happies! (kiko, see below)

chocolate and fish oil. what more could a girl ask for?

absolutely beautiful gift and beautiful packing job by annie!
a book of essays by eb white (such an attractive cover too!)
and a special birthday mix with the most creative and pretty packaging job i've ever seen. the cd was inside this circle case with a pink ribbon coming through the middle hole.

the famous and oh-so-perfect-every-year birthday box from my daddy.

him.

this part is especially written for kiko:

well first of all, eric was waiting for me outside on a park bench when i got out of class this morning. that in itself was the best birthday present ever!

and then he whips out this little rectangular box all wrapped in funny thread and magazine paper and says it's my "first present". first? so i found this little green baby inside the wrapping and inside the box. SO wonderful and a really beautiful shade of green. i've been wanting some music for my morning rides and when i'm working on projects but i lost my old shuffle. the drone of traffic is nothing like music. AND the back is inscripted with lyrics from mine and his favorite song: 'anything to make you smile'

ah.

and then!! the second birthday gift. this one was all wrapped in trader joes brown bags and was waiting for me after my six hour long color theory class. eric drew each of these himself! and scraped paint off the frames and put a finish on them that makes it a really niice shade of brown. the drawings are really amazing.

brae and her fancy self took me and eric to a delicous japanese restruant for a some really yummy sushi and warm, steamed hand towells:)



my friends monica and jaeger from school even bought little pastries for me and we had a little party at 9 pm in the photo lounge before i headed home for the day.

really beautiful day from start to finish.
and now, i am 20.

eric's in my neighborhood

everybody,
guess what?
eric's here!
eric bushaw, my eric, the one and only love of my life
is right here with me in philly.
i get to see him
after class
between class
before class
for lunch
for dinner
for bench sits
for walks to the grocery store
for bike rides home
for visits to the art museum
for stops at the coffee shop
anytime!
(except for when i'm in class, mom and aunt dawn. and when i'm doing homework:)

i love him and now i love this city SO much more.

maryland-ers should know:

Origin of the Name Maryland: Maryland was named to honor the Henrietta Maria (1609-1669)
State Nickname: Old Line State
State Song: Maryland, My Maryland
State Motto:"Fatti Maschii, Parole Femine" Manly Deeds, Womanly Words

why this is so funny to me, i don't know. but it is. state motto? should we be saying this often? like to greet each other and stuff? where/when is this put into use?

my puzzle (with two pieces missing)

a shot from my whirlwind weekend. i was whisked away to upstate New York for a day and a morning to attend my cousin Kelly's wedding.  it's so nice to be plopped down in the middle of my family again.  it was very restful, in an extremely hectic sort of way:)

ps. dosen't my mother look classy?!  such a lady.

finding form

*my friend jaeger reviewing her shots*

*lunch break*

*my teacher's beautiful hands*

*the group minus two girls who were lost*

on friday, our graphic design teacher took the class to a botanical garden. We drove far away from the city with our cameras and packed lunches and spent the entire day taking pictures of 'form'. Our assignment was to play with composition, space, patterns, lines, etc with plants and ALL the beautifulness in the garden. These are some of the shots i got. There's about 200 more i have to go through and edit.
It was an absoulutely gorgoeous day though. Got my fill of grass and trees and clean air so i can do this city thing for a while longer:)

*click to make bigger. i couldn't get it any larger for some reason.

i think i like photoshop.

this was our very first assignment--the person next took us took our picture, we uploaded it onto our computers with our hard drives and then we told to just mess around. FUN stuff that i could do FOREVER. seriously. it totally sucked me in. the possiblities are endless. in the photoshop world though, i'm sure this is equal to writing my ABC's.

i even get to wear an apron.

This is the perfect little saturday i job i landed. It's a paint-your-own-pottery studio on the corner of 9th and Bainbridge. all i have to do is be a friendly face and supply people with whatever they need to do their craft. it's such a peaceful job for me. i'm totally into the vibe of the whole place--colorful, organized (every inch), community oriented and encouraging people to sit down and use their hands! It's also a surprisely pretty fast-paced job. it's alot like waitressing except no food, beverages, late nights, hot kitchens or rude customers. so not alot of sitting around which i love. It is so wonderful to make money! and not just spend it:) now all i need to live NOT 40 minutes away. we'll see what craigs list can do for me in that area.

We should all do what,
in the long run,
gives us joy,
even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.

-e.b. white

money-talk

made.by.hank

brae showed me this woman's etsy shop of handmade bags. arn't they lovely? i think the whole look and so new and fresh. i've been looking for a new bag lately but i can't seem to find one that isn't a slouchy, flashy, bohemian one--they're snazzy but a dime a dozen. this one's snazzy&distinct! and what's great is that this woman lives in philly and comes to brae's cafe, B2's, every now and then. go to ETSY.com and look at her handywork.
just browse madebyhank.