July Stars

Why do the summer months seem to always go by so much faster than any of the other months?  I hope all of your summer days are sweet and that your Fourth of July is full of fireworks and bbqs!  Being in a festive mood this week, I created this new calendar that's fun and bright for your summer!  

Download July Stars Here.

North Carolina Wine Festival

This weekend was the North Carolina Wine Festival, held at Tanglewood Park, in Clemmons, N.C., which is about 35 minutes from Greensboro, but still in the Triad area.  While this time of year inspires several wine festivals throughout the state, this is the largest annual festival, with over 20 local wineries presenting tastings and samples.

Vlad and I spent the day wandering through the park enjoying the sunshine and a few glasses of wine.  Represented among the booths was Rocky River Winery located near my hometown of Concord, and several wineries from around the Triad area.  I loved trying the wine that had titles and flavors revolving around life in North Carolina, like the Loggerhead Red, or the Carolina Blush.  But the most impressive item for sampling for me was the wine ice cream!  I don't about you guys, but that pretty much puts two of my favorite things into one savory dessert!  With 5-6% alcohol and real fruit pieces, the peach was my favorite with black cherry (a lavender colored ice cream) as a close second!

We ended up visiting about eight of the booths, but our favorite was the first booth of the day, Slightly Askewed Winery from Elkin, NC.  Before we left we made sure to stop back by and snag a bottle of pomegranate wine to enjoy later!  Most of the wineries were having tastings of their sweet and fruit wine selections for summer, but some of them were just entirely to sweet for my taste.  However Slightly Askewed also had peach, black cherry, and blackberry acai wine that were delicious and all while fruity and full of flavor, were not too sweet to sip on!

It was a beautiful day for the festival, with the willow trees swaying in the wind and the elegant sun hats to shield the rays, it was a southern event for the season!  This was my first wine festival and I'm already excited for next year!

Textures

One year ago yesterday, I published this post on Frank Liske Park in my hometown.  After looking back on 2012, I thought it would be fun to go back to the park the same day one year later and take some new photos!  I can tell how much I've learned about my camera since then (which was around the time I had first purchased it) and I can see so many new things that I had overlooked the first time.  Growing up, my Dad and I used to go to the park on countless Sunday afternoons when the sun was shining and the sky was clear, just to get some fresh air and have a little adventure.  So we took the opportunity to go together again and see where the trail would lead us this time!  

Going to the park in the winter is always more interesting to me, because without all the pretty flowers and sprouting grass, the texture of nature is more prominent than the decoration.  Every where you look you can see vibrant colors and bold patterns in the hot pink berries, periwinkle fungi or the red speckled bark.  It's hard not to find the beauty in a tiny mushroom or in the mint green moss catching the sunlight with so many small elements attracting your attention.

Walking through the last stretch of trail we stopped to visit the dock, which is home to paddle boats in spring time but during the winter month becomes home base for the flock of Canadian Geese.  Leaving the park after three hours of strolling through a bit of nature, I had so many pictures I could barely choose which ones to post, which probably explains why I included so many, but I hope you enjoy them!

I've also started posting several of these photos, and a few extra ones I didn't include, with free color schemes attached and available for use on my page here.   Happy Adventuring!

Celebrating 2013

Since I've already told you all about my upcoming resolutions and goals, and recapped 2012, there's only one thing left to show you: the celebrating!  Just my luck, I've had a migraine since Christmas, including New Years' Eve,  and didn't started feeling better until today!  So Vlad and I had a low key New Year's, spending the midnight hour at a friend's apartment with a few of our favorite people!  Ellie surprised me by coming into town, and kept on our tradition of spending New Year's together.  It was a perfect night, focusing on all the good things in  my life and starting off 2013 just the right way!  I hope you all had a happy and safe New Year's as well!  Here's to 2013 Everybody!

Hello 2013

Dear 2012,

You have been so good to me.  Beyond good actually, you have changed my life completely!

A year ago I was stressed out so much, I couldn't think of anything else, and so unmotivated that I thought I was on a downward slope and I just couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel.  But what I also couldn't see, was that going through it all would teach me lessons that would guide me to a new life; one with creativity, fellowship, family, beauty, and so much love.

With that having been said, I am just so grateful to have been so lucky this year!  While 2012 was probably one of the best years I've have for a long time, I know that it has also been stressful, damaging, and heartbreaking for others.  So I hope that 2013 will rise on a better year for all those who have struggled in 2012.

Let's Have a Brief Recap of 2012's Positive Karma:

January: Trip to Boston and Brooklyn, (which kicked my year off and pushed me onto a new path, also Place 1 and 2), went to my first NBA (Celtics) game 

February: Started going out & about more, Meet this cool guy Vlad (its a real cute story)

March:  Spring Break beach trip with my girlfriends for my 3rd place of the year

April:  Easter trip to Virginia to see my extended & entire family (a rare and amazing occasion)

May:  Celebrated at my Best Friend's Wedding, Congratulated my college roommate and amazing friend, Jessi, at her graduation

June: Lake trips with the boys and everyone else

July: GOT MY FIRST BIG GIRL JOB, Moved into a new (nicer) apartment,  Remember that cool guy? We started dating :D 

August: Got a new-for-me car

September: Labor Day at the lake with all the boys, Had 3 of my designs for work placed on city-wide billboards

October: Turned 23 surrounded by some amazing people, Went to my 4th Place for a girl's weekend in the mountains at Blowing Rock, Saw old friends and fellow Alumni at UNCG's Homecoming

November:  Invested in the IPhone club so I can blog on location :D , Retired my dorm room futon for a real life-size sofa, Celebrated Thanksgiving with my both my parents and my Greensboro family, 

December:  This lovely blog hit 300 followers (from having 0 in May),  Celebrated the holidays with amazing people

So Hello 2013,

You may not know it yet, but you will be amazing too.  I have so many things planned for you and I can't wait to see where you will take me!  

Here are my resolutions for 2013, a slight change from my previous year's but I'm ready for the new year to begin and a fresh start to see what I can do now!

Resolutions:

Try 5 New Things: Since 2010 I have made the New Year's Resolution to go to 5 New Places each year.  And have made it to 13 total!  

2010:  Charleston:SC,  Los Angeles:CA,  Asheville:NC,  Williamsburg:VA,  Outer Banks:NC

2011:   New York City:NY,  Indianapolis:IN,  Chicago:IL,   Grandfather Mountain, Banner Elk:NC

2012:  Boston:MA,  Brooklyn:NY,  Garden City:SC,  Blowing Rock:NC

But now that I have a full time, big girl job, it's much harder to travel as freely.  So instead of specifically going to 5 new places, I'm altering my resolution to doing 5 things I've never done before!  This will hopefully give me a chance to check some boxes off my bucket list!  More on that to come soon!

Go Back to Yoga: I took a yoga class the summer before last and I loved it, but then time and classes got ahead of me and I had to take a break.  But now, with a routine schedule I can count on, I would really love to find a class that I can plan on going to again!  It will also encourage me to simply exercise more and eat a little more mindfully. What's good for the body and is always good for the soul!

Continue a Hobby: During college, there's always something to work on, something that needs to get done before the deadline, but now when I come home from work I find myself cleaning the house, going out or watching TV.   My goal is to get back to my basics, take on a project and do something more creative with my free time!  I recently started working on adding things to my Etsy Shop, and I really want to continue that into the new year!

So remember this post?  Well here are the final results!  These two beautiful photographs were taken on my birthday this past year by Ellie M. Mckinney (remember the best friend that got married this year...yup that's her!)  You can check out her blog here! Sometimes I just don't know what I'd do without her!