abby try again

five senses friday

What? I'm posting five senses friday on a thursday evening?

Yup.

This weekend I'm doing a slight blog redesign and adding the sponsors to all of my sites, so I am gonna be a busy gal. I'm posting this now and I will see you back here with a new interview series and a slightly new look next week :)

For those of you who are new readers (or maybe never understood what I was blabbing about) five senses friday was started years ago by my friend, Shari Altman. I use it weekly as way to sit down and reflect on what the past days have been like for me.

I would love it if you played along-you can leave your own version in the comments or on your blog.

Tasting:

a yummy donut from Voodoo

Hearing:

finally added Beirut back to my ipod after accidentally erasing it

Seeing:

so many gorgeous air plants at my photo shoot with my house party

Feeling:

new smartwool socks

Smelling:

a sharp marinade of ginger, garlic, vinegar and shoyu

Thanks and happy weekend to you!

a bit of news

 

Today I overslept and it already feels like the morning has slipped away from me.

I'm a gal who must stick to her routine...

So, today's post is short and sweet.

I have an exciting little announcement I want to share with you guys. My blog has been featured in the latest issue of Artful Blogging Magazine. You can see a preview of it here.

I wrote a little piece about blogging and they've included about 8 pages of my photos. I am so excited! I haven't seen the finished mag yet, but I know that the super awesome Mati McDonough is also in this issue. If you've never seen the mag before-it is full color, beautiful, not too many ads and more like a book of inspiration.

I owe a huge thanks to Christen for asking me to participate. Thanks, girl!

This weekend I will be sending out my newsletter with some special deals and discounts for my shop. If you are interested in getting one, please sign up by using that button in the right hand column, thanks!

See you tomorrow for five senses friday.

useful and beautiful

 

 

Hello out there.

Yes, I finally decided to jump on the Japanese Masking Tape bandwagon.

I've long been a fan of colored masking tapes, but there's something special about these bright, small, Japanese ones.

I've started to use them to package shop goodies, which is helpful. And I've recently come across some ideas that have sparked my interest.

I bought mine at Kinokuniya (where it is about half the price of online shops) this weekend but you can find some over here or here.

Believe it or not-I already want more! But that won't be happening anytime soon. 

Any ideas on how to use it?

Thanks and happy Wednesday!

cupcakes and raindrops

 

 

 

 

 

In order to combat the winter blues, Cori and I have proposed a weekly outing that involves picture taking, an interesting place and yummy treats.

Cupcakes and Laurelhurst Park seemed like a no brainer, but darkness and rain had put a big damper on our plans. Well, we went out finally anyway-despite the darkness and raindrops. (This was, of course, before that nice sunny day last weekend.)

The park is gorgeous and I cannot believe that in my five years of living here I had never taken the time to explore it. We were surprised to see that some of the plants had started to bloom. The pond was full of ducks and just the most gorgeous shade of green. I am always floored by how many different shades of green there are here in Oregon.

I must go back on a sunny day.

Happy Tuesday to you!

pretending it was spring

 

 

 

 

So last week we had two (!) days where the sun came out and it was pretty glorious.

When one season starts to blend into another I can't help but look forward.

I'm not *huge* on seasonal decorating, but I do try a bit. The sunshine made me want to take down the felt snowflakes and twinkle light and replace it with something a bit more "springy".

If you read this blog you've probably seen/heard about my Mom's egg collection. To me, eggs say spring and so I wanted some of my own.

We headed to Uwajimaya ( also on the list were Japanese craft books and washi tape) and picked up some quail eggs. With a needle you can easily prick the top and bottom and release the insides allowing you to keep the shells for display.

Now my own little collection doesn't rival my Mom's, but it's a start.

Also on the list, growing some wheat grass in those little terracotta pots up there. I will let you know how things turn out.

Happy Monday!

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And a special hello to all the new readers out there who are finding me via Poppytalk. Welcome! I hope you'll stay around for a bit :)

sunny morning walk

 

 

 

 

Yesterday the sun was out-all day long!

When the sun comes out in January in Portland, the whole town kinda goes nuts for it. People are out in droves; everyone is jogging or biking or taking their dogs for a walk. It feels like a whole different city.

James and I were going to go on a road trip yesterday, but ending up exploring all around Portland instead.

The bridge shown above is the Hawthorne Bridge, the oldest vertical lift bridge that is in operation in the U.S.

It's funny to imagine all the different kinds of vehicles and people that have crossed this bridge.

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In other news...

I donated two large prints to the Craft Hope shop. One hundred percent of the proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders in Haiti. This shop has already raised $20,000 and is still going strong! If you'd like-one of my prints is available here. Be sure to check out the other great items, too.

And until February 14, 10% of sales from my photo shop will also be donated to Doctors Without Borders.

***

Thanks to all who voted for me in the affordable art category of the Poppies. I feel silly writing this, but I was nominated yesterday in the photography category (which seems more appropriate to me-but oh well). If you feel like voting again you can do so here.

Thanks!

****

five senses friday

(This is an old photo from Summer's cute house. Random...but I love it.)

Hello and Happy Friday!

Thank you for the great comments yesterday-and for the votes. I am so excited :)

And thank you for being so understanding; I seriously feel that I have some of the best blog readers out there. 

As usual, I am posting my five senses today. For those of you who are new readers (or maybe never understood what I was blabbing about) five senses friday was started years ago by my friend, Shari Altman. I use it weekly as way to sit down and reflect on what the past days have been like for me.

I would love it if you played along-you can leave your own version in the comments or on your blog.

Tasting:

-ramen noodle bar from Komforte Chockolates (so good!!)

Smelling:

-the brand new jar of strawberry preserves

Feeling:

-the actual sunshine on my face yesterday-made me feel like a million bucks

Hearing:

-this song playing as I work

Seeing:

-some of my prints blown up big for a special order-look:

Happy Friday!

a possibility

 

Hello all!

So I'm going to be honest, there's a bit of self promotion in this post. I received an email this morning to let me know I've been nominated for a Poppie! The Poppies are the brainchild of Jan and Earl of Popppytalk and are an award of sorts but mostly are there to bring more awareness to hand made artists and the community as a whole.

I've been nominated in the Affordable Art  category (under the name Abby Powell, of course) and you can vote for me by following this link here. Only one vote is allowed per IP address. I usually wouldn't solicit votes like this-but the prizes are really amazing; the winner gets all of this:

1. A one month's free participation at Poppytalk Handmade
2. A "I won a Poppy" banner/button for your site or blog! 
3. A one year's text link from the Poppytalk blog's main page under "The Poppies" category
4. Traffic to you from Poppytalk

Which is pretty rad!! I would be so grateful to win and get more exposure for my photo shop.

I know there are SO many great people in this category and totally understand if you are not into this-but if you are so inclined to go and vote-I'd be super grateful. Thanks so much for sticking through this post...

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Also, I know I haven't really talked about the devastation going on in Haiti. I've gone back and forth about whether or not to address such heavy issues here. I feel like it is such a terrible thing-and I just really have no clue what to write or say or do. After yesterday's aftershock there I felt like I really needed to say something here. From now until Feb 14, ten percent of my sales from my photo shop will be donated to Doctors Without Borders. I am in no way using that as a platform to attract sales, I really want to make that clear. I just wanted to talk about who I am donating to and that I feel very confident in supporting them as a charity. 

Also, Craft Hope and Hearts for Haiti Etsy are two very awesome things you should check them out.

Thanks for reading.

a bright welcome

As a child I was raised in a place that sat nestled between orange groves and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In the spring time, the scent of orange blossoms almost over whelmed you. In the winter-you had so much citrus you just didn't even know what to do with it all and even dairy cows were eating oranges.

Groves went on and on for miles and miles. When driving along the highway I would stare at the rows of trees and imagine they were all trains on different tracks; bound for exotic locales.

In a place where it is sunny almost year round-I guess one kind of takes citrus for granted. I had no idea that these little jewels were like tiny pieces of sunshine sent to darker places around the globe.

I am all for eating local-I think it's great to do whenever you can. But let me tell you, after six grey winters in Oregon- citrus of all kinds is a bright mainstay around our place. They are happy reminders of home.

I love finding the strangest kinds that I can. I am currently on the hunt for one of these guys. Their perfume is just marvelous.

I'm thinking of drying some today and meyer lemon shortbread is definitely on my "want to bake" list. What about you? Do you have anything special you like to do with citrus?

on the brink

 

 

 

 

 

 

Much of my weekend was spent indoors; cooking and eating, thinking of what to do, how to be what to change. I've devised a plan to rearrange our entire house-now let's see if that can happen...

Today the rain stopped-the sun actually came out and walking around town seemed like a good idea again. Everywhere I looked I was struck with beauty. Does this ever happen to you? Have you had a day where no matter where you went or what you saw-everything just seemed to glow?

I am very excited to look through all of the links you left on the last post. Thank you in advance for all of those. Organization is not my forte-but it is a must, right?

I just posted over here and can I tell you how incredibly amazed I am by this woman's work?

Seriously, my head is buzzing with ideas. I feel as though she is a kindred spirit to my Mother.

And I also posted over here today, after a few days away.

I hope you all have a lovely evening.