happy birthday uhmerica.

happy birthday America. i'm glad you were birthed....or um...declared your independence.
i spent my 4th of july napping. but i spent my 3rd of july celebrating america. watched some of the top ten firework displays of the country in idaho falls. i made two Paula Dean dishes. bought a bunch of sparklers from some hicks. and listened to 'proud to be an American'. made these american cookies. it was great.







video of the week:
Do Wah Doo by Kate Nash. this is from her album that came out a few months ago. it's quite different from her first album, there are actually some songs i can't stand. but i still enjoy her music. and i like this video.




food of the week:

in cordoba, spain we explored town away from all the tourist shops. we found a candy shop and i bought about 30 of these candy sticks for 5 euro cents each. they were all different flavors, sour and sweet, some chewy, some hard, some with creamish fillings. we just sat in the sun and tasted all of them. i miss them.
and, man, i had the worse chaco tan line from that day.

book of the week:

i'm taking a book arts/binding class. i love this book. it has the most creative and brilliant books in it. i want to make all of them. but i won't.
right now i'm working on a book of my experience in italy, with photos and tickets and things. then i'm making a journal out of a record.




car of the week:


well kind of. in venice, italy there are no cars, just gondolas. we explored venice for a few hours, and not much longer which was sad. and we didn't ride a gondola, but they were everywhere and walking the streets there were so fun.










artist of the week:

joseph mallord william turner. i went to the tate gallery in london. and spent the longest time in the turner section. my favorite of his pieces were ones like these, he actually produced a lot of different styled pieces. his impressionistic ones were my favorite. this is called 'the fighting temeraire' and it is absolutely amazing up close. it's paint almost looks dirty, but this painting glows up close.


musician(s) of the week:
jenny and johnny.
jenny lewis. my favorite musician.
and her boytoy, jonathon rice, another talented musician. have paired up...in the creating music sense. they haven't announced a release date. but i bought my ticket, and i'm seeing them together in september with meagan. beyond excited.
you should download jenny and johnny's single scissor runner.

creation of the week:
in my book arts class we began learning just about the different binding structures, and so we made about 10 mini books. precious right?
and then i made a mustard yellow box to keep them in. i plan to take that box home and paint some retro flowers all over it with my acrylic paints. i'm excited.
this is sewn onto cords. i covered it with marbled paper i made, and stretched leather over the cords. exciting.

















side note:
I GO HOME IN LESS THAN 3 WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
that's it.