California in Color Palettes: Pt. 1

I've been home for more than a week and I still haven't gone through all of my photos from California. I'm bad, I know. But I still wanted to share them, so I decided to make them into color palettes! In my own design, I'm a big believer in finding inspiration from natural things. This can be the shape of something I see or the feelings that come out or just the colors. The funny thing about colors in nature is that they never clash. Never. And these color palettes can really work for anything, from your blog to your home!

(taken on Alcatraz Island)

(somewhere in San Francisco)

(Lombard Street, San Francisco)

(somewhere, San Francisco)

(Alcatraz Prison Garden)

I hope you all enjoy them! If you do, feel free/please pin them on Pinterest. Which color palette is your favorite?

4 Gorgeous Color Palettes Inspired by Plants

Lately, as spring has been exploding all around me, I've been inspired by plants. Even when we think of nature in spring, it's always about the flowers. You know, the tulips and the daffodils and all. But I've just been enjoying the green. 

Behind my house, there's a little forest separating my street and the next street over. All through the winter, we can see the other houses, but as of the last week or two, the new leaves completely block our view. As I've been noticing and admiring those new leaves and all that lovely chlorophyll, I've been amazed by all the colors within the leaves. At a glance, they look like they're all the same color but there are all sorts of shades of green and even other tones of blues and yellows if you look closely. 

I'm using these color palettes to inspire my design, my attitude and even my writing as I work to breathe life back into this blog and into everything that I do. 

Particularly in that last palette, I just love admiring the colors. For the record, I used a color picker to take all of these colors directly from the picture. That bold purple in palette #2? That's all nature at work. How can you not feel happy looking at that + knowing that you get to live in that world!

Have a lovely day!

All images are from F L O R A. 

Catching My Eye 07.

The best of the interwebs:

♥How to make your t-shirts look semi-ladylike.

♥This super duper cute elephant and hot air balloon throw pillow. Literally, anytime you see anything with an elephant (or rhino or whale or dinosaur) on it, please just buy it for me. I'll love you forever.

♥This writer made me laugh by rejecting his rejection letter.



♥This jelly.

♥Is there any land in America at all? This map makes it look like all rivers.

♥Here's that permission you've been waiting for.

♥McDonald's suggested budget for employees shows just how hard it is to get by on minimum wage.

♥Your sneezes sound like choruses of angels giggling. --Emergency Compliments.

♥You might have missed: Three Must-Read Memoirs ♥ Things I love about me +why that's not arrogant ♥ A reading playlist ♥ Sponsor CMS in July/August.

Catching My Eye 06.

The best of the interwebs:

♥I know this is super old stuff, but this video of Jimmy Kimmel getting Coachella attendees to lie about their music knowledge cracks me up. Probably something I'd do though--I hate admitting when I haven't heard of a band. Anyways, I was cracking up.

♥We all know we should go to bed early and get up early, but how often does that really happen? Here's 7 ways to get in bed earlier tonight.

♥Clearly, I still can't stop thinking about Iceland. Take me there!



♥This Spanish restaurant allows unemployed patrons to work for an hour in exchange for a meal.

♥This awesomely education infographic shows ten top destinations in the world that may be disappearing and why you should visit them while you still can.

♥Beautiful faceted, geometric tattoos on The Uniqueness of Being's feature called Tattoosday.

♥You might have missed: Let's Make Things Pretty: Free Fonts ♥ 4 Genius TEDTalks ♥ In Which I Try To Make You Like Something Weird

Don't forget these two super important things!!

I'm holding an awesome Adventure Lovin' Giveaway AND Call Me Sassafras has ad spaces on SALE for super cheap!

Catching My Eye 04.

This week: I worked, scooping lots of ice cream ♥ Played lots of games with friends ♥ swam & laid out on the beach ♥ ran my longest run in awhile (4.5 mi) ♥

Now for the best of the interwebs:

♥Obama likes Snocones.

♥Shannon at The Feminist Mystique has a series on different women (and some men) and their choices to change, keep, or hypenate their last names upon getting married.

♥Bill Nye the Science Guy's house is energy efficient with solar panels and green windows.

♥95% of people wash their hands wrong, are you one of them?

♥Sarah Von from Yes and Yes shares a new idea for your bucket list: write a letter to an inmate.

♥This explanation of the right & left sides of your brain.



♥The reasons I love Anthropologie: These Victorian style whale bookends, this beautiful pale pink watch, and this bust of a giraffe that I want hanging on my wall.

♥You might have missed: fresh pair of eyes [a playlist] ♥ Weekly Wishes #3 ♥ celtic rock [a playlist]

♥Follow me on Twitter

♥Follow me on BlogLovin'

fresh pair of eyes [playlist]

Here in Southwest Michigan, it's been a rainy couple of days. As I went for a run in the rain a few days ago, I admired the forest around the roads where I live. Even though I was listening to rock for my run, it made me feel like this:

Quelqu'un M'a Dit//Carla Bruni
Go On//Elephant Revival
Take Me Somewhere Nice//Mogwai
Love Song #1//White Buffalo
You Ain't Alone//Alabama Shakes
Bruises//Chairlift
I'll Drown//Soley
Old Friends//Simon & Garfunkel
Where is My Love//Cat Power
It's Only Fear// Alexi Murdoch
I Won't Give Up//Jason Mraz
Fresh Pair of Eyes//Brooke Waggoner
Chanson Triste//Carla Bruni
Cheers Darlin'//Damien Rice

Listen on Spotify.

Catching My Eye 03.

This week: I moved to Michigan for the summer, leaving my friends and the boy behind. ♥ Started work assistant managing an ice cream shop ♥ read lots ♥ enjoyed the first few beautiful Lake Michigan beach days of many to come ♥ played endless games of Taboo with friends ♥ made multiple late night McDonald's, Target and Dollar Store runs with friends ♥

Now for the best of the interwebs:

♥Is summer keeping you from actually getting stuff done? Here are 16 ways to get motivated. You can also check out my Weekly Wishes and see what kind of stuff I'm trying to get done. My favorite way is #11: Start small. Really small. If you want to start a habit of exercising for half an hour a day, exercise for five minutes a day, and only that. Make that a habit, then move to ten, then fifteen, then twenty, then thirty. Easy peasy.

♥This gorgeous peach statement necklace. Or, this supercute trio of seaside themed earrings from The Northern Sea for $12.

♥The Minimum Wage Machine gives a brilliant social commentary on the minimum wage. By turning a crank, the machine releases a penny every 4.97 seconds...the exact same as minimum wage, which many people earn for much harder work than turning a crank.

♥If you consider yourself intelligent but still "normal", check out TED's list of 180+ books any human being should consider reading.

♥Because sometimes nature is just too weird, this website [WTF, Evolution] chronicles weird animals & plants and captions them with witty remarks, like this.

“Check out this awesome dance move I invented.”

“Oh god, evolution, please stop doing that.”

“What? It’s called ‘pronking.’ All the springbok are into it.”

“I can’t take you anywhere.”

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMIiB9DnRXg]

♥If you've ever worked in the service industry, you will crack up at this (or even if you haven't). On this site, the staff chronicle the antics of crazy restaurant customers."

♥You might have missed: Wake Up, Allie [a playlist] ♥ Weekly Wishes #2 ♥ A Packing Playlist

Dreaming of...Costa Rica

A couple days ago, I shared with you all that I was struggling to decide on a destination--the struggle continues. Last time, I considered Iceland (which is still very much on the list). Today, let's consider a vastly different but equally awesome possibility: Costa Rica.

(Casey Mahaney, Lonely Planet)

(Corey Wise, Lonely Planet)

(Lucas J. Gilman/Aurora Photos)

(Lisa Whitwam/Getty Images)

(Donna and Steve Omeara/Photo Library)

(Roy Toft)

(Christian Aslund for Lonely Planet)

Things I'd like to do in Costa Rica:
-Scuba Dive
-Visit the Serpentarium
-See a sloth & other critters
-Eat local food, especially the fruit
-Surf
-Swim under a waterfall

Where would you most like to travel to? Where is your favorite place you've ever been?

Dreaming of...Iceland

Almost exactly a year from now, I'll be heading off on my senior trip--my one chance to go (almost) anywhere in the world. I still haven't managed to choose a destination. Iceland is one of my top picks:



(anopportunemoment.com)



(Laugavegur Trail, photo by Ida Koric for National Geographic)



(Blue Lagoon Hot Springs, photo by Jessica Anand)



(Reykjavik, photo by Vinod Krishnan)



(Juan Maria Rivas)



(Dyrhólaey Promontory, photo by Noelia Magnusson)



(Seljalandsfoss, photo by Giedre Lesmaityte)



(Snaefellsness, photo by Natalie Panek)

 

 

the ground beneath your feet.

told me she's over this place
needs to feel the midwest wind on her face

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