sweet summertime

sweet summertime by clare-mulderink on polyvore


Broke down & got a polyvore.... made this one with dddulcie

May photo a day: 12, something that makes you happy.

Today my brother Ben, my twin sisters Emma & Rachel, and my best friend Dulcie and I packed up my 2 door Honda with all our belongings, and headed on our merry way to Tulip Time in Holland, MI. :)

Although an extremely mild winter and an early spring meant that most tulips have already come and gone, we brought our cameras and walked around the city for a few hours snapping some shots. It was too early for the carnival to be running but the ferris wheel still looked interesting, and the Dutch dancers were out in full force.

We stopped at The Peanut Store and stocked up on some candy as well... Pictures to follow in an edit of this post. After I get them on my computer :P anyway this place is awesome. There can be found a plethora of delectable candy options, and our favorite part is the bulk candy. For $5/lb. you can have your own little white sack filled with your personal picked favorites of sugary goodness. Needless to say, we bought almost two pounds worth...

Also, one of the things we sought on our quest was some classic fair food. Since we're allergic to half the crap (or more) that was being sold (gluten intolerance) we settled, finally, on cheese fries. After buying a bag of cotton candy for the road, we went to Meijer for some sandwich supplies for real protein ha. :) the kids felt so unhealthy.

A fantastic day. I love that my siblings are getting into photography, and I love how we're all older and can hang out like this :) happy Saturday!

may photo a day: 6, you.

ootd, created this beauty using a new app called pic stitch. ha.

thrifted dress, gifted shirt, necklace found at a hippie store in the middle of nowhere while out on an adventure with dulcie. pink hair again.

:)

what's in my bag

This video is quite different than my normal style. I blame it on Dulcie for introducing me to the world of YouTube glamour gurus. I just thought it'd be interesting and I've been really wanting to make some nice videos since I got my new camera and it records in HD. :)

So what do you think? Should I do more of these kind of videos? Let me know on facebook.

adios amigos

twenty-two.

Well today's my twenty-second birthday. Which is just strange to type, I barely got used to being twenty-one! And now today I'm like an old fart, I'm 22. Ridiculous. So anyway, here are some highlights from the year 2011 / the year I was 21.

• The first full year that Trevor & I dated.
  We started dating August 2nd, 2010 and 2011 was the first year we were together for the whole thing. :) On August 2nd of this year will be our two year anniversary! And after that, hopefully many more. Over there is a picture of Trevor & I at the Thayer company Christmas party this year :)
  
• Got my violin fixed!
  My beauuutiiifulll violin which I got in like...2006? I think, broke on Easter Vigil in 2010. I was devastated - the bridge cracked and the soundpost was rolling around in the violin. I was really broke and the time and couldn't get it fixed. :( But my boss, Chuck, bought me a brand new violin to use in the meantime!! I played it all summer long but then finally decided to get my real violin fixed. I teared up when I first started tuning it, missed it so much. <3

• Went to Colonial Williamsburg!I got to go with my whole family (minus my brother Rob) to Williamsburg in Virginia, where we had a whole week full of history & fun :)

• Went on my first business trip :)I went to Toledo, OH to the headquarters of Spartan Chemical Company to learn about their program, CompuClean. Yes, I work in the janitorial supply business. But along the way Dulcie & I got to explore the city! We shopped and went to the art museum there :) Great memories!!! To the right is a picture of all the people at the seminar. Needless to say, I was the youngest. :P
• Turned 21!
  Ok this one's kind of obvious. Like, duh I turned 21. But what happened as a result of being 21 is that my tastes, as far as alcohol goes, matured greatly. I got really into beeeeer this year. Before I just drank whatever, whatever was cheap and available. I had no idea what a lager vs a pale ale vs a pilsner or what. So I learned a lot as far as that's concerned. The beer I had last year on my 21st was a Blue Moon Belgian White; that was first time I drank it and it's still a favorite to this day.
  
  
• Learned guitar (kind of)
  I always dabbled a little when it came to guitar, but 2011 was the year that I really worked on it. It's a good instrument to carry around with you so I'd bring it to the beach! It was a great instrument to learn because I found a songbook of Beatles and then a Simon & Garfunkel book in my mom's music, and brought them EVERYWHERE with me. This is one of my favorite pictures from this year, me playing guitar for my little cousins on my Grandma's deck.

• Became friends with 65 people?
  According to Facebook, I gained 65 new friends in 2011. That's not counting the people I met who I didn't end up adding on Facebook of course :) but this new timeline thing makes it really interesting to look back on the past year of your life!

Also, this is the year I started this blog! I've been at it for about seven months now, and it gets better every post I'd say.

So looking back on the year, I'm content. I've had a 21st year filled with family more loving and more fun than any I could ever ask for, friends who fill all my spare time with awesome memories, and a boyfriend who is always there for me, no matter what. And I am so grateful to have another year to spend with all of them :)
Happy birthday to me! Thanks for everything.

Bokeh In Advertising

I've gotten into adding bokeh into my photography lately, it's a nice effect and since my camera isn't usually able to capture it, I've been adding it in later.

duclie & i in toldeo

the very first bokeh edit i ever did.

whitney & julia :)

But it would appear I'm not the only one interested in the bokeh effect, because I've been seeing it a lot in advertising a lot lately. Do you use Pandora?

pic from my iphone

I work at a janitorial supply company.. here's an booklet for air fresheners we carry.

And some air fresheners we sell on our website.

Even McDonald's picked up on the bokeh trend -

my co-worker's morning cup o' joe

And watching television at my boyfriend's dad's last night, I saw quite a few ads with bokeh in them. Here's one for KIA:

So anyway I just think it's interesting that this trend seems to have exploded everywhere.

These are the thing my mind notices everyday. And I felt the need to document this. If it's interesting to me, it might be a little interesting to somebody else, right?

and don't forget!

Check out the colorful clare Facebook :)

I put an ad out on Facebook so it's getting a little more attention, now I need some ideas! thanks, everybody!

kodak moments

So this weekend my friend Dulcie & I tried to take some fall photos, and though we didn't get nearly as many good ones as we would have liked to, there were still some worth showing you here. :) 

dance like it's the last night of your life

ok truthfully, this one isn't from fall, but i just edited it yesterday and looks awesome so i had to post it. heh.

autumn | death has never been so beautiful

took a photo of a tree which wasn't so exciting; i thought it might look better in technicolor

i had just gotten to my grammy's house, when i got out of my car the sun was so perfect i had to snap a shot.

the bumpiest road you ever did drive on

lincoln township beach

tweaked the colors a bit. purple trees & peach sky <3

country in abundance near my house. this is after they harvested the corn, beautiful sunrise on my way to work.

check out dulcie's pictures here :)

thanks for looking. please +1 if you enjoyed this post!