teepee meetings.

we have spent most of our holiday weekend trying to get rid of a cold/fever/pink eye combo. real glamorous. we have now watched "enchanted" about 54,000,000 times through, which is at least 52,000,00 times too many. 

so while my children both nap for the first time in years (the one silver lining to being sick in our house), i've spent time looking through old photos.

it wasn't until i was talking last night with jared that i remembered the first time we really hung out was while he was building this...

yeah, a teepee. we went to art school, guys. meeting while building a teepee comes with the territory. 

so, really, it just seems like i have taken on the teepee mantle for our family.

although, less in a dorm parking lots with a bunch of art students and more in a scattered kitchen with a few wild toddlers. 

love notes

"Dear mama, Mama I love you. I wish I was back at New Horizons. It's so much nicer. You can't get detentions. I miss Mrs. Case, Mrs. Wilson, and Mrs. Mclhaughlin. I love you more than anything. Maybe we can to to the movie Ever After. Love ya more than words can say. Love, Rere."

my mom and i had a journal that we passed back and forth at nights for most of the end of elementary school and middle school. i would ask her questions about make up or friends or i'd just write and say sorry for having a bad attitude all day. and without fail, she'd write me back and leave it waiting on my pillow before i went to bed. what a mom. she gave them all to me and reading over them is so sweet and funny (i wish i could show you all the times i asked her about white eyeshadow.)

the little heart note pillows that are in the littlekind shop came from the idea of my mom and i writing notes to each other. a way to continue on that tradition and make our beds look cute at the same time ;)

you can find the pillows here: http://etsy.me/1fZQFNw

the story of halloween costumes.

super winnie, pocohantas winnie and the cutest simba and nala you ever saw. 

my first memories of any kind of sewing were of my mom making halloween costumes for me and my brothers. one year, i was a puppy dog; another, maria from the sound of music; and yet another, dorothy from the wizard of oz. and then there was the one year i was princess jasmine and i had head lice. that costume got ditched pretty quick. 

my mom mostly just sewed for us. a costume to wear or a blanket to sleep with or clothes for my dolls. i'm really thankful for that gift that she gave me, because it was more than that. its a gift that i can now give my girls, too. it has also ruined me on buying store bought costumes (even if i really want to.)

how it really began.

i started to sew after the 9th grade.
my best friend was moving away to another state and at the time, it felt like the end of the world. i was always the quiet one who befriended the not so quiet ones and it worked.  so, when my not so quiet friend was gone, i knew i would have to make friends on my own and assert myself.
but instead of doing that, i locked myself away in my room for the better part of the school year and started to sew. creating something, in a way, was really therapeutic for me.
i started sewing more and making things to wear. and then i wore those things to school. and oh gosh, looking back, i'm not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. i remember praying all day that the beige tribal flower patterned pants (yeah...) i made wouldn't fall apart at the seam. it was a close call but they made it through the day.
after a few more years of high school and more sewing, i realized how much i really loved creating things with fabric. college helped me find the things i really loved about the world of fashion. and lots of the things i really didn't.
and now, a few more years later, i am stepping out and remembering that nothing really starts from nothing. that even if i feel like i am just starting out, i've got 9th grade maria to remind me what i love to do and why i love it. and i promise i won't ever make another pair of tribal pants.