Baby Shark

Today we again reaped the benefits of living near family--the aquarium with Grammy! The highlights for Hudson--getting to touch sharks, digging for fossils, the new baby penguins...
Jude felt most at home in the frog bog
And my favorite parts?--Just watching Hudson's face, the way he stuttered when he got excited, holding him when he got scared during the shark video, and his excessive use of the word "actually"--"I touched the shark's fin actually" "Jellyfish sting actually" "That's actually a real alligator actually" "I'm a big kid but I'm just 4 actually". Cute cute---such a big little boy.

In The House That Art Builds

I'm really grateful for our borrowed home. But someday when we have our own house, I hope it's one that is paid for, inspired by, and filled with art. I got a little glimpse of this in the quiet afternoon while Jude slept...
Hudson was sitting in his Batman chair, watching Batman cartoons, drawing Batman in his Batman notebook with Batman markers. It's actually pretty unusual that he wasn't also dressed like Batman.


Here's his drawing of Jude (dressed like Batman) holding on to Hudson (also dressed like Batman)'s cape.

Meanwhile, Daniel was sketching away on the new Cintique that just arrived. We love having him work from home now! Hudson has learned so much about drawing and design just in the week Daniel has been working here. Now if we can just get him to branch out a little from Batman. I asked him to draw a picture of me and he did...me dressed like Batman.

And I was working on finishing my pieces for that benefit show coming up next month. I'll be sure to show you the final products soon.

It's a snowy, cozy, hot cocoa kind of morning here. Hope you're warm and cozy where you are too.

Krohn Conservatory

I'm remembering that Cincinnati is great about having all kinds of free/cheap things to do as a family--like Krohn Conservatory! The pictures speak for themselves, really. It's just a beautiful place!
Daniel's National Geographic-esque waterfall picture. We can keep these photos and then in a few years convince the boys we took them on a tropical vacation when they were little.
Well, that is, after photoshopping out their coats.
Hope you're enjoying your weekend too!

Ready and Waiting

Today I hope to nearly finish my pieces for Fifth Avenue Gallery's benefit show entitled "Hopes and Dreams". Money raised from art sales will go to the Genesis House, a home for homeless pregnant women and mothers in Melbourne, Florida -- a worthy cause, no doubt. My new supplies (a happy Christmas present) are ready and waiting for me to get the time to use them.

I'm coming, sweet tubes of beautiful, unused, organized hues and you clean, white brushes waiting so patiently in your cute mug....I'm coming!

Pretty Much Just Chaos

So this whole moving, staying in a borrowed home, starting a new business thing is not as smooth, graceful, and easy as one might think ; ) To type out this blog entry on my keyboard I had to clear off a bike light, a screw driver, a bouncy ball, and ticket stubs from a show we saw TWO months ago back in Massachusetts--how did THOSE make the move?!



We're barely getting the basics covered -- (not always) matching socks on the boys' feet, (semi) regular baths, milk for the cereal in the morning... But still those "extra" projects, you know, the ones you do once you take care of all the necessities, are calling my name. Unpack our towels and washcloths? Nah, I want to decorate! I picked up this fabric from my favorite outlet store for some yet-to-be-determined decorating/sewing projects. Now if I can only find the sewing machine...

Fabric Vines

I thought I'd share a little how-to; a snippet of a project I'm currently working on. It's a little trick I learned my freshman year as a set design major at UC-CCM. These vines are an easy solution to any forest or garden scene in a play or musical. But I also think they could have a place as party decorations, a curtain in a child's fairy tale bedroom, etc.

Here's what a whole wall of the vines looks like in CCM's production of Cyrano. If you look closely you'll notice that no nails can be seen in those wooden beams. That's because as a freshman, my contribution to the set was filling in and sanding all the nail holes. Yeah, I'm awesome.

Getting Settled

We unloaded all our stuff yesterday and are getting things organized. Though we're living in a borrowed home, our friends (the owners) have given us license to move things around and make ourselves at home (thanks Stephen and Tiffany! -- we hope to leave things even better than we found them : ) ) So the first room we set up is my own office/studio! I'm so excited to have a place of my own to decorate, work and be creative, even if it's only for a couple months. I'll have plenty of "After" photos to show you soon so stay tuned.

I'm working on a two-page spread for a book proposal my mom and I are cookin up. Hopefully I can share more about THAT later as well!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2009 is already full of new ventures for us. I hope it's full of new ventures and old comforts for you as well : )