Underbite

Ahhhh, yeay, it's the weekend!  Friday nights, Saturdays, and Sundays simply taste so delicious once they arrive!  This morning, while letting the ladies out to do their business, I noticed that the air had that broken fever feel to it, that lets you know that fall is slowly arriving.  Not necessarily a cool feeling, but not a sweltering one, either.  Even the oak leaves are becoming too heavy from the summer's intensity, dying, and falling to the ground, creating a crunchy "ball pit" of sorts for Noodle and Darla to play in.  It felt amazing outside and was a quick reminder to the fact that a hammock hanging in the trees by the lake, with a book and a blanket would be PERFECTION!

This weekend, I want to clean the house...I mean really tackle it and set Joey and I up for an easy cleaning/staying organized and relaxed and productive routine.  I know I've made this statement a trillion times, but perhaps if I keep working towards it and keep failing, eventually I will reach success.  Our place today, as compared to my bachelorette abode's is already a good assessment of how I have improved over the years, believe it or not. 

Also, I'm working on at least 3 projects; 2 art, and 1 knitting, and I have several ideas for Christmas that I need to jump on, and ideas for other creative endeavors, like taking a stab at writing/illustrating children's books and collaborating on writing/film projects with Joey (I absolutely love that he includes me and invites me into his passions... I'm extremely lucky).  I need to get organized first, though... for my own sanity, but the excitement of so many ideas keeps me constantly motivated.  So, here we go, Fall, get ready for some serious business!

Anybody want to check out some fun links...

A really fun housewarming party idea!

How big of a backyard do you need to live off the grid?  You'd be surprised!

Ok, I'm a little bit obsessed with Lush.  They cater to my eco-friendly desires, create amazing products, as well as motivate me to care a little bit more about my beauty routine... which, in the past, is not something I've invested much time into.  So, when I recently ran out of my facial moisturizer, I decided to go to Lush to try out one of theirs.  I chose Imperialis and I LOVE it!  It makes my face feel amazing, and it smells warm and earthy, which I love.  Also, I'm eyeballing this little package of joy as well!

Have I talked about how great Jim Henson is lately?  Let me fix that...   
(Thanks for thinking of sending me the link, Blake!)

Pointless street Flyers... Hilarious!


Oooo, pretty, I might add this to my "To-Do's" for the weekend!


And, last, but not least, once I grow my hair back out again, I want to find the right person to help me to pull this off!  So pretty!

This weekend, I'm joining my fellow grad students in hanging our show.  I would love for anyone interested to come check it out, and will have a small handful of invitations to pass out soon :).

Because this small series was so detail intensive, with stippling and such, I have noticed a significant change in my eyesight... and not for the better.  I've been squinting a lot more lately.  So, an appointment with the eye doctor is going to be due soon, and, for the fun of it, I've been eyeballing frames that have been calling my name.  Tell me, which is your favorite of these two?

So, I know it's been super slow around here, but I've been busy making art and working after-hours at school, so, when I get home, I'm basically done for the night.  I'm looking forward to Spring Break and time to focus on projects that don't necessarily have deadlines!  This weekend, Joey and I have been working on our individual creative endeavors, and helping one another move forward with them as successfully as possible.  The time spent creating, and the time spent relaxing, is DEEeeelightful!!! I hope everyone's February is going swell and that you're enjoying your weekend as much as I am.

As the year's day of love starts off next week, this weekend seems to be the best time to celebrate!  So, in honoring of loving... not just a significant other, but many things, here is my Valentines Weekend post:

Happy big fat snow flakes, everyone!  Today, trapped in from our vicious blizzard of a snow storm, I have been buzzing around like a mad woman, drawing, cleaning, educating myself on topics I would like to know more about, and then getting back to drawing... and multitasking all of these betwixt one another!  Being able to devote a day just to art-making is amazing!

Last night, Joey and I sat down to watch the movie Bronson, a film about Michael Gordon Peterson (aka Charles "Charlie" Bronson), a British man who is currently serving a life sentence in prison and has spent ALL but four of those years in solitary confinement!!!  He initially began his life in prison after being convicted, at age 22, of armed robbery (he only got away with 26 some-odd pounds) and was sentenced only to seven years.  Since then, he has furthered his sentence and gained the reputation of being Britain's "most violent prisoner", taking hostages in his cells, fighting groups of prison guards, making threats to kill others, etc.  Needless to say, the guy is a little on the intense side, but nonetheless interesting.  During his stay in prison, he has managed to become an excellent boxer, artist, and has written a book on working out in small spaces.

P.S. - Tom Hardy is a stud.  Not like Joey, though ;)

Anywhoo, whilst we were enjoying the insanity that is Charles Bronson, I decided to pick up my dusty knitting needles, stretch my fingers, and have a movie date with one of my favorite activities that I have recently neglected.  A beautiful reunion it was and I'm very happy with the product... and, it was completed within the time-span of a feature film.  What do you think?  It was super easy with this wrist-band pattern and then me having fun with my button collection.

It's been a while since I've been on!  I haven't meant to be absent, but I've been so busy at school and with various other projects and life in general.  However, life has been good and I hope you have been doing well during the fresh month of January!

To catch you up on what's been going on in the Travis-Carr home, ultimately, Joey and I have been learning and putting into practice our mode of attack to feed more time into our creative endeavors.  That and finally getting the house clean after we (mostly me in that we) tore the place up and neglected our cleaning responsibilities due to a crazy schedule.  Now, however, we're going to be better about that.

From this Tuesday and on (I'm not completely sure when we're going to stop), I'm going to begin giving private art lessons to a 7th grader who is STOKED about lessons with me.  I just hope that I can meet his expectations.  So, I'm going to be trying to do a lot more research on artists that he might find interesting to learn about and inspire both of us.

Also, I've got the C-STEM challenge at school to work on with the students (we're working on a mural and a sea turtle sculpture, pop-up book, and more).  We have to have all of that finished up by April.  And I have my own Graduate Art Show to work on and complete before March, so it's going to be a busy, but Artful semester which will hopefully overflow into the rest of my live-long days.

So, wish us luck!

My pile of links to share with you has become HUGE!  So, bear with me while I sort through them:

Seaweed from Tell No One on Vimeo.

OLEK AND THE CHARGING BULL ON WALL STREET from olek on Vimeo.

Happy Weekend, everyone!  The Holidays are upon us and family and friends are slowly trickling into town :)  Lindsey and Gus are home until after Christmas, which guarantees an entire week of family fun (I'll be sure to have my camera on me), and  I know some of my friends are coming in town as well, and I can't wait to see them either!


I was silly to think that my busy time ended after I finished my thesis, because now I have to get started on artwork for the Graduate Art Show.  However, that means I'll be working on artwork and will have work-in-progress to post occasionally; so that's exciting.  Wish me luck on getting done what I need to get done within the next two weeks!  In fact, today I'm making a scheduled to-do list... hmmmm, we shall see how many "do's" get crossed off.

So, what are your plans for the weekend/week?  Joey and I are going to my friend Kelly's Christmas Party tonight, which I'm pretty excited about.  It'll be nice to hang out with friends and relax and enjoy the season.  I'm making more hard cider for the occasion and need to round up some holiday attire for the festivities.

And, since I've been collecting links, but took a hiatus for a bit, here are some fun places to visit from around the Internet:

First off, if you haven't checked it out via links through facebook, then check out my friend Amy's blog, memphisupbeat.com, which is a collaborative effort made by she and a group of wonderful people from within the community who have made it their goal to highlight the positive teachers, students, events, programs, etc. that are happening within Memphis's public education system.  I was lucky enough to have Amy visit one of my classes.  Afterwards, she put up an amazing post about how the lesson unfolded.

This makes me want to get active...

This story had me rolling on the floor!  Thanks, Todd!

Homemade edible gift ideas...

I want to do this with my kids at school.  In fact, I want to do this by myself, as well!

Pretty, pretty!

I'm loving these posters!

Sheesh!!!

And, ladies, for those days when you need a little style inspiration, check this website out!

So, I am hoping that everyone's last month of the year is going well and that your staying warm and cozy.  I'm excited to have more time to work on projects as well as keep you up to date on them via Underbite.  So, with that said, I will see you soon!

I know this post comes a day late, but I wanted to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving!  I hope that everyone got to enjoy some time with their loved ones and enjoy a potluck of delicious thanksgiving foods!!!  Also, I hope everyone got at least one food-induced coma.  As gross as it is to think about passing out from all of the food you've just stuffed down, I swear it's the best nap of the year, and if you're going to get that one nap a year, then I say take it... cause it's amazing!

This year I made apple spice cake for our two families, Joey made deviled eggs, and we both made that boilo (Hard Apple Cider) that I was wanting to make a while back.  It was delicious and was perfect for a cold, rainy day.

My favorite food out of the whole Thanksgiving feast has to be the dressing.  Never mind the turkey accompanying the dressing (although that's delicious too), just give me the dressing.  Joey's family has a tradition of making home-made ravioli (this is a serious under-taking!) and serves that as their Thanksgiving feast on his mom's side.  It's delicious and OH HOW I LOVE RAVIOLI!!!  So, how was your Thanksgiving and what's your favorite Thanksgiving food?  If you're having a low-key break this year, then are you doing anything exciting?

Happy Weekend, everyone!  I hope that you have at least one day planned for relaxation.  Joey and I are both suffering from some kind of funky head cold thing, and I'm really hoping that it doesn't turn into anything more than that.  It's not the most convenient time to be significantly sick, but then again, when is? 

Check it out!  My sister Lindsey, who has always had an aesthetically able eye, has gotten little Gus man's nursery in a color challenge on Ohdeedoh!!!  She has done a fabulous job decorating his room and not only with color choices and accent pieces, but in the arrangement of the room as well.  It's a really small room, so it could easily become crowded and feel claustrophobic, however, Lindsey has flawlessly selected the furniture and decor that give the room a rich personality and filtered out (yes, my sister is a hardcore organizer/cleaner which is awesome, because I'm not) the everyday clutter that threatens to steal the room's aesthetic and character from those living in it.  On top of all of this... it is functional, AND cute as hell for a nursery.  I know the littlest Hill approves.  Gus's Jalapeno Jelly room is so much fun, but it's not Gus's room completely until the little Gusbuster man is in it.

So, go to the link and vote for Gus's room!  It's fun and it'll make you smile!


There are so many awesome house tours and kids rooms tours on apartmenttherapy.com you should definitely check it out.  Lots of visual inspiration for your home, nursery/kids room, kitchen, the technology in your home, and how you can become more environmentally conscious in your own home.

In fact, I've been putting to good use this helpful list (found on Apartment therapy) to easily keeping your home clean and organized each month.  So far, so good as the place is actually looking clean on a consistent basis.

And, for your weekendly browsing pleasures, here are some fun links from around the web:

First off, wh-wh-wh-where DO you find one of THESE!!!

I just can't get enough of recycled appliances/junk turned into functional furniture and home items.

DIY no knit scarf!

Check out Emma Watson's (Hermione) new hair via thesensesfive.com and beautiful holiday hair via a cup of jo!  I love it!

So, that's what I got for links this weekend.  This weekend I'm hoping to be super productive with my thesis, beautify a lamp that's been waiting for a face-lift and a place in our home, and clean up the workroom in our home.  Wish me luck.  And, because I want to send out some love to both of my nephew's and give a shout-out to my best buddy, Joey while he's at work, here's a couple of awesome pictures of Joey and Jeremy on their Boys day here at our house:

This week flew by!  It seems like everyday there was something going on so that by the time I made it home it was time to go to bed and do it again.  That does not mean, however, that I didn't enjoy the week.  The beginning of this week was pretty rough with a few classes that decided to act like CERTIFIED LUNATICS instead of actual human children who sometimes act endearingly looney.   After Tuesday, though, the week began to look up and good times and lots of productive art-making began to happen.






On top of working on the C-STEM Challenge, an extra-curricular program that a few of the teachers and I are participating in with the kids, I've been working on an art contest with the kids where the grand prize is a 75 gallon living coral reef aquarium!!!  Fingers crossed we'll win, however, if we don't, then that's one 75 gallon aquarium that I won't be maintaining and one beautiful piece of artwork made by the fantastic 5th graders at Oakhaven to hang up for everyone to see.  The C-STEM Challenge is pretty exciting as well.  It's a set of 6 challenges that the kids will have to complete and compete against other schools (mainly schools based out of Houston, which is where we will finally be competing in April).  We're the only school in Tennessee participating and knock-on-wood Memphis makes a name for themselves while competing in Houston, TX.

Besides school stuff and constantly keeping up with how the educational environment is changing or trying to change, life has been very good.  Joey and I enjoyed a semi-disappointing opening game with the Grizzlies game with our friends Zach and Sara.  Great company and a fun team to watch, Joey swears that when they stink it up during their first game of the season, the Grizzlies always do well during the rest of the season.  We shall see, won't we :)

 I still need to work more on my thesis and hopefully, sooner rather than later, I will blink and find myself with a master's degree.  In the meantime, I need to find more self-motivation.

As for today, however, it's Friday; a much needed Friday for many, so therefore, we shall proceed with fun non-work-related distractions and goodies!!!

This weekend was truly a blast, however, I have tragically lost my camera.  She was one of my best friends of the past four years, and my link, tool, and proof that I do in fact aspire to be a photographer.  I'm really hoping that it turns up, however, I have a sinking feeling that I may never look through its viewfinder or see the pictures from this past weekend ever again :(.

So, I don't have any pictures of the extravaganza, but it was indeed a ton of fun.

Also, I cleaned my house like a maniac before everybody came over.  I was so proud of the job I had done that I went around the house and took beautiful pictures of it to provide a tour for those people who have not yet seen Joey and I's new home.  The pictures are lost with my camera, so I created a beautiful rendition of our bedroom in photoshop.  It's basically the same thing as the photograph, just without beautiful lighting.

Send it sistah ! from sébastien montaz-rosset on Vimeo.