I made a quick 4 day jaunt to Las Vegas (more on that later) I am back in Dallas and have the second installment from the england denmark trip.

So we are still on the first day. As anyone who has been to London can tell you, there are quite a few tourist attractions along the River Thames. So we started at the Tower Bridge and weaved our way down until we got to the Tate museum hopped on the tube and popped out at westminster to find Big Ben towering over us. Now we did go on the London Eye the next day.

M.I.A.

Sorry I've been missing in action- I've been totally overwhelmed with this puppy and the exhausting similarities she carries to a newborn baby... getting up at night, "changing diapers" (aka: house-training + cleaning up mistakes), all of the whining, attention needed, feedings, worrying about a parasite, medications, vet appointments, etc... I'm totally worn-out, but having my family in town for Memorial Day Weekend was the best break I could've asked for. I was definitely heart-broken when they left Monday morning...

my twin sister, meagen, getting to know (love) jane at the park

we took jane swimming for the first time- the "doggie paddle" was too cute for words!

Anyways, while glancing through blogs this morning I came across this wedding from notes from the road. It generally isn't really my style- more lace / details / girly accents then I'd probably pick for myself, but it looks perfect none the less and makes me re-think my dream wedding just a bit. Fortunately, I've got more than enough time to get things figured out, and should probably focus my efforts towards dating for the time-being.

I just LOVE how this cake echoes the style of the dress so well!

travel bottles

I am leaving tomorrow on vaca! whooo who. I am so excited. I am meeting up with one brother and a friend in London then on to Copenhagen to meet the other brother.

I packed on sunday because I was sooo excited. If I had thought about it ahead of time I would have ordered these groovy silicone bottles for traveling. There is nothing worse than using crappy shampoo. Maybe I'll order these for later. It's not like I wont be traveling again soon!! (well not for fun anyway).

how does your garden grow?

I was talking to my mom the other day and she said that for mother's day she would like someone to help her plant her garden. Then I got to thinking about my rut of an outside patio. This is a place that my mom has actually spent alot of time in when she is visiting me (and helped me put the patio part together). And since I can't go to NC for mother's day I wanted to redo my garden, so maybe she can get more enjoyment out of it when she is here. Maybe I will make it more enjoyable and use it too. I have always wanted some herbs.

Now I don't even know where to start and since it is a rental I am skeptical as to invest to much time and money out there. Maybe a modular solution I can take with me? I was looking through a few websites and found this one based out of the UK that does beautiful work. Modular Garden, and although this is not anything close to what I am capable of at this point in time.... I am bookmarking it away for a later date. glorious huh?

happy to leave it behind...

yay! its the weekend, well 30 minutes and counting. This is the view of my desk. Although I have filled it with things I love, like my antique glove holder from my aunt, green and blue sticky notes and lovely calendar from my cousin Joslyn, I am happy to leave it all behind.

enjoy your weekend!

Bon Voyage... and thanks for coming!

no photos allowed in gallery so here are a couple in the lobby.

As it was Brandon's last night in town we wanted to do something fun. Aside from the all day shooting bonanza him and Ben had at the range yesterday (we are in Texas!). Conveniently Thursday nights are free at the Dallas Museum of Art!! It was my first trip there and it was very cool... much larger than I expected too. My two favorite exhibits were the Stanley Marcus (founder of Neimans) photography exhibit and the study on decorative accessories (naturally).

The Photos from the Stanley Marcus exhibit were really groovy in every sense off the word, there were some very nostalgic pictures and although they were mostly of family and friends they captured time. His use of color was really great and there was one in particular i loved of ladies at a cocktail party in the 60's. You can buy the book here.

The study on the decorative accessories was mostly pottery and dinner ware but it was neat the way they laid it out in a timeline fashion. unfortunately it had no info up because they were still installing the exhibition.

There was also live jazz, cocktails and food in the lobby. The sun was setting and the lighting was really beautiful... hopefully a perfect way for Brandon to end his trip.

dallas world aquarium

busy busy week already!! Brandon is in town so we went to the Dallas World Aquarium on Sunday. a lot of hanging out and lots of good eating has been going on since he got here on Saturday.

the aquarium is pretty awesome and it is privately owned. that's a very impressive collection for one individual. I do believe it is almost comparable to the awesome aquarium in Baltimore! i think my favorite this was the tree kangaroos and the manatees. i highly recommend this outing to anyone in the Dallas area.