We are getting Hitched!

Thats right! We have scraped both of our names for now and 

are only referring to each other as "Fiance". {It feels weird to say and hear}

There is no one else on earth I could imagine spending the rest of my days 

with than Dave. So needless to say, I am so excited and feel very lucky 

to have found such a remarkable partner. Yay. I can't stop smiling. 

We have been so busy and were finally able to slip away yesterday for 

some time to ourselves. Even though it was cold and raining we headed out 

for a hike. Turns out when you are hiking up hill it doesn't matter  if its cold, 

you warm up fast. When we reached  the top we headed out to the overlook 

and I took this picture:

Than I turned around to Dave saying; 'I guess we should go get this ring

 sized for you" and he pulled it out and got down on one knee and asked 

me to marry him... xoxooxx... I cried... and said yes (of corse) 

maybe my exact words were "duh" and than we spent the 

whole 6 mile hike dreaming about the next 50 years. {And we also joked 

about how awkward it would have been if I said no, what a long hike 

down that would have been.}

Yay!

We finished our hike at the falls... amazing!

Hey there little red riding hood...

Isn't this "Pixie Hoodie" from Accessorise adorable? 

Its kind of like really adorable sweat pants for your head. I feel

 like it would be perfectly suited for a cloudy day when it is 

particularly hard to get out of bed and all you want to do is

stay in sweat pants all day. 

Never fear ladies, because the pixie

hoodie has arrived! (Along with these oh so comfortable 

looking knitted slippers. Oh Fall here I come!

The mind of an Illustrator

I am pretty sure most artists share the same dry humor. 

We all have the same vein of cynicism that has been 

engrained in us since critique class where we learned our 

survival instincts. So we all looked at this illustration gave 

it a cool half smile, (perhaps even a giggle ...guilty) and now

all day we will be haunted by it and think, 

"that was so damn clever". 

Mark Kaufman I salute you. Thanks for the giggle this 

morning, but seriously I have to get back to work...

Have a really optimistically cynical day. 

Thanks for the find Illustration Island.

California Poppies Watercolor

New Meant for a Moment Watercolor of California Poppies.

I created this one for my older sister who is going to 

have a baby in the spring, a baby that we are affectionately

 referring to as "poppy" due to the its tiny size when we found 

out she was pregnant (and conicidentally she lives in CA 

right now and the state flower is a poppy. Right on!) 

Congratulations, Paige and Caleb. xox

Love you guys. 

Tree Trunk Bowls...Love

What do you think of these colorful log bowls? I am a huge

 fan. However I am not tall enough to view them from this 

angle all the time so they might alway just look like a log to

 me... But I love how the designer Doha Chebib mixed the

 polished and glossy colorful sheen with the natural texture

 of the wood. Big Fan. 

According to Jeanie Jeanie, each bowl is handmade using 

only locally reclaimed trees of all varieties (fallen or cut down

 due to infrastructure, re-landscaping, droughts, or stormy 

weather). Becoming an even bigger fan. What do you think?

 Would you put a tree trunk bowl on your table as a center piece?

Custom Floral Name Cards

 I had the pleasure of creating these custom name cards for a 

friend who got married this fall. Each type of flower was hand

 painted to maintain the natural, organic feel of their wedding. And 

I hand wrote each name for a personal touch. 

Each flower corresponded with a flower center piece on a 

table, so the guests knew their table assignments. It was so 

much fun watching this come together! What a beautiful 

wedding. 

Designing information

I am a big fan of this incredibly creative and visual way of graphing 

the lifespan of animal... look there is even an earth worm. 

PS. Can you imagine living for 150 years. Think of how the world

would change in your life span.

Hungry Hippo

Love the illustration on this embroidered Hungry Hippo Pillow. 

L.o.v.e.

Birth Order

Adding this to my list of fireside reads. 

I have heard some crushing statements from Jeffrey's

 studies that I would like to learn more about... (er...maybe)

According to Jeffrey, parents favor the first born child

 more. I am a second born. This is bad news for me. 

I am going to get to the bottom of this. Paige if you are 

reading this... the gauntlet has been thrown... 

(haha... :) kidding.)

According to Jeffery's article in TIME Magazine 

The first born has a higher IQ, probably due to mentoring

 the children underneath them. They are also usually 

the tallest and largest. But here is something those 

born later have going for us according to Jeffery's 

article in TIME:

"But there are low-power strategies too, and one of the most 

effective ones is humor. It's awfully hard to resist the charms 

of someone who can make you laugh, and families abound 

with stories of last-borns who are the clowns of the brood, able

 to get their way simply by being funny or outrageous. Birth-order 

scholars often observe that some of history's great satirists—

Voltaire, Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain—were among the youngest

 members of large families, a pattern that continues today. 

Faux bloviator Stephen Colbert—who yields to no one in his 

ability to get a laugh—often points out that he's the last of 11 

children.

Such examples might be little more than anecdotal, but personality

 tests show that while firstborns score especially well on the 

dimension of temperament known as conscientiousness—a 

sense of general responsibility and follow-through—later-borns 

score higher on what's known as agreeableness, or the simple

 ability to get along in the world. "Kids recognize a good low-power 

strategy," says Sulloway. "It's the way any sensible 

organism sizes up the niches that are available."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1673284,00.html#ixzz1Z3z6tiDn

Shake it

Carli Davidson's photograph collection "Shake" is putting a 

smile on my face this morning. Hope it thrills you this Monday.

{xox}

P.S: The last one is my fav!

Birth Announcement

I am feeling inspired by this Birth Announcement by Frank Daenen. 

Please...someone have a baby and give me a ring...

we have some creating todo!

DIY Tee-Shirt Scarves

These DIY Tee-Shirt Scarves are being Pinned all over Pinterest. 

And me being so keen on scarves was quick to investigate... 

Thanks to Method Home, heres how to make one of your very own!

1.    grab some cotton t-shirts you don’t wear anymore.  

larger sizes tend to work better as do non-ribbed 

shirts with no side seams. small logos on the shirts work 

fine, too.
2.    grab a pair of fabric scissors if you have them, 

otherwise any scissors will do.
3.    lay the shirt out on a flat table in front of you.
4.    cut the hem off the bottom and put it aside.
5.    cut the shirt into 1-1 1/2 ”  horizontal strips all 

the way up to the armpit.

6.    grab 3-4 shirt strips in both hands, and gently stretch

 them out. the strips will naturally curl into themselves.

7.    once you have done this with many of the strips, 

it is time to get creative.  try draping them, wrapping 

one end with excess fabric, combining colors, braiding

 them, attaching beads, pins, old jewelry, etc.

Heres Another fun cute "no sew" idea:

visit This Old Dress for step by step instructions

Cute Home Decorating Idea, Heart Rocks

My Mom collected heart shaped rocks since I have known her

and if we are doing the math, thats 27 years now. This morning

I stumbled across this fabulous find on Etsy Heart Rocks from 

the beaches of Israel. 

I love this idea for two reasons. 

1. There is a person out there searching the beaches probably 

all the time for these heart rocks and that makes me really happy.

2. Look how many heart rocks their are in the world! Fifteen 

in front of us right now. I am keeping my eyes peeled and the 

search is on. Watch out Annapolis Heart Rocks, prepare to be 

found. 

via

Letter Head Design.

I recently finished this letterhead and name tag design for

Westminster Nursery School and thought I'd have a little 

show and tell. Choo Choo!

Mike and Sal's Wedding

 We had an AMAZING weekend attending the 

celebration of our friends, Mike and Sal's wedding. {xox} 

Here are a couple shots from their beautiful ceremony 

and reception that they held at their home in, Cambridge. 

 I love that the groom wore a tie but the rest of the groomsmen

 were more casual. (They also all wore flip flips..xo)

 ...see...(even the bride had gold flops on. So cute)

...they laughed together through their whole first dance.

 while we laughed through dinner (delicious! gazpacho,

 feta/watermelon salad, crab cakes, fresh corn and avocado salad 

and pork bbq...yum)

 Meant for a Moment created the table "numbers" and name cards 

so it was really fun to see it come together. 

 And look at the sun set!

...yeah... I couldn't resist getting in the canoe. 

Dave was up for it, so in we went. 

I could not be happier for you Mike and Sal. 

What a Beautiful Weekend! Thanks for including us.