November Favorites

I don't know what it was about November, but it seemed to move so slow. Am I the only one?? I guess it's just the anticipation of so many great things that will happen in December for us!

Thanksgiving goes without saying as a highlight of November, so for the sake of origionality here are six other of my favorite things from this month:
 

1. My sister Kelsey lives a half hour away and we were able to get together for lunch this month.  It was so great catching up just the two of us!  We ate at Two Guys Pizza near NC State.  It was delicious and they run daily lunch specials!

2. Bumble&Bumble Styling Creme.  This stuff is magic in a bottle. My hair is thick, but fine....and somewhere in between naturally curly and wavy.  I can use this creme to style it curly, straight, and is a great primer product to have in your hair to style it with a flat iron or curling iron.  Seriously, magic in a bottle.  And early on in the month I found out they now sell it at Target.  It is kinda pricey, but worth every penny!

3. Once Upon a Time.  After 1 season, this has jumped to the top of my "favorite shows" list!  This show is a great interweaving of fairy tail characters and the modern world, full of twists and turns.  Season 2 is premering now on ABC Sunday nights at 8PM.  If you havn't seen it, you should check it out.  Our family is hooked!!

4. My friend Maria posted this tutorial on her new blog.  I am notorious for waiting until the last minute to throw dinner together, which more often than not means we end up just going out.  I am such a visual person and even just having a list of go to meals would be great for me. I can't wait to make one of my own!

5. Due to my crazy work schedule, there was only online Black Friday shopping for us.  I've been wanting a higher quality camera for a while and now was the perfect time to finally make the purchase.  We have always had a Canon, so it's been a pretty easy transition so far. But, there still might be a photography class or two in my future!

6. In the spirit of family tradition, we got our tree and put it up the day after Thanksgiving.  My other Christmas decorations are steadily being put up now...needless to say, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around our homestead!

Linking up with Dancing with Ashley

Happy Friday!

Subway Art

I finally completed my first art project in a long time!!  This subway art is a great way to display our bucket list of  places we want to travel to.

If you want to make one of your own, here's how:

Start with a wooden board, any size you like and paint it in the background color. (My board was on the bigger side... 12" x 41")

Create your template (Microsoft publisher is my favorite program to use right now), print, and set it up on the board. Mixing fonts is great, but keep it at 5 or less...too many is too busy

Next I used a screwdriver to trace the letters.  That leaves a slight outline in the wood that makes painting a breeze and will give you perfect letters.  The lighter the background, the easier it is to see the outlines made by the screwdriver.  Obviously, I went for more of a challenge with the chocolate brown.

Then comes the fun part...painting!

In case you like mine, here is a template for a smaller version... 3.5" x 10.5":  

Subway Travel Template

A life, still

Last Friday night, Wesley took me to the North Carolina Museum of Art.  We went to see the new exhibition "Still Life Masterpieces" that is running now through January 2013.

It can be easy to rush through a still life exhibit (as Wesley wanted to do), but when you take the time to stop and ponder the paintings that catch your eye, you can find a story even in something as seemingly simple as a still-life.

Here is a peek at some of my favorites that we saw in the gallery visiting from Boston:

1. Renoir is one of my favorite Impressionists.  He has an amazing skill of personifying beauty with movement and color.  This particular piece made me think of all of the charming (ok....eclectic) bouquets that Wesley has put together for me over the years.  And how when I am admiring the surprise he put together for me, I wish time would stop and be still for a while. (I confess I will often tote the bouquet around the house with me...it is so great that flowers can be so portable, especially when you want to enjoy them in every room!)

Renoir, Mixed Flowers in an Earthenware Pot, 1869

2. The Dutch put together some striking still life subjects called the "Vanitas" (Latin for vanity) that will tell you a story of how fleeting and vain human life is. By doing this, they are pointing out how important it is to turn to the eternal: "to lay our treasures in heaven."


Gijsbrechts, Vanitas Still Life, 1668

3. This piece is of apples that instead of being in the standard bowl on a table, are painted as a bushel on a sheet on the floor.  It looked to me like they had been wrapped in the sheet and in a mishap, or perhaps mistake of someone in the house, got knocked to the floor and began spilling out.  How many times after making mistakes in our own life do we stop, be still, and think about a lesson or two to learn from what just happened? In the rush and bustle of our lives, perhaps not often enough.

Sterne, Green Apples, 1924

Take a few moments to be still this weekend. Who knows what you could learn, appreciate, or discover?!?

Happy Friday!