Summer Camping

A new piece to kick off summer!

This piece was inspired by a summer road trip my family made to Niagara-on-the-Lake to ArtPark sometime when I was in grade school. My mom always thought of fun trips to make that were in driving distance from Cleveland. I guess I remember more of the driving aspect, or maybe our many interstate driving adventures are all blurring together in this one. 

Regardless, I was able to incorporate my love of drawing cars into this piece.

Here's to a great start of summer!

Happy Holidays

I will be heading home to Cleveland this week to celebrate Christmas with my family.

From me to you, have a great Holiday season!

Party Pt. II

As promised, here are the pictures from my mom's 60th birthday party.



I had a really good time doing these little '60' flags and this date matching game that all tied in with the invite I designed. I even used the left over invites to be thank you tags for our party gifts. (PS these flags are so simple to make....I printed out the flags on sticker paper. Tom helped me cut them out, peel off backing, and stick them on toothpicks. So simple!)







Playing pool!



And happy birthday celebrations were in order for my cousin who turned 15 a few days before my mom.



All pictures taken by Tom Takigayama. He's starting to do custom pictures of families and children. Contact him if you are interested!

Back from Cleveland

This weekend, my family celebrated my mom's big 6-0.
I had a few minutes to post some quick pics from the party before I hit the hay.
I'm pretty wiped out, but it was a speed weekend of fun.

[See invite here that I designed for the party.]






Lots of food, love, family, and fun.



These great pics are taken by Tom. You should check out his site!

I'll post more soon about the party + more pictures. :)

Engagement Pictures

Remember my post about going back to Cleveland w/ Tom?

While home, Tom took the engagement pictures of my older sister, Kate, and her fiance, Bret, near Lake Erie, OH.
I was his 'assistant' which basically meant I held a lens occasionally, but more just stayed far enough back so that I wasn't in the frame ;)

I love how they turned out and am so proud of Tom's work.

Might you have friends who need pictures, you should contact my boy, Tom.

Happy Birthday Kate!

Happy birthday to my middle sister, Kate! I love you!

Happy Mom's Day

It's all about this lady right here, today! She always keeps it interesting.
Thanks for all you did and all you do!
Love you mom!

Cleveland bound

photo via

This Friday, Tom and I are leaving for Cleveland.
It's going to be a jammed packed weekend: photographing my sister & her fiance's engagement pictures, a best friends BFA show, some Cleveland sightseeing, and seeing my fabulous family.

Only a few more workdays to go!

Be-a-uty!

via JCrew $250

Now this is a gorgeous dress if I say so myself!

Kate, how about these for bridesmaid dresses? (Kate's my recently engaged sister).
Ha, she would never go for this look.

...Maybe this could be my dress rehearsal dress?

Homesick

It's less than a month til I go home to Cleveland for a quick weekend. I miss my family. My mom, my step-dad, my sister and her fiance, and my dogs, specifically this guy here, Max.

Happy Birthday Ed!

He's away in Alabama taking a several-week, intensive, Army class for his job.
Big hug sent to you Ed!

Taken summer of 2008 when my family came in for my graduation from Parsons.
At Brooklyn Brewery in Brooklyn enjoying some tasty beers.

My Cleveland BFFS

My Best Friends, Adge + Maria, [who go back to my highschool days and live in Cleveland,] sent Amy + I this sunny, beautiful bouquet last week in memory of our grandma .

[here they are looking at the FDR]

Thank you guys for being so sweet!

The three of us in a row boat on the lake in Central Park in the summer of 2008.

Thanks guys, miss you!

Cruz Time

Amy + I were pseudo-parents for the weekend for Katie's dog, Cruz, a few weeks back.





Quite a little guy.



Lesson learned: dogs are still a lot of work.



But I love being an aunt.

"I need my huggins'"

I got the sad news that my grandma passed away this morning.

I was going through old pictures and I quickly made this.
I loved how she called me 'Lindsey Love,' she would always address my birthday cards that way too. It was the little things that made her a great grandma to all of us.

A lesson in Cake Decorating with Mom

One of my best times home this break was when my mom gave me a step-by-step demonstration on how to decorate a 2 layer cake.

She + Kate took a cake decorating class this past fall/winter and came out Class-A cake decorators.

















Thanks Mom! I will try this out for my 2nd red velvet cake!

Congratulations Kate!

Happy Engagement dear sister, Kate & Her fiance Bret.




Welcome to the family!


Best wishes to you both!

Also, congrats on landing your job, I'm so happy for you!

Merry Christmas!

All my love from Ohio.







I'll fill you in on some pretty pretty exciting news next time I write :)

The Heart of It All

And so I am home.
Not even a full day home and I've already:

-made a whole lasagna
-baked 3 dozen cookies
-felt overwhelmed by the jumbo super markets here in the suburbs
-wanted to buy every single type of sprinkles at the store (but I held myself back)
-wiped the clumps of snow off of Bailey's face
-fed Max 2 pieces of cheese
-read a 'Midwest Living' magazine




and I am looking forward to more in the next week I am home :)

I saw this from PlanetAwesomeKid.com a day or two ago and it really struck me, especially after tonight:

"As a mother to a baby girl, I am very aware of the impact I will have on my daughter. She will look to me, look up to me, emulate me, and idolize me. The best I can do is just be the woman I want her to eventually be, and just simply lead by example."

I hope that I will be as good of a mom (when that time comes), as self-less and as sacrificing as my mom was and still is. I'm glad you are okay mom. Wish I could be there tonight.
Let's leave it at that.

These are my Everyday Heroes

Happy Veteran's Day Ed!

I hope you don't mind I stole these from your Facebook! :)

You pull off fatigues AND wearing an apron!




And Happy Veteran's Day to my Uncle Brian (Air Force...sorry my mistake earlier) and my late grandpa (Navy).




I'm so proud of all of them. xo