Cloverdew Creative

Love A La Carte features all the little things that make my life just a little more delicious.

the smell of LUSH stores, particularly of their bath bombs – ahhhhh ♥ free cupcakes from Sprinkles Cupcakes (follow their Twitter feed for the secret word of the day) ♥ ♥ crumpets ♥ PsychologyToday asks and answers: Who Is Creative? ♥ Dana Tanamachi’s stunning chalk doodle cover of Oprah’s O magazine ♥ my friend Karen’s blog - she writes about life, love, friendship, and navigating today’s world with such eloquence ♥ Emergency Puppy! ♥ No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom – after 17 years, it’s still one of my favorite albums ♥ the image above from purple buddha project ♥ Bonobo ♥ hanging out in Barnes & Noble and finding all kinds of books for my to-read list ♥ terrible diner food and great company ♥ being asked to help out a friend from Germany who is writing a dissertation in English (about the assessment of aesthetic appreciation for different types of visual art) ♥ e-mails from my mom “just because” ♥

design by Fifi du Vie

Eat Like an Artist in 2012 ♥ my new Wonderland playlist on Spotify ♥ iCal ♥ the above image from Fifi du Vie ♥ Being Erica ♥ Jay Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne ♥ Move and the world will get the fuck out of your way. – <3 Hey Amber Rae ♥ Pinterest ♥ This post about a true adventurer and his 365 photography project (make sure to watch the fascinating and moving video). ♥ the complete works of Shakespeare free for iOS ♥ Shit DC Says ♥ letterpress business cards ♥ John Legend’s cover of Adele’s Rolling in the Deep (can you imagine if they collaborated? OMG.) ♥ Adobe Bridge ♥ mimosas ♥ President Obama singing Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together ♥

What adventures are you up to? I’m brainstorming my own for 2012…

Shiny New Year love list:

origin: unknown (Is this yours? Let me know so I can credit you.)

Pantone and Sephora teaming up for a new beauty line!  ♥ SARK at TEDxFiDiWomen ”Succulence is Powerful” (YouTube video) ♥ friends who are always there no matter how many miles or days come between you ♥ Inbox: 1 (as close to zero as I can get realistically) ♥ teaching my mom how to use Flipboard and getting links from her as a result ♥ Janelle Monae ♥ handmade quilts ♥ warm and fuzzy sweaters ♥ The Definitive Color Wheel ♥ these 30 Things to Start Doing for Yourself ♥ light and fluffy snow falling ♥ laughing with my coworkers ♥ my brand new Nook (thanks, bro!) ♥ my new nightstand and lamp from IKEA ♥ starting the New Year off with a fantastic brunch shared with good friends in my new home ♥ having less than an hour commute ♥ using traveling as an excuse to buy my favorite magazines ♥ Rihanna’s You Da One ♥ reading through my old blog entries ♥ President Barack Obama sings Lady Gaga’s Born This Way (YouTube video) ♥ LUSH’s Stimulating Spice Shampoo ♥ Twelve Things You Were Not Taught in School About Creative Thinking (great article on creative thought processes) ♥ some wonderful inspiration from Louise Hay on how to love yourself and why you should start NOW! ♥ research and creative projects ♥ Hyperbole and a Half’s alot (must read: hilarious, especially for grammar nerds like me!) ♥ the fact that it’s Friday ♥ a Lord of the Rings (extended editions, of course) movie marathon with good friends ♥ my new Tumblr theme ♥

The Alot is Better Than You at Everything (image source: Hyperbole and a Half)

What are you loving right now?

Things that brighten up even the darkest day of the year:

The Day I Saw Van Gogh’s Genius In A New Light, a beautiful post about an art installation showing how colors appear differently to different people ♥ Keys and Codes Remix EP from Death Cab for Cutie ♥ working on creative projects at work ♥ great friends who I can lean on when I’m down ♥ Elf ♥ the opportunity to learn a lot in a new field ♥ uniball Vision pens ♥ fairy lights ♥ really fuzzy socks ♥ dirty chais ♥ The Glitch Mob ♥ Murad’s Pomegranate Lip Protector ♥ warm and comfortable knit scarves ♥ SnagIt ♥ going to visit my parents for Christmas ♥ the wag of dog tails ♥ reading friends’ lists of gratitude and thanks ♥ someone to drive me to the airport at a ridiculously early hour ♥ getting away for a few days ♥ discussions about Doctor Who ♥ being recognized by my boss for working hard ♥

What’s brightening your day?

Thanksgiving is a time for gratitude and I am full of it. I am so grateful for where I am in my life right now and for all the little things that help me get through each day. Following are lots of awesome things that make my days just a little brighter.

♥ Iron Horse ♥ peppermint mochas ♥ gchat ♥ a 5k day ♥ being nicknamed “Daria” by my coworkers ♥ Christmas music & movies (I must be in the spirit of the season already!) ♥ ♥ ♥ Thanksgiving right around the corner (my favorite holiday) ♥ homemade banana bread brought in by a coworker ♥ NaNoWriMo pep talks from published authors ♥ these Pantone Christmas tree ornaments ♥ Bing Crosby’s voice ♥ being grateful for pretty much everything (a place to live, good friends, family, a great church, enough food on the table) ♥ participating in an awesome spiritual swap community ♥ giving back ♥ getting a hand-written letter from my sweetheart who has been in basic training for the last 4 weeks ♥ getting out early on the day before Thanksgiving ♥ Trader Joe’s Candy Cane Green Tea (which tastes like the holidays in a cup) ♥

*image credit: lennie hanazawa

A list of gratitude and wonder:

♥ having breakfast with three beautiful deer, grazing in the morning sunlight ♥ opportunities to interview with interesting organizations ♥ Lark Rise to Candleford (who doesn’t love a period drama?) ♥ testing out fun recipes from foodie blogs ♥ picking apples and making homemade apple butter ♥ good friends who rescue you from going stir-crazy ♥ ending the evening with a phone call from my sweetheart ♥ being able to do something nice for someone else just to put a smile on his/her face ♥ pumpkin spice lattes ♥ fall temperatures and being able to wear sweaters ♥ putting together a playlist on Spotify for the express purpose of writing ♥ spending a full day outside with good friends at the Renaissance Festival, wearing pretty garb, watching a production of Hamlet, and enjoying music ♥ LUSH’s Dream Cream (with every essential oil good for your skin in one lotion… it’s decadent and scrumptious) ♥ Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s autumn scents (Pumpkin Latte, Sugar Skull, Samhain, etc.) ♥ leaves turning many colors, falling, and crunching under my feet ♥ It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! ♥ homemade cheddar, shallot, and chive scones and broccoli cheese soup ♥ the start of NaNoWriMo ♥ Trader Joe’s dark chocolate peanut butter cups ♥ having a job ♥ making holiday plans ♥ all of the fall colors ♥ pedicures ♥ drinking wine and socializing with some great people ♥ firing up the fireplace to keep the house warm ♥

*image credit: jek in the box

Here are just some of the things that are making my life a very sweet bowl of cherries:

♥ VLC ♥ Imelda May‘s new album, Mayhem ♥ new lenses for my glasses ♥ lynda.com ♥ my new 10-pound weights ♥ a clean and clutter-free desk ♥ homemade simple syrup for my iced coffee ♥ (free) Goodies from FontFont ♥ Nubby Twiglet’s Organization Methods: Tips and Tricks from a Virgo or How To Organize ALL THE THINGS (as a Virgo who would LOVE to be this organized, I had to recommend it!) ♥ Kate Spade’s simple, fun, and colorful Wedding Belles collection ♥ downloading albums from bandcamp ♥ actual cherries ♥ music reviews in BUST magazine ♥ road trips ♥ Ben & Jerry’s Red Velvet Cake ice cream ♥ Operation Sparkle Wedding which will support two great friends in having a legal fairy tale wedding in upstate New York through purchases of wonderful, magical items like Glamourkins, stories, and beautiful decorative wearable fabric flowers ♥ the Body Shop’s Strawberry Body Butter ♥ looking through old journals ♥ cupcakes ♥ the kindness of friends and strangers alike ♥ listening to old mix CDs and rediscovering who I was at different points in my life ♥ hugs ♥ Trader Joe’s ♥ driving the back roads of Virginia ♥ Wunderlist app for iPhone and the idea from a friend of taking a screen shot of my to do list and using it as my screensaver ♥ great interviews ♥ new possibilities on the horizon ♥ being told that my creativity is one of my best virtues and that I have excellent writing skills ♥ PG Tips with sugar and cream ♥ opening all the windows in the house ♥ being blessed by a family of deer in the back yard ♥ feeling like I’m in just the right place ♥ being visited by friends from faraway places in my dreams ♥ the smell of autumn in the air ♥ cards by Papyrus ♥ receiving handwritten letters ♥

What’s in your bowl of cherries?

Ever have those days where you simply cannot get a song out of your head? Yeah, me, too. When I become a huge fan of an artist and album, sometimes I just listen to the thing on repeat. Aural Fixation is a blog feature where I will talk, ramble, express my love for, and otherwise babble on about musical artists I am a huge fan of, whose albums I can put on repeat and never tire of, who pick me up when I’m down, who complement my various moods, and who will remain staples in my extremely varied and sometimes obscure music diet.

Ever since the Strokes released their album Angles a few months ago, I haven’t been able to stop playing it. In 2001, the Strokes exploded onto the scene with their album Is This It? The album was one of the best of the 2000s and the group was even hailed as “the saviors of rock n roll” by some (see last.fm). I remember working in a record shop not long after this album came out and how often we used to play it, customers always commenting on it and asking who it was – we were forever selling out of the album.

They put out a second album in 2003, Room on Fire. And in 2005, a third album was released, First Impressions of Earth, which was also successful. Not since their first album, however, have the Strokes had one this exciting. Angles is experimental and edgy, with notes of 80s synth-pop influence and 90s grunge-rock guitar riffs. Hard to explain, but easy to listen to. It’s a rock-pop dreamscape that will inject energy into even the sleepiest Sara (a great “wake up” album). It’s the best of 80s, 90s, and 2000s rolled into one completely comprehensive and infinitely interesting musical masterpiece.

Things I am loving right now:

♥ homemade sourdough pancakes ♥ writing over 1000 words of fiction in the novel I’ve had major writer’s block on ♥ spending the morning at the beach ♥ Red Sox on the radio ♥ Bon Appetit’s Summer Cooking Manifesto ♥ my brother’s newly-announced engagement to a lovely girl from Indonesia (where my brother is currently living and working) ♥ chocolate ice cream ♥ $3.00 bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon that actually taste great ♥ cold-brewed iced coffee ♥ really hearty belly laughs ♥ talking forever on the phone with good friends ♥ fandom collisions ♥ Robot Pony (an enchanting short story) from Madeline Claire Franklin ♥ dreaming of old friends and faraway places ♥ the Bedford Diaries ♥ Spotify ♥ homemade popcorn ♥ Boyce Avenue’s cover of Adele’s Rolling in the Deep ♥ anything cold to battle the heat of the summer ♥ starting a new blog with my mom about our adventures cooking our way through our family (and friends) cookbook – Stories: Savory and Sweet ♥ New England Coffee’s Blueberry Cobbler coffee (best iced!) ♥ rewatching Grey’s Anatomy S2 and the soundtrack to it ♥ rain ♥ Hair Raizers Salon ♥ being able to support my friends by buying their books on Smashwords ♥ a dog in my lap while I surf the web ♥

What are you loving right now?

A list of great things and things I’m grateful for:

♥ sunny days ♥ Great Big Sea ♥ learning my way around a new part of the country ♥ Dirty Gold’s EP – Roar (pretty much obsessed – I play it at least once a day) ♥ Bodoni font face ♥ researching best practices for small businesses ♥ all the little things we usually take for granted (fresh water and food, a roof over my head) ♥ my awesome friends made through social media ♥ reading awesome material, like the Dark Wife (a revisionist retelling of the myth of Persephone),  the Adventures in Manifesting course materials, and Danielle LaPorte’s Spark Kit (affiliate link) ♥ Ghostly International ♥ Gala Darling’s Body Pressure in the Blogosphere: Bloggers Speak Up ♥ updating, editing, and reworking our family cookbook ♥ registering domain names ♥ big sunglasses ♥ getting out the first 500 words of fiction in what seems like forever ♥ large, dangly earrings ♥ Chocolat ♥ 30 Rock ♥ gin & tonic ♥ Google+ ♥ learning PHP coding language while finding my way around the back end of WordPress (Thanks, Smashing WordPress!) ♥ getting up with the sun ♥ looking at pictures that remind me of great times with great friends ♥ cups of coffee in every shape, size, and variation ♥

Here is a list of great things in my life right now:

♥ Tumtaster ♥ Jenn Grant’s Honeymoon Punch ♥ homemade guacamole ♥ key limes & seltzer water ♥ my first ever style consultation ♥ rewatching Season 1 of Grey’s Anatomy ♥ fresh, ripe pineapple ♥ lipstick in all of its many shades ♥ the Paper Source Colorscope (the color that jumped at me? FUCHSIA) ♥ Almay Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover Pads ♥ Paul Simon ♥ Stereogum ♥ Fringe ♥ air conditioning ♥ orange juice and echinacea ♥ my iPhone and it’s many apps (like WordPress, which I am using right now) ♥ a world of possibilities ♥ a color-coordinated organized closet ♥ new Nine West wedges and heels ♥ bright orange ♥ sunset beach walks ♥ flip-flops ♥ phone calls, emails, gchats, and facebook chats with friends far away and dear to my heart ♥ a meeting with a really classy lady this week ♥ Young Winos of DC facebook group ♥ #writechat ♥ my Twitter community ♥ a phone call with my brother who lives on the other side of the globe ♥ figuring out how to finally fix my hookah ♥ Rapportive ♥ The Blue Key Campaign ♥ getting a signed copy of The Dark Wife in the mail! ♥

My life is full of happy things lately and I could not be more grateful. Thank you to everyone for making my life so full and lovely.

♥ My parents. ♥ Casey Abrams from American Idol. ♥ The best weekend ever, including: spending time with my sweetheart, girls night out, series premiere of Doctor Who, and lots of down time. ♥ Constructive criticism from good friends. ♥ Adventures in Manifesting. ♥ An angel card reading from a dear friend. ♥ A girlfriend sending me the link to these Disney inspired princess wedding dresses and discussing which ones we might wear in our fantasy weddings (even though neither of us currently has plans to get married). ♥ The smell of clean laundry. ♥ Finally finding a sunscreen I can use on very sensitive-skinned face! ♥ Free samples of perfume. ♥ Plotting and planning with friends for Fairie Festival this weekend. ♥ Avocados. ♥ Receiving my alma mater‘s alumni magazine. ♥ MUSIC: (this week includes) Paul Simon, The Strokes, The National, Fleet Foxes, and Snow Patrol. ♥ Doctor Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog. ♥