springtime

I think spring has finally arrived!

It's so wonderful to go outside and feel the sun on my face.

I hope the weather is gorgeous where you are, too!

♥

spring fever

It has been warm and sunny and beautiful in New York for the past few days, and it makes me so, so ready for spring to get here!

this is my beautiful home and I can't wait to see it again

1.2.3.4.5.6.
♥

nearly summer

These are from the same day that I found the Sing Sweetly dress at Anthropologie.  It's been kind of cloudy and rainy ever since, but this was a sunny, misty sort of day.

Congratulations to everyone graduating from FIT today!

♥♥♥

happy thursday things

just some things that I like. :)

lamby lamby lamb

plastic cups and balloons put combined for flinging marshmallows or other small objects, from real simple

this lovely pink soufflè from Pick Yin

one of my very favorite moments from Ugly Betty

a green door...into a secret garden?

looks like yoda this kitty does

have a lovely day!

♥

saturday sun-day

I had a change of plans for today... as I mentioned yesterday, I was going to go to 'Snice for the day, but last night I decided to focus on sewing today instead.  Hopefully, I'll have my activewear running ensemble, at least one swimsuit, and a beach dress finished by the end of the weekend.  Eeeeeek.  But even with all of that, I refused to give up the walk along the High Line that I'd promised myself I'd take.  It was sunny and breezy and wonderful.

[caption id="attachment_1206" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="finally took pictures of the water feature! yay!"][/caption]

♥

fill-in-the-blank friday ♥

via the little things we do

1.   What I love most about my home is: my family, when I'm at home.  When I'm at school, my favorite thing about my dorm room is the big empty space in the middle of my room.  I like being able to sprawl out on my floor to read or draw, and something about having some empty space in a room is really calming to me.

2.  I'm excited because: it's Friday and I have tonight and tomorrow all planned out.  I'm going to Trader Joe's after class this afternoon, then getting as much sewing done as possible on my swimwear and activewear projects, then doing yoga and going to bed early.  Then tomorrow morning, I'm going to bring breakfast up to the High Line, and then go to 'Snice to work on the flats for my swimwear project and finish up some computer-y stuff for High-Tech Fabrics and my licensing class.  I know this doesn't sound overly exciting, but I like having a routine and feeling like I'm moving toward accomplishing things.

3.  My preferred method for blowing  off steam when I'm frustrated is: yoga, but to be honest, I'm more likely to cry and then take a nap.  The other thing that works for me when I'm upset is to get something done-- cleaning my room or making progress on schoolwork, because I'm usually frustrated because I'm stressed out and feeling like I'm spinning my wheels.

4.  Currently I am craving: sunshine!  Tuesday was so gorgeous, and I'd forgotten how much good weather improves my mindset.  Even if I'm working in my room, having some sunlight streaming in makes me feel like I've somehow created a little country cottage in the middle of Manhattan.

5.  The thing I love most about my mom is: her protectiveness.  While it's highly unlikely that I'd ever take her up on her repeated offers to tell people off on my behalf, it's still nice to know that she would if I asked her.  And she doesn't underestimate the power of a hug, which is what I need most when I'm upset.

6.  If I was going to write a book about my life, the title would be: 'What Could Possibly Go Wrong?'  This is a phrase that Marissa and I say to each other all the time because we have a tendency to come up with crazy plans and assume that everything will work out exactly as we envisioned.  Somehow this seems to apply to a lot of my life.

7.  If I were to eat one thing for the rest of eternity it would be: quiche lorraine. It's my absolute favorite, it has all of my favorite things: cheese and eggs and pie crust.  I suspect, however, that my own personal 'eternity' wouldn't go on for too long if I only ate things with those ingredients.

yay for sunny fridays!

♥

cutest mailday ever

Bryce left me a sweet little note on facebook yesterday to let me know to check my mailbox here at school, and today, something wonderful-delightful-adorable had appeared in it!

so, so, so cute.  And the messages inside the cards were absolutely lovely.  According to Bryce, the three words that describe me best are 'lovely,' 'darling,' and 'wonderstruck.'  I aspire to live up to her opinion of me.

Thank you so much, Bryce!!! I can't help taking the cards out of the envelopes and putting them back in and then beaming at them and I completely adore you.

♥♥♥♥♥

Yesterday was so, so beautiful, and I had a day that was pretty much perfect.  For some reason, I'm unable to sleep past 8 a.m. lately (possibly because I've gotten into the habit of being asleep by 11:30 at night... I am such an old person.), so I've been starting my days early.  Yesterday was another cafè day, and my very favorite seat, at the big table next to the window, was open, and it was sunny and gorgeous and wonderful.  Yay!  After a few hours of working on schoolwork, I went up to the High Line... and realized I'd forgotten my camera.  Whoops. I promise, it was lovely.  Hopefully I'll be recreating a similar day this weekend during which I'll take pictures of the High Line water feature, yay!  And my favorite part of the whole day was when I was walking up 22nd Street (my favorite street, in case you're wondering) and an old lady pushing a grocery trolley told me that I had "the prettiest face and such a sweet expression."  Not just because of the compliment (although that was nice, of course-- I'm a girl, after all), but because I realized that I've missed making that sort of impression on people.  That's the sort of girl I want to get back to being.  It's a work in progress.

Despite the fact that I've been doing quite a bit of yoga the past few months, I'd been going matless because I wanted to see if it was something I liked enough to stick with it.  And yesterday... I bought my first ever yoga mat!  Yay!  It's really cute.

Naturally, I chose a pink floral one.  I used it for the first time last night, and I can't believe what a difference it makes!  I'm alternating days with a more intense yoga/pilates blend and a very calming yoga routine.  And I'm glad that today is a calming day, because the weather is cold and rainy and I've been fighting the urge to curl up under my comforter all day....until now, because that's where I'm writing this.  Here's my very favorite rainy day song, I hope you like it too.



The upside of the cold, gray raininess that's happening outside my window (besides that song, of course)?  I am not even a little bit tempted to go for a walk instead of doing schoolwork.  Back to the sewing machine for me.

I hope you're having a wonderful week!

♥

tgi...m?

flowers on the High Line

  Here are some things brightening up my Monday!

• the High Line!  Of course.  I'll put up photos of the new water feature in a few days, it's lovely.


• the new issue of Artful Blogging came out today, featuring one of my favorite photography blogs, All The Beautiful Things.  Congratulations, Loreta!


• how sweet my friends have been while I've been dealing with various and sundry personal upheaval


• planning an informational blogging RA programming event with the lovely and talented Cora


• getting to spend lots of time at 'Snice (my favorite cafè) while zooming through schoolwork


• the total lack of panic that I'm feeling as a result of making progress on schoolwork


• the huge selection of yoga dvds available to watch instantly on Netflix!  My favorites so far are the ones by Crunch Fitness.  I love the Candlelight Yoga one, but I'm trying a more intense combination yoga/pilates one tonight, exciting!


• seeing leaves and sparrows appear on the trees outside my window, it's so nice to consistently be near some flora and fauna.


• and finally, something that always brightens my Mondays... the knowledge that I don't have classes on Tuesday.  Yay. :)

hope you are having a fantastic week so far!

♥

secret garden

I happened across this beautiful cascade of lilacs while I was walking home today.

♥

baptism

delicious ambiguity

I'm still working on this... but I think I am maybe-kind of-possibly getting better at it.

♥

spring break

Tonight is the last night of my spring break-- okay, well, technically tomorrow night is the last night, but since I'll be doing schoolwork at school, it doesn't really count.  I've only been home for three days, and yet I feel like I've learned quite a bit more than I have in the last few weeks at school.  I was lucky enough to grow up with parents who worked at home, and I say that in all sincerity-- I never had to worry that my parents wouldn't be able to come pick me up from school when I was sick, or that there wouldn't be a snack when I got home.  When I come home, I still kind of feel like that-- like I can toss my backpack (read: suitcase) on the couch and sit at the kitchen table and tell my mom about my day and then go see what cool thing my dad has sculpted or planted.

     I mentioned a few posts ago that March and April are difficult months for me.  Some of that has to do with a lack of sunshine, most of that has to do with my being an extreme perfectionist regarding schoolwork.  I was hoping that getting out of my dorm room and out of New York would help me put things back into perspective, and sure enough, I think that happened.  So (and frankly this is as much for my own benefit as anyone else's, because as the semester goes on, I'm anticipating coming back to reread this with startling frequency), here's what I've been considering while enjoying a bit of regression at home.

•  Not every project can be my baby.

Sometimes you have to do something just to get it done.  I like for my projects to be the best they can possibly be, and to be a really good representation of my design and drawing abilities.  And when I'm doing a non-design-related project, like a paper, I like to do that as well as I possibly can, too.  I like to consider my thesis, take lots of notes, get all of the wording just right... but I'm learning now that that isn't always possible.  I'm not advocating doing a slap-dash job with projects, but I'm finally figuring out that it is not worth spending half an hour agonizing about whether to add top-stitching to a drawing of a pocket.

• The best way to stop stressing about how much work I have to do is to actually do it.

This one's pretty self-explanatory.  When I have a ton of schoolwork due, it's not uncommon for me to get completely paralyzed with stress and become completely unable to work on anything because I don't think there's any way I can ever get everything done.  These are the times when I end up curled up in a blanket in my round blue chair hugging a pillow and blankly staring at my desk.  Which is not productive at all, and then I only become more stressed out because suddenly I've wasted an hour and a half hugging a pillow and staring at my desk.  I was in a really awful, sad mood right before I came home, because all I could think about was how much I needed to get done during spring break and how little I felt motivated to get out of bed when my alarm went off.  It just seemed sort of pointless-- if I couldn't get everything done, how could I get anything done?  But when I came home, I spent some time doing sketches for my two swimwear classes, and I finished them to where they should be for class this Friday, and I felt a bit better.  Then I did a licensing assignment, and wrote a paper, and started sketching for my outerwear class, and then I felt a lot better.  While the next month or so is still going to be incredibly rough (as it always is), I've made significant progress on every assignment that's due for the rest of the semester.  Yay!

• Put the glass down.

This is an expression that my mom has used for as long as I can remember.  It has nothing to do with drinking (I prefer to drown my stresses in yarn and floral prints...I mean that in the least sanctimonious way possible), it has to do with realizing that you've done as much as you can do.  Sometimes you just have to stop and back away.  This applies to schoolwork, this applies to people.  Sometimes things have just gone as far as they can go and no good will be accomplished by continuing.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter, if you celebrate it, and if not, I hope you have a spectacular Sunday!

♥

mud-luscious

In Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman

whistles far and wee

and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer
old balloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's
spring
and
the

goat-footed

balloonMan whistles
far
and
wee

--e.e. cummings

♥

fill-in-the-blank friday

via the little things we do

1.   My favorite daily responsibility is: making my bed.  It makes me feel ready for the day.

2.  My least favorite daily responsibility is: adding water to the vases of flowers in my room.  Isn't that awful?  But it's true, I always manage to spill water all over the place, or bump petals off the flowers... not so nice.

3.  My favorite cuisine to eat when going out is: I don't know if this counts as an actual 'cuisine,' but I love going out to brunch.  Brunch is definitely my favorite meal.

4.  My favorite cuisine to prepare at home is:  ...ummm... well, I can make exactly one non-dessert food, pasta with sauteed mushrooms.  Oh, and sandwiches and things like that, but the options are pretty limited.

5.  Andy Warhol said that everyone is famous for 15 minutes. My claim to fame is: probably that nearly everything I own is either pink or floral (or both).

6.  If I could have 3 wishes I would wish: to be less stressed out all the time (and thus, I suppose, a job that let me have a life, too), to be less of a perfectionist, and for a never-ending supply of floral dresses and wooly socks.

7.  My biggest pet peeve is: hmmmm... if we're talking about small annoying traits, probably when people talk and talk without actually saying anything.  Also, when people stand very close to me to talk.  If we're talking about bigger things, inconsistency is a big one for me.

Thank goodness it's finally spring break!

♥

oh so pretty

One of my classes went to a trend forecasting and print show today, and there was a lot of vintage clothing that can be bought as inspiration pieces.  Seeing all of the vintage frothiness rekindled my love for Lanvin dresses from the 1920s.

Pierre Brissaud illustration of Lanvin mother-daughter dresses

most photos from the Metropolitan Museum of Art website