unused designs

In addition to designing stationery, I also work as a designer for our church. I love the work and it allows me to be creative and design in different formats than stationery does. I'm working on a graphic for our next message series called "vs.". Often the art for a series has to explain a lot about what the pastor is teaching on Sundays...so I don't always get the final say. So, I thought I'd share one of the versions that didn't make the cut. I'll share the final next week.

sickness + injury month

It seems that every so often we get a month of sicknesses and injuries. They come in groups striking every member of the family at the same time and they cripple us from our normal life. Colds, broken toes (more of a pain than you'd think), stomach bugs (requiring more laundry than I ever care to do again), and the list goes on...

Our weekends have been packed full of birthday parties (Andrew turning 1, me turning 30), holidays (when did Easter get so big?), Broadway shows (Mary Poppins=fantastic!), trips to visit family and of course, hours under the covers trying to recover. So what's the up side? I have a ton of photos to show you!

Andrew had a great birthday. We celebrated here in Lexington with cake and friends and then headed to Cincinnati to have dinner with family. I'm feeling a little bit of mommy guilt because Hailey's first birthday included inflatables, every tinkerbell party item every made, a homemade cake at a big party. Andrew's on the other hand was at a pizza place...with a cake I purchased and we gave him clothes as gifts. Hopefully he won't hold it against me.

first was Easter...once Andrew found one egg, he was happy, that left about 50 for Hailey



first haircut....


and the birthday party...





I did get these adorable cookies made to hand out as favors...



I will hopefully be back sooner than later. The bathroom is FINALLY finished, photos soon!

andrew turns one

My baby boy turns 1 today. Happy 1st Birthday, Andrew!

too many windows open

I just saw Chris Brogan, a social media advisor and author, say on twitter that he has too many things to do and has too many windows open. It was one of those moments where someone else describes exactly how you feel and somehow clarifies it for you. I think I've said it before, I have trouble saying no. I have trouble saying it to myself and to other people.

I started my stationery business about five years ago while I was working at a design firm full-time. I worked on it in the evenings until I quit the firm four years ago to do the stationery, while keeping some of my clients from the firm for freelance work. In the past four years that I've been doing freelance work I've never had to look for work. Through word of mouth, I'm consistently getting new projects and clients. (And I can't say no, remember?) So, I take them all on. I tell myself I can stay up until 2am rather than the normal 12am. I don't want to let people down and normally, they're fun projects.

But to be honest. I'm exhausted. So, as I think through this as I type...I think it's time to make some choices. A person can only go so long with little sleep and working all the time...or so I imagine, I'd rather not find out. I decided to post this in hopes of being held accountable. I've got more thinking to do...but if you don't see a post with some changes in the near future, yell at me, ok?

sneak peek

which do you like?

mom-cation

I had a wonderful mommy break this past weekend. I went to visit one of my favorite people, my college friend Megan who lives in the DC area. The weekend was filled with great food, pedicures, shopping, monument gawking, a movie and of course good company! One of the highlights was making s'mores...with nutella. It was soooo good! I was having such a great time, I didn't take too many photos. So, just picture a mom enjoying a weekend without a schedule and eating great food that didn't involve cutting bananas into tiny little pieces. It was wonderful, but back to reality.