you can take the girl out of the south, but...

you can never take the south out of the girl.



































sometimes you just need to go where your heart is and be reminded of all the things to be thankful for. this weekend was quite the homecoming...

1. my dad picked me up wearing a tux (he just got back from a work function) and my mom was in the car. when i came home she showed me all of her thrift store finds she has been collecting for me and eddie. and she made the best chocolate chip cookies which i ate promptly.

2. ed brought me back to athens after stopping at star provisions so i could get coffee and vanilla soft serve ice cream with sea salt and olive oil.

3. met all of ed's sweet law school friends, it was so nice to finally meet all of the people he talks about so fondly. i love the company he keeps.

4. eddie humored me while we thrift shopped. it has been soooo long since i have found stores that had vintage clothing at thrift store prices. i couldn't believe the amount of treasures i unearthed for such steals. i cleaned up!!!!!!!!

5. dinner at last resort...praline chicken and grits...god i love the south. so dang good.

6. the GIRL TALK concert at the Georgia Theater. amazing amazing amazing. best show i have been to...hands down. ed and i danced the whole time at warp speed. we were full body soaked with sweat when we left and could hardly move.

7. seeing spring in full bloom. it was balmy weather and the town was bursting with cherry blossoms, dandelions, daffodils, forsythia, and magnolias. have i mentioned i love the south????

8. ed pointed out all of the R.E.M album monuments like a certain sweet old bridge and slightly overrun steeple.

9. the colorful houses in athens. and managing to snap a photo of a cat on a hot tin roof!

10. my sweet family all together under one roof (plus eddie) celebrating my oldest sister's 40th birthday and watching the davidson/kansas basketball game. for a family full of girly girls and one man we sure can holler at a t.v. when the game got tense!

11. 40 pretty balloons and lisa's orange race medal.

12. seeing my future in-laws, i can't believe i will finally get to call them that!! his dad is so funny and his mom is just all i could ever want in a mother-in-law.

13. looking at the stellings' wedding albums with his family and laughing a lot!

14. realizing that ed designed my ring after his mother's engagement ring. i never noticed before and its that more special to me now.

15. visiting serenbe with ed and my dad, the two most important men in my life. its a sprawling self-sustaining farm/community near palmetto georgia where ed and i are going to get married!!!! its so lush and beautiful and it looks like a scene out of the movie Big Fish. horses, goats, chickens, ponds, hay rides, oh my! and a bakery and a general store to boot!

16. had dinner with rankin and travis, my favorite couple to go on a double date with. that is one couple that is just as attractive now as they were in 10th grade. those children are going to have some hot genes!

17. came home to see my roomates had cleaned the apartment and decorated my bedroom with paper heart garlands and hand written love posters. i love my roomates so much. i keep looking up at my room and smiling from ear to ear!

18. found mail from some of the most special people to me laraine, nikki, and amy merrick. i love hearing from laraine and nikki. nikki got into the savannah arts academy (not that i ever was worried for a second!). i'm so proud of nikki and i know she and her mom think good thoughts for me, chelsea, and pete. i can just feel it.

19. amy merrick's sweet letter made me wish i was working today so i could run up and hug her. she, chelsea, ed, pete, and my family have been my support system when times have been hard. new york winters can be brutal, but it is almost behind us...

20.. i am grateful for that when you feel like all hope is gone, life has a way of bringing goodness to you if you just believe... and if you have dear people thinking good thoughts for you all at once. it was like they willed a miracle to me and i will be forever grateful. its all uphill from now on.

gratitudes...3.11.08

1. my fiance is here for a whole week and i'm so lucky to have picked him out in 8th grade.

2. the cute customers who come in our store, like the girl with silhouette shoes.

3. i mixed a whole slew of colors in miniature dixie cups to use on my illustrations.

4. i finally made it to ABC carpet and home at 19th and broadway, and fell in love! i had the best time wandering the floors with eddie, and marveling at the artistic vignettes displayed throughout the store. i think the baby section was my favorite with the gorgeous mobiles designed by sam simon. sea shells, fabric flowers, metallic thread and ribbon. and strings of lights. magical.

5. simone shubuck came in with her sweet baby boy, marlon, and her kind husband. i was so shocked and delighted to see her in the store. how often can a person say they met their favorite artist and held their baby?

6. explored the american folk art museum on 53rd between 5th and 6th avenue! i saw my first henry darger watercolor in person!!!!!! i loves me some henry darger and i found a book of his work at the museum shop. there is an adorable exhibit of carousel horses right now.

7. went to sugar sweet sunshine with eddie and ate pistachio cupcakes and drank black coffee.

girl of my dreams...gratitudes 3.5.08

1. Lula, my absolute favorite magazine in the whole wide world is now available. issue 6. it is worth the $15! This magazine makes me swoon, drool, dance, and dream. If there is any magazine I could contribute to, this is it. It is a celebration of all things feminine, romantic, whimsical, and nostalgic. heavy sigh.

2. My favorite client Danielle Schmidt invited me and Chelsea to a gallery party at the New Museum on Bowery. It was a fantastic collage exhibit called "Unmonumental". Chelsea and I fell in love with the 3rd floor which was like a fantasy land. Artist Elliot Hundley http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/elliot_hundley.htm is one of my new favorites. Chelsea and I ooh-d and ahh-d over his textile sculptures. Please go to this exhibit if you can!

3. I finally bought some baby's breath sprigs for my milk bottles in my room. I think it is one of the sweetest plants in the world.

4. Pete went to the Louis Vuitton sample sale and bought me an oversized grey velvet bow headband...he knows me so well. i love him so much.

5. Bought milinery supplies with chelsea at Tinsel Trading Company http://www.tinseltrading.com/ in the garment district. the darling flowers, ribbon, and sequins look like candy! We even scored a skein of vintage, petite black sequins. they look like a twisted bundle of glittery hair.

6. I wore Amy Merrick's gold sequin dress and doused Chelsea and my eyes with gold glitter. We debated whether or not german glass glitter would cut your eyes? I want to buy some off of ebay, but she tells me I will hurt myself...she's probably right.

7. Had brunch at 7A with Chelsea, Mollie, and Amy. We had the Jared Leto look-alike waiter. I love my girls. Really, how am I so lucky to have such good, kind, talented friends? Ask anyone, my menagerie of female friends is like a force to be reckoned with. and they are stationed in almost every major city!

8. Went to Birdbath Bakery on 1st ave between 1st and 2nd Ave with Amy and Chelsea and I got a Farmer's Lemonade which is so fantastic-it tastes like liquid lemon ice cream.

9. Went to New York Central Art Supply on 11th st and 3rd ave. http://www.nycentralart.com/
it is the sweetest mom and pop art supply shop and makes you feel like you're not in a big city. the sweet owner will spin tall tales about paintbrushes that were used to seal violin wood with varnish and brushes that they found in a manicure store. who doesn't love a fable when trying to buy a paintbrush?

10. Arranged my black and white photos of women and children from the 1920s on my corkboard in front of my bed. they radiate this energy that makes me smile whenever i look up at them.

11. Spoke to my love on the phone. he will be here in a few days and i can't wait to have him back in my arms again. Danielle and her boyfriend Thadeus were very congratulatory upon hearing the good news which always touches me when other people show sincere happiness for another.

12. Rita Konig, a heroine to so many girls, blogged about my blog. I discovered her blog by way of Amy Merrick, who has been a fan of Rita for years. She is so lovely and clever and I hope she knows how many young ladies look up to her. Her blog is fantastic http://www.dominomag.com/daily/blogs/dailydose/girl_about_town please bookmark it if you haven't already!