things that are inspiring me lately...

• edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros
• wes anderson films
• black coffee- the stronger the better
• intricate sketches, lithography, and etching
• cooking with fresh summer vegetables
• camping
• "an education"

art-wise i have been doing a lot of sketching and little side projects... this is a postcard i made for the rsvp of courtney and austin's wedding. :)
life-wise i have been going on lots of adventures with my friends from anderson. i'm so excited for the coming year because i know it's going to be filled with so much life, vigor, curiosity, and love.

scorched summer

i feel like i slept through the month of june. everything that happened seemed like a dream, and now i feel like my life is caught in this groggy, just-waking-up state. i'm spending a lot of time with people i love. i'm trying new things and becoming a completely different person. this has definitely been a summer of growth for me and i hope that it continues. i hope that the people in my life know how much i love them, how much they've influenced me, and how lost i would be without them. i want to do everything i can to paint my life in beautiful colors, to love and not take anything for granted.

jambo, jet lag!

i am home. i am sleeping weird hours, waking up at odd times, and always hungry. on sunday i woke up at 2 am and tried to get back to sleep, but it was not happening. i read, wrote, sketched, (quietly) played piano, and finally around 5 am bake some banana muffins with a pecan glaze.

tanzania stretched me, tested me, and taught me so much. i saw and heard so much that was holy. i don't feel like blogging about it can do any justice to how incredible and untamed it was. i'm not sure if anyone even reads this blog--but if you want to hear more about tanzania please call me, we'll get coffee or i'll bake you something and share stories! :)

back to africa.

tomorrow morning i leave for tanzania. i can't wait to be back in africa. i want to learn and love so much. i want to find God again and renew my spirit.

summertime and the living is easy

here is the (almost) finished wedding invitation!

it was so much fun to make. :)
so... summer has turned out to be far less dreadful than i had expected. i've made some visits to anderson and been visited by my friends from there, as well as spending time with my old friends from high school.
creatively, this summer needs to get revved up a little more but it's been somewhat productive. i've been doing some sketching, but this wedding invitation has been the biggest project thus far. last week, my roommate kirsten surprised me with a visit and we made music together. :) when i hang out with her, it seems like my creative juices flow a little better. maybe because i'm secretly a little jealous of what an amazing writer and musician she is. either way, we had a lot of fun.
some summer goals i would like to accomplish:
-make some headway on my summer reading. right now i'm in the middle of wuthering heights and the grapes of wrath.
-go exploring.
-make yummy food with fresh vegetables from the garden and give this vegetarian thing another shot.
-write in my journal more often. and spend time talking to God, asking big questions and staying curious.

i leave for tanzania in less than a week! i'm excited, nervous, and scared. but so happy to be going back to africa. hopefully i will do some more blogging as the summer goes on. :)
there are so many incredible people who love me. i wish i could somehow express to them how wonderful they have made my life and how much they have taught me.
life is strange and beautiful.

baking pictorals! :)

wow it has been a while, huh? i'm finally posting the pics of my baking endeavors! irish soda bread and raspberry-banana muffins. :) so my life has changed a LOT since the last time i posted. for the first time in my life, i'm really dreading the summer. but i've decided it's going to be a time of personal growth, trying new things, and getting to know my friends again.