Archive for the 'Hobbies' Category

December 18th, 2017

My Favorite Things: December 2017

Lately, I’ve really been enjoying getting into art again. It’s been very therapeutic and relaxing, especially as I realize that it’s ok that I’m not where I’d like to be yet and that I just need to keep practicing. I used to stress out about it, but now it’s a nice hobby I can do on and off in my spare time. There’s some art supplies that I’ve been really loving, so I thought I’d do a My Favorite Things around them!

Pentel Arts Pocket Brush Pen

I came across this brush pen when I was researching supplies for Inktober, and it seems to be a popular item for many artists. $11-20 might seem like much for just one pen, but it’s refillable, so it’ll last you. (I bought a 12 ink refill pack on Amazon.) I love how smoothly the ink flows out of the pen, and the brush tip lets you make variable widths in your lines. It took me awhile to get used to it, but it’s fun to use!

Copic Sketch Markers – Sketching Grays

I wish I had these for Inktober, but I ordered them afterwards because I wanted to continue working with ink. Though they’re double ended, I’ve only used the brush tip. It’s a good range of grays, and the ink flows and blends smoothly. I find them pretty easy to use overall. I love the result, and working in grayscale has been good practice too.

Read the rest of this entry »

November 1st, 2017

Recap: October 2017

October is one of my favorite months – part of it is because the weather gets cooler and the other part are events like our anniversary and Halloween. This past month can pretty much be divided into 5 major things!

Work User Conference

My company had our annual user conference early in October. Instead of hiring lots of event staff, they encourage employees to volunteer, and it’s a great way to meet the people who use our products. The past several years, I’ve helped out with photography, and I did it again this year along with two hired photographers.

Though not all of the photos have been posted yet, I’ve already recognized some of my photos being used in articles and social media. Some of my past photos were also used in slide decks for the conference. It always feels good to see my photos out there!

Anniversary

October 9th was our 6th wedding anniversary! Unfortunately, it fell right on my work’s user conference, so we couldn’t really celebrate that day. We went to a couple of our favorite restaurants before and after the conference days, so that sort of counted. I might still make a reservation to a nice restaurant to “officially” celebrate though. Better late than never, right? (Fun fact: October 29th is our dating anniversary, and it’s been 12 years since we’ve been together!)

Read the rest of this entry »

September 21st, 2017

Seattle + OOTD #2

My husband and I recently took a short trip to Seattle from the 15th to 18th! We went for a friend’s wedding and stayed a couple extra days to see other friends we haven’t seen in awhile. I’m not the best at keeping in touch, so I was glad they still wanted to meet up, even though we haven’t seen each other in 6 or 7 years.

The Sights

We’ve visited Seattle a couple times before, so we focused more on seeing people than sight-seeing this time around. We did have a bit of time to kill on Friday, so we hung out in Gas Works Park. It’s a park by the lake with a lovely view of the city across the water.

Read the rest of this entry »