My friend Alexandra Roberts (she’s the amazing photographer who photographed our wedding) loves cooking with local ingredients. So she decided to blend her love of meal making and her awesome photography skills together and start a new blog called Rolling with the Bunches.

I was so thrilled when she asked me if I would design a logo for her new creative endevour, and began working on a design in my head before I had even finished reading the email. I’m very happy with the end result, and can not wait for all of her amazing recipes and cooking tips.  While the blog isnt up yet, you can follow her page on facebook  and see what she has been cooking with her CSA farm share.

I just had to share these erethral scarves by the Melbourne based shop Shovava. All of her work is simply lovely but I can not stop lusting over her feather printed works. They are made from a natural cotton voile that looks light and soft and perfect for the upcoming spring season. I think they are just the perfect mix of the urban and natural world. I just really have never seen anything like them. Beautiful.

I hope you all have a very Happy Valentines Day. I felt it was time to step away from the computer and break out my nibs and ink. It’s nice to make things on paper instead of the screen. I hope today you will take time to step away from the computer and spend time with someone special.

I didn’t know what to expect as I cracked open the spine for the first time, but once it was open I couldn’t put it down, there is something magical about it. Part novella, part artistic endeavor and wholly mesmerizing, the nook is a series of letters, notes and postcards back and forth between two strangers. For someone who loves art, illustration and postcards, I felt that this book was meant just for me. Everything is hand illustrated, even the postage stamps are imaginitve, but my favorite pages are the ones where you have to physically take a letter out of the envelope in order to read it. At times it almost feels as if you are part of the book, or found these letters by chance.

The book ends of course on a bit of a cliff hanger. I remember contemplating what happened for days after reading the book for the first time, and then of course reading it again. It wasn’t until a few years later, in a local bookstore, that i discovered this book was the beginning of a trilogy (it wasn’t over after all). I have read all of the books, but the first one is still the most beautiful to me. If you happen to see this book sitting on a shelf, pick it up, read it, and pass it on. It’s a quick haunting read, but I promise you can spend hours admiring the illustrations.

I’m not making resolutions this year because I never keep them, but I did decide to setup some goals for myself in 2013. They aren’t groundbreaking or overly complicated, just 6 goals that I’m going to try to accomplish this year. I really want to eat more whole foods, which goes hand in hand with saying goodbye to XL tags. I don’t want to setup a goal of loosing a certain amount of weight, but rather aim to get back into a size Large.

I’m going to read 20 books this year. In 2012 I read 13 books, but I also took 2 college english classes that filled a lot of my reading time. I always find all kinds of cool recipes and projects I want to try, and I pin them to my Pinterest Board and never make anything, this year s going to be different.

I’m going to make time for one DIY project each month. Declutter is a must, I’m so sick of “stuff”. And of course I want to take better photos. I got a new camera that I am very excited about, and need to read the manual because it’s a bit different than my last one. I want to learn more about photography and how to take a more meaningful and beautiful photo. So those are my goals for 2013, What are yours? Feel free to share them in the comments section!

January 2012: It snowed a few times & I took a class in Literary Theory which I earned an “A” in.

February 2012: Drove myself to the emergency room because i had a super high heart rate for no reason & my cheese markers were featured in Redbook.

March 2012: Took a weekend trip to Boston to celebrate Matt and my own birthday & it snowed again.

April 2012: Celebrated Easter by creating vessels to keep eggs from breaking while being dropped off a roof (mine did not survive) & enjoyed some local ice cream when they opened in the spring.

May 2012: Enjoyed some time paddling around on the kayaks & planted our mini garden.

June 2012: Matt and I got married on a sailboat & celebrated with Harry Potter.

July 2012: Matt and I got almost matching bikes & my family threw a party for us in Delaware where I helped my sister with her Criminal Justice homework underneath the stars (thanks WIFI).

August 2012: I redesigned packaging for my Peppersprouts coasters & went to my first drive-in movie.

September 2012: Traded in the first new car I ever bought (2004 Ford Focus) for a very fun Fit & cut down a christmas tree to photograph Peppersprouts’ ornaments.

October 2012: Spent a weekend with the in-laws here in Maine where we visited the farmers market & enrolled in a creative writing class (which I also earned an “A”)

November 2012: Cut down our real christmas tree & it snowed again.

December 2012: Was part of some amazing markets and craft shows & visited the families in Delaware and Central NY, where it snowed a lot.

I hope you have all had a wonderful 2012! Here’s to a fabulous 2013! Cheers!!!!

What Christmas would be complete without a little Rockabilly? I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Brian Setzers’ Holiday Spectacular a few years ago and it was the most rocking holiday experience ever. Love, love, love all his holiday songs. Coming in at #6 is Brian Setzer performing the Nutcracker Suite.