Take Note.

master batters.

2011-11-27T15:35:00.000-08:00

i miss these times.
getting to hang out with my friends every week. messing around and playing softball. it was nice to have a reason to get together more often. nice to get outside. get our clothes dirty. our team was, by far, the worst team in our league. maybe the worst team ever. we never won a single game, but in the process of becoming better players, we had the most fun at practices just hanging out, making fun of each other, and helping each other improve. the best of the master batters doesn't recap our greatest victories [mostly because we didn't have any] but it showcases the amazing people that we are, the courage we had to try something new, and how awesome we looked. we were, without a doubt, the best looking team of the field. our greatest achievement as a team was simply strengthening the bonds that have held us together for so many years. when we look back on this experience, we won't see all the losses we had, only those silly smiles on our faces.

The Very Best Of The Master Batters
[click images to view larger]

my favorite boy in the world

2011-10-01T09:50:00.001-07:00

turns 20 today.

they grow up so fast :]

happy birthday little brother.

Sorry, who?

2011-09-25T09:16:00.001-07:00

A while back, Kari and I thought it would fun to make a scrapbook page of all the different ways Starbucks misspells our names. While I haven't actually done the layout yet, I thought I'd share a preview now that I've got a good collection.

hello old friend.

2011-09-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

it's been a long time.
[side note - i really want to follow that sentence with the lyrics to "try again" by aaliyah, but i won't.] my super awesome photographer roommate has inspired me to start blogging again. so let's just get right to it.

last summer i took a trip to see my friends in new york. it was four days of ridiculous fun and ever since i've been itching to go back. alex and robert were amazing hosts, letting me stay in their cozy studio apartment and showing me around manhattan, truly submerging me in the new york experience. ryan and zach, it was so great to see you again, it's never a dull moment when you're around. i met some great new people - anthony, tyler, trey and danny; i'm so happy to have met you and hopefully it's not the last time we share some laughs over cocktails.

here are the highlights of my new york adventure.

*miss you guys :)

i'm so excited.

2011-03-04T19:22:00.000-08:00

and i just can't hide it.

CABIN!
is next week!
yep, that's our cabin. for a weekend anyway.
holy excitement batman. last cabin was beyond epic, and i feel like they get better and better every year. last year we got to have kim and griffin join us [and they will also be here this year], there was a legendary flip cup match, and we literally walked a mile in the snow for margaritas. i can only imagine the crazy fun times that will happen this year.

one week from today i'll relaxing in tahoe!

fade into you.

2011-03-03T22:40:00.000-08:00

there are few things in life i love more than music. honestly, when my ipod dies [knock on wood] i will shed many tears and have a funeral for it. i fear the day when i won't have my 11,000+ songs at my fingertips where ever i am. music gets me through long car rides, washing dishes, the gym. it gets me through life.

one of my favorite new discoveries [yes, i acknowledge i'm behind the times] is itunes genius. don't get me wrong, creating a playlist brings me so much joy when there's a subject in mind. new music to share, impressions to make, it's like making a mix tape for someone you have a crush on. but it can also be absolutely daunting if all your looking for is a quick mix of awesome tunes. enter, itunes genius. it so lovingly groups all the music it thinks [yes, it thinks] you might like and puts it into an awesome playlist for you, saving you the hassle of, well, thought. this one is my current favorite, i listen to it when i'm reading or cleaning or cooking, it's heaven in my ears.
and now, this playlist will lull me to sleep :]

tipsy.

2011-03-02T21:09:00.001-08:00

the best part about coming home from a long day at work is tipsy. she so lovingly awaits my arrival, standing as close to the door as felinely possible in hopes that maybe, just maybe, today will be the day she escapes to the outside world. however, i have years of experience in dealing with her so-called savvy behavior, so i've come to expect this from her, and she never disappoints.

after she's inhaled her dinner, she refuses to let me out of her sight. i'm sure it's because she's waiting for me to accidentally leave a window open or something. if i sit down on the couch, she has to be sitting on or near me. if i'm cooking dinner, she's laying on the kitchen floor near my feet. if i'm reading in bed, she's trying to get between me and my book. in the mornings she eagerly waits for the moment i put my cereal bowl down so she can sneak in and lick the bowl clean. she does this thing while i'm putting on my makeup, she stands next to me and nudges my shoulder with her paw, as if to say "hey mom, why aren't you paying attention to me?"

she's kind of a brat sometimes, ruining my sweaters with her sharp claws, but she makes up for it with infinite amounts of cuteness.

i miss it.

2011-03-01T22:47:00.001-08:00

i didn't think i'd miss school this much.

i'm ready to go back. having time off of work made me realize how much i want to learn, how much i miss it. how much i want to be back in school, expanding my skills in the field and making it into a career. i'm ready to take my life into the direction i'd always planned for myself. this year, i'm going to do it.

guess what.

2011-02-28T20:10:00.000-08:00

that's right. i'm blogging.

gone are the days where i sit and complain about not blogging.

this week, i will blog. every. single. day.

over the weekend, my awesome scrap rat friends kari, renee and i made a commitment to blog every day of this week. we came up with prompts, as i so lovingly wrote out for us all, and today it looks like i'm supposed to recap the weekend.

friday night is pretty happening for people my age. i spent friday night painting my nails and was in bed by 9:30p. lame, right? well, i did have to wake up at 4:00a the next morning, so i didn't hold it against myself.

saturday i attended a front office retreat for spine and sports medicine. did i mention it was in san diego? we flew out at 6:00a saturday morning, made it to the retreat by 9:30a, had a wonderful time with the front office staff of s&s, killed some time at an indian casino, then caught an early flight home at 6:45p. topped the night off with a drive-by in-n-out stop near the oakland airport andddd i passed out the minute i got home.

sunday, however, was super fun. it was kari's birthday and of course we commemorated it with an all day scrap sesh. we made some awesome new layouts, played with kari's new instax, and watched the oscars. i've been working on my new york album, here's one of my favorite new layouts:

well, get ready people, i've got a whole week of blogging coming up.
[i'll try to make it good]

new year, new layouts.

2011-01-17T20:22:00.001-08:00

here are some [very awful and blurry] pictures of some layouts i did while hanging out with renee and kari.
it's hard getting the motivation to scrapbook by myself. i'm definitely more productive alone, but it's way more fun making silly annoying noises all day, taking breaks to learn how to dance via youtube instructional videos, and [most importantly] going on dollar cone runs.

a while back

2010-12-29T19:48:00.000-08:00

i made this album for monica.

i actually put it together about two days after she left for fiji. i had all these pictures left over from my rainbow wall collage, so i thought i'd put together a book of our colorful fun times in college. along with each picture is a quote from our 'quote board' - a place we wrote all the funny little things we said.

she loved it :]

happy holiday decor

2010-12-15T10:27:00.000-08:00

my holiday garland, inspired by jeremy's pretty mantle :]

handmade christmas stockings!
[they still need embellishing]

holiday wreath, tutorial here by catherine oakley for making memories.

decorating for christmas is definitely my favorite. now if only i could buckle down and get my christmas shopping done...

my new favorite thing

2010-11-20T20:24:00.000-08:00

skype with monica.

i don't know why i avoided skype for so long. it was suggested to me by many friends that i join skype after i received a $300 phone bill for an hour long conversation with my bff in fiji. who knew long distance phone calls were $3.50 a minute? not me. so i joined skype, and had a two and a half hour conversation with monica, for free, and it was the first time i had seen her since she left for fiji last may. i encourage everyone to check out her blog, she is doing amazing things in the peace corps and i am so proud of her. she is one of the most beautiful people i've ever met. she inspires me everyday, and is constantly trying to get me to live with her and well, it's very tempting.

here are some layouts i've done recently, dedicated to miss monica.

[click images to view larger]

and now i'm off to listen to the rain and watch the pretty lightning :]

such great heights

2010-11-19T20:13:00.001-08:00

a few paintings i've been working on, requested by a fan of my work? needless to say, he got me painting again.

forthcoming.

2010-11-10T15:23:00.000-08:00

i'm coming out of retirement.

in may, i got a text message inquiring about my weekend plans. a few days later, i was on a plane to minneapolis. this is the story...

[click on images to view larger]

third time's a charm, right?

2010-04-18T12:49:00.001-07:00

once in a blue moon, i'll get the urge to blog. and then i won't, because lately i have been so incredibly unproductive in the scrapping department that it's down right depressing. but after much coercion by my dear friend kari, i've decided to give it one more try.

she made an excellent point, you don't have to always have a new layout to share in order to make a new blog post. for example, i could have posted pictures from my little brother's SF state wrestling tournament at the end of january. it's interesting how much his style is changing in college. he's learning again. he doesn't always win. but he always has a great attitude about it. he's always looking for ways to improve. and he always makes me proud.
i also could have blogged about my cabin trip in march. every year my friends and i get a huge cabin in tahoe for four days. we don't worry about work or bills or school; we relax in good company. we usually go in january, but this year we went in march. kim and griffin came down from oregon. gina came up from san diego. the weekend was a blast, as it always is. from the homemade lasagna family-style dinner to the mile we walked in the snow to get some decent margaritas. this year's cabin was epic. here are some of my favorite moments:

jess and i after the long drive to tahoe with no windshield wiper fluid.

melissa surprised us by stopping by our cabin on her way to mammoth on day two. griffin was only upset that she wasn't staying. this resulted in a red velvet cupcake fight.

the guys vs. girls flip cup battle.travis getting his mind blown with various theories about what's going on in the final season of LOST.
and yes, we really did walk 1.1 miles in the snow to get these margaritas.
worth it.

i suppose i also could have posted a blog about our day to mount diablo a few weekends ago. it's strange to think that in all the years i've lived here, which is pretty much my whole life, i've only been to mount diablo twice.
we hiked and ate chicken apple sausage and played with steve's dog that looks a lot like a weasel.

give a boy a basketball
he'll play hacky sack with it
give a girl a basketball
she'll pretend it's a baby

well, as it turns out, i finally did some scrapbook pages. finally, right? i got together with renee and kari yesterday, and we scrapped until our brains were mush, laughed until our stomachs hurt, and made everyone at starbucks jealous of our dollar cones. i was able to finish two layouts i'd started about a month ago, and create a new one. not bad for the first time scrapping in monthsss.
this picture is kind of weird, but i dig it. it was one of the first days of summer, a long day indoors behind my computer screen at work, and monica calls me and says, "we're going to happy hour." so we went to the Grad, grabbed a pint, and made shadow puppets in the cool lighting.
monica had the coolest job ever: working at the international extension in davis. she got to go to all these awesome places with exchange students. one saturday, i tagged along on a trip to marine world. this layout took me three hours to finish, and here's why:
yep, i might be insane. my new favorite thing to do is embroider my layouts. and it takes foreverrr.
this picture was taken at my graduation party. our apartment was known as "the den," and i miss these girls so much. it's almost been a year since we've all been together. i'm thinking a reunion needs to happen :]

so i guess i could have kept this blog interesting for the past few months. moral of the story: stop being so lame and update your blog more often, mallory.

well kari, how was that for a blog post?
<3

take two.

2010-01-26T22:14:00.000-08:00

ok, lets try that one again.

i don't know what it is about making new goals, but i always seem to find someway to distract myself and ultimately end up not following through. i really want to blog, as it turns out i have issues actually sitting down and doing it. i haven't even been following my usual favorites, i really need to get it in gear.

so i promised a catch-up post, i don't know how entertaining it will be, so i'll try to make it as exciting as possible. the truth is, i haven't been doing much in the creativity department. i just scrapped for the first time in months this past weekend. i've been writing a lot of poetry, which is part of that new hobby thing i wanted to try. maybe by the end of this post i'll grow enough courage to share one on here (i currently keep them on a super secret blog, call me a scaredy cat but after that scrap smack business i am keeping my personal thoughts and feelings to a minimum).

well, most of my time these days is spent working. i've really grown into my position as surgery scheduler. it takes a lot of organization, which thankfully i have, but also a lot of diligence. i've learned quickly that most things cannot be left to the last minute. i'm really being forced to work on my procrastinating ways here. every day is a new challenge; i'm learning a lot about the medical field, especially from the business aspect of it, which isn't always good. it's definitely changed the way i look at going to the doctor's office, not necessarily in a bad way, i'm just more appreciative of the work that goes unnoticed.

i work in our main office, and my doctor does his procedures at a separate surgery center. well, a few weeks ago i finally got to see one of his trademark specialties: a kyphoplasty. it was really cool, we got to scrub in at the OR and see exactly what he does during this procedure. without getting too graphic, he basically uses thick hollow needles to insert tiny balloons into the vertebrae and then fill them with cement.
this type of procedure would be done on someone with vertebral compression fractures, and the goal is to restore some height loss and ultimately relieve some of the pain those fractures can cause. it was a really cool experience and i'm so happy i had the opportunity.

well, one of my bestest friends in the whole wide world has left the country to go experience life in another world. little miss monica has been traveling through south america for the last month. she started in brazil, where she met a wonderful hippie man who spoke little english, and ended up staying with his family for two weeks helping them sell their handmade jewelry. oh, and in her downtime she went hiking, spent afternoons at the beach and sitting under waterfalls. now she is working on a farm in argentina. she really is the most amazingly interesting person. she'll be off to the peace corps in may, and spending those two years in fiji. i am insanely jealous, this woman is my hero.
this past weekend i finally mustered up the desire to scrap. truth be told, i haven't been using this awesome new camera and i am completely lacking in the picture department. so i decided to start a project that i have been dreaming of for years now. it's an album of my little brother and i. he's such a great kid, and i wanted to pay homage to our experience growing up together. it's a 7gypsies two-sided accordion album, one side is going to be of us as little ones, the other side will be more recent, adult-like times. i'm still working on finding pictures to put in it (there are so many!) so i will keep you posted on my progress.
i've been listening to this new album by dessa A LOT. like, more than any normal person should. it's her first full length (i think) and it is blowing my mind. this woman is so talented, she's performing in san francisco in february so maybe i'll be able to soak up some of her brilliance in the crowd.
i just got season 5 of the office, anddd i watched it in three days.
it's an obsession, really. and how many of you were so upset with the recap episode? i got so excited for a brand new episode because it's been foreverrr and they did the classic best-moments-in-the-show-all-wrapped-into-one-filler-episode. not that i don't love re-living jim and pam's road to marital bliss (i actually cried seeing the clips again) but still, i felt a little cheated. oh, and while google image searching, i found these funny office pictures that i had to share.

alright, i'm taking the plunge. over the past few months i've written thirty-sum odd poems. they're all extremely personal so please, if you don't have anything nice to say, keep it to yourself. i've always kept a journal to keep my head clear, and this has been a really great method to cope with my problems in a creative way. i'm really proud of what i've created, it's just a little bit scarier sharing it with the world (not that the whole world reads this blog, but you get it). anyway, i found one that i don't mind sharing. i won't explain it, it doesn't rhyme completely, there's no method to it, i just wrote it. it's called "moratorium."

moratorium

don't wait
clock hands advance while you hesitate
grab onto this fate before its too late
take into account
the stakes are getting high
pry those pupils from the plywood
eyes loosely bound to the ground we shook
look through the pages of her open book
find the hand that leads
through these crowded streets
of lost hearts and question marks
to a fresh start
x marks the spotted road
catch it before the cold
don't fold with a hand so bold
go all in, place your bets
don't let regret control your thought process
because you're not the only one waiting
sitting on the sidelines patiently
you tried to warn her
but she's been a benchwarmer
since she was old enough to play ball
since she learned how to crawl
through the debris of fallen stars
call her anything but far
she's closer than you think
whispering within an arm's reach
breaching the realm of sleep
patterns of yes and no
weaving on opposite streets
go a step further
flow with the blinking cursor
know the slow will nurture
the feelings of not letting go
the hope that still grows
stowed deep into her chest
muddled in that mess of a muscle
she held her breath.

alright well, hopefully you at least thought it was halfway decent. i'm going to call it a night, this one's begging for attention and i just can't say no :]

oh ten.

2010-01-01T20:30:00.000-08:00

first things first, thank you jeremy

"jeremy said...

i know you're a busy girl but bloggg!!! i need to see more of your lovely handwriting ha.
xoj"

you're a sweetheart :]

now, i'll share with you my new years resolutions:
check out number three :]
i really am going to try my hardest to make a come back in this little blog world of mine. you know, if you'll have me back. i also got a new camera [hallelujah] which will make life easier to share.

the latest challenge from scrap outside the box is band-aids. this was a huge [at the time] inside joke between my roommates and i, we thought it was hilaaaarious [and now so does the rest of the internet world]. it still makes me smile thinking about it though :]

i hope everyone has a wonderful new year, i am off to listen to girl talk.
be back soon with a big catch up post, promise :]

the priebes.

2009-10-19T20:02:00.001-07:00

so here is the little wedding album i made for my friends, kim and griffin priebe. enjoy :]
[click each image to see the larger versions]

paper clips.

2009-09-17T18:32:00.001-07:00

hola, just wanted to let you all know that there is a new challenge up over at scrap outside the box. this one is paper clips - everyone should do this challenge! you don't even have to come up with a new layout, if you've already got one uploaded somewhere, post the link here :]
hope all is well in blogland :]

wow.

2009-09-03T21:47:00.000-07:00

can we say MIA much? so much going on, life is nuts right now. also, i'm currently mooching off of my neighbor's wireless, and it's not always reliable, so bear with me.

1. i finally moved. it was THE craziest and most stressful move of my life. i had to move everything i own in such a short time, i am so happy it's all over. i'm now back in the bay area and it's such a great feeling. i've missed this place.

2. i got a new job! another huge weight off my shoulders. i was so scared about moving back without a job and figuring out how to pay my bills. this job could not have come at a more perfect time. i recently joined the fabulous team at the california spine center, where i juggle a million responsibilities that i'm still learning how to do correctly. but it's so much fun and i'm extremely happy to be here.

3. i spent last weekend in oregon for my friends wedding. it was beyond beautiful, i have never been up that way before and the scenery was so peaceful. the entire weekend was a blast.

kim and griffin met in their last year of college and have been living together for the past few years in oregon and work at a beautiful resort called sunriver. they have two amazing dogs, and are the cutest little family.
our friend jackie got certified online and performed the wedding ceremony. it was so perfect, she had the right amount of wit and compassion. she had us cracking up and needing the tissues.
it was so great to have our cabin crew back together again. now that we're all grown we've spread out all over california, it's so rare that we can all get together like this. i absolutely love these people.
congratulations griffin and kim, we love you!!

4. also, the lovely marissa marie blogged about my new etsy adds, what a sweetheart :]

alright kids, that's all for now. once i get settled [and unpacked... its been almost a week and my the majority of my belongings are still in boxes] i will be whipping up a cute little mini album for the newly weds.

miss you blog friends <3

who wants to help send me to amsterdam?

2009-08-20T21:55:00.000-07:00

a while back i mentioned that a few of my paintings are going to be featured in an art gallery in my friend's tattoo shop in amsterdam. i am so incredibly flattered that he asked me to contribute. his shop is called The Dark Arts and the opening is october 31st. his exact words were "i think your paintings will really brighten up the gallery." so needless to say, i'm excited. also, he used to be neighbors with some members of death cab for cutie (awesome, right?!) and they've agreed to play at the shop's opening. how cool is that?!

well... i've decided that it would be very silly for me to not be there for the opening. however, round trip airfare to amsterdam is quite expensive, and being the recent college grad that i am, i'm broke. so i'm selling most of the paintings that have been hanging up in my bedroom for the past two years (at reduced prices, too!) so this will hopefully bring in some extra cash so that i can afford my plane ticket AND free up some wall space that i'll have to fill up with new art.

so please please please, visit my etsy and help me get to amsterdam! i would be forever grateful :]

i'm off to the bay area to celebrate my birthday tomorrow. hope you all have lovely weekends and thank you so much for all your support, it means the world to me :]

new sotb challenge :]

2009-08-15T20:37:00.000-07:00

there's a new challenge up on the scrap outside the box blog. i got to pick the prompt this time, and i had to go with book pages. i've been using these in almost every layout (i think i'm addicted) since i got this little paper pack from red velvet art.
i love the selection of fun vintage papers, they're so colorful! i use them all the time :]

things have been a little crazy lately, with moving and trying to find a job, sometimes i freak out over it all. i added this to my favorites in flickr a while ago, and when searching for some inspiration i rediscovered this phrase, and felt that i need to take a few moments in my days to just breathe, and know that everything will be just fine.
go check out the new challenge and if you have anyyy layouts with book pages of any kind on them, post a link in our comments on the blog or upload them to our flickr group. the winner of this challenge will receive a copy of the first issue of scrap outside the box magazine :]

long summer days.

2009-08-10T21:30:00.000-07:00

it's been a long week of hot days, and it's nice to finally sit back and take it all in. the weeks are going by in countdown mode, only three more left here in davis. i've slowly been moving my life from here back to the bay area, all while trying to have an amazing time while i'm still here. it's a rough balance. i'd be lying if i said i wasn't going to miss this place.

these are a few of my goals for this week:
update etsy (like, for real this time)
scrapbook
finish reading The Double Helix
transfer files to my new external hard drive
apply to more jobs
learn how to make granny squares (i'm thinking this will be a new project for when i move back)
spend as much time with monica as possible (she's leaving this weekend and that makes me really sad)

well that's really all i have for now. at the end of the week there will be a new scrap outside the box challenge (my choice!) so check back here. hope you all had a great monday :]

the retrieval project

2009-08-01T11:19:00.000-07:00

i just found this on rachel's blog and couldn't help but read the entire thing. basically, this cute little couple (and their four children) had to move back to the bay area from minnesota with only what could fit in their two cars. after moving two times in six months they can't afford the trip back to retrieve the rest of their belongings. so they started the retrieval project, where they are selling their [amazing] artwork in hopes of raising enough money to be able to retrieve the rest of their belongings.

to read their story, click here.

to see how it works, click here.

and to see how you can help, click here.

i think this is such a creative way to solve their problem, and i cannot wait to see what beautiful things they create. pleeeease check it out and spread the word :]

fever night.

2009-07-28T09:49:00.000-07:00

photo cred.

i remember one night a few years back, the summer before i moved to davis, i was sitting on the side of my friend's hot tub. a bunch of us were there, having a last hoorah before we all went back to school in the fall. i was asking my friend andrew what his plans were now that he had graduated from uc santa barbara. he told me he was making a movie.

two years later and here we are, standing outside the new beverly cinema seeing fever night up on the marquee and all these people eagerly awaiting its premier. it was so surreal to be there, to see his dream unfold and turn into something so big. his accomplishments astound me, and we are all so proud of him.

and thanks to kim i was able to document the entire weekend as it happened. i made this book before i left and filled it in with notes and scraps from the trip. then last night i added the photos that were taken by travis and i over the weekend. i am so excited to share this, i can't even take it out of my purse yet, i just keep looking at it.

the end.

if you're interested in more info about fever night, click here :]

i'm going to share with you

2009-07-23T09:50:00.001-07:00

my scrapbook.

i made this scrapbook for my boyfriend for our one year anniversary, which was July 18th. inspired by a project from elsie's first online class, i went through the past year of our lives together and picked out some of my favorite moments. most of the journaling (except the note on the last page) was from my actual journal from when we first started dating. it was so much fun to go back and re-live all those initial feelings of flutter. it's been a while since i completed an album this size, i felt quite accomplished when it was done.
this was an album i received as happy mail from the lovely ashley. it was the only 12x12 i had, and the original colors didn't quite go (after seeing elsie's woodgrain album i had my heart set on making one of my own) so i covered it with contact paper and masking tape.
this little embroidery took almost 2 hours to finish, it might just be the most detailed i've ever gotten. you can get the pattern here.
a little treasure map to sum up our past year of events.
this is one of my favorite pictures. we were at magic mountain and it was the end of the day. we're in sort of a blissful sleepyness. oh, and i have total roller-coaster-hair. ha!
a blurb from my journal, and a silly photo to accompany it.
some more journaling. and more silly photos, of course :]
this was from the whole earth festival, one of my favorite days of the year. monica just got a new camera and took sooo many cute pictures that day.
more random thoughts from my journals.
this was my note to him, on the last page. i also put in a bunch of layouts i had done of us earlier in the year for various projects, like this one, and this one, and oooh this one, this andddd this :]

the end :]

lazy cats.

2009-07-15T08:44:00.000-07:00

apparently mine is not the only one.

a lazy cougar
a lazy cheetah
a lazy lion
a lazy tiger

my lazy kitty comes from a long line of lazy ancestors. our trip to six flags discovery kingdom last sunday was so much fun, but we couldn't help but notice all the sleepy kitties around. not that we were expecting them to do back flips or anything :]

there's a new challenge over at scrap outside the box.
this time it's shaina's pick, and she decided on coffee filters. you know you want to scrapbook your favorite caffeinated beverage and submit it to sotb this month :]

i was inspired by jamie's blog the other day to make a sort of fun to-do list. i really like how she chose a color and then photographed everything she could find that was that color. her pictures are so great :] so i didn't make a page or anything, but i thought that listing them out would be just as good. here's my to-do this week:
*finish reading pygmy
*take a photo of a sunset on the beach
*dress fancy for dinner friday night
*paint my toenails
*wear tiny braids in my hair

i also created my very first travel journal. taking kim's class was sooo helpful, i now feel prepared to take my craft on the road! next weekend i will be road-tripping to L.A. to see the premier of my friend's new movie! he's been working on it for two years and it's finally ready for the big screen. we are all so excited :] if you're into psychadelic thrillers, check it out :] here's the journal i'll be taking with me to document this amazing weekend.
oh, i did some new 52Qs! finally, right?
and now i'm off to the farmer's market (far-mar for short), have a lovely wednesday :]

scratch and sniff stickers

2009-07-07T15:46:00.001-07:00

make the best tattoos :]

what a wild fourth of july weekend. i had sooo much fun back at home with my friends, it was a much needed break from the daily grind. but it's a new week, and there are lots of new things going on in my life...

i have a new roommate!
when school was over my two roommates that roomed together moved out - adee went back to L.A. and chelsea is traveling south america (lucky girl). so they've been desperately trying to find a sublease. after many many attempts, we decided on an awesome guy named glen. so far so good, we're housing some of his friends as well for a few nights before they head back out on their road trip across america. it's been so refreshing to have some east-coasters over, they've been wonderful.

i finally finished my IDSS pages! it's very very exciting :]
excuse miss "can't be bothered to move." her tail makes a cameo in the corner of each picture.
i added some doodles to this one and i think i like it better now.
the stitching on this one took forever, but i love the way it turned out.
this is an old picture of me and my (very tan) dad, i have to ask my mom what year this was. i'm sure it's circa 1988.
i re-discovered color pencils doing these pages. i've fallen in love all over again.
these are the grand plans, with blank spaces to add things later.
i did this page about my roommate, monica. this is our last summer as roomies and we are taking every opportunity to make it the best it can be.
this will be my 23rd summer. i kept this page simple because i looove this photo (trying to not sound narcissistic), the color of my hair looks really vibrant here. i'm so happy with the finished product, the class was amazing and i'm so happy i got to be apart of it :]

also, i'm taking an amazing travel journal class with kim right now, she is brilliant. i've been so inspired lately, i wish there were more hours in the day to be able to catch up on the bazillion scrapbook projects i want to do.

i'm trying to catch up on my 52Qs (i was doing so good in the beginning, what happened?!), writing down my answers each week and hoping to put together my pages at some point. perhaps later on this week? there's just so much to do.

i finished reading catcher in the rye last week.
i liked it a lot more the second time around. i think i was just in a weird place in high school or something, because i had absolutely no interest in reading that book. maybe it was the language that turned me off. i don't know, but i ended up relating to it a lot more than i thought i would. that's two down, eight to go!

also, i'm working on a little something something for my upcoming anniversary! in less than two weeks daniel and i will be celebrating our one year anniversary. i can't believe how fast time has flown by. putting together this *thing* has been so great, and if i say too much more i will spoil it :]

pride.

2009-07-02T15:08:00.000-07:00

so this last weekend was the pride parade in san francisco. it was sooo beautiful. everywhere you turned there were vibrant colors and gorgeous people. the atmosphere was so open and welcoming, the city is unlike any other place for that exact reason. i love it. here's a little documentation of our day:
monica and i arrived around 11am just in time to see the start of the parade.
there were rainbow flags everywhere that made us smile.
there were the most beautiful floats i have ever seen.
colors colors everywhere!
after the parade we went to the civic center and hung out on the grass with all of these lovely people.
i love my friends, they are so so silly :]
we got these awesome rainbow wrist bands too!
we ended the day with dancing to wonderful techno music. it was such a great day in the city, i will never ever forget it.

silly weekend.

2009-06-29T22:50:00.001-07:00

this is my roommates and i, being escorted off one of the stages at the lgbt pride parade in san francisco. more pictures to come! it was so fun and beautiful and full of color and music! we got some amazing shots on monica's new camera, i can't wait to get copies of them.

how was your weekend?

IDSS

2009-06-26T15:01:00.000-07:00

i do solemnly swear to finish this journal!

i got a slow start, but i've spent the last few nights going through my stash and finally starting rachel denbow's IDSS journal. i have all the written bits down, i just need to compose my pages. here are the first two. they still need some doodling, but for the most part they're finished.
i'm debating whether or not i want to use polaroids for the other pages. my wonderful man got me a new polaroid camera as a graduation present, and i loooove it, but the film is so expensive! but i might just have to suck it up because i love the look of them.

decisions, decisions.

who has read The Time Traveler's Wife?!

2009-06-23T16:02:00.000-07:00

watching this two minute movie trailer made me cry, i can only imagine what the full length feature is going to do to me. if you have never read this book, you have until august 14. do yourself a favor! read this book, it's the sweetest love story i have ever read. yes, sweeter than romeo and juliet, and i loooove that story. so go, watch this trailer, read the book, come back and watch it again, and then let's discuss!

let's start over.

2009-06-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

what a crazy couple of weeks.

i graduated!
what a crazy feeling, i still don't think it has completely sunken in. it wasn't until i was walking across the stage and shaking the chancellor's hand that it started to become real. i got to sit with my roommate chelsea, and when it was time to go up they take your picture beforehand and we insisted that ours be taken together :] our families came for the ceremony and were waving and cheering the entire time. afterward we went back to our apartment for champagne. i love my roommate's family, and they get along so well with mine. it was a lovely afternoon. i went out to lunch with my dad and had amazing sushi and talked about life. i love my dad. the whole weekend our friends were graduating and every night was a celebration.
this is me and my lovely mama. i just died my hair the day before - it's so bright!

my little brother also graduated high school that week, so we had a joined graduation party with our family last weekend. he's going off to sf state in the fall and i am just so incredibly proud of him. he's become quite an amazing young man.
it was all so much fun, and i'm kind of sad it's all over. but on to new chapters!

speaking of chapters (perfect transition to my next topic), i've made the goal of reading 10 books this summer. i did this last year and i ended up reading 3. hopefully i'll be more productive. i just finished reading tweak and it was amazing. i love nic's openness and honesty about his life and his faults. he is so beautiful and inspiring, this book has definitely changed the way i think about life and happiness.
now that school is done, i'm working full time at my job on campus. it's nice that when i get home all i have to do is nothing! but of course, i can't just do nothing. all this week i've been busy crafting and cleaning. i really want to do my i do solemnly swear journal from rachel's class next week. i've written all the journals, now i just need to get the pages together. it's so inspiring, i have so many goals for this summer. i have a feeling it may just be the best one yet.
my roommate monica recently expressed an interest in painting, so we went to our local art store, got some supplies, and have been having paint sessions almost every night this week. she's so great, she will come in with a specific idea, and then it just completely transforms into something different. i really like that about her work, she just goes with the flow, not caring about it being exactly what she originally intended. i started a new one the other night, with absolutely nothing in mind, and it's become all about life. i really like where it's going.

i got a new cd this week, veckatimest by grizzly bear. its super mellow and i've been listening to it while i paint and journal. it's so relaxing, i highly recommend it :]
also! new challenge up over at scrap outside the box. this time it was ally's pick, and she chose clothing tags. what a fun challenge, you should try it :]
and and and something very exciting is happening in my life right now. i came back into contact with a friend from kindergarten (seriously, haven't seen this guy since i was five years old), his name is jake and he's currently in amsterdam getting his masters in art and working as a tattoo artist. well, he and a friend are opening up their own tattoo shop/art gallery and he wants to put some of my paintings in the gallery. i am beyond excited! jake and i are meeting up for the first time in 18 years to catch up and trade art secrets. i'm sooo excited :]

that's all for now, i'll be back early next week with more updates and weekend fun.

bad blogger

2009-05-29T14:01:00.000-07:00

yes, it's true, i've been too busy to blog. it's sad. i'll do my best to catch up on these past two weeks.

i spent a beautiful memorial day weekend on lake shasta with some close friends and family on the annual houseboats trip. much better than last year (when it rained the entire time). the weather was lovely and my roommates and i got our own boat which was so great. last year we all went on separate boats, and while it was fun, this year was that much better because we got to hang out with each other more. i'm going to miss these girls so much. they've become my new best friends over the past few years and it's going to suck not getting to live with them anymore.
i'm currently reading Beautiful Boy for my Neurobiology of Addictive Drugs class. it's one thing to sit in lecture each week and learn all about how various drugs effect the brain and the body, but in reading this book i discovered how drugs affect the people who care for those that become addicts. Beautiful Boy is a story about David Sheff's journey in dealing with his son's meth addiction. its beautifully written, and i think anyone can relate in some way to this book, whether you know someone who is an addict or you are a parent that just wants the best for your child. the book is written completely from the father's perspective of his son Nic's addiction, and Nic goes on to write his own book Tweak, which i'm hoping to read once i finish Beautiful Boy.
i finished this embroidery pattern a while ago, and have been working on some more. its a really calming activity, hopefully this summer i can spend some more time doing it.
i'm graduating in two weeks. two weeks? as in fourteen days? that's freaking me out.

TP for my... what now?

2009-05-15T14:02:00.000-07:00

ahh yes, it's that time again. there's a new challenge up on scrap outside the box :]

sarah picked this one, it's definitely out there haha. the challenge is to use toilet paper somewhere on your layout. i have to admit, this made me giggle like a five-year-old. after getting over my immaturity i figured out my attack plan. i just so happened to have a lovely picture (and even lovelier story) of my roommate monica with a toilet seat around her neck. perrrrfect.

love you moni :]

there's just something about scrapbooking with toilet paper that makes everything else seem incredibly do-able. give it a try, you could win an awesome prize from mollie over at the jelly bean joint :]

only one more week until houseboats! now if only i could focus on this week's midterms...

amazing.

2009-05-13T16:53:00.000-07:00

this past weekend was the whole earth festival and it was so beautiful. it's one of my favorite weekends of the year, i love seeing all the beautiful things people create and display. some of my favorites were paintings on cardboard, organic soap that smells sooo good, and dryer-lint art!

speaking of amazing art, i had the great pleasure of hanging out with this guy all weekend. gared is so incredibly talented, his paintings captivate me. they are all so unique and beautiful, please take the time to check out his website, you won't be disappointed!
this one's my favorite. i am inspired!

i'm a winner :]

2009-05-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

that's more than just motivational talk.

i won this!
i've been reading kara's blog for a couple months now and she is so much fun. she has great stories that make me reminisce about high school, she's a fabulous photographer (she recently added some new lovelies to her etsy), and her scrapbook pages are so inspiring. i'm so excited that i won her hambly giveaway :]

after a long chat with my mom last night about everything under the sun i immediately felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. i don't know what it is, but my mom just knows exactly what to say sometimes. its really easy to talk to her and even if it's not about anything in particular i just love talking to her.

i feel extremely motivated today. i've been searching the san francisco area for possible job opportunities and dreaming about how wonderful it would be to live there next year. i want to update my resume and apply. i'm trying really hard to stop worrying about the future and start making things happen. i need to start planning to apply to dental school, and start studying for the DAT. i need to utilize the internship and career center while i still have the opportunity. the help is here, i just need to find it, and that means looking for it. here's to being more proactive and less apprehensive.

i finished another layout, this one is for the creative type challenge. it was all about celebrating your handwriting, and according to these guidelines, my handwriting revealed that i was original, emotionally well-balanced, focused and organized (i definitely own a label maker).

case of the mondays

2009-05-04T19:46:00.000-07:00

i have been such a bad blogger. i'll try to get my act together this week.

coming back from magic mountain was hard, mainly because i was immersed in an intense week of studying. three finals in two days is unkind. we had so much fun that weekend, i took a million pictures and it's taken me an entire week to get enough free time to post them. here are some of my favorites.

my brother dylan and his best friend sean

me and my mistermy cute parents
daffybatmani wasn't really scaredmy brother david
cameras on roller coasters are awesomedylan :]i'm excited to use this last one for one of my 52Q's - what's your superpower? it's perfect :]

this weekend was nice, i feel like i've been all over the place, traveling to santa cruz and valencia in two consecutive weekends, it was nice to stay put in davis and relax. i created a layout for the hambly + two peas contest, which proved very difficult because i had very little hambly to work with and the closest store that carries hambly is about 60 miles away. nevertheless, i managed to make it happen.
and now i'm working on another layout, it's not quite done, i have momentary scrapper's block and its the worst. i have a 10-page paper due on wednesday that i haven't started on (did i mention my middle name was procrastinator?), so it's hard to focus on anything else right now with that lingering over my head.

april was definitely not as great as i wanted it to be, but now it's may and this month i have to get my life together. i'm graduating soon, a lot of things are changing, and this past month i've really let it get me down. this month i'm going to stop avoiding these changes and start embracing them. i need to deal with the thoughts looming in my head instead of pushing them aside because it seems easier. i need to confront my feelings instead of hiding from them. i want to stop being afraid. those are my resolutions for the new month, and it already feels better to say those things.

the fruits of my labor

2009-04-23T12:23:00.001-07:00

yesterday morning i was very shocked to see what looked like a lecture about to take place in a classroom i was supposed to be taking an exam in. my eyes did not deceive me, our exam was in fact postponed until next wednesday. it's a bittersweet feeling; while i certainly could use another week to memorize those teeny regions of the brain and which receptors are found where, i also have another midterm next week which i had planned on devoting my time to. not only that, but this weekend i will be in LA and probably will not be getting much studying done. i sure hope i can handle both next week.

even though i didn't take my exam, i was still determined to have a victorious night of creating. and i got sooo much done! i'm extremely happy with the pages i made. i stuck to one project, because i'm trying to get out of the habit of starting something, leaving half way though, and beginning something new. so i caught up (for the most part) on my 52Q challenge. i'm really enjoying these questions, and i'm so proud of my pages. my notebook is already starting to bulk up, it's hard to refrain from using thick papers like basicgrey, they're just so pretty! so here's what i did last night, questions 10 though 15 (i don't have a picture for 15 yet, i added quite a lot of glitter to it and i have to figure out how to photograph it). enjoy :]

5 movies that inspire me creatively:
1. the life aquatic (my favorite is the scene where they take a tour of the boat).
2. the nightmare before christmas
3. moulin rouge (looove the costumes)
4. now and then (forever a favorite)
5. romeo + juliet

what keeps me awake at night:

what i'm grateful for right now:

my best hair experience:
yes, my hair used to be longlonglong! it feels like forever since it's been long, but most of my life i had hair that came right down to the small of my back. i needed a change, and so i told my hairdresser to just get rid of it. he was so excited for my new look, and i fell in love with short hair. it's a lot easier to experiment with, and i have definitely taken full advantage of that. three years later, i find myself missing those long locks. i'm considering growing it out again.

the last good book i read:
daniel asked me to read this one and i couldn't believe how much i ended up liking it. i took one look and said, "you want me to read a comic book?!" oh no, this was a "graphic novel." but the statement holds true, never judge a book by its cover. i had so much fun reading this book, it was a lot deeper than i initially gave it credit for and i'm very happy i got to read it before the movie came out.

that's it! until next time... :]

one more day

2009-04-21T13:42:00.000-07:00

i just have to get through one more day and then i get a mini break from midterms (mini pretty much means tomorrow night). i have a midterm tomorrow afternoon and the minute i get home from work that evening i am busting out my pattern papers and making something! i have so much i want to do...

1. this amazing post by kim has had my head buzzing for days!

2. i am so behind on my 52Q challenge, it's truly upsetting.

the last one i did was week 9.
its now week 16 :[

3. elsie's new scrapbook inspires me to no end.

4. i really want to make a layout for the new creative type challenge.

i love the quote jen used.
chuck palahnuik is awesome.

5. i want to make this book.
elaine posted this on the Scrap Outside The Box blog for our newest challenge. check it out, the layouts and examples are so inspiring!

i'm pretty sure i could keep naming things i want to do but don't have enough time for, but i'll stop here before i get my hopes up too high. this weekend i'm going to magic mountain with my family and i couldn't be more excited. perhaps i will take a cute little kim-inspired journal with me to share with you when i return :]

ohhh the weekend

2009-04-17T08:47:00.001-07:00

it's finally friday, i thought this day would never come! i had two midterms this week, one was super easy and one was pretty okay. i'm giving myself the weekend off because come monday i'm going to be doing it all over again with my other classes. and what a weekend it's going to be!

tomorrow is picnic day, and we'll be celebrating the 95th anniversary of this wonderful day here in davis.
it's an all day event with lots of going on, including the doxie derby (wiener dog races!), the laser maze (a maze of lasers!) and the snow hill (that's right, a hill made of snow!).
there's also a parade downtown and live music on campus all day, food and shops set up, and tonsss of fun exhibits.
the chemistry department is putting on a magic show and in true aggie fashion they're having a contest to see who can milk a cow the fastest.
there is so much to do, it's a guaranteed good time. i can't wait!

then on sunday the boy and i are driving to santa cruz for my faaaavorite hip/hop group atmosphere. i'm so excited, it's been almost a year since i've seen them and it's seriously the best time ever, their performances are always amazing.
plus, we're going a bit early to spend some time on the boardwalk. it'll be nice and sunny, perfect day for the beach :]
and i finally finished my scribble project. it took forever mainly because i'm a huge perfectionist and wanted it to be "just right" before i went over in it sharpie (well that gives away my truth and my lie... haha). it was a lot of fun and i'm looking forward to doing more!
it's going to be a warm weekend, high on saturday is 85 and on sunday it'll be 90! perfect weather for a perfect weekend before i have to go back to the daily grind on monday.

what are you plans for the weekend?

envelopes!

2009-04-15T08:57:00.001-07:00

there's a new challenge up over at Scrap Outside the Box - envelopes! this was great because a week prior to finding out the prompt i was looking through and reminiscing over all my orientation materials from when i got accepted to davis. of course i saved everything and it was nice to finally do something with it. i had no idea i'd ever be scrapbooking the envelope my acceptance letter came in! i love the way it turned out:
the picture is of me on orientation day in front of the life sciences building. this is where i go to talk to my advisers, to make sure i'm on track for graduation. these last few years have been an incredible experience, and i'm so happy i got to document the start of it all.

speaking of graduation, my oh my it is rapidly getting closer and closer. two months from now i'll have a bachelor's degree in biological sciences. so much has been building up to this moment, it's exciting and terrifying all at the same time, but more on that later, i've got to get to class!

don't forget to check out SOTB, this really was a great challenge and i encourage everyone to take a try at it!

happy sunday!

2009-04-12T13:23:00.000-07:00

i knew it was too good to last, somehow all of my free time has vanished and now i find myself studying on easter sunday. school is starting to pick up, i've already got two midterms this week and two midterms the following week. it's fun though, i'm really enjoying these classes. in animal behavior i read a really interesting article about the evolution of domesticated animals. scientists in russia did an experiment where they domesticated wolves in the same fashion they believe dogs were. could you imagine, little friendly wolves as pets!
last weekend was my roommate monica's 22nd birthday. we had a barbecue at our apartment sunday and a bunch of our friends came over to eat and play games. it was a beautiful day and everyone welcomed the nice warm sun.
my brother also came up to visit me that weekend. it was so fun getting to spend time with him, i miss him a lot. he's getting ready to graduate from high school, move out to san francisco and start his college years at SF state. i'm so proud of him :]
last week wasn't all fun, monday i came down with a fever of 101.6! it was the first time i had stayed home from school in about 5 years. it was a truly awful couple of days, but i'm feeling much better now. still have a slight cough but it's way better than the fever.

so now i'm at my parents house, about to get some studying in before my relatives come over for easter dinner. hope everyone is having a lovely sunday. i promise to post fun stuff tomorrow, i've been working on a little something in my spare time :]
happy sunday!

thank you :]

2009-04-01T13:18:00.000-07:00

thank you so much to everyone for your kind and supporting words on my last post, it really is comforting and i appreciate the sentiments very much :]

the first week of school is always easy peasy. its all syllabus talk and most of the time you get out of class early. its always exciting to see who else is taking the same classes, which teacher will become my favorite, and which class i'll end up falling asleep in the most. i'm learning very interesting things this quarter: animal behavior, the neurobiology of addictive drugs, human sexuality, and food science and folklore. The food science class is really interesting, we learned about why people cry when they cut unions, how barbecuing meat causes the formation of carcinogens, and that the gin and tonic was invented to get people to drink more tonic water because it helps prevent malaria. so far i'm really excited about my classes this quarter, we'll see how quickly that changes :]

so while i haven't had any assignments due or exams to study for, i've been indulging in a little scrapbooking. i did a couple new pages for emily falconbridge's 52Q challenge:
you can see more here. i also did a layout last night just for fun. a while back, a friend of ours dubbed the four of us "the felions" (pronounced fee-lie-uns), and since we had yet to find a cute nickname for our apartment, we had to go with the lion theme and name our humble home "the den."
it's so nice to have the freedom right now to scrap whenever i want, go to the gym when i feel like it, watch tv without feeling guilty, but that will all soon fade away as the quarter picks up and i have to start spending copious amounts of time at the library. better enjoy it while it lasts!

and i'm back.

2009-03-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

it's the first day of spring quarter and my what gorgeous weather we're having.

this past week came and went in the blink of an eye. i went home thursday after my last final to spend some time with my family. after some troublesome car problems my mom was kind enough to drive me back to davis. the following morning my grandmother passed away. she had been sick for the last few months, she had intestinal cancer, and it was just a matter of time. she was living with my parents instead of a convalescent home, as per her request. it was an incredible experience that brought my family a lot closer, and i'm fortunate for the time i was able to be there. it's been tough being away from home during all this, but every time i go back my family makes me feel as though i never left. i went back the weekend following her passing, the service was held on saturday, march 28. it was so nice to be surrounded by so much family, there was so much love in our house. my grandma was an amazing woman, her church bishop referred to her as a "fierce angel." she will be greatly missed.
spring break was everything i could have asked for. i worked a little, i relaxed a lot. i saw friends and family everyday. i scrapbooked and shopped and slept in. and now i'm back, ready to finish my last quarter at uc davis. here goes nothing.
this ring was my grandma's. we have the same birthstone - peridot. i'll think of her every time i see it.

yay i'm done with finals!

2009-03-19T09:55:00.000-07:00

starting RIGHT NOW i have no more school obligations until march 30. what ever will i do with my time off?

*go thrift shopping
*paint paint paint
*etsy update :]
*scrapbook
*hang out with my little brother
*read a million blogs a day and get lost wandering through flickr without feeling an ounce of guilt that i should be studying!

mainly, just some relaxation would be nice.

tonight i'm looking forward to the office!
and tomorrow i'm going home for the weekend to visit with my family. and of course i get to see this wonderful boy :]
this was my take on the new scrap outside the box challenge - rubber bands!
yay for spring!

oh, the one with the good handwriting.

2009-03-13T15:39:00.000-07:00

the other day my roommate came home and told me about this conversation she had with her boss, dior. dior has a lab on campus for plant research, and as a side job she corrects homework from my plant biology class. when chelsea found this out she said:

chelsea - "oh, my roommate mallory is taking that class!"
dior - "which one is she?"
(weird right? this usually isn't a problem, but oddly enough there is another mallory in my class)
chelsea - "mallory phillipy."
dior - "ohhh, the one with the good handwriting."

:]

btw, dior is also a very talented artist.
check out her prints on etsy, they're very plant-inspired :]

and my printer is on the fritz, making it near impossible to accomplish all the crafty projects i had in mind for procrastinating. ok fine, i'll study for finals.

oh yeah, i made these.

2009-03-11T18:48:00.000-07:00

these are a few layouts i did at kari's birthday crop.
this one is for the new creative type challenge - a stitch in time{s new roman}
*the "proud" got lost in the light of my scanner, click on the image for a larger (and better) view
and this one is just for fun :]

my hero.

2009-03-09T14:24:00.000-07:00

what an incredible weekend.

i went to bakersfield this past weekend to support my little brother, dylan, in the california interscholastic federation (CIF) state championships for wrestling. it was unlike any tournament i'd ever been to. 6,000 people showed up to see california's best wrestlers compete for state championship titles. dylan had a rocky start, losing his first match in overtime, but came back to win his next six matches in a row. The second match was won by technical fall (meaning he was ahead by 15 points) and the third and fourth were won by pin fall, both in less than one minute. Day two was even more nerve-racking, his first match would determine whether or not he would place in the top 8 and go home with a medal. using his signature move, he got his opponent into a cradle and pinned him for the win. he won his next two matches, one of which was against the first place winner of the north coast section (NCS) competition the weekend before. his final match was against the kid that beat him in his first match. he wrestled harder and smarted, and was in the lead after the second round, but ended up losing 10-8. it was an amazing match though, he did his absolute best and for that we are so incredibly proud.

my little brother is now ranked 4th in the state :]

dylan was in the contra costa times last sunday, so of course i had to get a copy. on the inside of the back page was this picture and an article that still makes me tear up when i read it. my favorite part is when they quote him:

"This morning I didn't have any expectations for myself," Phillipy said. "I just wanted to wrestle and see how far I could take it. A medal would've been nice but as long as I tried my hardest, I wouldn't be disappointed with myself and it got me fourth place."

he also got amazing reviews by the same author on the east bay prep corner blog. ben enos was updating this blog all weekend, and spoke very highly of my little brother:

"Ladies and gentlemen, if someone is wrestling better than Dylan Phillipy right now, I’d like to meet them."

and

"You can talk championships all you want but what College Park’s Dylan Phillipy is doing today is incredible."

it fills my heart with so much love and pride, this kid deserves all the praise in the world. he's worked so hard to get to where he is now. i feel so blessed to have been apart of that.

i love you dylan <3>**pictures from the contra costa times

where did february go?

2009-02-27T16:25:00.000-08:00

it feels like this month happened so fast! i've been a horrible blogger, i promise to be better in march. until then, just a few happy notes.

i started getting back into scrapbooking a few weeks ago, but had to put it on hold recently because of school. well i just finished midterms and i'm scrapping this sunday. it's kari's birthday, and i'm taking a trip down to berkeley for some much needed scrap time with the girls. i'm really excited, i just hope i can be productive (we tend to do more chatting than scrapping). i'll definitely have more pretties to share next week.

as if scrapbooking itself wasn't exciting enough, i've just gone and joined a design team! my very first one, it's a new challenge blog called Scrap Outside The Box. every month we create layouts using common household items, it's a really great challenge! check it out, i've got a sweet bio up right now and my first challenge will be posted march 15th. exciting!

ketchup!

2009-02-13T13:58:00.000-08:00

so lately i've been busy playing catch up with a bunch of different projects. one being a revamp of my blog :]
i am finally all caught up on my 52Qs
you can see the rest here.
i am also catching up on valentines day preparations! it's been a long time since i've gotten excited about this holiday, so i'm having so much fun. i made a fun little garland, one of the projects from elsie's first class. and i found this cute little DIY valentine's day kit and thought it was perfect idea for a low-key saturday.
i received my lovely book bag from the wonderful miss leigh-ann as well. it's absolutely perfect, she is so talented :]

and i'm trying desperately to finish reading watchmen because the commercials for the movie are going to spoil the ending for me. it comes out the weekend of my little brother's state wrestling tournament, so hopefully after a victorious day we can take him out to see it :]

i really should clean under my fingernails.

2009-02-05T23:48:00.000-08:00

here are the latest of my drawings for my art class. i think my self portraits are starting to look more like me?
this was an in class assignment, we had to cover the entire paper black and then erase to get the details. it was quite a challenge.
my second self portrait. getting better...
another in class assignment, working with cloth.
my third self portrait. i need to work on my shading so it doesn't look so flat!

tomorrow i'm going to try and post my 52Qs journal pages, they've been so much fun to do. i'm really proud of them, i can't wait to share :]

finally, a break!

2009-02-03T22:18:00.001-08:00

today i handed in my last assignment for the whole week, so i am taking this opportunity to invest in some "me" time. tonight i'm catching up on some much needed journaling and watching my guilty pleasure shows. tomorrow i'm starting my 52 Q's challenge (only four weeks late). and i have lots of new drawings to post from art class. this week is going to be so fun!

and i should be getting this any day now:
leigh-ann is so cute, she truly does brighten my days.

and this kid will forever be my hero.
i am so proud of him.

oh happy day!

2009-01-27T13:53:00.000-08:00

first of all, i would like to give a HUGE THANK YOU to the wonderful leigh-ann for being so so sweet and mentioning me on elsie's blog today. i am overwhelmed with flattery and gratitude, this is just what i needed today :]

i'm still taking a mini-etsy break because of school, but i have relisted the print leigh-ann mentioned today. this print means so much to me, it's a doodle i drew when i first started dating my boyfriend. it's now my desktop background at work, i look at it everyday, and when leigh-ann asked for a copy i made an extra one for my inspiration wall. i seriously am on cloud 9 right now :]
you can find it here.

thanks so much for stopping by!
<3

today.

2009-01-23T10:21:00.000-08:00

i feel inspired.
but today, i have to study.

little mermaid red.

2009-01-20T21:31:00.000-08:00

this is the color i've been trying so hard to achieve, and i finally did it! how long it will last, who knows. but i'm having fun with it while i can :]
today i got the biggest smile on my face (as per usual) from reading leigh-ann's blog. a few days ago she asked her readers to write her "about me," and she picked mine to put in her profile! i am honored and flattered. leigh-ann has such a bright spirit, i am so thrilled to be quoted on her blog :]
speaking of the wonderful leigh-ann, i ordered a super-rad custom book bag from her (she's having a sale btw) and while i'm waiting i was inspired to revamp an old tote bag. i painted over the 'saves the day' logo (no offense guys, you're still my favorites) and added a little embroidered bicycle.
and i did it again! this is my submission for the latest work your soul challenge. i love this blog, its very inspirational and it's getting me motivated to scrap again.
alright, time to exchange some i-love-you's with the boy and then tuesday's guilty pleasure: nip/tuck.
and here's a cute little picture of us on our 6 month anniversary :]

for the first time in a long time

2009-01-16T16:49:00.000-08:00

i sat down and scrapbooked!
i must start doing this more often.

my fingers are stained black

2009-01-15T20:51:00.000-08:00

the first half of the drawing class is done with charcoal. i had to start painting my finger nails so they wouldn't look so dirty all the time. i haven't drawn anything since high school really, and those are pretty laughable. not because i think they're awful, but when i was 14 i thought the coolest things to draw were sarah michelle gellar and josh hartnett.

here are my first three projects.
our first assignment, 12 tones.
my first self portrait. we have to turn one in every monday.
yesterday's in class assignment.

i'm trying to get the hang of it. develop a technique, manage my time and try to work more and think less. it's been such a fun experience, and i still have eight more weeks to enjoy.

andandand i'm so excited because i just bought this!
i've decided to start collecting old cameras. i just feel like i need something cool to collect. we'll see how it goes.

these are a few of my favorite things.

2009-01-05T22:40:00.000-08:00

from my winter vacation, that is.

the holidays can be stressful.

my niece always delivers good laughs.

christmas day with my love.

ugly sweater party with some elves :]

in reno with my little brother at his wrestling tournament. he makes me so proud :]

getting ready for new years eve with my best friend.

best holiday vacation ever.

mama always said

2009-01-01T18:19:00.000-08:00

if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

i had no idea i'd get such a big response from my last post. thank you to my friends and family for being so understanding of the purpose behind that blog. your support means more than you'll ever know. and to those who choose to remain anonymous in their awful comments, thank you for proving my point about how wretched the internet really is. in real life you have an identity, and therefore have to be accountable for the things you do and say. but here, you can say anything you want and not have to own up to it. i got a lot of comments about how much i was exaggerating, that i wasn't anything special and that nobody cared about what i had to say. why so many comments then? many comments were rude and really unnecessary, posted by people who didn't want to own up for any of their put-downs. i hope your harsh words made you feel important.

the last thing i wanted to do with that post was start "internet drama," but i guess more people read this blog than i had thought. i deleted the catty comments because i believe nonconstructive criticism, and altogether inappropriate put-downs, should be left back in junior high. i wrote the previous post for myself, not for you. those were emotions i was feeling at the time, and i felt the need to clear the air and put things in perspective. for myself. i was in no way trying to "call people out," and it's really upsetting to see that so many had misinterpreted what i was trying to say in that post.

i created this blog to share my life with the people i care about. i've said time and time again that i'm away from home, and often use this blog as a way to communicate with my friends and family about whats going on in my life. its their opinions that really matter to me, not the ones of people who chose to say harsh things and then not own up to them. i understand that there will always be criticism of the things i say, do or create, its just unfortunate that some choose to be petty and hurtful instead of constructive. but like i said, i have more than enough support from those out there who truly know and love me.

on a much much brighter note, i am so happy to have gotten a chance to spend time with those people these last few weeks. this holiday season was by far the best yet. i've never felt so close to the people i care about. thank you all for making this break the most memorable one yet.

on monday i go back to school. new classes, new schedule, new beginnings. 2008 was great, but i can already tell that 2009 will be even better. here's to learning, loving, and laughing.

the internet can be a cruel, cruel world.

2008-12-17T14:15:00.000-08:00

i recently (and by recently i mean 45 minutes ago) had a revelation. i can't really be proud of an idea i didn't come up with. it seems so simple and obvious, but it took a few copycats to really make me feel it.

it does not feel good when someone takes your idea and uses it as their own. at first, i took it as a form of flattery. after all, they do say imitation is the highest form. as an aspiring artist i've been trying to get my name out as much as possible, with online forums and blogs and things of that nature. i'm on the internet a lot; networking, browsing, getting inspiration and seeing if i've inspired others. one of my favorite parts about elsie's online class is seeing how everyone has a different spin on the projects we make. its been a very positive experience for me, and i've met some very kind, talented people. when i saw that someone from the class had copied one of my journaling ideas, it bothered me, but i brushed it off. i figured that it was a a form of complimenting my work, even though she never mentioned she got the idea, and handwriting, from me.

when i saw this today, it was the straw that broke the camel's back.
the image on the left is mine, a blurb i did for my myspace page about a year ago. the image on the right is from someone else's blog. this blatant rip off of my handwriting (as well as elsie's) made me feel really icky inside. it makes me very upset to see someone coping my handwriting and passing it off as their own.

i won't deny that i too have been guilty of using others ideas in my artwork, but it wasn't until now that i truly realized how wrong that can be, and how hurtful it sometimes is. i've been inspired time and time again by elsie, i love her style and think she's an amazingly talented artist, and in the past i have not given her proper credit. i've gone through my past artwork on my flickr and cited her appropriately.

i want to take a break from posting my art for a while. after elsie's class is over, i also am taking a creative break. i want to get away from the internet and give myself a chance to truly be inspired by life, and not by what other people are doing. if i've learned anything from this experience, and from elsie's class, it's that i don't want to be like anyone else anymore. i want to define myself as an artist, not by whose art inspires me. i want to make art for fun again. for my family and friends and myself. i want my ideas to come from me, not anyone else.

jizz in my pants

2008-12-12T00:15:00.000-08:00

WARNING: mature content.
in the true spirit of finals, chelsea and i got together once again, put on our favorite song as of the past five days, and danced away. i apologize for offending anyone with this video, but our apartment has an extreme obsession with andy samberg.

its beginning to look a lot like christmas

2008-12-04T12:25:00.000-08:00

so i stumbled upon miss hollysarah's blog and decided that maybe this year i might do a little wish list via my blog also. i always avoid the "what do you want for christmas" conversation, because i really don't like asking for things. but if you really really want to get me something for christmas, this would be a good place to look :]

i've been eyeing this for weeks. i want to start collecting vintage knick knacks to decorate my future home with.
also, i just got a cutesy new phone yesterday and really want to get a larger memory card for it. this way i can save all the sweet text messages the boy sends me :]

i found this today and immediately fell in love.
i really want a new jacket. something pea coat-like.

and of course you can't really go wrong with craft supplies. i always welcome more canvas, brushes and paints :]

and i'll keep wishing and hoping for one of these someday...
but of course, the only thing i really really want is to spend my christmas with my family and friends, i miss you all so so much and can't wait to come home for the holidays. i'm especially excited to be seeing this face more often :]
hope you have some wonderful and memorable holidays :]

in the deepest ocean

2008-11-18T11:21:00.000-08:00

the bottom of the sea
your eyes
they turn me.

midterms are finally over! three more weeks until finals, then... FREEDOM. i need new classes pronto. this quarter has been a rough one. i'm looking ahead to brighter days.

i've been working on a set of three new paintings, i'm obsessed with this octopus right now!
as always, its Radiohead inspired. i've added lyrics to these since this picture was taken and they say "this ones optimistic" "this one went to market" "this one just came out of the swamp"

and this totally made my day. thank you so much beth for all your kind words :]

exciteddd

2008-11-12T15:19:00.000-08:00

for so many things! mainly elsie's online class. i'm already starting my christmas gifts :]

i wanted to thank Leigh-Ann so so much for ordering this print from my etsy.
she's so sweet and super talented! i was definitely flattered by her request. it's crazy to think about how many people from all over the world look at this blog, let alone inquire about my art. thanks again for giving this one a good home :]

i started yet another journal, this time i'm going a different route. i have so many journals with so much written in them, it feels a little overwhelming sometimes, but i am very grateful to have them. while i still plan on journaling regularly in my usual, i have this cute little one to doodle in and write all my small, random thoughts that i really don't care to elaborate on :] this one is just for fun.
for more pictures, look here :]

and everyday when i come home i am greeted by this little girl:
i don't know what to do about her, we're all gone during the daytime and so she sleeps, and then at 4am she's wide awake! i wish i could trade spots with her sometimes.

here are some fun pictures i found from halloween.
my friend melissa decided to join us and be "old spice."

i changed my hair again! it makes me feel my youth.
we are so silly.

speaking of which, this is becoming one of my favorites. i love it when moments like these get captured :]

that is all for now :]

weeks of pent up creativity

2008-10-22T00:33:00.000-07:00

i forgot how it feels

2008-10-21T13:02:00.000-07:00

to be so incredibly busy that you don't have time to do anything else but work and study, let alone take five minutes to post a blog. i guess the real reason that i haven't posted is that i haven't created anything worth posting these past few weeks. i've been all work and no play.

it's my fourth week of fall quarter and it's already time to think about next quarter. i just finished my first round of midterms, about to start my first huge lab report on human reflexes (so excited) and for the first time in weeks i'm taking a night off to do whatever i want. and i want to paint.

like i said, these past few weeks i've been studying my brains out, learning about fluorescence microscopy, action potentials, simple harmonic motion of sound waves, and shocking little froggies into contracting their muscles. so i haven't had much time to create anything fun.

i can, however, share some photos and a link to an article i found on Jeremy Fish. his art is so inspiring, i've had the pleasure of going to one of his art shows and it's like nothing i've ever seen before. this makes me want to quit school and paint forever. but i really would miss the neurons and membranes.

happy birthday dylan!

2008-10-01T08:36:00.000-07:00

today my little brother turns 17.

where does the time go?

2008-09-15T10:44:00.000-07:00

how busy busy busy life has been lately.
its been a while, so lets catch up.

i've taken a little break from painting, mainly because i ran out of clean canvas, so i started a new scrapbook for daniel.
i plan on updating my etsy in the next week or two. i just added some fun hair pins that i've been complimented on so much [thank daniel for the idea] and i'm adding some new paintings soon!
the newest edition to our apartment is little miss tipsy. i moved her here this weekend and she's settling in very well. hopefully waking me up at 4am is just a cute phase she's going through. i'm so happy to have her around, i've missed her terribly since i've moved to davis.

school is starting soon. it seemed like just yesterday when summer was starting, and now it's coming to an end. professors are already e-mailing me with new assignments. this will be by far my hardest quarter, but i guess every new quarter starts out that way. i'll look back and think "wow, i had it so easy then." i'm excited for new classes and new friends and new routines. it's kind of like new years, except in september. i'm starting over in so many new ways.

switchblades

2008-08-30T23:46:00.000-07:00

i submitted again to fecal face's free fridayz, go vote for me :]

so i entered a contest

2008-08-25T08:42:00.000-07:00

but i didn't win.
ohhh well, i'm definitely doing it again.

it's a weekly contest hosted by fecal face dot com, a crazy cool website that supports the san francisco art scene, that i found out about through travis.

here's the painting i submitted, and the link to the blog it's on.
click here, and scroll down the the bottom :]

real recognize real

2008-08-11T21:52:00.000-07:00

like counterfeits rejected,
come correct or kindly leave the table now,
fold your hand but your pockets not protected,
it takes one to know one
and two to double down.
Kid Gloves by Doomtree

ETSY!

2008-07-30T12:51:00.001-07:00

i did it. i finally put up some of my paintings in my etsy shop! it's so exciting, go check it out :]

please don't wake me

2008-07-28T20:24:00.000-07:00

no don't shake me
leave me where i am

I'm Only Sleeping by The Beatles

what a weekend. i've been so inspired lately. things have been so so wonderful since this one's been keeping me company.
we spent the entire weekend together. we worked on leaving eastland, my favorites are the robots.
and then sunday we went and saw The Dark Knight.
today i came home and started working on new paintings for sale in my etsy shop! here's a peek at some new items i'll be posting.

you are here.

2008-07-24T13:34:00.001-07:00

new new new

2008-07-22T22:14:00.000-07:00

so many new things.
my favorite new thing is Daniel Smith.
this boy makes me smile everyday.

and now we have a blog.
where we can post the beautiful art we make together.
and random other things along the way.

happy birthday mama!

2008-07-20T22:05:00.001-07:00

i love youuu <3

happy fourth of july!

2008-07-04T13:27:00.000-07:00

good news is on it's way.

2008-07-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

and we'll all float on ok.
and we'll all float on ok.
and we'll all float on.
-Float On by Modest Mouse

just a quick little post, i created a new piece for the living room. the walls of 'the den' needed some more mallory contributions.

i wanted to tell you

2008-06-29T21:41:00.000-07:00

but you never listened.
you never understand.
the lights are on but nobody's home.
Morning Bell by Radiohead

well so much for posting every day this week! oops. i missed a day of painting on thursday, so i only came out of this week with six paintings, but i still think it was very successful. definitely a hard challenge, i'm so glad i did it. here is the rest of what i mustered up this week.
this one of for the lovely daniela. i've been promising her for months that i would paint her something, and i'm not sure if i'm 100% done yet, but how could it have been anything but owls?
i've been wanting to paint an octopus for quite some time now, i think he's awesome.
i fell in love with my New Found Glory houses, so i thought i'd give them their own space. plus i really love this line [forget about your house of cards, and i'll do mine] and i'm stoked i got to use it.
and this one i did for my friend brett, who was the start of my radiohead crazed madness. it's a line from the song Morning Bell [i wanted to tell you but you never listened. you never understand. the lights are on but nobody's home]

and now i think i need a break from painting. perhaps this week i'll do some scrapbooking instead. ohhh free time is bliss.

for a minute there

2008-06-25T14:09:00.000-07:00

i lost myself.
i lost myself.
for a minute there,
i lost myself.
i lost myself.
Karma Police by Radiohead
i didn't have time to post last night (this may be a recurring theme) but here's what i decided to do for day two of painting painting painting.
in other news, what an exciting day. i had a little orientation thingy at my NEW JOB and it was so much fun. i got a tour of the office, i met most of the people i'll be working with and the girl that has my job now who's graduating, and i'm going back later mingle at an ice cream social. i even get my own cubicle, which i'm way stoked to start decorating. i have a feeling this is going to be a really fun job. yay for new beginnings! and later the girls and i are hitting up the farmers market. then, more painting!
life is good.

i was kidnapped real young

2008-06-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

by the sweet taste of love
built a fondness for things that
just weren't good enough.
Rainbows in the Dark by Tilly and the Wall

i've decided to challenge myself this week. everyday for seven days i'm going to paint something different. i've got the time, now i want to utilize it. today i made a huge dent in what is probably my most favorite painting i've ever done. it's inspired by all my favorite musical artist's album art. i'm not finished yet, but i'm so proud of it so far.
the sun is from a Ted Leo + The Pharmacists album, the trees inspired by The Shins, the hills are my interpretation of the Hail to the Thief album by Radiohead, the bunnies from a Sufjan Stevens album.
i especially love the clouds raining paint colors, inspired by an album by Boys Like Girls.
the little birdie inspired by Saves The Day's album In Reverie.
and i love love love my New Found Glory houses. this has been such a fun project for me, i can't wait to finish it.

here's a painting i did during finals week, it needed to be done. and you'll never guess who's lyrics inspired this one.
it's a 6x12 inch canvas, thought i'd try a random size for once.

alright well i must be off, i just got back to davis and the girls and i have a lot to catch up on. stay tuned, i'm posting all week long!

get enough love, got enough friends

2008-06-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

but on a regular basis, it's safe to say i've got the bends
and i didn't mean to ignore that vibe you sent
i guess my mind was probably on my rent.
Give Me by Atmosphere

what a crazy couple of weeks. here's what's been going on while i haven't been posting...

i finished my first year at UC Davis! i can not believe how fast it's gone by. what an amazing experience. i made new friends, rediscovered old ones, lived away from home for the first time, took some awesome classes (and some not-so-awesome ones) and had so much fun the entire way through. i can't wait to see what next year will bring.

so now i'm back at home for a little while, helping out my favorite girls at My Daughter's Wish, and scrapbooking for the first time since christmas! it feels so good, i can't wait to share my first finished product! we cropped the other night down at the store and it's just so wonderful being amongst all these talented women again, i've missed them all so much.

i started reading this book Snuff by Chuck Palahnuik, my all-time favorite author. It's his newest one, and hopefully the first of many books i hope to read this summer. i miss reading books that i want to read, this year has been nothing but text books. anyone have any good suggestions?

also, some super-exciting news that i JUST received, i have a job! i'll be working for IET Communications Resources, which is located on campus (five minutes away from my apartment in davis) doing some fun web design work. i'm so excited for this job, gotta love a new challenge.

so my first week off of school has been amazing. i've gotten to scrapbook with the lovely ladies of MDW, hang out with the crew for Thirsty Thursdays at reid's house, enjoy some very-needed time with my dad, went to the beach with sara, and indulge in some me-time. but i do miss my girls back in davis, can't wait to see you :]

a steady diet of punk rock, alcohol and friends

2008-05-30T11:49:00.000-07:00

next time i come around
i'm bringing souvenirs
cause it's pretty clear
it's not enough just to write it down.
-Crime in Stereo

so here are some pictures from the epic weekend known as houseboats. crazy times!

she had them apple bottom jeans

2008-05-28T18:52:00.000-07:00

boots with the fur (with the furrrr)
the whole club was lookin' at her
she hit the floor, next thing you know
shorty got low low low low low low low.
- Flo-rida
HAHA.

oh wow, i heard that song more times than i can count this past weekend. it's been a crazy couple of weeks, but nothing compares to the insanity that happened over the weekend on houseboats. imagine hundreds of kids renting huge houseboats and throwing an everlasting party on an island for memorial day weekend. it was nothing i'd ever experienced, i'll be developing the film soon so hopefully i'll have some funny pictures to post. it was the best release ever, after a week of midterms i needed a getaway, badly!

and now the end of the quarter is getting closer and closer. only two weeks left and then i'm free! sort of, i only have two weeks off, then it's summer school. but a little break is better than no break. until then i'm hoping to be all work, and limited play. but as soon as i take my last final you better believe all these ideas cluttering my brain will actually be put to use. i've got soooo many projects i want to start: some new paintings, a little "apartment 153" mini album, and new items for my etsy (i'm think something along the lines of altered composition books since that's been my latest obsession).

everything is happening so fast. i needed a new hair color to keep me in check. i love it!

yesterday

2008-05-12T14:06:00.001-07:00

was that you? looked just like you.
strange things my imagination might do.
take a breath, reflect on what we've been through
or am i just going crazy because i miss you?
-Atmosphere

the new atmosphere album, When Life Gives You Lemons You Paint That Shit Gold, is nothing short of amazing. last thursday john took me to go see atmosphere in san francisco and bought me the new CD which has not stopped playing since that night. they were the artist of the week on mtv which makes me happy, check it out!

this weekend was whole earth festival, and it was like nothing i'd ever experienced. all the hippies came out to celebrate this wonderful planet we live on, and it was a non-stop party. during the day we roamed the quad and looked at all the pretty art for sale, listened to awesome music and ate some delicious food, and when night fell the dance parties continued until about 2am at the co-ops. it was such a crazy time, and i got super inspired to start creating more art, and curious about maybe having my own booth next year... haha.

breathe on sister

2008-04-28T15:12:00.000-07:00

breathe on.

-Portishead

just wanted to do a quick post, midterms are pretty much every week now so i haven't been able to work on any artistry lately, but i have big plans for when i get another break from studying. but spring quarter is in full effect; the rec pool is now open, the weather is getting warmer every day, and i've been busy busy busy.

i have also fallen madly in love with Jim Halpert.
yes, that's right, i'm in love with a fictional character.

The Office is my new favorite distraction :]

a green plastic watering can

2008-04-12T13:58:00.000-07:00

for a fake chinese rubber plant,
in a fake plastic earth.
that she bought from a rubber man,
in town full of rubber plans,
to get rid of itself.
it wears her out, it wears her out.
it wears her out, it wears her out.
-Radiohead

just a quick post to share some projects i've been working on.

inspired by "Fake Plastic Trees" by Radiohead.

inspired by "Weird Fishes" by Radiohead.

inspired by "House of Cards" by (GASP) Radiohead :]

this one's a work in progress.
the sky says...
"forget about your house of cards,
and i'll do mine.
fall off the table,
get swept under."

i'm still playing around with it. in between studying that is. life is so exciting right now, i have to keep reminding myself that school comes first. so many fun things coming up this spring, including picnic day, whole earth festival, and houseboats! and it's a warm 85 degrees today, so i'm going to go enjoy this lovely weather!
happy saturday :]

jigsaw falling into place

2008-04-04T19:13:00.000-07:00

there is nothing to explain.
regard each other as you pass,
she looks back, you look back,
not just once,
not just twice.
-Radiohead

oh wow, it's been a while. i've been super busy these past weeks, with finals over i had all the time in the world to sort my head, get inspired, and actually have time to create! my head has been swarming with ideas and i finally got the chance to get them out on canvas.

obviously i'm still in a radiohead phase, which inspired this little number:
i'm so happy with this one! and i also finished a painting for my friend Keita, which is going to be hard to let go, but i know it's going to a nice home :]
and i also have BIG NEWS!
i recently opened up my very own etsy shop! i only have a few items up right now but i have big hopes on sprucing it up in the next few weeks. check it out! if you've seen some of my artwork on here that isn't in my etsy shop and are interested in buying prints, let me know!

alright i'm off for now, the creativity bug bit me hard and i must paint some more!

let me make believe.

2008-03-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

i suck at studying. biting my nails on the other hand, well, i'm a pro.

i have my physics final tomorrow and i just can't bring myself to study yet. procrastination is my middle name; mallory p. phillipy. i'll get there. i really want to fast forward through this week, but who really likes taking finals anyway? saturday afternoon i have my last final [apparently weekends are no longer sacred in college] and as soon as i'm done i'm getting in that cute little car of mine and flooring it all the way to santa cruz. the beach house will be a long awaited escape, who knows what's going to happen but i'm leaving my expectations open.

it's been two long months, i wonder just how much things have changed. a lot can happen in two months; you can fall in love and get your heart broken in that amount of time. maybe something, maybe nothing. i haven't forgotten my feelings, it's hard to forget something so well documented; so accessible. something that was once a big part of my life now reverts back to insignificance. but that's how it has to be, right?

what doesn't kill me make me strong
drives you far from me
i am down, please don't go
take me when you leave.

let me make believe.
-Jeremy Larson

a constant escape.

2008-03-06T16:45:00.000-08:00

the magnificent restraint that it takes
to stay away. i've no control at all.
i constantly dream,
the memories invade the things i keep with me
i'm getting high on the roof of the world.
-Crime in Stereo.

i am so excited for the amazing array of shows coming up in the next few months.

March 7, 2008
Crime in Stereo
with Comeback Kid and Killing the Dream.

i just got their most recent CD '...is Dead' and i can't stop listening to it. it's exactly what i need right now, and i am so stoked for tomorrow's show.

March 30, 2008
Saves The Day

i've been raving about this band for the past couple of weeks, ever since monica made me remember how awesome they are. this band perfectly captures my high school memories. i was obsessed (and for good reason) and i can't wait to see them again. i have not heard the new CD, but it's at the top of my to-do list.

April 21, 2008

Tegan and Sara

this album has been in my ipod rotation for months; i have yet to get sick of it. they are coming to davis, practically in my backyard (ok, so i don't have a backyard, but if i did, it would be just as close!). i cannot wait for this huge chick-fest.

April 22, 2008
Death Cab For Cutie

that's right, the very next night after tegan and sara, death cab will also be in davis! this is practically a dream, i have been dying to see death cab forever, let alone be able to walk to the venue. renee, you better be coming with me!

honorable mention:
2*Sweet

this Chicago based band came to visit berkeley a few weeks ago and i've been listening to the CD ever since (thanks little brother :] ) They were featured in Rolling Stone as an up-and-coming band to watch out for, so do yourself a favor and check them out.

Alright, i'm off for now, to go bathe in more musical magic.
:]

how come i end up where i started?

2008-03-02T21:27:00.000-08:00

how come i end up where i went wrong?
won't take my eyes off the ball again
you reel me out then you cut the string.
-Radiohead

if you don't already have In Rainbows by Radiohead, get it.

i'm feeling colors right now, and after midterms i was inspired by a friend's artistry to create this:
thanks for the idea kimmie :]
my walls are so colorful.

tonight will be the night that we begin to ease the plugs out of the dam.

2008-02-20T13:49:00.000-08:00

and we still stand knee deep in the flow,
the undertow will grab our heels and won't let go.
and while we hold, our legs quivering,
the water rises now to our teeth when we just let go.
and sail belly up to the clouds, the rocks scraping our backs
to breathe in the air will be the only thing that we have.
-Saves The Day

i dedicate this to the bravest woman i know.
renee, i love you more than words could describe.
you're my best friend.
my partner in crime.
my superwoman.

do you know what i love the most?

2008-02-19T23:31:00.000-08:00

even the suburbs would be o.k.

saturday with monica brought back memories and made some new ones. cruising down the interstate, blasting our high school favorites like Saves The Day and Alkaline Trio, spending the sunny afternoon in t-shirts and sunglasses walking down telegraph avenue. one of the best days i've had in a long time.

i'm taking a step backwards, on purpose this time. only because i'm getting ahead of myself. i guess you could call it 'learning from my mistakes.'

my creativity has been put on hold, thank you midterms. next tuesday, it's on. here's what i've been working on:
the last one is a project for a friend, it'll be hard to let it go once it's finished.

if i stay in one place i lose my mind

2008-02-12T22:55:00.000-08:00

i'm a pretty impossible lady to be with.

busy busy busy times! i can't believe how fast life moves. ferris buehler is right, if you don't stop once in a while you could miss it. the quarter system is keeping me on my toes. or attempting to at least. next quarter is going to be even more intense, check out this mouth full of classes i'm taking:
PHY7B: physics
BIS102: biomolecules
GEL107: paleobiology
MIC102: bacteriology

so many ologies! good thing i like science, right?

things are clouding my head that probably shouldn't be right now. i have a habit of letting that happen though. i'm already over-thinking. already day-dreaming. already wishing on digital clocks.

i've been inspired lately, i can't decide by what exactly, but something is making me create. i finished two paintings and have started on a 20x24 canvas. its definitely keeping me sane.

what a strange turn of events

2008-01-25T14:11:00.000-08:00

this is what sets the tone for my weekends, my amazing internship at Communicare Dental. i love going in there every friday morning, it puts me in such a good mood, i'm ready to tackle whatever comes next (in this case, it's a long weekend of studying for midterms, yuck). today i had an adorable seven-year-old girl come in and talk my ear off! she wanted to tell me about how well she brushes and flosses, and when i pulled out the mouth model she took the tooth brush and showed me! oh goodness, my heart melted. hanging out with the kids is definitely one of the best parts of my job, most of them are so excited and have such a positive outlook on going to the dentist. i definitely feel like i am making a difference already.

with my feet in the air and my head on the ground.

2008-01-23T23:37:00.000-08:00

just a quick little post, i had such an exciting weekend i can't believe i forgot to write about it! lots of friends get-togethers, lots of laughs, and lots of painted stomachs? yes yes, i am officially one of many spirited gymnast enthusiasts. my roommate adee has a home meet last friday and we showed our support and then some! haha. here are a few snap shots from this crazy weekend :]

mama, i love you.

2008-01-21T22:41:00.000-08:00

every once in a while i like to give a good shout out on my blog to the people that i am thankful for in my life. this has been a long time coming, but my mother deserves the biggest ovation possible. she has helped me out so much this past week, i don't know how i would make it through the rough patches without her. she always knows just what to do and what to say to make everything better. she is so comforting and supportive, there's no doubt in this world she's my number one fan and would do anything for me. i have always always always appreciated my mother for the wonderful person that she is, and it seems everything i need anything at all, she completely outshines herself and gives me ten times the love and care than i ever thought i needed. i know she is the one person in life that i can always count on, no matter what i do she is always there, ready and willing to help out in any way possible. she never gives up on me, and she never ever ever lets me down. she has given me so much hope in life, i can look at her and know that everything is going to be alright. mama, you never fail to pull me back from the edge, you've always been there for me in every way possible and i don't think i'll ever be able to express in words how much love i have in my heart for you. thank you so much for just being you, i couldn't have dreamed up a more perfect mother. you are my hero, my savior, and the best friend i've ever had. i love you all the way to the moon and back.

i didn't want to hear it then but I'm not ashamed to say it now
every little thing you said and did was right for me
i had a lot of to think about, about the way i used to be
never had a sense of my responsibility
back then i didn't know why
why you were misunderstood
so now i see through your eyes, all that you did was love
mama, I love you. mama, I care
mama, I love you. mama, my friend.

Mama by The Spice Girls

so this is the new year.

2008-01-14T21:10:00.000-08:00

with a new year comes new problems. but if there's one thing i learned from last year it's not to over-react. i have a tendency to blow things out of proportion. i'll admit it. but this time i'm taking on a different attitude. sure, the situation sucks, but i just have to deal with it. i can't stop it from happening but i can control the way i think about it and how i choose to act on it. and surprisingly, i am calm. partially because i haven't really dealt with it yet. but as i look back on previous "life-changing" experiences, even those seem silly now. i found a quote recently that i fell in love with:

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass,
it's about learning to dance in the rain."

i know i'll look back on all of this and just laugh.
like i did this weekend. i laughed a lot this weekend. it was our annual cabin trip, my fourth year going. every january a group of 20-ish friends rent a cabin in tahoe for the weekend. it's the time of year where we can all get away from our jobs, schools, and obligations and just hang out like we used to before we became grown ups. it was an amazing way to leave my problems behind and get some perspective.
and now i return to davis, winter quarter already in full swing. i had my first quiz this morning and my physics homework is patiently awaiting me.

so this is the new year
and i have no resolutions
for self assigned penance
for problems with easy solutions

i wish the world was flat like the old days
then i could travel just by folding a map
no more airplanes, or speed trains, or freeways
there'd be no distance that could hold us back.

"The New Year" by Death Cab for Cutie