oh right, Halloween

Can I just pretend that I'm bat girl, Chris is Batman, and Bentley grew really tall and became that grey spiderman?  Just ignore that little boy in the front.  My guess is you wouldn't buy it.   The halloween festivities started when I was in Houston.
I knew Chris would get in trouble while I was gone!
Chickie and Chris carved pumpkins on Hallween night.  She drew this cute witch and then told Chris he had better only carve out the moon so as not to ruin the witch!
And we painted pumpkins.


I made Chickie this dress using a pattern.  And of course it didn't fit that well.  Put pattern making on my list of things to learn to do... Chris took this when they were enjoying the local festivities while I was gone.  I asked him what was up with her hair (did he really not brush it the whole time I was gone?).  He said she wanted messed up hair, because that's what the hair of an evil witch looks like.

Chickie was also a firefighter for a "trunk-or-treat" in Knoxville.  Somehow I didn't get a picture of that.  She was super cute.

Bentley refused to dress up.

This was for you Beth. :)

You can still vote!!

Derek won round one!  Go vote for round two!!  Take that vote link, then click on Round Two Begins, then look for D's name fourth one down!  We have a week to vote this time, as many as we want!!  This is a cute "My Hero" moment, don't you think.  This is a Lindsay shot from the beach back in April.  

voting for a worthy cause!!

I know I've mentioned Chris' best friend Derek on here before...they were partners in crime on that house.  Derek is an awesome singer/songwriter.  Go check him out on CMT Music Madness!   This is one of my favorite songs of his!  You've got my vote Derek!

Lindsay Jane

Yesterday I got to go to Knoxville for some photo training with super cute pregnant Lindsay.

The lovely Maraea was our model!  That was a lot of information, Linds!  I'm hoping I remember it all.  Or even just some of it!
Yeah, I have a lot going on right now.  

Just keeping it real update:  I had a head on collision in the grocery store.  I totally rammed some poor woman with my buggy.  How I deviated that far from my side of the lane....?  That just goes to show my state of mind right now.   I'm just putting one foot in front of the other and hoping things settle down after the initial madness of the move.  I need to get SUPER organized!  Anybody have any tips for me?  I seriously need some!  Actually, I made some major headway on the unpacking today.  So that should help free up some available brain space.  Hopefully this weekend we can hang pictures! 

I'm so grateful for all of your enthusiasm about my new projects!! Thanks!!!

here's to hard work!

OK  I hope you guys are going to be really excited. 

 I meant to give some sort of heads up.  But once again it looks like this may be coming out of left field.  And I appologize in advance for hardly taking any interesting pictures!!  If you look really closely at the picture above you will see me in the reflection.  Yeah, I was super lazy in the photography dept the past couple of days.

Last Thursday I headed out for Houston, by myself, to International Quilt Market!!! I was doing research for a possible little online shop.  I had the cutest idea ever.  Really.  I did.

 

 I also brought along with me my finished portfolio!  I know, I've stopped talking about it.  But I never stopped working on it.  I kicked it into high gear back in August.  I was obsessed.  A woman with a mission. 

 I shopped it around to different fabric companies. I got a lot of positive feedback.  People loved my use of color and I kept hearing again and again how original it is.  That was huge for me.  The best compliment I could get for sure!  Originality is golden.  And sometimes it's so hard to even know if you are or not.  So out with the good news already right?!! I got a couple of offers on my line!    Actually, my first offer just felt like home. I LOVED them and was very excited.  I had to leave immediately and go cry.  

My new friends, designers Tula Pink and Holly from Urban Chicks insisted I keep showing it and I'm glad I did.  It was great to get so much positive feedback from other companies even if many of them didn't have room for anyone new.  I have heard that it can be pretty brutal.  Overall it was a great experience.  I met the cutest girl Bari of Bari J designs.  She was also pitching a line.  I just checked out her website! Wow!  If she made the same decision as I did it looks like we both may be at spring market together!  I have a lot of editing to do.  I over designed for sure!  We all want options right!  I had 17 different designs and 6 color ways!  I will be cutting and editing that down to about 6 and 3 respectively.  And something totally new may even emerge in the mean time.  

So between that and Lindsay Jane Photography, I've decided to hold off on my shop idea for now.  I know I'll be super busy for a while.

I have to leave you with this quote that I heard at Market.  "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is often dressed in overalls and looks a lot like work."  Thomas Edison

I'm grateful for these opportunities and for all the hard work that lies ahead!

things my kids teach me

It's easy to be happy.
It's fun to learn to do new things...even when they seem hard to reach.
And of course, stop and smell the roses.
Don't just smell them, really get in there and roll your nose around in them!

I sure do love these two...

Hello Nashville!!

To greet our new town we have been doing LOTS of exploring!
Partly to get to know our new town...
And partly to scout out future photo spots.
Photo shoot locations are needed when you are training for your NEW JOB with Lindsay!
Wish us luck!!  I am SO grateful to have this new opportunity to LEARN!! 

I am also so grateful that miss Chickie's new school experience is going very well!  I really didn't have high expectations at all.  Her last school was just so amazing.  However, I am blown away!  And we can walk to school since we only live .3 miles from it.  The girls in her new class shouted with squeals of joy when she was introduced to them.  (what a relief!)  AND the best news yet...we only live 3.5 miles from the temple! I seriously get chocked up every time I think about it.  What a huge spiritual opportunity! yay!

Oh, and one more thing...we rented out our house today! What a blessing and a relief (yes, another).