sparrow & urchin

Tripp the Iron Stomach

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:51:00 +0000

For this Tripp Tuesday I decided to go a different route, not the "oh my dog is so cute" but the truth about my dog. My dog is a fatty. Not physically but he has the eyes and appetite of a giant. He eats EVERYTHING... well at least everything that's somewhat edible. He knows shoes, potatoes, and couches won't sustain him. But coffee, chocolate, sugar free gum, corn cobs, chicken bones, underwear, socks? They're all ok in his book.

Let me take you through Tripp's most recent adventures as a foodie.

When I moved out here Tripp, Leyland and I drove all the way here. So one night Leyland and I were in a restaurant enjoying a nice meal after a long day of hiking. Tripp was sleeping soundly in the front seat of the car... Or so we thought. We got back to the car and low and behold, Tripp tore open a plastic cup holder pack of Orbit gum... Cool doggy, it's not like the sweetener Xylitol isn't poisonous to you. So I texted my vet friend and she told me to give him water and monitor his heart rate, because even if I wanted to take him to the vet I couldn't.... we were in Yellowstone, and there was no vet within 100 miles. Thanks Tripp! After I got to civilization, aka my new home, he got all his blood work done, and the vet surprisingly said there was no damage done. Good boy Tripp!

Let's fast forward a year and a half. It's Christmas time and my awesome mom sends lonely ole me a great care package, with presents and... sweets! One in particular is a Killer Brownie. I'm sure the name says it all, it's fudgey and caramely and peanuty and about 4x the size of a regular brownie. So guess what, Tripp jumps on the table (Just so you know he's 14lbs, smaller than most cats, but has the ups of a kitty) while I'm outside and eats the entire thing. Ok. Cool. So I get to spend the night before Christmas with my dog that's vomiting for 9 hours. All over everything... chocolate vomit. So straight away in the morning I rush over to the vet for an emergency visit. It's a good thing my dog easily pukes because that would be the only thing they would do other than check his heart rate and take a blood sample. So they do all what they do at the vet and everything in him was fine, but just to be sure lets feed him some charcoal to soak any toxins up. You know what then happens... He pukes the charcoal all over the light gray upholstery of my new car. Terrific Tripp. I got that cleaned right away and Tripp was a little sick acting for a day, but soon was to his regular self and back to being a perky pup.

Now for the latest... I fixed myself a nice dinner including a yummy cob of corn. After moving out of the cornland midwest I haven't enjoyed a nice cob o' corn in awhile. I was working on a project and mistakingly left my plate scraps on the table while I left the room for a few minutes. I walk back into the room and there's Tripp sitting happily on the ground with pieces of corncob surrounding him. Let me remind you this is a 14lb dog, and he ate an entire corncob. For some of you who might not know corncobs are one of the most dangerous things for any digestive tract, as you know I'm sure corn doesn't digest, so think about any big cob chunks... They won't digest and can get stuck if too large to pass. Which is incredibly common in dogs and causing them to have to get expensive surgery to remove the cob-struction. So of course emotional me, freaked out. I was about to give Tripp some hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting but Mike found me an open 24hr vet. So one x-ray and induced vomit later... they weren't sure. His stomach was so full that the xray showed nothing helpful. The only options, a scope down his throat, which probably wouldn't show anything or get an xray in the morning to see if his stomach is emptying. So we waited. And after the second x-ray they said it was still unsure, but he seemed completely fine... other than everyone looking at him in amazement that he ate a corncob. So over the next week Tripp had rancid farts and I monitored his pooping. And you know what, he's fine. But thank you Tripp for the adventure.

So there's my couple years adventures with Tripp's iron stomach. I could tell you about many other things he's gotten into but I'll just leave you with the highlights. I love my dog, but his appetite needs some adjusting or he's going to make me have a nervous breakdown. If it was up to him he'd be dragging his tummy on the ground and eating anything with a hazardous label. So yeah, all you with dogs, I'm sure you have great stories of the incredible appetites of your canine friends. And I want to hear it!

One last thing, pet insurance... best $10 a month I spend.

Let's Read! I mean, Listen!

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 18:02:00 +0000

So I've tried listening to music at work but it just creates a soundtrack to my wandering mind and still allows me to get distracted by my many thoughts and the people around my desk. I am one of those people that even when doing work I can watch tv and think tons of thoughts... I wish I could turn my brain off. But one thing I've learned that can help me get work done and not be distracted by the hustle and bustle of work and keep me from getting bored is listening to audio books.

So far in the last month and a half I've listened to:

The Tao of Pooh

I LOVE THIS. I've already listened to it a couple times. The readers voice is soothing and he does the character's voices perfectly. It is so soothing and great to see how you can try to be more like Pooh and just be.
The Tao of Pooh - Full Audio

The Hobbit

- Yay the Hobbit! Have you guys seen the movie? I hadn't read the book since I was a kid and I enjoyed listening to it again... One thing, how are they making the movie version into a trilogy that'll be longer then just reading the book? I should just be of part 1 and 2... Plus I didn't like all the added evil characters in the movie, there's enough cool stuff in the book.
The Hobbit - Pt I of III

The Hunger Games Trilogy

- This is read by ChristianAudiobooks, she reads so well and her voice is the perfect personification of Katniss. I wish she had recorded all three books, but she only has recordings until chapter 20 of the first books.
The Hunger Games - Chapter 1
- I listened to the rest of the books through iRead, she has a nice voice but a little too old sounding for Katniss, it works though, the reader is clear and has a good pace. There are so many badly read books on youtube, it's hard to find someone good.
iRead's Playlists - The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, & The Mockingjay

Anne of Green Gables

- This is an upload from NewPoliticalVoices and is a libravox recording, which again are hard to find good readers. But the woman reading has a nice voice.
Anne of Green Gables - Full Book Playlist

I can't believe I've finished 6 books, I love youtube.

I've also read Bossypants, I Am Legend, and Lolita over the past few months.

I am happy to start reading again, as a kid I read ALL the time and finished most of my sister's highschool reading lists while I was still in junior high. I remember really loving reading and it was the Hunger Games that got me back into it. I cried at work, I might've squeed, and I love the end, it is perfect... I have to read them again. And Lo-lee-ta... such a beautifully written, disturbing book. Each page is a joy and pain to read, Nabokov has a way with words, it's definitely art. As I said already the Tao of Pooh is a quick read/listen and really I think a little life changing, I love how Hoff recreated the 100 Acre Wood into a teaching tool to be more calm and even in your life. Bossypants also was a book that I've read twice and while reading on the train I many times laughed out loud.

The best thing about books? The covers and art. And I really love how there was the blog, Venus febriculosa, run by John Bertram, asking artists for their own interpretations of Lolita for a compilation book, Lolita: Story of a Cover Girl, here are some of my favorites.

1 // by the Aesthetic Movement 2 // by Jamie Keenan 3 // by Peter Mendelsund 4 // by Justin Chen

Sorry for such a long post! Phew! But I have one last thing... Have you seen this new Anne of Green Gables book cover for the public domain text? WHAT?! Ridiculous, obviously someone didn't read the book and even though this isn't through a publisher the public domain person who ever approved it should know better.

A Fashion Realization

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:00:00 +0000

Last week I earned a new nickname at work... Miss Frizzle. Then I realized, yep I am Miss Frizzle. I love patterns and animal prints, bright colored dresses, wearing my hair red, and coordinating my outfit to my activity, also of course being way too excited about things everyone else rolls their eyes to. But thank goodness I am not a teacher, haha!

How did this realization and nickname come to pass? With this outfit:

I have been eyeing these pencil shoes for over a year and they kept getting sold out so quickly... But now i have them!! Bwahaha! And of course I have to pair them with something else loud and obnoxious like this skirt I made with some scrap fabric

And last but not least... Dr. Who/Miss Frizzle fan art?1 WHAT?

Tripp Tuesday | A Day in the Life of a Cali-pup

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:00:00 +0000

Since moving here I have surely started turning into a typical "Californian" (or maybe just a nor-cal stereotype?)... Having a different special diet, driving a hybrid, occasional use of the word "hella", complaining about not having snow or much rain, and starting to completely baby my pooch (sorry Cali-kids for teasing ;).

Tripp now has a fancier diet that includes an add water meal with dried meats and veggies once a week, plus occasional rice porridge I make him along with his regular lamb/rice daily meal. He goes on puppy adventures three times a week with his pup-buds and my dogwalker. And I dress him up in sweaters, kerchiefs and scarves. Yep I started dressing him up, I'm sorry but it's so stinking cute!! Especially how much he hated his christmas antlers.

This past weekend he had quite a sunday, starting off at the beach, then chilling in a SF park, then cuddles at mike's house, and finally sleeping all snuggled in my bed. He was quite a rag doll at the end of the day. I hope it made up for him staying home while I sailed on Saturday.

In honor of Tripp Tuesday (which I haven't done in awhile), here are some instagram snaps of his sunday adventure... look at him sporting that scarf!

Follow Tripp and I on instagram! My name is "sparrow_urchin"

Veronica Mars NERD!

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Ok so I'm sure many of you guys already know this, I mean hell I already pledged money this weekend... But you guys. You guys. VERONICA MARS MOVIE!

UG, I'm so excited I could pee.

Who do you want to be the love interest? Better not be Piz!

Huggles.

St Patty's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 02:43:00 +0000

So this past weekend was St. Patty's Day! Yay!! It's seems though that I'm the only one along with my family that regularly celebrates St Patrick's Day. So invited some friends over for a St Pat's day Brunch on Sunday. Although many had to drop out last minute the few that came over had some yummy food and a chill time. So what did I make?!

First I borrowed my friend's crock pot and cooked up a corned beef. I got like 3lbs of meat, and first I put a layer of potato and carrots then topped that with meat, put a little mustard on top then topped that with red cabbage. I made a brown sugar sauce and poured that over with a Guinness. Cooked that for 10 hours on low. Then I made a gluten free applesauce cake using this recipe (http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2012/11/gluten-free-applesauce-cake.html), I changed it a bit adding some homemade almond and oat flour. I didn't get the crumb topping correct, but it was so tasty! The on Sunday morning I took the cook meat and potatoes and such and chopped it all up with some roasted butternut squash and sauteed them a bit together then put it all in three cast iron pans making little divits in the hash. Then I cracked an egg into each hole and baked the cast irons at 400 until the eggs set. I took some of the juices in the crockpot and made a sweet glaze for ontop of the hash if wanted.

I also made some Boxtys (irish potato pancakes), and green rice crispies. My roommate Laura made irish soda bread and whiskey butter, Mike made a white sangria, also a roomie made deviled eggs and we had irish coffee fixin's. So we all hung out in the back yard eating yummy food while the dogs played around... It was so nice and warm I even got a little sun burnt. Crazy!

And to round off this post some pics of Mike and I at some "irish" bar in North Beach. It's sad how good I look with a mustache.

Huggles

Adventures in Cannin'

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:00:00 +0000

So lately it seems that I am having the urge to become Laura Ingalls, I'm making skirts out of stripped floral cottons, I want to wear lace up booties and call my dad "Pa". And I've been trying to figure out what to do with the orange tree in the back yard. This orange tree is a Giant. It's two stories tall, covered in oranges and Tripp is the only one eating them... he's always snacking on a orange in the backyard. So I've been collecting recipes from cakes to infused vodkas... so why not try to can them?

Mike was such a doll to get me a started kit of supplies which originally were for flavored vodka's but decided before buying all that booze I should just try to can things i have for free, ie thousands of oranges using the waterbath canning method. So I collected a BIG bag of them, rinsed them quickly, and started chopping and peeling while watching a little TV. I ended up cutting them up instead of normal peeling them cause they were SOOOO ripe and juicy.

After boiling the glass jars, heating the lids and boiling the syrup (I didn't make an added sugar syrup I made a water/juice syrup, no added cals!), I began canning! The hardest thing I think I found was making sure there were no bubbles before closing the jars, I think I might've broken a bunch of the orange slices while trying to poke the bubble out. I fill the jars with the syrup to around 1/2" from the top, wiped the edge and put the lids on. Then gently dropped them into the boiling water for 10 minutes. This morning I checked them and they seem sealed, so here's to hoping I can open them up in a month or so and they aren't rotten! I got the recipe on how to can oranges from this website > http://www.pickyourown.org/canningcitrus.php. You can also get tons of recipes from the Ball Jar website and download a quick beginners guide to Waterbath canning > Check out their beginners guides here.

The only thing now is, what do I do with canned oranges? The oranges are the best tasting but make AMAZING juice and are great to cook with, so you guys have any suggestions? Overall the entire process was fairly easy, you just need big pot and patience for many pots of boiling liquids... and lots of burners on your stove :)

I'm sure I'll try some more stuff soon! Adam is growing cucumber so we will make pickles, and I really want to make pickled beets! And anything to do with oranges! Yum!
Everyone CAN AWAY!

The Color Run CMYK Team!

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 06:19:00 +0000

On Saturday me and a few co-workers got together to do the Color Run 5K in San Francisco (If you haven't heard of the it check it out here > http://thecolorrun.com/)

Our team was aptly named CMYK since you know... we are graphic designers.

The race started out with everyone wearing white and we were given a packet of colored corn starch for the ending chute. Of course many people were getting antsy as we were waiting for our wave to start the 5K and throwing some in the air and at their friends. Soon enough around 10:30a we were off!

I ran with my iphone in the little waterproof pouch thinger I had bought my guy for the sailboat, so I was able to take pics without my phone getting messy! Yay! So every 1K was a color chute, you could run through the middle and not get too much color or go up to the people throwing the powder and get doused.

In the finish chute everyone went crazy throwing colors through the air creating rainbows! It was awesome, I at this point was by myself, everyone had ran off or walked off at their own rate, but I had so much fun throwing pink in strangers faces, on myself and in the air. Afterwards there was a concert and dancing and food trucks and rainbow people everywhere... It was awesome. The only question is on the color packets it states that the color corn starch is illegal in Utah... why everyone needs color!!

During the cleanup it was cool to see how the trees and bushes were all colorful! And it's cornstarch so it'll wash away! Robin and Stephan got the most colorful... as you can see as we walked back to the car!

And we got this sweet shirt, I like it!!! Last but not least here's the before and after of team CMYK! YAY! Go PureRED!

BagTag

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 00:27:00 +0000

Hand drawn type I did for a project, this isn't the final but you can see some type work I do for our clients! Yay being able to write well!

Huggles.

Free V-Day Printable

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 00:20:00 +0000

I made this quickly for my boyfriend, since we go sailing, biking, hiking, and beaching together. The line "You & Me, Land and Sea." seemed appropriate. I did all the type by hand and scanned it into Photoshop and colored it. Not my best work, but still fun!

Sorry it was rushed, but if you like it you can download and print it here and fold it up for your land & sea loving valentine.

(ps: sorry for the crappy iphone picture) Below is a little video on how to fold the card... but I'm sure you are smart enough to fold up a card!

My design life

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 19:14:00 +0000

So one thing that I've been working on yet obviously not yet succeeding in is revamping my art website (laurenmoyer.com) and this blog, moving it to sparrowandurchin.com. But between work, freelance work, my pooch and friends... and my 5 year old laptop things are a slow go. But I'm excited to be getting a brand new iMac in the mail soonish!! And hopefully it will force me to sit on my butt and get lotsa work done! I'm so excited. I have the total layout of my new blog laid out including a better design and painting section, travel section, doggy section, diy, clothes & sewing (my first love), and life. I have SO MANY projects to upload and photograph, including wedding invites, websites, packaging and bags! I really need to get on it! My goal this year is to grow my freelance and print shop and learn learn learn!!

So here's some eye candy that will be sittin gon my desk soon which I can't wait to makeout with...

Happy Valentines Day

Also to see just a little design work of mine, and to stay updated with my crap check out my behance account, http://www.behance.net/laurenmoyer

February Sailing

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 18:04:00 +0000

I am very lucky to have my friends own a sailboat, and be able to go on adventures with them. The unlucky thing for me is that the Bay scares the shit out of me. Makes no sense, I come from a family of sailors... why am I so scared of sailing. It's the lean of the boat and the coldness of the bay... I think if it was warm I wouldn't be so afraid of the water, but the bay is freezing all year 'round and it scares me.

So my boyfriend informed me the best time to go sailing is in the winter since the wind is so light. Saturday we all packed up and sailed to Angel Island, a state park by Tiberon. It is true the wind is much lighter during the winter but I still eeeked, winced, and whined when we leaned far and tacked. But I did it! I didn't freak out, I just looked at the horizon and how beautiful it all was. And I'm so happy I went, I hadn't yet been to Angel Island and it truly is kinda Jurassic Park-esque. We got there around dusk which is the most beautiful time of day and walked around the island at night exploring all the abandoned buildings before heading back to the east bay under the stars. We had to motor most of the way back cause there was no wind and the water was like glass.

It was an amazing day/evening and wanted to share it with you. The boys of course go sailing all the time, but I usually go do my own thing and not tag along as much anymore cause I don't want to be a buzz kill. But maybe I need to try to go at least once a month... Also here are a couple videos I took with the new app Vine :) you can follow me on that under Moyer the Destroyer

The next day on sunday we then all headed into the city for the Superbowl, and although the 49ers didn't win it was a good game :)

Yum

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 17:00:00 +0000

So it's Friday night and I haven't got much sleep all week, so you know what I'm going to make my self a yummy meal. mmmmm.

I decided out of the box baked mac and cheese with pan fried avocado, broccoli, and shrimp.

Ok, first I made some quinoa mac and cheese like the box said. While the noodles were cooking I browned the frozen broccoli and frozen shrimp and some sliced avocado. After the mac and cheese was ready I put it in a pan and added a little milk so that the noodles didn't dry out. I topped it with some extra chucks of cheese and my pan fried goodies, then sprinkled some parmesan cheese. Pop it in the over at 350 for ten minutes and voila yummy gluten free dinner.

I added some delicious Crispin cider and some ripe mango for desert.

So what's the verdict? I dried the shrimp out a bit, so I need to learn to cook shrimp better. Also quinoa noodles... don't like. I need to remember this, the flavor just isn't good. I need to stick to rice noodles.

And 22fl oz of cider gets you real quick.
Yay, gluten free

Huggles,
Lauren

New Tattoo

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 18:25:00 +0000

Thank goodness to live with a tattoo artist. So on Wednesday night I got a new tattoo in the attic room of my house. Sounds seedy, but Ray's a pro! I've been wanting an Ohio tattoo for awhile and the shape of the state fits oh so perfectly on the back of one's neck. Ray used a red-orange ink for the line, cause I'm never get black ink on me, color shows sooo well on my skin tone. He also touched up some lines on my color wheel tattoo. And let me tell you the neck didn't hurt AT ALL. But my arm hurt more with the touch ups... That's unexpected. So what do you think? I'm kinda sad the ray is moving out... I forgot how much I love getting a tattoo.

Huggles,
Lauren

New Diet

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 00:52:00 +0000

New Year.

So one thing I have determined to try is adopting a gluten free lifestyle this year. 2012 was a year of a lot of health issues that are still continuing, so I'm drawing inspiration from my sister and mom. My sister has been gluten free for two years now and it has helped a ton with many of her health issues. My mom has been grain free for about a year after the suggestion from her chiropractor, and she has noticed a big difference in her health as well. Since many of my own health issues appear to be hereditary, I'm giving it a go with encouragement from my family and coworkers. I'm sure I'll slip up, but I'm really going to try. I'm going to miss bread baskets and beer, but I'll just load up on potatoes, wine and gin and tonics. Thank goodness I'm making a bunch of infused vodka's this weekend with all ingredients picked from my houses garden. One thing is I'm going to have to find a good pizza dough recipe, or this pizza monster will be sad.

Lucky me, the grocery store near my work is having a 20% off gluten free products this week. I stocked up.

So this will be a challenge… I mean my aunt and uncle owned a bakery, and I worked in a bakery selling yummy breads for years. I'm a bread fiend, and so is my guy… So many temptations will surround me, but I will try.

2012

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 05:26:00 +0000

So I was going to make this sketch all cool and fancy but you know... I have no time and my computer sucks (going to get an iMac after tax returns). So I already shared some clothes from 2012 but now I'm going to share my top 12 highlights of '12.

1. Multiple times sailing on my boys boat, although it scares the shit out of me.

2. Adventures with the boys, at Monterey Beach, the As Game, Russian River, among some place

3. Getting my job at PureRED in February (^ that's my profile picture for the company)

4. Traveling to the Mojave desert to watch motorcycle races with my dad, mike, adam and tripp.

5. Hiking around on Mt. Diablo, Mt Tam and all over.

6. Getting mugged, making a positive id, and being subpoenaed to appear in court as a victim/witness, not a good highlight but still one that was interesting.

7. THE Dirty Dancing party, bug party, piano bar singing, and House sitting hot tub party

8. Getting my Civic Hybrid after five months of biking and long train commutes.

9. Birthday trip to LA with Mike.

10. Going home to Ohio after a year then to Michigan to be a bridesmaid in my bestie Sara's wedding

11. My family visiting and Guilherme visiting AT THE SAME TIME.

12. All the amazing people I've met and become friends with, AND I LIVE BY SAN FRANCISCO!!!

When I went home

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 01:00:00 +0000

So many months ago I went home to Ohio and Michigan to see Sara get married. I never posted any pics so I decided to do that now.

I miss my friends and family. I can't wait to see them at Thanksgiving.

Huggles,
Lauren

Baby Shower Seahorsie

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 03:40:00 +0000

I did this illustration last year for the baby shower invites my friend and fellow designer Andrea was doing for her friend, Julie. Julie loves the ocean and before she was born her mother's baby shower invites for her featured a pegasus carrying a baby like a stork. So Andrea and I decided to combine Julie's invites with her love of the sea creating this "stork" seahorse for her baby girl's baby shower.

Huggles,
Lauren

2012 in clothes

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 04:41:00 +0000

So yeah yeah, I'm awful at keeping this blog up to date. BUT I do have plans that I've been working on to showcase all my design, art and adventures. I'm really excited. I will never forget how this blog started with my daily outfit... man it's been three years since I started this blog... damn. So here is a tribute to that with a round up of some iphone/instagram pics taken mainly in my work bathroom of my clothes. I've had so much fun having a spending income to reinvent my wardrobe. My favorite purchases have definitely been my glasses.

And I've been keeping my hair red. I love it, although I do miss my blonde hair, fortunately red fades back to blonde quicker then I'd expect.

So here you go, bunches of clothes and shoes... my shoe collection has become insane.

I'll have a year and holiday recap coming up too!!
.

One Pug, Two Pug

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 18:45:00 +0000

The cutest little black pugs Lucy and Lily!

Maya & Emerson

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 19:26:00 +0000

I've been a busy busy bee with so many pet portraits this year! Unfortunately my scanner broke :( So I'm trying to photograph more of the drawings. This is Maya, a rescued Great Dane! This was a gift so it was requested to be wrapped with a Happy Birthday card, nothing says Happy Birthday like Tripp barking it out!

The second drawing is of a cutey named Emerson, I hope her portrait makes a wonderful Christmas present!!

If you are interested, order your pet portrait here and use "FREESHIP" for free shipping on domestic orders!

Huggles,
Lauren

Life in Instagram | Pt. 5 - Back Home

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Luckily I had the opportunity to go home in September and bring my fella along. I hadn't been home in over a year and it was bitter sweet. I was so excited to see friends and be a bridesmaid in Sara's wedding. I had an amazing time visiting family in Ohio, then showing off all my ole stomping grounds in Detroit. I'll have to put a full post up with "real" pictures and not just instagram pics.

Somewhere over Nebraska
Layover
Two Mikes on a porch
Bowling with Matt, Maureen and Mike
Father/Daughter dance
My Bridesmaid hair
Pics of pics
Cobblestone farms

Halloween Apollo Series

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 22:40:00 +0000

WHOA, super late post. But I HAD to post my halloween costume. This year I finally dressed up as something I have wanted to for years. My initials are L.E.M. and the nerd that I am the LEM is also the Lunar Excursion Module. So obviously I had to dress up as that. It's so clear. I started the week before Halloween building my "helmet" and the day before building my moon body. And of course a certain boy didn't have a costume so he inquired "Can I be the Command Module?". Of course we ended up having the best costumes at my friend Jim's party and got a lot of "docking" jokes. Not to mention the Bart ride there in a packed train car with somewhat still wet paint on our costumes was very interesting, especially when the train jolted and I fell into Mike's costume and all the passengers had to pick me up as if I were a turtle stuck on it's back flailing around.

And when I wore my costume to work, I am proud to say I won most creative costume, everyone loved the details like Neil Armstrong on my should with the US flag, and of course the back side of me was just black for the dark side. I still have my moon, I'm thinking about hanging it on my ceiling, and my excursion module is safe on my desk at work.

Oh and sorry the scale of the two modules is a bit off :)

I want to go to there

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 21:56:00 +0000

I recently discovered this photographer, Heinrick Oldhauser, who lives in Oregon. His photos really make me want to dive into the spaces created and feelings they invoke. Like a glimpse back into the dust bowl his images invoke the spirit of the farmer, or wanderer. For me growing up near farming towns in Southern Ohio, I had a dream of what it would be like to live on a farm. Although I know this fantasy is no where near the reality of farm life, especially early century farm life, I still fantasize about being Laura Ingalls, and these photos are a snapshot of what I think it would be like. Muted tones of cotton clothing on the golden fields with the wind blowing in your hair.

Life in Instagram | Pt. 4

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren) — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 03:29:00 +0000

Sorry for the delays as always. Here's a life update.
An Oakland A's game with the guys
Dinner after moving Marlee's things :(
Party
Boys making music
Vintage dress for sale
Ima ginger