birthday week: indian food + spinning

thursday december 8

food: indian buffet

got take out from a really good indian buffet called karma, right next to where i ate the other day - han dynasty. the buffet was $10 and i loaded as much as i could in my container, had left overs for today. soooo good, very pleased :)

craft: spinning!

after loosing my drop spindle for two years my boyfriend gave me a new bottom whorl drop spindle for my birthday (ain't he the best? :) happily, i spent most of the night spinning skeins of roving that i had lying around for a number of years and glad to get back to them finally. i plan on doing a post of how to spin soon!

such a beautiful dye job. i bought this from a seller on etsy years ago and sadly can't remember them. oh well, isn't it lovely though?! it reminds me of a peacock.

also i wanted to share this really cool website/blog about iceland, it's called every single place in iceland. they do posts on somewhere in iceland each day, whether its a major area or the small lake in reykjavik. amazing photography and cute posts. i have to say, iceland is doing a teriffic job with tourism advertising this year. it goes to show the importance of social media these days... i only wish i knew about this blog before i went! check it out!

(from the blog, which is brand-spanking new... this is tjornin, the small lake in the center of reykjavik. there really are soo many birds there, it's insane but cool)

Inspiring Iceland

whew! i have made it back home from iceland (sadly, as i wish i didn't want to) and let me just say it was beyond inspiring. iceland had been my #1 on my travel "wish list" for a very long time. this actually means a lot, because i tend to have "travel ADD" and quickly get distracted when i find an amazing destination that i want to add to the top of my list. but no, not with iceland. i had applied for a travel fellowship to go there through my school and being a poor college student, could never find the means to go. luckily, i was able to go now that i graduated from such an institution, and made my way over to the island of fire and ice after several years (and months of more detailed road planning). my boyfriend and i rented a car and drove around the entire country, taking a total of 5 very long, yet very very very visually stimulating - to say the least - days. driving through mountains, under fjords, past waterfalls and over moss-covered lava fields our brains took in every detail and our camera batteries wore out. the last 5 days  we stayed in reykjavik and explored the capital by eating traditional icelandic food, including puffin and whale, spending a day trip to the westman islands and climbing a volcano that was still warm and meeting icelanders who are perhaps the most genuine people i've met so far.

of course i took about 1,900 pictures and tons of video which i will be posting more of. these are some of my favorite/most inspiring ones. i would say that iceland has far surpassed my expectations and both of us want to go back already! such an incredible amazing country...

interesting specimens of dover books

i was given a good collection of animal prints from dover books tonight and i laughed out loud at these two prints... it could because i'm easily amused, or that i'm just really tired. hope you enjoy as much as i do!

Caution: Hot

I find these pictures if cooling and hot lava particularly beautiful yet gross, but that's really the best kind of beautiful!

Philly full of patterns

just some patterns i noticed around the corner from me and that i thought were interesting...

Architecture of the Future

    i had some of these pictures scanned from two summers ago because i wanted to create a print inspired from these but never came around to it. now that i see them again, i might actually do it. thought i would share these with you.

today's obsession: the tarot

i have been interested in tarot cards for a very long time, and found them important for life lessons and how to deal with problems. my dad used to read them for people but stopped a long time ago; i remember getting my first set at the pennsylvania renaissance faire when i was in 6th grade i think. i've been getting back into them recently and bought a new set and a new book. the rider or waite deck (pictured here) is perhaps the most universal and the illustrations are amazing. i would love to do a print based on tarot cards someday.

Inspiration: Tricia Guild

these pictures are from the book, Tricia Guild: Inspiration and are just the tip of the iceberg. tricia guild is a textile designer and her book is full of excellent pictures and great ideas for projects and designs.

Little Tidbits: Winsor McCay and "Little Nemo"

i was in love with the movie Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland when i was younger, and i still have fond memories of watching it at my dad's with my sister, and having nightmares of the "nightmare king." in may i was told by a friend that the movie was based off a turn-of-the-century comic that was illustrated beautifully by Winsor McCay. after doing a little visual research i was totally surprised and fell even more in love with the story and with McCay's amazing illustrations.

i really enjoyed designing my children's wear print in the fall semester and i think that McCay's illustrations are definitely a unique and refreshing source of inspiration for an old fashioned-ish children's print. i could really see myself doing a print inspired by these in the near future.