Sunday Funday at the Secret Spot

There is a fishing spot on the Outer Banks that has for a longtime been nicknamed by my dad "the Secret Spot" or "Mosquito Alley". Adam and I spent this past Sunday Funday fishing the spot, though it no longer lives up to either of it's nicknames anymore. 

We had lots of little bites, but all we caught was a puffer. Not good for eatin'. 

Danasaur Designs

Most of the time I'm just on this here blog rambling about my day to day life. I try to make it relevant, like when I talk about worldly issues. Or I try to make you all jealous, like when I post about the Outer Banks, complete with beautiful beach pictures. I try to be inspiring by posting DIY tutorials. But most of the time I post things like this, not very relevant unless you have a shoe fetish like moi or your really interested in helping me buy new shoes. This post is a little different.

(Keep reading there are pretty pictures at the end and they won't make sense unless you read each and every word!)

Some of you while poking around may have notices I have another, err, I don't want to call it blog because I've never written a single post, but regardless that is its intent. It's called Danasaur Designs, a name I use when speaking of my art as a whole.

You might be surprised. I'm not just into DIY's, terrible sewing refashions, and trying my hand at photography, but I'm also an artist!

For a long time I didn't consider myself an artist. I came to loath the word , shun it when used in context with any of my work, and eventually stopped creating art in general. I think this is initially where Danasaur Designs was born as a way to describe myself without the long feared term artist.

I came to hate this term in college as I found myself in and out of so many majors. My sophomore year alone I seriously persued 8 different majors, even if only for one week. I favored the liberal arts like creative writing and art, while pressure came for me to pursue a career or at least a major that would lead to a career.

When I had finally decided on something I thought could satisfy both, I applied to my university's art college, took the courses to start my major and wasted a semester living a dream that would never come true. It was during my first summer away from home when this all happened. My life changed in an instance as I read a simple one page letter from the post. I found out that indeed I was not accepted to the art school. Except this was interpreted as "you will never be a real artist". And so I came to hate the word artist. Despise it with ever ounce of me. This was the first time I had ever experienced a dream bring stripped away so insensitively. A three sentence at the most letter.  I told few people. I cried in the arms of my boyfriend at the time. He comforted me the only way he knew how. By saying "I think people are beautiful when they cry", then trying to get in my pants. I went onto my next major, and the next. I eventually realized that being an artist wasn't about a piece of paper saying I went to art school or even a diploma, but about what you see here. And with that I share with you some pieces from my collection.

P.S. I apologize for the quality of these. After all, it is just a phone.

These are all pieces I have done in the past, many of them, including the Beatles above, were painted prior to  my dream destruction in college. Recently, I have picked back up the brush. Blame it on a spurt of inspiration or mere craziness (Or my grandma pestering me to paint her a picture, which is probably the real reason.), but I have started to paint again. I blame that for the inspiration behind this post.  And I hope to share with you some of my new works of art very, very soon! 

Happy first day of fall, ya'll!

My Shoe Obsession

I have a shoe obsession. Honest to God. Just look at this picture for proof.

That my friends is a pile of TOMS fresh from the delivery mans hands. Still stiff from production. And they smell o-so-new. The truth behind this pile of shoes is I can not afford all of them, nor do I need all of them. So I am enlisting your help. Please help me choose which shoes to keep for the fall by voting with comments below. Simply comment with which number you think I should keep. In return, you'll forever be my best blog friend (and maybe, in the meantime I'll think of some little handmade gift for you)!

Hint: I will actually be keeping Shoe #4, the Sierra Strappy Wedges, for a wedding I'll be attending this fall. So you actually only need to help me choose between 1, 2 and 3.

Thanks for your help. Please vote below!!

Amelia Earhart and Tiny Creatures

My favorite thing about work is the creatures that dwell along our building. Writing spiders live in abundance here and their poems are written large for all to see. 

I also love that each day, whether it be high tide, low tide, slack tide or no tide, it never looks the same. It never feels the same. And it definitely never smells the same.

Today while embarking on my routine journey on the sound side boardwalk, I found my scarf tied around my neck in an attempt to keep my hair tamed in the breeze. I felt like Amelia Earhart, but without the red hair and obnoxious accent. The wind whipped at my face and I shut my eyes to feel like I was flying. . . with my feet planted firmly on the ground. Anyhow, wearing a scarf at the beach in 80 degree weather proves my commitment to fall. Bring it on!

 I know, I’m a dork, but the sound was rough and angry with waves big enough to frighten me as I tried to capture their size. They looked bigger standing out there staring at them through the iPhone and I realized how small I really am. I’m just one tiny, little person out here fighting. And how must an ant or a ladybug or a no-see-em feel, so tiny and some so hated. Put on this earth to do what? I’m so much larger than the tiniest living creatures and I would never be able to stand my ground against the sound raging as it is much less the brutal force of the ocean. It’s a small world. I know and I am constantly reminded of this, but we are also small forces of nature.

Then my phone turned all black and funky and I haven't figured it out yet, because I had to quit being Amelia Earhart and go back to work. . . There's always tomorrow! 

The land of misfit toys

All the weather forecasts and blog posts and facebook statuses and long sleeves and public voices have been quietly uttering the same united tune of fall. Even the smiles on everyone’s faces have turned a different way, in the city that is.

Here on the Outer Banks fall came overnight. Windows were opened, cardigans pulled from the back of the closet, corduroy pants dusted off, and a smile returned to my face, but not for the rest of the Outer Banks, whom thrives on the heat of the summer and the money in their pockets.

(Keep reading, I know you want to.)

And when work began on this cool Monday morning, I expected the weather to be on everyone’s mind, though I was sourly disappointed. Blood pulses differently here. Fall is not welcomed but dismissed. Taken like salt in a wound, as visitors pack up and go home, work gets slower, and the weather gets cooler. Here, fall is just another signal, not a celebration.

Locals have nicknamed the Outer Banks the land of misfit toys and I’m slowly beginning to see exactly how things spin down here. Not backwards or upside down, but everywhere and at no determinable rate. I am always surprised. I am always wrong. I am never adjusted.

In the land of misfit toys, I resist. And with this I wear my fall colors, trash the flops for real shoes, and slip on the corduroy jeans.  I sit in the sun till my bones feel like jelly, spend nights outside with a blanket and a book, and rejoice, because finally it starts to feel more like home.

What fall on the Outer Banks means to me:

• Oysters
• Campers – The small retro kind pulled by a vehicle and tents without mosquito nets.
• A relief from the scalding summer heat and less sunscreen
• Shorts and a T-shirt instead of a bare all bathing suit
• Butterflies and beautiful moths
• Festivals!
• Corduroy pants
• A cool breeze
• The fish return
• A slower pace which makes for easier days
• Sweaters
• Thrifting
• Long deserted walks
• An off leashed dog
• Room to roam
• Traffic – less of it!
• eating out 
• the beginning of winter - with which brings the possibility of snow!

I spy. . .

. . . Dana on Hatteras Island! As promised, here is one of the video's produced from my trip to Hatteras Island in early August. My co-worker filmed all this great footage and I even made the cut during the final edits. Can you find me in my 2 seconds of fame?

Look for this video airing on WRAL in Raleigh and also look for chances to win our Getaway Giveaways!

OCRACOKE, NC // TRAVELS