The creative process: YOU are my sunshine

[All content and photos by Ann Howell Brown, 2012]

Linus Mariah Brown!!!!!

My first Christmas tree ever!!! Here he is riding home in my car...

One of the reasons I liked this tree so much is that it's still alive, with roots and everything -- I can plant it when Christmas is over and have a tree growing on my porch year-round!! I covered his plastic pot with grocery bags and pink tape.

Then I tried to hang all my ornaments on him, but he's so wispy that the ornaments bent all the branches down and/or fell off. 

So, I decided to make my own Christmas ornaments out of paper, light as a feather and exactly how I want them. 

To make an angel for the top of my tree, I cut a cone shape...

...and taped it together.

Then I tried the angel body on my tree to see if it would fit. 

(This picture cracks me up; the tree bends sideways so endearingly and I can't make it stand up straight. I like Linus Mariah even more because of his flaws!) 

Angel gets a face, and some crazy star hair that also serves as a halo.

Love and a heart, since "that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown!"

(This is also where Linus Mariah's first name comes from.)

Then, I decided that this would be a "joyful and triumphant" angel, inspired by this song. 

(This is also how Linus Mariah got his middle name!)

 I tucked in some white, pink, and gold stars to serve as a backdrop for my joyful and triumphant angel... 

Note the angel's pine needle goatee...

Wishing you a very lopsided, handmade, sparkly, Merry Christmas filled with love! 

[All photos and content by Ann Howell Brown, 2012]

boots + books

When I first moved into my apartment, these 3 little steps were among the first things I set up. The plants were beautiful and green, the books were too big to fit on the built-in bookshelves, and my cowboy boots (my first Christmas gift ever from my boyfriend and my most prized possession; I wear them literally every single day to school) could not find a good steady home in my closet. 

[The glasses were purchased for about 2 cents on the side of the road in India; I sometimes wear them. They're bifocals, in case you were wondering.]

So, I plopped them all on my 3 stairs and they lived there pleasantly as reminders of things I love (books, plants, boots, nerd glasses) and as homes for much-used and hard-to-house objects.

NOW, in preparation for my first ever Christmas tree (more on that later), I had to clear those steps. I moved things all around, up and down, in different corners... and subconsciously, the boots and books still ended up together. I didn't notice this until I was flipping through old pictures and found the one above. 

Boots and books in their new home.

[remember this bench from when I went shopping??]

I am taking this all as a sign, and the boots and books will always live together, for as long as I can help it. 

p.s. - The Indian glasses didn't make it on top of the stack of books this time because I'm currently wearing them.

[all photos and content by ann howell brown, 2012]

made me laugh

31 kids who are too clever for their own good.

[from buzzfeed]

thanksgiving eats

this year i am thankful for: 

family + friends

(in particular, aunts who are fantastic chefs and cocktail mixers)

health + happiness

gainful employment

kale and roasted root vegetable salad (with dijon vinaigrette)

sweet potatoes with sage, pistachios, and goat cheese

peppery bloody marys
live versions

freedom

the beach

the sun, moon, and stars

pictures like this one

the great state of north carolina

videos like this one

...and a thousand other things. :) 

photos by ann howell brown, 2012

my favorite place

this side table beside my sofa. 

i think i love this space because everything on it comes from all over the world and from different parts of my life, but is still woven together by my absolute favorite ocean-deep shades of blue.
(the color of calm!)

lamp: from my mother's childhood

 teacup: picked up and toted around painstakingly while traveling in india

 spice tin + blue ink bottle: from a thrift shop in rural north carolina

 swedish ivy: grown and sold by one of my students as a fundraiser for a school program

and of course, the side table itself -- thrown on the side of the road and saved by my mother's keen eye for hidden treasure.

bangin'

most imaginative word added by a fourth-grader to our "opinion adjectives" list: 

bangin'.