• Saving Memories

    vhs tapesDoes anyone else have an archive of family videos that are sitting sadly in a box somewhere, waiting for the day they see new life and can be easily enjoyed again? I know my parents have so many tapes of themselves pre-kids, and my sisters and I when we were younger that rarely get watched because it involves a long setup, followed by fast-forwarding through minutes of tape that have no footage on them.

    All this to say, I just found out about a company called Southtree and I am so impressed. They accept any type of video tape, as well as film, photos, and audio to be converted to digital files. They even clean up poor sound quality caused by age, and can create separate tracks to be easily sorted through.

    My first objective is to track down the cassette tape of my Dad singing from when I was younger (or maybe even before me! He was a professional musician in his early years). I’ve been meaning to transfer it to a digital copy practically since I got my hands on it, as the recording is not longer perfect, and being without a cassette player I can’t listen to it anymore.

    The whole experience looks beautiful too, with a really simple website to get pricing, and then a user account where you can track the progress of your order. Can’t all user experiences be so simple? 🙂

    For anyone who’s interested, I have a coupon code for 25% off any order. Just enter ‘blog25’ and use it by July 15th.

    This post was created in partnership with eAccountable. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the companies that make Estate possible.


  • Three Little Kittens

    long haired black foster kitten at 6 weeks oldKonrad and I picked up three little foster kittens yesterday morning. They are the smallest things you ever did see, but man are they a handful. We were chasing after them for hours and it was finally 10pm before I realized I hadn’t really eaten anything all day.

    long haired black foster kitten at 6 weeks old
    One of the kittens is obsessed with Konrad, and protests loudly if he leaves the room or stops paying attention to him. The grey one gives me sleepy eyes that remind me of my Skye, and the third has been dubbed Too Shy, but is quickly learning how nice life can be for a lap cat.

    long haired grey foster kitten at 6 weeks old
    Our littles aren’t too sure about them and keep to themselves for the most part. We joke about their wild sides, but these three are making Skye and Nathan seem so well-mannered!


  • Choose the Life

    choose the life you want to lead over things your want to havevia Justina Blakeney


  • A Bird

    flamingo in watercolorA quick watercolor I painted the other day while lazing about at the park.


  • The Artist at Work

    drawing on boxIf you order from Goons, you might end up with a second work of art on your package.


  • The Original Pantone Color Guide Was an 800 Page Tome From 1692

    watercolor guide bookI came across the most amazing art book after following a link from twitter yesterday.

    watercolor guide book

    In the late 17th century, an artist chronicled watercolors in all their hued, tonal, glory. The book is nearly 800 pages long, and completely handwritten and painted. Amazing.

    watercolor guide book

    And in an incredible connection of old world meets new technology, you can browse the entire work online. There’s just something so mesmerizing about color swatches.

    watercolor guide book

    via This is Colossal


  • New England Night Life

    moonA lot of time is spent staring at the sky.


  • Early Retirement

    cat lounging in the sunNo apologies for the cats on cats on cats. All the recent photos on my phone and computer are of cats. Do you think I like cats?

    With recent days in the 70s and 80s it’s hard to do anything but spend my days exactly as I like. Waking up without an alarm, making art, going on bike rides, and dining out more than eating in. I try to model my life after this Pinterest board.


  • You Speak In Waves

    This is the perfect song for doing stuff around the house on a sunny Sunday. Life stuff.

    Tokyo Police Club – Argentina (Parts I, II, III)


  • Please Excuse Our Bed Head

    morning hairWe woke up like dis.