no i didn't forget...

so many thoughts to share today. it has been forever, it seems, since i've been on here and posted ANTHING. to those of you who are avid followers, thank you and i'm sorry for keeping you hanging. not to worry though, i have plenty to share to keep you all up to date.

first: (and foremost) lil H is walking! yes. one day he stood up in the middle of the floor and took a few steps and five days later he had it figured out. He prefers to walk over anything else. we did purchase him a pair of shoes, which are beyond cute.

Since he had the walking thing mastered barefoot he wasn't a fan of the shoes right off. in the shoe store he decided that they weren't as cool as mom thought they were. i put them on his feet and stood him up. I guess assuming he would just take off and do his usual scream of satisfaction. NOPE! he took one look at the shoes, scowled, blew raspberries at his feet then dropped to crawling. needless to say, like with anything else he is learning, it only took a couple days for him to figure them out. now that he's walking, i'm running. and he's into EVERYTHING.

second: wow. I'm so excited about this the most... maybe... it might be a close tie... i have a couple of blogs that i LOVE to follow, one of which posted an add for the 'sketchbook 2011 project'. it's awesome. it is a tour of sketchbooks that you get to participate in if you so wish.

i couldn't resist. i had to purchase a sketchbook, a theme and now a couple of sketching pencils. my sketchbook just came in the mail yesterday and i am so stoked. i have an artistic itch that i can finally get out, and then it will be touring the US. the 'art house co-op' is pretty cool. you should go check it out, i highly recommend it:

http://arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject picking a theme was hard, so i selected one that didn't seem like i would be too restrictive on myself. i'm good at setting way to many boundaries and being too safe. i'm using this as an exercise to let my self loose. HELLO WORLD! MY NAME IS STEPHANIE. I HAVE A PENCIL AND I'M RELEASING IT ON PAPER! very excited and i will keep progress updates on here.

third: I sold another pair of baby shoes. those things are way too cute. i love making them. there is something so therapeutic about stitching and knowing it is going to go on a babies foot. oh baby feet, how you are so perfect and tiny and...*sigh* i love you. haha, especially lil H's super chubby square baby feet (that are near to impossible to shop for) i've pretty much cleaned out my supply. i'm going to have to get started on some more. any requests? (note: I need a few weeks, i'm still working full time too)

fourth: Mr.A came home from Africa with all these gorgeous prints and canvases. (keep in mind he came home from Africa 3 years ago) right after we got married i framed one of them for his birthday. the guys that did it for me charged way too much, so i've been procrastinating taking care of the other ones. mostly because i just couldn't justify spending that much money on stretching one print and without a frame. Turns out that my parents have cool tools, and the art store that i pretty much kept in business while in school had more cool supplies and i was able to stretch them myself, with a little help of course. they turned out beautiful. now we have all this color in our apartment and i'm in love with it. we got rid of the make-shift media shelving once lil H started crawling and pulling up on things. somehow cinder blocks and plywood just aren't baby friendly. plus, i was getting concerned for the welfare of Mr.A's TV. Tiny hands and wide screen Tv's aren't a great combo, and tiny hands like to push game console buttons as well (they have lights that blink, ooooh). so we invested in something much taller and deeper than little hands could reach to. i'm not sure how long it will last, but i'm hoping at least until he understands why i'm telling him not to touch instead of taking his hand back and trying another time. (have i mentioned before that he is into EVERYTHING?!)