Thanks.

 I am never ceased to be amazed by the wonders that this life, and this world, and this place I live in, give me on a daily basis. I am not sure what my purpose is in this great wide wonderful place or where things will end up, but the one thing I am certain of is that life is good and there is no reason why I should not embrace it. As such I would like to say a big THANKS to the things that make my life so wonderful:

Cute kitties in sinks.

 Traveling here. 

My love for this man.

 Amazing friends.

 Delicious food. 

 Family.

This guy.

Girlfriends you can't live without.

A glass of wine.

 Exploring new places.

Good beer.

Yummy things and cooking them. 

Wonderful family.

I am thankful for my health, running, music, living in a beautiful place, having so many fabulous people in my life. I am grateful for laughing and Spin Pins, San Pellegrino and all of my pillows. I am thankful for breakfast cereal, summer and the art of cooking. I am thankful for art and creativity, for lovely dreams and warm embraces. I am thankful for this life I have been given. And so much more. 

Fall is Here!

My closest friends and family know that I am a summer weather girl to the core. I love running around in summer dresses, flip flops and keeping my curly hair in a dry, un-frizzy state. But what they also know is my pure, unadulterated love of Halloween. And actually, anyone who has ever read my blog can witness that love with my digital illustrations, custom Halloween cards, my ode to candy corn, and my Halloween paper collages just to name a few.

 As the weather changes, and Kyle and I get ready for our first road trip up to Oregon, I couldn't help but play with some digital illustrations in the name of fall and the Halloween spirit. These illustrations started with actual watercolor scans and I played with them in Photoshop before pulling them into Illustrator for the vectored white drawings. I hope to pursue some more of these in my free time. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in what I am doing for work that I forget my passion for art and creation.

 Close up detail:

Close up detail:

Love's Road Map

I can say that without a doubt that I love Valentine's day. I know many people out there, single or taken, absolutely despise the holiday (or whatever you want to call it). But I myself see nothing wrong to devoting a day to chocolates and wine and sweet hand written notes. I am also an artsy-crafter type, so that may have something to do with my appreciation of the day. Valentines day doesn't have to be about falling into the grasp of the evil card companies and their idea of sucking money out of your pocket, it can be about taking the time to tell someone you're thinking of them and for me, that includes crafting cards with lots of cute and pink and heart shaped dealy-boppers (official crafting term).

This year my creative little sister came home from college for a month and did lots of thrift shopping. On her exploits she found some discarded maps and gave them to me to play with. So I did.

My friend Holly happened to be over for dinner when I busted out the craft supplies and here are the results: