Kitty Genius

Happy Hanukah

 

To eight great nights...

I feel very lucky Drew surprised me with exactly what I wanted

Oh my goodness I'm still here

I promise!! WOW, the holiday season is in full swing, right? It has been portrait central around here. Many are under wraps and can not be shared since they are surprises.

Here are two recent ones though

 

 

I have to say being very work busy this has been a wonderful year for ordering gifts online. Etsy, Ebay, Amazon, miscellaneous momandpop's.com. "Santa UPS" has brought gifts from all of these places. And sending directly from websites to friends and family!?! THE BEST. I in no way fully appreciated this until moving out of state from where most of them live.

In order to not get totally in work mode and forget about festive mode Drew and I have been doing a living advent calendar of sorts. Every evening we have done a little activity together from baking cookies, to hot chocolate, to shopping. Just one little thing a day in December so the holidays are not a total blur like they can be. it's been delightful! 

I hope everyone's season is in full swing in the best way possible!!

Cyber Monday sales

Helloooo!!!! Hope the long weekend (for those of us in the US) was a great one. Many of us take the hand made pledge for gifts each year. I love that, BUT there absolutely can be people in your life that need things of the not hand made variety time to time. And let's face it, I think most of the times Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are best spent getting those few things YOU have needed or wanted but wanted to wait until they were more affordable. So without further ado I have compiled a few of the few sales I have seen going around the internet that I think are most useful to me and hopefully you will find them useful as well.

- 20% off entire order & free shipping at Old Navy Banana Republic, & Piperline +free shipping use promo
code "MONDAY"

-Urban Outfitters 20% off orders of $100 or more via code "GIFTED"
works with sale items!!
ends 12/15

-ann taylor 40% off every thing (in store or online) use promo MONDAY and free shipping over $100
 30% off at Ann Taylor Loft

-American Apparel cuts 20% off sitewide, including sale items, via coupon code "FF95624Y".

-Skin Store (seriously AWESOME customer service) I get all my face stuff (La Roche) from there:
20% off  everything use promo code HOL20

- Today only, Crate and Barrel takes 15% off most items sitewide via coupon code "SAVE15". (Some items are excluded.) Shipping starts at $4.95, although most orders over $100 receive free shipping

- Bloomingdale's: $50 off orders of $250 or more

SO, I will add more to the comment section as I find them. I am not going crazy, but things I already purchase (like moisturizer) I will buy today. Or a coat I have been oogling for a certain two year old I know, and a purse...

And a good time to get a winter jacket for yourself.

Please feel free to add links as well. And I hope you get a super good deal today...

And if not I am SURE we will be seeing all these sales again

Thanksgiving

The table is set and I am thankful…

In a year where I know finances, jobs, housing, and health have been on the forefront of so many of our minds, I am proud to say we made it. We are here, we are thankful, and we have each other. Wishing you and yours the very best. Thank YOU and happy Thanksgiving.

Weekending Thanksgiving style

First, a BIG thank you for all your support during my buy one get one free sale! I have a LOT of shipping to do, which is a very good thing.

This weekend, in addition to the usual of filling orders and working on portraits, Drew and I had a Saturday of making chili and playing Rock Band, and later I went thrifting with my sister.

What did I find at the thrift store? Only the most amazing hand-carved, artist signed trees. Each tree is from a different type of wood (Cedar, Douglas Fir) and labeled as such. And only 99 cents each!

I think their perfect resting spot would be upon a giant white mantel. One day, one day…

I'll tell you, someone who had a lazy day was little Isadora. I kid you not this is how I found her midmorning (she did this to herself):

and this is how I found her at night:

Bookends of a cat and a day I suppose. REEEEdiculous.

And there was Thanksgiving shopping! Not all of it—I wanted to wait for the Sunday paper. I haven't gotten it in a long time but this weekend there should be toooooons of good coupons for things we need for the holidays so I picked up two.

If you want to see what Black Friday sales ads have leaked (remember to treat them as rumors though), you should check here.

Have a great weekend!

10,000 sales BUY 1 GET 1 FREE sale!

 

"So Close" the very first print...

TO CELEBRATE OUR 10,000 SALES BUY 1 PRINT GET 1 FREE for the next 24 hours!!!! Ends at at 9:00pm EST 11/20

Buy 2 prints get 2! Buy 3 get 3 free!

Simply leave the name of the free print you would like in the "message to seller" Print must be of equal or lesser value and unfortunately no limited editions.

So if you're interested hop on over to the shop!

Thank you to this wonderful community for your continued support. There is not a day that goes by that I am not tremendously thankful.

Magical

The last few days I literally felt like I was transplanted to a magical and distant land of coziness, but in actuality I was a mere hour away from my front door towards Mount Hood. Drew and I have been itching to go on a mini trip and so had our friends Rick and Danni. It was Danni's birthday this weekend so I hunted around and found this Swedish Stuga online.

This giant stream is what you had to cross via iron bridge to get to the cabin

Our room that included a giant clawfoot tub. There was a good amount of time spent reading in this bed and in the bath. The views were spectacular and the creek was so loud but lulled me to sleep.

ahhhh

Chandelier outside in the woods. Breathtaking.

perfect spot for coffee

Danni was a great sport. We discovered there was only a wood burning stove. We were so determined to start a roaring fire in the stove to cook that after newspaper failed as a starter I remembered I'd seen a survivalist on tv say tampons were one of the best fire starters, and YES THEY ARE. It was pretty hilarious. We didn't tell the boys for quite some time.

The fruits of Danni's labor. Delicious french toast (I made the coffee : ) ).

a path to the woods

a swing that dangled over a drop off.

more views of our room


taken from my bed out the window


We had a bit of snow. Nowhere near this much as this picture taken from the website, but even the little dusting we had was wonderful.

Here is a great little quote from the website:

"Combined with his (Brian the builder/ owner) technical background, the idea of melding the new with the old, building green, and his love of nature all led to the purchase of the land and what is now the Swedish Stuga. It is the transformation of old, salvage materials from demolished vintage homes around Portland, and old-growth logs toppled in the thirties, into a cozy, romantic escape."

If you need a getaway in this area I highly recommend it!

Tis the season!

 

I'm a consumer and a sucker and I LOVE those red cups!

Drinks taste better in them.

True story: My good friend Danni just happens to be as crazy as me and we made plans to go to Starbucks November 1st together for drinks in the red cups. Alas, they did not have them that day but a few more days of adventuring with her and her baby girl Edie and we accomplished both antiqueing and festive cups.

It doesn't take much to make me very happy.

Please tell me you have these strange holiday quirks that just get you in the mood.

Together Forever

The trumpeter swan, a symbol of love, mates for life.

A brand new print available in the shop now!

I wanted to create a piece with darker, richer colors and this has hit the spot for me.

I love animal symbolism and behavior, when they possess a trait we value so highly. Who doesn't love seeing a duck couple at a pond? Or a mother lion being so tender with her cubs, or even your household cat letting her instinct rule?

I certainly want to explore this more in my work…

In other news… HALLOWEEN!! It's so close! This is the first time we will be in an actual house where there might be trick-or-treaters. I have to go get candy ASAP!

Tomorrow, I think we will be pumpkin carving! Does it get any better?

Weekending

This weekend was the antique expo in Portland and it is so so very large. I couldn't take a ton of photos, but here are some of the ones I snapped.

This dollhouse was so rickety and magical.

lovely book

booth after booth of ephemera

a chandelier that had a hunter whose legs turned into antlers. Wow.

cuckoo clock crazy

one of my favorites. What Drew called the tenement dollhouse. This was made from an old crate and hand-painted. Truly a piece of art.

After that Drew and I headed to a late lunch/early dinner and home for a nap!

Today I went highchair hunting with a friend and to a little french bakery that is so good and even cuter than it is tasty.

(iPhone pics on the way out) Next time i will get some of the interior.

Now, it is easing into a chilly, drizzly Sunday night. I'll take it! I hope your weekend was great!