I CAN'T STOP WATCHING THIS AND NOW I THINK I MIGHT WANT A BABY ELEPHANT.

found here

A LITTLE STAMP.

I spend so much time getting inspired (read: Pinterest) but I never actually do anything with that inspiration. This afternoon I decided to carve a little stamp out of an eraser using a printmaking tool and it was super quick and easy!

A SPRING BREAK TRIP TO ARIZONA AND THE GRAND CANYON.

Here are some pictures from the trip my family took to Arizona a couple weeks ago!

I'm from the northwest, so the terrain was so different. I could definitely get used to palm trees, warm weather, cacti, and In-N-Out Burger, though!

A LITTLE BIT OF ARIZONA IN LITTLE BITTY PHOTOS.

My family took a little spring break trip to Arizona in search of some sun. We found it! It was so beautiful and a nice climate change to the seemingly endless rain we have in Washington. I'll post a few more photos from the trip later, but here are a couple instax photos I snapped while we were there. (These were all taken on my Fuji Instax mini camera, by the way!)

GOALS // PRINT MORE PICTURES: CHECK.

One of my (many) New Year's goals this year was to take and print more pictures! Having an iPhone helps because it means I have a camera on me almost all the time. It's also nice to have apps like Instagram that make editing easy peasy and it is so much quicker than uploading my photos and editing them in Photoshop.
So a couple weeks ago I ordered some of my Instagram pictures on PostalPix. I got them in the mail and it was super fun to actually hold the pictures in my hands rather than just looking at them on my phone. The quality is really good and PostalPix was really easy to work with (if you ever want to order iPhone pictures I would totally recommend them!)! I decided to update my room and make myself an Instagram wall! It's fun to have all of the pictures up on display.

KONY 2012

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

"Where you live shouldn’t determine if you live."

Have you seen this video yet? If not, watch it right now!! I saw it all over Facebook and decided to finally sit down and watch it. It's about 27 minutes, but SO worth your time. The video is all about raising awareness about the Lord's Resistance Army in Africa which is led by Joseph Kony. This army kidnaps children and forces them to kill and mutilate other people, often including their own families. The Invisible Children organization has decided to start a campaign called Kony 2012 which aims to "make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice."
You can visit their shop and purchase t-shirts, bracelets, posters, and even a starter kit to support this mission! It is so inspiring to live in a place where people are able to make change like this happen. 

FILM PHOTOGRAPHY // NISHE

These beautiful photos by Nishe make me want to pull out my film camera again! I can't stop looking at them. Lately I've been relying on photos I took a long time ago rather than getting out there and photographing the current things. Time to dust off my camera.

How do you stay inspired to keep your camera out?

SNAPSHOTS // CADBURY MINI EGGS & MOVIE NIGHTS

On Friday after school I got together with some of my close friends and we went out to dinner and then back to my friend Bethany's house for a movie night! She kicked her husband out of the house and us girls ate an embarrassing amount of candy, air-pop popcorn (post about that soon!), Trader Joes coconut cookies, and pumpkin muffins. We watched the movie "Hugo" (any of you seen it?) and it was beautiful! It was so well done and the story was really unique. It also didn't hurt that it took place in Paris. 

Side note: why in the world have I not been eating Cadbury eggs my whole life? I tried some for the first time on Friday and I haven't stopped eating them since! They are so, so, so good(!!)! 

Have you seen any good movies lately?

PLAYLIST // FOUR

These songs have been playing on repeat lately.
What have you been listening to? I always love music suggestions!

BREAKING THE SILENCE & ELEVEN THINGS.

Well it's been a while. Here's what's been going on in my life lately:

-The gaping holes where my wisdom teeth used to be are (thankfully) slowly closing up! Yay for solid food!

-I quit my job at a local grocery store where I had worked for two years. I loved the people but with the busyness of school and the summer it seemed like a good time for me to say goodbye. I think babysitting is going to be my new form of money-making.

-I'm getting my nose pierced(!!!!)! This is something I've wanted to do for years and years. My old job didn't allow any facial piercings and my parents were really against the idea but they finally gave in! 

-I have a new special manfriend! (I first typed out "boyfriend" but that just sounded really cheesy so I thought "manfriend" sounded more sophisticated. I'm having second thoughts about that. Hmm...) We started dating a couple months ago, actually, but I don't think I ever blogged about it. Anyways, he lives in a land far, far away- we met at a Christian camp in Tennessee this past summer- and he is one of the most Godly, wise, and hilarious people I know. Since he lives on the other side of the country we have to resort to sending one another long messages every day and having multi-hour Skype dates on the weekends. It's hard to have him so far away, but I'm anxiously awaiting a time in the future when it won't be that way! I'll have to blog about how we met sometime. It's a pretty creative (all credit definitely goes to God!) story!

-My best friend and I are designing the school yearbook (all by ourselves!) for our senior project (what were we thinking??) and I'm pretty sure I'm having nightmares about page layouts and missing deadlines.

one of the very first film photos I ever took. it makes me miss summer and being barefoot.

I've seen this "eleven random facts" post floating around the blogosphere so I thought it would be kind of fun! Normally there are other questions to answer too but I decided to cut it down a bit. Here are eleven things you may/may not know about me:

one // I drink a ton of water. I also spill a ton of water on myself. You would think at age eighteen I would have mastered the art of drinking water from a cup/water bottle but I constantly find myself awkwardly wiping my dripping wet chin and trying to hide the unfortunate water stains running down my shirt. I'm working on it.

two // I love plants and flowers. I have plants in vases and old bottles sitting on most of the flat surfaces in my room.

three // I love wearing things with stripes. Last year my mom banned me from buying any more shirts or dresses with stripes on them but I've thankfully managed to get around that. I always feel a little more like a Frenchwoman when I'm wearing stripes and that makes for a very good day. :)

four // I bite my nails.

five // I have really thick hair. When I was in eighth grade I decided to be dumb daring and get it cut short. Basically, to sum things up, it looked like I had a giant puff head. I've been growing it out ever since.

six // I eat way too many Taco del Mar kid's bean burritos. (They are only $2.07! And super delicious!)

seven // I play the guitar and piano and sing. My favorite times to play are when I'm leading worship at my church and when I'm the only one at home.

eight // It is raining right now and there are little bits of snow in it. Hmm. 

nine // I get distracted really easily. (See number eight.)

ten // I've always secretly wished I was a ballet dancer. 

eleven // I've wanted to be a teacher since I was three years old. I'm thinking about teaching middle school history if other people don't end up scaring me out of it! 

...and congratulations if you made it to the end of this abnormally long blog post!

xoxo 

Megan

GOODBYE WISDOM TEETH.

my new sans-wisdom teeth diet

On Friday morning I had my wisdom teeth taken out. The surgery itself was a piece of cake (thank you anesthesia!) but when I got home it started to ache quite a bit. I've been basically chilling on the couch, catching up on Modern Family, reading blogs, pinning pretty things, watching French documentaries, downing pain meds and Advil, and sleeping! This is the life.

Have you had your wisdom teeth taken out?

FONT LOVE // LOST TYPE CO-OP

I love good fonts and just about every font on this website is awesome! It runs on a "pay what you want" system so if you can't pay anything you just have to type "0" in the box and download the font!
My favorites so far are Cubano, Lavenderia, Carton, and Wisdom Script!

A LITTLE ROOM TOUR.

Welcome to my humble abode! It seems like I'm always changing and updating my little space, but this is a quick look at what it looks like right now. My walls are a light green-ish color and I enjoy putting up pictures that I've taken and things that inspire me! If you've ever posted a tour of your room link it up below in the comments; I want to see!

*All photos are from my Instagram stream (letterstorome)! If you don't have Instagram, you can view my pictures here.

SNOW DAYS.

On Monday evening it started snowing. Tuesday evening it snowed even more (5.5 inches to be exact). Wednesday it all froze. Thursday it decided to pour freezing rain. Friday it started to melt. Needless to say, it's been an interesting and beautiful week! It doesn't snow too often so it was so fun to look out of my window into the wintery wonderland that had appeared. I'm not too sad to see it leave though, it was nearly impossible to get anywhere (my car transformed into a giant block of ice and people were getting stuck in the roads) and life kind of stopped. It made for a memorable week, though!
Have you tried out Grace's hand warmer tutorial yet? I made one (bottom right picture) and I love it!

HELLO LITTLE PRINTER. I WANT YOU.

Hello Little Printer, available 2012 from BERG on Vimeo.

GUEST POST // BY GRACE LOVES THE BEATLES: HAND WARMERS

I am so excited about this guest post! I saw these adorable little hand warmers on Grace's Instagram stream and I asked her if she would share her fun creation! Well I'm off to go make myself a pair of these...I'll let Grace take it from here.

________________________________________________

hi everybody!
i'm grace, and i blog at grace loves the beatles. i was so flattered when megan asked me if i wanted to do a guest post about these little hand warmers on her blog. they are so easy and quick for a snow day like today! (where i live, it's "snowmegeddon". we've got about 7.5 inches.)

what you'll need:

- felt (you don't need a whole sheet, only a tiny bit, so you could definitely use scraps)
- scissors
- pen
- needle & thread
- rice

here's what to do:

- cut 4 little hearts out from your felt. i folded a little piece of paper in half, drew a heart, cut it out, and went by that.
- sew 2 of the hearts together with your needle & thread. you can do the stitch that's like the figure 8 if you know how to do that, or you can just do a basic one. you could also probably do this on a sewing machine, if you have one. i stopped about 3 inches until i was done, to fill it with rice.
- use a spoon and fill it with rice. don't fill it up too much, or it will be hard to sew the rest.
- keep sewing until you come to the end, and tie a knot!
- repeat with the other 2 heart's.

how to use them:

just pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds. then put them in your coat pockets! they stay warm for about 10 minutes. they're also great when you come in from the snow and your hands are numb.

i hope you guys will try this out! super cute and easy!
thanks again, megan, for letting me guest post!

xo

SENIOR PICTURES // MILKMAN MEDIA

all photos by Bethany Speier of Milkman Media

A couple weekends ago my friend Bethany and I went out in the town and took my Senior pictures! It was so much fun. We went to an old fort in Tacoma and pinned up some of her fabric bunting flags (my favorite!). After we were done it was hard to take them down because they looked so darn cute! Bethany and her husband recently started a new video production and photography business called Milkman Media and you should definitely check them out if you live in the area! If not, just take a moment to soak in the beautiful design (ahh!) and work that they do!

FAMILY TRADITIONS.

We've started a new tradition in my family where we make grilled burritos (so delicious!) and watch Psych (so funny!) on Sunday nights. On cold winter evenings it's an especially fun excuse to bundle up in blankets and laugh together. As the future approaches and my time here living at home dwindles, it will be neat to have these special family traditions to look back on. 

GOALS FOR 2012 // ETC.

Okay! Last section! Here we go:

4. ETC (basically things that didn't fit in any of the other categories!)

try a Julia Child recipe: I love Julia Child. I bought her "Mastering the Art Of French Cooking" cookbook after I saw the movie "Julie and Julia" (one of my favorites!) but I've yet to crack it open and try anything. 
buy something from etsy: It's always fun to support fellow crafters and it's been a long time since I've bought anything from etsy. Maybe something to decorate my dorm with?
stop shopping at Forever 21: A while back I decided to steer away from Forever 21 (why do all of their clothes have to be so darn cute, though??) because I'd read some articles about their labor practices and I didn't feel so great about supporting that kind of business. 
try a new Starbucks drink: I love me some chai lattes and peppermint mochas so that's almost always what I get! Maybe I'm just a creature of habit or maybe it's because it is painful to think of wasting five bucks on a drink I don't like, but it might be good to broaden my tastes. 
find three kinds of tea I like: I am going to like tea this year. It's decided. So far I've already found one kind that I like (Vanilla Chai, yum!) and there must be other yummy kinds out there too. 


Whew! There you have it: my buttload of goals for 2012.
Here are the first parts: CREATIVE, THOUGHT, and HEALTH.

I love hearing your goals too! Keep em' coming.

goals for 2012 // health

3. HEALTH

do yoga every day for one week: I got into yoga back in sophomore year and I loved it. Somehow I ended up getting out of the habit and I've been meaning to start back up again. Hopefully if I can do it for a few minutes every morning for a week it will be easier to make a part of my daily routine!
find an exercise I (actually) enjoy: I really don't like exercising. Running? Ouch. Swimming? I'm not a huge fan of water. Sports? I've tried most of them and I'd really like to keep my face and limbs in tact, thank you very much. I enjoy walking (I walk really fast) but I would probably have to walk five hours a day to even call it exercise. Hmm. (Any suggestions?)
ride my bike to school: I tried this one morning with a friend and it was super fun! Maybe towards the end of school when it's a little more sunny and less rainy we can do it again.
try the oil cleansing method: I've seen a lot of bloggers try this new way of cleaning your face and I'm really fascinated by it! I tried it for about two weeks but I'm not sure I had the right measurements for the oil. This might be an upcoming blog post...
try lush shampoo/conditioner: I've been around their store a few times and I really like their bar shampoos and conditioners. The nice thing about them is you can buy however much you want and since they are in bar form there are no plastic bottles used! Score.

Rules of a Creator's Life

I love this. So often I mistake creativity for random bursts of inspiration; when, really it is a lifestyle of experimenting, failing, and trying some more! The people I look up to as my "creativity" role models are the people who aren't afraid to do what no one else is doing. They are the ones who are constantly striving to stretch themselves and their style and it shows in their work. 

Maybe these "rules" can help with those creativity goals of mine...

goals for 2012 // thought

2. THOUGHT

read one poem a week: I would like to enjoy poetry, I really would. So I've decided maybe I just need to read more of it! I picked up a few books at the library and I'm starting a "poem log" to keep track of the poems I've read.
send a package to Kendry: I sponsor (through World Vision) an adorable little girl from Columbia named Kendry. I've sent her a few packages before, but it is always fun picking out things to send to her and hearing how she liked things in her letters.
read through the New Testament: I haven't been doing to well on staying in the Word lately so I decided to work through the New Testament again. I always end up so inspired but for some reason it can be so hard to work up the initial motivation to read it.
write a letter a week: I love writing letters. And who doesn't like getting letters? I've been pretty lucky to have some steady pen pals throughout my life, and I want to keep that going this year.
finish Les Miserables: This book has been on my "to read" list for an embarrassingly long time now, but every time I pull it out and see the teeny-tiny font and 600+ pages I end up setting it down. Hmm.
fast for a day: The only time I've ever fasted was for a "30 Hour Famine" event at my church. I didn't really do it for a spiritual benefit; it was mostly a social thing. It is amazing how many times fasting and prayer are mentioned in the Bible so I would love to try it out sometime! And spending a little extra non-distracted time with God never hurts, does it? 
memorize five Bible verses: I have an awful memory. Awful. (Just ask my friends about my movie-quoting abilities. It's so pathetic! haha) It's pretty neat, though, how the few verses I have committed to memory seem to come to mind just when I need to hear them. 
start keeping a journal: I used to keep a journal when I was younger and it is super fun to look back and see the things I was doing then. There are a lot of big events coming up this year and it would be nice to have them written down!


Here's part one of my goals: CREATIVE

goals for 2012 // creative

I think New Year's is one of my favorite holidays because it is an excuse to make new goals and have a fresh start. This year I tried to focus on things I could actually measure and complete (e.g. try __ for a week, make three new recipes...etc.) rather than things like "exercise more" (that one always gets me!). I decided to break mine down into four categories: creative, thought, health, and etc. I thought I would share some of my goals for the upcoming year with you this week!

1. CREATIVE

design my own font: I've wanted to design my own handwritten font for a while now, so hopefully this year I can finally do it!
make a photoshop action: If I ever get my hands on a copy of Photoshop CS4 (I use Elements right now) I would love to create my own photo editing action. (An action is basically a pre-set/pre-designed series of edits that you can simply drop onto a photo and it edits it in one step!)
take and print more pictures: (this doesn't exactly follow my "specific" goals idea, but whatever.) I used to shoot everything on my big dslr camera but I found myself not wanting to carry it around very much because it was so darn heavy and it was such a hassle to upload and edit photos! Since getting my iPhone, though, I've found myself documenting (thanks to Instagram) fun parts of daily life. I'm sure I'll be tempted to just leave them on my phone and never do anything with them, so that's why I decided to make it a goal to print them.
try one new craft project a month: When school/life gets busy, normally the first think I cut is craft time. One new craft a month should be pretty easy to tackle and it's always good to keep those creative juices flowing. :)
redesign my blog: Sometime this year I'd like to do another design update here. I love web design and it always proves to be a brain workout (html code/css is like another language!) but tons of fun.
shoot a pack of instax film: I haven't taken any pictures on my little fuji instax camera in a while and I have a new pack of film just waiting to be used!
make a scrapbook album of my China trip: This is a project that has been looming over my head for quite a while and I know it will feel so great to get this done and out of the way! I went to China last January and since it was such a big trip I felt a little overwhelmed about where to start. 

Well those are some of my goals! How are you trying to stay creative this year?

PORTLAND // PART ONE.