Friday Fun

Friday's feel so great, even when working Friday's have always just felt fun. So here are some little bits of happiness that I'd like to send out to everyone!

This cutie, just lookin' for love!

Not gonna lie, I didn't really get the "YOLO" thing until I saw this, hilarious!

Otter hugs!!

Author quotes and awesome graphics, what better? There's a whole series to be seen in the link!

Back to school time! Even when I'm not a student, I still love this time of year and this necklace reminds me of Tom Hanks telling Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail - "I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils" 

Totally in love with this necklace from the same Etsy shop, Rareindeed.

No matter what your plans are this weekend, I hope you find your own bits of happiness! Links - (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)

DIY - Travel Trunk Revamp

Ok, I don't know if this constitutes as a "DIY" project because I didn't make the trunk or anything so I guess you would call it a DIY trunk upholstery? I love travel trunks and I actually collect them - one day I hope to have a legitimate stand up travel trunk but for now this works! I had the great fortune of finding this trunk as it was being left on the street (city streets can often be a goldmine!) so it wasn't even sitting outside for long. A girl was moving out of her apartment and decided not to sell it because it's a little banged up and held some old fabric and costume materials but the best part was she said I could keep everything in the trunk as well, which included this amazing fabric! The raw wood inside would snag at clothes so I figured, what better way to solve this problem then use the free fabric as lining! Ta-da! I used the "present wrapping technique" with a staple gun to secure the main areas, like the corners, and then a glue gun to round off and secure the edges by the metal edging.

I dont know how well this picture shows it but the fabric is super textured, soft and sturdy with velvet fleurs. In the top photo you can see a secret pocket that runs the length of the lid; the last thing I want to do is add some velcro across the pocket to secure it, or maybe some ribbon or something. Either way I haven't done this, hence the rough edge, but a secret pocket is super awesome! Since I'm living in limbo, the trunk is basically my room which of course means I had to go ahead and decorate.

 I, am, an obsessive knick knack collector slash collector of randomness (I got this from my mother). To me decorating means putting my treasures on display, grouping them, regrouping them etc. Here we have some geocaching trinkets, the lizard and the marble. Postcards! Best decorating tool ever, beautiful and versatile. The card on the left (ink) was a gift from my incredible artist friend, Yvette Fuentes. Stones for channeling good vibes, very important (another thing I got from my mother). The small polished rose quartz (stone of love and self love), was a wonderful gift from some very good friends to carry with me on my trip. Quartz crystal and chrysanthemum stone both essential to my 'new path' in life. River rocks, the red, green and orange, or just rocks I've found that I like. If anyone wants to know the specifics of any stone just message me, I'm happy to gush about it!

 

I got this Squidy flask a few years ago from Stellar Custom Images on Etsy and I love it! It's held up really well and they have tons of great images and different items which make great gifts. Below are my favorite postcards from the Road Trip, the ones I'll probably end up framing for my next real place. 

Blue Hair, Blue Shorts

I think I have an obsession with blue shorts, but this was the very first blue pair I bought. I love these, I think it's the buttons.

I really do love the pattern of this shirt, Target! It's my, feeling fancy without getting too fancy, shirt.

Is it just me or do paisley and rhinestones look great together? It might just be me, I love rhinestones, I often have rhinestone overload.

This Beautiful Place - The Sierra Valley

Do you know what the perfect time of day is? When the sun dips low enough to let the blanket of twilight sweep relief through every fiber of your body. Do you know what the most beautiful part of the day is? When soft light bathes even the smallest pebble and bud in glow, yes glow, the glow you feel radiating through your smile because everything is alive and happy - for these few brief hours each night the world feels relaxed and at peace. For me, that is the happiest time of day because no matter where you are it is beautiful.

But this summer has been particularly great because we've had quite a few amazing thunder and hail storms! I was super pumped to experience a Southern thunderstorm, but we just have a different type over here - both are great, both still fascinate me (I've actually taken a few meterology classes and loved them, I toyed with the idea of become a storm chaser, ha!)! I love the smell of rain, especially in the summer because everything seems to steam off, feeling refreshed in the heat. But thunderstorms, now they leave the air charged and static and exciting! Add all of the above together and you have basically my elixir of life. Long story short, we took to the cruisers and set off to soak up this elixir and watch the sunset (Although separate, another pleasant thing that follows the best part of the day, sunset). 

The bikes certainly caught their attention!

Part of the storm, moving North (to the left)

The classic bird on a wire, thunderstorm clouds overhead

After we visited the cows, we ended up here, and decided to watch the sunset from the stacks. Pictured above is the other half of the thunderstorm moving on South, much less sinister as a cotton candy sky.  

Panorama before the sunset, just a portion of the valley.

The Dream World

AH-MAZING! This video is 8 minutes long and worth watching every second because it's absolutely astonishing, beautiful and incredible; time elapse filmed over 6 months in 2 states, hats off to the extremely talented Marc Dunahue and crew. His website is definitely worth checking out because he has other amazing videos and photography, a truly aspiring talent that will make it very far. If I didn't know anything else about it, the fact that it was introduced to me as "stop action in Lake Tahoe" would be enough, but it features several Dredge songs as well, awesome! Watch it. Watch it now.

Dream Music Part II


Dream Music: Part 2 from Marc Donahue on Vimeo.

"Part II is a musical voyage into the depths of the subconscious. This lyrical narrative reflects on the perception of time within dreams and waking life. Part II was made to transport the viewer from thier own reality into a world of dreams and at the end, they awake to wonder how we were able to take them there. Each scene was born from the symbolic meaning of the lyrics and overall message of the film; time is the illusion within the dream of life." Here is Part I.


Dream Music, Part 1 from Marc Donahue on Vimeo.

Another incredible stop action music video is In Your Arms - Kina Grannis, a video with nearly 300,000 jelly beans, filmed over 22 months! I know it's older but it's so much fun to sing and dance to and watch! The 'making of' video is quite impressive {here} and totally worth watching.

And another old favorite, if you haven't seen this video you should check it out! Stop action knitting, woo hoo!

Personal Style - What I Would Wear

I look at style the same way I look at art - unique, inspiring, awkward, strange, ugly, beautiful, creative, expressive but most of all, FUN! When I was a kid I dressed myself and had absolutely zero fear about it. Sure there were times when people, or even friends, would snicker and ask what in the world I was wearing but if I wanted to wear a velvet party dress over some sweatpants with fairy wings on my back I just went ahead and did it and had way too much fun doing so to care what people said but what can I say, dressing up was fun! IS fun. Or should be.

I realized one day (fairly recently), when I was putting on the same pair of jeans and 1 of 5 weekly cycled t-shirts under a sweatshirt I've been wearing for over a decade, that a good percentage of my wardrobe was things I'd hadn't worn in long time, if ever, in fact most things still had tags on them - that ladies and gentleman, is a funk. Ok fine, I said, no jeans for a week - challenge accepted! I did it and I lived. Moreover I felt excited again at the possibility of shaking up my wardrobe.

So, when the time came to pack up my apartment and put it in storage, I put away those jeans, those beloved tees and 'broken in' (aka ripped to shreds) sweatshirts. I then faced a strange challenge, packing for a month long camping road trip as well as packing for future indefinite plans. I didn't have an extravagant wardrobe to begin with and now that 2/3s of it is packed away, what has followed thus far has been a fun experiment of my own personal style and remixing ability with the ultimate goal of pushing my boundaries and testing my imagination, wearing what I want because I want to. Sometimes it's plain and boring and sometimes it'll jump out from behind a bush and be like "KaPlow!" - I can live with that.

I love these shorts! They do get a little crinkled by the end of the day but they are light and airy and BLUE! I love jewelry and usually have on a crazy jumble of non matching this' and thats' but this is definitely my signature necklace - on the road trip I lost the chain so I improvised by putting the charms on a necklace I already had. I love funky, hence the blue revolver owl earrings. 

Now that everything is in storage I'm constantly wishing I had __ or __ to add on. Over accessorizing?! Pshhh. No such thing. So here are some things that I shall forever drool over that I would love to wear with this outfit (1)(2)(3)(4).

This Beautiful Place - The Sierra Buttes

This hike adventure started the night before, figuring that camping nearby would give us a head start. We arrived at the campsite at dusk, just as the sun was skimming the peaks of the buttes - tomorrow, we hike up there!

Below the campsite runs part of the Yuba River so we explored the area - lots of swimming holes! The campsite had the perfect view of the Big Dipper and our light was soon attracting tons of bugs which in turn brought tons of bats, swooping down right beside our heads in the dark.

The trail begins in a dirt parking lot a good way up the mountain and apparently there are OHV trails that allow you to drive up even further. This trail is pretty steep! I laugh now because we were originally going to begin the hike lower down (on part of the PCT) but there's no way I would have made it - next time! Cresting the initial ascent felt like stepping into the Sound of Music or something; a beautiful mountain meadow, abundant wildflowers, yellows, blues, reds, pinks and floating butterflies, white and dusty blue all basking in the warm summer sun. Perfect for a hike. Below is the first view of Sardine Lakes, the second is of the Lakes from the peak.

The very edge of the fire lookout, on the tippy top of one of the peaks, was my goal and I did it! Although honestly, after my first look over the railing I ended up edging myself around the rest of the lookout. From the lookout is a 360 degree view of the Sacramento Valley, and mountains Shasta and Lassen in the distance, the Sardine Lakes and Young American Lake. At the base of the tower supports there is a small bundle of flowers, a photo and a story of a beautiful young woman who is visited every year by her husband in this beautiful place. I didn't know her, but I sat there for a moment, with "Teddy" just thinking on things. There is no better place to think on things than the top of the world.

Lunch view at the Top of the World!