Beach Baby, Beach Baby (sing along...)

We took our beach trip.  It was such a relief.  Working from home is both phenomenal and total poop at the same time.  It is a strange sensation to have your work be something that you love to do and do from home in the same room that your family eats burritos and colors pictures of dinosaurs (side note:  these coloring books are the most fantastic coloring books!).  Designing and sewing and drawing are the top three things I would choose to do with free time and I already do them constantly, so it's pretty essential for me to force myself to do other things and carve out some special time for my family that is out of our little house/studio(s). 

I can already tell my son is developing his home-body chops, just like ma and pa.  There is nothing he loves more than staying at home and playing with toys.  The other day I surprised him with some batman pajamas and he asks really sweetly if he can put them on as soon as he comes home.  I better never introduce him to a Snuggy.  What I am trying to say is that it is really good and healthy for us to drive away from home every once in a while and sleep in a hotel or on a friend's floor.  This time it was a hotel in a casino!  I thought it would be really sparkly and glitzy, or at least tacky in a delightful way, but really it was just boringly sophisticated.  Should I write a review on Travelocity?  "I was expecting more velvet paintings and framed photographs of Elvis.  What a disappointment!".

The actual town itself will charm your socks off.  It was so darn cute.  There is a folk artist from there who started painting in her 60's.  We went to see her paintings at the visitor's center and the nice lady working there gave us $40 to spend in the town!  They had won some sort of grant and they wanted to give the money from it to their tourists so they printed out their own special currency for the town called Magnolia Bucks.  We felt like royalty.  We had ice cream.  Three times!  That's what kings and queens do in a Southern, Mississippi beach town.

We splashed around the ocean for a good while.  Something about shallow ocean water makes me want to do cartwheels and handstands.  

Walter really liked splashing while running.  It was his first time experiencing it, really.  I always wonder at the stamina children have to do the same thing over and over, like running through water. I have to remember that it is brand new to them!  That is the very nice thing about having a child:  they make things new again.

We had pizza and beer at a place called the Ugly Pirate.  The inside looked like what a pirate ship would look like.  Plus we smelled of the ocean, so it was a multi-sensory experience! 

Thank you Bay St. Louis!

The Lee's

So adorable.  This is the kind of family you want to invite over for ice cream. 

Summer is drawing to an end.  I need to get my family to the beach, and soon!  We are going to stay in a casino at a cute beach town near by, something I have never done before.  It feels a little scandalous, even though my mom was a Craps dealer back in the day.

The Hollo Family

I made this beautiful family for a mom who wanted a representation of her whole family all together because her son passed right before turning three and never met his younger sister.  He has a halo made of shiny gold fabric over his head.  I am so happy that I was able to make this for them. 

The Friedays

Wouldn't you love your last name to be Frieday?  Then, you could feel good anytime someone said, "Man, I can't wait until Friday gets here". 

This family is from Budapest and Oregon.  Two beautiful places I haven't been, but would love to visit. 

My family is going on a vacation to Oxford, MS soon.  It's an in-between-er place for different families meeting up.  Surprisingly, there is a Marimekko store there!  I kind of doubt it, but part of me hopes they sell scraps of remnants for cheap like they do at the big fabric box stores.  Fingers are crossed!

Badger

He seems like a politician to me for some reason.

Catch Up

I guess consistently blogging wasn't in the cards for my 33rd year.  But, I will improve!  

 I've been doing a lot of sewing, of course.  It was around this time last year that I was trying to turn Pink Cheeks into a sustainable business.  I never dreamed in my wildest dreams that things would have gone this well.  Well, that is a lie.  I did dream it in my wildest dreams, but I was so used to dreams being just that.  Dreams becoming a living reality is something new, and so nice.

I have some new ideas up my sleeve.  I talked them over with this cheeky monkey.  He was supportive.

This is the tree in my front yard.  The blooms on it are very ambitious!  Actually, this is our first spring, so maybe the blooms are just regular, but I'd like to think they are showing off for us.  After a heavy rainfall there is always a circle of purple on our grass from the fallen blooms.  It seems magical to me.

We grew this sunflower from a seed.  We also have some azaleas growing and tinier sunflowers too.  It was my first attempt at gardening.  It's nice when something so natural takes on new life when you fully participate in it.  Walter and I have really nurtured this guy.  We even make up chanty cheers while watering.  "Come on plants, you an do it!  Grow!  Grow! Grow-Griddy-Grow!"

The summer has been nice so far and full of traditional summery fun:  ice cream, swimming pools, afternoon movies (is anyone else excited about Despicable Me 2-----If I am being honest and not trying to impress anyone, the first Despicable Me is easily in my top 5 movies of all time [right after the Pianist]).  Lately though the ocean has been calling me.  We live so close to it now (compared to living nowhere near it before).   I found this little beach town a couple hours away and I am hoping to get there and spy some dolphins out and about.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday was my birthday and I ate cake!  Also, I did a little birthday post over at the Plush Team blog.  Go on over and read it!