Big Boy, Big Weekend

It was a big weekend for Hudson!!

Reconnecting with old friends from far away.

Making new ones.

Facing fears.

Overcoming them.
And heading home victorious.

We also finally got him hooked up with a violin and he starts lessons tomorrow. He's super-pumped! He's been persistently asking for a violin for months and requests classical radio as soon as we get in the car. Looks like we have a little classical musician in the making. I'm going to take him and his violin on a mini photo shoot sometime in the next week or so.

Rekindling old friendships, making new ones, conquering fears, believing in himself, taking on new challenges...seems like there's a lot I can learn from my little man. : )

Arian

Brought To You By Texas, Owl City, and the Letter "A"

I'm finally working my way through the photos from the past few weeks. These are from our Owl City-sponsored trip to Dallas, TX, last weekend. We picked Dallas because Daniel's little brother and his lovely wife, Katie, live there and we have never been to Texas to see them. We looooved getting to see them in their natural habitat--- eat at their favorite places to eat, hang out with their favorite people to hang out with, shop at their favorite places to shop.
They took us to McKinney, Texas which is now one of my new favorite towns! Tons of great vintage/antique shops, art galleries, boutiques, a winery, coffee shops, and one of my new favorite restaurants all located on this quaint historic square.


The boys got pipes. Daniel is not really a pipe smoker but it did gain him 12 man points.
And I got this cute metal "A" to add to my vintage signage collection
The actual Owl City concert was great too. It was HUGE (like 6000 screaming middle school girls huge) !! They've gained quite a following since we saw them here in January! The best part, though, was getting to hang out with the percussionist after the show. We didn't have backstage passes or anything. We locked the keys in our rental car, had to wait about an hour and a half after the show for Drew and Katie to come rescue us (they got lost), and the percussionist guy (his name is Daniel) braved the crowds and the over-excited middle schoolers to hang out with people (the rest of the band stayed in the comfort of the green room--don't blame them). He waited around til every fan left, moving from group to group, asking and answering questions, getting to know people. Due to the aforementioned circumstances, my Daniel and I were nearly the last of 6000 to leave. So we got to hang out with the percussionist for a long time. Stellar dude, super nice guy. I wish him all kinds of success.

So, yes, it was a GREAT. TRIP. !! And I see the whole Owl City video contest experience as a spring board toward more music videos, more collaborating with Daniel, and more adventures.

Thanks!!
Arian : )

Inspiration

I'm in the middle of (procrastinating on) a BIG spring cleaning overhaul. We're talking dumping out drawers, re-organizing closets, moving around furniture kind of cleaning.
And when I'm in need of a little inspiration, I browse some of my bookmarks to remind myself that, after the re-organizing, comes the decorating! I LOVE LOVE everything about the looks of this wedding that Promise shot. It's totally the palate and feel I'm going for in our bedroom/my office/ where the boys cuddle to watch movies.

(The pictures are much bigger and more beautiful on Promise's post so make sure to check them out here)
Greens, yellows, white, old paper, antique metal, vintage gloriousness. This, mixed with some of the urban flare of the Seabird video. Looking forward to show you pics!

Arian : )

Don't You Know You're Beautiful

Hey! We're back from our Owl City-sponsored trip to Dallas, TX and it was sooooo great!! I will have to show you pics and tell you more a little later.

But for now, I wanted to share the new video from my pals, Seabird. Aside from the great message, the shots in the video have been inspiring creativity in me. And I've got some more Seabird-inspired art in mind that I hope I can make a reality soon.



Alrighty, I need to catch up on sleep (and avoid folding laundry for yet another night) : )

Arian : )

Art That Helps Collaboration Project

I'm super excited to show you the product of the collaborative art project done in partnership with A Beautiful Idea. 20 artists, including myself, each created a piece of art based on the themes of love/justice/hope/haiti/etc and the lovely and talented Promise Tangeman put them together to create these 8 collages.

Check out the full post here and follow the links to all 20 artists' online shops where you can buy posters, cards, magnets, tote bags, pins, etc with these images on them. 100% of the sale goes to A Beautiful Idea's current charity (which, right now, is World Vision and its work in Haiti).

Here are the pieces I'm offering in my shop-- a signed print of the illustration I contributed and a set of 5 5x7 postcards.

So go check them out! The posters are awesome, the prices are low, and the cause is great!

In 12 hours we'll be boarding a plane for Dallas, TX for our OWL CITY trip!! WOOHOO!! Thanks, again, guys for all your votes and support!! I'll be sure to show you pics when we get back!!

Arian : )

"Whatever Is" Free Download

Alright, so these verses have been lovingly smacking me in the face recently. It's silly how often I miss opportunities to rejoice and be grateful because I'm focused on the very few things that aren't necessarily working out like I want them to. Funny how, the more you focus on your worries, the bigger and more insurmountable they seem to be. Silly worry.
(click on image above for the larger version then right click or drag to your desktop to save)

So I decided to take this little sketch I did in my sketchbook and color it really pretty like ; ) and share it with the rest of you. It's for making a list of some of those true, noble, right, pure, lovely things all around us that we tend to forget. Print it out and stick it on the fridge next to your grocery list or your to-do list. Tape it to your mirror. Tape it to your forehead. Laminate it so you can write and re-write on it often.
I'm thinking I'll make one for boys too since I've got a 5-year-old who also sometimes needs to be reminded that falling off his bike once or only getting 3 bedtime stories instead of 4 does NOT constitute "the baddest day ever!!" ; ) If I do, I'll share it here!

So print the image, email it, blog it, link to it, whatever! Just don't sell it or claim it's yours. : )

Peace,
Arian

Brought To You By Green, Orange, and Omega

While purchasing this 25lb bag of organic carrots at the grocery.....

Guy in produce section as he rushes over to help me wrangle the bag into my cart: WHOA! Let me help you with that! Shew!
Guy near deli counter: WHOA! Getting the BULK bag, I see!
Me: Yep, just got a juicer. Gonna juice some carrots.
Lady at register: WHOA! I didn't know we sold a bag that BIG! Do you have HORSES?!
Me: No, a juicer. They're for juicing.
Boy bagging groceries: WHOA! I've never seen so many carrots!
Me: Yep, yep... it's a lot of carrots.
...tap on my shoulder...
Lady behind me in line: Excuse me, but do you have horses?....

Nope, no horses, just a sweet new JUICER!! It's our new bundle of joy and we're happy to welcome it home. We've been going juice crazy around here and are having fun coming up with all sorts of combos. Daniel's fav-- spinach, celery, apple. Hudson's fav-- orange, pineapple, carbonated water. Jude's fav--he'll eat/drink anything. And as soon as he hears the juicer humming, he "runs" into the kitchen to help. My fav?-- I just love seeing my boys getting excited about fruits and veggies and seeing our fridge stocked full of produce. I'm also a fan of fresh grapefruit juice, carrot/apple juice, and the melon/cucumber combo. Fun stuff!!


We also just finished our first round of alfalfa sprouts grown in our new sprouter. It's way easy and fun to watch them grow every day. We've been tossing them into wraps, salads, sushi, even the boys' mac & cheese at lunch today.



Green is sprouting up everywhere! Our kitchen is currently incubating dozens of tomato seedlings and a small selection of herbs. It's going to be a good summer for home-grown food!

How 'bout you guys? Do you have any garden plans this summer?

Arian : )

(more fun with green and orange here)