white picket fence

a collaboration

I was going through some old blog drafts and can't believe I've never shared this collaborative collage book that Natalie Mutrux and I made a few years ago. (She has one too, which she turned into a zine, and once I track my copy down I'll try to share it here as well.)

This was such a fun project: we each made a book, then sent it back and forth a few times, each adding to the other's work in whatever way we felt was best. I'll never forget the feeling of receiving it in the mail one day, seeing how another artist will interpret your work and add/improve upon it was thrilling. I think our two styles worked really harmoniously, while still being different enough to make the pages interesting. 

Take a look:

 So Natalie, when are we doing this again? :)

love makes a family

OK: back story. My friend Kimberly is one of those "online friends" where eventually you just drop the "online" part and count it in the real life category. We've known each other for almost 8 years (that seemed like forever but then I checked my gmail archives, and yes, emails date back to 2006!). I've appreciated her kindness, her strength,  her wonderful parenting advice, and of course her beautiful photography; and I feel so lucky that our paths crossed way back then. 

When she asked if I would help her brother and sister in law with their adoption fundraiser, I immediately responded yes. I remember when I first read Tony and Emily's story in this post. The enthusiasm and sweetness that Kimberly captured in her photos had me in tears. 

And the story has changed since then. Not only are they adopting one little girl, her older sister will also be joining the Gould family. Between the adoption process and travel, there are numerous expenses, and this month they're hoping to raise money to cover the airfare to Africa (for 2) and back to the USA (for 4!). 

I'm always extremely humbled to think about couples that choose international adoption. It isn't always easy, but the difference that can be made for these children is absolutely life-changing. I hope you'll consider helping Tony and Emily this month. 

To donate, visit here. And for more information and stories about the couple and their adoption journey, visit Tony and Emily's blog.

renegade chicago 2012

This is the only photo I took on the day I went to the Renegade Craft Fair:

That's my friend Renae. And our glasses of wine at 4:30, a.k.a, the elderly person's dinner hour. Though in Wicker Park you might as well be elderly at age 32. 

This post is not to say that I wasn't blown away by what I saw at Renegade. Earlier this week I was thinking back to when I first attended (2004?) and the fair was held in the actual park of Wicker Park, and there were maybe like 30 vendors selling weird jewelry and band t-shirts. The artistry and displays and merchandising and serious TALENT that comes to Renegade nowadays is pretty amazing. It's also pretty overwhelming. It was really hard for me to concentrate on admiring the work when there were just so many people, it was hot, my allergies were bad, blah blah blah... oops, sorry, now I feel like a senior citizen again. 

ANYWAY. That said, I discovered a ton of new favorites. I bought a pillow from Caitlin at Little Low that I'm in LOVE with and I think I may redesign my whole bedroom around it's color palette. Renae bought a darling necklace from Rachel at Poppy and Fern and I'm planning on ordering one of her custom embroideries for Norah's room. I was also super happy to pick up a print from Laura Berger, whose work I've admired for years. Every vendor we talked to was so friendly and approachable too. 

Some other cards I picked up and sites I've bookmarked this week? Belrossa, their bags and clutches made from recycled vintage quilts were super cute; Brainstorm had really beautiful, detailed art prints; if I wouldn't have run out of cash I probably would have bought a little pouch from Custom Made UK; and Thimblepress also had some really eye-catching prints. 

I do feel like such a crank complaining about how crowded the fair was; I should be sublimely happy that all these hard-working artisans are getting so much business. Friends that went, what did you think? Am I just being cranky? I'd love to hear about your experiences. 

crafternoon day!

(NOTE: I can't believe this sat in my unpublished drafts for so long! I'm about, oh, 3 months late in posting this. Oh well, here you go... a little post about my friends' craft social day in April.)

Crafternoon 2012! What can I say other than I'm SO GLAD we thought of this, planned it, and made it happen. The actual event was different, I think, than what we had originally envisioned. It wasn't a huge multi-day event; it was pretty small and intimate. But I think that was for the best. 

My friends Mindy and Renae and I started planning for a craft event last fall, and we learned a TON about the organization and preparation that go into events like this. It was kind of a lot of work (not that i did a lot, I sort of rode on Mindy and Renae's coattails. . . thanks friends). Things like this don't just happen. As Renae noted while we furiously untangled crepe paper streamers about 20 minutes before everyone was due to arrive, "Bloggers must not be procrastinators." Pretty things take time. 

11 friends (plus baby Allaire!)

Treats. Important. 

Mindy's Trix Krispies bars. Yeah, they were good. 

Materials for essential oil sugar scrubs. 

Felt wreaths (loosely based on this one by Rachel / Smile and Wave) modeled by Jen. :)

Polymer clay jewelry, inspired by Kristina Klarin.

There's a good reason why I have no finished photos of any of the necklaces we made. At 3:45 we were still sitting around chatting and crafting and someone said, "hey, aren't we supposed to out of this space by 4? It's quarter til." And then it was like full on CLEAN UP mode. Everybody brought their A game for those 15 minutes. Thanks ladies. 

Okay, now prepare yourselves for an entirely different image. 

Our dinner conversation turned to talk of nose piercings, which turned to a trip to a tattoo parlor. For a group of ladies that spent the afternoon talking about babies, gardening, and church, this was a pretty spontaneous and surprising turn of events. But it was super fun. 

Friendship!! I can't wait to do this again next year. 

 

girls weekend

alternate titles: Treat Yo Self 2011!, and Self Portraits in Reflective Surfaces. 

First of all:

Mimosas: Treat Yo Self! (and okay, that's all, I promise I will not beat that joke to death.)

My friends Mindy and Renae and I have been planning this girls weekend in the city for a few months now. I was looking forward to it immensely. You know the last few weeks have been weird and stressful and yeah, I was super glad to get away and have some fun (and be kid-free!) for a little while. 

We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel. At first I kind of thought it would be cheesy, but it was classy for the most part. Our floor was the Bob Dylan floor. Fun. 

I love when out of towners come to visit because it's a great excuse to go to Millennium Park. It's not just for tourists. It was the perfect fall day, too: clear and cool but not too chilly.

And Mindy is into geocaching, so we spent part of our time in the park looking for a geocache. I've never done it before but it definitely seems like a fun adult scavenger hunt. 

We spent the rest of Saturday shopping downtown and in Wicker Park. I can't remember the last time I had such a girly shopping excursion: Anthropologie, of course, Zara, the Renegade Handmade store, Quimby's bookstore, and pretty much every shoe boutique in the neighborhood. (Though my cheapskate tendencies came out even on a supposed "treat yourself" day, I didn't buy much other than the few wardrobe staples I've had on my list for a while.)

Mindy and Renae have been two of my closest friends for a long time. Spending time with old friends is the greatest.

Plus! The official purpose of this weekend was for us to plan a Craft Social. We've been talking about doing a gathering of friends for a long time, but I think we finally got our plans nailed down. Next spring (mostly like Saturday April 28th), we'll be meeting somewhere in the Ames / Des Moines area for a day of fun and crafting, maybe an outing to the Des Moines farmers market. If this is something you'd be interested in attending, let me know! We're still nailing down plans and will send out invites early in 2012. We'd love to have you. 

Renegade Craft Fair Chicago, 2011

Ah! Yesterday was a really beautiful day for the Renegade Fair. Every year I go, I am so, so happy to live close by and be just a short drive away. 

I finally jumped on the Instagram train, too. I resisted for so long because I definitely don't need another distracting technology thing in my life, but I buckled and downloaded the app yesterday morning; I wanted to take photos but didn't want to lug the new (huge) camera around. I'm pretty glad I did and now I can totally see the appeal of it. 

Top left: We parked right next to my old apartment on Augusta Boulevard in the Ukrainian Village. Another reason I love Renegade is it gives me an excuse to visit my old neighborhood. I wouldn't say I miss living in the city, but I have such fond memories and wish I made the trip back more often. 

Top right: my cappuccino from Intelligentsia! I think I was the first customer of the day (we were earlybirds) and the barista took such special care and time making my foam art. It was really cute. 

Bottom left: the entrance to the fair. 

Bottom right: Just some of the many business cards I picked up along the way. Lots of new favorites added to my etsy wishlists and internet bookmarks. 

I was primarily shopping for prints, and I bought a few I'd had my eye on for quite a while now. I'm thinking I'll share them here once I get everything framed and hung up. Knowing myself that might take a while... so maybe I'll do a links post sometime in the next few days. 

And my pals for the day! My great friend Renae and her daughter Cyan. Any time I spend with Renae is quality time, and even more so at an event like this. I think we've been discussing the possiblity of having our own booth at a craft fair for about 4 years now. Some day, seriously! And 5 year old Cyan did amazingly well on a hot day in a crowd full of big people, though I think by the time I took this picture she was ready to go home. ;)

The day was filled with friendship. So nice to see my internet-slash-real life pals Robyn and Kimberly. I had the chance to chat with Rachel from Red Velvet Art (and her blog Smile and Wave) and she was super sweet, just like you'd imagine. I enjoyed meeting Kate from The Little Things Studio. Sarah from The Small Object was so friendly and cute (just like her artwork!). Really, every encounter we had was so pleasant and the whole thing just gave me a giant crafty warm fuzzy. So: yay. Such a happy day. 

a year ago in Iowa

The past few weeks all my Iowa friends have been killing me with their State Fair talk on facebook. I went last year for just a few hours, but it stands out as one of the highlights of my summer. I was in Iowa for my friend Mindy's baby shower and we drove to Des Moines to find a place to eat dinner. After a quick discussion it was pretty clear that, for us, fair food was a better option than any restaurant. 

It was fantastic. I love Iowa so much. To an extent, I've made my peace with the idea of living in Illinois for the majority of the rest of my life. . . but that doesn't mean it's ever going to take over the place in my heart that Iowa holds. 

The sky over the midway. 

My obligatory "food on a stick" purchase. This was tiramisu on a stick and it was actually kind of disappointing. Oh well. I also ate a corn dog and corn dogs never disappoint. 

And this is Mindy and I at her shower. Two pregnant ladies! I was about 2 months along with Norah at this time last year.

If you had a chance this year to see the butter cow or the giant bull, to eat cheese curds or fried butter on a stick (I heard it was the talk of the fair this year!), and to people-watch the fascinating Iowa crowds, consider yourself lucky. I wish I could have been there too. 

old friend / new friends

I've known my friend Kimberly for 6 or 7 years now. We've known each other through engagement, marriage, kids. But until this week, our friendship was only through email, facebook, blogs, twitter. That's why it was SO great to finally talk face to face on Tuesday. And even though we've known each other for so long, meeting in person makes it feel like I have a new friend. I wish you lived closer Kimberly! 

I wish my photos of the day were better. (I swear my poor old point and shoot is getting blurrier by the day.) Kimberly's are great, but she's a real photographer, so, of course. 

This one makes me smile so much. That's David's "cheese!" face. And Jasper was apparently done with picture taking. 

We had such a big day on Tuesday that the rest of the week has gotten away from me a bit. Up until now, I've taken my new at-home lifestyle pretty seriously and kept us busy with outings, projects, and keeping up with the house. Today I woke up feeling a little under the weather and now, well, the house has unravelled and a trip to the post office was the single high point of the day. But like some friends on twitter reminded me, a lazy day is sometimes necessary and productive. So we're owning it. It's naptime for the two little ones and I'm catching up on DVRed episodes of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. Aaah.