Beautiful.

 What an amaaaazing weekend. A.MA.ZING.

 (Hudson and Heron listening to the sound check)

(My sound genius brother-in-law getting things set up)

As we were cooking dinner in the GIANT, GORGEOUS home of my childhood friends who graciously agreed to host the house concert, Josh Garrels, one of our very favorite musicians, was warming up in the background. Daniel and I just kept exchanging joyful "I can't believe this is actually happening!" glances.

 We set up for the show, got to know the Garrels a bit over dinner, then the guests started pouring in.

 It was a full house! And it's a giant, giant house! At least 1/2 of the people I had never met before which is awesome. The word spread! Everybody was totally captivated by Josh's music. It was beautiful.

 Then the Garrels family stayed the night at our house (sweet!) We were up til 2am talking and learning more about each other's lives. Josh and Michelle are such good people.

 The next morning we woke up and enjoyed a long, leisurely brunch with my sister and the friends who first introduced us to Josh's music. Lots of conversations about music and collaboration, art, family, hopes for the future, etc.

 (the youngest Garrels....how cute is he?!)

It was perfect. I'm sooo grateful for this weekend and hope that our friendship and creative partnership with the Garrels family has only just begun : )

If you haven't downloaded Josh's new, free album please do yourself a favor and do so. Then tell a friend : )

Arian

The Garrels Are Coming!

SO! PUMPED! Today we get to meet the Garrels, swim in Josh's music live with 100+ friends and family, then hang out with the Garrels family over bagels, coffee, (and whatever else I can cook up) on our back porch in the morning. How cool is that!? It's been a frenzy of house cleaning and concert prepping and there is still lots to do!

If you're local to Cincinnati, come by tonight!! You won't regret it!

Yay!
Arian : )

"White Owl" Josh Garrels video

Yay!! We finally finished the Josh Garrels video we've been hard at work on! It ended up being a much bigger project than we've ever attempted. This past week has been a sleepless blur. But a wonderful sleepless blur. It was quite magical... exhausting, but magical. : )

I hope you enjoy it!! I'll do a little "behind the scenes" post later and show you some of the artwork and rough sketches from the creative process.

And you need to stop by Josh's website and download his new album for FREE. It is beautiful.

Happy Fathers Day to all you dads. And happy fathers day to my amazing dad! Love you!!

Arian

The Wire

It's go time! Two days left to finish our animated video for Josh Garrels! His new (and free!!!!) album releases Wednesday. Daniel has moved his animation station from his office across town into our bedroom with me (yessssss.) so that we can work side by side (or back to back) to get this thing done in the next 36 hours or so. Probably gonna be a late late night but I LOVE. THIS. Love it!! This will be our fourth video we've made together and hopefully our best. Looking forward to sharing it with you!

(a little sneak preview for ya) ; )

Man Points

 Daniel won his fair share of man points this weekend crawling through mud, climbing over cars, dodging tires, running up hills, and jumping over fire at the Warrior Dash.  Pretty fun stuff as long as you don't mind sweat, blood, and the risk of dysentery. : )

 The boys and I cheered him on from the safety of the sidelines. Though I'm pretty sure Jude's favorite part of the whole day was the 5-minute muddy school bus ride to and from the race site.

 The men earned their cuts, bruises, and the free bananas at the end, that's for sure.

 We returned home late that night to a BAT in our BEDROOM!! It was dark but I swore I saw something fly pass me into our dark room. "Daaaaaaannnnnnnnielllllllll...........I think something just flew into our room.........I thiiiiiiiink it was a bat."  He assured me that I was probably just seeing things, flipped on the lights, looked around the room.....nothing.  Then he gently flipped over the pillows on our bed and there. it. was....spread out on our pillows... our PILLOWS!!  It took off flying around the room, we ran fast outta there and slammed the door. I quickly gathered any weapons I could think of...a broom, 2 buckets, a former tennis player....

 Praise the LORD Daniel played tennis in high school and hasn't lost his aim (or his racquet). I married Daniel for lots of reasons...turns out this was one of them. Skillz.

Hope your weekend was great....hopefully a little cleaner and less bat-infested than ours : )

Arian : )

Granola and "Milk"

 I've been having fun browsing through Ani Phyo's Raw Food recipe book my mother-in-law gave me. We drink plain almond milk here in our house so I though I'd try making our own nut milk. It's super easy! Just blend 5 cups water, 1/2 cup nuts (like cashews or almonds or brazil nuts), a pinch of sea salt, and a bit of sweetener (I used Stevia).  You can watch Ani make a vanilla-flavored one here with dates as a sweetener. I want to try that next! Sounds tasty!

 You can strain the mixture using a nut milk bag or something similar. But I left the tiny bits of cashew sediment in ours because, when eating it with granola, you don't even notice.

I don't have a recipe for the granola because I just threw it together--- oats, wheat germ, sunflower seeds, walnuts, flax seeds, chopped apples, cinnamon, melted butter, and maple syrup. You can't really go wrong with yummy ingredients like that!!  350 degrees on a foil-lined baking sheet for 20-25 mins (stirring once or twice). Then let it cool and store it in the fridge! Soooooo good!!

Off to try out some more recipes!

Arian : )

Beautifying

 We're working hard and having fun beautifying our outdoor spaces....lots of trips to the garden center and hardware store and an ever-growing pile of muddy shoes and clothes in the laundry.

 Daniel has the vegetables covered, I'm working on herbs and flowers. I pretty much don't know anything about taking care of flowers. I just know I want something pretty and hardy because I will undoubtedly forget to water them. Any tips?

 And Jude, as always, is such a sweet little assistant and full of encouraging words--- "Those are beautiful flowers, mommy, you did a good job planting them.", " I like your skirt, mommy, it's just right for my heart.", "It's a wonderful day, mommy, I so love you." He really says this stuff...all day long! He's my own personal, pocket-sized self-esteem booster.

 All the fun and hard work makes for some pretty tired boys (and parents) but we're loving it!

How are your outdoor spaces coming along? If you got any photos, post the links in the comments and I will be sure to check them out!

Arian : )