Happy Friday

{Remnants from a past project}

How is your Friday going?

Today has held very much studying (microeconomics--very different from studying for the Humanities exam!), thinking, writing, and planning. I'm very excited to be helping to plan a semi-surprise birthday party for a friend. Semi-surprise meaning that the Birthday Person knows there will be a party, just not the details. I'm also making a hat for the Birthday Person which will be pretty fun to have in the knitting basket!

Recently I've been enjoying the musical collaborations of

Mark O'Connor, Yo Yo Ma, and Edgar Meyer, particularly in their Appalachia Waltz album.

My new favorite is "First Impressions", I've been listening to it constantly,

along with Edith Piaf of course :)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

{Recent Creation}

Here is another custom order crown that I donated to an auction.

You remember me mentioning the Frye family and their adoption process?

Well, I was very excited to participate in a Facebook auction to raise funds for their family.

You can keep up with them at their adoption blog, Walking in Faith;

Mr. and Mrs. F are currently in country on their first visit with Alice. It has been a sweet blessing for me to read their daily posts and what the Lord is doing there!

This project reminded me what I LOVE doing custom orders.

Each time I learn something new and am able to expand my creative horizons. This was my first time to work with sequins as well as the first time to add ribbon to the end of the crown as opposed to elastic--I like the ribbon much better :)

Sophie willingly agreed to pose for these shots as well as her bunny. Isn't she adorable?

A Very Merry Birthday

{Design*Sponge}

Thirteen more days :)

Twenty is a big step for me; I've never been twenty before

and that means I won't be a teenager anymore

--actually, I hadn't thought of that one (really, I hadn't!) until my orthodontist mentioned it.

It seems so much more than nineteen, so I'm hoping it will be a better balance for the braces:)

Seriously, I don't usually get so excited about my birthday but this one is

pretty special for two reasons--okay, maybe three:

1. We'll be in New York(!!!), thus the East Coast in the Fall.

I'm really looking forward to the accents, colors, and yes,

the cold!

Papaya drink and hot dog, roasted chestnuts, and NY pizza,

here I come!

2. I might be able to convince my family to go see an opera

(I'm thinking a matinee of Cosi fan tutte, we shall see).

3. We'll be with dear, sweet friends.

This is probably the main reason that thrills me the most :)

{bonus} For just one year it will be that much easier to calculate how far apart

Nicole and I are in age! Yes, that reason was free of charge

This is Grace.

She is small and very sweet.

She's also sporting the latest custom birthday crown; made with love for the party of a special birthday girl. I've branched out from the style I used for Mia; for example, with the one above, I covered the elastic with fabric and I did a few things different in the way I embroidered the pieces together. It was pretty fun to put together and I hope the Little Birthday Girl enjoys it!

{Inspiration}

This is a lightweight coat a dear friend loaned to us--isn't it adorable!

Yes, those felt flowers are sewn onto the sides of the light blue corduroy

I'm so excited to wear in on the plane!

We still have a few things to wrap up at the house and all of the packing to do!

Tomorrow we are planning to spend some time in Austin and are hoping to find some hostess gifts, other gifts, and general shopping. I know we just saw them

but we're all aching to see Nicole and the Stickies!

Dom won't be 17 months forever and I don't think we can see our family too often.

Are there any other Fall birthday people out there?

It's my favorite season and a pretty good month in which to have a birthday :)