South Shore

It was such a spectacular day out yesterday. Colors and shapes were so crisp as the haze and gray decided to let the sun out for once. I went for a walk down at South Shore in Little Compton and was blown away by the surreal winter beach landscape. The second pond was actually quite a raging river as all the melting snow and rain made its way down to the sea. Huge chunks of ice cracked and fell in wonderful geometric patterns, giving the sense of being in Norway or Iceland (or so I imagine.) The landscape was just so amazing and was a wonderful reminder of how beautiful Rhode Island can be in the middle of winter.

Maine Weekend

After a delayed start (our car broke down, luckily only 20 minutes away from home), we finally made it to the east coast's northern most state. We stayed at a lovely mountain side condo complete with a fireplace and a back deck overlooking the ski trails. Everyone skied on Friday. It was a perfect sunny day with blue skies, packed snow, and the wonderful crisp pine smell in the air. Brian did such a great job skiing! I was so impressed by his perseverance, he kept on falling but kept on getting up with even more determination to keep going. I pretty much picked up where I left off in the skiing skills department although I forgot how uncomfortable ski boots are. We had a few beers in the lodge afterwards and were thoroughly impressed by the awesomeness of the classic rock cover band. The singer looked like Jerry Garcia and played some unbelievable guitar. They didn't play any common or popular songs, just more random and obscure ones. Brian and I had a great time singing along. Saturday was spent lounging around and coloring in my new coloring book. We only left the condo for a few hours to take a trip to the tiny downtown area of Bethel. We pursued some gift shops including an awesome old book store and a mom and pop Maine souvenir shop where I purchased two handmade wooden tops for $1. I also bought some really adorable knit finger puppets from an alpaca products store (we were going to go to the farm but it was closed.) We snacked a lot but ate delicious dinners that we had prepared ahead of time. I brought some delicious veggie chili with ground turkey and DJ made some roasted veggie lasagna that was superb. It was a wonderful weekend and so fun to spend time in a new place with friends. Next up: Florida in April (which can't come soon enough!)

Warm Weather On My Mind

I have been ferociously working on my new collection for the spring this past week which is why posts have been slow. I am meeting with a pattern maker on Tuesday and I need to have some first patterns and samples ready for her viewing. I am so excited about this collection. So far everything is coming out great and I can't wait to see my sketches become actual garments! As I'm designing these pieces that are meant to be worn in warm weather, my mind keeps wandering off to the sunny southern state of Florida because Brian and I are planning a trip to his parents' place on the Gulf for the beginning of April. The last time I visited the Sunshine State was in November of 2009 when my brother and I flew down to visit my sister in Fort Lauderdale. We had so much fun lounging by the backyard pool, swimming at the beach, snorkeling in Key Largo, and sightseeing in South Beach. Looking out my window now and seeing everything covered in snow makes me really long for those hot sunny days!

Handmade Gift: Personal Photo Journal

One of the gifts that I gave Brian this year for Christmas was a photo scrapbook of us. It pretty much chronicles our adventures and the places we've visited together in the past 2 1/2 years since we've been together. I wanted to make something personal with photographs but not just photos in an album.

I filled my flash drive with 100+ photos and got them printed at a locally owned photo shop downtown. I opted for a matte finish and added white borders around each photo. I think that printed photos look best that way. I hate the way super glossy digital printed photos look; no depth and sometimes even blurry.

When I went to find a book to display them in, I couldn't find the album/journal that looked so nice in my mind. I went to three small local boutiques but they only had really small journals and as a last resort I went to Target who only had albums and scrapbook journals with plastic coverings for the pages and that was something that I really wanted to avoid. A light went on in my head and I went to a big name craft store and purchased this hard covered Canson spiral bound field drawing book with really heavy pages and it was perfect! Double points as it was made in the USA.

I had originally intended to attach the photos to the page with black photo corners but these have to be placed absolutely perfectly in order to not look messy, which isn't exactly my style. I like things in a more hap hazard, lay as they fall way. After some experimentation with with this awesome 1/4" black masking tape that I used with almost every fashion school project, I found a happy medium. The pages turned out minimalist and symmetrical within themselves but I placed every page differently so the viewers eye would bounce around a bit.

Only about a quarter of the photos that I printed were attached before Christmas, so I still have a lot more work to complete this section of the book. I plan on adding more photos every year to chronicle our times together. Below are the pages that I've finished so far, showing the first 8 or so months of our relationship from July 2008 to March 2009 including a road trip to Savannah, Georgia and a visit to my sister in Fort Lauderdale. Oh, and Brian absolutely loved it!

Holy Hotness

Dear Bonnaroo,
Why were you so effin hot? Why do you try to squeeze a million people in a space that's not capable to hold them? You see I wanted to run and frolic and see tons of bands every day but I was too busy laying under my canopy trying not to die of heat exhaustion (which someone actually did.) I wanted to stay up late having dance parties but you made me get up at 7 every morning because you turned my tent into an oven. I wanted to wear super cute outfits everyday, but you made me pick function over fashion. I wish you hadn't given me a panic attack when you tried to move tens of thousands of people through a 30 foot corridor that was half ankle deep mud to see the Flaming Lips. I heard it was a great show but I could only hear echos from our campsite that was a 30 min walk away. But the music that I did see, oh the music!, was fantastic! Steve Martin playing the banjo, perfect. Stevie Wonder, the best thing I've ever seen. There was also Dead Weather, The Gossip, She and Him, Dave Matthews, Jack Black, Kings of Leon, Conan O'Brian, and Jay Z. Oh Jay Z you have so many fun hits and I was so happy to hear them and dance along. You, my friend, put on a great show. I also loved watching Footloose at 8 am in the air conditioned movie tent. The singing along and dancing in the aisles made it very memorable. I was really trying to keep my eyes open, I swear. Well, good and bad you will stay in my heart forever. I've never experienced anything quite like you and I don't think that I ever will again. You left me hot and sticky and forever longing for a shower and my own bed, but you know what, after it's all said and done, thanks for the memories.
Love,
Nicole (never going to Tennessee in June again) Lebreux