TUESDAY TUNES v.14 | LOVE IS MAKING ITS WAY BACK HOME

What is another cool factor of music? The music videos.
I appreciate the work that goes behind the authentic music industry. The industry that truly focuses on the art and talent of musicians. I respect every position that goes into creating an amazing album from the sound engineer to the artist of the album cover. Music videos has been a drag (primarily if you're watching MTV), but there are still some cool ones out there.

Josh Ritter's "Love Is Making Its Way Home" music video was created with 12,000 pieces of construction paper! Read more about making of the video. Talk about respectable artists. So much kudos thrown your way design team! Plus, this song is fantastic.

I love when you can truly respect the art of art itself.
Construction paper is not so "elementary" any more is it? :)

Please excuse my dear hiatus

My dearest friends & readers,

Please excuse my hiatus until the next Tuesday Tunes.
I will out of town this weekend and planning my best friend's bridal shower! School has definitely kept me busy these last few weeks and before I tend to the blog, I need to tend to my studies! Hope you understand :) I definitely have a lot of posts in mind for the upcoming weeks, if I could just sit long enough to write them! Trust me, I would love to just blog and read all of yours all day.

Very soon this blog is going to have somewhat of a major makeover. (Details to come soon-ish!) I've thought a lot more about branding myself in the blogging world and think I came up with something that encompasses me as an individual and as a blogger. Hopefully I'll have time to fully work on everything. Hope you'll be patient with me along the way :)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend ahead! The weather is looking nice over here in the mountains of the Appalachia. [Hopefully] no more snow storms ahead...some times Boone weather can be crazy like that. I already want to pack up all my wool sweaters and wear my sandals + chacos every day.

Also, one of the big campaigns that I am working on for my senior classes is a collaboration between Appalachian Industrial Design Students and Perennial Wood. If you all could be a doll and support our Facebook page, Twitter and blog, that would be fantastic! We've been working hard to promote all our social media (we launched earlier this morning!) and would appreciate your support!

Take care.
Love and other four letter words,

Melissa

*Photo by Melissa Vega.
It was taken on a beautiful spring day in front of my friends apartment in Boone. We had a picnic filled with hummus, potato salad and sun chips. Then we went on a mini hike and met a beautiful butterfly who modeled for us. See the post of the picnic here.

Tuesday Tunes v.13 | Safe & Sound

So, I don't know if you know but I definitely jumped The Hunger Games bandwagon this past Spring Break.

Yes, I finished all three books.
Yes, I am officially obsessed.

So in honor of finishing the books right in time for the premiere of the film, I thought it would be appropriate to share "Safe & Sound" by The Civil Wars + Taylor Swift. Of course all you Hunger Games folk already know about this song/have played it a million times and probably have shed a tear..or two..or three, but come on, could you really tire of this song?



Aside from the trailer, I think this music video nailed things right on the head of HG. Ah, the little details! I won't say much to not spoil as much as possible, but man! I am so excited. I haven't been obsessed with a book series in at least a couple years (due to my lack of reading anything other than text books) but fiction world, I'm back!

Ps - Any Taylor Swift fans? Well, here's a confession. I am. Did you notice that the Tuesday Tunes post is #13? If you're a fan, you'd know the significance. Honestly, it was not done on purpose. What a fun little added bonus :) Funny how that worked out.

Okay, I'm going to go watch the trailer like 100 times now. Bye.

Featured Artist + Shop | Lo of Printed Peaks

Do you remember this blog post where I wore that awesome statement necklace? Well, I haven't stopped wearing it since. Actually, I think it would be considered my most worn necklace since my tree/sapphire combo back in high school. Here's a little reminder if you've forgotten/were too lazy to click the old blog post link.

the necklace

Well, I have greatest honor of welcoming Lo, the artist behind Printed Peaks, where I got this amazing necklace from! I'm thrilled to have her on this little blog of mine. Okay, enough with my chitter chatter. Get to know Lo, she's a lot cooler :)

Shop | Blog | Twitter

1. Tell us a little bit about the artist behind Printed Peaks!
I'm Lo and I blog over at Little Somethings by Little Lo Hood. I absolutely love crafting and being outdoors. I also love libraries and soaking up as much knowledge about anything I can.

2. What's your inspiration for your shop?
I had always wanted a shop and still want a physical shop but I thought Etsy was a perfect place to start. I just had really no idea what I wanted to sell. I finally decided that I should make something that represented my home state of Vermont, which I had just moved away from and missed dearly. I decided to collaborate with my father and use wooden pieces cut in ways to abstractly represent Vermont mountains. Many of my original necklaces are named after mountains in Vermont.

3. What's your favorite part about owning your own business?
I love that I can take my time in handcrafting something that I know I can be proud of. It gives you the freedom to create items that you really want to create. You can experiment and see what works and what doesn't.

4. Any other passions and hobbies you have?
I love sewing, crocheting, soccer, biking, hiking, and just enjoying the outdoors.

5. What's up and coming for Printed Peaks?
Printed Peaks has moved more towards leather handcrafted items and I may start making little wallets and such for the shop. The wooden handcrafted pieces will certainly still be there and I think I will be experimenting with some different colors and stains.

6. What advice would you give for someone thinking about opening up their own handmade shop?
I would say that you should keep a notebook with you always. It is so important to brand your store appropriately right down to the packaging. It is also important to sell something that is unique and that you won't grow tired of making or working on. Don't be discouraged if you don't sell out in a day either, there are a lot of sellers on Etsy and out in the world, just keep at it!

I feel like Lo and I would be great friends, in real life. I mean, she makes jewelry inspired by mountains and I love my mountains. Be sure to check out her shop! I've got my eyes on this baby and oooh this one! I'm excited for those leather made goods! Thank you Lo for droppin' by!

EDIT + GOOD NEWS! -- March 20, 2012

Because it's Lo's birthday today, she is offering everyone 44% OFF any item in her shop! Here's the info straight from her blog!

"For the rest of this month I will be offering 44% off in my store, Printed Peaks. I added the date and my years of age if you were wondering about the funny number. Enter "SPRINGBIRTHDAY44" during check out and one of my pretties will be on its way to your front door. The first 3 purchases will get an extra gift as well." 

COFFEE & COOKIES

A combination you just can't beat!

I love those lemon girl scout cookies. My favorite used to be tagalongs, oh excuse me, "peanut butter patties", but now they're just too sweet. Or am I just getting old? Is there such thing as too sweet? By the way, does anyone know the story behind the name change? Is it a regional thing? (I think that's what I heard)

Well in other news -

+ I have officially jumped on the Hunger Games bandwagon! *applause* *applause* *whoo-hoos* I know, I know, finally right? I've forgotten what's it like to read for fun and get lost in another world. Absolutely brilliant. It's pretty crazy the parallels I've made between District 12 and actual coal company towns in the Appalachia (I'm taking a Sociology course about Appalachian Communities). I sound like such a nerd!

+ I would like to personally thank Spring Break for the ten pounds I gained and I'm not even exaggerating. Oh God, let's hope I'm exaggerating. I can't help but love my mom's Filipino cooking and frozen yogurt dates with my younger sister. Oh, right, and I definitely opened up the Tolberone chocolate in the pantry. Oops. I did take a Zumba class this week! Cancels at least the frozen yogurt...right?

+ I also will be going to Washington DC this weekend to watch my Daddy run a marathon! He is trying to run a marathon in every state...and then in every continent. I wonder where I get my ambition from? ;) I finally get to watch him run one! I've lost track of how many he's ran, but let's just say he's planning to run one in Beijing in May! Very proud daughter over here.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend up ahead! Mid March already??
SLOW DOWN WORLD.
Well, actually, wait until I graduate in May and then you can slow down again.