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Intentional Living & Seeking Inspiration in Winter

January 24, 2012

in Blogs,The Sweet Life

Good morning, my dear ones! We had our first real snowfall over the weekend (finally) and everything suddenly feels a bit more quiet. This month I have been doing a lot of thinking about what my intentions are – for my home, my work, my life – I feel more peaceful than ever, and I am so amazed to see many things already clicking into place. I have to warn you, I am feeling chatty and this may run a little long, so if you want to take a moment to fix yourself a warm drink please do that and I’ll meet you back here!

Okay, are we all settled in now? Good. : ) For whatever reason, this past month or two I have felt my vision for the life I want coming more clearly into focus. Instead of vague wants and wishes, I can feel much more deeply what I want and need in my life. In a way, I feel like the hard work I’ve been putting in – to my self, my home, my work – is finally beginning to come together. I’ve found myself easily losing weight and adopting healthy habits like drinking green juice and practicing yoga daily, and then an opportunity that I have dreamed of landed in my lap. For now, I will be taking on just a little more work, but there is the potential to add much more as I have the time, and it has me dreaming of so much more. I can share all of the details with you later, but for now let’s just say that my dream of making a living from my writing is this much closer to coming true. Wow.

Coming from the San Francisco Bay Area, I am not naturally a winter person. But the value of a real winter is finally beginning to sink in – it is a perfect time to dream and make plans. And it helps to have a little boy who loves snow – pure joy is infectious! I have been taking this quiet of winter as an opportunity to do a lot of journaling and reading, planning for the year ahead. A few things bubbling in my mind: backyard chickens, redoing our front porch, white floors, a vegetable garden, events with the Alliance Française, weekend trips.

Another thing I have found myself rethinking is my e-decorating biz, which (I thought) I was all ready to launch soon. But now I feel I have a much clearer view of my own personal strengths and passions, and I realize I will need to take a different approach to really make use of that. So, it’s back to the drawing boards. But I’m really, really insanely happy about it because I know what comes to fruition in the end will be in line with my intentions, and it will be sure to be even more successful and rewarding because of it. I am so grateful to my “tester”, for putting up with many months of practice, all of the time spent and lessons learned were invaluable.

Whew, well I have rambled on for far long enough. What about you? It’s been feeling a little quiet around here lately (were all of you at Alt??) and I would love, love, L O V E to have you chime in. What is happening in your life? What are your intentions for this year? Thoughts?

Oh, and if you are seeking more visual inspiration, look no further than the gorgeous and creative Norwegian blog Loppelilla. All of the images in this post come from her inspiring blog, are you familiar? If not, go have a look – you won’t be disappointed! (Thanks to Holly for finding her!)

(all images: Loppelilla)

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Holly Becker Decorate Book Tour + Creative Ladies Lunch

August 22, 2011

in Blogs,Books & Mags,Design & Decor

Happy Monday, my dear ones! Wow, I’ve had quite a weekend and I am so excited to get back to blogging and tell you all about it! :) On Saturday I went to Boston to attend Holly Becker of decor8′s book signing and a special mood board how-to event to promote her beautiful new book, Decorate (read my review here). Both events were held at the Anthropologie store, which was just the perfect location to showcase Holly’s style. After the event I felt really lucky to go to lunch with Holly and a group of other creative ladies at a nearby restaurant. As many of you I’m sure know by now, Holly is a huge inspiration to me personally, so it meant a lot to me to attend this event. I’ve been trying to collect my thoughts about the day and just to warn you, this is going to be a long post (1000+ words)! So come back if you need to, and then pour yourself a nice cup of tea (I am sipping Moroccan Mint while I type :) ) and settle in to your comfy chair. I will be discussing the event, to be sure, but I also want to touch on a few topics that I think will be of interest to many of you, including taking risks, creativity, and making connections with others.

To begin, this was the longest I had been away from my baby yet – I was gone from 8:30 a.m. until around 6:00 p.m., and while I realize that many other Mamas have to deal with work and other obligations that take them away from home, this was new for me and I was nervous! I traveled to the event with Diana of D. S. Brennan Photography, and we had a great time chatting on the way there about decor8, blogging, and generally how excited we were. :) I had major butterflies in my tummy going to meet Holly even though I have interviewed her before – that was not in person, so this was a completely different experience. Part of my butterflies also came from knowing I would be meeting and talking with many other creative women, including fellow bloggers, artists, crafters, and designers, some whose work I have followed for a long time. I can be pretty shy in person, especially around lots of new people, so I was quite nervous about putting myself out there.

When we arrived at Anthropologie and made our way upstairs to the area set aside for the event I was so impressed with the way the space was decorated – big paper poms hung from rafters high overhead, a lovely wooden cabinet was packed full of inspiring objects to use in the mood board presentation, a long table was set with adorable dishes, delicious baked goods, pretty little glasses, pitchers of orange juice and mimosas, yum! Even the water bottles had handmade embellishments; see one on Cindy’s lovely blog right here. Note to self: If I ever have a book tour, make sure it is hosted by Anthro. Seriously, this was so much nicer than any other author event I have seen.

As soon as Holly arrived, I felt put at ease. She was so genuine, warm, and friendly; exactly how she comes across on decor8; you can’t help but adore Holly in person! :) Her mood board presentation was fun and inspiring – after walking us through the steps to create a mood board, she demonstrated one up in front of the “class”. I found myself digging through my bag for a pen and scribbling notes on the outside of a file folder I brought with me because I didn’t want to forget a thing she said! After attending this workshop I really want to take my notes and my inspiration files and work on my own mood board, as well as share more of Holly’s specific tips, so keep an eye out for that post within the next week!

Holly said she had planned to show us four mood boards, but the time positively flew by and she was only able to get through one. After the mood board workshop Holly hung around and chatted with people, took photographs, and then headed downstairs to begin signing copies of her book. I have to be honest – I was a little star-struck at this point, so I didn’t go up and introduce myself until I was in line at her book signing table! Of course when I did get to meet her she was super nice, and I was able to hand her a little thank you note because…guess what? I had mentioned online that I was reading a library copy of Decorate because I could not afford to purchase my own copy yet, and Holly read this and immediately had her publicist send me my own copy of the book! That is how nice Holly is.

After mingling at the store, it was time to head to lunch. It felt absolutely surreal to be seated at the same table with Holly and so many other creative ladies. Business cards were flying and the table was buzzing with energy. So many different types of creatives were present, from other bloggers to artists, illustrators, editors, jewelry makers, crafters, interior designers, shop owners…so many wonderful people, in fact, that I have decided to devote an entire post later this week to sharing some of their work and a bit more about each one rather than just a list of names & links.

I will say though, as encouragement for others who may feel a bit shy like me, it is SO worth it to make that effort to get out there and push yourself out of your comfort level! I came away from the day’s events feeling exhausted, to be sure, but also brimming with inspiration, a pocketful of business cards, and my mind whirring with ideas for possible future collaborations, events and meetups.

Another take away for me from this experience was seeing the amazing diversity in creative businesses – each of us has our own style, we put our own stamp on whatever it is that we do and make it our own. I think sometimes it is easy to become discouraged by the sheer volume of creative talent out there in the world. There are hundreds (thousands??) of Etsy shops, blogs, etc., popping up each day all over the world, it’s true…but none of them are YOU. There is room for everyone at the table.

xoxo Laura

Oh and p.s., if you live in one of the other cities Holly is visiting (see flyer above), get your butt to the store and meet the dear lady!

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Fresh Site Badges + Blogroll Roll-Call

August 11, 2011

in Blogs

Hello friends! Last night I whipped up a fresh batch of site badges in a variety of sizes, they are all available to you below if you want to grab one for your blog. The badge sizes are 160×160, 110×110, 120×60, and 160×40 – I hope one of these sizes will work for you if you choose to display one! To use a badge, simply save the image of the badge of your choice to your desktop (drag and drop or right click and save), place it on your site, and link it to http://www.lolalina.com/. That’s it, easy-peasy! :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over the next few weeks I will be updating my blogroll – I realized that there are some sites listed there I either no longer read, have moved, or are simply so big that I figure all of you know them! And then there are many more blogs I have become completely addicted to in the past months yet have neglected to add to my blogroll, and I would really like to spread the love and share all of the sites I visit daily. I don’t know about you, but when I find a blog that clicks with me, I always search for their blogroll and check out a few links – and I love it when I stumble upon an inspiring new site (or three or four) this way.

I want to put a question to you: What would you like to see in a blogroll? Are you a visual person, i.e., are you drawn to blogrolls made up of badges rather than just links? Would it be useful to you to have the blogs grouped into categories – design blogs, foodie blogs, etc.? I would love to hear your input on this before I dive in and make any changes, because this is really for you! Of course I would be extremely flattered if you decide to show your love of Lolalina on your own blog with a badge or by including a link in your blogroll, and if you have already added Lolalina to your blogroll, please let me know! Sometimes if I am not already a reader of your blog I may not be aware that you linked here, and I would love to come visit and see what your blog is all about :) Just keep in mind that I link to sites I have been reading and enjoying on a daily or weekly basis for at least a few months before they make their way onto my blogroll.

Anyway, thank you so much for bearing with me through the recent design changes, and for all of your kind words on the new look. I am so new at this, I am still learning and figuring things out as I go, and I actually feel really nervous putting anything I have created out there for all to see. There are still about a million little things I want to change/add to the site, but I have had to take a deep breath and accept that I need to go at my own pace. Over the next two months I hope to finish up the design – and make a few surprise treats for you, too!

Have a great day, dearies! xoxo Laura

{ 8 comments }

DIY Web Design Resources

August 3, 2011

in Blogs

Gah, sorry for the late start, it has been quite a day for me. This morning I locked myself out of the house with little B in tow, boohoo :( We are back in now, thank goodness my Father in-law was able to rescue us with a spare key on a break from work! Note to all of you out there: hide a spare right now! Don’t make my mistake! Anyway, back to the business at hand, DIY web design! I think it is so sweet that many of you have taken the time to write me and comment on my blog redesign, I really appreciate it :) I thought since many of you are also bloggers, it could be helpful to share some of the resources I used for snazzing up my site.

First of all, let me say that while I have taken a few basic web & graphic design courses now, I am still very much a beginner, so when I decided to redesign my blog I needed to find free or cheap tools I could use that would make the best use of my (limited) skill set. The first resource I would like to share is Pugly Pixel. Run by Katrina, Pugly Pixel is both a blog with loads of web design freebies (like the felt textures above) and tutorials, as well as a shop with blog bling for sale.

Next up is a site my web design instructor tipped us off to called Font Squirrel, which if you haven’t visited yet you must! It’s a font resource where all of the fonts are FREE and licensed for commercial use. A few of my favorites, pictured above, are Ostrich Sans, Blackout, Learning Curve, and Quicksand. P.S., even if you are not designing a blog or website, it can be fun to download some fresh fonts for using in DIY print projects like invitations, birthday banners, and the like.

Okay, so now we get more serious…If you really want to start changing some things like, in the code, you will want to download a tool called Firebug. It is pretty amazing, in that it lets you peek at the code on any website – HTML, CSS, and even the layout. This is not meant to be used to literally copy someone else’s work, but it can be a lifesaver if you know what you want to do but are unsure how to go about it. I admit it can be annoying to use at times, but if you actually kind of enjoy geeking out on code like I do, it is worth it! Oh, and it’s free :) Above, you can see what it looks like opened on my site.

And finally, one tool that was essential for me in designing many of the elements for Lolalina, including the banner and background pattern, was a subscription to Adobe Illustrator. Adobe is now offering the whole Creative Suite in a month-to-month subscription format – which was great news for me, because the Adobe programs cost major bucks to buy outright – definitely NOT in the budget right now! So if you have at least a tiny foundation in using Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, etc., you can now feel free to dabble and practice a bit without shelling out a month’s worth of rent money :)

Well, I hope you found something helpful/interesting here to bookmark for the future! I’ll see you back here tomorrow :) xo Laura

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Ideas For Creative Living + Building Community Online

July 25, 2011

in Blogs

Hello again lovelies! Welcome to the new-and-improved Lolalina ;) I forgot to mention something in my last post about the redesign…did you notice the new tagline above? Well, while I still loved my old tagline, “find your sweet life”, I wanted something fresh that would reflect more clearly the kind of content I regularly feature. So what do I love to feature most of all? Inspiring interiors, creative styling ideas, DIY and craft projects, and affordable art. The phrase “ideas for creative living” kept popping into my head and I decided that it fits my content and vision for this site perfectly.

Something else I spent time considering throughout this whole design process was why I got into blogging in the first place. I decided it was (and continues to be) because I wanted to feel like I was playing an active part in this amazing creative community of bloggers. I had been devouring blogs for years, at first quietly reading and bookmarking, and later commenting regularly on the blogs I love, before pulling up my own blank WordPress page and hitting publish for the first time more than two years ago. I love visiting my favorite blogs because it always feels like a little treat, like curling up in the living room with a good friend for a chat. My hope is that Lolalina can provide that kind of comfort and warmth and community to all of you as well.

I love the fact that I have “met” creative people from all around the world through their lovely blogs, and that I can always find someone, somewhere, willing to discuss the merits of pink paint or the best way to paint a floor white, no matter the time of day or night! One person who encompasses creative living is Yvonne Eijkenduijn of Yvestown, whose lovely home is pictured in this post. Her recent post on creating a room of her own is inspiring, you should go read it!

I just wanted to also take this chance to thank you for coming here to visit and read, whether you only have time to “eat and run” or if you stay longer and leave a comment or send me an email, I appreciate every one of you! xo Laura

(all images: Yvestown)

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