The Biltmore

This past weekend we visited my parents in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains where we stayed in a cozy little cottage, tucked away in the woods for two days. On our last day we visited Ashville. My mom, J and I went to the Biltmore Estate and toured the grounds. It was so wonderful in every way! We also did an Upstairs, Downstairs "behind the scenes" tour. There is no photography inside so wamp wamp, but of course our favorite parts were the servants quarters and downstairs kitchens. This estate was so grand and the landscape so wooded and hilly, overlooking the mountains, it was hard to capture on an iPhone the expanse of the property. 

Uncle J

When Rocco was born and J came to visit him for the first time at the Perkins' sweet little house, we were probably around 18 and 19 in our rough years of distance. Nevertheless, J held sweet little baby Rocco, looked at me and said 'I hope one day I can be his uncle'. 

This past trip to Florida over Rocco and Remi's birthday, J was a king. He spoiled Rocco constantly, bought him everything his heart desired, and played with him nonstop. He was a trooper. Towards the end of Rocco's birthday party, when all the guest had gone, J and the little boys were missing. Come to find out he was playing legos with them upstairs. He was there for a good hour or longer and when I told him I was sorry if he felt stuck he said, 'absolutely not, its my favorite thing'. Before the legos, he had been pushing hank on the swing for what seemed like the majority of the party, Hank was in heaven. Now, whenever Hank facetimes me there is no hello but rather "Where's J?" (i don't mind).

When I thought J was about to criticize our family vacations by opening a conversation with... "the problem I have whenever we spend time with your family is"... (oh brother) ..."that Remi never wants to spend time with me, but I am excited because today he finally let me play with him." 

When it comes to Dagny, J is just star struck. He loves that little girl so much, he often steals her from my arms and just holds her and stares at her with this happy little smile on his face. He calls her a princess in the sweetest way and says she is a 'sweet little bundle of joy'. 

At the end of our trip when you would think J was ready to run back to our solitude and childless life, rather he told my sisters that often most children make him never want kids, but this bundle of little ones (my words not his) make him excited for that stage of life. Thank you sisters for marrying sweet husbands, making sweet babies, that have made the sweetest uncle out of J. And thank you little ones for loving him as much as I do. 

Homemade stamps!

For Rocco's birthday I made him some stamps. It was really fun and they turned out great. 

They don't have ink pads yet so they were using washable markers. A really fun, simple gift and Rocco is at the perfect age. These are his thank you cards for his birthday party guests. 

August's projects!

Birthday's and Christmas are always my favorite because its present making time! 

Dagny's presents. 

The sweetest little dolls that were the funnest to make! I found a little doll maker on the west coast who makes just the blank body and I got to sew on their little faces and clothes and hair. 

Remi's presents! 

The Remington Pillow and another sweet little doll for Remi because boys can have dolls also!

(Rocco's present's to come...getting photos)

A sweet vacation

This past weekend J and I drove down to the beach for the holiday. He was able to get off work early and so we got to leave an hour earlier than planned. It was a long drive but we made it and had three full days of sunshine, warm weather, good food and babies! Mostly babies.

We went to the hub our first actual night there. It is a great music venue geared towards families, with a few food shacks, ice cream shacks, a large green area for kids to run around (which they take full advantage of) and a great bar that is extremely overpriced. I hadn't been there yet because it was only recently finished but it was so fun! The french fried were incredible!

Our last evening we watched the sunset on the beach and the boys (and Dagny) went swimming.

And the sweetest last morning with breakfast from Modica on the green

Remi's birthday was our last morning and he was as cute as can be!

Though it doesn't seem like it by my photos (partly because he hates photos of himself and partly because i only take pictures of the babies), J was on this vacation too and he was a king! He spoiled the boys rotten and granted them their every wish. It was a vacation greatly needed. The drive home took about 3 hours longer due to Memorial Day traffic, but it led to J and I taking a back scenic rout I had never done before and it was wonderful. Next time we will fly! See you again in November 30A! 

September Goals

Wash on Monday
Iron on Tuesday
Mend on Wednesday
Churn on Thursday
Clean on Friday
Bake on Saturday
Rest on Sunday

Moving down here to Columbia, I knew I would have a lot of time on my hands and wanted to really accomplish all of these things, this imaginary list of goals, habits, and experiments I had in my mind. The first month was settling, spending most of my time unpacking, getting organized, painting furniture, and just exploring the city. This past month has been the most unproductive because I have spent the majority of my time making gifts for my niece and nephews and spending a lot of time with my new friends, which is the greatest! But now its time for some organization, some structure, and some goals. There are a few areas that I want to set goals and standards...Studio, kitchen, home/cleaning, exercise/activeness, and down time.  

Studio Goals:

This month I hope to have designed and sold a few (at least three) fabric designs. I hope to finish two commissions in waiting...an ocean painting and a map. I also hope, with the money from these projects, to buy all of the screen printing equipment from my amazon cart and some material to start the production of my business...once I have stock, I can open my shop! 

Kitchen:

I hope to become more organized in my meals and my grocery shopping. J and I have cut our grocery budget down and so I am trying to get into a better routine with our food. We have been eating a lot of beige food (pasta, bread, cereal, oatmeal...) and so I am trying to do better. We have decided we like to make a soup or pot of beans at least once a week, a fun experimental dish like Japanese or Thai so I would like to continue this tradition, and more veggies. 

Home/Cleaning

Now that I got my cutest vacuum I am more willing to clean. I made a chores list for each day of the week (inspired by Little House on the Prairie) and it is my goal to actually make it a routine. I also have a few house projects I want to tackle. My guest room is an absolute bomb explosion and a lot of the stuff just needs to go because we haven't touched it since we moved down. I want this room organized, clean and ready for whoever by the end of the month. I want my studio happy by the end of the month...including painting my desk, purging, and organizing the space better so it is a happy work environment and just calls me to come sit down and create beautiful things (like Anna Rifle's old studio before she turned it into a nursery for her baby Ford :). Lastly I want to clean the floors of my screen porch because there is no difference between them and the dirt outside.

Exercise/Activeness

I have started walking early in the mornings with Gunner and I want to keep it up. J and I played tennis once and I am absolutely the worst at it ever and so I want to become descent and play regularly. I would love some kind of racquet game to be a regular weekly fun thing for J and me. 

Down Time

Currently I have been spending too much time with my good friends from the show Nashville and need to finish my book. My goal is to choose the book over the tv more often and finish it by the end of the month (remember, that is a very ambitious goal for me when it comes to reading). 

Though this looks like I am just setting myself up for failure, it really isn't. Some of these goals are already in action but just need to be finished or continued. Some will not take me long and some (like the art work) are demanding and time consuming but its what I want to do so I need to suck it up and get at it! 

One day...