My Monday Relief

You know when you wake up from a restful weekend, deceived, thinking that you will have a smooth transition into the week...but then...dun dun duuun...chaos!?!?! Okay, my day wasn't that bad; that was a slight overreaction. But I did have a really restful and productive weekend, went to bed at a decent time (for once), [everything in between], got to work this morning and immediately fell into an insanely busy and chaotic work day! Oh my. At first, I was really worried that this was a bad sign for the week ahead of me, but then...to the end of my day.... I got home to a fully cooked dinner by Jeff and it just got better from there (and it's not even over yet)!!

I hope everyone else had a great Monday & has an even better week! Here are some of my Monday reliefs*:
[*Disclosure: Monday is one of our main TV nights, you'll catch on]

1. Watching The Haney Project w/ Jeff and seeing how entertained & passionate he is about golf. I have to admit, the show is pretty funny. If you've never seen Charles Barkley's swing, you've got to check it out! We also had a jaw dropping moment seeing someone we knew & worked with from Beaverton on the show.

[photo courtesy of examiner.com]

2. Seeing the new Hershey's Kiss commercial for the first time. It is so cute!

3. Falling upon my new favorite design & fashion blog oh, hello friend - You should definitely keep her in your feed to see her daily's:

[all images courtesy of oh, hello friend]

4. AWESOME CBS Monday night shows

[all images courtesy of cbs.com & cwtv.com]

Antique Me, Please!

This is what my photos have been screaming at me for some time now! Jessica sounds like she's lost her marbles, you must be thinking. I assure you that isn't the case, lol. I've mentioned before how much I find creative inspiration in my every day and this is one that I've had for some time. I love antiques... I love antique stores. I love antique gadgets. I love antique jewelry. I love antique people (hehe, this is what my Grandma calls herself). But most of all, I LOVE antique photos! I would be lying if I said I saw antique photos on a daily basis, but in my recent blog roaming craze & interest in photography, I've seen so many photographers and graphic designers that have used this technique. It brightens my day to see these photos. Since I don't have a professional camera yet, I've been wanting to experiment with my graphic design interest and experience in this realm. However, I lost Photoshop when the ol' desktop pc went kaput, and ever since then I've struggled finding a similar program that had the necessary features AND ease of use. Fastforward (or rewind, however you look at it) to a few days ago, when I found it...Picnik.

Picnik is a web-based photo editing tool that allows you to edit photos from your computer, the web or a handful of other photo storage sites like Picasa, Flickr, Facebook, etc. It has a ton of one-click & auto-fix features, exposure, color, red-eye, as well as the standard crop, re-size, rotate, etc... but then comes the good part! There is a whole section of 'Create' features with custom-made effects that really allow you to build and personalize your photos. So, tying it all together, there are two features called 1960s & cross-processed that 'antique' my photos - in one click! I LOVE IT! Seriously, I can't even explain all of the cool things that Picnik can do.

This is definitely a new favorite of mine that I think everyone should check out if they enjoy playing around with and sharing their photos. In honor of my new favorite tool & love for all things antique, I've included some recent blog-find favorites and photos from my trip to Lincoln City, OR for my girlfriend, Stef's, birthday in January. It was such a great weekend and I was reminded of how the beach is one of my favorite places to be.

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Friday favorites:

{from sadie olive's flickr}


{reposted by still dottie from tec petaja}

{from millie motts' flickr photostream}

{old post from sweet sassafras}


{photos by max wagner via a cup of joe}
**some are older post, but I couldn't help it :)