Lately I've noticed that my shoulders are literally up in my ears! The stress and tension of caring for a big family, mixed in with some health scares from someone I love deeply, is enough to make me clench my jaw 24/7 but then add into it the holidays and it's so easy to feel overwhelmed!
So, I took a little of my own advice and made myself a self care list of things I plan on working into my daily schedule. It starts with a quiet moment in the morning and my journal. I write down my Intention for the season. It goes something like this: I am present in the moment of every day and choose to be surprised by joy. I notice all the special moments without rushing to get through my never ending to-do list and I am ok if it doesn't all get done. I remind myself to breathe deeply!
Even the simple task of writing in my journal ten minutes in the morning makes me feel more grounded and ready to experience each day. Carving out a little extra time to do some morning yoga then have a warm cup of tea with lemon is worth waking up the extra 20 minutes. When the days get tough I just remind myself to breathe deeply. Squeezing in a walk in nature and a good nights sleep also does wonders! I've illustrated a few other ideas here too. May your holidays be full of love and blessed with beautiful moments and may we all be able to drop our shoulders and enjoy every moment!
Fall is my favorite time of the year! I'm heading into the later part of 2014 with a grateful heart. I am so thankful that I am doing what I LOVE for a living and for all the wonderful people I have met and collaborated with this year. On the horizon are three collaborations I look forward to sharing with you! Until then, enjoy these last few days of warm days and nights and let's pray that California gets blessed with a lot of rain this coming season! 
Living with animals adds so much joy to our lives. We have two sister kitties and apparently a little outdoor kitty has recently adopted us. We also used to have the most wonderful black Labnamed Marly but she passed away after a long and happy life. The only reason we don’t have a dog now is because, this one, is just not over her.
I have learned many things living with animals over my life, most importantly their unconditional love. These little creatures make me laugh on a daily basis and are right there next to me when I am sick. They are loyal and loveable so I have always felt that they should be treated with love and respect. xo
A designer once said to me, “You should always have one piece of Asian furniture in your home.” I never asked her exactly why but I can imagine it’s to show that you are worldly? I thought it was kind of funny actually because I don’t think you should have anything in your home that you don’t find to be useful or that you absolutely love. I happen to love anything chinoiserie so I suppose I would have this designers approval, not that I would even care. Decorate your home with what you Love!
In honor of the fantastic designer Parker Kennedy and his Bamboo Fridays, this one is for you! Happy Friday y'all!
I'm currently in the process of making over many projects in my life, big & small. Including a new website, new catalog and also the interiors of parts of my home. We built our house ten or so years ago and it's time for an update! As I started to put together my ideas for *my* interior design project, a fun little spark of inspiration happened. As most of you know, I'm an illustrator too and I love, love, love that I can combine Interior Design with my passion for Graphics & Painting. That's how this Herme's Tray Print came about. These are the colors I'm wanting to incorporate into my new Living Room. What happenned next was really thrilling! After posting a quick pick on my Instagram I heard from many talented designers who wondered if I could do the same type of painting for them but with one of their designs...so let's just say for now that this is happening! (More on that soon!) So excited to share those collaborations with you! I was also really happy to see how many of you were interested in purchasing the prints! They are available in my shop and now I've also included notecards! 
There's so much to be thankful for this rainy Friday...most of all I'm Thankful for You! Make sure to check back in this weekend for my FREE March Desktop Wall Paper I designed for District17 & you! I think it's one of my absolute favorites!!!
It's been crazy, busy in the studio with lots of different collaborations going on! I'm so excited to be working with such amazing people!
As I am writing Thank You notes to include with orders that are shipping out today, I just want to Thank all of you who follow me and show your support and especially to those of you who purchase my products. I can't even tell you how thankful I am for your on-going support! xoxo
This morning I'm catching up on some "Very Late" Birthday Thank You cards when I, once again, get distracted! My mother was so kind and generous this year (my father too) that she gave me her pearl necklace! It brings back so many happy memories of me thinking of how I had the most beautiful mom in the world. I would play with her jewelry and scraves and accessories for hours as a little girl pretending to be a movie star... hence the inspiration behing this Saturday morning sketch. xo
Oh my goodness...it's the Friday before Christmas and I'm quite tardy on giving thanks to some wonderful blogging friends!
I just have to stop and take the time to thank a few fellow bloggers who were sooooooooooooo very kind to feature my product on their sites this month! First of all a huge Thank You to my talented friend Brett, over at IAmTheLab for including our Macaroon Calendar in his 2013 Calendar Picks. This guy is so wonderful! He dedicates so much time to supporting the handmade community and his blog is gorgeous! I do hope you check it out and get inspired. I also want to thank Interior Decorator, Abby Manchesky, of ADelightfulDesign, for including us in her Gift Guide For The Creative Home. She too, has a blog loaded with inspiration and ideas!
Last of all, a gigantic thank you to my sweet friend, Abbe Fenimore, of StudioTen25. Abbe does the greatest collections of home decor products in her Weekend Windows. In honor of Pantone announcing Emeral Green as the color of 2013, she posted this lovely collection including our Purse Print. I just love how she puts everything together! You can view all her picks here.
As the year is coming to an end, I can't help but feel so incredibly blessed to have the support from these lovely bloggers as well as all my family and friends. There is much to be grateful for this Holiday Season. I hope that you all have a very happy holiday as well!!!!
Just for today I decided to take a break from Monday’s Mood Boards and post something a little different, Mother’s Day!
This past weekend was so much fun. It kicked of with my daughter’s last soccer game of spring league. They won 3-0 and I’m happy to say my Raquel (Rocky) scored in every game of the season, which never looses its excitement for me. Then it was off to my friend’s hair salon, The Bladerunner in San Luis Obispo, so Serena and her friend could get their hair done for Prom!! Back to the house to cook and get ready for a fun Prom Party! We had lots of friends and family visiting along with my other daughter’s little friends spending the night. I just love it when my house is full of life and laughter. I went to sleep one proud momma. But the joy kept coming when I woke up to many really lovely Mother’s Day treats!!!
If you’ve followed my blog you would know that we built a second house on our property for my parents almost five years ago. It has been one of the greatest decisions we ever made. Amongst all the terrific benefits, is the fact that my mother has the magic touch in our garden. Our roses look amazing! So in honor of the beautiful garden she has created and her love for the greatest Mother of all, The Blessed Mary…I painted this for her. And so sweet, my youngest daughter made a crown for Mary to honor her on Mother’s Day too.
It was a beautiful weekend. I couldn’t have asked for more. I hope you all had a lovely weekend as well!
Just on a little side note. This was on our porch the other night for my daughter. Boys are so sweet these days! And...of course, she said Yes! Happy Cinco de Mayo! Cheers!
Most of you know that just about every weekend you can find me on the soccer fields watching my daughters . Go Condors! Last weekend wasn’t any different but it was even more fun because Chyna had a morning game in Santa Barbara. That meant the rest of the afternoon would just have to go to lunch, the museum, and shopping of course! It just isn’t right to go to SB and not pay our respects to all the Mom and Pops as well as Anthropologie and Nordstrom.
So after Chyna got civilian again, aka out of her soccer uniform, we had lunch on State Street at a cute little Mexican restaurant. Then we walked down to the Santa Barbara Museum. Much to our surprise, they were having several incredible exhibits!!! All my favorite Impressionists were represented as well as an incredible collection of Modern Art as well. It was heavenly!
After we left the museum we went to several little shops. I just love how everyone creates their displays and the architecture alone in SB is beautiful to look at. Soooooo much eye candy to take in. Of course I had to visit my favorite shop, Anthropologie. Talk about great displays. Their visual merchandisers are masters at it!
As the afternoon meandered on, the skys started to get grey and we knew the rain was coming…one last stop…Nordstroms. I don’t know why I love it so much there. Maybe because we don’t have any kind of shopping like that in San Luis Obispo. We don’t even have a mall! I love to look at all the designers and see their latest creations. I especially have a thing for purses. These are a few of my favorites, I painted just for fun.
We left Santa Barbara that day and drove home in the rain. Having that time with my youngest daughter, exploring and getting inspired, is a day I will always remember and hope to do again soon. (Oh yes, and they won their game that morning 3-0.)
1 Kate Spade 2 Co Co Chanel 3 Tory Burch 4 Louis Vuitton
This morning I dropped my girls off at school and came home to this! How she got to the top of my range is a mystery to me. Apparently, this is what my kitties do while I'm not at home. The other one was on top of my hutch! I grabbed my iphone and caught her showing off.... "Bad Kitty!"
For the second year in a row I've been fortunate enough to be asked by Central Coast Printing to create a holiday wrapping paper! They do a beautiful job printing this paper on two sides and the paper is so thick and luscious!
I am also introducing my 2012 Calendar to my shop! A great hostess, or teacher gift!!! hint, hint. :-) I have a whole lot of new product in production as we speak. It all would have been out much sooner, but... (personal update here)
As life goes, just as you're moving full steam ahead, you sometimes have to make a detour to pay attention to what's really important. That's what's been up lately, a series of some sad events, one right after the other. I'm not saying my work isn't important, it's my passion and I love it, in fact these days I'm finding it also helps me to keep moving along when my heart is so sad. So as my family and I move forward quietly processing recent events, work and life go on. I want to thank all my amazing friends who have dropped everything to help us out and for all the delicious dinners. Thank you, thank you, we are so blessed...xoxoxo
Why am I doing this? Procrastination!!! I have a huge deadline and so far today I watched the Women's World Cup, made french toast for the family, went to farmer's market and now I just had to post this... On our way back from farmers market we kept passing these adorable, hand made wedding signs. I just thought it was so clever..this one was at the end of our street...I wonder if they would sell it to us since my husband's name is Bill??
For the past 9 years I have had the pleasure to choreograph the Finali at my daughter's elementary school. I usually have around 40 kids from Kindergarten to Sixth Grade. They are so sweet and do a great job every year. I love teaching children because, in their minds, they can do anything... I always expect the best and that's just what I get. So to thank them I give them a little sweet treat for working so hard. Since we are close to Easter this year, this is what I came up with! I LOVE Peeps! I'm having fun with my new tag - die cutter too...actually part of some new designs I'll be putting in my shop this April. Have a great show tonight!
Staircase to my studio...
Spring in California is a little unusual this year…with lots of rain, then days of sunshine, I think the flowers and the animals are a bit confused! Personally, I’ve been really enjoying the rain. I’ve been spending lots of time in my studio creating new designs for my table top collections. Sooooo excited to share this all soon!!!!
Fresh carrots from our garden...made the most delicious soup!
A birthday pedi for Chyna...flip flop time or rain boots...Crazy California Spring!
And a baby deer in my front yard looking for roses that haven't bloomed yet...
Looks like I will finally be able to start writing again...after months of traveling tournament after tournament...our little Central Coast Team took and extremely close 2nd place last weekend in the State Cup Championship! We tied the final game, tied in double over time...only to loose by 1 point in penalty kicks...way to go down fighting!!! I am so proud of this team and my 2 daughters that played their hearts out! Yeah Condors, way to represent the Central Coast!
Happy New Year everyone! I’ve been a bit behind in posting because I’ve been working on a new collection of tabletop linens and just like everyone else, trying to play catch up after weeks of entertaining, cooking and cleaning!
Sometimes my days are fairly lonely, sitting behind my computer drawing and playing with color. I started to think about how often I get asked questions about design. Like many professions, it seems as soon as people know what I do for a living, they have a long list of questions they want to ask. (I’m actually convo-ing with a friend on Facebook about color choices right now) The truth is, I really love to talk about design…I live it, breathe it, dream about it 24/7. I felt inspired to post the question on FB if anyone would be interested in a Free Design Workshop…I was really excited by the response. Even more exciting was when a friend of mine in Turkey asked if I wanted some help with it.
So this morning I woke up early (they are 10 hours ahead-this is the sunrise from my bathroom window, I know, stunning right?) and had my first Skype (Loving Skype too!!!) call to my friend Tara (the incredibly kind and wise master mind behind Turquoise Poppy). Tara knows all the ins and outs of having a web presence and she graciously spent an hour of her time consulting with me on how to create a viral video of DIY Design Classes to share with all of you. Even more than her consulting services, she guides you in following your inner creative passion. It was an incredibly inspiring conversation. I truly believe I have found a kindred soul.
The best thing about this is Tara offers her services via her website, Turquoise Poppy. If you are looking to create a larger web audience for your creative career or if you’re just trying to figure out what that career should be, I highly recommend consulting with her. BTW I love the name of her website, Turquoise Poppy. It signifies Turkey, the country where she now lives and Poppy for California, where she is from. Thoughtful….
The rest of my story…look for my on-line web design ideas next month!
I haven’t been sleeping so great lately so I decided to kick up my work-outs in hopes that would work. So last evening I went for a run with my middle daughter, Raquel, aka Rocky. Now…she’s 11, and plays club soccer…and just never gets tired! She was pushing me the entire way and I tell you, that was one of the best runs ever! On top of that I fell asleep at 9:00 and slept the whole night through! The best part of the story is, this is what I woke up to on my nightstand made by little Miss Raquel…. I’m so blessed.
