This weekend was pretty laid back. We cleaned, did laundry, I worked on projects, Cree did homework, went to the grocery store, went to church, made dinner and watched Annie Hall. Nothing spectacular, but when we woke up this morning, we couldn't help feeling like we'd had the best weekend ever. My parents always told me that 95% of life is the mundane...the routine, so it's important to enjoy that 95%. Isn't that the truth?

We took these photos after church on Sunday. Cree's tie clip was $1.50 on etsy and my top was $3 at a thrift store. We love being thrifty.

I love being an aunt. Look at all those adorable blondes? It hurts my heart just looking at their sweet faces. My sister-in-law sent us the second photo yesterday evening, so I thought I'd share them with you...

To be completely honest, I was never one to really enjoy children. When someone asked if I'd like to hold their child, I would politely decline. I don't think it was that I didn't like children...I think that maybe I felt inadequate perhaps? Honestly, I just never knew what to do...how to hold them, how to play with them, maybe I was even worried they'd think I was boring. Even when I met little Hazel (bottom photo) for the first time, I remember being so worried I would hold her wrong that I opted not to hold her at all. Looking back at how these little girls have completely won me over and melted my heart, it makes me realize how many cuddles and snuggles I missed out on because I second guessed myself. Silly me. Thank goodness I'm over it now.

PS. Thank you all for your fantastic advice on Chicago and Polaroids! I need to ask your advice more often!

PPS. Thanks you Jaime for the post...your photographs are lovely! I highly recommend you check out all her stamps.

These are the polaroids from our spontaneous trip to Niagara Falls last September. We'd been visiting family in Syracuse and decided to leave extra early in the morning and make a pit stop at Niagara Falls. Neither of us had showered and I believe this was taken at about 7 am, so don't judge our sleepy eyes and messy hair.

Speaking of polaroids, because the film is so hard to come by now, Cree and I have been seriously considering getting a Fuji Instax. Does anyone have one? If yes, do you like it? Is it worth it? I love, love, LOVE my polaroid and I'm so sad it's little life is over. That said, I feel like it's time to move on to another. I know my polaroid would want me too.

Another question I'd like to pose for you all...Cree and I are taking a trip next week!! It is his spring break, so we've decided to go to Chicago. We've never been there for more than an evening, so we are ticked we get to spend the whole weekend. We want all and any ideas...food, shopping, museums, obama...you name it. We get a kick out of just about everything.  I'm so excited!

PS. Thank you Alexis and Tanya for the shout outs!

A couple years ago, when I was living/interning in New York, (I can't believe these are the only photos I ever put on the blog during that time in my life...sad), my roomie and I went thrifting as often as possible. I remember one particularly hot day, we got lost trying to find a flea market. We finally found it and boy was it worth it. I got a vintage camera and a packet of old photographs all for $15...or was it $20? I don't remember exactly...but it was a good deal. Anyway, I was cleaning out my "cool stuff" box (don't judge, I bet you have one too) and came across these the other day. I feel slightly sheepish owning someone else's vintage photographs, but I can't help loving them like I do. There are probably about 50-75 photographs in the packet, these just being a couple of my favorites. They look like a fun bunch don't they?

My goal is to (in my copious free time) scan them all and eventually get them all posted because they are so delightful, it's hard not to share. (I was inspired by Julie's vintage valentine post.) Also, maybe one day someone will say, "Hey! That's my grandma." When and if that happens, I might cry because that would mean I had to give back the photographs, but I'd get over it knowing in my heart they are where they belong.

When Cree and I woke up to a foot of snow this morning, we started reminisce about how only seven months ago, we were living next to this. We are getting antsy for spring/summer. I'm starting to get so white that I look slightly transparent and a winter of spending my days bundled up in front of my computer isn't doing anything for my figure. :) I'm just ready for it to get warm enough to ride my bike again.

One of our new years goals was to make better use of our local library instead of renting or going to the movies. We've LOVED it. Sometimes we watch films we've never seen and others that we forgot we enjoyed. This weekend I watched Coco Before Chanel while Cree was at a meeting and then I loved it so much that we watched it again together.  Some other recent library borrows have included Coraline, Mrs. Pettigrew Lives for a Day (so cute!), The U.S. vs. John Lennon (made me cry like a baby), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (I love anything Jimmy Stewart),  10 Things I Hate About You (Cree couldn't believe I hadn't seen it), Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Hated it...didn't take the time to finish), Wuthering Heights (Poor Cree suffered through this one...I loved it...give or take a greasy mullet or two), Brothers Bloom (We both agreed they tried to be artsy but sorta missed the boat...or maybe we just didn't get it),  Valentino The Last Emperor (So so good), The Terminal (Tom Hanks!), Objectified (I foolishly put this on while I was working and realized that it's a movie you have to look at. I"ll have to borrow it again)...and I think that's it. Our library has a big selection no? We love thrifty fun.

Spoiled silly. The top valentine is from Cree. It came with daffodils and a poem, which was so sweet and lovely that I'm afraid I'm going to keep it all to myself. I think I've read it at least three times a day since Monday. The second one is from Tanya...isn't that hot pink ink to die for? (Makes me want to invest in some. Spring craft fair season is just around the corner!) The third is from my sister-in-law Rosie. I wish the photo showed it better, but it's actually almost two inches square...itty bitty! It was such a treat to open! So tiny! 4th card was from Colleen at Cleanwash Press. Don't you love the envelope lining? Then lastly was a vintage card from Kristine accompanied by asian candies and a mix CD. Mail is the best. You can follow the linked picture to see more of the valentines....my mom sent a cute handmade card and cree's mom sent us homemade cookies in the mail.

PS. Thanks Melanie (You Are My Fave) and Sarah for the shout outs yesterday!

PPS. When Cree dropped me off at work this morning after class, we saw that a girl had been hit by one of the city buses! Her bike was completely folded in half!! Thank goodness for quick police men and thank goodness for helmets....

So, after the lovely designworklife post, I was contacted by a Holland, MI based company named Ambrose. To quote their website, "Ambrose is a collective of artists, designers, printmakers and poets dedicated to using out talent for good. By day, we’re a design and screen printing studio. By night, we’re rebel educators helping students explore, understand, and create the shared world. We coordinate a three tiered continuum for high school students exploring creative problem solving, communication, design and entrepreneurship. We are striving to build a scalable and sustainable model for building creative confidence in youth."


After exploring their website and learning all about what they do, I fell in love with the program they've created and found myself completely inspired by husband and wife team Jenna and Adam Weiler. I wish there would have been something like this when I was in high school. 


They expressed interest in using my Save Michigan, Buy Local print for their new t-shirt business venture, and I (of course!) jumped at the chance. Their vision is to eventually create a t-shirt a month type situation to help provide ongoing support and funds to run the program, but in the meantime are creating a new website with 8-10 artist t-shirts to basically kick off the new shop.  Some of the previously featured artists have been You&I,  Josh Boston, Just Lucky, and Jason Rood. To say the least, I feel honored to be a part of this wonderful program. 


Explore their website...you'll be glad you did. Promise!

I love Valentines. Cree and I were spoiled silly. I'll be sure and take some pictures of our delightful and creative valentine loot for tomorrow, but in the meantime...this is my valentine to Cree. A secret compartment book. I've always wanted to try to make one and was tickled with the outcome. I had to do a trial run on another book, but it ended up not being too bad once I got the hang of it. Cree was very surprised, which I love! Now we can store secret documents and love notes on our book shelf and no one will know! Well, no one who has read this post will know....

Also, February 14th is also my Grandma's birthday. Isn't this photo of her dreamy? (Mom, thanks for sending it!)

Happy Valentines! Since I can remember, my dad has made my family and I homemade Valentines out of construction paper and glue. I always thought they were the sweetest things. To keep his handmade Valentine tradition alive, I decided to follow in his footsteps this year. No letterpress or computer this time. I have a stash of old vintage paper, maps and music that I used for the heart confetti...thank you Martha Stewart for that fantastic punch. I had so much fun punching the hearts out that I ended up with way more than necessary, and I don't have the heart to throw them away.

We bought the glassine envelopes from Paper Presentation and I think they are perfect. I love how you can see the hearts through the envelope...almost like a snow globe. My fingers are crossed they make their way to everyone today!

I got my loot bag from Snap + Tumble a couple days ago. So, so worth it, and such a great idea! I took pictures of my favorites. Isn't that gold couch adorable? Tanya was so sweet, she even put in a personalized card with my initials. It was like Christmas all over again.

I won an Addy for the Once Festival Guide last night. Now it gets to go onto the "next round." I don't exactly know what that entails, but I'm excited and felt the occasion called for some some animated gifs.

PS. When I woke up this morning, it was -11 degrees.

Is this sweet or what? Thanks Courtney!

PS. The new Kate Spade Valentines are online again! Yessssss!

Last week for date night, we went to the White Nights exhibit. So beautiful...I highly recommend it to anyone in the area.

Also, my Valentines will be in the mail tomorrow, which means they might be a tad bit late. Whoops-a-daisy.

So this is an old photo, but we did decide to get another type calendar this year. I got last year's for free when I attended the Detroit Paper Fair . I wasn't planning on getting 2011's....they are sorta pricey for a calendar, but December came around and Cree (yes, Cree! not me!) started to get all melancholy about not having a new font to enjoy each month. So we splurged. This months is Giorgio Sans and I kind of love it. My other font crave at the moment is Bodoni Egyptian Pro. Sigh...

Also...just to brag about my husband for a moment. Cree got a fantastic research position with Michael Barr who just recently returned to the University of Michigan from a two year term working with the Obama administration as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. He'll be doing research very similar to what he was doing in the Philippines which is perfect. Lots of finance regulation research. We went out for Sushi to celebrate. Hooray!

Ps. It is so cold, my feet feel like ice cubes and the snow in our yard comes past my knees. The weatherman says it will be forty degrees on Sunday. Another Hooray!

So remember when I told you about the Once Festival many moons ago? Well, I finally photographed the book. It went to press within two weeks of receiving text which made for a slight nightmare, but in the end, I was really glad I had the opportunity to work on it.

Anywho, my boss submitted it to Ann Arbor's Addy competition. It was accepted, so we'll find out how it fared next Thursday. I'll keep you posted.

Have a great weekend!