Best of Tacoma, WA!

Some of you may not know but I am a happy resident of Tacoma, WA. It is a port city about 45 minutes South of Seattle.  I moved here about a year ago from my quaint little neighborhood in West Seattle. All of my Seattle friends gave me a hard time and tried to convince me that I would hate it…. but after rooting myself in this community I don’t think that I can ever leave. I wanted to talk about some of my favorite places here and hopefully inspire some people to venture south.

1. Best Coffee – Metronome Coffee

I live here, no joke. Free wi-fi, best coffee in the NW and they make all of their syrups!  Their Carrot Cake Latte is amazing and the flavors are rotated out seasonally. The best part about this coffee shop is the sense of community. They offer free live music almost weekly and open mic is on Tuesday nights.

This is my daughter doing the crossword with me

2. Best Park - Wright Park

{lady & gent photography, local to Tacoma, WA!}

I have a 3-year-old daughter and parks are an important part of our daily lives. She loves to be outside swinging or sliding down the slides. Wright Park is a hub for activity in Tacoma and there are many festivities that take place here. It is surrounded on most corners by beautiful churches and is just a few blocks from my home. There is also a large conservatory that is open to the public, the exterior of this building is perfect for photo shoots!

3. Best Date Spot – Red Hot

 This is a tiny, and I mean tiny, hotdog and beer hole-in-the-wall that gets packed. Honestly, I don’t know of any guy that wouldn’t dig having a date here. My favorite dog is the Murry Morgan Bridge Brat and at $4 it’s a the highest quality cheap date in Tacoma! Beer and Cider always rotate and they have 100′s, so it’s always a fun adventure to read the current menu.

4. Best Antiquing – Antique Row

It is a street that is packed with some of the best thrifting and vintage stores I have ever found! Across the street from the antique stores is a garage that is dedicated to Street Art and graffiti is encouraged. It is a huge community out here and really gives a platform to the community to share their ideas about what is happening in our community.

This is a chair that I have had on my wish list for months… One day I will own it.

5. Best free activity -  The Tacoma Art Mingle

The Tacoma Art Mingle is the third Thursday of every month and the Museum Triangle is open to the public for free along with a list of art galleries that offer wine and small bites! Above is the Tacoma Glass Museum and the cone is the Hot Shop where I am currently learning to blow glass. It is so much fun!!

I am actually showing an art piece this Thursday and I am kinda nervous. It has morphed into a completely different piece and is now an interactive puzzle. It does not look like  the image above but is now in larger clusters of pieces. I hope people actually interact with it! Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I also think that every place I listed has great potential for engagement photo shoots. The Tacoma Glass Museum is one of my favorite venues for weddings in Tacoma and Wright Park is my favorite engagement shoot location. There is so much culture and new and exciting things that are happening in Tacoma. It really is a hidden gem

Vulnerability

I wake up every morning and I lay in bed and I stare at the ceiling and I just wait for a few minutes. I wait for the my first thoughts to come to mind and those thoughts are usually what I pray about. This morning the first word that came to mind was ‘Vulnerability.’ It didn’t come to mind because I think that I possess it but because I wish I was more in touch with it. I view this as a strong and bold word– a state of mind and a way of living life.

3 things have happened to me recently and it has really changed my view of what I thought vulnerability was… and what I am coming to learn about it.

1.) I love Jesus and in my personal life everyone knows it but outside of that I never talk about it because it puts me in a vulnerable state. So I, like many people, wear this strong coat of armor and act as if the world can never hurt me. We block off all that is bad, we read self-help books, we consume, we repeat mantras to ourselves telling ourselves that we are/are not _________. You fill in the blank. The fact is, I don’t want to be that person that has it all cleaned up and together. We only live life once, why can’t we be frank with all of our emotions and accept that we were created with the full spectrum of feelings? I have become very aware of this lately and I had thought a lot about why I have been drawing close to some people and not to others. The answer, they are vulnerable with me and in turn, that makes me want to be vulnerable. The best part about this is that the Holy Spirit is there the entire time and when we can’t go, be, see, do anymore we always have Christ to lean on.

2.) The second event that has taken place in my life is a series of Art classes I have taken recently. I consider myself an Artist and I am always trying to learn more. Visual literacy and communication is something I thrive for. These classes were geared toward really looking in on one’s self and digging deep to reflect and figure out who we are at the core. What I found and what I think most others would agree —  we are all chipped in some way. I learned so much in that class about what struggle, vulnerability, and what a quick clean up looks like. In my quest as an artist to dig a bit deeper I discovered that apart from Christ I don’t really understand how I made it this far but I could do it all over again because I have him. I also learned that just sitting in those emotions and not rushing through them was actually very healing and helpful.

3.) I have also become very aware of the media recently. I have been delighted to see and experience some things and I have been completely broken about others. My first big discovery is the faith based community in this industry. The best part is they haven’t been hiding it… but they also haven’t condemned others for not agreeing. It has been amazing to watch them put themselves out there in a very vulnerable position. But even beyond that, bloggers in general are taking a different approach then mass media and connecting with people on a very personal level and this is why their blogs are so wonderful to read. In the blog world, people are being people! I love that! The vulnerability across the board is what is breeding innovation, creativity, and change!! I want to see more and read more from everyone! This facet in this industry has yet to be gripped by the neck from greed and envy. People are just waking up everyday and being real… delivering good content and saying what is on their hearts and minds, good/bad/happy/sad… and guess what!? Great things are still happening for them!

I guess in closing I  just want to encourage everyone out there in this giant ‘inter-web-o-sphere’ (I think I made that up) to consider what mask you wake up every day to put on… and maybe skip a day or two and just be yourself. The best gift we can give people in life is our gift of experiences. Share, ask questions, and try to be a little more vulnerable.

Studies show that people who are more vulnerable actually experience more joy and less shame!

So wake up, be you, learn, and repeat.

Enjoy your weekend!

 

Art // {de}faced

Art is such a funny subject because it is all about subjectivity. Art can mean everything and nothing at the same time and the process of coming to a conclusion about it can be frustrating and exciting. I have been very inspired by this movement of what appears to be de-facing art which in itself is art.

Woah, talk about walking in a full circle. The viewer thinks the piece has been deface, the artist actually painted the entire piece and is trying to show the gap through this representation, then it is presented to the viewer so they can walk through this process.

This whole in-depth analytical look into art in conjunction with pulling back and narrowing it down to the simplest terms is why I LOVE art so much… and also why I hate it sometimes {which is a really just a severe form of love}

This image is a bit fuzzy but I love the idea that the guy is showing power yet it doesn’t matter what his face looks like. It is a piece that anyone can draw from.

This piece is lovely. The monochromatic scheme with pops of pink in addition to the layers of the actual image are wonderful. I think that the best part of art is that you don’t have to be perfect at sketching, drawing, or painting… you just have to have the commitment to get through the piece and find happiness in knowing that someone will find it beautiful… and even if it is not that is okay to because beauty is subjective and can not have a solid definition.

That is all for my little art lesson today. I guess the main point is art is everything, nothing, beautiful, intellectual, and obsolete all at the same time. So my challenge to you is to doodle today… just draw for no purpose and see what you end up with.

PS – I know I promised a video this week but I have to post-pone to next week because…. I have two art pieces that I am showing at the Tacoma Art Walk/Mingle next week and they have both consumed my life. I will post images of them when I get them installed. Both are beautiful interactive pieces {puzzles} one is politically but not so politically based {yep, it’s purpose is to get you to make connections but it will not bring you to a conclusion} the other piece is a fun graphic puzzle that anyone at any age would want to play with. Stay tuned! {xo}

The First Dance {a song}

I am a {sappy} sucker for weddings which is why I have made a career of being part of the planning process and my ‘happy place’ is being an invisible part of the wedding day– in terms of making sure everything is perfect and flawless!

I have my favorite moments in weddings and one of my top 3 is the first dance!

1. The first look/prayer

2. The first kiss

3. The first dance

{do you see a pattern here?}

I LOOOOOVE it and I almost always shed a few tears of joy, by the end of the night I have probably fixed my mascara a few times.

This song is called “I do not love you” but it is not what you think. Take a listen! Most couples stick with the conventional first dance songs {Sinatra, Etta James, The Beatles} but I really enjoy when couples mix it up and pull out a song that most people do not know. I think people tend to tune in a little more to wrap their head around what the artist is singing about and how that relates to the couple and their journey.

I hope you have enjoyed your weekend! I am posting a new video this week so stay tuned!

Children’s Photo Shoot {inspiration}

I have been having some dreamy thoughts over the last few weeks about a photo shoot with little ones.

Over the last few weeks when my daughter and I go to bed we play pretend for a few minutes. Sometimes we fight/feed dragons {depending on how dangerous they are}, sometimes we are cats, and sometimes we just pretend that there are stars on the ceiling and we grab as many as we can and stuff them into our pretend sack. I will be quite honest, pretend play is something I have to work VERY hard at. I am an extremely creative person and on the spot can come up with ideas- but I also like feeling that I have some control or constraint around my creativity. False security, I supposed– and really it probably hurts me more than it helps me grow. All of this to say, I have made it a priority in my life over the last month to let go a little and get down on my 3 year old’s level and just play pretend. As I was mulling over this experience today I realized that it really is a bonding time for us and I actually enjoy being silly with her.

All of this whimsy has me yearning to build on it more and I am thinking about doing a fashion photo shoot with children. I am reaching out to a local kid’s clothing designer today and I am putting to word out if any of my photog friends want in on the action… CALL ME! I think it would be so much fun to collaborate with other creatives and all tap into our child-like imaginations and pull together a fun little photo shoot… and hopefully submit it to a magazine.

Bridal Inspiration: Floral Crowns

There are endless options for bridal headdresses and my favorite is the floral crown! It is a fun and fresh break from the traditional veil.

meadow // woodland

I love the simplicity of the single floral for a fresh-from-the-meadow look. I would keep the make-up neutral and bring focus to the eyes with some false lashes to make them pop! On the other hand I love the dewy woodland look! It is almost like a bird’s nest with the vines and pops of fabric and feathers. I like the peachy cheek and soft pinks that are used in this image.

hair down // hair up

After you decide on the style of the crown you want you have to decide what you will do with your hair. I love the long and wavy locks with the style of the dress on the left. There is something about a modest long-sleeved dress.. when done right it looks soft and sexy. I think the pink under tones of image on the right is completely flattering for her skin tone. I like the clean yet effortless look that her hair has.

bold lip // nude lip

I think that last major decision would be to go with a complimentary bold lip or to keep it natural and let the colors of the flowers to take center stage. In most cases I am all for bold lips- corals, hot pinks, red… but I think with the bright crown I would stick with neutral colors and draw out colors from the skin tone and not from the arrangement.

How would you wear a floral crown? Any favorites?

I also wonder if you wore the flowers on your head if you could forgo the bouquet and carry something special instead…. a balloon, your favorite bible, and framed photo of a parent/grandparent who is deceased?

oh, the possibilities.

Spring Trend: soft florals // white // pops of orange

Hands down, the best part of Spring is the florals and bursts of color! I have a handful of floral tops that I want to wear this spring and I was looking for a fun and fresh way to wear them and I started to notice a trend. Floral statement pieces, white, and pops of orange! I have most of these elements and I am excited to try it out!

{look 1}
White Jeans…. I will admit, I have never owned a pair of white jeans and I am kinda terrified to try it out… mostly because I think they will be destroyed in mere minuets after putting them on! I do think that if I invest in a solid pair {JBrand, Paige, AG, and so on} that it could look flattering on me. The biggest mistake people make is they purchase white jeans that are poor quality and you can see underwear colors, panty lines, and skin tone. These are all no-no’s. So follow the same rule I will when I go to purchase mine, go for good quality or completely skip the purchase, it does make a difference.

{look #2}

I love everything about this look, so much that I would actually say that this is passable to wear to a Spring wedding if you are a guest! The trick with dresses — if the hemline is short your neckline needs to be high. NO EXCEPTIONS. This is rule {numero uno} as a guest at a wedding. It is okay to be trendy but it must be classy. I also love the orange clutch and the white fingernails! Finish it off with a top knot and a pair of shades and you have yourself a pulled together look!

{look #3}

This look is perfect for a day or errands. I love the rolled shorts and the front tuck of the shirt. A thick brown belt and white blazer finish this look. It is classy yet casual.

What items do you have in your closet that you can recycle and freshen up for Spring? Leave a comment below and I will do my best to source some ideas for you!!

enjoy.