imagine a place

JOIN ME

 

practical magic changes and something new

A few weeks ago I started to see Fall and Halloween stuff popping up in stores. It always takes me by surprise even if I can't wait to see them every year. It's a little jarring to see skeletons and pumpkins when it's 102 outside. But I love it of course.

Early this month I posted about feeling a little anxious about Fall this year. I had some very heavy personal drama last year and the worst of it was in September as I was putting the Practical Magic blog party together to be exact.

 

It took a lot to find the will to get through the blog party when all I wanted to do was not deal with the world. I was numb for a while and felt like I sleep walked my way through Halloween.

 

Maybe my heartache was a little obvious as I look back at some of the things I made then. So this year I wanted something different. The good news is that my relationship, although still fragile at times, is in a much better place now. I'm hoping that avoiding unpleasant reminders will keep it moving forward. Unfortunately I couldn't keep from associating the blog party with the chaos that was going on around it.

 

 

I've had people asking about this year's PM party since around April and honestly I wasn't sure what I wanted to do until recently. I still love Practical Magic. The house, the Aunts and of course Sally and Gillian. The movie has become somewhat of a Halloween classic which is obvious because of the witches. But the only touch of autumn is the final Halloween scene when the ladies jump off the roof. Otherwise the rest of the film is set in Spring. Sally runs off to confess to Gary on March 8 (which happens to be Aidan Quinn's birthday and yes it's my birthday too!).

So I started to entertain the idea of having a PM blog party next Spring. The creamy ivory and apple green shades are perfect for welcoming spring. Remember the trees with white cherry blossoms and the vases of ivory blooms in Sally's shop and on the kitchen table? The Aunts even return from an obviously non winter solstice celebration. It was a deliberate decision by the director and production designer to set the story in spring to go against the stereotypical dark and gloomy witches house.

For me it would be a refreshing change but I wanted to get some thoughts on this and run it by you guys. Would you be interested in a spring PM party or would you rather save it for next Fall? I know in another year I'd be more than ready to have one in fall again. I'd love to know what you think.

 

OK, then what do I have planned for this Fall you ask? Well in that same post I mentioned discovering the book The Night Circus and hinted that it inspired me to create something based on the story. I started planning and collecting black and white circus goodies. Marfi and I plotted and we got very excited about possibly doing a night circus blog party.

Then we found ourselves going down a different road. Something else clicked better and the more we brain stormed the more it felt right. So we decided to do this other thing and now it's all wrapped up and ready to go. I'll share it with you very, very soon!

 

 

Wendy at Bliss Angels is also hosting the Moonlight Party Under the Big Top in September so I'll get to have a bit of circus fun too. Yay!

Now back to Summer again. I watched the opening ceremony for the Olympics last night. It's always my favorite part. I thought it was very cool that JK Rowling was a part of it and the bit with James Bond and the Queen was unexpectedy brilliant in that cheeky English way. I also loved the way they lit the torch. I'm a sucker for production and I'm always the first one to tear up at events like that. Silly me.

I hope you're enjoying the weekend and these last few days of July.

I'll be back soon with something a little wicked.

birthday art

I just did another version of my cupcake girl for a friend's birthday.

She's a big animal lover and rescue advocate so I added a few furry friends.

We had another super hot weekend in the 100s and I'm already ready for fall weather. But there are some things I love about summer.

Like a fun pair of summer shoes!

Have a beautiful week.



more snow

Did you like the Snow White wedding photo shoot from my last post? Well apparently it's a pretty popular theme right now which makes sense with all the movies and fairytale themes out.

I just happened to find yet another gorgeous photo shoot to share.

I found this at elizabeth anne designs. 

This one pairs up the apple red and gold theme beautifully.

I really can't decide which one I like better. This one or the frosted white and silver theme I posted last time.

I'm a little partial to this one I think because I had a December wedding and the red reminds me of the English winter theme I did for mine. I wish I had thought of this back then!

Which Snow White wedding did you like better?

Frosted white or apple red?

You can go here to check out even more lovely pics.

Enjoy.

mirror mirror

I still love weddings. No matter what ups and downs my marriage has been through I still swoon over a beautiful wedding. Especially one that does the full fairy tale treatment.

I came across this Snow White inspired wedding shoot on WedLuxe.

I just love how they worked the theme into a super elegant setting.

Even this simple cake is amazing. Simply sublime.

There are tons of fabulous pics you can see here.

Perhaps it might inspire your next party or project.

 

friday silliness

I'm not usually freaked out by Friday the 13th. In fact I didn't even realize what day it is until I glanced at the calendar on my fridge.

Then it all made sense.

It's been a freaky sort of day for me already and it's barely 9am. But I had to laugh when I saw this picture posted here.  I just love the Luna look a like! It kind of sums up how my day has been.

I hope you're Friday turns out to be more silly than freaky.

Have a great weekend!

for marfi and kane

I painted again this weekend but my heart is sad.

My dear friend Marfi had to say goodbye to her sweet, beloved dog Kane. It is unquestionably the very worst part of sharing your life with a furry friend.

It never gets easy no matter how many times you go through it. Your heart will always break. Mine never healed from losing my beautiful kitties.

It doesn't matter how many years have passed or how many new kitties I have welcomed into my heart again. Each goodbye is unbearable.

These furry angels leave little paw prints on our souls, touching us in a way that even our human kin can't and we are all better for it.

In my heart I truly believe we will be with our beloved pets again. Until then I like to think that they are still around us. Still playing with their favorite ball or curled up in their favorite chair.

I like to think Kane will always be by Marfi's side. She loved him fiercely. And when her heart starts to heal a little and she can look up at the moon and the stars again she'll know that he is there too, looking up at the same moon and stars along with her.

 

 

pleasant surprises

The moment when you catch yourself doing things completely different from the way you used to is always a surprise. Even when the change is deliberate. It can still sneak up on you and catch you off guard and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact it's a very good thing.

Summer break used to mean sleeping in until half the morning was nearly gone. Staying up until the wee hours of the dawn was always more natural for me. It was my time to play and dream. I relished the quite of the night, the escape from the summer sun and the dread of facing the painful reality that my marriage was not the fairytale it used to be.

Apparently my fairytale was to have more twists and turns than I expected and now I find myself in a curious place where happily ever after might be within my reach as long as I'm willing to stay on this crazy ride. I can't deny that it's both thrilling and stomach turning.

The biggest surprise is that I keep getting back on.

I started getting up early with my husband so we could spend time together before he went off to work. Sometimes we even go for a walk or a run. Until recently I would end up just doing chores or getting ready to do errands after he left. I still didn't have the desire to dabble in anything creative, both in my studio or in blogland. Putting energy into my relationship left my creative well nearly empty and I was too tired to care.

Then something started to happen in those early morning hours alone. Although the urge to create wasn't hitting me just yet I found I was starting to enjoy just being around my stuff. Touching bottles of paint, rearranging supplies, wiping dust off my brushes. It was a start.

Enough that I was able to push myself to come up with the shoe challenge and with that I found my way back to blogging again. I realized this is the most I've blogged in a long while and I'm actually enjoying it.

Another pleasant surprise.

A few days ago I came across a little treasure at the library. While looking for books to add to my summer reading list one caught my eye as I was on my way out the door. The minute I saw the cover and title I knew I had to pick it up. The description sounded magical and the first page got me hooked instantly. I knew I had to share it with a kindred spirit.

The Night Circus came out last fall, nearly the exact same moment my world blew up. Maybe that's the reason I haven't heard about it because there's no way I would have missed it under nornal circumstances. Perhaps you have read it too.

I'm still working my way through the book as I'm also reading a few other ones at the same time but I'm just loving it. I think anyone that loves beautiful visuals would be inspired by this tale and that's why I hope many of you will read it too. Because this fall I have my own surprise for you.

I've been cautiously avoiding thoughts of fall because I wasn't ready to deal with reminders that the last one was not so pleasant. It killed me because fall is my favorite time of the year. The thought that I could enjoy it somehow by looking forward to something different was yet another surprise. This one came with the help of that same kindred spirit.

That makes three amazing surprises.

I'm going to trust that my muse will stay a little longer this time and hope she might sprinkle me with more than a handful of glittery fairy magic again. The kind that whispers of a mysterious night circus, thrilling illusions and visions of black and white. Stay tuned.