DIY Family Wedding!

One of my amazingly beautiful step-sisters got married this weekend.  Meet newlyweds Josh and Kasey Day! Aren't they ridiculously cute?!

The past week has been filled with wedding prep, wedding crafting, wedding baking, and family gatherings. Goooood times!

My (step)family is scattered all over the U.S.  So times when we can all get together are pretty special.

My little man and his mustache sucker wedding favor.

Hudson has only seen his cousin, Nan, a few times but they're pretty tight : )

This pic of Andrea and Tye cracks me up every time I look at it. Crazy kids.

The beauuuutiful twins.

Fancy homemade strawberry champaign cupcakes!

My little family : )  24 weeks along with boy #3!

The wedding was filled with family-made details. This was my first attempt at a wedding cake topped by the hand-carved cake topper my step-brother-in-law made.

Instead of a traditional guest book I put together this tandem bike + fingerprint balloon poster per Kasey's request. Each guest left their print and initials. Such a cute idea!

And this is the art I made for the front of their wedding invitations-- inspired by one of my vintage floral pillowcases and Josh's love for chess.

My step-mom has quite an arm ; )  

Congrats to Josh and Kasey! We're soooo happy for you! Love you guys!

Arian

New York!

 Daniel and I just came back from a short trip to New York City! He had several meetings there so I tagged along!

 I never get tired of the view from an airplane. Amazing.

 Times Square!

 Being in NY felt a lot like our years living in Japan.  We got to shop at some of our favorite Japanese stores and eat some of our favorite Japanese food.

 Japan makes the cooooolest pens. That's one of the things I miss most-- Japanese stationery.

 And Japanese food! Mmmmm, curry : )

 And while Daniel spent the day in meetings (doesn't he look cute!)

 I spent the day venturing out into the city on my own. It's been a loooong time since I spent a whole day by myself. Must say, it was pretty sweet : )

 Central Park and a good cup of coffee. Yessss.

 And I got to meet up with long time friend (circa 5th grade) for lunch at an amazing vegetarian restaurant.  Oh man, New York has some of the best food! It's making me hungry just thinking about it.

The trip was short and sweet but much needed. I love New York!

Arian : )

Hug print

I just added a new print to the shop. It's the piece I did for the art show at our home last week. The show was such a hit! Our little house was busting at the seams with friends,family, and people we've never met who came to listen to the music and check out the artwork that the 8 of us created. We'll definitely do this again soon as there are lots more musicians we'd love to feature and lots more local artists we'd love to host!

Good music, good food, good art, good people, and good weather made for such a great night!

Arian : )

Workin On...

Tomorrow night we are hosting our first in-home art show and house concert.  It's the first of hopefully many. Eight of us, who have been getting together weekly for the past 6 weeks to hone our skills and share advice are exhibiting our new pieces for our friends and family. Wine and cheese, live music, my cute black maternity dress....should be a good time!

I'm putting the finishing touches on my painting and have a lot of cleaning and rearranging to do before 5:00 tomorrow night. I'll be sure to show you pics!

Feel free to come if you're local!

Arian

Hard at Rest

We've been enjoying the water, the sun, and the sand of North Carolina with tons of family!

(sporting my 21-week baby bump) : )

 The first half of our vacation was spent with Daniel's family, splashing in the water, lounging by the pool, lounging by the ocean, and lounging around good food....not a bad way to spend a week!

With a full schedule of relaxing we still managed to squeeze in a trip to the aquarium.

Week two of our vacation has been just as relaxing with my dad and family.

Yesterday we braved the 100 degree temps to watch 40+ soldiers jump out of an airplane at Fort Bragg. Definitely worth the wait.

And the boys are enjoying their favorite cartoons on PopPop's big screen tv, some even in 3D!

So, yes, we are definitely on vacation and loving it! Things will get busy quickly as soon as we get home so we're doing out best to make the most of our time off!

Hope you're enjoying your summer!

Arian

PROUD mama : )

It's a boy : ) Check out our first pics of Baby Eli! I'm already so proud of him and am so looking forward to holding him. I picked up some blue and grey yarn on our way down to North Carolina for vacation and love feeling him kick around while I start work on a cozy crocheted blanket for my third little guy. 

And Eli is one blessed little boy to have two big brothers and lots of boy cousins to show him the ropes, teach him how to play Star Wars, wear a cape, shoot bad robots, and make a proper paper airplane...you know, the important things in life.

Arian : )

Crafting Legacies

 Andrea and I spent the afternoon keeping Papa company at his house while my mom is out of town for the week. We chatted, cooked, did some laundry for him---easy stuff.

 We also spent some time rummaging through Granny's old crafting wardrobe that still has a lot of her patterns, supplies, and unfinished sewing projects.

 I didn't even know she crocheted but apparently at some point she was quite the doily and lace maker.

 There are yards of handmade lace, tiny vintage crochet hooks, and a giant tin of old buttons.

 I see where we get our habit of organizing by color. : )

 And there are boxes of antique necklaces, tiny wrist watches, and beautiful brooches that belonged to Granny or some of her relatives. I love seeing what my grandma and great grandmas thought was beautiful.

 It's stuff like this that keeps me crafting. How cool would it be for my great-granddaughter to wear my favorite jewelry or a dress I made (like the green dress in the first pic that was Granny's) or my kids' kids' kids to warm up with something I crocheted.

Like maybe this scarf I finally finished for Andrea's birthday.  I used this pattern. I didn't add the tassels and I think my edging turned out differently than the pattern shows. But I love how it turned out and it was a fun challenge to make!

Tomorrow morning we find out if our December baby will be a boy or a girl!! I'll be excited either way. We love having boys and there is something really special about raising boys to be great men. But having a girl would also be pretty sweet too! We'll see!!

Either way, I plan on swinging by my favorite indie yarn shop right after the ultrasound to get gender-appropriate yarn on our way to vacation. My December baby needs at least one mommy-made blanket to keep cozy : )

I'll pop in here and let you know!

Arian