January 24, 2012

Calligraphy

I’m back from five crazy days spent at Alt Summit in Salt Lake City, and as you can tell it’s taking me longer than planned to get focused again. But more about my Alt experience later in the week, right now I want to talk about a new hobby I picked up quite accidentally while out of town. Calligraphy.

Saturday afternoon I stumbled into a calligraphy class taught by none other than the uber-talented Melissa Esplin. I’d tried my hand at some Old English calligraphy when I was about 10 years old, but hadn’t touched the stuff since then. (RE: I was awful at it.) I didn’t have high hopes of any latent talent on my part, but when Melissa introduced us to Copperplate calligraphy and I start experimenting with letter forms I was sort of instantly hooked. Now I can’t wait to research other forms of the art and get going, I’m completely drawn to the more modern scripts. Today I eyed this set from Terrain and love the look of the letters. Luckily we got to take our pen, nibs, and india ink home with us so I can get started right away. I also happily won a free online class Melissa is about to launch! Hooray for the unexpected.

Posted In create
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January 18, 2012

Dip Away

There’s something about January and playoff football that has me dip crazy. Oh, who am I kidding, I’m always up for the stuff. In fact, I actually want to have a dip party. You know, everyone brings a separate concoction and we chow. Grand idea, no?

ll photos and recipes copyright of their respective source unless otherwise noted.

Posted In recipes, round up
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January 18, 2012

Alt Summit 2012


ORIGINAL PHOTO: Conde Nast Traveler

In a few short hours I’m off for the third year in a row to Alt Summit in Salt Lake City! This year I’ll be speaking on a panel with Nicole Balch, Jordan Ferney, and Maggie Mason about growing your readership. I’m so looking forward to seeing all of my blogger friends who I only get to touch base with a few times a year. Little sleep and lots of chatting are in the plans, I like to call it blogger camp. Don’t fret, I have posts lined up while I’m away. I’ll be back at it Monday with lots of stories to tell!

Posted In shameless plug
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January 17, 2012

Fireplace

Confession: I’ve owned my home for 3.5 years and the pilot light in my living room fireplace remains unlit. Total and utter laziness on my part. Maybe I can just download Ted Martens digital fireplace and put my laptop on the hearth instead?

Posted In downloads, technology
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January 16, 2012

Hairy Sock

Loving these jewelry pieces that capture everyday things from Hairy Sock. I’m so guilty of having a hair elastic around my wrist, I’d probably try to put the bracelet in my hair by accident one day!

Posted In jewelry, wear it
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