TODAY, MAY 26, I TURNED...

Happy Golden Birthday to me!

Some other fun facts about the number 26:

1.  A Rubik's Cube can always be solved in 26 moves or less.

2.  In 26 BC, Cleopatra Selene got married, so Augustus Caesar made her the queen of Mauretania as a wedding present (not a bad gift...)

3.  In 1926, Route 66 was established.

4.  Scientist Heinz von Foerster predicted that on November 11, 2026, technological singularity will occur - the point where we will reach a level of technological progress previously unknown to man. This includes the ability for machines to make themselves smarter, and, you know, finish off the human race.

5.  26 is the only positive number directly between a square number and a cube number.

6.  Precipitevolissimevolmente has 26 letters and is the longest word in the Italian language. A bit ironically, it means 'as fast as possible'. 

7.  There are 26 letters in the English alphabet (Yay for letters, the building blocks of words!)

8.  2 + 6 = 8, the number of facts I have to tell you about the number 26!

There ya have it, folks.

I think 26 is gonna be a good year!

TODAY IS...

...National Taffy Day!

I kid you not.
It's on my calendar.

And how awesome is that? There should be an official day of celebrating this sweet, chewy, happy-colored candy. Taffy always reminds me of summer. Probably because I grew up in Myrtle Beach, where every bargain beach store on every corner sells it. And there are specialty shops that sell it, too. I remember as a kid walking in and watching the big machines pull and twist it and shoot it into wrappers, and then they'd usually let you try a few pieces for free, too. I always had the hardest time deciding what to pick - there were barrels and barrels full of every flavor imaginable... yum!

You're craving taffy now, aren't you?

Well, the good news is, if you don't happen to live near a quality taffy store, you can make it yourself!

The talented Abi of  Vanilla and Lace has posted a delicious recipe and all the instructions you need. 

Thanks to her, too, for the beautiful photographs above!

Happy Taffy Day!

SOCIAL T-SHIRT INVITATIONAL

A few night's ago, Jake attended one of those artsy-fartsy gallery reception things that I'm always super jealous when I have to miss (I had to work late that evening). I love the vibe of those events.

This one was a Social T-Shirt Invitational, presenting a curated collection of 10 limited edition t-shirts designed by artists around the country, all unified by a common theme. Jake is friends with one of the artists whose work was being featured (Brandon Oxendine), so he went and checked it out and said it was a lot of fun. It looks like it was, apparently complete with a dj and a host of craft brews. 

Ah well, maybe I'll make it to the next one. 

At least you and I have the pictures to enjoy, right?

The different designs on the shirts.

Brandon Oxendine's design.

Thanks, Social Design House, for all the fabulous pictures! And happy first birthday!

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CH-CH-CHANGES

Life is a beautiful thing. And one of the things I love most about it, though it is paradoxically also one of the more difficult things, is that life requires change. We must always be changing, stretching ourselves, growing, evolving - changing. At least, I know that is how I am as a creative person. If things become too mundane, if things start to stagnate and get repetitive and stiff, something starts to feel like it is dying inside of me. I need room to ever be expanding my arms, moving my legs, crawling and falling and discovering and seeing new possibilities in my surroundings. 

That said, I am very excited to announce that there are some changes up ahead for Jake and I in terms of our artistic endeavors. I'm still grappling with exactly what that looks like, so I won't let the cat out of the bag prematurely, but I'll just say that I've been doing increasing amounts of research on cottage industry business, and I'm loving the stories I've been discovering along the way.

One in particular I had to share with you all. 

This couple - Andy and Ellie Stager - are actually local acquaintances, and I find their story so inspiring.

The Cordial Churchman Story from Jay Grant on Vimeo.

As the above caption mentions, my friend Jay Grant filmed this piece. His company, Istoria, is really taking off, too, so I'm sure I'll be mentioning it here more in the future.

And, undoubtedly after that video, you're all wondering where you can go to purchase your very own Cordial Churchman bow tie. You're in luck; just click your mouse right here. And tell them I said hello! 

I have a favor to ask all of you as well. I have been trying to convince Jake for years now that bow ties are, in fact, stylish for guys his age to wear. I don't think he can get past the mental image of white-bearded college professors who wore them. 

So.... it would be awesome if all of you would flood his inbox (jakepageillustration@gmail.com) with emails encouraging him to "give bow ties a chance". 

Heehee, I'm evil, aren't I?

But it's totally for his own good. Wink. 

Anyway, if you love these cottage industry success stories as much as I do, I've discovered you can find more of them on the etsy blog. Just search "Quit Your Day Job + (the craft of your choice)". Here are a few suggestions:

Quit Your Day Job + Art

Quit Your Day Job + Jewelry

Quit Your Day Job + Vintage

Be inspired, friends!

MAY FLOWERS

~I'm back!~

Miss me?

I know I have missed this place, missed the therapy of blogging, and mostly, missed all of you! 

But the wedding was this past weekend, and I expect things will start to calm down a lot more now that that's over.

It was beautiful, by the way.

My sister looked like a princess. Or an angel. Or something extremely gorgeous and ethereal. 

And the southern plantation where she got married - also gorgeous. 

Just look at this pic of the site:

Beautiful, right?

And let me just say, people don't realize how many roses it takes to cover an aisle. You are looking at 350 roses. Crazy, I know. But it looked so pretty.

All the flowers at the wedding were amazing. My sister is a huge flower person, so that was a really important element to her. And I lucked out too with that, because guess who got to take a bunch of the bouquets home after the fact while she's off on her honeymoon...

Yep, my house is now littered with fresh flowers. 

Everything smells so sweet and springtime-y, I love it!

And this square bouquet that I've displayed on the kitchen table is my favorite.

I've never been a huge flower person the way my sister is, but in the course of being her matron of honor I ended up arranging some floral centerpieces, and it's actually a lot of fun!

Here's a technique I picked up:

1. Holding one flower stem, add two more stems so that you make a pyramid shape, with one stem slightly higher than the other two. The tops of the two flowers should touch the base of the first bloom (you don't want to see any stem). 

2. Add three more stems around the base of the two blooms, again, being careful not to show any stem. Then add another five or six below the three in the same fashion. 

3. Secure them with florist's tape or a rubber band.

4. Clip the stems about two inches shorter than the vase you're using so that the bouquet sits on the bottom of the vase (flowers should cover the edge of the vase).

5. Finally, randomly add in groups of two or three varying flowers to the bouquet (for example, if you were using pink peonies, now you might add in some green ones). This makes it more three-dimensional and gives it that slightly crazy, not-stuffy look, which I LOVE!

And that's all there is to it. You can even buy cheap flowers at the grocery store or farmer's market and use this technique to make your own stunning arrangements with them.

I am all about do-it-yourself projects!

So glad to be back in the land of the blogging again!

What have you been up to lately?

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Birch bark vase, available on etsy 

WORDS IN THE CITY

Came across these installations by artist Robert Montgomery and found them refreshing. 

According to his website, "They are intended to be encountered by commuters who don't know they are art, and an attempt to describe in public space what it feels like to live now."

I enjoy the fact that he hi-jacks advertising space and alters signs to tell us something true, or at least thought-provoking. To get commuters jolted out of the screensavers that they go to in their mind. And his poetic style reminds me a little of Julio Cortazar. 

Anyway, it's nice to not be told you need to buy something for a change. 

You can read more about his projects here. 

Enjoy your Wednesday - and be fully alive in it!

IT'S OFFICIALLY MAY!...

...the best month of the year. 

(My birthday is this month.)

Don't forget to change your desktop calendar!

Here's a cute one from Anne Bryant: 

It's gonna be a busy month... I'm excited!