Dude, (I'd) look like a lady!

I've been looking around a bridesmaid dresses (don't worry ladies, I'm still letting you pick... just getting ideas!) and it made me want to wear a pretty dress myself! Specifically, one that I can wear on some of the beautiful sunny days that are coming up!

I'm becoming obsessed with Anthropologie, even though their prices are a bit rich for my blood. I'm thinking for these ones, I may save up to get one for my rehearsal dinner!

Finely Furrowed Dress


Somewhere, Anywhere Dress



One Hundred Summits

Drool.....

These are a few of my favorite things....

There are a lot a great websites out there for me to stare at when I don't want to do work and don't want to go to bed yet. One favorite is Etsy. I don't remember how I first found it, probably another blog about pretty things, but there certainly is a lot there for me to drool over and be distracted by.
Etsy is a website that is all about things that are handmade. Sure, there are the expected things like art, knitted things, knick nacks, but there are some other amazing things that you wouldn't expect! For now, i've just been favortiting all the things I love, and some day, when I have the money maybe I can get some of these pretty things:)
Here are a few examples of the great stuff I've found!
Beautiful Vintage Jewelery from Sweet Vintage


Cool Vinyl decals for putting everywhere from Tasty Suite

Beautiful, PLANTABLE cards from Grace Graphics (I actually bought some of these :) )


Fun and funky pins from Button Empire (though I can't quite buy these ones yet...)




There is tons more great stuff on the website, and everything is continually changing. They also have this great feature called Alchemy where you can request something be custom made for you. You include the details and a suggested price and sellers can bid on making it for you. With such a huge community of creative and truely skilled people you can end up with something really great for a cheaper price than you might find else where. I haven't tried it yet, but I've heard of it being used for all sorts of things, from wedding dresses to toys.
Now that I've gotten the idea of putting images into my blog (yay!) I'll try to occasionally post some of the cool stuff I'm finding in my internet wanderings. Maybe I can get someone hooked on these things like others have done to me!

Sorry, not an artist.

Sometimes I wish i was more artistically talented. There have been so many times in my life when I get what I think is a great artistic idea in my head. I can picture it, down to the smallest details. Sometimes these artistic ideas are photographs I want to take, or paintings, and sometimes they are sculptures. I had one of those moments today. I was listening to NPR's "All Things Considered" about a guy who does sculptures made of nails. (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87808787). I was listening to the descriptions of his art and all the different ways he used nails and my brain started going off on its own tangent. (which probably isn't good because I was driving, but I'll save that for another post.) I imagined a nail about half way hammered into a piece of hardwood (oak?) with a nice grain. The view would be from the side, so the nail could be seen penetrating the wood. Underneath the wood, where the tip of the nail would usually be seen, would be "roots". I'm not sure exactly what these would be made of, either small nails welded together, or wire, or more solid and realistic looking roots, but made of the same material as the nail. I visualized the sculpture pretty large, with the "nail" with a head about the size of a bar stool and the piece of wood similar to a small table. When I pictured it, it was in a art gallery with spot lighting, similar to the exhibits I have seen at Rochester's Memorial Art Gallery.
I would love to attempt a sculpture like this. Besides not having the time to spend on it or the money for materials, my general lack of artistic ability holds me back. In the past, I usually attempted my sculpture/photo/painting ideas, but so infrequently have they even approximated what I imagined, I've pretty much given up. I don't even have the drawing talent to sketch it out and have someone else make it for me! All I have now is my new digital camera, which will make attempts at any artistic photographs a little less painful, if I can figure out all the buttons.