Milk

It does a body good. And ya know what else does a body good? Drawing! And a lot of it my friends.

Aleena Jean

I love this image. It's my favorite. I love the streak of red in her hair. The color of her hair. Her amber eyes. And last but not least...thank you wind!
This is my cousin Aleena. She is a senior this year from Seattle, WA...ish. And this little photo shoot was a bright spot in a difficult week for us in UT. Our poor Grammy. I was so down in the dumps this day. But we had planned this already, and by the end we were having a total blast!









She's cute, right!

making lemonade

Figuratively speaking that is....

Sometimes life hands you big fat lemons. I feel like I've been getting too many of them lately. Don't you hate it when life feels like LIFE? Do you know what I mean? Sometimes life is just day to day enjoyable everyday silly problems. And sometimes you have to deal with the big things that aren't any fun at all. Like my Dad's mom (mamaw) dying. And my Dad's mom (Grammy) has what looks like a very aggressive cancer on top of failing kidneys. (I have two great dad's and I call them both Dad. It gets confusing.) I've been baking a lot this week. It's how I deal with things like that. Not good. We ran out of flour and had to go to Gigi's today. Had to. I don't want to do any more dishes.

The lemonade...a surprisingly fun post-funeral photoshoot with my cousin Jordy. He's one good lookin dude. When we were kids he was always making movies with my little sisters. Now he's in LA doing the actor thing.

As for the lemonade in the situation with my beloved Grammy...I'm going to see her Monday. So that's good. We were made from the same cloth. Two peas in a pod. I get her, she gets me. I only wish I were by her side already. Chris is going to brave it alone with the kids. He'll probably have everything in tip top shape. Can't say the same for what they may eat....now that's a scary thought. If you see my kids please sneak them a fruit or vegetable.

More lemons...my job with Lindsay Jane Photography. A super hard situation, because I love Todd and Lindsay so much and all their family. Lindsay taught me a lot and I will always be thankful for her in my life. Hopefully I'll be able to reciprocate in some way. But the job wasn't what we needed it to be. So I quit. Big fat depressing bummer. I was trying to wallow in my own pathetic situation, but no one would let me. And when my lawyer told me I needed to "move on with my life" well that was the last straw. I guess sometimes the people pleasing can be a hindrance. Who knew?

The lemonade... andrea larsen photo. Never in a million years did I see this one in my future. But people started calling me. And I have to have somewhere to put the pictures, right? So it's fun. Actually I've been having a blast. It's not quite done yet (the website, or anything else for that matter). It's pretty ghetto at this point, but it's a start. And the good news is that I've been busy. I had a newborn shoot this week, and a small family, and tomorrow I have a family of 33! Yikes. How I got this busy already??? A blessing.

Yes. Life is weird. Why can't things just work out like you planned them? Maybe this was too melancholy of an announcement? But I guess there is no helping that at this point. Too sum up: new job stuff, good. family stuff, bad. Must make lemonade tomorrow...and possibly lemon bars.

broadway babies

Today I took Olivia's first official head shots. We are lucky enough to be living in this awesome place! One of the lady's that we go to church with is donating her talents to the little girls. They have a two week Drama Camp that ends with a show this Friday! They are doing the Jungle Book this year. And I got to do their sweet little head shots! It was such a blast. I wanted to share a few. I love it when I get a genuine expression. Olivia has two little teeth hanging on by a mere thread. But she's so not about pulling them.


Isn't she darling!


Alyse is in the class I teach on Sunday's. I was worried about how her pictures turned out until I looked through them on the computer. I think they were the best ones of the day.


One of his buddies was making him laugh. Classic.


Here is our assistant-director. She is very serious about her job. Today was her birthday. She didn't want to have her picture made. But I got her to smile when I told her I heard she stayed up till 3 am playing barbies with her little nieces. This is the smile of someone guilty as charged and kinda pleased with herself about it!


Bentley had fun too. He camped out on a blanket with a movie and some fig newtons. See the crumbs! He charmed a little moth/butterfly.

I'm thankful for today. It was fun.

the elusive number four

We are all the main character in our own life story, are we not?  Well.  Here's a bit of mine.  I know, I know...this blog is all about me.  But some subjects I have kept a little mum.  I was waiting for the moment of the big reveal.  The wow factor, you know  {Surprise!  Look what I've been doing!} and all that.  But then I wonder, if the story isn't more interesting than the end result.  Especially when the end result is taking so much longer than I thought. Aye, aye, aye.

Remember this? Of course you don't.  That was light years ago, right.  Well,  things didn't go as planned.  Not exactly.  But I did end up with a contract with Andover Fabrics!  That's right!  A signed contract.  It was in the process for so long that when it came in the mail it almost seemed normal.  Now that's weird.  But when the word was final on the phone, I did indeed celebrate.  I was by myself (except for a sleeping baby).  So there was a lot of silent jumping up and down.  

 

Here I am gripping my contract tightly in my best accidental Rosie the Riveter pose.  

That gets you pretty much up to date.  The word now is that my collection has gotten mixed reviews (I don't blame them, I'm before my time).  And it's being taken around to some of Andover's best clients to see what they say.  I wonder who their best clients are?  I wonder if their best clients would be my best clients?  I would describe my work as...girly/modern (so not traditional).  But I definitely adhere to traditional values of quilting when it comes to scale and contrast.  Although I do have larger prints and one huge print.  Oh, how I wish I could really show you.  It's so pretty you guys!  

And here is the stack of designs I sent them.

I'm told it's harder for me because I don't have a name out there yet.  No patterns, etc. Hmmm.  I keep thinking that all things are possible.  That's what my husband keeps telling me.  So it surprises me that things don't just happen perfectly.  But then again it still surprises me when they do.  I know one thing for sure.  I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.  But it feels right so I'm just going to keep plugging along.  Wish me luck.  

As for my post title.  Have I mentioned this book before?  Finding Your Own North Star.  I love it.  She's so funny.  And I think she has a lot of wisdom.  So according to Martha Beck...our hero's saga consists of four steps.  

1. Protagonist sets out to achieve goal. Check

2. Protagonist runs into a mess of trouble.  Check

3. Protagonist struggles through adverse conditions.  Check, check, check.

4. Protagonist achieves the goal.  (the elusive number four!)

In the mean time I know I can do some things differently to help myself along.  I still have a lot to learn.  I just figured it's time to come clean.   Especially since I've been pulling out my portfolio for anyone to take a gander at who is nice enough to ask.  

I'm so thankful for this opportunity.  I'm so thankful for the team at Andover taking a chance on me.  I grateful for their enthusiasm for my designs and I can't wait for everyone to see them!  So next time you are talking with your rep from Andover Fabrics make sure to ask when Andrea Larsen's first line is going to come out!  Tell them you hear it's going to be fabulous!  They would be so confused. That makes me laugh just thinking of it.  That's a good happy laugh, not evil and sinister...FYI.

baby feet

I just found this picture of my nephew Eli as I was backing up my family pictures from June.  How cute is this. Zonked out on his little doggie blanket.  And I love his little black pants.  

I'm dying-dying to paint my living room white.  Soon.... soon.

Pioneers!

Incase you didn't know, Friday July 24th is Pioneer Day!  And since I am a faithful Mormon girl I took my kids to our local Pioneer day celebration!  It was by far the best pioneer day I have ever been to.  I'm sure in Utah they go all out, but everywhere I've lived here in the south it has always been a little more low key.  Until now...

There were sack races.

And my kids are so cute hopping around in sacks!

Who knew?

There was a handcart for kids to either ride in or pull.

We dug for potatoes, picked apples, and hunted eggs!

I want to make one  of these chickens, they are darling.  But what would I do with it?

And a petting zoo.  And that's not even the half of it!  We made our own butter, hammered nails, made necklaces, shopped at the general store. It was all very exciting.  And I got to spend some time in the temple today which is what it's all about.
Some of my ancestors left England and came to America to join the trek west.  Actually, that's not exactly true.  I think the story goes that my ancestor (Richard Bentley?- I could be remembering that name wrong and my family history book is in storage.) ANYway.  He left with his sister and her husband who were with the Mormons in order to look for work.  And then there was a girl...isn't that how the story always goes. 

 I'm so proud to have such a rich history.  My great-grandpa LeRoi Bentley put a lot of work into our family history book.  I'm so grateful to have that.  And to top the night off I watched a John Adams movie and worked on a quilt.  I was just feeling overall so grateful for all the great men and women who have gone before us and given us so many freedoms.  

I was listening to Jennifer Paganelli on craft sanity a while ago.  She was saying that she was thankful for Amy Butler who has been such a pioneer in the fabric design industry.  So true, Jennifer, so true.  Speaking of which I will have to update you all on my fabric designing journey.  It has not been smooth.  Wouldn't ya know it.