pot throwing

here's an interesting activity i did recently at my time at appel farm: throwing.

ever heard of it? it's when you make a cup/ bowl/ pot on the spinning pottery wheel. a friend invited me to sit in on one of his classes, and i made lots of cups that day :)









fact: throwing is messy.
fact: if you throw, you will get clay on your arms, legs, face, and possibly in your hair.
fact: "centering" is nearly impossible if you are me.




xxx




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sunday songs~ good old war ~ amazing eyes

it seems that i haven't had a sunday songs feature since i've been at camp. so i thought i'd share a gorgeous little gem i came across recently~




all those beauty-licious harmonies send me straight to heaven every time. plus the chorus lyrics are genius- who doesn't love to be told they have amazing eyes?

hope you like!


xx



♥ listen to my new record on bandcamp ♥

What I Love About Me ~ Maria from Little Tree Vintage

this summer, i am hosting a new weekly series called the what i love about me series. my vision is to get a variety of women talking about their favorite part of themselves. It could be a physical quality, an awesome ability, personality trait, etc. :)

i hope to help reverse negative conditioning from society, and promote women realizing and celebrating the positive aspects of themselves.

read on about this week's amazing woman, maria of little tree vintage.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi there Chantilly readers, this is Maria from Little Tree. I am so excited to be a part of this amazing series about women loving themselves, and being able to embrace the characteristics that make them who they are. When you think about a woman who says she loves certain things about herself, most will say "she's so cocky" or "she's so into herself" but in reality, if we can't love ourselves, how will others love us? I think society has given us the weird idea that it's bad to love yourself, and in fact you shouldn't. They say that you should always find something you need to "work on" or something that isn't "perfect."

Over time I realized that these ideas put into our heads are not right. They aren't real, and they sure as hell are not the model that should be followed. Love yourself, and when you wake up in the morning, embrace every little imperfection, because it's yours, and yours alone.

I am here today to talk about my favorite part of me. This may sound strange, but I love my hair. It's been a love/hate relationship since as long as I can remember. It gets frizzy in the heat, my bangs separate on a daily basis, and it's crazy and wild when I don't do anything to it. Even though all of these things are annoying, I still love how thick it is, the length, and how versatile it can be. It can be curly, straight, and even wavy sometimes. My hair has been long, short, red, brown, blonde, and even a dark shade of purple. And it's all mine, it comes with me everywhere, and even though it's unruly, it's perfect in its own way.

♥ Maria from Little Tree ♥




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star headband

i know this was posted a long time ago, but did anyone notice the rad headbeand i was wearing for my cd release outfit?? i proudly made and wore that headband :)

all my friends insisted i go "glam" for the release. but i really wanted to wear a headband, even though it reads as more hippie/ hipster. i decided to compromise by throwing some glitter on one, and calling it good :)

super secret about myself: i love glitter! i stifle my love for glitter most of the time. i think it can look tacky. however, i loved the idea of a sparkly accent for my special day.


i had some scrap leather pieces, so i just drew stars on them like so-




next, i cut out the stars with a regular ole' pair of scissors, and glittered them with tacky glue.




i then used glue to attach the stars to my headband. voila! easy peasy leather/ glitter headband. i only ended up doing one star, just because i didn't like the way two looked together. i'm sure there are soo many other shapes and textures you could try with this!





have a fantastic day, loved ones :)
xoxo



♥ listen to my new record on bandcamp ♥

floating lanterns

another really cool thing that we did at the end of staff week... we all got to light some lanterns and watch them float up into the sky! they're similar to hot air balloons... you light them up, and then they fly away. it was pretty incredible to see all the beautiful lanterns floating into the sky...


here's everyone fluffing out and lighting theirs-











so cool!




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camp performance

during staff week, anyone who wanted to perform could sign up for the staff concert. i ended up recruiting my new bff victoria to play viola with me to my song "what you do to me." i also got to perform it when the kids got here, which was even more insane!


photos by graham zinger




i haven't performed in front of that many people in such a long time. it was also wonderful to have such a supportive audience, and everyone really liked it... i even sold cd's!

it's weird... in new york, EVERYONE has self-released an album. in professional musician land, it's kind of an expectation that you have one. if you don't... you MUST find a way to make it happen. it's not even a question.

but at camp, people were completely bowled over, and i was kind of a rock star for a hot second. people wouldn't believe i didn't have a record deal. one girl swore she saw my cd at best buy.




i guess it goes to show you... i've worked so hard at everything i do, and have sacrificed a lot for my dreams. yet there's always someone who has released more cd's, has toured, has better connections, etc. i get caught up in the comparing game, and never feel good enough about my level of "success."

these pictures are beautiful, and remind me that what i do is worthwhile. having the ability to light up a room full of people IS a big deal. releasing two cd's is a huge deal!


some people are amazed simply because you do the things you do.


xoxo




♥ listen to my new record on bandcamp ♥

campfire nights

we usually have a campfire about once a week. i've only really been to the first one so far, because they're always on my time off. first night was unseasonably cold. everyone was huddling around the fire, trying to stay warm.







somehow i found a guitar and started walking, noodling around, figuring out covers.

the s'mores were flowing like champagne.

everyone was mesmerized by the fire.






what a wonderful place this is.

xx





♥ listen to my new record on bandcamp ♥

What I love about me ~ Roxy from Grrrfeisty

this summer, i am hosting a new weekly series called the what i love about me series. my vision is to get a variety of women talking about their favorite part of themselves. It could be a physical quality, an awesome ability, personality trait, etc. :)

i hope to help reverse negative conditioning from society, and promote women realizing and celebrating the positive aspects of themselves.

read on about this week's amazing woman, roxy of grrfeisty.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple years ago, I watched a movie. And then I watched it 10 more times. Whip It.

My whole life I have been feisty. It’s the perfect word to describe me. A little shy at times, but once you get my riled up – FEISTY. Sometimes it’s appropriate, and sometimes it is not. After I saw Whip It for the first time, a movie featuring a LOT of roller derby, I knew I had found the perfect release for my feistiness :)





It has been almost 2 years since I started playing roller derby and my first season is almost over. I have made so many new friends, and learned SO much about the sport and about myself. Though it is a costly sport, and I have to drive a lot more than usual, I do not regret a minute of it. I can see improvements in skills that used to give me trouble and help others along the way. Though I still struggle with your typical body issues, my confidence has grown. My large…posterior has a purpose now! My short stature comes in handy! And I can wear spandex and just not care. :)





Roller Derby teaches you about healthy living and increasing your self-confidence. If you think you can tough it out, research a league in your area. It’s totally worth it.

Xoxo
♥ Roxy from GrrFeisty ♥




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violet & jade

i pretty much kill every plant i come across, but these two have actually stuck around. i thought i'd give them a treat and makeover their pots!




the playaz.




hot tipp: i had to use about three coats of paint to completely cover the terra cotta pots. with the violet i did a color block, but with jade plant, i wanted to cute it up with the hearts.

then i used chalkboard paint to make a little place where you can write the name of the plant!




i'm no painter, so i wasn't so good at doing the swirly white lining, but i think it's close enough :)




i might sound like a weirdo, but i think violet and jade would sound like really pretty names for a pretty lesbian couple. hell, maybe my plants are lesbians? just look at those two crazy kids together...




it's love 4-eva.



ps, the winner of the ally hoot vintage giveaway is angie! congrats! i've already emailed you :)





♥ listen to my new record on bandcamp ♥

camp!!!

good morning everyone! how have you been? so i finally have a minute to tell you guys what i've been up to this summer and things happening at camp!


to start off, here is the bunk I live in:




it's an old chicken coop. i share the space with three other girls. as an adult who has been living in her own apartment for some time, i'm used to having things a certain way. i'm definitely an "i need my space" type of person. at first, i was afraid about the lack of it. but i got used to it pretty quickly!

the cabins are… rustic, to put it nicely. there's a few daddy longlegs i've befriended in the shower. my arms and legs are full of bites. it's full of bugs and dirt and charm, and i love it.


another thing: the schedule. it's crazy. it's 12-14 hour days. it's fun work, but exhausting. i teach two guitar classes, a rock band ensemble, and a songwriting class six days a week. plus we're all responsible for other duties such as planning events, running workshops, and supervising the camp.


one of my favorite pieces of magic here are the fireflies. our bunk is right by the edge of the forest, and every night there's tons of fireflies blinking all the way up to the tallest tree. I've never seen anything like it. the trees look like they're glittering in the dark.


some other scenes from around:




















I've already made some AMAZING friends that I'll be really sad to be leaving behind when I go home :( but some of them actually live in new york, so i hope to be keeping in touch :)

hope everyone out there has been having a wonderful summer!

xoxo





♥ listen to my new record on bandcamp ♥