SPAIN!

Remember when I bought that spontaneous flight to Brazil... Well I'm back at the spontaneous spending friends. I bought my flight to Spain today! I have to admit the purchase of this flight was just slightly more premeditated than my ticket to Brazil. I've known that my brother will be studying abroad in Spain this summer and naturally, the traveling soul that I am, I knew I had to visit him. Oh, and it's his 21st birthday and he will be in a country without a legal drinking age... the irony! I'm excited to visit and celebrate his birthday though!

This time around, I will be traveling with my roommate, Erin, and we're really excited to see a lot of Spain. You may remember that I did an illustration for my Brazil trip... this time around I depicted our travels within Spain. We fly into Madrid to stay for a day or two, then take a train to stay in beautiful Barcelona for a few days, and then we meet up with my brother in Malaga for his b-day celebrations. Next, we visit Seville for a day (maybe two because I've heard its gorgeous), then head back to Madrid for the flight home. I have never traveled in such a nomadic way when going abroad. My previous experiences include; studying abroad in Italy, in which our trips were planned by other people for the most part, and Brazil of course, where I stayed with a friend and was in Rio for almost all of the trip. I'm really excited to get a different, less planned, travel method under my belt; all the while sipping sangria, eating chocolate covered churros, followed by a wonderful Spanish guitarist. Hey. A girl can dream.

Friday!

Today in Columbus, Ohio, is an icy, rainy, and overall dreary day. Not motivating to get up and head to the gym or even come to work! Yeah, just one of those days. On the upside, it's Friday! This week could not have felt a day longer. Time seemed to passed so slowly. It's not like I have a super awesome weekend ahead of me; no plans actually, which is what makes it that much better.

I stumbled across this bed spread this morning and it's.... UM. AWESOME! No, I never wanted to be an astronaut and I am obviously not a 12-year old boy, but hey; this is really cool and I would not be opposed to owning it one day!

Happy Friday!

3Doodle

Check this out y'all : a 3-dimensional pen. UM. What!?

How does it work you might ask... click on the above photo for the original site.

I'll put it like so for you: Imagine a glue gun, but with plastic that sets almost immediately. Got it? It's kinda like that!

VERY cool!

You must check this website out! Seriously though, click it!

http://www.soleilnoir.net/believein/#/start

Happy Friday

Check out these awesome images; it's a great way to capture little moments of your travels with out being too pose-y or tourist-y.

{ Feet First }

Enjoy & have a fantastic weekend!

Valentine, Be mine?

In light of it being Valentine's Day today, I thought I would share this blog with you all. A friend sent it to me yesterday and it made smile, laugh, and cry. Yeah, I'm serious. I cried almost every other story, right here, at work. It got weird. 

First, the blog. { Marc&Angel } This couples' blog is always a good read. Purely their opinions, stories, advice, etc. But always delivered in a clever and thought-provoking manner.

Second, the post. Here is a small example of why you should read all 60 of these stories...

#7 Today, it’s been five years since I adopted a puppy from a high kill shelter that had no time left. Since then I have developed a moderate case of a neurological disease that causes seizures. Believe it or not, the dog is able to detect my seizures before I know. She starts barking hysterically, and keys me into my episode before it starts. So today she is my service dog. The life I saved is saving me every day MMT (Makes Me Think).

Check it out here: 60 Short Love Stories

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Crafting @Anthro

A friend told me about a little workshop held at Anthropologie at Easton. The event was put on by a group of local bloggers ( how neat! ). Naturally, I jumped at the chance for some mid-week creativity. Wine and little desserts were involved and we made fun jewelry out of clay.

Check out their beautiful blog here @ ginger&birch

Since the darker clay needs to set for about 24-hours, you won't see my finished product until I assemble the necklace.

World of Mouth

You are bombarded by social media daily. How often do you scroll through your phone, checking twitter, Facebook, and Instagram? How many times a day do you refresh your favorite blogs for an update? We all get how big social media has become in the past few years, and how companies can drive new business via one 160 character tweet, but have you ever imagined life with out social media? A friend of mine is teaching in China and I immediately thought of her when I saw this (and yes it is mentioned in the video).

The music has a toe-tapping beat and an epic build to it, the type is decent (I would have preferred a different font), and the animations keep you interested, but the facts... 

The facts are astounding!

Also; Seriously, who in Egypt thought it was a good idea to name a kid "Facebook" or "Twitter"? 

Oh my... WOW.

Nikki

I've always known losing our family's first pet would be tough, but are you ever actually prepared for those things? I certainly don't think so. This past Wednesday, I received a text from my Dad, saying Nikki was back at the vet and not doing well (her back legs and hips had been slowly deteriorating, we could clearly see that when I was home for Christmas). I will admit, the text made me nervous, but in the back of my mind I told myself we still had time, I had to pet those soft little ears one last time. Sadly, this was not the case. My parents made the tough decision to put her down that day, said their good-byes, and called my brother and I.

It's a hard thing coming home, without that precious face to greet me! One of my good friends was kind enough to work her photoshop magic and whip this up in a day for me to bring home this weekend and gift to my mom. Yes, tears were involved, my friends!

{ but seriously... how beautiful is that! }

Jessica Porter is an amazing retoucher, with whom I also have the pleasure of working with at VS! 
You can find her work { HERE } and { HERE }. And hey; shoot her an email and have her make you a personal illustration of your beloved pet!