Paris...

Ryan and I have tickets for Europe this October. I've never been before, but I've been dreaming for almost a decade of visiting. Paris has always seemed like a mecca for artists and I can't wait to go there, almost more than any other city we will be visiting.

I love this short from Paris je t'aime. Along with all of the other shorts in the film. I can't wait to go.

-XO

Impressions of Impressionists

Some of the most amazing painters in history were the impressionists. They were the first ones to change the way people expected paintings to be done. With photographs capturing every shape, detail and expression, these artists moved more toward the feeling that one would get from a painting rather than simply just how realistic the painting could be.

I was lucky enough to see an impressionist exhibit at the de Young Museum in San Francisco last fall by some of my favorite painters. And what better way to see how they worked than to see their self-portraits done in their emotional and colorful style.

Mary Cassatt

Paul Cezanne

Edgar Degas

Edouard Manet

Claude Monet

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

-XO

PS! - Is it just me, or does Claude Monet sort of look like a super beardy Brad Pitt in this self-portrait??

In the City

I know I posted some art from Emmy Cicierega before, but I had to share this piece with you that she created recently. Super simple, but totally poignant. It really reminds me of what it's like living in a city; everything often seems to be passing by in a blur of colors.

Go check out more of her art here.

-XO

The Beginning of Summer!

Everyone knows tomorrow is the Summer Solstice (or at least anyone as nerdy as me who remembers these things!) Summer isn't my favorite season, but it is definitely a season filled with fun road trips and adventures! This weekend two of my best friends and I went to Santa Cruz to enjoy the lovely weather. This photo I discovered on Flickr by Redskynight pretty much captures a perfect summer moment. And this song by Cults is a perfect song for the beginning of summer, perfectly titled, "Go Outside".

I hope everyone enjoys their "longest-daylight-hours-of-the-year-in-the-northern-hemisphere" day tomorrow!!

-XO

Star Globes!

My dad is a geologist. He loves rocks and minerals and stars. Growing up, I was fascinated with his star globe with diagrams of the constellations. I could never understand how the stars could be inverted onto a sphere, but it didn't really matter because that just made it all the more fascinating. I'd love to get a star globe of my own, and while searching online I came across quite a few that would be cool have, but one stood out as a little more intriguing than the others: a 1975, Soviet Stars Celestial Globe that comes in a wooden box. How much would you love one of these??

-XO

On the Horizon

Four of the five naked-eye planets (top to bottom), Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and Mars on the horizon from NASA's photo of the day.

-XO