A little piece of Portland in Bergen

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My friend and I had coffee at Barista, a cool coffee house/bar/venue in Bergen. It has a retro feel to it, and reminds me a little of the quirky cool hipster hangouts you so often come across in Eugene or Portland. The place is packed with vinyl records, retro arts and band posters. Barista is tucked away in a quiet corner of the city, and if you don't know about it, it may be hard to come across it by chance. To my great surprise there was a show poster for an old Elvis Costello show in the bathroom - where else but at the Roseland Theatre in Portland. Yay! A little piece of Oregon hits right at home (in the restroom.. haha!)

Pepperoni Love

Carnivore or not, pepperoni pizza never looked so.. CUTE! Love those little heart-shaped ronis. I guess you can always substitute with a vegan product.

Image from here.

The wonderful world of Ally

My wonderful and talented friend, Ally Burguieres, is a writer and artist currently residing in New Orleans, Louisiana. Take a moment to view these amazing paintings....

If you are interested in purchasing some, or want to know more about Ally and her art, visit her website.

'Tis the season

Hello bloggers!

It's been a while since I have been able to sit down and type. I am busy in between two jobs since Jamie can't legally work yet, so there's not much downtime. But hey - who's complaining. We're blessed with a place to live, a family that cares, growing friendships and a mutual optimism for the coming year.

Christmas is upon us, but this year I have not been stressing out about baking or decorating. Just finished my last batch of shopping during today's lunch break at work. I haven't been mailing out Christmas cards to everybody, but a few selected ones. Mostly due to the cost of shipping, which is HIGH! And speaking of Christmas cards.... I am absolutely in love with the vintage ones you get from Laughing Elephant. If there is not a store near you that sells them, you can order them online. Not just Holiday cards, but cards and calenders for every occasion. The company even has a Good Dog Carl collection! Love!





On a sidenote.... Jamie and I went to Bergen to celebrate my birthday. We stayed with my friend Anette and her boyfriend Jogeir. We had a blast! Bergen is such a great city, and I am hoping to get a job there SOON! We also met up with my cutie BFF Heidi for a B-day mocha. We went shopping, sightseeing and spending too much cash. In the evening, Anette surprised me with a birthday cake... and the party was ON! Anyways, after a few bottles of bubbly and VIP-mingling (don't ask), we got 86'd from a club, my new Jenny Skavlan collection dress got covered in bird poo, and I lost my camera. Argh!





Pictures from Heidi


So... here's to a joyful holiday and optimistic thoughts for a wonderful Happy New Year! :)

Sketch

I love sketches! They are the perfect way to convey feelings, moods, thoughts or actions. A sketch is an impulsive and fast-paced method to artistically capture what you see or feel. They are rough and raw. Sometimes they are a first step to a bigger picture (literally), other times they are perfect on their own. I keep many of my sketches because they are like a diary. When I revisit what I've created in the past, I'm there again for a second or two.


I used to be an avid drawer/painter, but I am afraid that the stress of work and college took me away from it. I'm finally slowly getting back into the habit of droodling and sketching and painting my days onto canvases again.


Here's one I did on a blue Sunday. It's not pretty, but it portrays the emotions of pure helplessness I felt on that particular day.

Some of my art

This one is called 'Mare Tranquilitatis', which is Latin for Sea of Tranquility. I was inspired by the moon, and wanted to creative a sense of moving, yet floating. I made this in 1999, so it's pretty old, but one of my favorites. I used charcoal, pencils and oil paint.

Ha. Bet you can figure out what this is. I used pencils, watercolors and pastels for this one.

This is an interpretation of a Paul Gauguin painting. He's my absolute favorite artist. This one doesn't come close to his talent, but I made this as a gift for my parents. I used pastels. I think I made this in 2003. I have TONS of sketches, paintings and portraits. I am just slowly getting back to that path. Will post some other ones later.