Bubby and Bean ::: Living Creatively

friday is for favorites

2012-02-24T08:32:00.002-06:00

Time for a brand new edition of Friday is for Favorites! For new readers, 'Friday is for Favorites' is my (almost) weekly series where I become a rebel, and break all of my own rules of design cohesiveness to which I normally adhere on the Bubby and Bean blog. No themes, trend collections, or matching aesthetics here. Just a gathering of a few random things that I happen to be loving this particular week.

1. Oh my goshhhhh. I can't put into words how much I love these shoes from Arts and Science's spring collection. Really though. I want them on my feet.

2. Without a doubt, Midnight in Paris was my favorite movie of 2011. Even though it didn't win the Golden Globe for best picture, I'm crossing my fingers it wins the Oscar on Sunday. Everything about this movie is just ridiculously amazing. Seriously. If you haven't seen it, see it. You'll thank me. Promise.

3. If I had a million dollars, I would make our spare room into a closet and fill it with awesomely patterned black and white dresses, like these beauties from ModCloth. Actually, I'd use it to pay bills and buy a car that wasn't on the verge of its final breakdown. But it's Friday, and I'm not going to ruin it by focusing on the practical. Jeez.

4. The design dork in me is completely fascinated by this vintage design magazine, called Arts et Métiers Graphiques. Published from 1927 to 1939, it was an influential graphic arts magazine created by the head of the French type-foundry Deberny et Peignot. I am currently on the hunt for a copy that I can hold and drool over in real life. Fellow design nerds, you can find on more on AMG here.

5. How about this colorful painted bench, created out of the remnants of a wooden ramp? It reminds me of a xylophone, and I want to make one of my very own. Instant cheer.

6. I'll be honest, it's been hard to see cute doggy products (and dog treats, and dog food, and dogs...) since we lost our Bubby boy. But this adorable 'Woof Woof' bowl from Ruche makes me smile big. I think I need to grab one for the Bean (my sis's smart + sassy Shiba Inu).

Do you have any fun weekend plans? This is the first weekend in 2012 that Robbie will actually be home, so when I'm not smothering him with annoying amounts of affection, we'll be gallivanting around town visiting estate sales, coffee shops, and vintage stores. Or maybe just getting groceries and stopping by the hardware store. Whatever. We should probably also spend some time spring cleaning our hot mess of a house (the clutter built up in here could quite possibly make us candidates for that Hoarders show), but putting that off in exchange for more pleasurable activities sounds much more appealing. We'll see... The delayed reaction of a winter that decided to envelope Chicago today may just force us to stay put and get organized. Then on Sunday, one of my favorite events of the year - the Oscars - will finally arrive! Hurray! I explained in my Golden Globes post why I'm slightly obsessed with movie awards shows (pssst... I have an acting degree!), so I'll spare you the repetition and just say that I'm really, really excited.

I hope that your Friday is full of everything wonderful. And your weekend too!

Have you entered our Leap Year Giveaway? If not, click here for a chance to win a prize package full of over $100 worth of seriously amazing goodies!

LEAP YEAR GIVEAWAY! >>> Win a prize package worth over $100!

2012-02-23T08:08:00.004-06:00

It's not every year that we get an entire extra day. We say that's cause for celebration! In honor of Leap Year Day (February 29th!), we've gathered some seriously awesome prizes from a few of our February sponsors, and thrown in something special from Bubby and Bean Art too. This incredible prize package is worth over $100 - and one of you will win it all!

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VISIT THIS SHOP

This giveaway is open to all Bubby and Bean followers. If you're a new reader, just make sure to follow first using Google Friend Connect (click here, or click on the blue "Join This Site" button under "FOLLOW" in the right side bar), or subscribe with one of these readers. Then just leave a comment telling us what you'll be doing with your "extra day" on February 29th. That's it!

Once you've completed the mandatory entry above, you can also gain one additional entry for each of the following. (*Please put each extra entry in a SEPARATE comment in order for it to count).

Visit any of the shops from this giveaway and list your favorite item(s).
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This giveaway is open through Leap Day - February 29th. The winner's name will be chosen randomly and announced soon after. Big thanks to Keeping It Indie, Scathingly Brilliant, and Mountains of the Moon for giving our readers a chance to win such incredible prizes!
BEST OF LUCK!

Illuminated // Worley's Lighting

2012-02-22T09:47:00.001-06:00

Today's post is a special interview with this month's featured sponsor, Shelli of Worley's Lighting. Shelli is a talented artist who makes insanely gorgeous lamps and lighting decor from organic and found objects. I hope you enjoy this glimpse into what inspires her and makes her tick!

Hi Shelli! Please introduce yourself to Bubby and Bean's readers.
My name is Shelli Worley and I'm the owner of Worley's Lighting. I live in a cozy little condo in Fort Mill, SC with my husband, Seth, who runs the shop with me. Besides running Worley's lighting, I work at a desk job to help make ends meet (nothing much to add here, so boring), and my husband plays guitar full time for a Charlotte musician named Andy Cherry. He also scuba dives!

How did you become interested in creating lighting and home decor?
I've always loved all things crafty. Growing up I was always drawing, making dolls and animals out of paper and other materials, and even decorating large boxes intricately as homes to hide out in. When I discovered Etsy in 2010 my love for creating increased. Browsing all of the handmade and vintage items for sale really inspired me. This led me to open my own Etsy shop September of 2011, creating and selling home items. I finally settled on creative lighting as my strength and have really taken off with it ever since.

What are your favorite materials to work with? What types of things most inspire you?
This might sound cliche but nature honestly does inspire me! My most used/favorite material to work with is definitely natural wood. I use drift wood, old barn wood and untreated natural limbs of trees right now for my lighting pieces. Wood with some character (not store bought) is a great inspiration in itself. Nothing is cooler than coming across a great unique piece with an awesome grain that's over 200 years old! I'm such a nerd! I'm also inspired by modern design.

What other artists or businesses have influenced your work?
I have a never-ending list of Etsy shops that inspire me, one of my favorites being Theater Clouds. Even though her art really has nothing to do with lighting, it really gets my creative juices flowing. Just take a look for yourself! I try to draw as much inspiration as I can from places other than businesses or other artists, but I do enjoy a good browse though an Anthropologie catalog!

The Bubby and Bean blog focuses on living a creative lifestyle. Aside from photography, are there other things you particularly enjoy creating?
I'll try creating things using just about any technique. Though I am not very good at a lot of them, I do enjoy giving pretty much anything a go! Nothing gets me out of a creative rut like switching to a foreign medium and giving it my best shot! On another note, I enjoy music and song writing. I released my first EP on iTunes in September of 2010 called Copies&Repeats. (Back then my name was Shelli Harsha; if you're interested you can check it out on iTunes. Just search for the album or my name).

If you had to pick one piece of your work that was your favorite, what would it be?
My most popular pieces are definitely my Tree Branch Candle Holders, but MY favorite is probably my Drift Wood Lamp with Edison Bulb.

Where do you see yourself and/or your business in 5 years?
In the next 5 years I plan to be running Worley's Lighting full time from a studio successfully, without needing any supplementary income. We'd love relocate closer to the beach in North Carolina to be closer to family. I'd love to add a dog to our family as well!

One of our most popular series on Bubby and Bean is 'Friday is For Favorites.' Tell us your favorite of each of the following: color, movie, food, and band.
My favorite color is green, my favorite movie is Ratatouille, my favorite food is cream puffs, and my favorite bands are Coldplay and Bon Iver.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with my readers?
I'm so thankful for Etsy. Without it, I probably would have never found a way to create as a job. And thanks to Melissa and Bubby and Bean for an awesome blog and good reads, and for letting me be your featured sponsor! <3

Thanks again to Shelli for taking the time to share a little bit about herself and her work with our readers! Make sure you take a minute to check out more of Shelli's gorgeous work in her shop. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

INSPIRE ME

2012-02-21T12:22:00.001-06:00

Today I thought I'd keep things simple and share some random-but-equally-moving images that have been especially inspiring me recently. All sources can be found here, via my handy dandy 'inspiring images' board on Pinterest.

I'll Let the Pictures Tell the Story...

2012-02-20T08:03:00.003-06:00

party on my arm // my sister's shiba inu "bean" // packing for an adventure // inside of the tour bus // dried craspedia from our wedding // wind farm in indiana // heidi & myself, completely unaware of ralph's happiness // a small portion of the candy hearts i consumed last week // my sister's amazing magnetic nail polish mani // anxious to start this year's container garden

In case you didn't notice, I was all kinds of wordy in my posts last week. Between my winter blues post and the guest post I wrote on my business adventures, I was well on my way to completing a full-length novel. So I figured that for the first post of this week, I'd follow the "a picture's worth a thousand words" mantra and share some of my recent Instagram photos. Yes, I'm still crushing on my trusty little Instragram app. You can see past posts professing my love here, here, and here. If you use Instagram, be sure to post your user name in the comments so I can check out your photos! And you want to view more of my always random iPhone shots, you can find me under the user name @bubbyandbean.

How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun? I took Friday off to go check out a jewelry and accessories trade show with one of my besties, so Saturday and Sunday were mostly dedicated to catching up on extra fun things like QuickBooks reconciliations and business checkbook balancing. To ease my weary brain from my dealings with the enemy known as math, I did a lot of lying on the couch as well. Whatever you did, I hope it was awesome, and that your week is equally as great. My husband's band has a two week break from their three month long winter tour starting today (!!!). Since he's been home a grand total of 36 hours in the past month, I have to admit I'm pretty excited about the upcoming week. Enjoy your day!

If you missed my sponsor call post from Saturday and are interested in becoming a Bubby and Bean sponsor for March, click here for the deets. We only have a handful of spaces still available for March (and size Large is sold out), but are booking for April now too. And if you're looking for extra promotion, the featured XL space for March is still open! Woohoo!

Want to Be on Bubby and Bean? Now Accepting March Sponsors!

2012-02-18T09:14:00.005-06:00

This is the official call for March Sponsors here at Bubby & Bean: Living Creatively! I have a feeling that March is going to be our best month yet! I'll be sharing some awesome DIY tutorials, lots of spring-themed fashion and home decor posts, plus giveaways, travel stories, a new series and more. And you can be a part of it through a Bubby and Bean Sponsorship!

For more information on our various advertising packages and pricing, visit our sponsor page. You you can also book your ad space there directly in one click.

BLOG >> In the past month, Bubby & Bean received 64,360 page views. We average 2,400 views each day, and currently have 2,740+ subscribers via Google Friend Connect/Bloglovin'/readers.

TWITTER >> We tweet several times a day to our 4,450+ followers on Twitter about new Bubby & Bean content with links to this site.

FACEBOOK >> Our combined Mountains of the Moon page and Bubby & Bean Art page have 4,300+ fans/likes. The Bubby and Bean Blog is linked on both of these pages, and we post daily status updates with links to this blog.

NEWSLETTER >> The email list for the Mountains of the Moon/Bubby & Bean Newsletter has over 11,000 subscribers. Monthly e-newsletters are sent to these subscribers with direct links to this blog.

I'd be thrilled to help you promote your blog, small business, Etsy shop, vintage store, band, online portfolio, or website in March! For more info or to book your space, stop by our Sponsor Page, right here. Have questions? Feel free to contact me.

Looking forward to an amazing month!

Sharing My Business Adventures, Woes & Triumphs!

2012-02-17T08:27:00.000-06:00

Hallelujah! It's Friday! I'm taking today off for a much needed wintertime social activity with my dear friend Cheri (you can read more about how I make weekly dates like this and the other things I do to melt away the winter blues in yesterday's post). So alas, there won't be a Friday is for Favorites today, but I do have something else fun to share.

Yesterday, I was a guest poster over at Just Lovely Things for part of Heather's super awesome 'Love Your Business' series. Heather asked me to write about my experiences running my own businesses, and to share my tips on how business owners can stay creative and ahead of the game when dealing with over-saturated markets. About a year and a half ago, I was faced with some huge decisions after experiencing several unexpected and major challenges with my clothing line. This came after many years of success, and I was forced to learn things the hard way. I had to make some serious changes, but the knowledge I gained from my experiences was truly priceless. Want to know more? Head on over and check it out. (Psst... you get extra points if you leave her a comment! Not really. But it would be appreciated, and I'll give you an invisible hug through my laptop screen.)

I hope your Friday is absolutely amazing, and that your weekend is rejuvenating and wonderful. Do you have anything special planned?

If you haven't yet, I'd love for you to check out the video tribute/celebration I made in honor of my sweet Bubby dog's memory. You can watch it via the post I wrote here, or watch the video directly here. :)

5 Ways to Melt Away the Winter Blues and Stay Motivated!

2012-02-16T08:47:00.001-06:00

I'm going to be totally honest with you guys. Winter bums me out. I've made jokes here and there in past posts about how I'm not a winter person, but it goes beyond just not being a fan. Seasons are obviously different all over the world, but here in Chicago, the leaves turn brown and fall off the trees in November. Then the sky becomes grey and everything is sort of dismal and colorless for several months. And then slowly but surely, bits of green peek through the ground, buds form on trees, and flowers start to bloom. Well, my mood tends to mirror this cycle. For me, I notice it the most between late January and early March. I'm much more unmotivated and uninspired than usual, I'm more tired, and I just feel sort of blah. Once the sun returns, the color comes back to the world outside, and the days become longer, I am back with a vengeance.

Unfortunately, feeling a bit "meh" in the late winter months isn't uncommon, and many of us struggle with how to stay driven and upbeat. This can be especially hard for those of us who work in creative fields, where our livelihoods are dependent on feeling inspired. I've had to work hard to discover how to motivate myself and feel good (inside and out) during this time of year, and there are a few things in particular that I've found to help me get out of my slump and back on track.

Did you notice that several of the words I used when admitting to my winter doldrums involved color - or more specifically, lack thereof? I mentioned bland (even depressing) colors like brown and grey, and even used the word colorless. Now think about spring and summer, and what colors come to mind? For me, it's colors like yellow, green and orange. No offense to brown or grey (which happens to be one of my favorite colors), but for most people, summertime is associated with colors that are much brighter and more cheerful, and evoke images of sunshine, flowers, and even happiness. In the winter, I find that it instantly lifts my mood to add a pop of color to whatever I'm wearing. If I'm wearing a grey dress, I'll put on some red lipstick, or accessorize it with something bright red. I even like wearing full outfits composed of summer tones like vibrant yellow in the winter. I also try to add some brightly colored decor to my home during these months, like a bold orange pillow or a yellow scented candle. And speaking of scents and color, natural smelling citrus or floral scented candles or bouquets of fresh cut flowers can work wonders for bringing a little bit of summertime to your home in the winter.

I know, I know. If you're like me and feel waaaaay less motivated in the winter months, sometimes just the act of dragging yourself out of bed can feel physically grueling. But being physically active is probably the best way to feel less gloomy and sluggish during this time of year. This doesn't mean you have to force yourself to two hours of hardcore cardio at the gym every morning. On days where my 'to do' list is endless or I'm not up for anything major, I just take breaks once an hour or so to get up and stretch, then do 25 jumping jacks or run up and down the stairs for 5 minutes. It sounds weird, but it seriously works! If you do this throughout the day for several days in a row, you'll notice an improvement in your energy level, your ability to concentrate, and your quality of sleep. Before Bubby dog passed, I would take him on even longer walks in the winter than I did in the summer, just so we could both get a little extra exercise. It helped! This winter, I try to take short walks by myself a few times a week. Try to find a physical activity that you enjoy and devote an hour to it. Take a fun yoga class or find a yoga program online that you can do at home. Or make an upbeat playlist and dance around your living room (nobody is watching - feel free to go crazy!). By physically moving, you're telling your body - and your mind- to feel alert and energized rather than sleepy and stagnant.

I find this one to be a little more complicated, so I'm going to break it down into two parts. I am by nature a social person, but during the depths of winter I find myself spending a lot more time alone. I often just don't feel like going out, and sometimes I don't even feel like leaving my house. For me, February tends to be especially rough because my husband's band tours almost the entire month, and I work from a home studio, so there are days when I have very little face-to-face social contact. This is the first winter in 16 years I've had without Bubby dog too, so this year has been especially challenging. Unfortunately, the more lonely I become, the less I tend to feel like doing anything. A lot of the things I've read about beating the winter blues suggest forcing yourself to get out and socialize as much as possible, but I find this to be sort of a black and white suggestion. Even for those of us who live in urban environments, our minds and bodies tend to be in tune with nature. There is a reason that some animals hibernate in the winter, and it's my opinion that if your natural cycle favors being less social or active in the winter, forcing yourself to fight that can backfire and leave you feeling even more lethargic. That said, it can also be easy to fall into a trap of never leaving your little hibernation den or making essential human contact, which also tends to make things much worse. What I recommend - and what is helpful for me - is to make sure to create a balance between participating in social activities and nurturing whatever seasonal need you may have for alone time. Here's how I break this down into two specific goals:

Get out at least once a day. By just grabbing a coffee, making a run to the post office, or going to the store, a small and easy step is made to break out of my winter hibernation bubble. Just saying "hello, how are you?" to another human - even for a few seconds - establishes some level of contact. Even if you work in an office with a ton of other people, try to get out for lunch or to grab a snack away from your workplace.

Reserve one day each week for plans with a friend(s) or partner away from your house or apartment. In the summertime, I get out to do things with friends on a regular basis, but sometimes when I push myself to make nonstop plans for social outings in the winter, I end up feeling exhausted and only partially "there." However, when I make one solid plan for social activity each week, I'm able to benefit from the experience by having something to look forward to, and by getting the social contact I need without feeling overwhelmed. For example, this week, I made plans with my friend Cheri to go to a huge jewelry show tomorrow and then to go back to her place to hang out and admire our awesome new purchases. It's something simple, but it will get me out of the house and enable me to do something I enjoy with another person. It doesn't have to be the same day every week, and it doesn't have to be all day. It can be a one-on-one outing or a group event. It can be a lunch or coffee date, a shopping outing, going to a museum together, meeting for cocktails, going to see a band, going to a party, or just hanging out. If other plans come up during that week that sound fun, you can of course participate in those as well! But by setting aside that one day or part of one day every week, you are creating a simple opportunity to get out and be social without putting too much pressure on yourself - especially if you tend to naturally feel more introverted in the winter.

Ahhh, the sun, my most fairweather of friends. You make me feel so alive and happy when you're here, and then you get up and leave me for months at a time. Seriously though, there are all kinds of scientific studies proving that sunlight improves mood and physically energy. When sunlight is limited during the short days and dreary skies of wintertime, our bodies and minds take notice. But even when the sun is hidden by a blanket of clouds, spending time outside can make a major difference. Taking walks - even short ones - outside will allow you to get a little sun and get some exercise (see #2 above!). You can also switch out your lightbulbs to full spectrum bulbs, which mimic natural light. If you're able, make plans in the fall to a trip to somewhere sunny in January or February. During my trip to Mexico with Robbie's band last month, I took advantage of the sunlight (with SPF, of course) as much as possible, and I noticed a difference even a full week after I got home. I also invested in a lightbox a few years ago, which can help provide that extra boost of sunlight that winter's grey skies and shorter days lack. These can be really pricey, but as long as the box produces 10,000 luxe of light, you're getting what you need. Mine is a portable model and was about $60, which is considerably less expensive than the full size boxes but provides the same therapeutic level of light. I'll admit that I'm not always good at remembering to use it, but I've found that if I keep it by my bed and turn it on first thing in the morning while I'm waking up, it makes a difference in my day.

That's right, happy me time - at the end of the day, everyday. One of my biggest challenges is that I tend to be a workaholic, and I'll catch myself feeling super stressed at night when I haven't accomplished all or most of my tasks for that day. This is much worse for me in the winter, because I tend to feel less motivated and can't concentrate as well, so I often work more slowly and scratch less of my daily 'to do' lists than normal. When this happens, I can very easily slip into the habit of working until very late into the night to try to compensate, which results in an overwhelmed mind, a crappy night's sleep, and sometimes a full-on attack of the winter blues. The next morning, I feel even more sluggish and less motivated than I did the day before, and the cycle begins. During the winter, even if I had a really unproductive day, I find that giving myself an hour or two every night to just relax and do something I enjoy is incredibly beneficial. When my husband is home, we'll make popcorn and watch a movie or listen to music. When I'm by myself, I'll light some candles and read my favorite blogs or magazine, take a long bath, watch Netflix on my iPad (this winter has been full of Mad Men and Portlandia reruns!), or paint my nails (how about those fancy Sally Hansen nailstrips above?!). Giving myself that time to wind down helps me fall asleep faster, wake up with more energy, and feel more motivated the following day. It also establishes a pattern of self-nurturing and rewarding myself for the work I did that day - regardless of how much I got done. You might feel less like yourself in the winter, but you are still awesome! Take that extra time at night after you've finished work or put your kids to bed to treat yourself to some downtime. You might not wake up feeling as eager and blissful as you do in the summertime, but you will wake up feeling infinitely better than if you hadn't allowed yourself the time for a little self love.

For my fellow non-winter people, I hope these tips are helpful in melting away the winter blues and recharging you so that you can stay motivated and cheerful! I'd love to hear what works for you as well. And remember, if all else fails - there's always chocolate.

Photograph used in top image taken by Bliss Studio.

Sponsor Spotlight >>> Meet the February Team!

2012-02-15T08:43:00.004-06:00

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   Windy City Knits // Kelsi Does Hair // Roses and Lemons // Hello! Lucky
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February brings one of my favorite groups of sponsors ever! Each of their shops and blogs has something pretty amazing to offer. Make sure you take a minute to click on the links and images above so you can see for yourself! Sponsors are an important part of Bubby and Bean. They help us continue to exist and grow, and the funds raised by their ad spots go back into spreading the word and promoting this blog.

Stay tuned for a special post about February's featured sponsor, Worley's Lighting!

Want to spread the word about your blog, small business or Etsy shop? Bubby and Bean is now accepting sponsors for March! Click HERE for details!

happy love day!

2012-02-14T14:43:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day! Whether you're celebrating with your sweetheart, friends, family, or your seriously bad ass self, may your day be full of all the goodness of L O V E. And even if you're a full-on Valentine's Day boycotter, may your day still be especially awesome.

Robbie flew home from the band's winter tour yesterday so we could hang and be in love and stuff, and although he had to leave again today (booooo!), we had a great time eating bad food and watching movies for our own little early Vday party. He gave me the sweetest/funniest card and a massive bar of chocolate that I will be consuming on a regular basis for the rest of the week. I mentioned in an earlier post that every year, I make him a big, dorky, old school style Valentine heart. For whatever reason, this year I decided (around 3 AM on Sunday night) to make it with felt and a hot glue gun, as seen above. If that doesn't make me a total craft nerd, I'm not sure what could. He said it was "the most awesome Valentine ever."

Whatever your plans today, make sure you give yourself a big hug from me. I love you guys, and am grateful that you choose to read this little blog. Truly.

VIDEO >> Our Tribute to Bubby Dog! (+ a Request)

2012-02-13T08:14:00.001-06:00

(Trouble watching video? Click here to view on Vimeo.)

Over the weekend, I decided to make a short video in memory of Bubby dog using some random clips from my phone of the last few couple of years of his life. I've been meaning to do this for a while, but every time I attempted it I started crying. I figured I needed to wait until I was able to look at the tribute as a celebration of his life rather than something sad, and this weekend just felt right. I'll be honest - when I was done and added the music, I cried. A lot. But I didn't cry because the video was sad (it's not, promise), I cried because he was SO SPECIAL, and I felt overwhelmed by how lucky I was to have such a magical companion for nearly 16 years of my life. Plus, he was such a ham for the camera. Seriously. That dog could have been a movie star. The video is about 3 minutes long, and make sure you have your volume on so you can hear him barking. One of his old vets called him the "goose honk dog" because he had the funniest bark ever.

And now for the request part. I mentioned shortly after Leary passed that I wanted to put together a written tribute to him, and possibly eventually write a book. He was the most amazing dog, and he had a really unique and interesting life. From the time I rescued him from under a trailer in 1996 to his final days, he overcame all kinds of crazy obstacles, traveled the country (and beyond), and had all sorts of incredible adventures. He also met and got to know a LOT of people - both in person, and online through this blog, message boards, and my businesses. So we decided to ask for friends and family who met him (or even just knew him through how much we constantly talked about him!) to be a part of it. Many of my readers have followed Leary's story, and I felt that it made sense to include you guys as well! What I'm looking for is just a couple of sentences (or more, if you want) about something about him that struck you, a way he touched you, a little note or message for him... Anything, really. There is no pressure to do this of course, but if you want to contribute, just email us at bubbyandbean (your gmail.com, and be sure to include your name. Once the tribute is complete, I'll share it here.

I hope you like this special video. Thank you for being a part of Bubby's life and story!

friday is for favorites

2012-02-10T09:06:00.006-06:00

Time for a brand new edition of Friday is for Favorites! I've been slacking a little on the favorites posts so far this year, but I came across so many bits of awesomeness this week that I just had to share. For new readers, 'Friday is for Favorites' is my weekly series where I become a rebel, and break all of my own rules of design cohesiveness to which I normally adhere on the Bubby and Bean blog. No themes, trend collections, or matching aesthetics here. Just a random collection of things I happen to be loving this particular week.

1. I'm kind of dying over the new pastel pallet of dresses and separates over at ShopRuche.com. All the pretty soft shades and super cute cuts make me sooooo excited for spring.

2. Umm, hello! Whoever decided to combine Mexican cocktails and popsicles is clearly a genius. These yummy treats make me pine for summer. Since summer is still far away (sigh), a time travel machine that took me back to sitting poolside in Mexico would suffice.

3. I've been on a late '60s vinyl kick all week, with these four albums on the top of my playlist. Love me some Dylan. (Photo via my Instagram. Are you on Instagram? Let's be pals! You can find me at @bubbyandbean).

4. Always be proud of yourself. I really, really love this pretty little reminder from Five Words. So important.

5. I've wasted far too much time this week drooling over the adorable mani tutorials over at the Beauty Department.

6. Wow. Two of my favorite things in the whole word (travel and dresses, duh!) in one seriously chic little number. If I can make it through the weekend without buying this dress, it might be a small miracle. Thanks ModCloth!

What are your plans this weekend? I'll be laying low, trying to catch up with work stuff (taxes, yuck), and counting down 'til Monday when I get to pick my sweetheart up from the airport for 24 hours at home! Since the band has a show on the 15th, he has to leave Chicago again on Valentine's Day, so we'll be celebrating a day early. I'm gonna get all crafty on Sunday and make him a big ole' construction paper Valentine - it's sort of a V-Day tradition around here.

I hope you're having the best Friday ever, and that your weekend is equally full of all things awesome.

dance party! // our (DIY) wedding playlist

2012-02-09T09:15:00.003-06:00

A while back, I asked you guys for help in composing our wedding playlist. In the DIY spirit of our wedding, Robbie and I had decided to compile our favorite songs (and then some), and to use our trusty iPad to act as DJ. We'd mentioned that we didn't want too many traditional or stereotypically "wedding" songs, and that our goal was a nice eclectic mix of slower/meaningful songs and songs that would make our guests get their groove on. You guys were so awesome, your suggestions rocked (pun absolutely intended), and we ended up using quite a few of your recommendations mixed in with our choices! And now, four months after our big day, I decided it was time to share the final playlist with you.

I'll confess - sharing this playlist wasn't quite as easy as I'd anticipated. I had no luck finding any sort of website or program that would allow me to just upload the playlist from my iPad, save it, and embed it in a blog post for easy access to my readers. (Does this even exist? If anyone knows if/how this is possible, please share the deets!) So I set up a Grooveshark account and manually searched for our songs, one by one. Unfortunately, there were a whole bunch of them that weren't available - including anything by the good ole' Beatles, who were heavily featured throughout our ceremony and reception. Then Grooveshark decided it hated me and stopped saving new songs I was adding. 129 songs added, 22 songs actually saved. After spending waaaaay too much time trying to win a losing battle, I broke up with Grooveshark and shacked up with Playlist.com. This proved to be much better, although by that point I was burned out and still couldn't find all of our songs.

In the end, I figured my best bet was to share this mini version of our playlist via Playlist.com's player, so that you guys could at least listen to a sample of the goodness. Below the player you'll also find a list of our pre-ceremony and ceremony songs, in addition to some of my favorites from the reception (some included on the Playlist.com player, some not). Not exactly what I was aiming for, but I suppose it'll do.

As for our music choices, Robbie and I are in lucky in that we share an incredibly similar taste in music. When looking over our playlist, we came to the conclusion that the fact that we both adore such unlikely combinations of bands (The Grateful Dead + Guns N' Roses + Fleet Foxes + Herb Alpert + Johnny Cash = Very Odd Combo) must mean we are definitely meant to be.

(Trouble with the player? Click here for the playlist in a browser).

Mushaboom - Feist
Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley
White Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes

If I Needed You - Townes Van Zandt (seating of the mothers)
Here, There, and Everywhere - The Beatles (wedding party)
Sweet Child o' Mine: Instrumental Version - Guns N' Roses/Vitamin String Quartet (bride)
St. Stephen - The Grateful Dead (recessional)

Whipped Cream & Other Delights (the album) - Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass Band

Across the Universe - The Beatles

(To prevent this from becoming the longest blog post of all time, this is just a partial list.
If you'd like the full list, feel free to email me!)
Shelter From the Storm - Bob Dylan
Think About You - Guns N' Roses
Something - The Beatles
When the Stars Go Blue - Ryan Adams
Listomania - Phoenix
Stay Forever - Ween
If I Had the World to Give - Grateful Dead
My Moon, My Man - Feist
Once In a Lifetime - Talking Heads
Read My Mind - The Killers
Rock With You - Michael Jackson
Hands on the Wheel - Willie Nelson
Flip - Apollo Sunshine
Such Great Heights - The Postal Service
Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash
Tighten Up - The Black Keys
California - Joni Mitchell
Australia - The Shins
Blackbird - The Beatles
Bonafide Lovin' - Chromeo
Someday - The Strokes
Harvest Moon - Neil Young
Chicago - The Uglysuit
If Not For You - George Harrison
Paradise City - Guns N' Roses
You And I - Wilco
Just Like Heaven - The Cure
Crazy - Patsy Cline
Cousins - Vampire Weekend
Here Comes the Sun - The Beatles
Girls on Film - Duran Duran
January Wedding - The Avett Brothers
Weather Report Suite -The Grateful Dead
He's Not a Boy - The Like
Skinny Love - Bon Iver
Dr. Feelgood - Motley Crue
You Make My Dreams - Hall and Oates
Home - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
They Love Each Other - Jerry Garcia Band
Rolling in the Deep - Adele
With a Little Help from my Friends - The Beatles
Don't Stop Believin' - Journey
Question - Old 97s
Hey Ladies - Beastie Boys
The Way You Make Me Feel - Michael Jackson
Hotel Yorba - The White Stripes
I Will Follow You - Death Cab for Cutie
Girlfriend is Better - Talking Heads
Electric Feel - MGMT
All You Need is Love - The Beatles

I hope you guys enjoy listening to this mini version of our wedding playlist, and that the song lists above bring some inspiration to others who are DIYing their wedding music!

Photos from our wedding dance party by Ray Williams and Bliss Studio.

hello, pink!

2012-02-08T10:23:00.003-06:00

For the most part, pink has never really been at the top of my color list. Lately, however, I've been finding myself seriously drawn to it. Earthy, rosy hues and bold coral tones have been making their way into my wardrobe and decor, and they may just be here to stay. These shades remind me of summertime, when flowers are in full bloom and the sunsets always carry a hint of blush. The color pink in any shade also reminds me of my childhood - when pink (or "pick," as I called it as a little girl) dominated my world. Two shades of pink - 'Caberet' and 'Sweet Lilac' - even made it to Pantone's color report, so we'll be seeing lots of it this spring. And, of course, it's kind of impossible not to associate pink with Valentine's Day, which is just a few days away. For all these reasons, I felt inspired to share some of my current pink favorites.

1. Pretty pink dresses (that make me so excited for spring) from ModCloth.
2. Super cute arrow DIY via Martha Stewart's Craft Department.
3. Laundry Day in Italy photograph, found on Flickr.
4. Pink coat + socks. Love. Via Chictopia.
5. Kate Spade's gorrrrgeous Angelique sunnies in pink orange.
6. Free People's stunning February 2012 catalog.
7. Pink tights + yellow heels photograph by DyingBeautyStock.
8. Seriously awesome vintage pink Pyrex collection.

What about you? Are you a fan of pink?

Beauty Tutorial >> Sultry Smokey Eyes in 5 Minutes!

2012-02-07T08:51:00.004-06:00

You guys know my little sis, Morgan, as the food editor extraordinaire here at Bubby and Bean. What you probably didn't know is that she is a serious guru when it comes to makeup. After my super-hippie period of frolicking about the country with little more than a tube of lip balm in my bag, she was the one who taught me to apply mascara without looking like a sleepy raccoon. She's always experimenting with new products and crazy colors, but her real talent lies in her ability to create a perfectly made-up face in a matter of minutes. While I was visiting her this weekend, she did my eye makeup before we went to see my husband's band play, and I was majorly impressed with how she managed to make me look 100 times better (via some very sultry smokey eyes) in less than 5 minutes. I asked her if she could recreate the look on me again the following day, and we decided to put together a little tutorial for you guys while we were at it!

T I P >> Work with what you have. Morgan says this look is easy to improvise, even if you don't have all of the "essentials" shown above.

STEP 1 >> Start with a clean bare eye. If you have an eyeshadow base or a flesh colored matte shadow on hand, apply to the upper lid. (This helps your eye makeup to stay in place.)

STEP 2 >> Use an eyeshadow brush to sweep some dark brown shimmer over the entire eyelid and under the eye. I used a shading brush for Melissa's eyes, but I'm not gonna lie - I usually use the cheap pads that come with plain old drugstore eye shadow. Most makeup artists would scold me for this, but I find that they give you more control, which means a quicker makeup job!

STEP 3 >> Add a coat of matte black shadow just along the upper and lower lash lines.

STEP 4 >> Use a Q-Tip for quick clean-up of any loose eye shadow. This step is totally optional, but it shaves off the time spent wiping any messes off your peepers after you're all done and the shadow has had a chance to set.

STEP 5 >> Apply black eyeliner along the lash line all the way to the inner corners and along the lower waterline*. Any black eyeliner pencil will do, but my must-have, every-single-day choice is Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in 'Zero.' *The lower waterline is the bottom rim of your eye. If you have overly sensitive eyes, you can skip this step.

STEP 6 >> Sweep a light coat of a pale, neutral colored shimmer (I used a champagne color) along the top edge of the brown shadow that you applied in step 2, then apply a dab of white shimmer at the inner corners of your eyes. (A hint of shimmery white shadow on the inner corners of your eye makes them look bigger and brighter. It's like a happy little miracle.)

STEP 7 >> Apply two coats of black mascara to your top lashes, then one coat to the bottom. (For a great, no-fuss mascara application, look up, hold the wand at the roots of your top lashes, then gently wiggle the brush as you comb upward. For the bottom, look up, and lightly tap the end of the mascara wand from side to side along your lashes).

TIP >> If you're going for a more dramatic nighttime look, try adding a coat of black liquid eyeliner over the eyeliner pencil on the top lid.

In 5 short minutes, you've transformed your already-badass self into a fierce super vixen / force to be reckoned with!

We hope you guys have enjoyed our very first beauty tutorial! You're now prepared to go show the world who's boss through the eyes of a goddess. And all you need is 5 little minutes. If you try this at home, we'd sure love to see some pictures!

Travel Tales >> Mexico Trip + An Indianapolis Weekend

2012-02-06T08:07:00.005-06:00

Happy Monday you guys! I realized over the weekend that I'd never posted the pictures I'd promised last week from our trip to Mexico, so I figured I'd start off this week with a little sunshine and sand.

Even with all the music and Robbie having to work, we were very, very lazy.

My favorite pictures to take when I'm visiting tropical countries are of the flowers and the trees. I get ridiculously excited to see banana and coconut trees. Seriously. Someday, I'll live in a place where they grow in my back yard. Mark my words.

And while we're on the subject of travel, I had such a nice mini getaway to Indianapolis this weekend to hang with with my sister! We had a fun shopping and lunch date at our absolute favorite Tibetan restaurant with our dear friend Mary-Kate, ate a ridiculous amount of junk food and went on several errand running sprees, watched the Super Bowl with our hubbies (poor Robbie was not very pleased with the outcome), and even braved the Super Bowl Village downtown on Saturday. I know that on Friday I stated (with confidence) that we would not be going to see Robbie's band play there because we wanted to avoid the madness. Well, in a moment of boredom we made a last minute decision to go, and I'm so glad we did. It was really rad to see sooooo many people rocking out to them, packed in and back even further than we could see from the stage!

It was one of the most fun weekends I've had in a while, and it was an awesome added bonus that Robbie got to join us after the show and spend a couple of nights with us in the midst of their winter tour. I'm about to hit the road to head back home to Chicago, but be sure to stop back by tomorrow... My sister and I put together the coolest makeup tutorial to share with you guys!

my thoughts on valentine's day

2012-02-03T08:41:00.004-06:00

Valentine's Day is right around the corner, and I've been noticing the usual mixed reactions about it from my friends. There are those who insist it's a "Hallmark holiday," designed to encourage the masses to spend money. Others adore it, and extensively plan fancy dinners and seek out the perfect gifts for their sweethearts. Some cringe at the sappiness and actively boycott it. Some look forward to it as a way to have a little one-on-one time with their significant other. Others view at it as a fun excuse to gather friends and go out to see music or have some drinks. And others don't care about it one way or the other. Personally, I think it's pretty cool to have a day about celebrating love. Yes, we should celebrate love everyday. But in reality, we all have crazy busy lives that get cluttered with work and school and errands and schedules and day-to-day madness, and if it takes setting aside a day to remember that we love each other, that's alright by me.

I'll admit that I've always been on Team Valentine. I remember waking up on February 14th as a little girl and feeling like it was a mini Christmas morning, because I knew there would be an extravagantly adorned heart-shaped box of chocolates waiting for me downstairs from my dad. In grade school, we used to have contests decorating shoe boxes to act as Valentine card holders, and it was my favorite project of the entire year. I'd spend hours carefully pasting pink tissue paper, paper doilies, and red ribbon to my box until I had it just right. As an adult, for many years I'd make handmade Valentines embellished with random pretty things to send in the mail to all of my pals. These days, even when Robbie is on the road with the band for Valentine's Day, I still make him a big, old school style construction paper Valentine heart. A couple of years ago, I even went wild and made him an entire man cave in the basement as a Valentine's Day gift. True story. (Sorry babe, I love you more than anything, but I won't be getting quite that creative this time around).

This year, the band is coming home the afternoon of the 13th for a short 24 hours, and I'm looking forward to a nice, relaxing day at home for our first Valentine's Day as a married couple. When we do get to spend V-Day together, we usually avoid going out to restaurants in favor of making something together at home and dorking out over old movies. We don't get each other extravagant gifts or do anything overly romantic, but we do enjoy each others company, exchange unique little gifts or cards, and make sure to especially appreciate our love for each other. (Don't barf. The same holds true for especially appreciating how much I love my friends and family, and how much I loved my Bubby dog!) In the end, I think it's kind of awesome to have that special 24 hours where the focus is on loving each other, whether you're in a relationship or not. My opinion is that Valentine's Day can be whatever you want it to be, but love is always a good thing.

Before I go, a little shameless plug >> The images in this post feature art prints and cards from Bubby and Bean Art's very own Valentine Collection. If you're looking for a special gift for your sweetheart, BFF, child, parent, sibling, pet or your awesome self, you can take a peek right here. If you like what you see, enter coupon code BUBBYBEANVALENTINE and 15% will magically disappear from your total. (Good through 2/10/12).

What are your thoughts on Valentine's Day?

It's Friday! I'm heading down to Indianapolis this afternoon to hang with my sister for the weekend. It's been almost two years since I've gone to visit her, which is completely unacceptable. Robbie's band is playing at the Superbowl Village in Indy Saturday, and while my sis and I will be avoiding that madness like the plague, we're going to pick Robbie up when the show is over that night and have a slumber party. We're also going to watch the Super Bowl there on Sunday, which for me means staring into space or immersing myself in my iPad and eating a lot while the football fans do their thing. We'll be working on some some projects for the blog too, so stayed tuned! Whatever your plans, I hope your weekend rocks.

Photo of Robbie and I participating in P.D.A. and photos of framed art taken by Bliss Studio.

Our Wedding Featured on Rock N' Roll Bride!

2012-02-02T09:34:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago, I got an email from the fine folks over at Roll N' Roll Bride letting me know that they'd be featuring our wedding. I may or may not have let out an audible yelp, because they are by far and away my absolute FAVORITE wedding blog. The feature actually posted last week, but my internet access was so sporadic in Mexico that I decided to wait to post about it until I could actually take the time to properly profess my love for them. Their review of our big day was so sweet, and I was extra excited by the kind things they had to say about our little DIY wedding video. If you have a minute or two, I'd love for you to check out the piece they wrote (and maybe even leave them some comment love!).

Rock N' Roll Bride is amazing in every way. Truly. When I was planning our wedding last year, I turned to them on a daily basis for inspiration. Planning a wedding is incredibly overwhelming as it is, and when I first started searching the internet for ideas, I ended up feeling completely bombarded by the immense amount of wedding websites I came across. I was both thrilled and relieved to find Rock N' Roll bride - they really stood out from the rest to me. The weddings they feature are really unique, and I love that they focus on individuality and creativity. They were even named "Best Wedding Blog" of 2011 by Cosmopolitan Magazine! Also, the editor, Kat, is so cool. SO cool. If you have a wedding coming up (or even if you just like weddings), I highly recommend bookmarking their site.

Huge thanks again to Kat and the Rock N' Roll Bride gang for featuring us - we're so honored and grateful!

It's a Brand New Month // Change is Good

2012-02-01T08:38:00.007-06:00

It's February! The new month has brought with it some changes here at Bubby and Bean. First, you may notice some brand spankin' new topic and feature buttons over there in the right sidebar. I wanted to replace the old polaroid style images with some cleaner, more streamlined images for quite some time, but I kept running into issues with how the new graphics I designed were displaying in Internet Explorer. (My apologies to those who love it, but I am just not a fan of that browser). Maybe I just needed a vacation, because when I returned from my trip, I was finally able to figure it out. I hope you like the new look!

In addition to the new buttons, take a look at all those fancy new and returning sponsors, also hanging out over there to your right. Make sure you take a few minutes to click on them so you can experience all the goodness their shops and blogs have to offer. You'll be glad you did. Promise.

If you're viewing this in a reader and would like to see the new topic button designs in action and check out our fabulous February sponsors, just click here.

I hope that this month is the very best February you've ever had. I have a feeling it's going to rock, with its extra day and all. They say leap years are lucky, you know...

Top photo (of my sister and I fully acting our ages) by Bliss Studio.

Guess Who WON the January Giveaway?!

2012-01-31T19:27:00.000-06:00

Big thanks to all of you who entered our January Giveaway! We had so much fun reading through all your entries and seeing what you chose for your favorite colors. The winner was chosen via random.org, and that lucky Bubby and Bean reader is...

CONGRATULATIONS Briss! You have officially won a package of some seriously awesome prizes from Heather Liebler Photography, Oh, Nostalgia!, Maggie Rossetti Jewelry, and Bubby and Bean! (Please contact me at bubbyandbean {at} gmail.com with your address so we can discuss getting you your prizes!)

Special thanks our wonderful January sponsors for contributing to this amazing giveaway. If you didn't win this time, turn that frown upside down... We have another killer giveaway coming very soon!

I'm Back!

2012-01-31T12:05:00.002-06:00

Hola amigas y amigos! I am officially back home after our week in Mexico, and I have to say - having the Caribbean Sea as your backyard makes you an awful lot more motivated to get out of bed in the morning. All-inclusive resorts leave something to be desired when it comes to food, and it's nice to be able to brush my teeth with tap water again, but other than that, being back to reality kind of makes me want to curl up and go back to sleep. There's something to be said for spending an entire day outside and never once needing to put on shoes. (The same goes with brushing your hair, as can be seen in the picture below.)

This was by far the most relaxed trip I've ever taken to another country with Robbie's band. I was in bed by 1 or 2 AM most nights (which is early for me, even at home), and my days were spent lounging by the ocean and/or pool. Rough life, I know. I did venture out to a few of the shows at night, but for the most part, I made sure to occupy my time with things like staring off into space and sipping on tequila drinks. It didn't suck.

I had very little internet access while south of the border, so I have all sorts of catching up to do today with work, but I plan to post more photos and stories from our vaca this week. I hope you guys enjoyed the seriously awesome guest posters who hijacked Bubby and Bean in my absence. Thanks again to Kelly + Brandi from Mucho Mucho Bueno Bueno, Amy from A is for Ampersand, Kate from Scathingly Brilliant, Julie from Olivine's Charm School, Heather from Heather Liebler, and my little sis/food editor extraordinaire Morgan for filling the blog with goodness while I was away!

More to come...

P.S. I'll be announcing the winner of the January Giveaway tonight, so make sure you stop back by and see if you won!

Super Fun Date Ideas! // Guest Post by Mucho Mucho Bueno Bueno

2012-01-30T08:21:00.000-06:00

Hey guys! It's Kelly from Mucho Mucho Bueno Bueno filling in for Melissa on her last day of vaca. With Valentine's Day right around the corner, I thought it would be fun to post about fun dates. I always hear people say that they can't think of something special to do and that all the fun stuff costs too much, so I thought I'd share a couple ideas from our own hangouts/dates with our handsome men.

Have a themed movie marathon.

Dress silly, make snacks, drinks and plant your bum on a couch for a few hours. One of me and Korey's first dates was a Star Wars marathon. It ended up taking us two days to get through the movies and on the third day we went to Houston Health Museum for the Star Wars exhibit. This is still one of my favorite weekends with him.

Get out and stay out!

Spend the day at the museum, park, lake or beach. Be sure to pack a lunch and a longboard, bike, swimsuit, fishing pole, etc... you never know where a day outdoors will lead.

Do something creative.

Set a day aside and just make something together. Whether it's cooking, baking, designing, or making a silly video. Jacob and Brandi love playing in the kitchen while trying new recipes.

Play games!

Invite friends over for a game day/game night.

Set up your own photobooth.

Grab all the props around the house, camera, tripod (or a shelf to prop your camera), your love and a beer. You'd be surprised just how much fun you and another person can have just by snapping photos.

Go shopping!

Korey and I like to treasure hunt in record shops, thrift stores and weird dollar stores. Try it out, it's never disappointing.

Have a dance party.

If you just woke up, had a fight, celebrated, or need to work off dinner from your favorite Mexican restaurant, pick out five albums and have a dance party.

Make a fun video of your hangout.

All Brandi wanted to do on their 3 year anniversary was make Jacob a special dinner and skate to Redbox to get a movie. Done.

Sunday Stroll

Take a walk and explore your neighborhood. You might just find your new favorite coffee shop!

Anyway, the whole point of this is that life's an adventure and no matter what, you always have the capability of having a fun day hanging out or going out on a date. None of these date ideas are ground breaking, but I hope they help you spark some ideas for dates that wont empty your pockets. Valentines day is coming up...

xo,

B+K

Thanks so much to Kelly and Brandi for sharing these great date ideas! I LOVE the videos! (The dance party. SO. AWESOME.) You guys definitely need to stop by their badass blog - everything about it is fun and rad. Also make sure to check out their shop, which is full of some of the coolest handmade accessories you'll ever lay your pretty little eyes on.

P.S. Mama, I'm comin' home! See you guys tomorrow!

A Photography Teacher's Lesson Learned // Guest Post by Heather Liebler

2012-01-28T10:14:00.002-06:00

Hello! My name is Heather Liebler, and I'm Bubby and Bean's featured sponsor for the month of January. I am also a photographer, mom, wife, chauffeur, first aid expert, cook, yogi wanna-be and as two weeks ago, photography teacher. I am teaching a class for parents/adults at our local YMCA about composition. Not necessarily how to use your camera - more how to compose a picture and be able to get the image in your head to an image printed on paper. I have five students ranging from young mom to "retired Jack" and a few in between. Through teaching this class, I learned some of my own lesson about the basics of teaching: mainly to never assume anything!

Having been at this whole photography thing for awhile, I learned to take photos on a manual film Canon camera many moons ago. The great thing about film is that you can't really set it to automatic, because even if your camera has this option, it isn’t very refined. And film and developing is expensive, so you need to have the basics under your belt to get the shot you want. OH, and you don’t know if you got the shot until you schlep yourself down to drop off the film and then go back again to pick it up about a week later (unless you begged or promised favors to the kid running the darkroom). There's a lot to it.

So all that is to say, I decided to teach the "back to basics/need to know" class. In my opinion, that included aperture or f-stop, ISO and shutter speed. If you have those down, you can take the image that you intended to take WHEN you intended to take it. We had a great first class. I talked about the three basics of all images, then sent my students off into the world to test out their knowledge, requesting that they send me their images by Sunday night so we could go over them on Wednesday at the next class.

On Saturday morning, I started receiving panicked emails, ranging from "I don’t think this is right..." to "I hate aperture!" So I decided that we would set up a little still-life hands-on exercise for the first half of the next class. Their assignment was to use aperture to manipulate depth of field. The smaller the aperture opening, the greater your depth of field, and the larger the aperture opening, the lesser your depth of field. It sound straight forward, right?! Well, this morning we talked about the assignment, and all of my students had at least one particular area that they just couldn’t accomplish. One student kept saying, "I can’t get it to focus on the part of the image that you are talking about!" Finally I had them all take their cameras off of auto-focus (I just heard you gasp! I promise, it is possible!), and manually tweak their focus to the area they wanted. I was still getting blank faces and frustrated sighs. As I watched this student "manually focus," I took a deep breath, and realized that she had no idea how that you could truly focus your lens yourself. Then I realized that everyone else in the class had no idea either!

Right then I learned a valuable lesson - you should never assume that something is "known" just because you know it. I realized that it's important to risk offending to be sure that others know what they are doing - especially if you are teaching! So I reworked things a little. And I’m very happy to report that ALL of my students now understand manipulation of their apertures to help them achieve the looks they are going for! By teaching this class, I was able to learn something myself.

Before I go, here is a quick, basic DIY tip in photography for all of you. Set your camera to A (it stands for aperture priority, not automatic). Aperture is the size of the hole in your lens when you take a picture. The bigger the hole, the smaller your depth of field (the area in focus) and the more blur you will have to the area not in focus. The smaller the hole, the greater the depth of field or area in focus. The camera will set your ISO and your shutter speed for the optimum exposure. Then go out and take ten pictures of something you’ve never seen before, placing each object anywhere in the frame EXCEPT the center. It’s always more fun to shoot with a purpose that is not just to record a vacation. If you do this, I'd love to see what you come up with! I've also included some of my photographs throughout this post to help to inspire your creativity...

Thank you to Melissa for the chance to chat with you with she's in Mexico!

xo,
Heather

Huge thanks to Heather for being such an awesome featured sponsor this month, and for sharing such a cool story about her experiences teaching photography and such great tips! You guys definitely need to check out the amazing work she has in her shop, Heather Liebler Photography. Her photographs are so striking, and the places and things she's shot are really incredible. If you see something you like, she is generously offering Bubby and Bean readers a special discount of 20% off with the code BUBBYANDBEAN! You can also find Heather on Facebook, Twitter, and her blog.

3 Truths About Road Tripping // Guest Post by A is for Ampersand

2012-01-27T08:54:00.004-06:00

Hello, all of you pretty Bubby and Bean readers! My name is Amy, and I run a silly little blog called A is for Ampersand. I'm a writer, a designer, but mostly just a secret cat lady. Melissa's gallivanting in Mexico inspired me to write about the one and only thing I love most in the entire universe--road tripping.

The thing is, road tripping at the Morby household is a little more intense. We own a 1984 Westfalia Vanagon, and not only is she our baby, but she helps us road trip like it's our job. She sleeps four and comes equipped with a complete kitchen, including a stove, sink, and fridge. We've spent a lot of time on the road in the Westy, and today I'm going to share with you 3 truths I've learned in all my travels.

1. Road trips can solve anything.

Whenever I'm feeling particularly bummed about life or if things are piling up and affecting my mood, I try to plan a road trip--even if it's a quick weekend trip or an overnighter. I'm a firm believer that being on the road clears your mind. You've got all of that time alone with your thoughts or maybe with someone you dig, and your brain loves it. Some of my best ideas have come to me while road tripping, and no matter what, I always return feeling completely refreshed with a brand new perspective on my life, my work, and everything else. Plus, travelling in a van straight out of 1984 has a way of getting you away from screen time and away from cell phone service, which definitely helps realign your priorities. Sometimes you need a break from what the world has to say and just let yourself be you.

2. There are so many good people in the world

As a complete introvert, it's hard for me to get over my shy inclinations and meet new people. But being in the Westy community has completely changed my outlook. Last May we went to a Westy meetup in Moab, UT--think 40+ vans camped out in the desert geeking out over solar panels on our vans. Every van fan was in a completely different place in life--married, retired and traveling America, recent college grad, etc. Whenever a van broke down (which was often considering all of our vans were 20+ years old) the entire caravan stopped to help out. Every single Westy adventure opens my eyes to how genuinely good people are.

3. Life is short. See the world.

I think the best part about road trips in the Westy is the constant reminder that I live in a beautiful country, and that life is too short to stay in our bubble. Having lived in the same state I was raised in, I'm always prone to wanderlust. It's so refreshing to get out and see what the world has to offer. Even the most rural dirt road can be strikingly beautiful and incredibly inspiring. I love the way nature makes me feel completely insignificant and reminds me that I'm such a small part in the grand scheme of things.

So, there you have it. Three very sappy life lessons I learned whilst traveling in my Westy. This year we're hoping to make a big road trip to Yosemite and maybe even Alaska. Luckily the van came equipped with bear spray, so maybe it'll come to good use.

Any other road trip fans out there? What was the best road trip you've ever taken?

Big thank you's to the amazing Amy for sharing her road tripping truths with my readers! I spent several summers in my '20s traveling the country in a 1978 Southwind RV, and her post is giving me the itch to plan another road trip soon! Make sure you take a few minutes to check out Amy's awesome blog. It's full of good stuff about thrifting, fashion, and of course, her sweet little Westfalia.

Oh, and P.S.! Our wedding was featured on Rock N' Roll Bride this week! It is my VERY favorite wedding blog, and I can't tell you how thrilled I was when I got the email that they'd be writing about us. I'll post more about it when we get home from Mexico next week, but couldn't wait to share the news. :)

5 Tips For Making Your Business Shine // Guest Post by Olivine's Charm School

2012-01-26T08:52:00.002-06:00

Hi Bubby and Bean readers! I'm Julie from Olivine's Charm School, and today while Melissa's on holiday in Mexico, I'm going to sharing my 5 tips for making your business shine!

1. Write down your dreams and goals for your business in 2012.
Go ahead, I’ll wait...
Ok. Now do you have a long, disorganized, anxiety-inducingly list in front of you and no idea where or how to start? Good! That means you did it right!
Look at your list, and choose one thing that's extra juicy. Now break that task down into tiny little steps that aren’t so overwhelming. Just ignore the rest of the list and only focus on this new, much shorter and less stressful list.

Here is an example from my personal list -
1. Redesign my store web site home page
2. Email web designer and schedule time to start project
3. Find five web sites that have a look I admire
4. Go through three magazines and cut out pictures that have the feel I want
5. Ask two friends what they would like to see on my home page
6. Make a list of my changes

See how suddenly that one task seems totally doable once it's broken down? Now take one of your baby steps, and do it today!

2. Make your work space shine.
For me, it's really important to have a designated work space that is full of inspiration and not full of clutter. This one is simple: just clean up your mess. For some reason, when my work space looks pretty I make more money. It could be Feng Shui, or it could be that when our spaces are cleared we feel good. When we feel really good people want to spend their money with us. Make a vision board for your business and hang it somewhere front and center where you can get inspiration and re-focus from time to time.

3. Surround yourself with successful people.
It's great if you have a huge group of friends that party all night and go to their desk jobs all day, but now is the time to expand your circle to include as many people as possible that are doing what you want to do. I gave this suggestion to someone once on a consulting call and she was sure she couldn’t do it because she lived in a small town and there simply wasn’t anyone around that inspired her. I had her send emails to three people that she looked up to in her field. She sent simple emails that were along the lines of “Hey, I think what you’re doing is awesome”, which is a very non-intimidating way to send an email. She now has a circle of online (super inspirational) friends that she checks in with regularly. Reach out to one person today!

4. Get over your fear of self-promotion.
I understand, self-promotion is scary and intimidating. Today is the day to practice talking to yourself in the mirror about what you do. Come up with your 2-3 sentence cocktail pitch about your business, make it fun and enticing. "I am a personal trainer" is very unexciting and I would not want to hire you. "I am a personal trainer and I mostly work with new moms who are trying to get their abs back!" would make me want to hire you and/or tell some friends.

5. Turn your computer off, put your cell phone on silent and get a pedicure.
When we are starting a new business or trying to run a business it is very easy to put our self care on the back burner, when in reality that should be at the very front. Always, always, always make time to do something for yourself daily. It could be as extravagant as a pedicure or it could be something as simple as taking five extra minutes in the morning to close your eyes and breathe. Because honestly, if you are following the first four steps then you will soon be lost in a sea of business and opportunities. If you don’t stop to admire yourself, relax and enjoy the process then what was it all for?

Try out these tips and let us know what happens! If you'd like to learn more about how to create a charmed business or to make your existing business sparkle, be sure to check out my online small business class, A Lovely Venture: Creating Your Charmed Business.

Thank you so much Julie for this seriously amazing post! Julie is truly a small business guru you guys. She's owned and operated six successful businesses, and she really knows her stuff. Her blog is an incredible place for advice, inspiration, and encouragement. And her small business class comes highly recommended. Be sure to check them out!