13 Years Ago...

...we got married!!! Well, technically it was in November but my blogging is all messed up :) We celebrated by going to Restaurant Iris (for all you Memphis people you know how amazing Iris is!). Marriage is work. Plain and simple. But I wouldn't want to work so hard with anyone else. Love you babe. Here are some pics from our wedding and from our dinner....I'm absolutely AMAZED at how different we look in 13 short years. WOW. -Katie

Christmas!

The whole month of December was extremely busy for us. I tried very hard to keep my focus on what the season is really about and talked to the kids about it often. With all the distractions it's difficult to keep us ALL focused to the birth of Jesus...the elf was especially a pain in my side this year. Sorry all you elf folks....BUT I'm over it. On another note, I was the busiest I've ever been during the Christmas season...thanks to all who ordered from me this year! What a blessing to get all those messages after Christmas telling me how much your loved ones appreciated and loved their gifts!! I LOVE my job!! Here are some highlights from December. We hosted a Mother/ Daughter Brunch with all of our friends like we do every year. We made cookies for Santa...and he ate every single one! We spent lots of time with family and friends. It was a good month. Much love and I'm looking forward to a fabulous 2014!!! See y'all soon! -Katie

Up close and personal pieces...

Here are the two pieces that were featured at the First Fruit Vesta Home in the previous post. See y'all soon! -Katie

Vesta Home Show 2013

The Memphis Area Homebuilders Association had another Vesta Home Show this year. First Fruit Collection, located on the Collierville Square, had the big job of decorating one of the Vesta homes this year and BOY did they do an amazing job! I was honored to have a couple of pieces hanging in their house. Out of the 6 houses that participated in the show, the First Fruit house was by far my favorite! Check out the pictures below....see y'all soon! -Katie

St. George's Art Show

This fall was extremely busy...mainly due to the shows I participated in. One of my favorite shows to do is the St. George's Fine Art Show held at the high school campus in Collierville. It's so well run and I've made lots of 'fellow artist' friends over the past couple of years. This year I was HONORED to be the Featured Artist! It was a great show and I sold lots of art and met tons of new people. Here are some pics from the 3 day show. -Katie

Annual Beach Trip

So, every year we travel the 9 hours it takes to get to the beach....our kids LOVE it and look forward to this trip for months!!! This year we went to Seaside, FL...an absolutely lovely and slow paced place. If you've never been you are truly missing out! After a crazy car ride, where I almost lost my religion several times and made many serious threats, we finally made it. With 4 kids you never know what you're going to get on a vacation...most of the time I need to come home and recover from my vacation after the fact! sigh. Well, this year was pretty good. The 'baby' is now two years old and doesn't try to eat sand anymore soooo we've got that going for us. :) All in all it was a great time and we can't wait until next year! -Katie

River Arts Fest and a Horse Show!

Ok, sooooo I'm the worst blogger in the world. Yep!! Well, when you have a lot of business (which I'm so thankful for) and you have 4 kids (which I am also very thankful for) things like blogging slip through the cracks! Let's back up to October. River Arts Fest, held in downtown Memphis, occupied the last weekend of October (and most of my spare time that month while I prepared). Thousands of people took to South Main that weekend. Folks from all over and local Memphians of course...I even met a family who'd never seen cotton fields before!!! Crazy!! Well, I made lots of contacts and sold a good amount of art that weekend. Lots of people watching and lots of artsy folks everywhere. However, while I was busy selling art my oldest was busy winning ribbons at her annual riding show. I'm so proud of her....she LOVES riding horses and it truly is her passion. HATE to have missed it!!! Til next time...Katie

July

We had an awesome 4th of July! We went to the lake (Pickwick to be exact) and hung out with my sister's family. They have a boat and the cousins spent the whole day together out on the water! We definitely had a blast! The fireworks at Pickwick are amazing and there's nothing like a front row seat while floating on the water! I got tons of inspiration and my wheels are turning in my head faster than my hands can paint. Here are some pics from the day. See y'all soon!

I lost count....

after 15 or so. That's how many paintings I've done in the last week and a half. And I'm not even close to being finished. Between commissioned pieces and keeping my stores stocked I've been one busy momma. I also just found out that I was chosen for the juried show, River Arts Fest, here in Memphis in late October. To add to the excitement I also found out that I was chosen to be the FEATURED ARTIST for the annual St. Georges Fine Art Show in November. I'm so very thrilled about this. I will keep you posted as they get closer. Now I will go because I have to go paint....see y'all soon! Katie -here's some birdies to brighten your day :)

School's Out and I'm Crazy!

Hello blogosphere....did y'all hear that school is out for summer? Every year right before the last day I am excited and can't wait to 'sleep in' and not have homework to help with, etc. Then....a few days in and I'm wishing desperately that August was already here! It doesn't seem to matter how many activities I line up or how much FUN I plan for my kids to have, we inevitably get whiny and unhappy and honestly quite bored. I LOVE my kids desperately BUT sometimes I need a break too! Well, I'm going to try very hard to make the most of it and settle in to the idea of summer a little more optimistically. God grant me GRACE. Here are some pics of what we've been up to so far. (Painting is supposed to fit into my schedule at some point too....I'll let you know as soon as that happens:)HA! -Katie