Return to Sundance

Last year’s escape to the Sundance Film Festival was so nice that I definitely wanted to return. Lucky for me, my roomie Rebecca planned out the adventure.

So here it is in pictures with captions:

I feel like taking pictures like this is required. The guy who took it said we had to make it our Facebook profile pic. I don’t think I’m going to do that, but I am going to put it here.

The first thing we did was stand in the waitlist line to try and see Flypaper, which is an fantastic comedic bank heist movie. We were totally victorious in getting in and I liked it a lot, minus the fact that it had a certain swear word in it about a million times (not much of an exaggeration). But I would watch it again in a heart beat and share it with all of my friends if it was edited.

It was also a really cool viewing experience because the director, Rob Minkof, was there to talk about it before and after. And he also just happened to be the director of The Lion King. So sweet.

After that we just wandered main street and took Sundancey pictures.

For some reason, random people kept jumping in. That banana man was there on purpose. I saw him creep into frame in the reflection of the window. And apparently me and that lady are best friends? Note how the guy she’s with just kept going.

Our grand finale was eating at the Eatery. Tasty.

It was a very successful day!

(Minus the fact that they ran out of the free Brita water bottles that I love. And I had been waiting all year to get one since I lost last year’s on my layover in Chicago on the way back from DC. But don’t worry, I bought one on ebay when I got home last night… It was necessary.)

Dastardly Design Distractions

Tomorrow I have my very first Geology test. So, naturally I decided now would be an excellent time for me to find some design inspiration. Even though I have nothing to design at the moment. And the test will definitely be happening tomorrow.

Some fun things I found/aspire to:

1.From Eggpress. If you can’t tell already from previous posts, I have a minor obsession for this Portland company.

2. This is awesome on so many levels. I would love to design something like this. You can download the actual file here.

3. Let’s be honest. I’m just obsessed with anything that involves bikes. And all of the designs from Coquette Paper and Press’ etsy shop are just clean and beautiful.

4. And these from Color Me Katie are photos, but aren’t their vision just beautiful? I want to do that.

I cut myself off from the search before I lost all of my studying time, but do you guys have any design sites you love? Also, do any of you know if upgrading to the CS5 Design Suite is worth it?

*Lingering Still by She & Him has been lingering in my mind today.

Just Keep Swimming

Today was my wonderful roommate Sam’s last home swim meet of her college career. Isn’t she cute?

My other roomies and sister went to support her. I’ve been to a lot of her meets over the past four years, and they’re always a ton of fun.

We also took a little Jamba trip on Amber’s magic money card.

Overall, a lovely day. The weather was even nice, leading me to decide that I would be REALLY ok with it being spring now…

*Also, I am in love with the song Swim Until You Can’t See Land by Frightened Rabbit, and I feel like it works really well with this post. Because it mentions swimming. So I’ll give you a link.

Competing Cards

So, the Department of Communications had a Christmas card competition and I decided to submit something just for kicks. I’m always looking for an excuse to design something since I don’t get to use InDesign for any of my classes any more. I miss InDesign.

It was just something simple, but it was totally worth it because they ended up giving everyone who entered a gift card. It was also fun because they put all of them on display in the HFAC (above) until last week, so I got to pretend like I was a cool artsy person.

Here’s a pic (from my cell ‘cuz apparently I lost the others) of the card in case you have any desire to see it. It had to incorporate the theme “I am a light come unto the world” from John 12:46.

*Also, since I know you’ve been wondering, Train Song by Feist and Ben Gibbard has been stuck in my head the past few days. It is wonderful.

A Nutritious Meal

Tonight Rebecca had the most wonderful idea – frying candy bars.

Some of them looked like aliens.

But they tasted soooo heavenly.

*Also, I’m sorry I’ve been awful at posting. I thought I finally got into a good rhythm last month… and then it died. My bad. If I could send you a fried candy bar to make up for it, I would.

A Magical Palace of Books

"Who says the traditional bookshop is dead? In this age of chain superstores and online selling, it often seems that the days of the old-style independent dealer are numbered. But one American bookseller, at least, refuses to believe that." The Independent (London)

I discovered it when I was in 8th grade – a bookstore so large you need a map to navigate it.

Powell’s Books, an independent bookstore that fills a whole city block with over a million books, is one of my absolute favorite Portland fixtures. It’s something I did not fully take advantage of while I lived here, either. I had been to the suburban branch across from Washington Square mall before, sure, but it didn’t give the whole vision of its grander flagship location.

The first time I entered Powell’s downtown was actually while I was on an eighth grade field trip. It was Valentines Day 2003, and our teachers had decided to treat us to possibly the best field trip of all time – an all-day scavenger hunt downtown. We were split up into small groups and given the freedom to go wherever we wanted in the city in a quest to find the answers to a list of questions scattered throughout the city. Some groups decided to just go shopping instead, but my group was dedicated to the challenge, largely because of the promise of a small cash prize (I really have no idea how a public school pulled this whole thing off). I don’t remember what the question was that led us to Powell’s, and our stop there was brief, but I as soon as we walked in I knew it was love. I knew I could search the stacks there forever and be perfectly content, that there were thousands of treasures just waiting to be discovered.

Seriously, you need to go to this place before you die. Preferably several million times.

Snippet of the map as a preview of what you will enjoy when you go:

And, as a bonus, a picture from my eighth grade field trip! Kathleen is even holding the Powell’s map.

If you can’t get to Portland right now… you can always buy beautiful books online! Support the magic.

"The point is Powell's probably is the world's greatest bookstore. It is a place of staggering ambition, hidden in the very humble wrapper of a worn-out warehouse. Any library we seek tax money to build ought to measure up to Powell's or it isn't worth it." The Seattle Times

(Ok, I’m done now)