Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

scenes from the weekend: nyc in 24 hours

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

I went to NYC Saturday morning to meet up with my bestie Christine, aka ZonaFoto. It was a whirlwind of a trip to say the least. We may or may not have been ill-prepared with no hotel reservations. (Not recommended on a holiday weekend!) Therefore we wasted a few hours just trying to find a hotel, only to discover that all the hotels were booked. But I like to say that was just part of the adventure. All worked out in the end, we stayed with one Christine’s old friends and he showed us a fabulous time in Brooklyn. I just wish we could’ve stayed a few days longer. Here’s a few snaps from the trip, taken with a Fuji Instax Mini.

 

manoush and paris boutiques

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

Manoush was one of my favorite shops in Paris. It is a young French label with an eclectic vintage style that is both sophisticated and cool. The brand’s name comes from the French word for gypsy, so it follows that these gorgeous pieces have a whimsical, bohemian edge. The entire store was pure eye candy, an oasis of bright colors, frills, lace and gold. The garments were adorned with pom-poms, fringes, gold trims, quirky embellishments and cheerfully vibrant patterns.

Other must see boutiques are Colette, Bon Ton, and Merci (which is like a French Anthropologie!)

 

paris space invader sightings

Friday, August 19th, 2011

While in Paris I had four space invader sightings, which at the time I was really proud of, but after researching for this post I discovered that Paris has over 700 invaders! …that definitely bursted my bubble. For those who aren’t familiar with the Space Invader guerrilla artwork it’s by a French urban artist that refers to himself as “Invader” who creates tiled “space invaders” and other characters based on the 70s video games. These mosaics pop up all over Paris (and the world.) It was a fun game to try spot the little buggers around the city, but obviously I wasn’t very good at it! I already forsee a Paris round 2 mission to see as many as I can!

Space Invader official website // map of Paris marked with Invader locations // Invader on wiki

Another resource to find out more is to watch Exit through the Gift Shop, a documentary on street art that features Invader which I reviewed in this post

 

 

monet and his water lilies

Thursday, August 18th, 2011

The first of my favorite experiences in Paris was seeing eight of Monet’s water lily paintings at the Musée de l’Orangerie. (Thanks Moira for the recommendation.) The paintings were so rich and colorful in person; their size alone is impressive. (My pictures really don’t do these paintings justice AT ALL.) To complement seeing these paintings I took a day trip to Giverny, the location of Claude Monet’s house and gardens. You take a short tour of his house and then get to explore the gardens. There are two parts in Monet’s garden: a flower garden called Clos Normand in front of the house and a Japanese inspired water garden on the other side of the road. It is truly a painter’s garden—full of soooo many colors and flowers. It’s obvious that the beauty that surrounded him was why he stayed inspired for so long. I’d recommend that any artist take the trip to see Giverny. More Paris to come tomorrow!

paris

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

bonjour everyone! I just got back from a short trip to Paris, I really wish I could have stayed a few more days, but c’est la vie. It was such a wonderful trip, full of art, food, wine, shopping and lots of walking. I’ve returned to the states feeling refreshed and inspired. Here are a few pics from the trip. I’ll post about my favorite experiences in more detail over the next few days.

last week’s adventures: houseboat and whitewater rafting

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

Last week my family rented a houseboat, on Cave Run Lake near Morehead, KY. It was an awesome week on the water, full of waterskiing, tubing, wakeboarding, kneeboarding, jetskiing and attempting to barefoot ski, (which ended in some painful and horrible wipe-outs.) Being on the water is one of my favorite things ever and since I don’t get to do it as much anymore I sorta go all out when I get the chance; literally going nonstop from 8AM to dark. Some of my favorite moments were riding the tube backwards, driving my uncle in the tube and throwing him out multiple times (payback for years and years of him throwing me out of the tube) and riding the kneeboard on smooth water. I brought my little cousins and their friends some shark week fin hats, which they loved and looked so cute wearing (see picture below.)

After coming back from the houseboat adventure we did a day trip to go whitewater rafting on the New River. It was the first time me and my siblings had been whitewater rafting and being from WV, we had to fix that. It was a beautiful day with some great rapids. The trip consisted of lots of rapids, some slower areas where you could swim down the river and then a rock jump at the end, right near the New River Gorge Bridge (pictured below.) I look forward to the next time we go when the water will hopefully be a little more wild.

peru’s rebrand

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

What an impressive rebrand! The original logo is very outdated and the rebrand, designed by the Buenos Aires office of Futurebrand, has transformed Peru’s logo into a modern and unique icon—full of character. I love the application of the new identity on these postcards along with the use of the Bree font family which was specially created for Peru by TypeTogether.  This new look is sure to make Peru even more appealing!

via brand new

the wizarding world of harry potter

Monday, January 10th, 2011

Santa brought my family a trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which is where I was last week. We had such blast at Universal Studios and I was blown away with all the details of the Harry Potter section of the park; everything from the rides, the buildings, the costumes, the food/drinks—it all gave the feeling that you were in Harry Potter’s world. Even my dad, who is not a fan, was impressed. From a designer’s perspective the signage and packaging was gorgeous and seemed very authentic. Some of my favorite things were drinking Butterbeer, going inside shops like Zonko’s, Honeyduke’s and Ollivanders and riding the Dragon Challenge rollercoaster. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

P.S. If you are headed to the park anytime soon, message me and I’ll give you some tips on what to do first, etc. because boy is it crowded!

–Sarah

Peru (part 5: Diana mini)

Friday, November 12th, 2010

I LOVE my Diana mini. (Thanks Christine for convincing me to get it!) I have had a Diana camera for a few years and just recently bought the Diana mini went I went to the lomography store in NY. The advantages are it’s mini, and everything mini is better, it takes 35mm film, which means cheaper to buy and develop and you have two shooting formats; square or split-frame like the image above. Plus it’s exciting getting film developed in our world of digital cameras. I was really happy with my Diana mini pictures from Peru especially the series below. I love the dreamy and radiant quality that is captured. Next week my blog will be back to the normal design posts and some features on updates that I’ve made around the house. Have a great weekend!

Peru (part 4: Machu Picchu)

Thursday, November 11th, 2010

Visiting Machu Picchu was an amazing end to the 5 day hike. We woke up at 5am to get to the site before sunrise. The sunrise didn’t happen because it was overcast, but it was worth getting there early because there were far less tourists. Machu Picchu is positioned in the middle of the “cloud forest” and you can see why it was called that. The fog surrounds the entire site helping to hide it from the outside world. The fog also makes the visit a little magical, as if you’re floating high up in the clouds. The tall mountain to the side of Machu Picchu is Waynapicchu which was the lookout point for the Inca guards. Tourists are still allowed to climb Waynapicchu, (300 a day,) but just a warning it is no easy task. The way up is a mile of the steepest stairs you’ve ever climbed with nothing separating you from the edge of the mountain. The view from the top does make it worth the climb, BUT the climb down is even scarier especially at the top. I was pretty much scooting down the steps on my keester for about the first 10 staircases on the way down because I was semi-terrified. After climbing Waynapicchu we had a tour of Machu Picchu with our guide. The history behind this Inca civilization is very fascinating. The craftsmanship of the structures is amazing, as well as, all the little details that made mountaintop civilization fully functional. I would definitely recommend seeing this wonder before you die. (But honestly don’t climb Waynapicchu unless you’re in tippy top shape.) Tomorrow will be my last Peru post and I’ll share some of my pictures taken with my Diana mini.