Lauren and David

Congratulations to Lauren and David, who were married this past August at the Encantado Resort in Sante Fe, New Mexico. I loved all of the "southwestern" detailing, such as corn husks on the chairs, succulents on the cake, and a turquoise bracelet on the bride's wrist. And take a look at those monsoon-y looking clouds- what a breathtaking backdrop. May your new life together be blessed, Lauren and David!

Photography by Twin Lens, LLC.

a sneaky peek...

Well, ladies and gents, here is a tiny little sneak peek of some of the items that Shanna and I will be selling through our Hello Handmade shop this upcoming season! We can't wait to unveil everything more fully.....just pulling together some loose ends at this point. Cheers!

States United

I checked out the HBO series John Adams from the library to watch while I was working last week, and it was excellent. I would highly recommend it. It made me feel very patriotic, thus the link to this awesome letterpressed poster from the Etsy shop Beauchamping. Did anyone else watch and enjoy this series?

We will miss you, Bellie.

This is a picture of Belle as a kitten.

It has been pretty sad around our house lately, as last week we had to have our little Belle put to sleep. She was only three years old. It is amazing how much you can grow to love the pets that live with you....I feel like there is a giant "Belle-shaped" hole in my heart now. But we are so very thankful for the short time we had with her. She was the sweetest little cat on earth.

opposite of the desert:

One thing I was pretty obsessed with while staying in Rochester was the lush greenery everywhere you looked; having lived in Tucson for most of my life, this was somewhat of a novelty, and I'm pretty sure I drove Shanna a bit nuts with all my many, repetitive declarations of, "Oh goodness its so green here! I forgot what green looked like! Wait, I have to take a photograph!"

One of my very favorite parts of the trip was the last day I was there, when Shanna took me to visit the "moon gate" that her sweetheart C had built last year. It was so breathtaking, and you can see some more photos of it here on her blog. It reminded me of something right out of The Lord of the Rings, don't you think- for those of you that love that trilogy? So whimsical and otherworldly. Anyway, I just wanted to share these refreshingly lush photos with you- like a gulp of a cool, minty drink, right?

quota reached.

Here is just a peek at the hundreds upon hundreds of towels that Shanna and I washed and ironed and cut and ironed again and hemmed while I was in Rochester. This is just a fraction of them. It was an overwhelming endeavor, but I can't wait to show you the end result! However, I just might boycott ironing from here on out, as I believe my personal lifetime ironing quota was reached and then more than surpassed during this project. I think Shanna would agree.
Photo of Shanna's attic taken by Shanna