Lunar New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year/ Lunar New Year/ Spring Festival! Its the year of the rooster! I meant to do this post this morning but I slept in and time got a way from me. (Thats been happening a lot!) BUT I just got home from a lovely family dinner and I wanted to take a minute to welcome in the new year! I love the Chinese New Year! I love all the red, good luck omens and traditions! I always enjoy reading my horoscope and seeing what the year might have in store for this golden goat! I LOVE the food and my family always makes the best food! ( I might be a little biased!) I really do hope this new year brings good fortune and prosperity to you and your family!

This year I made some instant kimchi. The recipe I used was THIS one. I think it turned out surprisingly yummy. Its basically kimchi but not fermented. One of these days I'll be brave enough to try and make the real stuff, but this one was real yummy. Same spicy flavor just a little less fizzy and sour. I'm not the best cook but this recipe was super easy and simple. Eating it plain was kinda meh, but with steamy rice it totally mellowed out the fishy/spicy-ness!

New years isn't complete with out some lucky almond cookies! My mom make some almond coffee ice cream as well that was SO yummy. But I ate it all before I could take a picture. Oopsy! So much yummy food and loud talking. I'm not sure when I'm talking with my family we all have to shout everything. haha All the more fun of having an opinionated-smart ass family!

Best wishes for the year of the rooster! I hope it's a good one.

Women's March!

I tend to make it very clear on this little blog of mine that I'm super into the empowerment of women. Intersectional feminist is a badge that I wear honorably everyday. I'm sure if you were on social media at all this weekend you saw one or two posts about the Women's March in Washington DC and around the world! I just wanted to take a minute on this Sunday evening to share all my favorite bits about this wonderful historic event that took place this weekend!

Here in Utah we did have a sister march that took place in Park City. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it. I've been getting over a cold and it being in Park City during the winter and during the Sundance Film Festival there was no way I'd survive! So I had to sit this one out, but like everyone is saying this march is just the beginning. Now there is work to be done! So hopefully I can participate in some good things coming up!

They have now started a campaign called 10 actions for the first 100 days. The first action is to send postcards to your Senators! You can get info HERE! This one is right up my alley and I noticed a few bookstores around here were also having postcard writing events! So look in your area to see what is going on and how you can partake in these next steps!

I love this little clip on Sunday Morning (one of my favorite shows!) I love how factual they are and how they mention the next steps are what determines how momentous this movement actually is. I wish they would've gone with a different performer in the opening clip. Not to be negative but I've never been a Madonna fan, plus there were so many other performers that were totally kick ass. But anyways, still a neat clip!

My favorite tweet from the weekend! I love Nick Offerman. I love that he was in the Park City March braving all that snow! There were lots of celebrities at the March on Main, which is cool cause Utah is getting a little more recognition then usual. Smart cookies the ones who planned it for Park City. 

My favorite speech of the event! I adore America Ferrera! Its so hard for me to not tear up during her this speech. I love that it was short and to the point. Lots of speakers got a bit rambly, but hers is just perfect. There were a lot of good speeches, check them out if you have time!

There were so many signs! I was thinking what I'd put on my sign but I'm not all that clever. I wanted to share ALL the signs, but I narrowed it down to just these two. The comic sans one just cracks me up! Anyone who appreciates good typography cringes at the thought of comic sans. haha Does that make me a font snob?? I also love this one about introverts. It is WAY too relatable. Its amazing how quickly you can come out of your shell for something that is important! 

I also found THIS link that I thought covered the entire thing really well if you're wanting to read more about it. I always kinda like PBS and is one of the news stations that I follow. Are there any news outlets that are your favorites? I feel like I'm always looking for new NEWS. Theres so much iffy-ness with mainstream media and I feel I need to watch more and get as many perspectives as I can so that I'm saying well informed. 

Overall such a beautiful thing to witness. So much strength and positivity and it couldn't have come at a better time! If you were able to attend a march please tell me about it in the comments! How did you feel, why were you marching? I'd love to hear some more stories! 

Lovely Things: Galaxies!

I kinda thought this trend died out a while ago, but its still popping everywhere. Not that I'm complaining. Colors and compositions of space-ness is quite beautiful. I remember taking astronomy and being taken by all the colors of the different gases and what nots. I'm not sure I really learned much in that class to be honest! Although my anxiety about the vastness of space definitely got worse. But whatcha gonna do, anyone is a fool to think that we know everything. On that cryptic note here are some really neat findings! ha.

Space wrap from Normans Printery. I'm not sure I could waste this on wrapping gifts, but it sure would make some awesome envelopes or art journal pages! 

 Black Velvet cake by Sprinkle Bakes. My favorite part is the stars inside! So cute.

 Galaxy kitty sticker from SNew. I bought these a while ago and I really love them!

 Space note book by Patiak. My favorite part about this book is the paper for the inside! It looks like it would make great backgrounds and something unique to draw on!

Last but not least some amazing watercolors by Rachael Loftis. I love her art and love following her in instagram. All her water colors are so lovely! I should practice doing more space!

December Art Journal

I'm off to a slow start this year! I finally got photos of last months art journal. I made a small-ish sized accordion note book for last months and this months art journal. One side is December and one side is January. I kinda like the way it turned out. I'll definitely be making more of these! I'm into the accordion fold thing lately. I think can come up with a better way to construct it though, this one got a little wonky. Do you craft your own note books? Any tips and tricks?

 I added a filter on all my photos cause the lighting was weird. The winter sucks cause the sun sets so early and I sleep in..like most of the time. So yeah I missed the sun.

 I probably shouldn't have added watercolor cause I did not use watercolor paper so the middle of my book is all wobbly.

 I love that this is instax size. I'll have to take more photos in January!

 I added a little pocket that has a little letter to myself about the year. I like to write letters to myself and tuck them into my journals. They are really fun to go back and read.

 I ran  out of space for the new year thoughts and happenings, so I added this little fold out. Attached with washi tape! Easy peasy!

Here it is so you can kinda see how its two sided. I'm gonna have to add a string or something to hold it all together.

Phew! Bring it on 2017.