Grateful Heart

(photo by Death to the Stock Photo)Today in my editorial calendar, I had planned to write a post to go with the Grateful Heart linkup on Ember Grey. It's a linkup where anyone can share posts that share their gratitude at the current moment. So that was my plan. And then a monster sinus infection invaded my life. I spent my night cradled a roll of toilet paper and blowing my nose every five minutes...

Playlist #27: Guitar Instrumentals

I've been so busy lately, between last weekend's craft fair and working, that what I've found is I really need good background music to my life. I need music that can provide that background noise without taking my focus away from what I'm doing. You know, I always love to sing along with music, but sometimes I just need to do my own thing. This playlist is all about that--play it while you work,...

Weekly Goals #37

Helloooo! How was your weekend? Mine was pretty fun, between the craft fair and shopping with friends, except for this crazy weather! It's been insanely windy + cool (think low 60s!) + we haven't had a good beach day in a week! Oh well. This week is pretty routine. Other than working, my only real plans are hanging out with the gal pals tonight, potentially dying my hair turquoise/purple (whaaaa?!...

Catching My Eye [links I like]

(photo)+Free, bold and fun fonts from Holly Marie Designs. I'm digging Oxalis.+ Worldometers shows real-time statistics for approximately everything. From the population to the number of cell phones bought to hectares of forest loss, it's interesting to literally see our world in numbers. Interesting: there are almost 900 million undernourished people and yet, today there...

Weekly Goals #36

(photo)Hey friends! I hope you've all had lovely weekends and are ready for a wonderful week! This week, I don't have a whole lot going on until SATURDAY. Saturday is the big day! My town holds a big fair where crafts, food, antiques and all kinds of stuff are sold. There's a pancake breakfast beforehand and it's always a really fun time to shop around, hang out with friends and of course, buy stuff....

Color Files: Tangerine

When I'm working on design for my blog or others, I'm constantly amazed by the way that color can transform lines. It can add a totally new attitude to a design or even make YOU feel things. Colors can hold memories and associations. I know whenever I see a certain shade of blue, it makes me thing of Lake Michigan. I bet you're the same--ever see a color and immediately think of your college's colors?One...

Currently...

Reading / a weird variety of books for my library's adult reading program. I'm supposed to read a book each in the romance, mystery, western, sci-fi, fiction, non-fiction and historical genres. This week, I'm trying mystery with an Agatha Christie novel. Big yays for trying new things!Listening to / the same songs over and over again since I'm having trouble transferring my iTunes library to my new...

My Favorite Way to Make Long Distance Suck Less

Long distance relationships suck. They really do. But H and I have worked really hard to find ways to make it suck just a teensy bit less. One of our favorite ways is writing letters to each other. At first, it seemed a little silly. I would always end up telling H what I wanted to tell him in the letter before it even got to him! But now, I love getting and sending letters because they are a guaranteed...

Missing Links: immortal jellyfish + fireflies + printing a human heart

(photo by Matthew James Fox, graphics and editing by me)Pssst...if you haven't taken my super-short blog reader survey already, I would love if you would! Like really. :)Wow, it's been like a month and a half since my last edition of Missing Links! Missing Links is all about links, articles, infographics and resources, written in common English for normal people interested in the sciences. I'm...

Weekly Goals #35

(source)Happy Monday! Now that it's summer, Mondays are actually happy because they're my one day off! Seriously, I never understood how much I would love Mondays until I started working this job. Even though it's my day off, I still have some errands to run to pick up some stuff for the shop--it seems like there are always errands to run. I tend to put them off as long as possible because the nearest...

DIY Design: Make a Font From Your Own Handwriting

(photo)Over the last few weeks, I've been adding my own hand-lettering to my blog, just here and there. Personally, I think it adds a fun, personal touch! But what if you don't want to (or don't have time to) hand-letter every graphic you need for your blog? Fake it!A few days ago, I downloaded the InstaFontMaker app for my Android tablet (which is free in the Google Play store!), just to noodle around...

6 Good Things Right Now

(photo by Nick West for Unsplash)Guys I've been so pouty today. My head hurts, my room is messy, I miss H and it's everyone's fault but mine. Even though he only visited me for five days, H leaving has really thrown me for a loop and I'm still in that short-term depression stage that comes right after visits in long term relationships. Sigh. Anyways, I'm gonna be an optimist today and...

4 Visually Inspiring Pins

Early early this morning (read: before 5 am), I took H to the teeny-ten-gate airport near me and sent him off back to North Carolina. And though I know in my heart that I'm meant to be in Michigan for this season of my life and he's meant to be in NC, I'm still thoroughly pouting that he's gone. To cope, I'm trying to occupy myself and my mind with anything that I can do without thinking of him. So...

Why Long-Distance Relationships (Sometimes) Rock

(This picture has nothing to do with this post, but it looks kind of pretty right? Taken in Marseille, France.)Welp. Sometimes life has a way of getting ahead of you. I had glorious plans for my blog this summer--I was going to get back to posting (nearly) every day, commenting on all my fave blogs (I promise I'm reading, just silently) and staying in the game. But I kind of forgot that I sort...

Desktop Wallpaper: Yosemite View

GUYS I'M SO EXCITED. H is coming to visit tomorrow! And it's only been two weeks since I've seen him so that's not really a huge deal, but I'm really excited to show him around the town where I grow up and work and live for part of the year. It's one of those places that I know inside and out and it's so dear to my heart. And naturally, H is so dear to my heart and I just need him to meet my...