motherhood

Yesterday we found out that this little life inside of me is going to be a precious little girl. I feel so lucky and unbelievably blessed to get the chance to carry our child and be her mother and all the things that go along with that. It's become all the more real, knowing that she's our daughter, getting to dream about what that little face will look like when we finally meet her. 

Lately these images have inspired the wee beginnings of my motherhood and what that may look like as time goes on. I want to be a simple mom. A close mom. A mom who laughs often. One that's messy sometimes and grace-filled all the time. One that says I'm sorry and one that learns from mistakes. One that celebrates and speaks truth. A truly wild and free and fearless mom. 

These thoughts from Casey are right at the heart of it for me:

"My babies are one of the things that has given me life. They make me want to be better, they make me want to grow and soar and be the best version of myself. They make me want to be brave. Being a mother is one of the things that has made me the most real. Feel the most intensely in my life. Cry the hardest and face myself in the most intense way possible. It has shown me love in a way that I desperately hoped was real. An innocent, pure, unconditional love. In the purest most beautiful form."

So, cheers, baby girl. We love you so much already.

What inspires your motherhood? 

All image sources can be found on my pinterest page here

paint by numbers

I wanted to share with y'all something that's really been rocking my world lately (okay, besides mini blizzards and cheese curds. what! who's said that?) When I started doing graphic design as a business, it sort of got scratched off the hobby list. Although I still did some projects just for fun, it became something I didn't want to spend all my free time doing, too. My creative brain needed a break. Enter a major hobby-less crisis several months ago when I couldn't identify anything here nor there that I did just for fun. 

And then the heavens burst open and the sun shone through and I watched Mona Lisa Smile with a dear friend (don't you love that movie?) and there Julia Roberts was, sitting at her classy all-girls university professor desk, hair up, overalls on, and a paint by numbers in front of her. We can just all admit right now that that woman is, well, just really great. So I copied her. It looked soooo classy you guys.

Thanks to Amazon and a month-long shipping process from China, I have my very own paint by numbers right on the dining room table. (We all know what paint by numbers is, right? Like where all the spaces have numbers and each color belongs to a number and you just paint the spaces with the corresponding number. Yeah? Okay. Glad we are all on the same page now). 

The thing about this paint by numbers business is that it's an artistic outlet without having to produce or creative anything new. Essentially, a brainless activity that results in a fun, creative and artistic result. And obviously, you can just let people think you actually painted that yourself because they can't see the lines. Or you can be a good person and just tell the truth -- that you're in LOVE with paint by numbers. There I said it.

Obviously, I didn't exactly pick a "beginner" set because I wanted it to be a continual process, something I felt didn't need to be rushed and that I could come back to at any time. It's only about a third of the way finished but it's so fun to see some of the finished parts turn into a real image that will eventually become a big finished piece. And friends, it is SO good for my soul. How much patience I'm learning. Holy mackerel. 

Feel free to try one out yourself, it's a google search away and if you have the slightest inkling that you may like to try it, trust me, you will. In fact, PLEASE try one out yourself. I would love to see your work in progress! We can form a paint by numbers fan club…or something like that. Anyway, happy hearts all around! I'll just be over here painting!