Manteo

Manteo fit our family perfectly. The island had so much character, was quiet yet offered a wide variety of things to do. Definitely a family friendly place. Straight out from where we stayed was the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse and to the left of there was a Maritime Museum. Yes, my husband liked that! Pretty sure he stopped by at least once a day. :) Very close to the museum were lots of shops and galleries. I love browsing through art galleries and Kaelyn really enjoyed them as well because most had a pet inside! Win, win for the whole family. Here are a few of the highlights from Manteo...

Maritime Museum

{this sailboat had just been built, Roanoke Lighthouse in the background}

North Carolina Aquarium

{Kaelyn's favorite part ~ petting the stingrays}

Elizabethan Gardens

A very unique garden. I wouldn't say the flower gardens were all that impressive but the statues sure where!

Amazing!

North Carolina bees are enormous!

Seriously, they look like they could eat you!

Roanoke Island Festival Park

A great spot for kids to learn and play.

We were lucky to be able to look around the ship before a storm came.

 

There were several more things we could have done on the island but these were the bigger things we chose to do and they were all very affordable.

 

I kinda wish I had a job reviewing different destination spots... of course my family would have to join me to really test them out. :)

Do you have a favorite place you like to visit? I would love to hear about it!

Let Go & Trust ~ mixed media

Remember this "Let Go & Trust" mixed media piece I showed in progress a few weeks ago? Well it is almost finished. I just need to sign it and seal it, and hopefully not mess it up during the sealing process. Here are a few more progress photos:

She's coming alive! :)

Now for the pop of color on the bird.

And there she is as of today. I had fun experimenting with the border by adding water to charcoal. It was like turning the charcoal into watercolor. Worth trying out if you haven't before.
One of these days I hope to get better pictures of this piece and my last mixed media in good lighting. I think that is the hardest thing to do. :)

Coquina Beach ~ Outer Banks

I love when people share great destination spots. I've never been much of a "crowd" person. Being out enjoying the peaceful nature is much more my thing. It seemed God just knew which direction to point us... yes He knew I needed a nice relaxing break away with my family... and boy did we get just what we hoped for. We had the perfect Inn with so much character and amazing views and the ladies from the Inn told us what beach was best to go to. They were right on! We went to two beaches on the Outer Banks and the one they suggested was by far the best. Not many people, great parking, large bathrooms, changing rooms, showers, lifeguards and a nice boardwalk to the shore. Here is Coquina Beach...

The beach was Kaelyn's favorite part of our vacation. If she had her way we would have never left the sand and water to do any other exploring. :) The boogie board was her absolute favorite which I'll share more pics of soon.

 

If you have a favorite beach location I would love to hear about it!

No more baby

I guess I should have known that when K drew and painted a family picture last week of her as a baby (note the really short hair) holding her parents hands that my baby was no longer a baby. 

This week it was all about showing what a big girl she is. Sigh. I'll miss the baby stage... it went by way too fast. But it is exciting to see her experience new adventures and enjoying it the entire way.

 

She started school! 

She was excited and confident. Her first day was way harder on mom than it was on her!

I am thankful it went so well!

 

Monday, her training wheels came off, so she's been riding every day this week and loves chasing me! :) It sure didn't take her long to get the hang of it.

Her father couldn't be more proud. :)

 

Thursday was our 9th wedding anniversary. 10 years since he asked me to marry him! Wow!

He's my best friend.

 

Kaelyn painted this for us at grandma's house while we had a quiet meal out.

Hubby is on the left and I'm on the right. Her artwork makes me smile.

An amazing husband and daughter... I couldn't ask for anything more. ♥

Peaceful stay near the beach

We needed to get away. When hubby and I both have jobs from home it is hard to come by uninterrupted family time. It took quite awhile to decide on a vacation destination. We knew we wanted to go to the beach. It's been five years since we've last been there and we would be celebrating our 9 year wedding anniversary a bit early. At first I was researching the west coast, but just couldn't find a place that wasn't overcrowded and would be kid friendly... so somehow I came across Roanoke Island Inn on the east coast. It fit us perfectly! Charming, peaceful, close to the beach... a real home away from home. Dee and Sarah were so welcoming and helpful during our stay. (Just one of the many things they did was go out of their way to find goat milk for our daughter who is allergic to dairy products. It is not easy to find around that area!)

The inn had lots of character and the views were beautiful! This is our breezeway/deck area that had open views to the backyard as well as the waterfront:

{backyard of Roanoke Island Inn}

{backyard~view towards the inn}

Kaelyn found her hat early on during the trip. She loved it and wore it almost all the time.

Sadly it got left behind at the last restaurant we ate at before getting to the airport. :(

Hopefully it didn't get thrown and another little girl can enjoy it.

That is our breezeway/deck area above. The right leads you to the rooms and the left takes you to the "reception" area...

Such a cozy space and their is a well stocked pantry/kitchen area where you can help yourself to snacks and drinks any time. And if you happened to forget something, no worries, it is probably there or they will find it for you. Awesome!

We were given a family suite. Kaelyn had her own little room. She had her own tv and dresser on the other side. Sleeping went so much better since we had our own rooms!

Our room was huge with a vintage flare. All the rooms are unique... just the way I like it. :)

The view at night couldn't have been better.
I highly recommend the Roanoke Island Inn if you are looking for a charming, peaceful getaway. It honestly was the best place we have ever stayed!

Back to real life

So hard to say goodbye to the warm weather, soft sand, amazing dunes, charming Inn and so much more. But we are back home and my body is trying to get used to the cooler temps. Never did I think I would come back to 50 degree temps in August! Uggh. Gotta love SD! :)

More photos coming soon.

Expecting!!!

No, not me, but sweet Melissa from The Polka Dot Pickle is!

She contacted me right before her maternity shoot to get one of my First we had each other prints for their session. Melissa was so great to work with and best of all she shared the photo with me! I was so excited with how it turned out I had to post it. (with permission of course) Cean One Photography did a fantastic job. Such a cute family! :)

I cropped this one so you could see the print a little better:

You can just see how much this little one is loved already. :)

Congratulations you two!

If you have an Enduring Arts print I would love to see a photo of the space it is hanging in or how you used it!

Projects and WIP

This past month has been filled with so many get togethers and projects. It has been great and crazy! I'm hoping August is a bit more relaxing, but who knows... little K will start school! My baby is going to school!?! That time has gone by all too quickly!

Anyway, I thought I'd share a couple of the more interesting projects from the month.

A friend asked me to design and paint a sign to go behind her reception table. Her theme was a rustic/elegant wedding. She supplied the awesome barn door. The grooves and old chipping paint definitely made the project more interesting but I think it turned out pretty nice. :)

My very talented hubby and owner of Wisp Woods, requested the logo I previously designed for his business to be put on a cap. I made sure to get it painted on in time for his birthday. So glad I didn't screw up since I had no time to go get another hat.

{work in progress ~ Let Go & Trust}

Then after shop orders have been completed and if I don't have to run somewhere (which has been rare) I work on my newest mixed media piece, "Let Go & Trust". This one is quite a bit darker then my last... maybe because my mood was a bit darker when I started? I guess that is one thing about being an artist... you can show your emotions through your work. I'm excited to see her finished and get working on the next one! :)

Quiet

Wow! This summer seems to be going by at great speed. I haven't been able to keep up with everything and since the blog is at the low end of my priority list... well you can see it has been pretty quiet. Our life lately has been full of good and not so good events but mostly good so for that we are very thankful. This month has been full of family get togethers, Vacation Bible School, and a variety of house and work projects. If we happen to get a little free time we try to do something fun and relaxing as a family. Have to enjoy the warm weather while we can! :)

It looks like the blog will remain pretty quiet until mid August or later.

I hope you are all having a fantastic summer! Happy weekend!

**I'm not sure what I messed up in the HTML code that makes my text run off the side.

I think you'll know what it is supposed to say. :)