Pinup Perfection!

As I continue to be in bed constantly (ugh) recovering from my nasty August 1st bike crash (double-ugh)... I'm thanking GOD for the internet and the ability to find ways to keep myself entertained. One of those entertaining things I've been doing is creating treasuries on Etsy... this latest one inspired by pinup girls...

Check it out here!

It was so fun to find so many awesome Etsy listings featuring pinup girls... like these fabulous clothes created by Zombie Kitten O.

I also just purchased the image below in the form of a counted-cross stitch pattern from Bella Stitchery. My mom always used to do counted-cross stitch, as did my Grandma... and I busted out a stitch or two in my youth... so this pattern could be the perfect resting and recuperating project for me to do... Love it!

So, where has all this pinup inspiration come from, you ask? Another way I've been passing the time is by watching LA Ink on NetFlix for the Wii. I've watched a couple dozen episodes of people getting tattooed by Kat Von D and her crew... including Hannah Aitchison... who is quite the pinup artist... and who is also quite the pinup herself!

Check out some of my faves below...

So, a pinup tattoo may be in order for me someday, as after watching so much tattooing, I've been itching to get more ink myself. Oh yea... guess we'll have to work on paying off those medical bills first. But a girl can dream, right?

Until next time...

Love,

Katery

Photography Love: Part I

I've had a lot of time to play around on Etsy: creating treasuries, discovering new favorites, and looking through old shops I've marked as favorites over the years. I've found that perhaps my favorite kind of photography is a technique called "through the viewfinder" -- where the photographer uses one camera to take the photo of an image as it appears through the viewfinder of another, often older camera. The results are amazing, very vintage looking -- and I absolutely love them.

I'm very much drawn to the work of Scarlet Beautiful that's posted in her Etsy shop. From cruiser bicycles, to balloons and flowers -- these are a few of my favorites...

In looking around online, I've found there's an entire, quite popular movement of "Through the Viewfinder" (or TtV) photography. This Flickr group has more than 6,000 members! A simple search on Flickr finds many more TtV treasures, as well...

And, of course, playing on Etsy almost always ensures I'll find something else I love. Today it's another shop from Scarlet Beautiful called Velvet Morning... vintage portrait photo collages. Now I'm just getting distracted...

Perhaps I'm in need of taking a photography class at The Art Institute of Portland this winter. After being an employee there for six months+ I can take classes for free. What a lovely way to translate my love for others' photography into something I can do myself.

Okay, that's it for today. It's afternoon movie-time with Mara!

Love,

Katery

... A Few of My Favorite Things ...

Wanted to share... going back through Etsy faves and finding some of my most beloved listings... LOVE.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c855c83b4676d91167b889e/a-few-of-my-favorite-things

A handful featured here, as well...

My favorite local photographer, Bill, from House of Six Cats. I love his work so much, and here he captured my favorite bridge, the Saint John's Bridge, in North Portland beautifully.

Another local favorite in Portland are these floating paper poms from Pom Love. So many beautiful colors to choose from, and so many possibilities for decor. If I could open a shop or have a beautiful office or space all to myself, I'm sure these would be floating down from the ceiling.

And from floating flowers in the air.. to lovely floral accents for your feet! These shoe clips are so delicate... I wish I would have discovered them in time for my wedding. Alas, they can certainly dress up any pair of my heels for others' joyful celebrations, right? Find more lovely creations from B.Poetic.

I've been loving this local artist's work for a while now... pinups from Brenda Dunn have been spotted in some of my favorite local boutiques, and I can't wait to have one hanging up in our condo. This one seems to fit the bill... titled "Kate" and in my favorite color!

Finally, another local artist whose work I've admired in local stores and galleries -- paintings by Nancy Kremiller. I love how she uses sheet music in her multi-media artwork; two of my loves -- birds and music; makes such an ethereal combination!

That's all for this Labor Day. Back to not laboring... but resting, resting, resting for more bike crash recovery time.

Love,

Katery

New Look, New Treasuries

Hi all,

I've been messing around a little with the layout of my blog... trying to do something different... and at the same time I've created a few, (3), treasuries on Etsy. Check them out... and let me know what you think about the new look for this blog! :)

Love,

Katery

http://www.etsy.com/people/KateryDesigns/treasury

From the hospital... to recovering at home!

Oh my... we've been home from the hospital for two and a half weeks now... and it's been a little better every day... although I do wish this whole bicycle crash had never happened. C'est la vie. Here are pictures to share! In the meantime... I'm distracted by the Emmy's. :)

The new living room setup. What a lovely hospital bed!

Decorated back brace...

Cuddling with Kai in bed. :)

Get well cards... and the medicine schedule...

Cruisin' in the wheelchair in style...

That's it for now!

Love,

Katery

Holy Moly: Bicycle Crash

Wow. I'm too tired to fully blog about it, but I feel like it's crazy that I don't have anything posted yet about the fact that I messed myself up really, really, really bad nearly two weeks ago... spending 11 days in the hospital before finally coming home 2 days ago.

I was riding my road bike near the Waterfront on the East side, when I crashed into a giant cement support column for the I5 bridge. Ouch. Let's just say 6 breaks in my left femur, 7 broken ribs, 6 fractures in my back, 2 punctured lungs, and a broken clavicle later... I'm on my way to making a complete, albeit painful and slow-going, recovery. Here are a few pics... more details to follow later...

I got massive amounts of flowers... I think 23 bouquets in all... nurses and doctors said they'd never seen a patient get so many. I definitely felt the LOVE!

Loopy on painkillers, to say the least...

Mike displaying my lovely new back brace... will have to wear it for at least a month... First time leaving my hospital room in 9 days... a walk in the garden with Sarah and Mike...Okay, now back to resting for now... again more later!

Love,
Katery

Cell Phone Splendour

It's been a while since I last blogged, and wanted to start this Thursday out on a positive note -- by sharing some of what I've been up to lately.... as far as pictures in my cell phone go. :)

A beautiful morning glory purchased at The Portland Nursery -- now blooming like crazy on my back porch. It makes me miss The Morning Glory restaurant in Ashland, Oregon. LOVE that place!

And more flowers... these a couple of weeks ago from the farmer's market in our neighborhood... the Lloyd Farmer's Market. It's so nice to be able to walk down the street each Sunday and get loads of fresh flowers, veggies, and my favorite... berries.
And last weekend I went with a few friends for a bicycle winery tour in Yamhill County. So much fun... a couple dozen miles on a bike and several wineries hit. This... from the top of the hill at Anne Amie Vineyards, where we stopped for lunch. So much beautiful lavender up there!
And that evening... after a long bike ride, I went with Mike to re-fuel at Ned Ludd, an awesome restaurant in North Portland. This was my trout entree. I was a big freaked out by the full on fish on my plate... but covered in dill and lemon, it was DELICIOUS!
And this photo... from several weeks ago while we were enjoying a vacation with friends and family at Sunriver, Oregon. Mike and I headed out a couple of days before Julie and Donald and Alyssa and Scott joined us. We saw tons of deer in the backyard each morning... and there were some other stories as far as wild life goes, too, but those will be saved for another time... ;)
Since I'm now working in the Pearl District, hold on to your hats -- I work in the same building as Anthropologie. That has the potential to be really, really dangerous... but so far it's not. Instead, I get to scope out things I like, and then wait until they go on sale. Currently waiting for this skirt to be marked down. Started off as $200 (year right), now $98... I'm thinkin' $50 is more like it, so we'll see...
Finally, I've been subscribing to Groupon in Portland for the last few weeks, and as a result I've been scoring some great deals for activities, restaurants and services in the Portland area. To name a few... ballroom dance lessons, The Bar Method classes, food discounts for Everett Street Bistro, (right around the corner from work), and Chez Machin, a Southeast distillery tour, and a facial at a salon on Hawthorne. The first coupon I enjoyed was a fabulous dinner at the French restaurant Chez Machin on Hawthorne. This was our appetizer... baked brie. Oh. My. God. Delicious! And I wonder why I'm not losing weight, despite riding my bike to work everyday. Ugh.
So, anyway... that's what I've been up to lately... Oh, I also got my hair chopped off yesterday by Staci at Bouffant Salon. She did a great job, and I love my new haircut! :)
That's it for now!

Love,

Katery