Feeding the Masses

Hey. Remember me and my mom tomorrow as we try to feed cake to a crowd of 600. The weather is supposed to be hot. Its gonna be a rough one.

Love to ya. Have a great weekend.
xoxo Jo

looky looky

I am sorry to report that I have wasted most of the day getting sucked into interesting things on the internet. This usually does not happen to me. But I have been in a "click on all the links from your favorite places" mood this morning. Which has brought me to lookbook. Why on earth have I never seen this? I am so not with the program. I guess I'm getting too old to be one of the cool kids. This is deftly pointed out by this site, as most pics posted are from the 15-20 year old range. My next question..... Why on earth were we (me and mine) not this cool in our youth? me too, girl. me too.

I would so hit on a guy wearing this (if I were single).

how sweet-sexy.

* all photos from lookbook.nu. (Please don't yell at me for posting your pics. You rock. )

Splendid

Just had to share these pics from an e-mail my dad sent me. I always feel like I am the last person on earth to see all the e-mails that have been forwarded ten million times. But even if you have seen this before, its worth seeing again. An albino peacock. Its kinda like God just decided to make an enormous living snowflake that doesn't melt. I mean, is this not amazingly beautiful? Just like something out of a fairytale.

I would totally put this in my own fairytale world. It would be hanging out underneath the canopy of cherry trees in full bloom. A pink flurry with a brilliant white crown in the center. I'm seriously in awe. Am I just easily impressed or is this not one of the most gorgeous things you have ever seen?

whoa papaya!

Last week I was blessed with a trip to Holden Beach, NC. Truly one of my favorite places to be. However, the weather was less than fabulous. A very cold and rainy Monday led to a trip 30 minutes up the coast to Southport. A darling little town filled with classy shops, Southport is a good place to hang out for a day. First stop was a fabulous little shop called Olivia + Co. Olivia + Co is described as being a cottage lifestyle store. They carry darling clothes, yummy bath & body products, some pretty fantastic rugs and lots more. But my favorite was these new art prints from Papaya Art. They remind me of my own style of drawing. Plus, most of them have glitter highlights! I bought the Bliss print above for my bedroom.

Someone had already purchased this print. Its my super duper favorite. So, I just had to get online and find out if I could buy the print from the company site. This baby is gonna be mine soon! Plus the website has cards, wrapping paper, journals, planners, magnets and stickers! Tons of stuff with this beautiful art on it.

Check out the site. Papaya Art

And if you are ever in Southport, NC stop by Olivia + Co. on 313 North Howe St.

Rules of Engagement

I received an e-mail this morning from a photographer whose photo I had used in a post on this blog. It was nice enough, but very clear on the fact that they wanted to grant permission before any photo was used. I had not changed the photo in any way. I also gave a direct link to the site from which I got the photo and the artists name. I thought that I had done things correctly, but now I feel like I've been smacked on the hand. What am I missing here? There are tons of great pics out there on the web that are locked and can't be copied. And then there are the ones that just seem to be floating around waiting to be picked up. Bloggers always seem more than happy to share photos. And I always assumed that artists would appreciate any exposure that they could get. I know that I would, personally. So what do you think should be the general rules on this matter for small time bloggers like myself? I do not want to offend anyone or make anyone think that I am stealing their art. Yet, I love running across awesome stuff and being able to share it with others. Let's hear some feedback.

Life

*by Jake Curtis

For just a moment, I was rested. My eyes looked bright. My skin was clear. I smiled. I could breathe. But that was all short lived. I am back to being tired and busy and annoyed. My eyes look dark. My hair is a mess. Life.

But glad to be back to read all the blogs I've been missing. I tried to get caught up yesterday in between getting work done here at the shop. Sorry if I continue to be sort of slack. We seem to be having all sorts of technical problems around here lately. I have some lovely stuff I want to share with you.

xoxo Jo

Hugs and Kisses

I'm off to the beach tomorrow morning. I won't be around next week and I am truly going to miss you all.

Thankfully I will be with my family, away from the chemicals in this shop, trying to catch up on rest and learn about my new camera. Maybe sketch out some of the ideas that are floating around in my head. Work on a logo design for my friend. Read some magazines that I haven't had time to look at. I'm really excited. I'm needing a break pretty bad.

Love to all of you. Remember me next week and pray for our safety. (traveling makes me nervous.) And hopefully I will return all bright eyed and bushy tailed (as they say). Bright eyed would be a miracle.

XOXO Jo

**photo by Patrick Smith.

Weekly Ring Envy

Was I supposed to post a Ring Envy today? Whew! Where is the time? Seems like time is just getting more and more compressed. and stressed. So, being short on time, I give you the pool ring by esdesigns. Not that I didn't put any thought into this one. Actually, I chose this one weeks ago for this very day. You see, as you already know, I'm headed to the beach this weekend. Thank goodness! And this ring makes me think of water droplets and sea spray. Another ring to love. Another daydream to float into. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

***************************************

Here it is, Tuesday. I can't seem to get anything done. I'm sooooo tired. I look like I need to sleep for a week solid. I lost a jacket this weekend. I scratched my favorite sunglasses. My two friends wrecked their motorcycle. (no one is hurt bad) But I had some good food Saturday. Hung out with friends. Slept in Sunday. Did Mother's Day stuff. Bought some new tennis shoes, finally. So I guess the good and bad balanced out.


lovely art by tuesday mourning.

Random thoughts to leave you with this weekend.

photo from flourseed.

* There are mystery plants popping up everywhere around my house. My sister-in-law has planted a virtual nursery around the joint. Now its just a waiting game to see what the heck they all are.

* Thanks to my husband and his trusty weed eater, there is no longer a clematis growing against the back porch. How do you not see a two foot vine reaching for the porch posts? I dunno.

* I moved the fire pit. I made it better. I did a lot of digging. I need more dirt.

* I dreamed about chocolate cupcakes a few nights ago. Is this odd? Hmmm. I'm not even telling you what I dreamt last night.

* One more week and I will be sleeping in and having fun at the beach!!

* Hot Pockets paninis are pretty darn good. I know. Microwave food is killing us all. But I still eat it for breakfast every morning. Its either Lean Cuisine or McDonald's. You do the math.

* My camera is released for shipment (already!). I will be the proud new owner of a black Sony CyberShot very soon. yay woo!

* I hope you all have a great weekend. I hope you eat well and get plenty of rest and spend time with someone you love. All the good things in life.

XOXO Jo

Hello Friday

It was love at first sight when my eyes met the deeply saturated blue of these walls. It seems so brave. Yet, I'm sure I could live comfortably with this color on my own walls. I love how they have mixed such traditional furnishings with the bold, modern walls and white frames. I have painted many different blues, but this one just takes the cake.

from Country Living

Killa'

More incredible wall art from graffiti.org. This month turned out some amazing stuff. These sultry portraits are by Maria. Alls I can say is, Maria rocks!

Weekly Ring Envy

Did you know that you could get your name in braille put on a ring? Me neither! How cool is that? Well, actually, depending on how long your name is and the size of your finger, you may only be able to get your initials. Or something else, if you prefer. I think these are just soooo pretty. They remind me of constellations. I particularly like the white one. And if you happen to want to buy one of these for someone who is blind, you can get the braille raised so that they can actually read it! I just love this idea. Absolutely awesome. From Studio AMF.


** This computer keeps cutting out on me, so I'm lucky to get a post up at all today. Sorry I'm so late.

neener neener neener

I ordered a new digital camera today. (in a very little-girl-mocking tone) Aren't you all so excited for me!!??? Bad thing is that I insisted on having a black one and its on back order so it may be like a month before I actually see it. Look dolls, I already had to settle for a pink cell phone. I am not settling on this camera. I can't wait! I will finally be able to take good enough photos to show you some of the random stuff I talk about. Like buried treasures and my new studio and the views around these parts. Your gonna be so jealous when you finally get to see what I see on my way to work every day! Woo hoo. (not to mention this will help drastically in my shop makeover). So, keep your fingers crossed that it comes off of back order very soon.

* P, you rock.
* Mimi, the dark blue room with white stars...... I actually designed that in my high school interiors class. Weird.
* according to spell check, apparently woo is a word, but hoo is not.

whew. monday.

* photo from slgdesigns.

Tis' Monday again. Already. And either Burger King put crack cocaine in their sweet tea or else my nerves are going out on me again. I have to say that I had a pretty decent weekend, though. Gladly spent most of Saturday digging up plants and putting them in different places. Found the cutest, tiniest little glass bottle buried in the flower bed. I cleaned it up and put a few tiny flowers in it. I would love to show you a picture, but you'll have to wait until I can move my photo files around. Its complicated. Trust me.

Welcome to a new week. Here's to hoping for the best.

Something different.

I leave you this weekend with some of the prettiest, classiest, fever inducing photos I have ever seen. From: Vogue Germany. Photographer: Alexi Lubomirski. Model: Georgina Stojiljkovic.
I would totally rock this outfit.

How pretty.

Check out the light shining through the tree.

I decided to try Polyvore today. Now I'm just trying to figure out how to post a full size pic from it. Maybe next week. Until then, have a fabulous weekend.