Anchor Space : Otis Redding

Currently fermenting in the bottles, our Anchor Space : Otis Redding Red Hop Amber Ale is just about ready to enjoy!  I recently designed these labels for the bottles and bottle caps.  It was a fun personal challenge and I'm very happy with the results!

Home Decor that's a Wee Bit Creepy

I've always been interested in oddities, but my attraction to strange home decor has grown over the last year or two.  I pridefully display a bird spine portion and one of Ella's baby teeth right along with my succulents and house plants.  But, living in NYC has it's limitations when it comes to finding au naturel novelties.

My list of I really wish I could find these nature wonders includes : a bee hive, a few birds nests, shells, starfish, and other ocean wonders, a set or two of antlers, a turtle shell, and a few butterflies.  If you find any of these or anything similar and send them my way - I will be sure to send you a treasure of other sorts.

Since my chances of finding these natural novelties in my neighborhood are very slim, I might need to incorporate decor like these for the time being :

Insect bottles by Laura Zindel.

10 dollar drawing or woodblock drawing by Alicia Lynn Carrier.

Inspiring Artist : Elsa Mora

It's rare that you find an artist who is equally talented in multiple aspects of art.  Elsa Mora is just that - talented.  I'm personally inspired by her mixed media artworks, illustrations, and paper cuts (shown below).  Her website is very much worth browsing through to see the full range of talent this woman exerts.

Spring in the Home

The sun is getting warmer, green buds are beginning to appear, and I'm eager to spend a full day outside in the park.  Spring is coming!  I've begun to explore spring decor for my home.  Incorporating bright, soft colors, plants and flowers, as well as a few spring animal objects really make a big impact.  

I think I might have to purchase a few of these items to really step up the Spring in my home!

Dirt-free wheatgrass by Plantology.

Hummingbird clothespins by Habitat.

Spring tea towels by Claudia Pearson.

Catching Up!

I'm not sure if the excuse of the strange last couple of weeks is enough of an excuse to justify the neglect of blogging I've done lately.  Eek!

Well - the good news is that there is a lot coming up on the horizon.  Inspiration, collaborations, work, and new progress.  I'll be sure to share more soon.

Spring Is A'Coming!

My goodness!  It's amazing what a little fresh spring air and some warm sunshine will do for the soul.  It has certainly helped cure my winter blues!

Hope you had as wonderful of a spring weekend as I did.  Cheers to a great week ahead.

Feeling Great on a Day Like Today!

What a beautiful Saturday in NYC.  The warm sun is out, the streets are a'bustlin', our windows are open, and the record player is on.  I started my morning with a great walk to the Grand Army Farmer's Market where I picked up some local, organic groceries, 2 new succulents, and some gorgeous flowers to brighten the day.

Inspiring Artist : David Nadel

Photographer David Nadel's current series Burn is wo wonderful.  Featured on PDN's Photo of the Day - David's project of photographing the remains of burned down forests in Montana is so elegant, simple, and inspiring!  Shot on 4x5 color film, the images are transformed into patterns that appear to be black and white etchings.

A great description of his project from Sasha Wolf Gallery : "Where a dense, green, classically beautiful forest landscape existed - all that is left, post wildfires, are the stark and devastated monument-like remains."

The Wild Unknown

Great name, great company!! The Wild Unknown is a family-run business specializing in handmade objects.  I love their style and their artworks.  I'd love one of every kind, honestly!

Comfy Bedding

Doesn't having super comfy bedding make all the difference in dream-land?  It sure does for me!  On top of our 4 inch memory foam mattress topper, I love a duvet at all times of the year, and luxurious linens really do the trick to make hopping into bed a real joy.

I came across this wonderful company called Rough Linen, who make a variety of duvet covers and pillow shams.   This beed looks just right for me!  I love the rough linen, the brown corzo button details, even the au naturel headboard!

Brew Round Two + Brooklyn Wort Homebrew Competition

This past weekend was full of homebrew for us! Josh and I attended the Brooklyn Wort homebrew competition held at the Gowanus Studio and brewed our second bath of Anchor Space homebrew.  At Brooklyn Wort, we tasted 30 different homebrews and voted on our favorite.  One of the two we voted for received the Judges Choice award.  I think that means we're good brew tasters!

And a bit about our own homebrew : we went for a red hop ale and decided to call it the Anchor Space : Otis REDding.  It should be good!  We used a great blend of grains and chocolate for steeping, four different hops (aroma and bittering variations), and a lovely red malt to make a great hoppy red ale.  Plus it's already fermenting in the carboy!

Two weeks of carboy fermentation ahead, plus three more weeks of fermentation in the bottles until they are carbonated and have some alcohol, but we're already looking forward to the first taste!

Here are some of our weekend photos :