Sleet day

Alex braved the thick coat of sleet and freezing rain today to go finish up a small carpentry job down the road, and the kids and I had a lovely home-bound day.  I put on my apron and made a big mess of my kitchen, making black bean hummus and Smitten Kitchen's broccoli slaw.  The kids helped me make muffins, and we had a chicken bone broth going on top of our wood-stove which made the house smell delicious. There were some moments where everyone was stir crazy and I was losing my patience... but mostly it was an extra nice cozy day with my littles. 

 I wish I could pass you one of our muffins and a cup of tea via the internet! xxx

this morning

One step in our jewelry making process is taking our miniature art prints and and carefully gluing them into metal bezels. It is a delicate process and Alex never gets to do it because his fingers are too big! Luckily, I love this job (esp. accompanied by a hot cup of coffee!)

Upstairs peek

Looking toward the front of our upstairs, Lili's new bunk-bed/loft. This dresser was mine as a child, and my Aunt Sharon's before me. Inside that little door was my favorite place to hide in hide-and-seek when I was little, now that part of the dresser keeps the kid's dress-up clothes. 

 Looking toward the back of our upstairs. The little loft with the window is Alex and my new bedroom space. The door at the back leads to our bathroom and above that are boxes of storage.  Art supplies and our indoor laundry line as you head down the stairs (at the bottom right of the photo.)

 Little ladder stairs up to Alex and my bed & the play kitchen Alex built for the Lili a couple years ago. Somehow moving and shifting the toys around gives them a second life.  I have been eating a lot of wooden and felt food this week!

Lili's bed and her big wall bookcase for all of her treasures. 

 Seo's bed tucked in under Lili's. 

Featuring our one window with trim upstairs.

As much as living in a small space drives me crazy sometimes, most of the time I LOVE it. I love the challenge of finding a home for everything. I love the challenge of making it work. I love how quickly it cleans up (never mind about how quickly it gets messed up.) I love feeling like our family is close and cozy. I love that our family helped us build our home.  I love how imperfect it is~ allowing us to imagine new ways to shift our space. 

new painting

A new painting to share with you. Something light-hearted to honor these winter days. 

I made the big mistake of getting the kids (my) hopes up that it was going to snow tonight.
"Snow!!!" I said "We can play in the snow together tomorrow morning!!!"
I have been teased by too many NC winters and I should have known better. Instead of the original 3" predicted, the weather report now says we should expect more rain and possible slush... Not a winter wonderland. *sigh* The kids took the bad news much more gracefully than I have.

Update: not a single flake here and the stars are out. Oh well, at least it will be sunny skies tomorrow! 

our plaster wall

Okay, it's not really about our awesome plastered house wall... but it does make a nice backdrop... :)

fresh start

We have been slow to jump back into Seed & Sky after the holidays. Pre-holiday we were working almost 7 days a week, day and night~ and then a huge lull (and a big sigh of relief) when our vacation set in. It is such a treat to actually take a break. Even if it is something you love, it is nice to have some fresh air from it. Before we jumped back into Seed & Sky full time Alex decided to take a small carpentry job for a couple weeks and we have been shifting our upstairs space dramatically. Clearing out toys and things that we have outgrown, adding new organizers, and changing up our bedroom scene. Alex and I squished our bed into Lili's former loft bedroom (we had to saw away a bit of the wall so it would fit!) Despite my having an anxiety attack from feeling claustrophobic the first night in our new bedroom, it has been nice to have a little privacy. I am really starting to love it.
I was concerned to be stealing Lili's bedroom, but she was thrilled to trade up her toddler bed for a new twin sized bed, and the top bunk of a loft-bunk-bed that Alex built. When he built it he included a foot long bookcase that runs the length of the bed so she has room to keep all of her treasures, stuffed animals, and dolls.
Seo traded up the crib for Lili's old toddler bed. His little space is under Lili's loft and is packed in with their two dressers~ making it like a little cave for him. Feeling like he was getting the short end of the stick we made him a little nook behind the ladder for his special things.

All of this shifting allowed for a true play space for the kids upstairs which is nice because it gives a more defined work area for Seed & Sky at the other end of our upstairs. Our house always feels like an inspector gadget house with new spaces popping up to fit our needs as they arise.
more pictures soon!

wonderful news...

my niece's little newborn feet

On January 4th I had the huge honor of witnessing my sister give birth to her first baby. The baby's name is Marietta. She is wonderful, and she makes little newborn noises, and she has little curled up feet with long toes.

I am not going to lie, it was difficult to see my sister in so much pain. I wanted to comfort her, but by nature labor is intense and painful- not something you can hug away. So Dave and I were witnesses who held up her water cup for her, and we tried to be calm and supportive for her journey. She persevered through a relatively fast and un-medicated labor (just like she had hoped) like a champion.  Afterward, the midwife said she should teach birthing classes because she was so intuitive with her body. I was SO proud of her strength and courage. I am also not going to lie that it was waaaaaay more fun to be watching a baby being born than birthing one myself!

The beauty and freshness of a newborn baby is contagious and wonderful. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

sad news

my favorite photo of Atty and Lili

I am very sad to let you know that we put our beloved great Pyrenees dog Atticus to sleep on Christmas Eve. A host of things were going on with him, but it was ultimately that the ligaments in his back legs gave out. It was a heart-wrenching decision, and we were blessed to have my family surrounding us with love that evening. My stepfather helped carry Atticus and accompanied Alex to the emergency vet. My father and Dave helped me dig a four foot grave by moonlight. Everyone helped keep our kids happy while we tried to figure out what to do. Lili and Seo went to sleep excited about Santa and unknowing of Atticus's death. After Atticus was buried, Alex and I filled our kids stockings and cried. The joy and sorrow was almost too much.

The Carmonas were in Utah for the holidays and it was very hard to not have the other half of Atticus's family here to say goodbye and share in the grief. I expect when they return home there will be a lot more tears shed and happy memories of our big sweet dog shared.

holiday...

the carmona's house

Solstice came and went with blustery wind and a little snow. At the dinner table our family lit a candle to celebrate and Lili requested we give a cheers to the light returning so we all raised our sippy cups and beer bottles to this special occasion. 

Our Seed & Sky orders have tapered off and my father and Amy arrived for the holidays yesterday. My mom and Paul are coming this evening. They are all house sitting for the Carmonas which is so easy and perfect (Thanks Carmonas!). My sister is also due to have her baby sometime in the next 3 weeks too. Exciting times here! I hope wherever you are you are feeling loved and cozy. xxx

my dad. 

snowflakes

Have I told you how much I love making snowflakes?

The past couple of years I have been using coffee filters to make snowflakes. They work well because they are ready to go and they are such a light paper so they are easy to fold and cut.  Alex discovered that you can use hole punches to make neat dots in them too. The decorative scissors are hard to use on the coffee filters, but an adult can do it.

When you are making snowflakes with little ones they need so much assistance it is almost impossible to make your own, so I took a bit of Seo's nap-time the other day to revel in making my own. I just love making snowflakes. 

dear santa...

I have mixed feelings about the notion of Santa Claus. I have sweet memories of Christmas and Santa, and I wasn't personally scarred when I found out Santa wan't "real". As a parent I am one part giddy about the magic of it all and the twinkle in the eyes, and one part uneasy with not telling the truth and the consumerism aspect of Santa. It is all so much.

And yet, while my adult mind is feeling muddled and fretful about how best to instill what I think is important about this time of year, my children are excited. So excited. Seo is in LOVE with the tree and Lili is in awe about the reindeer and the mystery of it all. And they are joyful at making cookies, and snowflakes, and presents for others. Whenever I find myself complicating it I try to let it go and see it through their eyes. 

DEAR SAMTA,

*BOOSTER (as in a big kid booster car-seat)
LIPSTiCK (preferably purple)
BARBiE
ORANGE (yes, the kind you eat)

half heart, half heart, half heart (she said she doesn't know how to draw a full heart yet)
iiLKOi" (Lilikoi)

When she is older I hope I have the grace to explain Santa eloquently like this: http://www.cozi.com/live-simply/truth-about-santa

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

~Wendell Berry

random...

 Some random photos to share...

At the Indie Craft Experiece (ICE) show in downtown Atlanta they had us park in a parking lot near the show. This is what we parked next to!

 At my friend Devon's wedding: The first time I have seen Alex in a suit.

 Our car turned 200,000 miles!!!

 Waiting in line for our Thanksgiving turkey. It was grown by our friends at the Which Came First Farm:

I am sure there are a lot more randoms, but that is enough for today ;) 

my show

Alex and I hung my show at Ananda Hair Salon on Tuesday night. The space at Ananda is huge with beautiful wood floors and a long 44' wall and several smaller walls to hang work on. It took us 5 hours to hang my show, and we were both delirious when we finally turned off the lights at 1:30am.

My show consists of 20 of my original paintings. It felt so good to see them all together. My art studio is only 7.5'x7.5' so I never get to see my work all spread out with room to breathe. They had asked me if I wanted to have an art opening a few weeks ago... and at the time it felt way too overwhelming to consider it and I said no. Now that my show is up I feel a bit sad about it. It all looks so good together and I don't know if anybody I know will get a chance to see all of my new work. At the very least it was good practice for future shows!

 Life has been so full I haven't shown anyone my new work... I love this one. 

 Some more new work...

 And one of the biggest paintings I have ever done at 4'x5'. I got the canvas for free because it was all wonky. I always have disliked the give and bounce of painting on canvas, but for some reason I enjoyed painting on it for this one...

 This one doesn't match the majority of my work right now as well, so I hung it in the back near the shampoo area. It looked really nice all on it's own.

 If you live in Asheville stop by and check it out! 

whew.

Our Big Crafty Booth 2012

So much of a whirlwind these past few weeks! The short list:

*A weekend show in Atlanta (Indie Craft Experience.)

* A visit from Alex's Dad Gramps ♥

* Thanksgiving. 

* The Big Crafty Show in Asheville.
* Making, making, making.

* Packing, packing, packing our Etsy orders. :)

* Hanging my art show at Ananda Salon (more on this later!)

* And today : A long awaited family day of going out to lunch and getting our tree!