Urban Gardening

I'm blessed to have a husband who grows vegetables and a landlady who grows flowers all in our tiny little urban back yard. Jude and I get to just bring in the harvest : )

With Hudson off to school and Daniel off to meetings and such, Jude and I are getting lots of good, quality mommy/toddler time. Today he brought me flowers ; ) and we chatted over a lunch of just-picked tomato sandwiches with feta cheese, sprouts, red onions and hummus (Jude is quite the little foody)





A girl could definitely get used to fresh flowers every day!

The vase below is one of the few things (maybe only?) I have from my great-grandmother on my dad's side. It's a cute little thing!

And here are some flowers for you : )

Have a good one!
Arian

Rain Dance

A deluge interrupted our quiet Saturday in Daniel's hometown and "mommy, can I just touch the rain" turned in to a full on puddle-splashing, mud-flinging, totally soaked-through afternoon in the rain.


I love, love these pictures of Hudson...following the muddy water stream down the long driveway into the quite, rainy fog. So poetic : )


Speaking of poetic, have any of you seen the Hulu show Legion of Extraordinary Dancers? It's so beautiful. I've watch several of the episodes over and over again....like this one. All the episodes are shot sooooo beautifully. It's got me seriously considering taking dance lessons : )



Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Arian : )

Picnics With Boys

Picnics with boys involve lots of dirt and wrestling. And it's awesome. I inherited an old, worn quilt today salvaged from the depths of my grandmother's closet. It's the perfect picnic blanket. So we decided to take the bikes and the blanket and a basket of tomato sandwiches across the river to the park for dinner this evening.

















Well, this is it....tomorrow morning marks the first of approximately 17 years-worth of first days of school for my first born. Get ready, Mrs. C, you're about to spend the year with one of the world's greatest kindergarteners.





-- His Mommy : )

A Winner!

Geez, you guys are a beautifully hopeful bunch! Thanks for all your lovely comments. I hope all your hopes are fulfilled!

The winner is:

Jordan said... Hope. I Hope in something more. That one day I will be united with my God and Savior. That one day all of the battles in this life will be won. The Hope that all will be made new and all my scars will be healed. Living without Hope... what's living worth? Hope gets me through each Monday morning, each routine, and over each rising hurtle. This poster is just another reason to push forward. Thanks for your work... it is beautifully brilliant!

So, Jordan, shoot me an email at ArianArmstrong[at]yahoo.com and let me know where to send your print.



Hope you had an amazing weekend!

My weekend was...
homegrown tomatoes
a sweet thrifted top
back to (or rather first day of) school shoe shopping
a new bike!!
a bike date downtown
a bike ride along the Ohio River
along side good friends,
by big boats, slow trains
just taking it all in.

Arian : )

Hope. (and a giveaway!)

I'm like a sponge when it comes to the way stories affects me. I can't watch scary movies without having bad dreams, I can't read a blog post about someone's great-uncle's cousin's niece's battle with some rare incurable disease without crying, I can't watch those you-tube documentary clips about how the world is falling apart and the government wants to get us all without feeling fearful and hopeless (so I found out yesterday).
So I have to be intentional about the messages I expose my heart to and remind myself that there is no time to be pessimistic or judgmental or mean or afraid or hopeless. This morning, for example, I listened to this song on repeat approximately 27 times 'cause it's what my soul needed. I do stuff like that a lot...anyone else?

If you're interested in this "Hope" print, it's now available in my shop. And I'll give away a free, signed "Hope" print to one randomly selected commenter on this post. So leave a comment here and let me know one thing you are hoping for/in. I'll pick a winner this weekend and post the results here on Monday!

Hopefully yours,
Arian : )

Back "Home" : )

Our 2200+mile, 6-state, 3-week road trip came to an end late last night and this morning both both boys woke up asking to go back out on the road.

Two big things we learned on the trip were 1. We love Cincinnati--our apartment, our friends, our Cincy family, the city, our church..... and 2. "Home" seems to be where ever the 4 of us are together. (and 3. no one this side of the Mississippi makes an iced soy latte like Coffee Emporium)



We felt at home driving through the Tennessee mountains in our tiny, un-air-conditioned car. We felt at home at the beach house in Oak Island,



at my dad's house in North Carolina,









snuggled together in a tent in West Virginia,





and playing in the New River under the highest bridge in America.











And now that we're back we feel at home here. I'm excited about the next few weeks. We're entering a new season with Hudson starting school for the first time, Daniel starting his teaching gig at our Alma Mater, me turning my creative efforts away from freelance and back toward my own art, and Jude entering the wonderful world of potty training.



I feel like we've fully immersed ourselves in traveling and summer and have tried hard to experience all that this season has to offer. And now we're back and we have our eyes set on cooler temperatures, putting down roots, and new adventures at home.

Hope you're fully immersed in whatever season you happen to be in : )

Arian

ps-- there are more pics of our trip on my flickr page and a lot more will be posted once I have the time to sort through them all.. sooooo many!!

The Open Road

We're nearing the last leg of our epic Kentucky to West Virginia to Kentucky to Oak Island, North Carolina to Fayetteville, North Carolina to West Virginia to Kentucky vacation. And it's. been. awesome. We've seen lots and lots of open road.



I definitely see the appeal of life on the road and there's a big part of us that wants to make traveling more of the rule than the exception in our life. We'll see!



Til then we'll enjoy this last big fling before Hudson starts kindergarten in a couple weeks and Daniel starts teaching in the fall. But I wouldn't be surprised, come next summer, if you see us Armstrongs out on the road again, hopefully for longer than just three weeks.









Happy Travels!
Arian