chicago with filip

i went downtown chicago today with filip...yes, the croatian boy i mentioned before. it was a perfect day and we watched the fireworks from the top of the ferris wheel at navy pier. he gave me a beautiful ring too and i love it and spending time with him. looks like i'll be spending christmas in croatia this year!

hopefully some art coming your way soon...it's been a lazy summer or maybe just busy. happy saturday!

thank you

thanks to Elizabeth! She has been a dear cyber friend of mine and really encouraged me to explore the world of altered art and mixed media over two years ago. She sent me a beautiful sewn journal in my favorite color as a graduation gift. It was truly a wonderful surprise and I will cherish it forever. All the the hard work that went into it is amazing and handmade gifts are always the best kind of gifts. Each page is unique and the colors and words are bright and inspiring!

She also remembered I collected all of my fortune cookie fortunes in a jar and slipped a cute little fortune notebook inside the journal! SWOON! LOVE IT!

She also did a shout out to my blog this week....so sweet! You can find it here.

sunrise tea party (muchas fotos!)

after seeing the marie antoinette movie last year, alex and i decided we would wake up super early and watch the sunrise to recreate the beautiful scene in the movie. a few days ago she picked me up at 4:30am for our sunrise tea party. we wore dresses and flowers in our hair and headed to the japanese gardens near our houses. it was dark outside and the full moon from the night before was still lingering in the sky. we walked with the picnic basket and blankets and set up our tea party: lit candles, put out the table cloth, and listened to the marie antoinette soundtrack on my ipod speakers.

i brought my 5 piece silver tea set that i pulled out of the box that morning. it was a tea set i had begged my mom to buy me when i was 8 and i never opened it. i never thought at 18 it would be the day. alex poured the passion peach tea which we sipped out of our favorite mugs and set out mini brownies and raspberries. the sun started to rise and some runners passed us sitting there having a tea party at 5am...awkward! it was such a thrilling experience. we sat and told our secrets of summer and plans for the fall. we talked about boys and music and ice cream. it was perfect.

one the sun had risen we walked out toward the river where a smokey fog had begun to cover the water. it was beautiful and we danced around taking pictures. again more runners passed and we laughed so much.

later we hopped the fence to the japanese gardens and took pictures on the bridges and in the little houses completely ignoring the "call for reservations for photography use" sign. we looked ridiculous with the self timer setting it then running back and forth to see if our pictures came out. it was so much fun and we were done by 8am feeling refreshed for the rest of the day.

a sunrise tea party is definitely happening again.