hawaii part II: The coffee shack, the refuge, and volcanoes national park

Volcano on Dwellable

a tally of two cities

Love these!  So clever and awesome typography.  Funny, because at the moment I'm finishing up Tale of Two Cities.

via Cup of Jo

if I had to pick a song as my motto, I would choose this verse

It's a long life
Better pinch yourself
Put your face together
Better get it right
It's a long life
Better hit yourself
Put your face together
Better stand up straight
It's a long life 
Only one last chance
Could it get much better
Do you wanna dance?


Impossible Soul by Sufjan Stevens

i ♥ sufjan stevens

Just got back from the show!

It was

colorful
wonderful
hilarious
happy
heartbreaking
beautiful
charming
boogie-worthy
loud
quiet
bright
psychedelic
apocalyptic
hat-wearing
streamer-twirling
inspired
crazy
fun
awesome


Can it get much better than that?

Oh wait, it can...

"My t-shirt is too big."

"Let's boogie to the beat of... America!"

and Sufjan getting his toys out of the way for a "slow jam"

and using auto-tune
and dancing adorably

and officially being one of my favorite people I don't know.

Time to download Age of Adz and make cupcake frosting.  Life is freaking sweet.

hawaii part I: waikoloa village

My wonderful grandparents brought me and my family to the big island for October break.  It was lovely!  We stayed at the lively Hilton Waikoloa Village and ate and ate and swam and hiked...and slept in, read, and inhaled copious amounts of sushi (or at least I did).  More pictures to come!

Waikoloa Beach Villas on Dwellable

ways to pretend it's fall in arizona part II

Conspire to work green and red into your outfit.
Read Tale of Two Cities and bake French macarons.
Daydream about next Fall in Portland.
Listen to jazz and take a nap.
Drink all the coffee, tea, and cider you can find.
And wear jewels and gems--lots of them.

see part I here

garden party

 Erin and I had a ball making all the decorations.

Fact: I could eat Erin & her mom's quiches the rest of my life.

 The last crumbs of my macarons

I think I ate roughly six of these.  Or seven.

 Rachel + Dahlya being adorable

 Birthday girl!

Kate, Rylee, Eric, Rachel, + Erin

Tori beside the nifty branch bouquets Erin and I made.

 Kate said I reached Blair-status (I really need to blog about my love of Blair).  My life is complete.

It all turned out quite wonderful!  I am very thankful for friends like Erin who let me be a part of the magnificent creative process of party planning--because truly, that is half the fun.  Happy 18th, Erin.

Pictures taken by me + Kate