Air Plants.. I love.

 I took some photos this a.m. of my new favorite thing.. air plants!

Am I the only one that is just now learning about these things?? Finally, a plant that doesn't need any dirt and doesn't  need soil because water and nutrients are absorbed through the leaves. The roots are used as anchors only. This is genius to me. I picked these little plants up at city floral last weekend with my friend jess who turned me onto these things. I am in love.

you can tie these things to the wall... put them in a cup.. hang them from the ceiling.. amazing! They are super hardy (this is good for me) and so cute!

We'll see if I can keep them alive. Hope you're having a great weekend. xo

I'm illustrating a children's book..

 I was asked to illustrate a children's book and I thought I'd share a couple pages. I'm hoping to have it done soon.. the story is really cute, it's called 'This House Needs A Mouse'.

 I blocked out the words on these two finished pages... but you get the idea.

I was doing so so good for a few weeks, cranking out pages like crazy and then I just hit a wall. I have a few days off of work next week so hopefully I'll get a lot done. Now that Odell is crawling all over it's hard to get anything done in the evenings. But so far... I like it. What do you think?????

oh hi... remember me..??

I've had a few people in the last month ask me if I was every going to blog again and I wasn't really sure. I guess I could say I've been busy... but really I just haven't been that interested in blogging. I hadn't actually looked at my blog in months but then spent the better part of an evening this weekend looking back over old posts and found myself wanting to give another go at it.  

 I think blogging is good for me... helps me to slow down a bit and document little moments in my life. And it's easier to blog when I'm blogging frequently. So starting up again feels a bit difficult because "...so much has happened..where do I start..."

So I guess I'll just start with today.

I organized the shelves by the back door! :) Our house doesn't really have a pantry and so when we moved into this house earlier this year I found some great  'California Closets' shelves on craigslist for cheap and installed them by our back door.

However, they were great shelves but full of a bunch of junk.... so I bought some new bins and spent an hour this weekend making them look presentable. They're even labeled!

Other new developments around the house... I finally found a couch! I spent the better part of 6 months trying to find a vintage crushed velvet sectional that I loved and finally found one. It's in MINT condition. Seriously.. not a tear, stain, or speck of dirt. It did however smell like an old lady for a good 2 weeks.  

 I also managed to finally spray paint a vintage lamp I brought back from Idaho back in July. This lamp was a lovely gold/brass color for a good 3 months and sat without a shade on the table forever. I found a decent shade and ta-da! Finally.. the corner is complete. It only took 10 months.

 We're having Thanksgiving at our house this year and I'm looking forward to spending time with V's family. It's also good motivation to finally clean some things that need a good scrub...
I think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love the cool Fall weather and colors. I love not having to worry about all the gift giving. It's also really great that Vito does all the cooking so it's really the easiest holiday ever...
Eat good food, enjoy time with family
...be thankful.
Thanks for reading. Hopefully I'll be back soon. xo

New Prints!

I put some new prints in my ETSY shop this afternoon. Experimented with putting a little texture behind one of these prints. fun. Go take a looksie. Happy Tuesday!

Ahhh.. summer.

Well this has pretty much been the best summer ever... I spent 6 weeks in Idaho visiting my fam. Our friends Heather and Ali came up for a couple weeks of relaxation and after they left Vito's parents came up for a long weekend. It was really great being able to show them around and for them to see where I grew up.

The weather was really nice. Not too hot... not too cool. A few rainy days but overall just perfect.Odell totally loved it. Loved going for long walks, boating around, getting held every second...When I came back I still had a couple weeks off before I went back to school. Odell played his first of many games of rummy with Curtis and Emily (V's bro and sis-n-law). And we took our first ride in their RIDICULOUSLY cool newly restored VW bus. They've spent the last 2 years getting this dream up and running. Let me tell you... it's amazing!They did so much work to this thing and it is really beautiful. Odell even loved it. I think he was mostly excited about not being in his car seat... but excited nonetheless.I started back to work last week.. it's been quite the adjustment. It's been nice though to finally have some structure and routine to my days. Odell's done a great job with the adjustment... seems happy as usual. How is your summer?? xo

Look at me... blogging twice in a week.

I went to visit my family for a week over Memorial Day and created some new art! It had been ages since I'd worked on anything new and since I had a lot of babysitters while I was up there I got a lot done. It was so nice. I did these gouache paintings and stitched over them with the sewing machine and it really created a great texture. Go over to my SHOP and see them! I'm finally getting them listed. I had such a fun time creating them. I can't even tell you how good it felt to be creating again.Being home for Memorial Day brought back so many memories from when I was a child. Every year my parents would fill foil wrapped coffee cans with wildflowers and take them to the cemetery.


In that small town, all of my family is buried. Great Grandparents, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, old family friends...

My parents told the same stories they always tell about each person and it was really special to experience it with them again.

And afterwards... Dad came home..changed his clothes, and went back to work. It was a lovely trip home. First time home with baby... that was fun and new.

I'm heading back next week and will be there for almost a MONTH! I'm SO looking forward to it.. we also have our BEST friend coming to visit us while we're there.
xo

Life lately...

Life lately has been quiet. I feel like we've spent the last 3.5 months getting used to the new normal. Getting used to each other and getting used to family.

Odell has changed my life. Things have slowed down and it's good. It's seems like 75% of the time life with baby is really great and 25% of the time it's really hard. But the good totally outweighs the bad.

I shouldn't say bad... just hard.

Just different.

I spent 29 years of my life living a certain way and now that's all changed. But the change has changed me... and it's really sweet.

Being able to spend time at home with him right now is lovely. Most of our days are the same.. lots of walks, lots of looking, watching, sitting, napping, growing.

It's interesting how much he entertains me... I can just watch him smile, laugh, coo and it makes me feel good inside.

Vito asks me, "what are you doing today??...."

and i say, "...not much.."

It's a good "not much"

My new familiar.

Odell's first day

Untitled from tamara brink on Vimeo.

Vito made this great video of Odell's birth. watch!

Welcome Odell Hawkins Brink!

Sorry for the crazy long delay... we're home!

Meet Odell Hawkins Brink

born 2/22/11 10:41 am 7lbs 13oz and 21 inches long. 11 days overdue! The last 5 days have been such a blur.. but it's been really great. Odell has been so sweet and I spend most the day just starring at him.

I went in to get induced but ended up having him natural. Wow.. what an amazing experience.

I labored for 10 hours, pushed for 2 and he came out sunny side up. It took 3 Dr.'s an hour to stitch me up from tearing from front to back. ouchie. I also pushed so hard I gave myself two bloodshot black eyes and have broken capillaries all over my face. I didn't know you could give yourself black eyes from pushing. But make no mistake, the moment he came out and was placed on my chest it made it all worth it. All of it... every single bit of it. The infertility, the tears, the In-Vitro,the overdue pregnancy and the hard natural labor, all of it. I'd do it again tomorrow and it was the hardest thing I've ever done. WAY harder than my first marathon but oh so much more rewarding.

My parents are here helping and they have been a life saver. Doing laundry, cleaning, cooking, shopping.. really great. They leave on Monday and just thinking of them not being here makes me teary. I think things are going to feel a lot harder.We've had a couple of fussy nights but overall he's a reallyl happy baby. His first night home was rough for me... he cried for a couple of hours late at night and I couldn't do anything to make it stop. Vito came into the nusery to find me holding Odell crying just as hard as he was. It was such a helpless feeling. Vito eventually got him to fall asleep and once I fell asleep I felt much better after a nap the next day.

I'm learning so much. Learning so much about myself... about babies, about my husband, my family and little Odell. It's quite the instant lifestyle change, but it feels good.

xo

Still nothing...

Due date came and went... now 4 days overdue and so ready! It's hard to believe that it could still be another week before it happens. We're just trying to savor these last few days alone... soon it will all be so different!

JusT WaiTiNG....

We're just waiting here...

I've been doing everything I can to pass the time...

the official due date is tomorrow.

I'm still working which has helped pass the time during the day but when I get home in the afternoon...

I've been taking lots of naps (notice Cassius still sleeping)

Some knitting, drawing, painting, cleaning... hanging things on the walls here and there...

wondering if these vintage blocks I purchased at an antique store were painted with lead paint... I did put a couple of new prints in my etsy shop! Go take a looksie!

Hope you're staying warm... it's been so cold here in Denver the last couple of weeks.

Someone's been PaiNtinG**--**

One week until my due date! I've been painting to help pass the time and just listed these 8 tiny little paintings in my etsy shop today. It had been months and months since I'd picked up a paintbrush and it's felt so great! Ali and Heather gave me a really cool little original painting on wood as a Christmas gift and I really loved the concept of painting on a small hard surface. It inspired these...It's been crazy cold here in Denver the last few days and school has been cancelled, it's been amazing! Drinking warm drinks, knitting, wearing sweatpants all day and veturing out here and there to meet girlfriends for lunch or coffee. It's a great way to spend my last week before this baby comes.

Hope you're staying warm!

WeeKeNd BaBy ShOweR**

My friends Anne Marie and Katie had a baby shower for me at Vito's office this weekend. It was super sweet and just what I wanted. It was small, no lame games, plenty of alcohol (that I couldn't drink) and no public present opening. I really enjoyed it and felt so loved. We laughed a lot! It just felt like a fun party..
It was great being surrounded by fun family and friends.
I can't believe I only have 4 1/2 weeks to go! It's really going by so fast.