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Monthly Archives: February 2012
I’m sure it has been said by multitudes: always carry a pen and paper. I was thinking the last few days about my plight from Monday’s post and this simple piece of advice. I suppose a little note taking would have saved me some minor confusion and frustration. Then I remembered a series of paintings that I saw at the Denver Art Museum by Tony Foster – he kept a journal of his trip down the Colorado River by painting a watercolor view of the canyon at each campsite, along with a few notes, a map of the location, and a small artifact he found that day (feather, stone, leaf, etc).
  
Now this, this is a journal that satisfies the right AND left brains, wouldn’t you say? Who says taking notes can’t be practical AND beautiful?
Looking at these pictures again, like the first time I saw the exhibit, reminds me to slow down a little and take it what’s around me. And that there is value in keeping record – something I don’t do often enough. So, here’s to taking notes – whether it’s to remember where you snapped that shot of Pike’s Peak, or your journey down the Colorado River, or maybe just how you made the most of your extra leap day in February, 2012.
You know me, I’m all about everyday adventures!
One of the great things about Colorado Springs, and probably Colorado in general, is that there are trail heads just about everywhere – one can hardly keep track of them all. This post is an example:
You see, some friends took me on this hike in 2008 when I first moved out here. And I all wrote down was “Catamount Reservoir” – I have since learned that there are two reservoirs with that name, North Catamount and South Catamount. Can’t tell you which one we hiked to, where we parked, or any other such insightful details except that it was cloudy.
I don’t remember the hike being too challenging (I had just moved, therefore elevation would have been an impacting factor) – we hiked over a ridge from where we parked and down to the reservoirs – it was maybe an hour or two. Of course, none of this helps much since I don’t know where it was that we parked.
So, I’m afraid that the most profound thing I have to say to you about these photos is this: Take notes when you take pictures, so you don’t end up like me.
Hope you all had a happy Monday!
I’m a midwest girl at heart, but I have a little thing for Texas. And if I had to pick a favorite place in Texas, it would probably be Austin. Not just because my awesome big brother lives there, but that helps! We spent last weekend in Austin and so I thought I’d share a few of my favorite photos from that trip, plus a few of our past visits.
One of my favorite parts of Austin is how much there is to do outside. When we visit, we like to hike or bike the Green Belt – I love that it runs all the way through the city – and we also spent a day boating on Lake Austin (this is a seriously awesome past-time).
I loved visiting Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, where I was able to get some great shots – I could take photos of flowers literally all day long. It was a small center, but it had longer trails you could hike, if you desired. We stuck to the center where the gardens were, and still had a lovely time.
On this trip, we took a tour at University of Texas, which was a beautiful campus – much more “college” feeling than my urban-center alma mater DePaul – but it didn’t nearly feel big enough for the number of students that attend (50,000+!). Also, college pride level at this school is through the roof – every other person we passed was wearing burnt orange, and of course, there were longhorns on pretty much everything a longhorn could be put on!
And of course, no visit to Austin would be complete without some really tasty grub. I won’t go into all the details here, but if you’re interested in more detailed reviews of restaurants, etc, that we visited during our trip, check out my yelp reviews. (Full disclosure: I didn’t actually eat at Chuy’s, but rather the neighboring Shady Grove – I just loved the sign – but from what I hear, and from the 1.5 hour wait there that Sunday morning, I’m guessing the food is delicious there too.)
It’s pretty hard to capture Austin into one post, but this is a tiny glimpse of some of our past visits – I’m sure I’ll be adding to the memories as time goes on. Have any of you been to Austin? What was your favorite place to visit or eat?
Today’s soundtrack is a song I discovered while traveling in Rome in 2007 – so it’s a throwback. In our hotel room, my sister and I had Italian MTV on pretty much constantly because that was the only station which didn’t particularly bother us if we didn’t understand the words. I came back to the song this weekend because I needed something upbeat to entertain me during 5 loads of post-travel laundry – and I’ll admit, I get my love-song-listening on during the 2nd week of February.
It’s called Parlami d’Amore, by Negramaro : it’s in Italian, so I actually have not much of an idea what the song is saying, except what I can gather from its similarities to Spanish and from the action in the music video. The title, at least, I can translate roughly for you: Talk to me about Love!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp5gTpSyb90]
Got the music video off youtube, so I apologize for the quality, but I like the video well enough that I wanted to share. Hope you enjoy!
I’m not a crazy Valentine’s sap, but I’m definitely in the pro-celebrate-love camp, so the husband and I are celebrating Valentine’s this weekend – I’ll wish you all a belated love day, hoping that you spent it close to those that are dear to your heart! In fact, I think every day should be pro-celebrate-love day.
{Photos taken by me, video from youtube}
Hey folks, hope you had a fantastic week! We’re back from our trip to Texas – it is always such a joy to see family. I’ll be posting some photos from our trip on Monday, but for now, here’s a Fresh Friday post!
I know by now it’s probably old news, but I actually managed to check out the Jason Wu for Target collection that came out last Sunday – much unlike the Missioni fiasco, this launch was pretty quiet by comparison. Though many racks were sparse by the time I dragged myself out of bed, there were some things left in my size and I snagged this navy polka-dot number.
I’ve been contemplating a bow blouse for a little while, and I think the polka-dots add a fun, spring twist! Here are two ways I’ve styled it so far:
Dressed down, to visit the UT campus in Austin with Cory and my sister.
Cardi: JCrew, Blouse: Jason Wu for Target, Pants: JCrew Factory, Shoes: TOMS, Necklace: James Avery (gift)
Dressed up, (ok I haven’t actually worn this yet – but I’ve had it in my mind since I saw the top in the store and it will happen soon! Stripes and dots, what’s not to love?).
Blouse: Jason Wu for Target, Skirt: Shop Kempt, Flats: Steve Madden via DSW, Necklace: Gift
I think it’s so important when you’re buying clothes to be able to see them working in your closet in multiple ways – it makes for fewer closet orphans and squeezes a little more creativity out of your wardrobe.
Did any of you grab pieces from Jason Wu for Target? What other pieces do you have your eye on for spring?
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