A Baby Shower

Weekend before last I had the privilege of hosting a baby shower for a super fun friend of mine. Back in the day I would have reluctantly agreed to help a friend with this charge since it seemed like there was a baby shower every other weekend...EXHAUSTING anyone? But things have changed. Most of my friends were finished having babies a couple of years ago...some for way longer than that...the ones who only had two kids...we like to call them quitters. Anyway, I happily volunteered to celebrate my friend's baby and I was thrilled to do it... AND I had some help from my best friend turned neighbor. From picking the invitations to buying cutesy little paper straws for the glasses...it was really fun! The cake was AMAZING...I always order from Kipp Holmes of Kipp Cakes. She never disappoints! Here are some fun pictures from the day. See y'all soon! -Katie

Landscaping Awfulness

Soooo, THIS is our front yard. We just built this house last year and obviously didn't have any guidance as far as landscaping was concerned. These decisions were left towards the end of our 'million decision list' so we were pretty fried and over it all! We didn't think through certain items and just did what they suggested. Look, I know it's not THAT BAD but we just want it bumped up a little!! We need some stonework, varying heights, COLOR!, etc. NOW we have some time and a little extra money so we have big plans for these beds! Stay tuned for the reveal in a couple of months.....hopefully it will be TONS better!! Can't wait!!!! See y'all soon! -Katie

Camp and Deer

Baby Girl went to her very first week-long camp! The fact that she was gone wasn't so bad but we had no contact with her and THAT was strange...(and yes I sent a baggie of pre-addressed, stamped envelopes for her to write her precious mother and they sat untouched the entire week :) I think it's safe to say she had a blast since the first words from her mouth upon pick-up were, "I missed y'all but I want to stay here! PLEASE!" She takes after my husband in that they are fueled by people and social events. She would probably be happy living at camp for an entire summer if we let her. Well, I'm still doing laundry and may need to wash some loads a couple of times given the stench that poured from her bag...whew! We missed you Baby Girl and we're glad you're home! On another note I snapped this beautiful pair of deer while leaving our neighborhood at 6:30am to pick her up from camp....GORGEOUS!! These sort of snapshots is what inspires my deer paintings...LOVE my surroundings! See y'all soon! Katie

Life for Real

I'd love to start using this blog as an outlet for my daily life...my zoo family that I care for day in and day out written down in 'posts'. I'm often asked "HOW on EARTH do you do it all?? 4 kids and you paint?! I'm in awe!" to which I often reply, "I don't really do it that well. It's all an illusion". True right? (the funny part is that the people who really know me know that I'm NO SUPERWOMAN!) I'm leery of anyone who claims to HAVE IT ALL...aren't you? The reality is that no one can have it all. Something ALWAYS suffers....always. The days that I'm prepping for a show and work for 12 hours straight are brutal. The paintings look so pretty hanging at the show but here's what got me there... I wake up, get my absolutely essential cup of coffee, say hi to the people in the house that are 'awake' and then make my way up to the studio. My husband then assumes the role of caretaker for the entire day (a role that he's happy to fill but let's not kid ourselves, he's no momma). After several breaks for meals, brain re-cooping, etc I find my way back down late at night to find a disaster...I'm talking like, 'FEMA needs to come hand out assistance to the survivors' kind of mess. It looks like a bomb went off and therefore, I spend the next 3 days fixing it all. The truth is although painting is oh so rewarding for me it's a tug of war....and I mean WAR. I think it's like that for all moms. And although what I just described is an extreme case, it's still difficult to find balance. Being a wife and mom are definitely priority and I think the more my business grows the more I'm having to take a step back and examine those priorities. Having an amazingly supportive husband doesn't hurt but it's still difficult. There's definitely an internal struggle. Don't get me wrong, I'm incredibly thankful that I am able to work from home AND be with my family! I know that not everyone has the same luxury. And I know the problems listed above are not really 'problems', however, it's something I feel the need to talk about. Soooo, next time you see someone who seems to be able to do it all just think....I bet their house is a disaster! See y'all soon! Katie