texas, our texaaaaaaaas...

I thought with a fancy new camera, I'd be blogging lots more.  For some reason, however, I haven't touched this thing in a while.  This time I've got post graduation and pre move-to-New-York-and-job-hunt-all-day-every-day has been really lazy.  While I love it, I need to get on some serious memory making, 'cause I've got about a month left in this lil' city I love so much.

stoplight instagrams

I spent yesterday afternoon sitting at one of my favorite coffee shops (Jo's), watching the cutest little sparrow eat my muffin,  (Don't worry, I was done with it.  I don't plan on eating after a bird.)  

The littlest sister met up with me for a little adventuring on South Congress.  We sat at Jo's and did a little prep work for one of the projects I talked about in this post.  I'm making a version of Wood & Faulk's wool camera wrap and I found the most gorgeous woven fabric to work with.

After a bit of fabric shopping and pizza (HOME SLICE! - an important part of the list), we walked along the bridge and up Congress to take lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of pictures.  (Don't ask me why Larisa made a to-go bag beard...)

capturing a master instagrammer at work... 

We walked around the Capitol for a bit and I remembered how much I love the building.  It makes me feel so Texan-y.  (Just go with it.)  The guards at the door got a kick out of our sister act and Larisa might have almost sneaked up a closed off staircase.

Nobody got caught.  Don't worry.

Old man loafers and moccasins.  We were meant to be.

I got a brand new camera!

It was totally meant to take pictures like these.  Ok, maybe not...  Though my siblings are pretty good gloves-scarves-and-hats-that-we-get-every-year-from-granny models.  Is this a viable career option for them?

Oh, and don't think I'm a horrible sister for putting a picture like that of my brother on the internet.  He poses, he deals with the consequences.

I have been wanting a new camera for forever and my stepdad and mama generously graduation/christmas gifted me the perfect one.  Now, I don't know what I'm talking about, but my research showed it had everything I was wanting in a dslr, with the tiny size and portability I needed in a point and shoot.  It's beautiful.  Even though I've only had it for one day, I've had so much fun taking photos of the fam (and the new baby second cousins!)

My father would like you to know that there is a very high chance he'd just said something quite profound to Hannah in this photo.  He's very profound.

It's been a fantastic couple of days.  That hottie in the photo above suprised everyone with a last minute trip home for Christmas.  I got sweet and thoughtful presents (that were exactly what I wanted) and have spent every minute of it with family.  I got to show off my stick horse making skills to Granny and lay around on the giant sectional with everyone and show her our favorite apps.  (My grandmother is quite the techie.  There is nothing she likes more than a cool new app for her ipad.) We facetimed cousins in Arkansas, watched babies play with their new toys, and napped.

(Arkansas cousins have the best accents!)

Willis and Silas (Kristi and Cliff make cute babies.)

I miss her.

Now, these were all taken in a dark living room from the same spot on the couch on my first day of owning the camera, so hopefully it'll go up from here.

I used to have waaay more time for being crafty

When I found those spice rack photos, they were in a random folder on my computer with a bunch of old projects I'd done.  Since you're nice, I'll share them with you.  Here you are: Things I Did When I Wasn't In School and Had So Much Time To Make Cool Things.

When Evane and I started drawing on Ikea's basic white plates with a Porcelain pen, we had these grandiose ideas about selling our gorgeous dinnerware for an insane profit.  We were already spending the money, we were so far into this business plan.... (Side note: those Ikea plates are simple, clean-lined, perfect for combining with vintage plates, and crazy cheap.  6 settings for $20.  Yep.)

After finishing just one set, we realized it took so long to draw all of those freaking little circles that we'd practically have to charge $1000 to end up with at least minimum wage.  So, to recap: I have a 7 person set of plain white Ikea plates/bowls/saucers (which I use all of the time) and 1 handmade place setting.  I do use the 3 pieces, however, whenever I can.

Those salted caramel brownies look much more delicious when plated so adorably.
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My dad had an old bible he like, but it had the ugliest cover!  I went old school (use those middle school textbook recovering skills!) and did a little holy DIY-ing.

I used a suit jacket I got for a few bucks at a thrift store (ignore the fabric pattern in this photo, it'll be clearer below) and cut it apart into the biggest pieces I could.  (That's the bible in the top of the photo.)

With a sheet of Heat'n Bond, I attached the fabric to the book, folding carefully over the spine and then gluing down over the edges of the cover.  I used some binding that was the same color as the inside covers to hide the edge of the suit fabric - it's not perfect, but it works.  (and it's so much better than it was!)

Using a bit more Heat'n Bond, I attached the old labels to the spine and a corner.  The big label started out as a cover up; the suit fabric bunched up a bit and you could see the original cover.  When I saw how awesome it looked, I ripped out another label for the back cover.

(Sexy ironing board cover!)

Last day of school!  Maybe I'll have time for exciting projects after this is all over.

sappy time (part 2)

I know I already got weepy last week about my family, but it's gonna happen again, people.  I'm just really lucky.  I'm sure some of you think that you have people who love you, but compared to me, you're all Oliver Twist and "please sir, I want some more (friends)."  (That's really confusing punctuation, so I'm just gonna leave it like it is...)

Most of my family is coming from across the country to see me walk across the stage for 3 seconds.  I'm just waiting for all the yells.  (I didn't get the only loud Corder genes!)

Behind the scenes info: when this photo was taken a few Christmases ago, a random lady relative called us "a bunch of hussies."  I think it wasn't meant to be an insult?  Also, be grateful girls, I was gonna put that picture of us doing ANTM in our Christmas snuggies.

Little known fact: that photo of Evane and Campbell is of the only time they've interacted without bloodshed.  :)  ...Skunks!

My family is precious.  You don't get to pick your family and I really lucked out with this one.  Nobody does group texts and That Thing You Do quotes like us.

You do get to pick your friends, however... I did a fantastic job with that one.

I will never not love this photo. Note to self: always have red lipstick, red nails, a glass of wine, people who love you.  Also, I love how Loryn looks like a blow-up doll in the top left photo.

My friends are as good at making faces as I am.  (What? You don't have photos of you and your friends  with crazy hats?  You really should.)  These people love me, even though they know all the sucky, not-so-pretty, wanna-hide-the-skeletons-in-the-closet, icky stuff...  Do you know how special that is?  They make me better and let me love them.  Life is good, people.  It's good.

Anyways, graduation.  This Saturday at noon, it's on.  Party time!  I know my instagram followers are going to be disappointed at the lack of late night "I'm studying in a coffee shop/library" shots.  No more photos of my laptop, coffee and homework... Here's a small sampling to make up for your future loss.  

it's so genetic

The whole "we make good faces" thing?  It's not just limited to my brother or the old roomie, this is a family-wide trait.  See?

I love this.  I love Evane being a model while the rest of us are being as ridiculous as possible.  I love that we're all squished in together as only family can be.  I love Hannah's face and how Larisa and Campbell have the same raised eyebrows.  I love us.

How could you not love these people?  This is late night self-portrait taking at its finest.

As I sit here in class, refusing to listen to my South African music professor (who is objectively the worst educator I have ever encountered), I'm starting to get a little teary...  I have the best family in the world.  The kids in these pictures are not only amazing people, but they love me in a way I can never deserve.  It's the best feeling in the world.

I can't wait to see what husbands and wives join this classy, classy group of individuals.  Wouldn't you want to be a part of this? Hannah, Evane, Campbell and Larisa... You'd better pick well, because I'm not letting just anybody steal you away from me.

It got even better when, at 20 years old, I gained more siblings to bother, laugh with, and blame for starting fights.  (I mean... to love).  When I was about 9 and I really wanted a big brother (I don't know exactly how I thought I was going to do that) I didn't realize that I'd have 2.  Terry and Danny, thanks for being as obnoxious as every older brother on tv was. :) Thanks for marrying beautiful, amazing women like Tiffany and Esme - they make our family so much better.  Grace, you're hot (you know that, though) and funny and such a great addition to these sisters of mine.

Of course, I love all of you new sibs, but I'd pick Justin over every one of you.  (You know you'd do the same!)  Having a nephew is so much fun, but I never knew there could be a little boy as loving and affectionate and sweet as this one.  Everyone else needs to start having kids so I can do this more often. You and your kids should live in the same city as me too.  I'd like that.

So, all that to say, I love you guys.  Thanks for making my life better.  Thanks for setting the gold standard in good face-making.  Nobody contorts their facial features quite like you kids.

Also, thanks for overwhelming my ASL professor when he asked me to name all of my siblings when we were learning the signs for family members...  It was really funny and he never picked on me again while practicing that lesson.

dude, I'm so helpful (the not-so-helpful t-shirt pillow edition)

When my future-interior-design-business-partner sister Evane left for college a few years ago, she was concerned (and rightly so) about how to make her dorm look less dorm-like.  We found comfy gray bedding and ruffly white blankets at Target and IKEA, but went lazy diy on the pillows.

I call this a not-so-helpful "dude, I'm so helpful" because I've got no pictures of the process.  We did this years ago, but there are a million different tutorials online how to make a pillow (ruffled or not) out of a t-shirt.  (This one is great.)  However, you don't need any (badly-lit) photos from me to do it yourself; it's so easy.  Now, if you need to make a bunch of pillows, you could go to the regular fabric store, but the thrift store is full of shirts (which are inherently shaped perfectly for pillow-making.)  You can find funky old designs/prints and if you go on a sale day, you can go super cheap-o.  I love the soft jersey of a washed-a-million-times t-shirt.  (So many dashes!)

Evane and I started out with neutrals (duvet, blankets and sheets), so we walked into the thrift store with a pretty open color palette. She loved a floral t-shirt that ended up as that pillow in the back, so we started there, finding different t-shirts and a few button ups in great bright colors.  We used IKEA pillow inserts for $3 a pop, but if you go to a thrift store, they have dozens of cheap (and ugly!) throw pillows if you need a different/larger size.  Don't worry about the heinous print on the fabric, just choose one that's smooth (something super bumpy will show through a thin cotton or jersey cover) and that doesn't have piping (makes your edges weird).  You don't have to only look at the x-large shirts, but if you're doing ruffles, the bigger (more fabric) the better.  Look at a couple of tutorials or pinterest for inspiration; get a little creative and go!

Thanks Evi, for the (much better than usual) photos

my fine china

For my sisters late birthday dinner, I decided to make the table feel more special and pull out some of my "vintage" plates. (Read: some of them might be vintage, but the rest are random old thrift store finds.)  I keep an eye out for plates/saucers/bowls at thrift stores whenever I'm there.  (Just like I told you to do with knick-knacks!)  I find that it's easier to get pretty and interesting saucers and bowls, which works perfectly if you have clean, white china.  That's exactly what I did with this dinner; I used white Ikea plates and made the rest interesting with serving pieces and salad bowls.

None of these plates match, and except for the adorable octagonal one on the bottom right, they wouldn't be that exciting by themselves.  (I'm totally aware the big white one with the teal print is kind of ugly, but the color was gorgeous in person and fit perfectly into the group)  None of these cost more than a dollar apiece (and most were probably 2 or 3 for 99 cents!).  Don't worry about having a matching set, just get a color story going and you're good.

when half your family has moved away...

It's really great to spend your birthday talking/texting/face-timing with everyone you love... Thanks for the presents and calls and songs.  Love you guys.  (Sorry you look so weird in this shot, Stephen)

update: it's a corder thing

Remember how my brother and I make really good faces?  Well, as he said, it runs in the family.  The roomie makes pretty good faces as well.

late night books and coffee.

This is what my late night coffee shop study sessions look like.
(As seen by Larisa - she's good at instagramming.  Follow her.)

Larisa doodles.

I study (and drink coffee.)

Coral roses in a Crown Royal bottle.

Sock bun and tattoos.

Unwitting photobomb.

THE BEST PIZZA EVER!

(Loryn and Amby, this is the Epoch, the one I was telling you about from Eastside Pies.)

monday.

Wake up early.  Wear a handmade colorful skirt.

Do homework on the bus.

Drink some oj.  Go to the financial aid office.

Listen to Adele.  Walk to class.

Read books by old Russian guys.

(Escape Hatch by Vladmir Makanin)

Make salted caramel dark chocolate brownies (from scratch!) with your sister.
Ruin the carmel three times.
 Discuss life after college.

Watch a traumatising documentary about natural birth and then decide to adopt.
Stay up late doing homework.  Go to bed.  Wake up.  Do it all again.

did you get a good lawyer?

Larisa and I have been talking lately about working on a few more songs together.  We came up with one that we wanted to sing and decided to go up to campus last week to find a pretty place to perform.

Well... We got a little distracted.  I started showing Larisa around campus and she fell for all of the gorgeous architecture.  She stole my phone (better camera) and went on a little photography spree.  She'd get enthralled with beautiful woodwork on a doorway and then apologize for "taking so long"; I wanted to pull out all of the random photos of campus on my phone to show her just how much I understand.  I'm a sucker for a gorgeous building and I love that she appreciates UT the way I do.

 all photography by Larisa Corder

We headed over to the music building where they have a bunch of little soundproof practice rooms to run through the song.  I pretended to play around on the piano, but I soon let the real musician accompany our tune.

Of course, by the time we were done sightseeing and playing around on the piano, it was dark outside.  Grrrrrrr.  We tried out a couple of places outside, but we couldn't find enough bright light to film.

Our solution?  The laundry room.  Yeah, that's where all of the great musical collaborations take place.

We just Could. Not. Get. Through. This. Song.  One of us kept forgetting the words (me) or messing up on the harmony (me) or laughing (me).  

Such are the things we do.

P.S.  It's not just me, right?  I make some weird faces when singing.

What I've been doing lately...

I took Friday night off of work to do some catching up on sleep from Thursday's all-nighter (but I've gotten my grade back and the studying wasn't in vain!)  After my nap, I went to a movie by myself (my favorite way to spend an evening) at Alamo Drafthouse - an Austin institution that's worth all of it's hype.  I saw 21 Jump Street and had some amazing 4 cheese-artichoke-spinach-hearts of palm dip.  It was fantastic.  Fan-freaking-tastic.  So funny and smart (and a little dirty, fair warning.)

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The littlest sister (Larisa) moved into a new bedroom, so we've been spending a lot of time together lately, talking color schemes, new furniture and paint choices.

We also had the first Casey's of the summer last night.  Seriously, if you live in Austin and you've never been, you need to remedy that.  Casey's New Orleans Snowballs - one yelp reviewer said it all:

If one does not like Casey's, it is fair to assume the following:

* They are a terrorist
* They are a communist
* They do not believe in AMERICA
* They take life for granted

Mounds (hers) and Peach/Strawberry (mine).  Why did we get big ones?  I think we were just a little excited that they were finally open.  We drove by, saw the open sign and practically did a U-turn to get there.

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Campbell (the brother) has had a scary week.  He went to the ER with what he thought was a extreme muscle spasm in his neck.  An ambulance ride to Seton and some surgery later, he had a giant abscess taken out of his lymph nodes.  He's totally fine and cracking us all up when he's loopy on painkillers, so I'm relieved.  He does have a sweet scar on his neck - we've been coming up with explanations for the injury and my favorite is knife fight, followed up with the classic, "You should see the other guy."

I just stole this picture from his facebook, but look how handsome he is!

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I also took a little study break tonight and did a little music making with Larisa.  She's become a little ukulele virtuoso and so we used my crappy iPhone video camera and had a concert out on the south steps of the Tower.  

Thanks for the screenshots, youtube.

I made Larisa record "Sweetie Pie" - the song that prompted this post.  She killed it, of course.

Oooooh... That one might be worse.

The squeals at the end of both of these is our excitement of getting through the songs without a car driving by.  If we were more professional, we'd have multiple takes to pick the best from...  Nope, y'all get one-take performances.

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Ok, back to more studying.  I lead an exciting life, don't I?