ashore

personal best.

2012-01-27T15:40:00.000-08:00

35 miles in 5 days. I didn't doubt that I could do it (mark that up to being stubborn, and the deluded self confidence that comes with over-estimating my abilities). But, I wanted to like it. I wanted to be the kind of person who goes backpacking – one who seeks adventure, and climbs every mountain, and drinks water.

And yes there were times that I wanted to throw a little temper tantrum. Like on the day we were supposed to be at our campsight after four miles on an "easy day" and we were only half way there. Or the night I slept with a water bottle pressed against my head to soothe the 16 seperate mosquito bites on my left ear.

I've picked out activities - and entire outfits - for the kind of person I want to be. A cart full of "healthy" at Whole Foods, a "care free" macrame t-shirt. These personas never stuck.

But, being in Yellowstone and breathing fresh air wasn't like that. I wasn't trying on a new persona with my new nylon pants. Instead I found something inside myself - something real and that had been there all along.

I didn't feel like a new me. I felt like the best me.

[(photos) on ilford b+w film with pentax k1000. more on flickr.]

insignificant.

2012-01-25T12:11:00.000-08:00

In August – the month that I left for this trip – I was coming to grips with the fact that my relationship was dissolving. A relationship that I had poured myself into. Despite the fact that I had finally learned how to be good at loving, and to give myself fully to someone else. Despite … everything. I couldn’t find the mistake or pin point where I went wrong. Even now as I look back I feel blameless. It didn’t matter. I didn’t matter. Not enough, not even at my best.

And it crushed me. Not swiftly, not all at once. There was no “we’re done”, or disbelief, or the sudden crippling surprise. It crushed me slowly to sleep next to him, and to feel him recede. Inch by inch, everyday less mine. Despite everything.

I tried to write about that feeling. I only found a single phrase. It isn’t eloquent, and I don’t know where it came from. In that sense, I guess it’s honest. I feel so small. Those four words ached behind my eyes, and I saw them written on the bathroom tile. They held the helplessness and the emptiness I felt from giving myself away.

But standing in Yellowstone, absolutely dwarfed by plateaus and mountains, they took on new meaning.

I feel so small. And I am small. Even my hurt and my fear.

[ (photo) on ilford b+w film, with Pentax k1000 (words) Bon Iver's Holocene. ]

Yellowstone : Where Soul Meets Body

2012-01-24T07:00:00.000-08:00

at the end of day three (of five) days backpacking through Yellowstone I wrote :

Last week I watched the movie 127 Hours (which I thought was a big mistake. Basically the equivalent of watching Titanic before going on a cruise). But, I've been thinking about the main character a lot in the last couple of days; not in horror, but in admiration. He was a man who used his body - he loved it because of where it could take him.

I'm not that kind of person. My body has never been something that I took pride in, or felt I actually possesed. It's not a product of what I do to it. I live in my head. I know the connection between learning and reading the newspaper. But, when I look down at my body all I see is a container. eh, this is my body. It works just fine.

Last night, I was lying in my sleeping bag, and Mr. Multitool came to my mind again. I haven't seen a mirror in nearly a week, but I'm beginning to feel a different kind of self confidence: a love for my body not because of what it looks like, because of what it does. I was imagining how it must have felt to look back at his arm. To look down and see nothing there. Like the phantom feeling after a haircut, reaching up to touch what's now just air. The surprise - and then remembering.

I thought about it being my arm; the same hand that holds a pen, that I've watched make letters purposefully and expertly across paper. Seeing a piece of my body that seems to move with out thinking, to express what's in my mind, laying there lifeless. With no connection to who I was at all.

I know - that no matter how long I looked at it pinned under that rock - I wouldn't understand.

I'm here. But my hand is there.

my hand. mine.

[(photos) on ilford b+w film with pentax k1000]

Yellowstone : Looking Back in Black + White

2012-01-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

At the end of the first (of five) days backpacking through Yellowstone I wrote :

I've begun to notice how truly limited my mind is. I keep telling myself look! look at what is around us. But then, in less than a second, it's back to the bugbite in my glutial-fold itches or I really don't want to dig a cathole. I'm thankful I brought my camera. The pictures will remind me when I'm back at my desk wow - that was pretty amazing.

wow - that was pretty amazing.

[on ilford black & white film with Pentax k1000 - more on my Flickr]

on schedule.

2012-01-20T09:25:00.000-08:00

Taking the bus teaches you a lot about timing. Mostly about how numbers - the ones that tick by on digital clocks, the ones we believe to be certain and immutable like religion - are not real. They have nothing to do with the speed of an object moving through space. A schedule does not take into account half-melted slush on a morning road, or an extra stop for a person the driver saw running in the rear view. A schedule is the most senseless kind of a hope, hinging on everything going exactly right. Things just don't happen this way, and you don't need to take the bus to know that.

I've calculated the time from my door to the streetcorner (two minutes). I know how long it takes me to get out the door - after I've decided to leave but before I've double-checked all the knobs on my oven. (four minutes) The schedule is memorized, and I'll sprint down the sidewalk, satisfied that I made it with a few minutes to spare.

And I'll count them down. four, then three, and then it's due. The clock starts over. And I'm still standing there shivering, as the interval between buses begins again. This is when an early bus is worse than a late bus. When I look back at the last five minutes and realize that despite the numbers - the trusted static of time - what I was waiting for wasn't coming. It never was, it was already gone before I began.

Since I entered this decade of my life I've said that 26 was my 'scary year'. Not when I will feel old, but when I want to start becoming the person I had in mind. Twenty-six is the year I will stop granting myself the grace of inbetween.

I was thinking about twenty-six when I left for work this morning. My keys were in the door when I heard the turning of the wheels, the rush of air as the bus went by. I looked at my watch. I still had time. But I didn't. Because despite the plan, the bus was gone.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this : It's not enough to come running in the final seconds. You have to stand at the curb, you have to be ready for what's coming for you.

[ (photo) kodak portra film with pentax k1000 on the grey-hound between Seattle and Bellingham]

mid-week reading :

2012-01-18T11:16:00.000-08:00

"people are secretive with ideas. 'Don't tell them that, they'll take credit for it.' The problems with hoarding is you end up living off your reserves. Eventually you'll become stale. If you give away everything you have, you are left with nothing. This forces you to look, to be aware, to replenish. Somehow the more you give away the more comes back to you. Ideas are open knowledge. Don't claim ownership.They're not your ideas anyway, they're someone else's." Paul Arden, It's Not How Good You Are (on Lifehacker via Anna Allen)

. GeekSugar has a great article to educate about the impact of SOPA
. Chuck Palahniuk said in Invisible Monsters "Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everybody I've ever known."
. a print by Mark Malazarte of the "nothing is original" Jim Jarmusch quote
. Austin Kleon's inspiring advice on how to How to Steal Like an Artist. My favorite :

"An artist is a collector. Not a hoarder, mind you, there’s a difference: hoarders collect indiscriminately, the artist collects selectively. They only collect things that they really love. There’s an economic theory out there that if you take the incomes of your five closest friends and average them, the resulting number will be pretty close to your own income. I think the same thing is true of our idea incomes. You’re only going to be as good as the stuff you surround yourself with."

. This does not mean be a plagiarist! If it's a question of credit, read Chelsea Fuss on proper photo sharing etiquette.
. Creative Commons, an organization for the culture of sharing.
. and speak out! sign Google's petition

One of the best pieces of advice my dad ever gave me is :

lose your 'mine' mentality

He was talking about greed and consumerism, but I've adopted it as my creative motto.

[ (photo) on film with Nikon n2000 at Portland's Little Bird]

bouncy balls in San Francisco

2012-01-17T10:22:00.000-08:00

"how many times are you going to watch that video today?"
"a-hundred-and-seventy-thousand bouncy balls set to the music of Jose Gonzales is the only thing that gets me right now, okay?!"

I know it's been nearly blogged to death - but I'm going through another phase with the Sony Bravia commercial set in San Francisco.

It's like someone's heart burst open from feeling too much: silly, alive, and a little bit melancholy.

[(photos) by Peter Funch (commercial) Sony Bravia]

The Golden Hour (and a zebra) in the Gorge

2012-01-16T10:14:00.000-08:00

One of my basic qualifications for friendship is that you'll pull over when I want to take a picture. My sister says I should bring one of those stickers that they put on the mail-truck for whoever has the pleasure (burden?) of driving me : "caution, this vehicle makes frequent stops"

A few weekends ago, my friends and I took a day-cation along the Columbia River Gorge during the "golden hour" (the first and last hour of sun in the day) and the terraces were beyond beautiful. I started squealing over the warm light from the backseat and Logan - being the good friend that he is - parked so I could take a few pictures.

We heard a rumor there was a zebra farm nearby. Yep ... zebras. In Oregon. I was as incredulous as you are. But wouldn't ya know, just down the winding road, we spotted them. Out in the pasture, enjoying the last rays of sun for the day - just like we were.

[(photos) on film with Minolta SRT-201]

Weekend Reading :

2012-01-14T20:26:00.000-08:00

t o u c h of c o l o r

. Hila shared what it's like to have synesthesia - a condition where people 'see' color in words, smells, or even sounds! She describes it as "sort of like a reverse form of color blindness"

it reminds me of ....

. John Locke's parable about the value of experience in AJ Jacob's, The Know-It All

"The blind man wants to know what the color scarlet is like, so he interviews dozens of people about the color scarlet, thinks a long time about the topic, then, at long last, he victoriously announces that he knows what scarlet is like: "It is like the sound of a trumpet." I sometimes wonder, am I the blind man?"

. this Lauren DiCioccio painting : a color code of the contributors page in Vogue. I'd love to hang it in my office someday.
. the way Chris Martin describes sacrificing for the one you love as "Yellow" in the Coldplay song.

do you have any interesting color connections?

To me, the light in cities always seems to be a certain color.

[photos : utility ribbon art (1) walking I spotted a web on Burnside (my instagram) (2) Megan Geckler Through Looking Back You May Go Blind, installation at Avant LA (via Black Eiffel)]

a second set of rainy panes

2012-01-12T10:38:00.000-08:00

with my Diana camera, on 120mm ilford b+w film. further proof I've been just fascinated by my daily observatory on the seasons. (this is the good kind of glass ceiling)

also in color with Minolta srt-201 . full frames on flickr.

portland places : My Downtown Bus Stop

2012-01-11T09:47:00.000-08:00

My downtown bus stop has a glass covering, like an observatory on the passing seasons. In spring, I crane my neck to watch the cherry blossoms. In summer, I stare up into a canopy of the greenest green I've ever seen.

But, in winter .... oh winter, we aren't friends, are we? I've always found it a bit ircksome to hear people - of a certain California variety - talk about how much they love the rain. I roll my eyes at every similar status update from San Diego. Perhaps it's the curse of curly hair, but I'm less than impressed with sprinkling.

Today, I stood below the swirling patters, pooling on the sheet of glass. And, I finally understood the romance of the rain. It's not in the drips, or the drizzling wet, but being safe on the other side.

[ on film with minolta srt-201. full frames on flickr. ]

How to Make 100ft of Bunting in 2 Hours

2012-01-09T09:56:00.000-08:00

Today, I'm going to show you how to make a hundred feet of bunting in about two hours! are you rolling you eyes? I know that sounds like a long time - but if you've ever attempted this project before, it's actually super speedy.

and the best part is : no template, no waste, and nearly-no sew!

Let me begin by saying that Tessa and I first tried to make bunting using a template and felt - which required labor intensive tracing and pinning - and just resulted in uneven, mutli-sized triangles (yuck!). So, instead we got out our elementary math skills, and perfected the following How-To over the 750 feet (yep, you read that right, seven-hundred-and-fifty-feet) of flags we sewed for a wedding we planned last summer.

The instructions are designed with an average 36-inch bolt in mind. It will create 1 ft of bunting for every flag you cut! But, I've also included a way to modify this for a different size, using a formula. Figuring it out gave me a crazy headache ... so you can bet I wont talk about math on this blog ever again.

now, get out your ruler and click "read more" for the illustrated instructions!

materials : cotton fabric (that doesn't fray, labeled at the store), a metered mat board, a ruler, pen, scissors, ribbon, sewing materials, and ... most importantly ... a rotary cutter. (do not skimp on this, or you will have hands like the witch from Hansel and Gretel by the time you are finished)

preface : you're going to need a big big BIG workspace for this project. I suggest the floor - so you might want to swiffer and clean up the cat hair!

(1) the average height of fabric is 36 inches, folded in half on the bolt to be 18 inches.

(2) cut a length of 108 inches

if your fabric isn't 36 inches wide: determine your length by multiplying 1/4 by the total height by 12
the formula is: L= 1/4h x 12

(3) fold the cut piece in half again (so it's in quarters), bringing us to the height of our pennants : 9 inches.

if your fabric isn't 36 inches wide: the height of your pennant with be 1/4 multiplied by the total height of your fabric
formula: p = 1/4h

(4) this is where your metered mat board comes in. Measure 4 1/2 inches, and make a mark at this point along the top edge of the fabric. Measure 9 inches, and make a mark at this point along the bottom edge of the fabric.

if your fabric isn't 36 inches wide: the top mark with be equal to 1/2 the height of your pennant (or 1/8 the total height) and your bottom mark will be equal to the height of your pennant.
formula: top mark = 1/2p, bottom mark = p

(5) along the top: from the 4 1/2 inch mark, make 12 marks at 9 inch intervals
along the bottom: from the 9 inch mark, make 11 marks at 9 inch intervals (12 total, counting the first one you made)

(6) using your ruler, draw a line diagonally connecting the 0-inch-mark on the bottom edge (the bottom-left corner) to the 4 1/2- inch-mark on top. From the same point, draw a line diagonally connecting to the 9-inch-mark on the bottom. {see picture}

(7) this should quite obviously look like a triangle! now repeat - by connecting alternating top-to-bottom points along your length of fabric.

(8) using your rotary cutter, and cutting away from you, firmly press along these lines using your straight edge as a guide. Your tool must be very sharp to avoid fraying. If necessary, press the fabric flat with your other hand, but watch your fingers (Tessa almost needed stitches one afternoon) You will be surprised at how easily it cuts through all the layers of fabric (and your skin)!

(9) after every second cut, gently free each stack of triangles. The edge should be perfectly straight and clean - the last photo above is of a stack with no other work done! Occasionally a small portion may still be connected, but you can just snip it with the scissors.

(10) at the end you will have 24 stacks of 4. You just made 96 (!!) triangles, doing a quarter of the work.

(11) fold over the top edge of the triangle, and place a quarter-inch ribbon in between. With a sewing machine make a basic line of stitches over both the ribbon and the fabric (so it doesn't slide around) or make a few quick hand stitches.

(12) snip the corners of the hem and any loose thread

(13) let out 3 inches of ribbon, and place another flag. Using this spacing, each section you sew will be a foot long.

and repeat!

[ (photo) on film with pentax k1000 (event design) Samantha Shorey and Tessa Keleher]

weekend reading :

2012-01-06T12:34:00.000-08:00

f o r t h e n e w y e a r 

. the cover of Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror on Glee me tear up when I watched it on New Year's Day (... so embarrassing.)
. Hila's practice of presence in her poem New Year

"rather than relentless mental list-making / a few seconds of smelling my perfume / rather than carelessly putting it on"

. relevant for anyone making resolutions : A Navy Girl's Guide to Goal Setting
. Thought Catalogue's 20 New Year's Resolutions for 20 Somethings. My favorite :

"Cut one person out of your life who you truly do not like and add one person who you truly do. Note: not on Facebook, on Earth"

. New Year's Eve party-favor pins on Unstitched. A sweet way to share your resolution.
. Ralph Waldo Emerson on ending | Benjamin Button on beginning

[ (photos) campari champagne cocktails in the "color of the year" - Tangerine Tango | on film with Pentax k1000 | at our New Year's Eve Party in Tessa's Tangerine mexi-kitchen]

2011 : Five Favorite Books

2012-01-05T13:18:00.000-08:00

. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

"The true magic of this broken world lay in the ability of the things it contained to vanish, to become so thoroughly lost, that they might never have existed in the first place"

. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

"Just once, I wanted to know what it was like to get my fill of it - to be fed so much love I couldn't take any more"

. A Movable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

"We ate well and cheaply and drank well and cheaply and splept well and warm together and loved each other"

. The Help by Kathryn Stockett

"Every morning, until you dead in the ground, you gone have to make this decision. You gone have to ask yourself, Am I gone believe what them fools say about me today?"

. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azir Nafisi

"you get a strange feeling when you're about to leave a place, I told him, like you'll not only miss the people you love but you'll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you'll never be this way ever again"

you can see the other books I read (and my favorite lines) here

follow along with what's to come in 2012 here

2011 : Five Favorite Posts and Photos

2012-01-03T19:46:00.000-08:00

f i v e f a v o r i t e p o s t s

. a step-by-step guide on How to Delete Half Your Facebook "Friends"

. thoughts on human touch : "It is touch that bridges the gap of our singular existence, a reminder at both ends that we are all just souls and skin"

. bus rider wisdom after the Tsunami hit Japan.

. finding #592 in the community art project La La Letters on Valentines Day

. a photo paired with the poem "She Considers the Shape of Her Soul"

f i v e f a v o r i t e p h o t o s

a lucky double exposure (Pentax k1000)

in collaboration with Chelsea Fuss at her Summer School PDX frolic! flower class (Pentax k1000)

Grandmother and Furby (nikon n2000)

an August evening (Pentax k1000 - on expired 100iso fuji film)

from the DIY : How to Do Your Hair in a Beehive (Pentax k1000 - on 800iso kodak ektar film)

A Year in Review

2012-01-02T12:39:00.000-08:00

On January 1st, I decided 2011 was the year I would apply to graduate school. I started by studying for the GRE; learning lots of new words and doing the New York Times crossword puzzle everyday (though it was March before I finished one).

By the end of February, my time as a waitress came to end when I went to work "upstairs" in sales and marketing. I found a new sense of purpose and rediscovered how wonderful it was to have real weekends.

Spring came slowly in Portland, so I traveled to Southern California. In Los Angeles I fell in love with Urban Light and Bottega Louie, but seeing San Diego was bittersweet. It wouldn't be the last of my 2011 travels, I also backpacked 35 miles through Yellowstone (though I've yet to post most of the pictures)

I turned 24 over a festive French dinner, and spent the rest of the summer on a highnote. My job, my apartment, my boyfriend were all just right. In September my friends and I watched the swifts roost, feeling the season come to an end. And by October things had changed - as they always do in fall.

This winter was quiet, but quite a success. I visited my grandad in Montana, the last stop for 2011's New Years Resolution: seeing all my grandparents.

Tomorrow, I'll be revisiting my favorite posts and favorite photos from 2011. Then onto a new year with new resolutions. Welcome to the world, 2012! We're happy to have you here.

[ (photo) on ilford 100iso b+w film with pentax k1000. the sun sets in Yellowstone backcountry ]

The Suspended Second

2011-12-30T14:59:00.000-08:00

Two-thousand dandelions picked in the country side, then hung from a ceiling by Regine Ramseier. A fitting piece to share, as we stand before a new year.

Today we draw in our breath. We hold it in a suspended moment.

Seeing each seed, each downy sail. Multitudes clustered together, singular but somehow whole. This second is where the magic lives. Peering into the possibility of what will start, in the instant we exhale.

The blown apart beginning.

ready? here it comes.

5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ...

[ (photo) by Regine Ramseier via This is Colossal ]

Mid-week Reading :

2011-12-28T16:11:00.000-08:00

for the h o m e b o d y

. Cara's magic modern family : housemates & flashlight tag
. "If I really think about it, though, the truth is that there may be new houses, but there's only one home." - Laura Marie Given
. illustrated : Edward Sharpe's idea of home
. Abby Powell perfectly captures the small pieces of the places we call "ours"
. Adele's Hometown Glory. I have the same bittersweet feelings about my home town (Eugene, Or)
. a question of "where?" from Water for Elephants

are you a homebody? I definitely am!

(and my family knows it ... I got towels and jammies for Christmas.)

M. Toomey | Locked Away

2011-12-27T12:38:00.000-08:00

"I am not afraid of solitude. I am afraid of the way you keep everything locked away within yourself while I give myself away, and of the unbearable loneliness that overwhelms me as a result."

Michelle Toomey, writer (and friend)

May Your Heart Be Light

2011-12-25T11:28:00.000-08:00

The sentiment in Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas makes me cry every time I hear it on the radio. I was talking with my Dad about our favorite carols, and I got a lump in my throat even speaking the line all our troubles will be miles away.

There is something so universal about the hope we feel on this day. The hope that we will only find joy in the coming year. It's the wish I have for everyone, and especially you.

May Your Heart Be Light.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2011-12-24T20:36:00.000-08:00

Despite the stresses - the shopping and sending - Christmas really is the most wonderful time of year.

Whether it be standing shoulder-to-shoulder at Sur La Table or in a line at the post office. It's not consumerism, or cynicism, but something much more simple than all of that.

A set of (slightly burned) Martha Stewart quince pinwheels to the three most important service people in my life : my printer, my morning bus driver, my film developer. A box of protia on my doorstep straight from San Diego. A champagne lunch on the thirty-first floor with the sales team.

Christmas is a season to celebrate the gifts we're given all year long.

and the greatest of these, is love.

A Look at Christmas in Portland

2011-12-23T19:02:00.000-08:00

Today, I'm sharing What Christmas Looks Like In Portland on Un Giorno Da Leone, with my friend (and fellow USD alum), Alessia. I jumped at the chance to be a part of the series for two reasons:

1. Alessia is one of those people that keeps it real. Even on her blog. It's a refreshing rarity! So when she asks you to write something, of course you say yes, because she's coming from the same honest-to-goodness place that keeps me accidentally laughing out loud in my office as I read her daily recaps. (really, read this.)

2. Portland and I have been on an upswing in our relationship. This season has made me feel like maybe I found my city-soul-mate. Who doesn't want to brag about being in love? Plus, It'll be nice to have a written record of this feeling somewhere in June-uary when I'd rather become a recluse than have one more day of wet jeans.

You can read my color story and the rest of the What Christmas Looks Like In ____ on ByAlessia.com .

professionally speaking : Working With Friends

2011-12-21T13:48:00.000-08:00

I've had a lot of fun reading Mindy Kaling's book because she writes about how she found success by doing what she loves with her best-friend, Brenda. Most people picked up her book for the humorous essays, but reading about the play they wrote, Matt & Ben, and Mindy's life just before she started The Office has actually made me super inspired.

When I first got promoted, a few people I know warned me that working with your friends can strain a relationship, kind of like being roommates. Tessa and I shared a room - and a bed - when I came back from my trip to South America (because I had zero dollars in my bank account and sixty left on my credit limit) so I wasn't ever really worried.

But, one of the important things I've learned from working with her is that a friendship can definitely survive (and even flourish!) in a professional atmosphere. I think the key is that you, not only like them, but respect them. If you don't share a similar work ethic, it's really hard to continue being friends with someone when you can't rely on them between the hours of 9 - 5.

The pictures above are of our hotel's hot coco station, one of the aspects of the winter marketing campaign. The plan from home-office basically only required two things : chocolate and water. But, Tessa turned it into an all-out hot-co-co dream-come-true. Isn't it magical?

Looking at the table, it's obvious why working with her is one of the most rewarding parts of my job. It definitely helps that we have a similar aesthetic and love for doing creative projects with style.

Have you ever worked with a friend?
Did it bring out your best or make you a mess?

[ (photos) on film with minolta srt-201 (reading) Mindy Kaling, on Tessa's recommendation]

Mindy Kaling | On Expectations

2011-12-19T10:22:00.000-08:00

"I decided the odds were stacked against me, which strangely made me feel like I was going to get the job even more. Sports movies had brainwashed me into the belief that when the chips are down the most, that is when success is the most inevitable.

I'm the kind of person who would rather get my hopes up really high and watch them get dashed to pieces than wisely keep my expectations at bay and hope they are exceeded. This quality has made me a needy and theatrical friend, but has given me a spectacularly dramatic emotional life"

Mindy Kaling, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me

*I had to laugh out loud with self-recognition when I read this. Sounds familiar to my process of applying to graduate school. Whenever I tell someone my list of prospects, it is nearly always followed with a polite suggestion about "safety schools"

show + tell : Ceiling Fan(cy)

2011-12-16T09:46:00.000-08:00

I don't think"if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" is a design philosophy.

But "if you can't get rid of your dated brass ceiling fan because you rent, draw more attention to it by covering the blades in aqua and gold floral print paper" definitely is.