um...

i was going to say something, but i forgot.

city guide goodness

i had to share this, because it's so amazing and makes me feel like i've been living in a HOLE for the entire time (like my whole life, kinda?) i've lived in salt lake. this is an incredible, detailed guide that's given me a whole list of things to do whenever i say i'm bored and stuck and feeling icky.
i hate that i'm so uninvolved with my surroundings and my community. i know there's a big art community here, but i'm scared to jump in and say hi. maybe if i was actually producing much art these days, or maybe that's exactly what i need to give me back my mojo.
anyway, if any local yayhoos want to hit up the monthly gallery stroll with me, let me know, cause i think that would be fun.

in other news, did anyone see that rainstorm today? yikes. driving home felt like that scene in big fish, where the storm he drives through turns into massive amounts of water.

i'm working on some things, but they're all unfinished so i don't want to show them yet. but i've found that moving in new directions is all at once invigorating and deflating, because i love broadening my self spectrum but i'm also made painfully aware that i'm not automatically amazing at everything. just kidding. but really. it's a good reminder to appreciate the things people do and make even when they look easy, cause they're probably hard! sometimes i get cocky.

and, because i don't want to go to bed without leaving a little eye candy, here is something adorable. (it's also a semi-preview of what i'm a-working on.)

the shop is here, but i think these gnomes are especially precious. i would buy one for myself and have no shame. :)

night, guys.
love, kayla

SO MUCH DEGREES!

hello!
it's very hot today. very very hot. the first thing i did when i got home was peel off my dark wash jeans and black t-shirt (what was i thinking?!) and lay spread-eagle on the floor in my underwear. thank heaven for swamp coolers!

the day has started off less than great. i woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep, and then work, and my body for the last few days has been a little wonky and blah blah blah, i could whine all day. instead of doing that, though, i'm going to try and be productive. maybe some nice, cool, cotton dresses are in order. cotton dresses filled with ice.

p.s. before i go, how adorable is this??

plus all the other ones. LOVE her shop. :)
love, kayla

no sense in cleanin'

my room is a mess right now. i think it likes it, like a kid who's happiest when she's covered in mud from running through sprinklers or something, only this mud is rainbow colored and really really girly. there's embroidery floss and fabric scraps and makeup and sketchbooks and shoes and purses and clothes that were too clean to be put in the laundry basket yet too dirty to be put back into drawers. i'm not really comfortable with the mess, and i can tell you my family isn't, but the room seems happy so i'll let it marinade for a little bit while i take a shower.
i love a lot of things today (stuffed animals, embroidery, ice cream & milk, spinach/artichoke/parmesan cheese dip), but i can't be bothered with pictures and a detailed post. i just wanted to say hi. hopefully tomorrow i can write up something decent.
night!
love, kayla

harry potter?!?

woot for saturdays. the plans for today are costco, the mountains, cameras, and loving summer. i was woken up this morning by tony bringing me lots of new music and kisses. we ate breakfast over the paper and cut out one of the funnier comic strips, then we jumped on the trampoline and i got a piggy back ride. aren't we disgustingly cute? :) i love my boy.
the plan for right now is to kill time while waiting for people to shower by working on the current embroidery project and listening to harry potter on tape. that's right, harry potter. for those of you who don't know, i swore to never bother with harry potter since it first came out. i have a thing for purposely not following fads (less now than then) and it more or less began with harry potter. but tony got all 7 books on audiotape and put them on our itunes, and i would eavesdrop when he listened to them. the sensation of being read to is one of my favorites; i feel like i'm back in 5th grade where the teacher would read us wonderful stories, like mrs. frisby and the rats of NIMH and the last of the really great whangdoodles, and i can just sit back and be totally enraptured and it's a different experience than reading a book yourself.
i still prefer reading to listening to books, but i'm content to experience harry potter this way.
and yes, i like the books so far.

real quick, this is what i'm working on. it's just for fun, to learn new stitches and get some practice in. the pattern isn't mine, i found it on a website somewhere.

happy saturday.
love, kayla.

sudden extra time

it's such a beautiful summer day, my boss told me to go home early to enjoy it! :D just kidding. i did get to come home early, but only because business was so agonizingly slow. the reason doesn't really matter though; i'm grateful to be home.
i've got the windows open and the blinds pulled up, the swamp cooler making things livable. cherries in the fridge, a puppy in the yard, flowers on the desk.

perfect and lovely, no? maybe i'll get something productive done. ha. actually i'll probably do some embroidery while listening to harry potter.
what do you do on your summer days when you get home from work?
love, kayla

end of lazy haitus + spoils from yard sailing

hi! it's been a few days. that's my fault. we got some sweet loot last saturday that i've been wanting to blog about, but they needed to be photographed and i just never got myself around to it. isn't it funny how sometimes we lack the motivation to do even the things that we really love?

well, i'm back so let's get to it.

our neighbor had a garage sale last saturday and tony and i had the same idea to finally go yard sailing (read: sale-ing) like we've always wanted to. so we saddled up, armed with petty cash, and drove around aimlessly seeking handmade signs to follow.

here's the majority of what we came home with, minus cds. there's a big ol bag full of mix-matched yarn, a brand new camera tripod, an adorable silver fish ring, a bra, and...


oh hang on. kayla, what is that? is that a totally rad vintage camera that's completely blowing my mind right now?



why yes, sub-concious kayla, yes it is.

meet lympie. he's our new best friend, and he was $2.



after taking lympie apart and doing some research, we've discovered
a) he works
b) he was made in either 1968 or 1978
c) he's SOLAR-POWERED. no batteries!!
d) he's really really neat.

okay, so he works now. tony had to disassemble him because the aperture was sticking, and the metal ring around the lens was dented, but tony is amazing and got everything working again. we even got our first roll of film developed!




i don't think anyone else is as excited as we are, but we're pretty excited. if you couldn't tell. excited. us. YAY!

by the way, i do know it's disgusting that i bought a used bra from a yard sale. but it's from victoria's secret. do you know how expensive those bad boys are? this was 2 bucks! and it's my size. and i have a washing machine.

i'm getting distracted by my music. today i think i'll do some embroidery, go to harmon's for cherries, take a shower, replace the flowers in my room, take dani for a walk, and maybe play a video game or two. i hope everyone's having a wonderful tuesday!

love, kayla