Rural Landscape

Things that are plentiful in Eastern North Carolina: farm equipment, falling apart signs advertising beer and cigarettes, and cheap motels. Aren't they all uniquely and unexpectedly stunning?

[All photos and content by Ann Howell Brown, 2013]

Tuesday Afternoon Weather

Taken on my drive home from school... life is good, especially when you're living under a Carolina blue sky. :)

[All photos and content by Ann Howell Brown, 2013]

The Creative Process [3 Mini Peeks!]

I have three very distinctive, wonderful projects going on right now... and none of them is finished. I keep seeing new things, re-working colors, adding splashes here and texture there, and I'm quite excited (and anxious!) for them to finally come together!

[All photos and content by Ann Howell Brown, 2013]

Weekend Favorites [Snow + Sunshine + Matisse]

Friday morning pre-snow sunrise...



Sunday brunch (with coffee and lipstick) at Foster's Market with my grandmother...





Sunlight, shadows, and Henri Matisse at the Nasher Museum of Art -- sadly, no photos allowed inside (and those security guards see EVERYTHING, like Santa's Elves)...



Long breakfast (thanks to a 2-hour weather delay) with my grandmother's sticky buns and honey tangerine juice...

Also thought this article was exciting and encouraging -- about students being social entrepreneurs, and UNC - Chapel Hill incubating them.

[All photos and content by Ann Howell Brown, 2013]

Tea Party for One

One of the best, most thoughtful gifts I've ever received -- membership in a TEA CLUB. Did you even know such a thing existed?? Subscribers receive monthly shipments of tea in their mailboxes, and get to try new pairings and tastings and sippings and enjoy-ings. 

My first shipment arrived this weekend, and I love it. 

The first one I tried was the Yu Lu Yan Cha black tea, which was divine.  I added sugar, because I'm from the South and like my black tea SWEET. 

Tea cup from India; napkin from an antiques shop. 

More info on Verdant Tea and tea club membership here, if you're interested. The company is really neat, and I love seeing people who find a way to spread what they're passionate and joyful about to the rest of the world. :)

[All photos and content by Ann Howell Brown, 2013]

[Long] Weekend Favorites

The most delicious grilled shrimp and scallop skewers with sun-dried tomato pesto EVER.

Sparkly presents with pink polka-dotted wrapping paper. 

MLK Jr. Monday = no school/morning in a coffee shop

Gorgeous rustic wood bar in said coffee shop.

First time trying Meyer lemons, which turned into the MOST DELICIOUS SALAD DRESSING EVER. I may or may not have eaten spoonfuls of it straight up. 

[PS - making this later.]

New favorite dessert discovery: crystallized ginger.

Awesome words spotted on the floor of Whole Foods.

Did you discover anything new this [long] weekend? Cheers to a four day week! :)

[All photos and content by Ann Howell Brown, 2013]

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - 2013

I've always loved these rare photos from TIME Magazine of Martin Luther King, Jr., and his family, because they remind me that people who do extraordinary things are usually completely ordinary people.



"One of the most painful experiences I have ever faced was to see her tears when I told her Funtown was closed to colored children, for I realized the first dark cloud of inferiority had floated into her little mental sky."



After being violently attacked by a young, white racist and urged by the police (and his wife, Coretta) to press charges, King replied:

"The system we live under creates people such as this youth. I'm not interested in pressing charges. I'm interested in changing the kind of system that produces such men." 

When I read words like these, that are so incredibly strong and convicted even to the point of accepting violence against himself and his family, everything about MLK Jr. starts seeming larger than life, or ethereal, or kind of mystically great. What ordinary person would be able to sustain such beliefs about nonviolence when his own life, and the lives of his innocent children, are threatened?

However, when I see such intimate, everyday photos of the King family, I am reminded that truly extraordinary people are often quite ordinary and human. It makes me think -- what am I doing, as an ordinary person, to change the system?

I hope you enjoy your Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, and I hope you are inspired by King's words and pictures from his life as much as I am. :)

[All photos and information from TIME Magazine.]