Painting and not by numbers

Finally got the "OK" to decorate the apartment a bit. WHOO HOO!! I have been wanting to do this for a long while. Naturally now that I could, I was having such a hard time finding art I liked that was in my price range. The search to find ‘art’ was taking such a long time, and I was antsy. I wanted to get started on decorating! So, I ended up deciding to make the art myself. 

Before doing this, I spent a while looking for art examples.  I wanted to find one I liked and also thought was reasonably easy to recreate.Once I got my ideas, I went to Blicks and got supplies with a friend (Thank you Mr.A). Came home, set up the tarp on the patio to protect it and the walls while I was painting. I know my hun would be concerned about the mess and then got ready to start. 

After I started, I was surprised by how relaxing and enjoyable painting was. I was even more startled that the paintings actually came out pretty darn good! For the price of one art piece, I made myself four and put my own touch on it. Go ahead and check them out, they are below!

The first is a three piece set:
 

I decided to pick trees for a few reasons, one I really always liked the woods and two I always was able to draw them. Though I did not want the images to be really identical, I wanted them to be from different perspectives of time and distance. In the ended I really liked how these paintings came out and feel like one is almost walking through the woods. 

The second art piece is:
 

It is an abstract that sits above the fire place. While I will admit to liking the woods a bit better, I really love the colors in the abstract.  The colors play very nicely in the living room and picks up the colors in the wood. Plus the class of calming verse chaotic movements within the painting also make it interesting to look at. 
 

Lessons learned? Everyone and anyone can find their inner artist.

My Bridesmaid Invite

Wanted to do something specially my girls, from my bridesmaids to readers... I know, but want to include a lot of good friends and it is hard to! So I hand created an invite.

I also asked a friend of mine who makes jewelry (RMD) to make me rings for all the girls, with slight variations. Here are two below!

 

 The above rings and card I am giving to all my girls, though I thought to go the extra mile for my bridesmaids. So I decided to make them an emergency box, for themselves and me!

So this means gathering an arsenal of must have's and things to help keep them sane during this insane process of being part of a wedding. So I went to Michael's got a double suitcase box and decorated the interior box. Then I went to gathering things they needed:

• A bottle of wine
• Scrub
• Massage bar
• Shower Gel
• Nail Polish
• Lipgloss
• Eyemask
• Chocolate
• Hair clip & ties
• Purse key chain
• Glow sticks
• Balloons

Package it all up, made sure it fit and added some bubble wrap...  to make it  safe.

Then it was write a personal letter to them all and smile at a job well done.

Auora Borialis in Iceland

Getting to see the Northern Lights was always a part of my bucket list and I was so happy and lucky to see them multiple times. The first night that we arrived, they graced us with their presence and danced a bit for us. Below are some of our best shots:

We also saw them on our first night at Sonar right outside the Harpa and over the harbor. It was kinda special to see them in the city so close. I almost wish we left the event to go hunt them outside away from lights. We went hunting for them on our last night and were able to see them. We pulled over to the shoulder to watch the show and ended bottoming out in the snow bank (deeper than we thought) even with a four wheel drive! Luckily we pulled over two cars, the first tried to help us find a tow, and the second was able to tow us. Which was amazing and utterly saved the day, but funny part was that it was the chef from our first hotel; they remembered us too! Thankfully people in Iceland are incredibly nice and helpful. Now I only wish the lights looked as vivid in real life as they do in the pictures!

Iceland Winter Wonderland

People ask, why Iceland... and besides why not; it was for scenic landscape and a truly relaxing experience. So my hunny and tried to split the cost of the trip and figure it out. Oh we did! We also spent a good bit of time preparing and packing for the trip. The only real hiccup was that our bags took and extra day to get there. Granted our connection was so close that we barely made the flight! Finding our hotel was no easy task, since Google maps did not realize the normal route was closed for the winter. Once we did find out hotel, it was the start of a pretty perfect vacation. Below are pictures of our first hotel.

 

We splurged at this hotel, it was top notch all around. The Ion Hotel's  service was fantastic, location, remoteness and with a great restaurant and spa. This was the view from our room:

Lucky for us, our hotel was already a bit on the outskirts so we were able to drive and see the local scenery. We also got to see the Aurora Borealis while we were at the hotel but that is for another blog. We spent a lot of time driving around and below are pictures from our first day there driving around: 

Representing my almamater the University of Oregon.

Icelandic horses are a pure breed that are stout and very hairy.

Pictures of Geysir, the one which all are named from are below:

Gulafoss:

Crazy maps:

Amazing views:

 

What I loved so much about Iceland, besides how amazing and sweet the people were, was the light; it was PERFECT! Every moment looked magical and so picturesque. It was crazy how much like walking in a painting being in Iceland was. Add that to the fact that the air was so crisp and clean The next day we took the long way to Reykajavik:

Hanging out at the lava pools.

Enjoying the black sand beaches!

Our next hotel was called OK Hotel. It was more of a 'studio' for the week, we did not have anyone clean up after us but we had all the amenities of home. Plus it was above a great Korean fusion restaurant and bar. Check it out:

A great place to call home, and had all the amenities of one with a restaurant/bar below. Though one should note that the cold water comes off the Glacier run off and taste delicious. While the hot water is from the thermal pools and smells like rotten eggs; granted makes your skin very soft. We really did not take many pictures of the city... but there was some great graffiti:

 A random office building that was also a rock climbing wall.

 All the while, being on an amazing lake with an incredible mountain rain on the other side.

 Plus a jewel of an opera house, that constantly changes colors and lights up.

 So the next day, the day between our 3 year anniversary and Mr.A's 35th, was supposed to be his best day ever. We ended up spending most of it in a record store, him pouring over record and myself talking to any random stranger who walked through the door. This happened to be the bunch of artist who were playing at the festival we were going to at the Harpa (above) called Sonar.

It was great! I got two CD's signed by the artist! Then we went to Tapas Barinn, where Mr.A got to get a special one on one with the local chef and we had an amazing dinner. I know we did not take much pictures while in the city, then we went to dinner and to our first night of the Sonar festival. Which was a lot of fun but we left a bit early so we could go on out the next drive on a drive to the Glacier...

Then randomly... a golf course sign, really wtf?

Our lunch spot:

Long open roads is all we go

The next two days we ran around the city and at night we went to Sonar to listen to amazing bands and DJs like the: Kiriyama Family (signed CD),  FM Belfast, Major Lazer with Diplo, and Trentmollar. On our last day, before heading out of the city on our way to the Blue Lagoon, we snapped a few shots.

Then to the spa to relax in milky steamy blue waters.

Where the air was freezing, the water so warm, and getting a massage while floating in the healing waters. It was so fun after a long weekend partying at a Icelandic festival, Overall, the trip was amazing and great to be out and about with my love, my rock and sweetheart.