I want to be a professional Rosarian.

I love roses.  Like, more than Coca-Cola, more than Parks & Rec, more than getting film developed and not having to forego meals for a week because it was so expensive - I LOVE ROSES.

Chris and I often go to the Old City Cemetery - a historic cemetery in Lynchburg, VA full of beautiful century-or-more-old headstones, antique roses to make you swoon, and birds upon birds upon birds for the avian enthusiast in both of us - to take a peaceful walk and just relax.  In all the years I've been going, I've about died of jealousy over their collection of (quite old) antique roses, but I never knew until last Sunday that they actually sell rooted cuttings of their roses!  I, my friends, am the proud new mother of a Mademoiselle Franziska Krüger - my first antique rose.

Yesterday I just sat on my porch staring at her and gently stroking her leaves.  I'm telling you, I'm nuts about roses.  And I want to be a professional Rosarian.  Now I'm wondering where I can take cuttings of roses here and there for rooting without getting run off...

how was your weekend?

our weekend was busy but awesome.  a huge, and i mean HUGE, group of people surprised my pop with a retirement party on saturday night.  we ate, we laughed, we talked about him buying a motor home so we can road trip to san francisco, and i dank my new favorite drink - angry orchard traditional dry hard cider.  yum.  but i didn't really take pictures until sunday, and even then i hardly took any.

we started off our morning (really early) with a visit to chris' aunt & uncle's dragonfly ridge and had brunch, art talk, then did some hiking to work it off.  we also had a chipmunk spy watch us eat.  after that we went to the firefish gallery to pick up the watercolor portrait i did of carrie & simon to show in the project perry art show and auction.  it's the first time anything i've painted has been in a gallery, so i was both excited and nervous!  after we picked it up we went to a pretty park to drink coffee (chris) and lemonade (me) and eat snacks, and because it was so pretty, i told chris that i wanted him to take outfit pictures of me.  you won't see those because they never happened.  a local outreach was giving out bowls of chili to the needy and homeless in the park, so obiously i'd feel a little weird standing there like an idiot having my picture taken eleventy billion times.  maybe next time!  then we had dinner and laughs with some of our favorite friends and called it a night.  oh man was it nice to go to bed after such a long day.

i also did the whole messy bun deal and decided that it just didn't work for me.  not even a little bit.

so what did you do over the weekend?

travels and cupcakes

i hope today finds you well!  it finds me with orders to fill and packages to ship, and since i've been pretty good at keeping up with orders lately, it doesn't seem nearly as daunting!  i've been working on a few new pieces of art, making some cupcakes even though i know i shouldn't because i can't stop eating them, and getting some things ready for the southern blogger mixer which is this saturday - i can't believe it's almost here!

i made something for the gift bags that will be given out at the mixer, and i'm curious to see what people think.  i would show you here, but you know, the surprise would be ruined.  i have to get my laundry done today so i can start packing, because i pack about eight times as many clothes and shoes as i need in case i change my mind while i'm there (and i always do).  and chris and i also have to make a road trip playlist!  it's his favorite thing to do when we're hitting the road.

the cupcakes are pumpkin spice with cream cheese icing, and they're so moist and delicious.  my mouth is watering just thinking about them, so i think i may go eat one (but probably two) for breakfast.  oh, and they're also the easiest things to make in the history of cooking.  just combine a box of spice cake mix, a can of pumpkin, and a tablespoon of water.  then mix, spoon into cupcake liners, bake according to the cake mix directions, ice, and EAT, EAT, EAT!

don't you just love simple but tasty recipes?  i've actually only ever baked one cake from scratch - a chocolate cake for my pop's birthday - and although it wasn't difficult and it turned out well (i mean, i didn't taste it because i hate chocolate, but it looked nice and i hear it tasted good), i'll still probably reach for the box mix because it's kind of a no-brainer!  have you ever made these pumpkin cupcakes?  do you like to bake things from scratch, or do you use a mix?  just curious!

beaucoup vintage

you know how there are times you go somewhere and sort of forget to enjoy it until you're gone, and then you realize you didn't need to be in such a rush? such is the case with my (quick) visit to beaucoup vintage. a few weeks ago i made a little pit stop in fredericksburg, va on my way to northern va to see carla. megan, the stylish owner of beaucoup vintage contacted me about a business deal involving my bullet necklaces and her store, and since i love an excuse to actually visit a store that sells dinosaur toes jewelry, i couldn't say no! while i was there i took a few pictures to share, but of course after i left, i wondered why i didn't stay a little longer to browse (and possibly buy, but i can't say too much since my husband reads this). even though i was in an unnecessary hurry, i can still tell you that megan has put together quite an impressive collection, and i'm trying to think of an excuse to drive the two hours back to fredericksburg...

doesn't that look like a shop you could seriously have some fun in?! i totally could. oh, and before i forget, i did not take the beautiful second picture, i got it from megan's twitter page, but i love that she has origami cranes hanging in the windows!

if you're near fredericksburg and you're a fan of vintage, you should definitely stop by and say hi...and be sure to spend more time browsing than i did. and if parallel parking freaks you out, it's totally fine, because you may get lucky like i did and have the man whose car is behind you walk out of a store laughing and tell you he's about to leave so you'll have more room to attempt parking (one or six more times).

a crotch rocket daycation

sundays are date day for chrissie and i, and every now and then it's nice to just do something different (translation: "sometimes it's nice knowing you don't have to spend date day grocery shopping"). last night we decided we'd ride the motorcycle to roanoke to eat, ride around, whatever. the weather has been unseasonably comfortable, but it was actually cold riding this morning! even though it only takes about 45 minutes to get there, it felt like 2 hours since all we wanted to do was stop to warm up! we ate breakfast on the way then headed for downtown.

honestly, you'd think we never used a camera before! we have 10 seconds before the timer goes off and takes the picture, but in that short period of time, we'd forget about it and we couldn't seem to get it together and get a decent picture! in the first one we weren't ready at all, then in the second one chris was, but apparently i still hadn't remembered the whole 10 second deal, but luckily by the third picture we were both ready! we decided that a picture of the two of us was necessary because we got dressed at different times, without knowing what the other was wearing, and we both picked out jeans, an olive green shirt, and black shoes! oh, and our motorcycle helmets match, so it really looks like we planned the matching.

we did a little more walking around, we looked for a gem and mineral store which we never found, we did some pigeon watching, and we ate at a mexican grill which i can't go to again. for a while there i was convinced the food was going to kill me. yeah, it didn't settle so well. but all is not lost, my friends, oh no! i see the bad food and i one up it... chris and i are cooking dinner on the grill, but the real treat is our reese's peanut butter cup ice cream for dessert! i mean, since it is national ice cream month after all, it would be a crime not to eat it, you know?

just a quickie...

I should REALLY be in bed right now since I have to get up early tomorrow morning (which is all my fault since I've had a week to do something, but I've put it off until the last minute), but before I go and read myself to sleep with Breaking Dawn, I wanted to share this with you. If you're in or around Charlottesville, VA on Saturday, July 24th, please come by and see me at The Bridge! I'll be there from 10am to 5pm, and I'm even going to have a little giveaway for visitors!

One last thing before I sign off for the night; I've been so super busy getting things ready for the event that I've really slacked off on blog reading and commenting. Don't take it personally, I really do miss you, and to make up for it, I'll be doing a giveaway for you lovelies in the next week, and I can't wait to get back to my regularly scheduled blogging relationships!

I hope you're all having a good weekend!

them branches are good for hangin'

I don't why I called this post such a ridiculous name, because I can assure you I don't talk like that off the internet! Anyway, I've been wanting to make this type of display for quite a while now, but I just had to figure a time when Chris and I both didn't have anything else going on (I'm a terrible carpenter, so I require his assistance). The other weekend, I got an email inviting me to another art fair (at this gallery) on July 24th, and since I had such amazing luck last time, I knew I wanted to do it again, which meant I needed to get these displays made sooner than later!

I didn't think while I was working on them to take pictures along the way, but they're super simple to make, so I thought I'd tell you how...

The first thing we did was went through the woods looking for the perfect branch. My advice would be to get one from a recently fallen or dead tree, but not one so dead it'll break from the lightest touch. If you get a green branch, you're going to have to set it aside for a few days and let it completely dry.

Once I selected my branches, we went back to the garage, and I cut the end/bottom flat with a band saw, then I cut the little branches back far enough so that they were strong enough not to break when something was hung from them.

Next (this is where Chris comes in), the lumber was cut into two 4"x4" pieces. Then the base of each branch was measured, and Chris drilled a hole that size through the lumber, in which to place my little trees.

Once the branches were set into their blocks, a wood screw was used to "pinch" it in place and ensure it wasn't going to wiggle, spin or fall out. Then the last thing to do was paint! See, it's an easy project, and a fun way to display your jewelry!

Lastly, if you're in or around Charlottesville, Virginia, you should stop by and see me at The Bridge on Monticello Road from 10am to 5pm!

more from the cemetery

Nothing new to tell, really, just more pictures to show. The kitty cat's name is Smokey, and the pond is across from the old train museum where Smokey hangs out (all within the Old City Cemetery). There were lots of frogs, and a sign says that two snakes live at the pond, but obviously I didn't see them or I wouldn't be alive to type this.

fashion in downtown lynchburg

In just a little while (seriously, I should be dressed and ready to go by now) I'll be on my way to the Vita show in Downtown Lynchburg. I went to the last one in April, and for such a conservative bible-belt town, it was quite impressive! I hear that this one is sure to amaze, and I know I won't be disappointed. I will be taking my camera so I can hopefully share some pictures with you, but honestly, for someone who likes photography as much as I do, I take a ridiculously low number of pictures. So I could get there and get wrapped up in the fun, forget about taking pictures, and get home with nothing to show, but I'm going to try and break that habit! Ch-ch-check it out here.

busy hands...

I've been rather busy lately getting things ready for the Charlottesville Arts & Crafts Festival this Saturday, August 29th. I do feel a bit guilty for letting my Etsy shop get a little stagnant, but to be honest, when sales slow down, I don't have all that much motivation. I have however created so many new little goodies, all of which I'll be taking to Charlottesville, but what doesn't sell will be listed in my shop, and I hope to then get back into the regular Etsy schedule of listing everyday. Here's a little peek at my hard work:

roadtrip: north carolina pt. trois

Moving on from Clarksville and well on our journey to North Carolina, we met up with an interesting artist, Tommy Winn. His medium is wood and his tool is a chainsaw. Impressive. Since we went a new route, we didn't go through our usual North Carolina border towns, instead, we discovered a new one; Oxford, North Carolina. It was so wholesome and pretty, and I have the pictures to prove it! It's one of those, "blink-and you-miss-it" type towns. I'm glad my eyes were open.

roadtrip: north carolina, pt. deux

After finishing a delicious and fat/calorie/cholesterol filled breakfast, we hopped on the bike and headed toward Clarksville, VA, home of Buggs Island Lake. If you haven't had a chance to visit the lake, you should, it's beautiful. One of my favorite forms of art is architecture, and more specifically, any OLD architecture. From residential to commercial, I love the beauty and integrity that is preserved in buildings and homes from long ago (more architecture when our road trip hits NC). Here are a few snapshots I took while riding (and I discovered how difficult it is to ride and photograph at the same time)!

lynchburg arts market

Will you be in or around Lynchburg, Virginia on Saturday, December the 6th? If so, please come and visit me at the Lynchburg Arts Market from 10am - 3pm. We'll be between the Starlight Cafe and Folk Boutique on 5th Street in Downtown Lynchburg. Yes, it's an outside venue, so it will be chilly...bring your coat and handmade scarf!