fresh picked whimsy

the other side

hello friends.  i am still here.  i am.

i've been on a roller coaster.  a crazy, up and down, nauseating, exhilerating adventure. 

Life. 

You're never prepared in advance, for the twists and turns that come at you...fast and unrelenting.  All you can do is hold on for dear life and lean on the ones who are closest to you and take it as it comes. 

Since we last talked, mark and i completed a mini marathon!

 

soaked up the last days of our elementary school years with Griffin's 5th grade completion

 

enjoyed the sweet success of Craft Casserole

celebrated the four scholarships won by our Katie

 

 while savoring the many "lasts" of her primary school days,

 

 beamed with pride as she graduated high school last week

and tearfully said good-bye to our beloved Kismet. 

Something had to give.  I just couldn't keep up with it all...mostly emotionally.  So, i put the blog on hold for a bit.  Thank you for your sweet messages of concern for me.  I've missed you, too.  I'm back now.  and, i will tell you all about it.  Little by little. 

Feels good to be here. 

Thanks for not giving up on me.  Hugs to you. 

getting there

We always drive.  We actually enjoy the road trip!  This time, it was a little more stressful because of the crazy spring break traffic, which we had never experienced before.  But, it was still fun.  The best part of our road trip was the stop half way there to see my sister, brother-in-law and kids in Georgia. 

It was only one overnight, which was entirely too short, but it was so great to see them! 

We brought Kismet along with us on this trip.  She's simply too old and fraile to board at the vet, so we checked Sunny in for a week and Kismet got to go with us.  Katie said, "she's really checking a lot of things off her bucket list this week!"  Hilarious!

She was a pampered pooch and i think she enjoyed herself.  The kids set her up with a cushy bed in the van. 

She was a little confused about the rental house and it took her a few days to get the feel of her surroundings.  But, for the most part, she did wonderfully. 

Mark does all of the driving...by choice.  And, I don't usually sleep during our drives.  I love looking at and taking pictures of the signs, the other cars, unusual sights, funny things, weird things.  Here's just a few of the things i captured...

this is always a uneasy sight...

we've past these signs for years...what is Rock City? and, will i ever see it?  probs not...

About half way between home and Florida is McDonough, Georgia! 

And, if that weren't cool enough, the next town over is Griffin, Georgia!  Oh yes, he loves driving past all of the signs with his name on them. 

We bought the Hunger Games audio book and loaded it on my iphone and listened to it the whole way there. 

Katie was the only one who had read it and seen the movie.  Then, for the trip home, we uploaded the 2nd Hunger Games book.  We still haven't finished it.  It was very long!  On the last day of break, we took the kids to see the movie.  It was really good.  It's a very sad story and a little bit disturbing, but going to the movies was a fun way to wrap up our break. 

Sunny was so happy to have us home.  We couldn't wait to see that face again!

Feels good to be home. ♥

 

can't get enough of this everyday love

Love that Rascal Flatts song.  It so fits the way i feel at this very moment.  Finding love and joy in everyday things.  Like my favorite faces in my kitchen...

 Sunny's fashion sense...

coffee and blog time most mornings...

plants that i have managed to keep alive in the winter!!!  My mom will be so happy!

Still having Legos messes...fully aware that these days are numbered...

this canvas painted by my uber-talented Katie and gifted to me for Christmas.  Makes me cry every time i read it...

in awe that Riley can solve these puzzle cubes in mere minutes...he is crazy smart like his Daddy.

having a lit prayer candle on my kitchen counter.  A way of praying that my mom and her mom taught me.  at home, it's the first thing i do when someone needs to be lifted in prayer.  I buy these inexpensive devotional candles in the mexican food aisle at my grocery store.  Some people think they are cheesy, but i LOVE them. 

trying to read a magazine and having Sunny lay his big head on my arm so i can't turn the pages...

i adore that Griffin has my grandfather's funeral program pinned to his wall over his bed.  We talk about Poppop all the time and miss him so much...

so happy for every extra day that i get with this sweet girl.  She's hanging in there.  Thank you for all of your messages.  Day by day.

Hooray for Friday!  Pizza night tonight with Mark's parents and then tomorrow my boys are all heading downtown Indy for the NFL Experience, which they are so excited about!  Our little big town, Indianapolis is in a Superbowl frenzy right now.  Hope to have pictures for you this week.  Other than that, our weekend looks pretty quiet and i love that!  Hope you have a great one! xo

doodled door

if you can draw a heart...you can do this! 

Have you seen these awesome water-based Sharpies?  I found them at JoAnn's, by accident when i was looking for traditional Sharpies.  I was so excited and i knew exactly what i was going to do with them!!!

If you absolutely cannot draw a heart, you could always use a stencil, or trace the cardboard ones that you can buy at any craft store.  Then, just turn them different directions and embellish them a little with polka dots, stripes, arrows, scallops, etc... if you mess up, simply wipe it off and start over.  easy peasy.

You can even personalize them...

It was a little tricky to photograph on a snowy day, so i had to wait for night fall before i could take a picture from the inside out. 

After Valentine's Day, they will wash off pretty easily with a little windex and elbow grease. 

doodle away, my friends!

hello? it's the 21st century calling...

Great big hugs and kisses to all of you who have left me sweet messages here and on FB about our sweet Kismet.  Your kindness has been heartwarming.  She's hanging in there and we are spoiling her.  I promise to keep you posted.

♥♥♥

Mark surprised me and bought me an iphone for Christmas.  {major hubby points scored} Believe it or not, it's my very first smart phone.  I'm looking forward to all the ways it promises to help me stay on top of my business.  Right away i knew i had to create a custom case for it.  Mark did some research for me and found Case-Mate made some super durable cases that i could personalize.  It was really quite a simple process, once i figured out what i wanted.  i began with a drawing...

digitally colored it in Photoshop...

uploaded it to the Case-Mate site...

and waited very impatiently for it to arrive in the mail!

 I'm so happy with how it turned out.  {it's a gloomy day here today and i struggled for good light to take this pic, so the color is a bit off} I am currently trying to figure out how i can create and sell customized cases (affordably).  I've got a few leads for suppliers, and i will let you know when i get it all worked out.  oh, the possibilities!!!!

That said, if you use any apps that you just can't live without...let me know about them!  I'm looking for the best pedometer/walking app out there, too.  Any suggestions??

 

the most difficult life lessons

sweet Kismet girl...

our vet told us yesterday that our old gal is in her end days.  She is in hospice mode.  For the past year or so, she has swiftly been aging.  She sleeps most of the time, has severe arthritis, is mostly blind and deaf and has been showing signs of senility.  But, she's still a love.  Our love. 

Over the holidays her mobility became greatly challenged, she was shaking a lot and i knew i needed to take her to the vet.  but i was so afraid to take her.  i didn't want to hear what i knew she would tell me.  and she did.  I reiterated that we did not want to keep her around for our own selfish reasons...she has been too much of a blessing to us.  We want her to be pain free and we want to do right by her.  So, they decided not to vaccinate her and discontinued her heartworm meds...sent us home with pain meds for her arthritis which is the source of her lack of mobility and shaking and told us to love on her for her remaining days...however many there may be. 

It's the one and only drawback of having pets.  They never outlive you.  But what we explained to the kids {yes, we did tell them}, was that the wonderful 12 years that we have had with her makes it worth all the heartache that we feel now.  We adopted her from the Humane Society when she was a year old.  We brought her to live with us, to give her a good life, but the truth is that she has given us a good life. 

So for now, she will be pampered, snuggled, belly rubbed, treated to her favorite sandwich cookie treats from Petco and given real meat for dinner.  Most of all, we will love her....forever.

♥

much to celebrate

So...i'm going to wrap up our holidays today and tomorrow on the blog.  It's always a whirlwind for everyone, but this time of year is, of course the busiest for my biz, which adds to the Christmas crazies.  I pretty much felt like sweet Kismet, asleep on the Christmas train tracks...a damsel in distress!

That said, here are some our highlights...

this shark balloon called an "Air Swimmer" was the hit of Christmas day. 

My sister and bro-in-law gave it to Griffin for Christmas and this thing swam above our heads so all day. 

Seriously, here is the video/commercial, because unless you see it with your own eyes, you won't believe how realistic it is...

 

On top of our holidays, we had much to celebrate...Mark's brother Ed graduated from Indiana Wesleyan and got his MBA.  Griffy was sick that day, so i stayed home with him, but Mark and the big kids went with his parents to watch the big event.  We are so proud of him...

It also happened to be Mark's birthday.  We went to CoppersHawk Winery Restaurant to celebrate the brothers...it was super yummy!!!

My nephews came up from Georgia to Indy for a week.  They've only been there for 6 months, but there's already a lot of ya'lls and yes ma'ams. 

They're also wearing cowboy boots!  So stinkin' cute.

Mark's Dad had a birthday a few days before Christmas, also.  Here are the three apples of his eye with their beloved Poppy...

but, above all, we celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ.  We keep Him in our hearts this time of year and always...

we are blessed.

in my camera...

hard to get back into the swing of things after the vacay.  Had so many nice comments and messages here and on FB about the pictures.  Thanks for that.  Our tans are fading and we're going through a little paradise withdrawl.  :(  Wondering when we'll use these passports again...

Halloween was waiting for us as soon as we got back.  Griffin was my only trick or treater kid.  The big kids are too cool for that now.  Bummer.  Sigh.  This was the first year in a long time that i didn't have my grandfather with me to hand out candy to the kids.  Missing the good ol' days, for sure.  That's my Griff, i mean Paul Blart, Mall Cop...

i Love the deep red leaves this time of year...

homework...shomework...yuck!  my deep thinker...

 love waking my family up with something that smells yummy like french toast...

Sunny hung out by my feet hoping to catch any crumbs...

they look like they're all snuggly and she's holding his arm, but really, she is so clumsy in her old age and tried to make it around the coffee table where he was laying down and fell on him.  Then she became wedged between him and the table.  i couldn't resist the shot, though.  They look like an old married couple...

 
Sooooooooo looking forward to my annual girlfriend's trip to IKEA this weekend!  Me and my neighborhood homegirls are hittin the road at the butt crack of dawn on Saturday for our road trip to Cincinnati.  There's still no IKEA in Indiana, but what would we do if there was?  That would really mess things up!  I'm makin' my list and checking it twice!  My creative neighbor Stacey made everyone one of these chalkboard trays...complete with a countdown to our pilgrimage.  I helped her deliver them to all the girls on Saturday.  Check it out...isn't it cute?!...

i have the BEST NEIGHBORS EVAAAAAHHHH!!! 

Reach out!

Being a freelance artist can be a little lonely sometimes.  Although it rocks that i don't have to clock in, ask permission for a vacation day, and can work in my jammies, there are some days when it would be nice to have the commeraderie of co-workers.  Don't get me wrong, i totally value the unconditional support, non-office-drama and wet kisses from my studio interns, Sunny and Kismet. 

But, in this biz, sometimes it's nice to be able to bounce an idea off of someone who can give you some constructive feedback, and will not drool on your work.  That's when i try to make time to meet up with my creative peeps.  A few weeks ago, i met up with my sweet friend, Jenny Elkins.  She's an amazing artist.  We have completely different styles, but that totally works for us.  We love to brainstorm and talk about what we are each currently working on.  No matter the conversation, whenever i see Jenny, i always come away with some fresh inspiration.  I consider Jenny to be my creative mentor.  She sort of took me under her wing, when i was just beginning to test the waters of selling my art.  She made it not so scary and encouraged me to just "jump in", feel the fear, and do it anyway.  It was such a gift.  She hosted my very first "show" a few years ago {revisit it here} in her own backyard studio and i will forever be grateful.  This was my tent at that show...

Jenny is a mixed media artist and lover of all things vintage.  I want this fun necklace from her etsy shop {found here}...

and you know how i love little houses {found here}...

Visit Jenny's etsy shop, and if you are local, stop by her booths at the Exit 76 Antique Mall in Edinburgh, Indiana.  She recently gave me this handcrafted necklace she made. 

 

I can't tell you how much i love it.  It's funky, edgey and every time i wear it (or my daughter wears it to school), we get so many compliments!!!  I call it my badass necklace because of the little yellow gun.  Me...badass=funny!  LOVE it, Jenny!  Thank you!  You can read Jenny's blog here and i encourage you to follow her on facebook.  Good stuff!

If you are a creative, reach out to other creatives in your area.  Maybe you have what it takes to mentor someone or maybe you're looking for a mentor.  The point is, it's not a competition.  Your work is uniquely yours and i think you will find that most creative types enjoy and thrive on being in the company of others.  Just go for it and find your Jenny! ♥

furry blessings

 
Yesterday was the annual blessing of the pets at our church.  We took Sunny and Kismet, because they could definitely use a little extra blessing.  Couldn't we all?  We met my mom there and her two pups...Rosie and Tidbit, too. 

It turned out to be an all-canine crowd.  Kismet barked along as we sang a hymn and Sunny was a bit overwhelmed.

 
But, amazingly, as Father walked around blessing them each with holy water, they were totally attentive and calm.  It was very sweet. 

 
I think our old gal, Kismet needed this blessing most of all.  She's not been feeling like herself lately and is scheduled to see the vet this week.  Sweet girl is 13 years old. 

 
One of her very favorite things to do has always been riding in the car with her head out the window.  She doesn't have the strength these days to keep her head out the window, so she really loved it when Katie held her in her lap for this afternoon treat on our way home from church. 

 

 ♥

*Giveaway alert!  Head over to the Crafty Scrappy Happy blog to enter to win a print of your choice from my etsy shop.  And...while you're there, you can grab the coupon code for 25% off your purchase in my shop.  The giveaway and the coupon code are on now through Friday, Oct. 7th!