Escape

As I sit in front of my laptop eyeing the wad of trace paper calling my name to a day of homework, I can't help but dream of a faraway land, where my biggest challenge is which choice of drink to pick from, and should I lay under the sun or shade.

You see, I desperately love what I do, but I am also in dire need of a respite from it all. But for now, I must bury my head and get this school thing done, so I can move on to designing real spaces. But, before I get back to that, how about you take this little daydream journey with me…

Anini Beach, Kauai by me or hubby

Cuba via NG

Loisaba, Kenya via Knstrct

Leopard Hills, via Knstrc

Ladera Resort, via Knstrc

This always reminds me of how extensive my travel list is and how far behind I am on getting started. So many amazing places to see. 

PS: Sad thing I started this blog a week ago and not even sure what interrupted me but something did and I wasn't able to get back to it. 

How have your weeks been? Any fun summer travels? I would LOVE to hear about them. We are planning on some short weekend trips around the area. Lucky for us the Pacific Northwest has some amazing places to escape to. 

Okay, gotta run now and make breakfast for the kiddies.  Have a great week everyone! 

(Images: cited above)

Out of Africa Art Shop!

How's everyone doing? I hope you all have been well. Today I am so excited to share with you some gorgeous things out of Africa. I'm excited for the obvious reason that we all love some pretty things, but too, it is my very own mother's shop. This is something she's wanted to do for a while, and I am so proud of her, for putting together such a wonderful collection of arts, highlighting the great talents of African artists. The shop aptly named Out of Africa Art Shop is decor heaven. The shop is located in West Palm, FL, so for you Floridians - lucky, lucky.

These beautiful handcrafted jewelry from South Africa are a few of the gorgeous pieces in store or online. I love the intricate metal work combined with the soft beautiful gemstones.  

This tablecloth with napkin set is one of my very favorite things in the store. It is so fresh and perfect for summer entertainments.

 Doesn't this little gathering of the cutest animals put a smile on your face?!

I picked some favorites, narrowed it down, then narrowed down from that to share with you all :-). They are truly gorgeous pieces, and just knowing how hard she worked and the time she spent making sure that she got the best of the best to showcase makes me even more thrilled for her. Please check out the site for plenty more gorgeous pieces here. 

I'd love to hear your thoughts. I hope you are all having a lovely weekend.

Images: via Out of Africa Art Shop

Happy 4th of July

I hope you all have a great barbecuing and family time!!!

(Image: Fatou Bah)

Here's to a Fantastic 2013!

I'm glad I made it through 2012, and a lot of great memories were made, but a lot of hard lessons were learned,  and too many loved ones lost. So, I for one, am ready to bring the lessons of 2012 into the new year, and the rest will be left behind. I hope for a fantastic new year, filled with love, more quality time with family, good health and tons of laughter!

To you my dear readers, I wish you a ton of love in this new year, I hope you get to do things you love, spend more time with people you love, and explore more of the things that will bring you joy . You have all contributed to the wonderful memories of 2012 for me, and, for that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart!
So, here, is to a fantastic 2013!

(Images: Dawda Bah)

Hello Kitty Party

While people were busy planning Christmas dinners, picking up presents, I was running around picking up party supplies, cutting out Hello Kitty faces, gluing and sticking bows. I think I mentioned here that my older daughter was turning five, and she asked to have a Hello Kitty everything. I wasn't too crazy about the idea at first, but I quickly got sucked into the cute world of this special kitty. I decided early on that unlike years past, I wanted to keep things as simple as possible as far as food goes. I also wanted the party to be adorable, but to be as little stress as possible. I think it turned out very nice….

My absolute favorite DIY project were the plastic cups. I played with different ideas of what I could  do to spruce them up, and somehow the bow just happened, and it was quick and lovely - literally took about 30 mins to tie all 25 bows and stick them on. At first, I bought the 3D stickers on Etsy to just stick on the cups (again thought of keeping things simple), but the scale was all wrong. I started playing with the ribbon that I already had, and before you knew it I had several bows that I stuck the stickers on, I used mounting tape to stick them to the cups. The paper straws I purchased on Amazon. Adding bows really took the cups to another level of cuteness.

Making these Hello Kitty faces were a fun and easy project. I just traced and cut out the shape using card stock paper, then hubby drew the perfect bow, again I cut that out, and the birthday girl herself helped cut the whiskers. I used my hot glue gun to stick them on lollipop sticks, and I used mashmallow as stumps.:-)

This was my first attempt at cake pops, and they turned out pretty good. I used white chocolate to cover up a red velvet cake. The chocolate seized up on me, but I kept on trying, I left it over the warm water in the bowl that I was melting it in. I took out bits of the warm chocolate that I flattened in my hand, then rolled the cake balls that I had in the freezer for about 10 minutes in it…sprinkled them with some pink sugar, and, voila! The kids, and big kids had a blast eating them.

My almost two year old could have probably eaten that whole tower if I left her. She just set up a station by that table, sneaking them into her mouth. All the pictures from the first part of the night of her, had her mouth full of clementines.

I was so busy worrying about the design of the cake and having the cake designer get the perfect shade of pink that I forgot to have the birthday girl's name added to the cake. 

For the most important person of the party, hugged me the afternoon after setting up everything, and said, "Mama thank you for making the best decorations I ever seen." Now, that, was all this mommy needed.

(Images: Fatou Bah)

Beautiful Sunday Through My Lense

Are you having a lovely Sunday? I hope so! It's hair day for us, which basically is an all day affair. However, the weather today, forces you to take things easy, it is a grey, rainy day, and I am loving it. I am finally having a quiet moment after taking the kiddies for their naps.  I am drinking a nice cup of ginger tea and going through pictures. I am seeing pictures that I didn't even know were there, and they are all putting a smile on my face. We had a better summer than I realized. It's great and sad at the same time that we are able to take so many wonderful pictures with digital cameras and phones, but because we have so many we just keep them on our computers and are lucky if we go back and look at them. For two years now, I have been saying that I'll start putting pictures together into photo books. I've only done one...shame on me. In the spirit of unleashing pictures from the confines of my computer...here you go.

This was one of my presentation boards for my final project in Fundamentals of ID

A random collection right! You should see my entire photo files...I am obsessed with capturing every little thing that grabs my attention. I love going back and seeing all the cool things I was able to immortalize in photos. 

Enjoy the rest of your day!

(Images: Fatou Bah)

An Angel Has Risen

Last night, my sweet, beautiful friend made the transition to heaven. My friend Patricia Hipp, was funny, spunky, witty, oh, so witty, but what I loved and admired the most about her was her wonderful heart. She was a sweet soul beyond describing, she had the biggest heart of anyone I've met. We all have a purpose in life, and I truly believe that her purpose was to shine a bright light onto peoples lives she came across.
She'd been sick for a long time now, and though her chances seemed slim to none I couldn't think of the possibility of losing her, so I stayed an optimist fool.
My last conversation with her was perfect, I was lucky enough to tell her exactly how I felt about her, without knowing that that would be our last conversation. Somewhere in the back of my head I did think that it was a possibility, and knew that I had to tell her everything I felt about her in case this was my last chance. I apologized for not being the superb friend she deserved, I told her over and over again how much I loved her, and begged her to keep fighting as she had to stick around, so we can do all those things we planned. She told me not to worry and that she will keep fighting, because she had to see me graduate and come visit her nieces. She asked several times if I was okay, because of the long pauses as I tried very hard not to completely loose it on the other end of the phone. That was the kind of person she was, always caring for people.

I miss my friend, my sister! I am happy I met her first week of college in the Couch towers. I look back at all the silly, happy, sad, and most of all loving memories I have with her, and I can't believe she wont' be here to share more. She won't be here the way I want her to, at least. But knowing my friend, I know she is looking down on me and telling me everything is going to be okay.
I can say that I am one of the lucky few who got to meet an angel on earth!

(Image: Alicia Bock)

My Weekend

Hello everyone! Having a lovely Fall weekend I hope! I captured some beautiful moments through my camera that I'd like to share with you. As I type my little one Zahra is sitting on me and pulling everything on my face. :-). It was a beautiful easy going weekend, spending quality time with my girls, working on crafts and play doh, it was exactly what I needed.

We also went to the pumpkin patch and got some pumpkins. The girls are so into Halloween especially Jalika, and I can't help but get the holiday spirit.

I hope you are having a lovely weekend!

(Images: Fatou Bah)