Sydney Marné

Finito

2012-01-21T15:27:00.005-07:00

This was finished a long time ago.

But I thought I'd still share.

I only got a couple quick photos from my phone. And the pictures don't do this painting any justice. It's pretty in real life when you can see the textures and color blending up close and personal. But this will have to do for now until I get a better picture with a real camera.

Williamsburg, Virginia

2012-01-21T14:54:00.002-07:00

One of our favorite family traditions is driving down the road to colonial Williamsburg. We love to walk through the streets while admiring all the charming colonial homes, shops, and décor.

Sawyer and Violet all bundled up

Gifts wrapped in book pages and twine. So simple and beautiful.

I just love all the natural wreaths and the clever arrangements they come up with.

Violet all snuggled up with Jess. It was a chilly day!

Sawyer had so much fun riding his new balance bike up and down the street along side us as we walked. He had just got this bike for Christmas and Williamsburg was the perfect location for him to work on his balance since there were no cars. He did so well and was trying to jump off curbs by the end of the afternoon.

Such an awesome tree!

....and this fence! I don't know what it is about old worn down rustic fences...but I love it.

Sawyer and "Omi" checking out the sheep

Mom, Jessica, baby Violet, and myself.

We wish Kristie could have been with us too.

Nate and Sawyer climbing in one of the old and twisty trees.

Please note my horrible hair regrowth. No wonder Violet was crying. Scary.

I certainly miss having Kristie nearby to dye my hair all the time.

Don't worry, I've gotten it fixed in the meanwhile thanks to my mom! Kristie gave her some instructions and my mom dyed my hair like a pro!

Gathering Thought

2012-01-14T09:46:00.001-07:00

Brunch

2012-01-08T23:49:00.003-07:00

One of the many things I love about visiting Virginia.

Home for the Holidays

2012-01-08T23:12:00.003-07:00

I loved spending Christmas at home, surrounded by my mom's charming holiday decor.

Goodbye Utah

2012-01-08T23:02:00.001-07:00

December 18th was my last day living in our little Provo home with the purple door.

I packed up the last of our things and moved out that Sunday.

I'm thrilled to be moving on to a new place but it's always sad to say goodbye.

This old little house was a great first home for us and we have a ton of great memories here together.

We rented a storage unit in Utah to temporarily hold our things until we can transport them to Tennessee. It was a small unit and it didn't help that Mitch's motorcycle and dirtbike took up so much precious floor space. I had to play some serious real life Tetris in order to fit everything into that little space.

I guess all that wasted time playing Tetris freshman year of college was not wasted time at all. You know what I'm talking about Rachel Brinkerhoff.

After some critical rearranging, sweat, and tears I got it all to fit in there.

I'm such a champ.

I know this picture isn't that impressive. In fact the pack-job looks really ugly and messy. But what you don't see is two sofas, a queen bed/frame, a kitchen table, four chairs, a large L-shaped desk, a kitchen hutch, a book case, a dresser, a couple side tables, a bow flex, two motorcycles......

Yeah.

That's all in there....somewhere.

Sunday night, after locking our home's purple door one last time, my friend (and coworker) Holly picked me up and drove me up north to Salt Lake. A big thanks to her for giving me a ride and helping me out that evening! I was grateful that I got to see her one last time before I left and I already miss her a ton! I'm also very grateful to my dear friend Kieli and her hubby Scott who let me sleep on their couch that night and got up at 4:30 in the morning to take me to the airport for my ridiculously early flight. I have some seriously good friends. I'm sad I had to say bye.

In quick summary:

I didn't fly to Tennessee that morning. Instead I flew to my hometown in Virginia for the holidays. This year was my parents' year to have all the married siblings home for Christmas.Unfortunately not everyone was able to make it home this year. Kristie, Wes, Jake, and Mia stayed in Arizona because Wes had to work. That was a total bummer. An even bigger bummer was that my Mitch ended up not being able to come last minute because of his new job.

Seriously.....so sad.

But I am grateful that Mitch and I both had our families since we couldn't be together. And even though I was missing Mitch during the holiday, I was so grateful to spend time with my parents, David, Jessica, Nate, Sawyer, and Violet. I hardly get to see them anymore so that was a real treat to have them all in the same place at once.

Originally Mitch was supposed to drive out to Virginia and I was going to drive back to Tennessee with him right after Christmas so he could get back to work. My visit home would be brief. But since those plans flopped and there was no rush for me to leave so quickly I decided to extend my stay in Virginia through my mom's birthday on January 7th. It's been a fun couple of weeks spending time with family and catching up with old friends that I grew up with.

Gathering Thought

2011-12-16T00:22:00.002-07:00

Happy Birthday

2011-12-15T21:30:00.002-07:00

Happy Birthday to my niece

Emilia Hurst

She is one year old today

Busy Bee

2011-12-12T22:15:00.003-07:00

For the last little while I've been a single woman again.

Not partying-with-my girlfriends-and-pickin-up-dudes SINGLE.

But I've been living on my own.

Mitch had to leave a.s.a.p. to begin his new job in Tennessee.

I would have loved to drop everything and go with him but I stayed behind for a few reasons:

A. Someone had to finish packing the house up. That lucky someone would be me.

B. I have a great job that I don't want to leave yet.
C. I'm in denial that I have to look for a new job.

I thought I'd have a lot of time on my hands with Mitch being gone already and me being by myself...but I was wrong. I have been one busy girl and time has flown by quick.

I'm down to my last and final week living in Utah.

The reality that I'm moving is finally starting to set in.

Especially because I just made a huge to-do list of things that need to get done before I leave and it kind of made me want to throw up.

So much to do, so little time!

And as if working full time and packing my life up wasn't enough to do this week, I had to throw in a last minute art project for good measure. That's just how I roll.

I got commissioned by a client at my Interior Design firm to do a 51 x 55 inch oil painting for her living room.

Just got the stretched canvas done today...and she's beautiful.

I feel all jittery right now and excited to put some color on her!

So I went to Roberts tonight to buy some more paint and was SO SAD to see that they are CLOSING! The entire store is 40% off right now and let me tell you, it was a mad frenzy in there. I swear half the shelves were wiped clean and everything had been seriously picked through! I had a slight panic attack and grabbed all the oil paints I needed that were left on the shelf.

I may or may not have splurged on some new brushes as well.

I blame the adrenaline rush.

Merry (early) Christmas to me.

Big Changes

2011-12-10T17:40:00.001-07:00

After 4.5 years of living in Utah...I'm finally making my way back to the East.
I figured it would happen eventually with Mitch and I both having lived there most of our lives. We both love the east. I just wasn't sure when it would happen.

Well folks...it's happening a lot sooner than we anticipated and we are pleased.

Mitch got a job offer working for Maserati Bentley Rolls-Royce of Nashville, Tennessee.

It came unexpectedly and it was an offer we couldn't turn down especially considering the location is his hometown --- which by the way was a happy coincidence.

We will be living 10 minutes from his family and 10 hours from my family in Virginia. Although I wish we were much closer to my parents and brother I won't complain one bit...after all 10 hours is much better than the current 30 hour distance living in Utah.

So with this big move and big change coming up I figured I better start getting in a better habit of blogging so I can keep my parents and siblings updated. I know that they will want to see pictures and hear about my new adventures in Tennessee. And after recording practically nothing about our first year and a half of marriage...I decided it made me very sad! I've excused myself with being super busy....but that's a lame excuse. I can find the time to record memories and document my life, especially with these big changes on the horizon.

Cheers!

Skeletal Studies

2011-10-28T00:02:00.002-06:00

Happy (almost) Halloween

Silhouettes

2011-06-11T16:47:00.008-06:00

in my living room.

Mood Boards

2011-06-09T14:46:00.011-06:00

Which one do you like better?

Home is where the Heart is...

2011-05-27T09:55:00.007-06:00

First Post

2011-05-26T20:56:00.001-06:00

I've decided to try blogging again.

Here you can discover a little bit about me.

A little bit about my man.

A little bit about my adventures.

A little bit about my imagination.

A little bit about my art projects.

A little bit about my illustrations.

And a lot about all things inspiring.

Enjoy.