One Crafty Lady

A while back, a family friend of mine made a gift for me, and I've decided that it is absolutely far too stunning not to share. Now I have to be honest, this woman is the craftiest, most creative lady I know, not to mention, incredibly talented. I've known her my whole life, and even though we're not really related, my brother and I grew up calling her Aunt Kathy.

So, this lovely lady took a completely ordinary box, and turned it into a gorgeous, personalized chest.

On the front, she used a wood burner to carve in my name, birth date, and a phrase that represents my life (look familiar? lol)

Notice all of the floral designs on the bottom and between the text. All of this was done freehand-no stencils, because she's just that amazing. Also note the edges of the box, which she also burned. Don't the little details just make it that much more beautiful?

In order to make it more personal, on one side she carved both of my parents' names and their wedding date, along with my full name. On the other side she put a quote:

"Learn to Love

Learn to be Patient

Learn to be Disciplined

Learn to Forgive,

And to Love Again"

I'm so in love with this gift, and I can't wait to put it in the Old House. I just think it'll look so perfect in that house.

Mother-daughter Day

Today was definitely a no-makeup kind of day.

(Check out those raccoon eyes haha)

I woke up at noon. I blame the rainy weather.

But today was actually a really lovely day. I spent the day with my mom. We had a really nice lunch at a local pizza place (Avanti's)
Check out this hot delicious, cheesy, saucy Country Sweet Calzone.

YUM.

We stopped for a quick shop at the grocery store, and then we went around to a couple of little greenhouses at the side of the road. Between my me and my mom, we have a very serious plant buying problem. We just can't get enough of them! There's always another and another and another that catch our eye, and clearly we must have them all. So in the end, we came home with quite a few plants

Most of them are being planted in the gardens either at my mom's house, or at the Old House, but with some of the smaller ones, and a couple of rocks as well, I made a little mini garden, of which I am very fond.

Cute right?

And then we did a little scrap-booking with some old-timey family photos.

So..pretty decent day, considering how short it has been for me. (I've only been awake a little over 7 hours)

But now I'm going to curl up and watch a movie with miss Riley.