as i'm composing this post, i'm realizing that a lot of my free time is spent enjoying food :) what can i say? a girl's gotta eat! :)
my hindu rope plant is in bloom... birthday pancakes... my new stool from shop13.. nibbles.. lovely tea roses.. planting my herb garden around my whole apartment... mint.. and cake!
hope you all had such a great weekend!
i am SO glad may is here - 1) because that means the weather is on its way to getting warmer and warmer and 2) because my birthday is this month! woohoo!! here are some little bits of my weekend to kick off my favorite month :)
violet pansies (prints here)... trees bursting into flowers on a weekend drive (prints here)... my paint palette... a visit to the princeton record exchange... and mildred pierce
here's hoping may brings lots of happy moments!
yesterday was the official groundbreaking for the plot of land that will become my garden! i haven't been able to garden since i was a kid - so far, my adult life has kept me in apartments - and i can't even put into words how excited i am because of this! my parents were kind enough to lend me some of their yard for my cultivation this year.
(prints in the shop)
it was so great to get dirty, spot plenty of earth worms (promising!) and feel the warm sun on my shoulders. here is a snapshot of the little perimeter I edged out...
i know it doesn't seem like much, but that was a lot of work! a girl's gotta get used to manual labor again :) apartment living is kind of cushy! i've got my seeds all ready to go, so here's hoping today's work is a bit easier on the back/hands/feet and i can actually start planting!
i'll be sure to post lots of updates as i go along! and you can also follow me if you're on folia.
happy planting out there!
after a very long (and blustery) week, all i can think about is a big mug of chai tea with the cardamom marshmallows i just got from whimsy and spice!
i am gonna take a little siesta right now, but tonight, i am excited to attend my friend lauren rosenthal's first solo show over at the monmouth museum! i mentioned her amazing artwork over on my previous blog some time ago. if lauren is reading this - congrats!! this is awesome!!
hope you all are having a super friday out there and i also hope you enjoy this weekend ahead!
prints of the above photo are available over in the shop.
it may not be january 1st or anything, but i've felt that i was getting into some pretty awful habits in my entrepreneurial life, so i am changing some things.
most of the things i feel need to change are simple things (like making sure to eat breakfast and lunch, or actually getting out of my pjs to start my work day!) but they seem necessary before this new season gets here. surprisingly, it becomes really easy to get used to neglecting yourself once no one tells you what to do any more. there's no one to tell you to take a day off or reward you when you accomplish something big. it's just me. i'm my own HR and i need to reprimand myself for treating my employees so poorly (aka me).
all this action started because i stumbled upon a site called miss persimmon. the site is on a little break, but all the great resources are still available to help any business lady become more productive and healthier. i hope all these new habits stick, because i'm feeling much more myself already.
i'll leave you on my favorite point from the resources - 'Remember - work clothes are for working, pajamas are for sleeping!' hehe i love that! :)
prints of this photo in the shop
yes, i have gone missing for some days now. i've been drifting in and out of some obsessive artist tendencies - drawing, planning, putting my pack-ratty-ness to good use for once - and i'm thinking i may be on the right track towards something really, really good, to hopefully unfold over the course of the next few months. i think that my patience vs. my excitement battle, that i've been fighting for as long as i can remember, might be starting to even out. you just gotta have faith that if you do one small thing, every day, eventually, all that patience will end up becoming the big thing you were originally hoping for. yea. that sounds good for now. :)
i don't have anything visual to share about this new development just yet, but i leave you with some inspiring photography from the world of little brown pen. i adore how evan and nichole have created something so uniquely them (and absolutely stunning i might add!) such an inspiration! and they are fellow nj artists! go jersey!
all these gorgeous prints are available from little brown pen! go check em out!
i can't even tell you how i felt yesterday when three of my original paintings sold to three wonderful customers, or how it felt to have two other paintings reserved by a close friend and a family member (my mom got a little upset at the thought of her favorite painting traveling away from us! lol). this means that almost all of my original works have left or are leaving my studio! if you haven't been over to my etsy shop lately, you might like to know that i am having a pre-spring sale - 20% off everything! and i believe this may have been the culprit in the matter, but it's still feeling a bit like a dream. i've had most of these paintings safely stored in my little studio for almost 2-3 years, and i could look at them and feel proud whenever i wanted, so to have them all go within such a short time, just feels a little unreal! last week, i also shipped off one of the only original oils i've ever created, so, like i said earlier, i can't even describe this feeling! i guess i'm ecstatic?! i've never been this excited about anything and i guess the only thing that keeps humming in the back of my mind is - 'this means you get to make more!' so, i guess that's what i should do. :) ah!
i just want to say a little thank you for all the support i've received over the past year or so. i can't believe i get to do this for a living, and right now, i feel as if i won the lottery because of all of you wonderful people out there! i wish i could send out hundreds of hugs!!! thank you!!!
hope you're all having a wonderful valentine's day out there! pictured above, you can see one of my lovely gifts! my boyfriend is quite thoughtful - he didn't just get me flowers - he got me a plant! i am so excited to have this beautiful orchid in my apartment :) tonight i'm going to be cooking an exciting dinner of homemade crab ravioli, spinach salad and, to end the meal, mexican chocolate cake! yummm
i had to try really hard to get myself to do work today because i kind of love celebrating this holiday. yes, there's a lot of hype involved, but it always brings me back to when i met my boyfriend.. so for us, it's a little bit more than just a silly card giving holiday. it's a long story, but to keep it short (and sweet!) all i'll say is that a way to a man's heart is truly through his stomach! when valentine's day came around a few years ago, i made him some exotic truffles and mustered up the courage to ask him out. it worked quite well and we are together and very happy all these years later :)
off i go to create some more magic in the kitchen! wish me luck! :)
hooray for this little guy in the etsy newsletter today! i always love when that happens :)
i know i just posted a video in my last post, but i couldn't resist posting another one after discovering this awesome awesome video on kerry crawford's blog. it's hilarious.
ah haha
i'm also totally in love with kerry's work! go check it out :)