happy [august] day!

there are so many wonderful people in my life born in the month of august (including my cute cousin trân and my lovely aunt tata quân!) but wanting to wish a happiest of birthdays to my dad today! you deserve a fabulous milestone of a birthday and i hope milo bothers you just a LITTLE bit less to play since it's your special day ;) i miss you and love you so much!!!

[image from pinterest ...i figured it was a manly cupcake]

paper bicycle daily pattern: abstract

it has been surprisingly difficult to find cute stationery here in copenhagen--my recent notebook quest was actually solved by finding a muji section at a department store in malmö. (yes, i do own A LOT of cute blank notebooks but sadly they are currently in the ship container sailing the seven seas)

for one of paper bicycle's daily pattern this week (topic: abstract) i did a pattern in fun colorways i wish i could find on a notebook...if only i had my screenprinting supplies (again, sailing the ocean blue) or knew where a printer was around here, my dreams could come true.

malmö, sweden

last weekend we went to malmö, sweden for a little day trip since it's only a short train ride away. it was such a beautiful and clean city, and everyone was really friendly! the prices are slightly lower than denmark so we were able to pick up a few things for the apartment and do research for future shopping. we had nice sunny weather towards the end of the day and enjoyed a lovely dinner outside.

BONUS...we even saw chris' twin (fifth photo ;)

remember these?

this drawing posted on the kate spade blog is so cute! filed under #thingswelove...i totally agree, the juice was definitely the best part.

around the block

photo 1: view out our kitchen window of the buildings across our courtyards

photo 2: we can hear church bells from this church often

photo 3: cafes with outdoor seating on østerbrogade

photo 4: pedestrians, bikers and cars co-exist in copenhagen with separated paths ;)

photo 5: street view of our apartment building

photo 6: view of cute buildings lined up on østerbrogade

photo 7: DOESN'T THIS LOOK LIKE A MUSTACHE???

we are really lucky because we never visited our temporary apartment before moving here, but the neighborhood is fantastic! there are a lot of restaurants and cafes with outdoor seating and you can always see people walking and biking around. we are near multiple grocery stores and fresh produce stands so you can walk around the block to get food as you need, instead of stocking up and having things go bad.

the apartment is located in the østerbro district which is just north of downtown. we are 1 block off the main road østerbrogade where there are more restaurants, stores, movie theaters, and where you can easily catch a bus to get downtown or out to the suburbs.

i love all of the old danish buildings because they are usually only 4-5 stories tall and all lined up neatly in a row. they are often all different colors and look really cheerful and happy.

WE LIVE IN COPENHAGEN!!!!!

it still feels strange to admit we are here to stay...it sort of feels like we're just on vacation, but with more of our things than usual. i was REALLY sad to leave our family, friends and milo (insert lots of crying) and starting getting super nervous to move. however, with a cup half full, optimistic attitude, maybe we are really adaptable people and we'll just adjust super easily! it isn't at all frustrating we cannot find ziplock bags anywhere...! JUST KIDDING, i am actually super excited for our new adventures!

we flew in on a cloudy weekend, but luckily it never really rained. we went on an unexpected expedition to find pre-paid cell phones because there was construction at a train stop we needed to get to. after we switched trains multiple times (ok, we might have accidentally gone the wrong direction a couple times) waited for buses that never came or were full, we FINALLY made it to the "mall" to find out they closed already! so we went home and had delicious homemade spaghetti sauce (a la chris) with gigantic mushrooms, fresh bread, and relaxed like everyone does in the evenings here. it's actually really nice most places close by 6pm...it forces you to take it easy and hang out with loved ones once you get home from work. what an idea! ;)

happy august

though it might feel like this year is just flying by, summer is not over yet! despite the crazy heat, put on a cute summer dress and make sure to get out there and enjoy some sun and ice cream (or sorbet ;)

i collaborated last year with my friends sarah, maeve and kara on a 2011 calendar which was so much fun! we are slowly being separated (literally...i left, and now maeve has moved to new york) so it'll be even more fun to work on future projects together now that we don't get to see each other every day.

miss you lovely ladies, xo!!!

the party invitation

our wonderful friends allison and mike & dana threw us a FABULOUS going away party this past weekend, complete with instant-sweat-inducing weather courtesy of mn ;) pictures to come but wanted to post the ADORABLE invitation allison created!!! i asked her to design a fun poster that we can hang on the wall at our new place as a souvenir of our last big get-together, and she did not disappoint (she did the OPPOSITE of disappoint it's so cute!). there's a map of denmark, fun fonts, cute bikes, herring, and even a little milo...all in my favorite red & aqua colors!

THANK YOU soul mate, i love it!

great stripes!

it is definitely the season for stripes and anne m cramer has designed SUPER FUN striped skirts (with pockets!) for her spring collection and i saw now there is a great striped top for fall too. she lives in minneapolis and was recently featured in matchbook magazine (a GREAT read) with pictures of her super cute house and family's collection of chucks :) my favorite part of the article describes her style "...as if Kate Spade met Alice in Wonderland and started making clothes." um...LOVE!

(to read more, see pages 116-125 of the july issue)

happy day!

wishing the happiest of birthdays to bff dana and chris' fun mom nancy!!! hoping dana has a fantastic weekend home in cincy with her family and nancy has a fantastic weekend at home hosting a million people at their lakeside house...wisconsin here we come :D

ps. i designed this striped hat! beautifully styled picture found on pinterest

paper bicycle daily pattern: minneapolis

my extremely talented friends at paper bicycle manage to squeeze time amongst their busy days of designing for MORE designing...it's amazing what they do in a day! they started a really fun daily pattern project and post their versions of selected themes every day to their cute blog.

i joined in this past week for the minneapolis theme as a tribute to my favorite twin cities desserts! when we were recently visiting copenhagen i ordered a chocolate shake and it cost TEN DOLLARS, yikes. no wonder europeans are so skinny...

we're moving...LITERALLY

for all you friends that haven't heard yet, chris has gotten himself a shiny new job in COPENHAGEN...as in DENMARK! we are so excited to start a new adventure and to be soon living in europe. we are entering such unfamiliar grounds that it makes me a little [ok, A LOT] nervous...but i know that means it will be a really great life experience for us :)

(all posts related to our adventures will have the label "copenbloggin" for easy searching!)

spoonflower :: ice cream

last week's spoonflower contest was ice cream so OF COURSE i wanted to submit a cute pattern! i gave all my ice cream friends accessories (including one with feather flair to match me) and put them on a simple stripe background. it was fun to do since i always love to give inanimate objects personalities.

my friend allison always has amazing artwork with great details and patterned backgrounds PLUS she also loves working on creative projects outside of work so i have to thank her for the extra motivation! she also has a super cute submission under thislittlepiggy so feel free to vote for us :)

new cupcakes

i recently made some cupcakes that happily went over really well (probably because they contain over 5 sticks of butter...!) for the dirt topping i crushed teddy grahams instead of oreos thinking that i'd get all chocolate and no cream. i didn't realize how bad i'd feel crushing tons of smiling bears though...next time i'll probably just use oreos ;)

printerette press

my talented friend catherine left the corporate world not long ago to run her letterpress and design studio printerette press full time, and i couldn't be more proud of her!!! she is a fun and sweet person and amazing at designing beautiful stationery...i am so glad she is using her many skills to do what she loves. she knows i also have a great love for letterpress and has been helping me get reacquainted with running a printing press which has been so fun. (i took a class at the minnesota center for book arts last year which was fantastic) PLUS, she also worked with me on a top secret project which i will post about later :)

she is currently at the national stationery show in NYC at booth #1467 (which from the photo she posted looks super cute and amazing!) stop by and visit her if you're around and give her a big hug for me!

[photos from printerette]