art livening life

When I was in high school I finally got around to decorating my room myself. At the time I felt like my room should be a reflection of who I was as a person and my frilly white wallpaper with purple butterfly border just wasn’t doing it for me anymore. So I started with a bed spread I found at Target that had a funky Hindu vibe and was filled with warm tones and then bought paint to match. Not many people have 3 orange walls and one subdued green one. I painted them myself (with the help of friends and family of course) and I loved it because it was so different. Someone later told me that that my room looked like a carrot which upset me quite a bit, being especially bummed at the irony of being a redhead and not having noticed the carrot top connection. Anyway, at first I was extremely careful about making sure everything matched perfectly. I actually picked out the paint by bringing the pillowcase to the store with me and if the color wasn’t in my bed spread it couldn’t be in my room.

Over the past few years I’ve changed quite a bit and so my room has changed along with me. My walls are covered with mostly black and white pictures of French architecture I tore out of an old calendar and my furniture is now cluttered with mismatched little frames (some that I’ve had since middle school). I don’t like the idea of being “matchy matchy” with colors and styles. What I do like are decorations that are personal. Lately, I’ve been collecting things that are unique but most importantly, meaningful. After all, what is the point of buying a factory made duplicate of some boring piece of “art”? I know what you’re thinking, how can this girl afford such one of a kind items? Well, I don’t own anything of that sort yet, but the art my friends have made for me definitely mean the more than anything I could buy.

Here are some of the cool things my
friends have given or made me:


This marble ocean blue mug was a birthday gift from my good friend Nick. He’s made most of the art in my room but I really like this as my earthy rustic sharpie cup.


This particular painting I got out of the back of a truck, or rather, out of the back of Nick’s trunk. He’s a laid back kind of artist who pretty much uses his car as a studio. I was talking to him one day and he was showing me all the mugs he had (literally dozens!) when I saw this floating in the back. The orange and green undertones go with my room perfectly and I like to think the messy look of it parallels the messy look my room often has.



Probably one of my favorite gift’s from this Christmas, my sister and her friend made this for me. She traveled to Chicago before winter break to visit a girl who is studying fashion and design. They worked together to create this piece of art for me out of wooden frames and white canvas. I love how the dainty flower contrasts with the splotchy paint. Very modern and cute.



Another piece by Nick, only this is my favorite thing he’s made me because I described it to him and he created it. Sometimes I wish I had more of an artistic talent. I can imagine things vividly but the moment I try to transfer that image to paper it gets lost completely. Nick made this for me to decorate my dorm room when I moved out of my house freshman year of college. I told him that it felt like the end of one aspect of my life but the start of another. He kind of threw it together without thinking and only after it was done did we realize that it looked like the rising and setting sun depending on which way you flipped it. Pretty cool. I keep it on my desk and depending on my mood I’ll flip it one way or the other.


My room may be getting cluttered, but it really brings my room to life. I hope you enjoyed the art as much I do!

the sky is the limit

Welcome to Tea & Honey! With 2010 freshly begun and spring semester classes just a few weeks away, I thought it would be a good time to start a blog. I’ve wanted one for quite some time but couldn’t figure out exactly what I would write about or what I would call it. I realized that I’m just a simple, small town kind of girl and therefore my blog should be simple; centered around the things and people that I love.

I actually love this time of year, right after the holidays and just before the start of new classes. I try to take advantage of having literally nothing to do by composing myself and doing the things I never usually have time to do. I also love “beginnings” because they almost always inspire positive change. I know it does for me, which is why I’ve compiled a list of my own new year resolutions:

1. Learn how to cook

2. Learn how to garden

3. Get in shape/stay healthy

4. Save and spend my money better

5. Appreciate my friends and family even more than I already do

I think that these are genuine goals, mostly because they will be fun to try and also because they will change me for the better. Tea & Honey will be exploring how I go about accomplishing these things and allow me to reflect on my day to day adventures.

The sky is the limit. Cheers!