Kendra + Stephen: Programs

I gave a little peek of Kendra + Stephen's wedding invites awhile back but now that the wedding is over I'm excited to share a few more details! I designed their programs and made some little cards that sat by the guest book and on the buffet table to let the guests know what all the food was.


The wedding and reception were at a beautiful mission-style church in Fort Worth, Texas. Kendra literally looked like she was standing in a beam of light with her blonde hair & white dress in the early Texas sun!

Thanks Kendra + Stephen for letting us be such a big part in your wedding. We love you!

*I will post details of the invites soon.

Kendra's Bridal Shower

I got to play hostess just before Christmas at my sister's bridal shower. Of course my main duty was to take care of the invites while the other hostesses did a great job with the food & decorations!


I screen printed (with my yudu, of course!) the doily/snowflake pattern onto grey stock and ran that through my printer for the black text.

I also made some simple recipe cards that people filled out and brought to the shower to help Kendra & Stephen start a good collection of recipes from their loved ones.

Now... to get cracking on those wedding invites!

Welcome to 2010!

Already missing October...

I hope everyone had a lovely Halloween, NYC Marathon, daylight savings time—weekend! whew!

Happy 23rd Birthday to my darling sister! (23!? I can't believe that's right!?) I hope it's a good one and we wish we were there! xo!

South Mississippi

A few shots shots from our trip.
photo 1. Hercules. A plant that made gun powder during WWII, most recently a paper plant, and is now closed.
photo 2. (left) mural on the outside of the New Yokel Market in downtown Hattiesburg. One of my favorite cafes anywhere. (right) Farmers selling their produce on the side of the road on the Fourth of July.
photo 3. (right) Cadillac Corner.
photo 4. The evening of the 4th at the McNamara's home.

catch up!

26. That's how many days it rained in NYC in June. Portland, eat your heart out. These were taken on the roof our last night at our first Brooklyn apt. I thought the sky was showing off for us, our last sunset with such amazing views of the city!


I'm about a week behind on life since we rushed out of town last week. So even though we've been in the new apartment for a little over a week it only feels like about 3 days...

*these photos lost a lot of color when I uploaded them... if you can believe! Has anyone else experienced this? Any suggestions about how I can avoid that?

we've been out...

We rushed out of town early last week after getting news that J's wonderful Grandmother passed away suddenly. I'm flying back to NYC now while J spends a few more days in Mississippi with his family. Mrs. Bobbie was a beautiful, exciting woman to be around and she will be missed.

*I wish I had some of the amazing photos from her younger days on my computer but this one taken at our wedding nearly a year ago shows her true colors! (photo by Hillary)

not quite "vacation"

The trip home was full of reunions – most people we haven't seen since the wedding since we had not been back since the big move.

However, the main reason for the trip was less light hearted. We went to see my Dad – he has cancer, again. This is the third time since I was 5 years old, and it's been on a steady 10-year cycle ever since. This time though it came with a "benign" brain tumor (tell me what kind of brain tumor is benign!) and the cancer itself was peppered though his chest, lungs & neck. Previously it was concentrated in his stomach.

We received some really great news about a week ago, the chemo has been working and the cancer has receded by at least 50% which means remission! (Such a powerful word with such a long road ahead.) Later in the week there was more news... his brain tumor (which caused a decent seizure in February before they got him on proper meds) is gone. This is a miracle in itself as they weren't sure that the chemo would even affect the tumor because it wasn't cancer.

In the coming weeks/months they will be attempting a stem cell transplant to replace his bone marrow and doing a strong dose of chemo as well.

For those that knew about all of this, thank you for keeping my Dad in your thoughts & prayers – your support has been felt in more ways than you know!

*photo from one of the doc visits last week.

I've been out.

But I'm back now! We returned to the mother-land (well, my mother-land, not J's) for a week to see family & friends.

*photos taken way out on approximately 104th & Chicago -ish... it was raining a bit.

x.haust'd

This is where I want to be for the next 5 days or so...

I'm exhausted from the week. Photo shoots + magazine releases + wedding invites seem to have taken over my life. (Thank you God for my job, my love of design & my amazing husband who both keeps me going & makes me go to sleep! )

*photo by Nicolas Mathéus via desire to inspire.

Happy Birthday to my beautiful sister!

Happy 21st Birthday Marissa!
Wish we were there to help celebrate! xoxo!

photos taken in the summer of 2007 in Biloxi, Mississippi where Marissa is currently stationed at Keesler AFB.

Family Tree Illustration

Staying in the vein of vintage photos, I did this collage-style illustration for an editorial last month. The article was about teaching kids about family history & helping them to create their own family tree.

*photographed by Paul Johnson

Harry Potter Type!

Harry Potter type spotted on the facade of a building in the West Village.

I will be the first to admit that I love Harry Potter. My sisters and I often say things to each other like, "Why don't you just 'Harry Potter' that sh**!" Meaning, "use your magic powers to [fill in any impossible, annoying or time consuming task here]."

*did you see these Harry Potter redesigns? via my design voice. Personally, I love them!

p.s. Have I ever mentioned that J teaches at Hogwarts? more on that later...

they're engaged!

My little sister got engaged on Valentine's day at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens!

Her friends through them an impromptu wedding/engagement party! Complete with a veil, a bouquet of calla lilies, 3 tier wedding cake, cake cutting & champagne toast! I say she's as good as married!!!

*Congrats on one week of engagement, Kendra & Stephen! We love you!

little things.

I wish my life gave me time everyday to blog. and read. and write letters (not emails). and play on my sewing machine. and to go for a run (or walk). But there's not always enough time for everything. Enjoy the little things, like this fire hydrant that I see every time I step out of my 4th floor walk-up.

WELCOME HOME, SISTER!

I should also take a minute to say that Marissa came home from Iraq yesterday.

Thank you, sister, we are so glad that you're home!

Come visit us in frozen NYC soon! xo

6 months ago, today.

It's taken me this long but I think I'm finally getting to the point where going through wedding photos doesn't make me start hyperventilating. (not because of the hitched thing... but because it was a very stressful time. so maybe I'll post some more in the future?)

Thank you, Justin for being a better husband than I could have imagined!


*all photos by my very talented friend, Hillary, except the last one...taken at dinner tonight.

a little something.

A gift to someone important's family...something they called, "the best Christmas gift they could ever receive."





It was more about the contents of the little books I created than about the books themselves... But I felt the contents deserved a little something more than a nice envelope.

I made 10 total. I did use an inkjet printer for the inside, and ran the muslin "title" through the printer as well I sewed the bottom of the pages with a machine...so, they aren't entirely "handmade" (but I like to think that their pretty close).

Christmas Dinner // Island Fish Stew

About 3 days after I graduated from high school I traveled to Martha's Vineyard with 2 of my friends, we lived in an old lady's attic for $25/week...for the whole summer. It was HOT. We had no way to do laundry. The only laundromat was out of town & we didn't have a car...so we did laundry maybe 3 times in 3 months. We each worked 2+ jobs that summer. I did everything from working at the Black Dog General Store in Vineyard Haven to working in a fancy Brazilian restaurant right on the water, to babysitting & yard work. It was wonderful. We were always tired but the vineyard was something that certainly set the tone for the way I would plan all of my summers – go away for the whole summer & work your tail off while you do something totally new and different.

[maybe that was an unnecessary preface to this recipe. oh well, I like sharing stories.]

J & I spent Christmas in Boston's fabulous, Italian, North End. I literally felt like I woke up Christmas Eve in Italy...everyone was speaking Italian (even J with his theatric & throaty "Ciao Bella's!") and the area had a wonderful old-world charm. We went from tiny shop to tiny shop searching for all of the ingredients for our Christmas Dinner – Island Fish Stew in the Black Dog: Summer on the Vineyard cookbook.






*If you can't read the recipe fully & would like it, just leave a comment or shoot me an email, I would be happy to get it to you!

last call 2008!

on a whim I've decided to write a very quick reflection of the past year of my life. here 'goes.

In the past year ...
- I got engaged (which was the biggest surprise I've ever had in my life! and has brought me the most joy!)
- my paternal Grandmother passed away.
- my maternal Grandfather passed away.
- I worked side by side with Amanda on a pretty intense literary/art journal...about 80 pages if my memory is correct. for free. Certainly my biggest publication to date that I was so very involved in.
- my Mother remarried.
- I smoked a pipe.
- I planned a wedding 3 states away.
- my baby sister went to Iraq (is still there, but not for long).
- I witnessed one of my oldest & best friends grow a beautiful baby in her tummy...which is, indeed a crazy & miraculous thing to witness!
- I made 200 (or so) of my own wedding invitations almost entirely by hand.
- We purged ourselves of our possessions, probably by 60%, via yard sales, craig's list & goodwill.
- I packed J's house, and put him on a plane to NYC for 5 weeks of training (for Teach for America) the 5 weeks before the wedding!
- I spent July 4th alone in a sweltering apartment (the neighbor across the street even brought me a beer, I think she felt sorry for me!)
- packed all of our possessions into a giant locker, and put it on a truck bound for NYC!
- sold my Isuzu Rodeo.
- packed J's Volvo with the rest of my life and headed to Mississippi for the wedding. J got there at about 2 am the morning before the wedding day.
- married my best friend, in the rain, under beautiful pine trees in front of (most) of our dearest friends & family!
- watched all of our friends go through huge life changes of every kind.
- got on an airplane to New York City the next morning, spent the following week living with people I had never met (they are now good friends)...while J had one more week to finish his job training, living in a dorm.
- started a blog.
- I saw my designs completely cover a bus.
- moved into a 4th floor walk up...in August (which almost landed us in the hospital from exhaustion!).
- spent 2.5 months unemployed living in Brooklyn.
- was in the wedding of a dear friend.
- spent 2.5 months working at a bakery.
- I pretended that I had a mustache.
- I celebrated the election or our nation's first African American President.
- I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, twice.
- I saw a fashion show where everything was made of chocolate.
- spent Christmas in Boston.
- I ate sledgie. (which I do not know how to spell, but I do not recommend.)
- I started my own business!

This year has certainly had some rough spots for us & it's been a whirlwind for sure. But I can't think of a time that we've felt more supported & blessed in every area of our lives.

2008 will go down in the books for us but to 2009 we say, "bring it on!"