Things I Love Thursday

With the big move just over a month and a half away, I am in serious purge & organize mode. I get these second winds when I should be tucking into bed, but instead I just want to bust out the paper shredder and garbage bags and get to trashing! I definitely did round one of that last week. A friend of mine was kind enough to let me take heaps of moving boxes off her hands, as she and her family just moved into a new place here in town. I can't wait to fill them up and get organized. Also over the weekend, I wrapped up a couple of great weddings, and put the finishing touches on maternity photos for my friend and took them to her baby shower. So I've been a little distracted from blogging in the last week, but assuming the mailman has some goodies for me in the next week or so, I will have some fun things to share with you soon! And I promise tomorrow you get to see a little bit of how I get around with my makeup kit, and how much easier it's gotten since I made my favorite purchase of the year back at IMATS. I was hoping a certain something would be coming in the mail before I posted about my kit, but it hasn't. So I'll give it one more day just in case.

Mason jar color wash project success after multiple failed jars!!

Things making me smile lately:

Finally getting off my rear and experimenting with DIY projects I've had on my list for a while (I can't wait to decorate in our new place). Being coupon savvy and not having paid full price for nearly everything I have purchased in the last week (including but not limited to 40% off spray paint, half price groceries, thrift store student discounts, and Six Flags yesterday). Cooking things I have otherwise just been too lazy to try out (Kale chips, I'm looking at you). Cheap, neon nail polish. Planning a garage sale, and a going away get-together. Finding a stash of greeting cards from my late great-grandmother, and having a good cry over how amazing she was and how lucky I am to have had such an inspiring and intelligent woman to look up to (her words from nearly 10 years ago still remind me to be strong and follow my dreams). 

Apartment Therapy has been on a moving kick lately, and it couldn't be more appropriate for me these days (I read about an app to "inventory" each box with a scannable QR code? Be still my heart! So what if I don't want to use a sharpie and do it the easy way!). And last but not least, spending quality time with my little sister while I'm still on this side of the country. 

Me and the sis, on a train to Seattle with mom, 1998.

Me and the sis, on a trip to St. Louis and Springfield with mom earlier this year.

Things I Love Thursday: Moving Plans Edition

I know I have mentioned it here or there, but never in detail really until now. If you follow this blog and don't know me well, you might not know that my boyfriend and I are planning a pretty big move in just a couple months.

San Diego to New York City. I grew up here. He grew up in New Jersey. I've always wanted to go. He's always wanted to go back.

So here we go

This week's edition of things to be thankful for is going to be short, but sweet. It's crunch time, so forgive me if I'm distracted these days! Lots of things to go through, give away and sell. Plus I still have clients and various freelance work, and friend's weddings all the way up to the end of September. But come the first week of October, we will be in the car somewhere around the mid west, en route. 

Our approximate route, with quick stops for lunch and/or overnight stays with friends and family.

Bits of gratitude and thanks for this week: places that let you take their cardboard boxes (thanks nice gal at Starbucks), friends with long-distance moving experience who are filled with good advice, getting to shoot with Noa of Feather Love Photography for the first time over the weekend (she just oozes contagiously happy, creative energy and is so stinkin' talented), starting to read Tina Fey's book BossypantsHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (I'll be seeing it later this weekend but I can't believe it's all coming to an end!), purging material things (it just feels so good! why do we wait until moving to do this??), and last but not least, finally organizing all my real and digital scraps of saved DIY projects-to-come because I cannot wait to get cracking once we get settled into a place!

I'll send you off with a link to a post about gratitude on one of my favorite new sites, Hello Giggles. If you're not already a fan, you need to get to clicking and check it out, you will thank me later! It's run by actress Zooey Deschanel and friends, and in a nutshell is a site full of articles written by the kind of girls I would love to be friends with. 

In this post, contributor Marissa A. Ross writes a thoughtful and poignant piece about being thankful titled, The Key to a Happy Life: Eight Ways to Practice Gratitude. Give it a read, I couldn't have said it better myself.

Persist: An Open Letter to the Artists of the World

Hi my loves! Happy Friday to you all. Are you wrapping up the week's loose ends in preparation for a great weekend?

I know I am. I might have a last minute booking next week, so I hope to have that locked down before the night is up. I also had a wonderful shoot yesterday, and have another tomorrow. I can't wait to share those with you soon.

For now I wanted to just offer a quick post to send us off for the weekend. One of my favorite bloggers, Gala Darling, always has the best bits to share throughout the week. You might remember that myThings I Love Thursdays pay homage to the feature of the same name on her blog. Who doesn't love to spread the love, right?

I couldn't resist sharing a link I found on her site today. It is such a perfect find for me right now as I am having a rather off day. I'm not sure why really, but aren't we all allowed to get in a funk from time to time? 

Take a look at this hand-written open letter to artists from a successful Pixar animator. I've saved it so I can look to it when I need a little pat on the back. I hope you find it helpful too!

Letter via Gala Darling, via Letters of Note.