Swell Papel is Out There

Hiya Internet!

I have had the good fortune and pleasure of being interviewed by Danielle from scribe & maker and the post is up today!

Please check out the interview here.

I will be back to posting regularly soon... promise!

Happy Place

There are many lessons that I have learned in my life.  One of them is not to bother calling the hotel you just checked out of from the airport asking for the Prada sunglasses you left in your room.  Your Prada sunglasses are gone.  Get over it and move on.

But this blog post has nothing to do with life lessons or Prada sunglasses.

I've been painting outdoors recently.  Outdoors in the bright bright light, where bugs and fuzzy plant matter land on my acrylic paints as I drink Diet Coke so watered down by melting ice cubes that it tastes like nothing.  Painting outside, although charming, comes with its challenges.  One must squint one's eyes in order to see what one is painting. One ends up being blinded by the reflection of the light off of one's painting.  And one ends up looking like an artsy Clint Eastwood armed with a paintbrush and some cadmium red in a tube.

One misses her Prada sunglasses.

Anyway, I'm completely enjoying painting outdoors.  So much so that it's become my newest happy place.

DIY - Jewelry Frame

This DIY project is so easy and it looks wonderful!  Total cost was $5 for the vintage frame.  I had all the other supplies here in my house.

I encourage you to try it out... now, I'll let the pictures tell the story:

Breakfast of Brides

I had an early start today because it's the day I picked up my marriage license!  It's less than a month to go until The Fiance and I are joined together in marital bliss and we whisk ourselves off to a sunny and beachy all-inclusive resort somewhere in NotMichigan...  


Well, I got the whole marriage license thing taken care of at about 8:15am and I thought to myself, "What bridal errand can I run at this early time in the morning?"


Naturally, the answer was: CUPCAKES!


[I am hoping to have some delicious cupcakes served at my wedding for dessert alongside some yummy melt-in-your-mouth-if-you-are-so-lucky-to-taste-them french macarons]


Anyway, I parked in front of the first bakery I saw and said "Good morning, I have a wedding coming up and I'd like to serve cupcakes for dessert."  And guess what? BAM! The bakery owner hands me a paper with cupcake pricing and- not one- but TWO cupcakes as samples!


People, this could become a really bad habit.

It's Beginning to Get Nautical

It's a sprint within a marathon.


...Planning a wedding so close to the holidays.


I've been simultaneously working on wedding preparations, holiday travel plans, buying and wrapping mountains of Christmas presents, and um... what was that other thing I do?  Oh yeah!  My full-time "real" job as "Catch-All Manager".  That's what I call myself, anyway, because whatever other people's job description doesn't fit, my boss gives to me.


I've also been watching Deadliest Catch via Netflix streaming, and even though I now know waaaay more about crab fishing than I ever cared to, I identify with those deckhands hauling their butts for long stretches of hard labor trying to catch Opilio or Alaskan King crabs.  Ok, perhaps what I have been doing is not as exhausting or dangerous as what these guys do, but at a lighter and super-superficial level, this kind of insanity is sort of in the same genus.


I need to be making sure that I'm always doing something, otherwise things can get piled up pretty quickly on the deck.  On top of that, I'm coming down with a cold (man down!).  Like the crab fishermen, I need to catch as many check marks on my To Do list than they need crabs.  All the while looking out for rogue waves of unpredictable work stuff that is thrown my way (mayday! mayday!), not by the Bering Sea, but by my current place of employment.





I'm enjoying every minute of it though.  


May your Bering Sea be calm and generous today and may your crab pods be full of... whatever it is you're fishing for today.


Ahoy!

Ahoy! Fine Art Print by Swell Papel $18 USD

Whirlwind

Happy Late Thanksgiving!  I guess the right way of saying that now that Thanksgiving has passed is "Happy Thanksgiven".  Har har haaaarrrr!

The Fiance, The Boys, and I put up some Christmas decorations up yesterday.  We had a fire going in the fireplace, new ornaments, handmade Christmas stockings, and Christmas tunes courtesy of Pandora.  I am so grateful to have times like that with my future family and in my future home.

I received my wedding invitations over the weekend, which I purchased from Benign Objects, a fellow Esty seller.  I love them and they totally go with the rustic/romantic theme I'm going for.  They are divine!  And Rachel, the artist behind Benign Objects, was so wonderful and easy to work with!

Anyway, there's a little bit over 2 months to go and I still need to tie down a lot of the details for the wedding!  So much to do in so little time!  Gotta run!

Spooky Street

The Fiance and I took the boys on Saturday to this wonderful street which they completely deck out for Halloween.  We had such a great time and the boys loved it! 


Here are some of our favorite house decorations:

Ahoy!

I feel like it's been a long time since I've posted.  Luckily, I've been very productive and have managed to post a new print on the shop!  It's called "Ahoy!" and I had a ton of fun making it.

Here are some of my inspiration pictures:

            

And in honor of this print, here is a clip from one of my favorite all-time movies, What About Bob? starring Bill Murray (genius, as far as I'm concerned) and Richard Dreyfus.  To give you a little bit of background before you view this clip, Bill Murray is Bob, a man with multiple psychological issues who decides to crash his psychiatrist's (played by Richard Dreyfuss) family vacation against his wishes.  In this scene, Bob is invited by the psychiatrist's daughter to come sailing with her and her friends.

Just looking at this clip cracks me up! Anybody who knows me well will tell you that I can quote this movie, almost in it's entirety, without even thinking about it.  It's one of the many talents of mine categorized under "Mildly Amusing and Useless".  It sits right next to knowing Disney's Aladdin by memory, and being able to raise my right eyebrow without raising the left one. 

Om

Last night was my first yoga class over at a local yoga studio.  My only experience with yoga was a few classes at a noisy gym but I got a great offer via Groupon that I just couldn't miss: 5 lessons for $25!  I had been curious about yoga since I've been reading The Art of Happiness and I thought yoga would help me "connect" some of the things I've read in the book with real practice.  And it did.


I got to the yoga studio early - really early - because I was worried that I wouldn't know where I had to leave my shoes while I was in class (weird, I know).  So I arrived 30 minutes earlier (ok, I'm lying... I got there 55 minutes before class) thinking I would have enough time to figure out where the shoes go and not look like a complete dork.


It took me like 2 minutes to figure out where we were supposed to put our shoes so I spent the rest of the time reading a yoga magazine and watching the people come and go from the studio.  The time finally came for the class- Short Form Ashtanga which is basically a specific series of poses followed in a specific order.  The class was amazing!  There was a lot of emphasis on breathing and being mindful of our bodies.  After we finished the series of poses, the instructor guided us through meditation, which I found to be very relaxing and therapeutic. I left there energized and content.  I can't wait to go back next week.  

In other news, I received a note from Katie at b u d this morning telling me that she had included one of my prints in her lovely blog which features dreamy collections of items she finds on Etsy.  Her website is really well curated and super inspiring, so please follow the links to her shop and blog. 

ReCharged- A Story in Pictures

Because the foliage is at it's prime right now, the boyfriend and I decided to take a little drive this past weekend and we ended up in the beautiful towns of South Haven and Saugatuck, MI.  It was amazing... but I will let the pictures do the talking.

The South Haven Lighthouse

The Boyfriend and I

Early Morning Sunlight

Folks on an early morning sail. 

Repetition

Thoughtful Mail

I just know that it's going to be a great day, despite the gloomy Michigan weather we're having today.  It started off with a quick early morning workout, my Starbucks coffee, and the delivery of my Jen Collins "No Place Like Home" print from hellojenuine.  


Receiving this print was an amazing experience. Keep in mind that I only paid for the one print, yet I got 3!  From the printed envelope with the cute little fox on it, and the handwritten thank you note and the extra bake a cake postcard from Jen's Nice Advice postcard set, and the carefully wrapped print... opening this envelope kept me engaged and turned opening my mail into a happy experience and not just some ol' boring task.  

Jen's thoughtfulness just made my day and it made me wish all my mail was like receiving one of her prints.  Can you imagine getting credit card offers with thoughtful handwritten notes from the credit card company's CEO? I think those notes would read something like : 


Hi Mariana!  


I hope that you don't mind that I'm writing you, but as I was sipping my morning coffee, I thought of you, and how much you could benefit from having one of my company's credit cards.  Not because I want to make money off of you, but because I noticed you don't have one, and it could really help you build your credit, which is something I think you may want to do.  


Whether you decide to go with my credit card company or not, I would still like to send you this $10 gift card to Starbucks, a little watercolor painting I did for you last night, and free access to our exclusive concierge service for life.  I've also made a generous donation to benefit the children of third-world countries in your name. 


Please let me know if you would like to receive more information about our credit cards.  I am looking forward to hopefully working with you in person to answer all your questions, and come up with a few personalized solutions.  If you do not wish to hear about these options, let me know and I will cancel all the mail you've been getting from my company.  While it will be sad to see you go, I would still love to keep in touch!  


Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, and I very much look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Joe, the CEO

-----------------------------


OK... maybe that level of familiarity from a credit card company would be a little creepy, but wouldn't it be nice to live in a world where everybody (even big companies) was thoughtful and personal?


Anyway, hopefully you can swing by Jen's shop and blog found by clicking here.

UpNorth

Aaaaahhhh....

That's not a scream, but a relaxing "aaahhh".  Which is the perfect way to summarize last weekend.  The Boyfriend and I took his boys "up north" to a cabin one of his coworkers graciously offered us.  It was wonderful to get some relaxation in a wonderfully fall-y setting, and with 2 delicious little boys (ages 4 and 7) who have made me remember how to make believe again.  

While the boys and The Boyfriend were off riding the 4-wheeler, I took a little walk in the woods which became a mini-mushroom hunt of sorts.  When I was a little girl, I used to imagine magical creatures living in mushrooms.  I was delighted to find myself in the middle of a mushroom metropolis- complete with penthouse lofts, 3-bedroom colonials, and low-income housing (for those magical creatures struggling with the economy).

I became completely worry-free for 2.5 days.  UpNorth-Me's only worry in the world was trying not to get captured by Zuko, and helping Aang and Momo defend against the evil Fire Nation (The Last Airbender is very popular with the boys these days). 

Granted, I did get identity whiplash from being switched around from Katara (good) to Azula (evil) every couple of seconds, but I always had the boys to remind me of who I was, and what I was doing.

Good times.

Only a Game? Not!!

In the past some people have tried to get me to play Eucre- a popular card game here around Michigan in which the objective is ________ and the players try to accomplish it by _________ and __________.


I'm leaving those blanks because the 3 times that I've "played" it, I have had NO IDEA what the other people are doing.  And I shouldn't really be saying that I "played" Eucre. It was more like being swept away by these crazy people who clearly knew what they were doing and getting excited when they got excited.  


At other times, other people have tried to play Continental (I think it may be called Continental Rummy in some places) with me, and I always end up a confused little mess while trying to add my points after a round.  I get one of my smarter friends to count my points for me.  I'm not lazy. It's just that my brain doesn't want to do it.


My favorite card-related anecdote though, is a couple of years ago when I went to Vegas with my cousins, some of which are very experienced in table games.  We began playing Blackjack and after 3 hours of playing, I still didn't get the game.  I kept saying "I went to art school- I can't count" over and over, as if it excused me from the fact that I couldn't remember the value of a King or how much a Jack was worth.  Thankfully, I had my cousins there to guide me through and advising me on whether to split, or double down, etc.  I think I did end up making some money that night, but my biggest accomplishment was getting chuckles out of the dealer.  He was one of those serious types, no smiles, no helpful advice, no nothing.  Oh! But he couldn't resist my charm and by the end of the night he was making jokes and offering us advice.  Good times.


Anyway, what I'm trying to get to is that I'm not really good at card games.  Actually, I'm really really bad at card games.  


Board games though... that's another story.  I don't play board games.  Why? Because if you get me playing a board game, I will become so emotionally invested in it that I will make you sorry you brought the Scrabble over for game night at my place.  


In true Jekyll & Hyde fashion, I go from totally sweet, good natured me to "You landed on my property- pay me the mortgage AND an extra fee for choosing the shoe as your token" me.  In Monopoly, specifically, I become like a mobster making deals with other players, even going as far as bribing them.  Shameless.


It's true.


So, The Boyfriend has been wanting to play board games with me.  And I'm not exactly sure I want him to see that side of me.  But whatever, sooner or later he's going to know so, I'm looking to you- The Internet- to suggest some cool games for 2 people.


The criteria is as follows:
- Does not involve adding, subtracting, division, or multiplication (I went to art school)
- Does not lend itself to crazy power struggles like Monopoly... or at least how I play Monopoly
- It is fun even for the loser (it's very important that The Boyfriend has fun when I win the game)


So, if you have any good suggestions, send them my way!  


Thank you!