found friday: castleberry art stroll.

Last month, Witt and I went to the Castleberry Art Stroll. It's really a fun thing to do on a Friday evening, especially now that the weather is gorgeous. Basically all the local art galleries and studios open up their doors to showcase their space, and of course, their amazing talent. Paintings, sculptures, photography... you name it. My (very talented) friend Mike just opened his gallery there and we got to hang with him while people came through.







It's held every 4th Friday of the month. He'll be showing some of his work this Friday along with photographers Christy Lin and Eric de Fino. So go get your stroll on and support local artists! And hey, there's free wine and cheese. You can't beat that.

found friday - vintage indie mag

I totally forgot to share this the other day! Vintage Indie Mag found me and did a little feature on some of my photographs. They are a lovely blog, oodles of vintage goodies, tips and tutorials to feast your eyes upon.

The image above was taken when I snuck over to Dawn's house for the key shoot. She has been one of my biggest supporters — my first print sold off of my shop is the one framed above. Melt's my heart. And I love how it fits her style so perfectly. That said, I'm going to be featuring some interiors of her home in just a few days; I have always loved how she puts little vignettes together in her home and can't wait to share a glimpse into her world with you.

...
ps. Don't forget about the festival this weekend!

Found Friday — Flibberty on Etsy!

Well, it was time to take flight.

Maybe you will remember a year ago when I hinted to you about my New Year's resolution. Well, I'm finally able to tell you that, yes, it has come to fruition! A year in the making. And to be quite honest, I couldn't have done it without all of your encouragement... the tiny pushes that I read in every comment you left me, my dear friends of Flibberty.

I (finally) have my shop open on Etsy.

My memories, my stories, my life is out of my computer (and, might I add, multiple shoe boxes) and has quietly and slowly developed into a collection of work. I still cannot believe it.

And yet there is so much more to be done! I cannot wait to see what this brings. How it can flourish. And where it takes me.

Thank you - so much - for being there with me.

Now, what should next year's resolution be?

Found Friday — SJP & Me.

Remember that unimportant meme post about a month back?

I met (and got a hug from!) Sarah Jessica Parker — yes, SJP — when I was a senior in highschool. She gave out the awards for the Congress Juried Art Show; I won the Florida Congress show by submitting/exhibiting an oil painting of my Great Grandmother, Amelia. All the state winners were invited to D.C. to see their works hanging in the halls of Congress (they remained there for a year). At the time, I was more excited about meeting Ms. Footloose, but also bummed that I hadn't won the year prior since it was Tom Cruise who was handing out the awards then. Funny how that all turned out. I had my picture taken with her, and yes, she is very very petite. (And taller than me.) I wonder where that picture ended up?

Well looky here (courtesy of Mom's scanner)!



Let's look a little closer, shall we?
1. Yup, I had curly hair. Not as coifed as hers, of course. SJP is always naturally perfect. Perfect curl, perfect part, perfect length. Mine is more of a crimp-and-go style. Set with Aqua-net.
2. I seem to be wearing curtains for pants.
3. SJP raided a Laura Ashley Outlet Store. Even so, she looks perfect.
4. I am wearing a choker.
5. I am wearing that choker with a vest.

They took a color photo too...



Yup, she still looks perfect. She even coordinated to match the flags behind her. Of course she did. Mom also scanned the letter that Congressman Mica sent to me (it was enclosed with the 2 photos).



Yes Congressman Mica, we sure do enjoy the photos. We sure do.

Found Friday — New Blooms.

I awoke to a beautiful surprise: 2 new blooms on my orchid. And I thought is was done flowering this season... Happy August!

(And thank you for all the kind words and well wishes. I think this new bloom is a sign, don't you?)

Found Friday - MTV Cribs.

I thought you'd want to see what's in my fridge:



Ok, no, I'm totally kidding.

Actually, I'm showing you what is left of the contents of my fridge.

Yup, kids, the reason there was lack 'o posting this week is because I had no power for 2 days. For no reason other than I actually forgot to pay my power bill.

I have now realized that if one ever wants to feel "young again", well, just don't pay your power bill. It will immediately take you back to your college days. Ahhh. I was so confused when I came home and it was 85 degrees in my house, and after talking with both my neighbors and seeing that they had power, I was like, oh poo! Did I not pay my bill?

I still cannot believe that I did that! Now, to be clear, EP basically only gives you 30 days and not so much notice that you haven't paid your bill (it's a municipal) before they cut you off. But still, people, I'm a grown woman here! Geesh. All I know is that I need to slow down my pace a little bit and get my act together, or, at least my bill paying area.

Well, that's one way to get around to cleaning out your fridge, right?

Found Friday/Monday — Summer Light.

Well, a found Friday post was missed, but not forgotten. Since I had a little more time to consider my post, I decided to focus on what it looks like in the house during my favorite time and day of the week — early Saturday morning.




The light filters so beautifully throughout all the windows of the house. Whoever planted (or really, thoughtfully built around) the 3 big oaks in the backyard knew what they were doing — light sparkles in and out the blinds through their large branches starting at about 6:30 am and continues to flicker and dance off of the mirrored table and glass throughout the morning.



In the front, a few hours later, the light shyly fades into the living room through the french door that leads to the porch. It allows me to keep a few plants around inside — they seem to be fine with just the few hours of soft filtered light they receive.




The reason that I fell in love with this house is because of the light I saw the first day I entered the front door (and seeing from the book on the table, light is an important theme for me, ha). It was so very visually warm (yet it was February!) — the house immediately gave me the feeling that I was on vacation. And so I always love to be home on Saturday mornings — if only to feel like that — no work, just a quiet morning filled with coffee, crosswords, a playful puppy and warm, summer light.

Found Friday - Vintage Cameras.

For the past 5 years or so, I've gotten into collecting vintage cameras — of all kinds, really. Toy cameras, plastic cameras, medium formats, you name it. I found this guy's collection on flickr, after a long evening of researching some new cameras to add to my collection. I just love how he shot them front, sideways, and back — so you could see all they different ways they are unique, yet similar. All amazing pieces of machinery.



This is my growing collection. Some are buy broken and I'll fix 'em up — and yes, I do use them. Some I just collect because they were either found in the box, all protected like a piece from a museum, so I just couldn't pass them up. Some I've had for over 15 years, and use weekly.



They really are nonchalantly placed on top of those bookshelves. I'd love to place them more specially somewhere — maybe a different kind of shelf or open box thing — a place that would showcase how important they are to me.

I was given my first real camera when I graduated from highschool (a graduation gift from my parents, so perfect). A vintage Nikkormat. I loved it from the moment I laid my eyes on it and I depend on it today to take my most important photos. It is more than reliable — it is a workhorse. It made me want to collect other vintage cameras, mainly because no other piece of glass could take photos like it. I adore the artifact of film cameras. I think when you work for hours and hours in a darkroom and have that closeness to the film that you're working with, it's just hard to give up that control. The science and art just mix and it is infectious.

So I just added a new one to my collection, via an Ebay win yesterday — a Kodak Duaflex I. I'll tell you more about it when I get it. I can't wait.

Found Friday, June 8th.

My mom gave me this really amazing, teeny tiny horoscope desk calendar for 2007. I woke up every morning, giddy to flip it to the next day... always trying to anticipate what it would say, if what it did say carried significant meaning for the day, and if so, how that one little sentence would influence me.

Friday, June 8th, 2007 (one year ago):



"Unexpectedly developments are a harbinger of necessary, liberating, or even profitable change. Now use your diplomatic skills and/or killer charm to cope with any disruptions brought on by these twists to the tale."

That single sentence gave me the confidence that I needed to call Witt. You see, I had met him practically 6 weeks earlier, and after that we continued to stay in touch, eventually writing emails to each other that could be described as short novels. But I had hesitated in really allowing myself to (gasp!) go on a formal date. So, one day, I wrote to him about meeting up on Friday (June 8th) for happy hour with some of my friends, you know, something casual and not particularly datey. After a week of not hearing from him (regarding what I thought was a bold move on my part!) I started thinking that perhaps I had said something wrong, or maybe he just wasn't interested — you know — all those squidy feelings you get when you've put yourself out there and don't get what you expected (or wanted).

I don't know if I needed a sign or perhaps a push, and this silly horoscope calendar did it for me. As soon as I got home from work that evening, I grabbed the page from the calendar, scribbled his phone number that he had given me from an early, early email (he never did have mine) on the back of it and called him on my way out the door — leaving an incredibly babbling and fidgety, lip-biting, toe-circling in the sand, run on sentence that ended with a "hey, we um, based on my previous email, eh, maybe we should hang out sometime". He called me back immediately, and so gentlemanly asked me out on a formal date for the next evening, setting up every detail. The long of the short of it is... he explained that he had email problems through work — their server had basically shut down correspondence for a few days, so he just never got my email. Ever. Disruptions brought on by twists to the tale. He felt terrible. I felt great — I was just so happy I got up the nerve to call him.

I have never been a person who believes that everything happens for a reason. Instead, I think things happen, good or bad, and how you react to them carries meaning. I like to think that we control the path that we're on, the person who we are to become... with little bits of guidance, whether that be from a silly little desk calendar, or perhaps, something much much bigger.

Happy Anniversary, Witt. I'm so glad we found each other.

Found Friday and Family.

Well, dang. It's been a week without a post and here we are at another Found Friday again. Been traveling — for work and for pleasure — got to deliver Miss Dotty to Miss Finn personally, which she adored by the way... pictures forthcoming. In fact, I shot the weekend with my every-so-trusty Nikkormat, so we will all have to be a bit patient to get those back from the developer. I was surprised by both my Pop-Pop and Grandma; Dad drove all the way to Venice to escort them back to Otown so that they could meet all their Great Grandkids and share in the festivities. I adore them; it meant the world to me that they were there.

So my head has been a bit centered around family, history, legacy and tradition. That being said, I thought I'd share my "gallery wall"— which happens to incorporate 2 of my favorite things that my folks gifted to me when I moved here. The silhouettes.



The real big one is my dad. I don't know how old he was when he had this done, probably was done in the 1950's though. The smaller one above it (and to the right) is me. I was maybe 5, I believe. Luckily, I don't remember that bowl cut.



What's really neat about these is that the images are actually cut paper, which is how they were traditionally done. Today, you can just take a digital photo, outline your head (in Photoshop or Illustrator), enlarge and print. Done. Easy peasy, just follow the directions. But the old school way is really an amazing work of art. The artist typically has you "sit" as you would for having a portrait done, and they cut (using very delicate but sharp scissors) the outline of your head. And they do this freehand. Freehand? YES, freehand. I find this to be absolutely amazing. And, I found an amazing guy, who still does this today. Here's a picture of his work — hired by Martha Stewart of course — to do portraits of a wedding party. I just love all those little details in the ponytail that he got.




And you know what I'm gonna do? Hire him to make one of Ellie. Because that's totally what's missing on the portrait wall... my kid, albeit a puppy kid.

Found.

Today, my (very talented) friend A gave me one of the highest compliments that I think you can ever give somebody: she said that she will be taking inspiration from my home in regards to considering her new space (she is moving into a new apartment, which is always very exciting).

I love sharing my ideas about nesting, but by no means am any expert, or even slightly trained in interior design (how I would give anything to go back to school for it). I just think when you combine being a graphic designer + having slight OCD tendencies + a fascination with collecting, finding, rehabbing and reusing old things, well, one can't help but get obsessed with directing their surroundings. I spend way too much time considering my space: always moving objects and furniture around the house to create little vignettes. I like to look at areas of my home as personal snapshots that have been lovingly and thoughtfully arranged. I also know that I'm probably the only one that sees them this way, so that's why when A said that to me, it couldn't have made me happier to know that my manic behavior was in some way both understood and appreciated.



I, myself, take a huge amount of inspiration from a book that I happened upon about a year ago: Found Style, by David Butler and his wife, Amy Butler. Oh yes, that Amy Butler again. Not only is she a fabulous designer/crafter/entrepreneur but she has this ridiculously talented designer husband who owns a design firm, aptly named, Art of the Midwest. Should we hate these folks for being so damn talented and lovely? I want to. (Not really. I would rather be them.)



In any case, the book is full of yummy ideas and photos that show you just how to combine those random antiques you've had for years with that modern-looking family heirloom you inherited and thought wouldn't/shouldn't work together. And that's just it: combining those two aspects is what I adore about design... that messy side with that structured side. I've never understood people who felt they had to follow preconceived notions of everything in the living room should have the same wood grain, or worse, everything in the dining room needs to be of the same period. Bah.

Just feast your eyes upon some of the tasties from this book:




Actually, I think the Butler's said it best...

"...With found style, it's not back to the department store to try and find bookshelves in the same finish as the rest of the furniture. Instead it's about finding a more creative (and usually less expensive) alternative... Found style combines organization, comfort, and personal voice. It will invite friends and family in to relax, and make them feel special, maybe even honored to be in the space. Your surroundings will tell a little bit about who your are - all you have to do is decide what you want that little bit to be."

Great, now I'm getting the urge to go rearrange the mantle. Again.