10 years + Father's Day + Apricot Season

Happy Sunday to you all :o) I'm home with Bird today while Jared is out enjoying a Nascar event he was invited to. I've been teasing him by saying it's "Jared's Day" instead of Father's Day. For a little while I was bummed when hearing about everyone's different plans for the day out with their families - brunch, parks, camping, etc. But we've had a nice day and I'm sincerely okay with Jared getting some time with friends getting their ears blown out by race cars on a track (hoping he remembered the earplugs...). Bird and I met up with friends for lunch & playground time, walked Phylo, and hopefully will do some gardening together (my plan at least, haha).

Yesterday Jared picked ALL of the apricots off our tree. It's something we always do with our cherry tree - harvest all at once. We're thinking it's a good way to go - rather than little by little. You get some overripe fruit, some under ripe fruit, etc. but it evens out with some being perfectly ready for jam making and some giving you more time to get to them for processing into smoothies, sauces, or just plain eating (which is best! - especially on vanilla ice cream!)

Lovely shot of our huge copper sink filled with just 2 of the 5 bags we picked.

I could eat all that color.

One thing I wasn't able to blog last week was that Jared and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on June 11th! We got married 10 years ago - pretty amazing... Of course, the day wasn't how I had pictured it being but I'm often off when it comes to imagining those sorts of things. I always think we'll have more time than we do. It's just not that time in life for us of course. Bird was a handful all day & we had no plans (because we had no babysitter). When my sweet friend Di offered to stay at our house so we could head out to celebrate we were so grateful!! It's a busy crazy time of life & I accept it. I'm just thankful for the little things & for friends who help make things better & for the time Jared and I have had so far. Looking back at our photos reminds me how much fun we've had over the last 10 years(+). Here's to many, many more!! :o)

Happy Father's Day to all you dads!

I'll be back later in the week with new drawings, paintings, and an update on fabric design.

Hugs,

Happy 5 to Phylo!

It's a big week around here (with another big day tomorrow too) :o)

Today is our sweet boy Phylo's 5th birthday!! 5 years ago he was born on the island of Cyprus (Greek side), was found with his brother & sister by an American couple, brought over to California through the South Bay Purebred Rescue, fostered by a lovely family, then discovered by us and brought home. What a journey.

We gave him two presents this morning. A wool dog bone toy & a kong braided frog plush (great for dogs like ours who just want to rip out stuffing - this one has minimal stuffing but is still fun to chew). Phylo grabbed the wool bone and took off. Bird grabbed the frog and has refused to give it to Phylo. I think it's a little bratty, Jared didn't mind. Maybe he's happy everyone seemed content.

Phylo drives me nuts sometimes, but he is the best buddy - happy to hang out with me wherever I am. & I love rubbing that soft head and those silky ears. Bird likes putting them in her mouth :o)

xo,

TWO

Our little Bird is TWO today!!!

The second year has definitely gone faster than the first - whoosh! And here is this awesome little girl who takes great fun in copying all of our mannerisms, tickling & carrying her babies in backpacks turned Ergo's (baby carrier), whose favorite color seems to be red based on how everything is "red" when I ask her "what color?", who picks roses from our backyard to carry around and smell, is sensitive & sweet to people and animals, who eats strawberries like they're a food group, adores Elmo, rocks, shoes, and being chased ("chase you? chase you?!").

Two isn't terrible...in fact, it's funny & sweet & there's always something new. Of course, there are still the tantrums (see below, and note Phylo's stance, indifferent, used to having a little girl throw herself on the floor in front of him).

Much LOVE to our Bird!

Love love love love love you :o)

xoxoxo,

Seeing (with New Eyes)

When I was little I always said I had 3 wishes:

To be able to sing.

To be able to breathe underwater.

To have perfect vision.

At 13 I got my scuba certification after I came to grips that I would never become a mermaid.

I've been a part of many musicals but never for my singing ability (I can dance & therefore get hidden in with the chorus). I'm OK with that.

And yesterday I got my perfect vision wish. I'm awestruck, amazed, in disbelief - I can really see!! Words can't express how grateful I am.

And giddy :o)

Check out what I've been working on over here at Spoonflower.

More to come! Full speed ahead!

Giddy!

Have a beautiful weekend & thanks for stopping by, really.

xo,

Spring Travel, Part 2: Sarreguemines, France

After getting over the worst of the jet lag we headed over to France, just an hour+ from my parent's home in Germany. Now maybe it's all in my head (because I do have quite the soft spot for France) but I could tell a difference as soon as we had crossed the border. It's like when we would go visit family in Costa Rica for Christmas and as fun and exciting as it was I always knew when we were back in Panama (besides literally crossing the border) and I would stick my head out the window to breathe in the air of home :o) Anyway, maybe it's not too that extent but France did look & feel different from Germany. The houses had shutters, there were even more gardens, the people were a bit more stylish - even at the McDonalds we stopped in for Bird to run on the playground (we didn't know where any were at that point). By the way, it was the first time I'd been in a McDonalds in years - I bet they don't serve cafe au lait at the ones here in San Jose.

We went to Sarreguemines first (I have to look up that spelling every time - sheesh) and hit the first playground we saw. It was so peaceful. No one around but us & we sat on a bench and ate our packed lunch and Bird made us laugh. My mom ("Gigi" as she's known to Bird) got her inner child on and had fun on the rocking cars. Made me happy. So happy that I did it too (actually it doesn't take much to encourage me...).

We did some thrifting in both Germany & France. At the flea market we went to in my parent's area Jared said "Wow, their crap looks just like our crap" :o) It's true really.

We had much better luck at the French thrift stores outside Sarreguemines & Forbach. It was there that Jared joked that we were cleaning out all the copper in France. It felt like it. We picked up so many pots & watering cans & planters (the molds were a present from my parents) that we had to ship back two large boxes! I love having these "treasures" scattered throughout our house & garden now. It's even sweeter that they were thrifted, yes!

Even though the thrift stores were in more industrial areas one had a lovely field next to it and we had fun picking daisies, tossing Bird, and just goofing off before having to make the trip home.

More of those fields of brilliant yellow rapeseed! Wish we had stopped, haha. I realize all my field pictures are from the car, flying by.

Thanks for joining me on this part of our trip...next up will be a German castle and some fun in the trees :o)

More pics from this leg of the trip at my flickr.

Have a lovely weekend!!

Spring Travel, Part 1: Schwedelbach, Germany

It's our first week back from our European jaunt through Germany & France. I confess that I was terrified about the plane rides with Bird. It really wasn't so bad. It helped (quite a bit) to have my iphone along - full of photos & family videos and toddler game apps. Oh, and the jumbo sized charger as well. We scored an empty seat for Bird on BOTH flights. We were so grateful.

My parents live in Schwedelbach, Germany. It's sort of a country side village. My mom is a teacher and works on the local American military base. My dad is retired and able to pursue all the creative outlets he wants to (and there are a lot). The entire bottom floor of the house (and its a big house) is his studio and is full of paintings, clock projects, model ships and cars, various furniture projects, gardening tools and experiments, etc. - he is a tinkerer. It's been so long since I've been to their house...they usually come see us since they lived in Japan for the last 7 years (we visited just once). It was SO wonderful to see them in their own element again, surrounded by their well traveled and collective style. Every where you look there are treasures. And books - so many books.

I wish I had photographed their house more. The twelve foot long Japanese fish wind socks hanging in the stairwell. Their large eyes peering at you from the second floor, reminding me of something from a Hayao Miyazaki film. The Turkish rugs in rich reds and blues. The copper kettles, pots, pans in casually assembled collections throughout the house. What I admire is that as artfully as things are arranged, they really aren't just collections and vignettes, they're useful everyday items. My eyes had never been fresh enough before to see the artistry of my parents' home, and it was really inspiring. And it was another one of those moments where you look at your parents differently. Oh, growing up.

Bird had a great time exploring the house and getting to push her "yaya" (stroller) around their neighborhood. Just down the hill is the area's glass recycling receptacle where you drop off your glass by color. Brown, green, clear - all organized, so German. It's actually pretty fun I thought - sliding the bottles through the holes and hearing them smash at the bottom :o) Bird cringed at first then got really into it.

I got to see one of my favorite teachers from way back in junior high, as well as my former school nurse. They're at the same base my mom is now and they all love to hang out together - visiting new restaurants, taking tours, exploring. It's a really small world.

At one restaurant we walked to Bird made a new friend, Josephine, who captured Bird's interest (and taste buds) by reaching from her high chair over to Bird's with french fries (pommes frittes). One after another. It was giggly and cute. And I was just glad that Bird was eating something. Then they raced around the courtyard together and made us all laugh.

One of the most picturesque parts of this area of Europe in spring are the flowering fields of rapeseed. They're just everywhere! And the yellow! It's a true lemon yellow - acidic, bright, attention getting, soul lifting yellow. Driving from the airport in Frankfurt, down to Schwedelbach, and all over into France we were surrounded by the fields of yellow. Jared said they provided the sunshine since the real sun was too stubborn to come out for most of our time there.

More photos of Schwedelbach and beginning of our trip at my flickr.

Now it's back to work for me! Working on a new design for fabric - it's fun stuff, share soon!

Have a lovely Monday and come back soon for part 2 of our trip - forging into France & exploring the forests of Germany.

:o)

xo,

Drawing, Painting, & Granny Square Gluttony

We're getting ready for a trip to Germany (and France because we'll be so close & because we simply HAVE to!) to see my parents and get a little time off from the day to day. So things are busy busy as we prepare for traveling with our not quite yet 2yr old (which means she'll be in our laps for 10 hours :dread:) and getting things shipshape at home with house sitting, pet sitting, farm share picking up, etc, etc...makes me realize how many responsibilities we carry around on a daily basis.

I've been painting - yes! Joy! And working on a project specifically for my sister in law who makes custom purses. It's very exciting and I'll share more as it develops.

I've been so inspired by SPRING. Maybe because it's been dragging its feet 'round these parts. Maybe because I'm just a total sun worshipper and I can't help myself.

I've been so happy to sit at my work table with my pencil & watercolors and float colors across awesome heavy paper and make the images from my head pop into real illustrations.

It's like a big drink of water when you're thirsty.

Bird's long afternoon naps have been a huge blessing (we're still trading Peter for Paul though as she's been going to bed late & occasionally getting up at night, but 's okay).

It's especially sweet to see Bird taking an interest in painting too! Her favorite kind so far is coating the deck, adirondack chairs, garden beds, and our dog Phylo with a water soaked paintbrush. I give her a big fat one that holds a ton of water and she's thrilled. Too fun.

When my MIL was here a few weeks ago she renewed my love of the granny square, heh heh. They're SO addictive!! I figured it out that if I were to crochet one every night for the next 187 days I'd have a decent sized blanket. That thought made me feel like it was a deadline or something and I stopped crocheting for a few nights.

Happy Monday to you and hope your week is wonderful!

:o) :o)

Waving at you as I'm skipping by

It's been an incredibly busy month, though it's hard to sum up what all I've been doing - just lots of stuff...work/life/dreams. I've got cute pictures to share...Bird is 22mths and quite my little buddy these days :o) I'll be back soon with new illustrations to show you (oh yea, that's one thing I've been working on!).

Happy busy, exciting, Spring-popping-out-all-over-the-place April to you!

xo,