A Season of Love

It's so interesting to me to watch the tides of life slowly pass by. Everything has it's time. And those times tend to come in waves!

You have the wave of graduation from high school, the wave of graduation from college, a handful of waves of engagements, and then the periodic waves of weddings.

Obviously, there are more waves that follow, but those relate to my life right now. It's another wave of weddings!

This year we have been blessed to attend two weddings of good friends of ours (and more to come!). We also spent a whole week in Chicago to visit friends! (and working remotely)

The first: my awesome roommate from college. We were best buds for three whole years! It's fun to look back on college -- the late nights of homework and studying, too much Netflix, and random conversations when you're too tired to think straight. It was awesome having someone to share all of my classes with, who could never avoid me when I had all sorts of homework questions. ;-)
The wedding was beautiful and fun, and we are so thankful that we got to join in the celebrations!

A week in Chicago with good friends, good food, and a few days of really nice weather. (oh, Chicago) It was awesome to walk around our old college campus and reminisce ... and not have homework to worry about! It's amazing how some things haven't changed a bit.

Then, a sweet friend from InterVarsity in college: one of my bridesmaids. She has always been a thoughtful and faithful friend, and found a sweet and wise husband to stand with her. The ceremony was beautiful, and the reception was like a surprise college reunion! It was fun getting to catch up with so many friends that we did not expect to see on our trip. Overall, it was a blast, and I am so thankful we were able to take the time for the long trip to celebrate with our friends.

Before I forget to add them to this post: here are my wedding gifts to my sweet friends. Hand-crocheted nameplates of their new family names. I love making sweet family heirlooms. Especially for such great friends!

Happy Valentine's Weekend!

I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day!
Whether sharing a romantic dinner, hanging out on the couch, or just spending good times with friends, it is so important to set aside special days that just feed your soul.
And holidays can be the perfect reminder!

For me, I chose to use Valentine's gifting for my husband as way to feed my own artistic needs. Thankfully, he is always appreciative of my gifts (even if our walls are already full). It's so much fun to design and make things myself!

Thanks to Pinterest, I decided to try my hand at printing my own designs on fabric! My hands are slowing down, so this is a great substitute for needlework:

We both love how it turned out -- a sweet remembrance of our summer wedding, and our little family. I designed the tree myself, with a mixture of scanned hand-drawings and vector drawing on the computer. I printed it on a simple muslin fabric and stretched it over a 6-inch embroidery hoop.

I chose to put a little heart 'carving' onto the tree design. Just a simple "J+J" is enough to say "We love each other -- forever!".

Printing out the fabric turned out to be the easiest part of this project. I want it to last our lifetime, so I decided to sew the fabric together in the back. That should help prevent 'slipping' of the fabric. However, it didn't look all that great. After some more Pinterest hopping, I added a white felt backing to finish everything off nicely. I'm really please with how it turned out -- and how easy it is to hang!

All in all, it was a wonderful Valentine's Day for me. I got to make some fun art, my sweet husband wrote and recorded a song just for me, and we dined on Giordano's pizza, which my wonderful husband had shipped as a gift to me! The food was delicious, my single red rose rose smelled beautiful and looks great on our dining table, and I got to take the time for a relaxing bubble bath with candles!

I am so beyond blessed. :)

What fun stories do you have for Valentine's Day (and weekend)?