maps

I came home from a fun night at visuals to one lonely Christmas present under the tree. duh I immediately opened it to find my collection of maps had been restored! I lost a map of Chicago, Paris and Manhattan oddly enough in New York along with my favorite bookbag. Not gonna lie I still miss them. I love maps. I'll let the card my mother wrote with them tell you why - it's a perfect end to this day.

"Maps are great... inspiring adventure, independence and self-confidence. They allow you to dream while providing direction to your destination, just like God's Word." Abby's Mom (we love her.)

 I don't even have words to supplement this cuz it's just so true! I've always been a dreamer and my mom and I LOVE maps. Globes, vintage atlases, anything! I have 2 framed art pieces of Chicago in typography, 3 pieces I did hanging in my room I created in college, maps of places I want to visit someday...

When I'm overwhelmed I think of myself somewhere far away, where my problems have no place and everything is simplified.

Where do your daydreams take you?

Let there be peace on earth & let it begin with me

I sang that song in third grade in my church play*. I was a celebrity for like 5 months after that. It was SO. AWESOME. *evidence of said video recording will never be found. just like the white iPhone. it's a mystery. but seriously i did sing that song.

Merry Christmas everyone! This entire season induces a lot of emotions about your loved ones, significant others and ones lost. It seems like as I get older the more difficult Christmas becomes. Don't lose sight of the meaning of the season whether Jesus was born in the middle of July or in Africa... God loved the world and He decided to GIVE. Even if you can't afford presents this year you can give in other ways. Spend time with your family... including your grandma who has gotten to an age where she thinks she can say anything - including her thoughts on your non-existant love life. *hangs head* And thank God for them. Some people don't have families to celebrate anything with.

my mother's butter cookies (filter via Instagram) 

a year-in-review is coming along with my first knitting video! I bet I'm doing everything wrong, but if you could just not point that out? that'd be awesome. I have a feeling 2011 will be kind of epic. really i do. : )

all over the map

this is so random i had to go back and add bullet points just for a flow of some kind. my brain sometimes... it goes errrvrywhere!

• The past few days have been a rollercoaster! and I don't like rollercoasters! They SUCK! We knitted 85 things in like half a second and put them all in Etc., Inc. (my sister and niece). It's really taking off! Super. Excited! (take a look at the gallery here if you want to custom order anything!) 
• A few things have happened in my personal life that caused me to literally break down but afterwards a strange sense of peace came over me just kind of letting me know, again, "You're mine. I got this." Hear me out. I'm kind of stupid. God takes care of me. Left to my own devices I would be way worse off. God takes care of me. 
• I've started to take lunches to work. A world without Sarku is a MUCH better world I've realized. Also I love taking clementine oranges to work. They're so. CUTE. Part of my change1 initiative paired with frugality haha. If I buy something it'll be at Trader Joes getting an apple and hummus (oh hummus how I love thee...). I will sacrifice my parking space! (oh man. giant sacrifice inDEED)
• I actually had an entire entry ready about why I'm weird and I put in a mock q&a format but... if you know why I'm weird it doesn't make me weird anymore! That's no fun! Where's the air of mystery about myself! Ok in reality I'm really not that mysterious at all. I'm pretty transparent. I laugh too much. I'm awkward in social situations. I can ACTUALLY dance but I don't ever show it... I do the robot a lot to cover it up : ) That's how I roll. Awkwardly.
• I group hugged about 20 of my co-workers today which made me really happy. Oddly enough I've group hugged 450 co-workers before... because apparently that's what we DO. I love having a work family - I'm always so busy trying to push everyone away from my bubble that I didn't notice I HAD one til recently. It's pretty great. I'm full of bubbly love right now. And Reese's Peanut ButterTrees. (for the holidays.)
• I have an ugly sweater party coming up soon. Pictures (and hopefully a video) coming SOON! So excited guys. 

This post is so. Random. Also my mother just shuffled into my room and tried to get into my bed. She was shooed. I figure I'll just keep on the random track.

For this last random part of this entry, that I just realized has nothing at all to do with Christmas... Oops. Anyway for the last part of this entry I present an image:

How beautiful is this? There is never a point in time I will be able to move like this. I only dance like this in my dreams but... it's a huge inspiration to me. I think part of the reason why I enjoy drawing dancers so much is I know I can't move like they do. I take joy in studying how their muscles move. We'll see if a contemporary dance class is in my near future. *oh geeze*

g'night! 

goal #1

via modcloth.com

i want to wear this dress. i wanna command a room in THIS dress.

i wanna go on a date in this dress... *shakes head* did I just say that aloud? delusions of grandeur but it's true. 

i don't curse or anything... but i also secretly want a guy to cock his head to the side and say, "daaaaaaayummmmmmmm" when he sees me in THIS. DRESS. : ) that day is comin'. 

that is all. 

best of both worlds

No, this post has nothing to do with Miley Cyrus her alter ego Hannah Montana or her OTHER alter ego "hey I'm a skank!" so don't worry.

I've been posting pictures of my knits and baked goods all day on Instagram (my new favorite app for iPhone) and I was just called a homemaking hero, which makes me blush and laugh. I consider myself a strong, independent woman and artist who doesn't need a guy. I still think boys are still kind of icky and take too much of my time to be honest. I'd like to marry one someday but I am definitely not there yet. But I also am cultivating this STRONG love for knitting and baking at the same time. I am digging my toes into the domestic sand so to speak and am really loving it.

It almost seems like a contradiction, though! On the one hand I love the fact that I'm not defined by this domesticity and on the other I love that I'm GOOD at being a homemaker. I have a firm belief I will be an EPIC wife - I put babies to sleep while changing their diapers! COME ON! - but I also know I won't lose my identity when I do decide to settle down, get married and have a bajillion babies. Did I tell you I want a billion kids? I do. They're gonna dress themselves. I've already decided. They're also gonna be best friends with Kate's (coworker who doesn't have kids yet but will have AMAZING ones) kids. Just sayin.

Sometimes I'm embarrassed by the fact that I knit and bake so avidly. I mean really what 24 year old WANTS to stay home and temper chocolate? Who gets excited about mastering thumb gussets on a handwarmer? That's just the type of person I am. I'd rather feed my friends than go out to a club with them. and my knitted stuff is... well it's amazing. so there. I also don't think it's that wrong to know how to prepare a meal well, sew a button and hem pants. I dream of mixers, so what?! I also deeply love art & design, being a hipster in general and can throw a MEAN left hook (don't make me go there). I think it's just how God made me. I kind of freaking love it.

If I ever rename this blog I think it'll be The Feminist Homemaker HAH!!

inspiration & escape

Occasionally I'll get in a mood where I want to move and not tell anyone. I just want to up and leave and start my own bakery/knit shop/bookstore somewhere quaint, which seems extra lame but in my mind it's kind of awesome. I know I can't go anywhere or move anywhere or even DRIVE anywhere so... I'll just post pictures of things that kind of provide a visual escape. Thanks to Oh Joy! blog for providing these visually stunning images. Feel free to share... stare... linger... stay awhile. I wish I had some cookies otherwise I'd feed you. I'm baking tomorrow so I mean come over obviously.

wherever this is. i will go there someday. and sit next to this lady. and be her best friend.

i've never tried to do a watercolor but... this blows my mind.

by artist Dale Frank - like. no words!

and this bedroom from Anthropologie. 

but for now I think I'll sleep in my own bed... : ) g'night. 

all i want for christmas

IS THIS.

via graphic-exchange and photojojo

why yes that IS a good amount of the shortcuts for most things you do in photoshop and illustrator. oh. my gosh. salivating. so much graphic designer drool everywhere.

i also want all of Crayola's products. that just confirms my 5 year old artist status haha... yooou love iiiit...

change1

So the new year is coming up and my resolution is the same. every. year. Love God more! Lose weight more! Love me more! Hug some trees more! Pretty much just get off my lazy bum and BE more. and every mmm February 3rd I'm like... yeah... i... the end. HAHA

Well I kinda wanna get a head start right now and a name for what I am gonna do popped into my head - Change1. My downfall is I go from eating junk food and giant Coke's to keep myself awake to *WHAM!* eating 1 leaf of lettuce a day and hating life itself in a few short weeks. I'm going to change ONE thing. ONE. Not a multitude of things not even 2 things. ONE. and then once that thing is good I will add in another thing until i change my whole lifestyle of eating and exercise. Confused? Psh... it's not confusing!

I'm starting with pop. I was doing REALLY well NOT drinking pop until I joined visual overnight and pop became my BEST FRIEND. And McDonald's also having the fizziest tastiest coke for the low low price of only 1 dollar?! Really did me in. I mean it did me IN. For most people if they cut out sugar it's like the heavens open up and things are better! So I'm not cutting out sugar because I am a baker and that is currently a good portion of everything I eat. I'm cutting down pop to 1 meal. I really can't go cold turkey on this I'm setting myself up for failure. Weight loss is a slow process... it's also a process I can't finish without God so... I gotta work on that. A lot.

Once pop is completely gone - and I haven't gone too overboard on the coffee - and water is my bff then the rest comes... slowly but surely everything else does. Change one thing at a time. Focus on ONE thing at a time. I'm also not aiming for ultimate skinniness either... I used to but *rolls eyes* again it's too much to think of at once and I'm setting myself up for failure. I wanna go down one size : ) and then another. and then I'm going to stop. 2. that's it. then... maybe i'll lose two more later on but who really knows. 2! that's all! I like this! I like it already!

I used to hate resolutions because they always lead to NOTHING but... if I stop trying then I'm really screwed right? Most people are amazing starters and horrible finishers. I wanna be the person that finishes something. I will be the person that finishes something. 1 thing at a time.

and then I'm going to join a dance class.... did you hear that gong sound that just went off... i think that was the world going, "WHAAAA?!" i know right. we'll talk about that LATER. : )

like like can lead to love

whenever i happen upon that special guy hopefully i'll have learned the ukelele and will sing this to him. nay, we'll sing this awesome song TOGETHER*.





*this will probably never happen but it's just so CUTE. can someone teach me ukelele? plz?

plans

i was gonna name this post death cab for cutie? but not many people would have gotten the message that i was trying to get at the word "plans"... out with it. be direct haha

via graphic-exchange

WHAM!

Every Christmas do you feel the need to seriously BELT out the lyrics to Last Christmas by Wham!? I mean technically it's an 80's variation on an emo Christmas song but dang! It's amazing!

"my god I thought you were... Someone to rely on. Me? I guess I was a shoulder to cry on..." and all of a sudden you're kind of doing the running man and/or making a microphone out of your fist in your car. It's kind of great for such a sad song. Focus on the 80's dream of it and you'll be fine haha.

I can really say that it and Wonderful Christmastime by Paul Mcartney (so much Beatles) are my favorite Christmas song...

So everyone... what's yours??

rhode island or bust!

yeah right now i think i'm at the 'bust' part haha. things never go according to plan and after my savings have actually gone DOWN instead of UP i think i need to reshift my focus. I want a MacBook Air haha. I want it to be my supplemental design computer. Pretty much the internet. iPhoto. iChat. and Adobe Creative Suite. That is it. So I believe I'll be saving up for that and looking to 2012 for Rhode Island. I'm not happy about this... haha... but I probably need a better plan in place. Plus pretty much 2 years is a good long time to save. AND that way I can freakin KNIT up til that time! GEEEEZE knitting takes a long time GEEEEEEZE. but i love it haha...

Gonna go ahead and take down my banner for now *sniffle!* and make a pretty one all about fonts and giggling. or something like that you know me...

for now i'm still Abby : )... secretly 5 years old. and awesome. i squeak. i do, there are squeaks that come out of me. it's EPIC.

all gone

...apparently i don't sleep anymore. this is news to me. i'm all ready for bed but my brain's like, "Yeah see we discussed this beFOREhand?? and you're outvoted. AWAKE! suckaaaaa!" no but for real that's the exact terminology used.

So in this awakeness I get to ponder my WHOLE. LIFE. it's pretty short haha - it's mostly just series of failed relationships until i find another one that will fail from me pushing them away or them hurting me THEN i push them away. or it's me finding really sucktastic people. I would love to vote the latter but I think it's a mixture of both.

[in general - the past]
People make mistakes right? err'day. But if I get burned one time I'm done. There's no room for error no room for stupidity no room for ANYTHING I'm just finished cuz clearly that's all they'll EVER do in my mind. Granted looking back at all the relationships I've let go (and geeze-o-peets are there a lot) I actually didn't need them in my life. They really DID suck. So I mean that's good right? OK quick peek into my brain. When something happens where I end up hurt here's my thought process: The integrity I thought you had is gone so why continue communicating with you and deal with your foolishness? Doesn't make a load of sense? a lonely load of sense... I guess I just think why accept them back into your life only for them to do the same dang thing again? That's just stupidity on my part correct? I'm rambling only because I have no idea what the answer is...

[right now]
i'm working on it. i was hurt... and i've never EVER let anyone back in after that's happened. but... i was let back in after i did. so believe me... when i say i'm working on it... it's a big deal. a b.f.d.

also does the video for Imagine Me by Kirk Franklin make you cry EVERY TIME?! I see bits of myself in it every time I watch.

"Imagine me, being free, trusting You totally" - at the end of the day that's what 99.99% of things in my life boil down to. Trust God you idiot! wageeeeeze.

zomg someone knock me OUT already. my crazy late night ramblings must END! nnnnnnnnnow.
OH also i saw HP today and it was awesome. OKFORREALI'MLEAVINGBYE.