It's here! One of the few sales I do in my Etsy shop has arrived! From now until Monday at midnight, my entire shop is 35% off. I'm also offering free shipping on prints! Hooray!

My next sale won't be until March of 2016 so now is the time to scoop up those original illustrations and stock up on cards!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Nate and I did. It was relaxing and fun and I'm sad it's over. However, I am looking forward to Christmas :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend!

Chloe and Nate. My little family <3

Whoa. It just came up on me with such a quickness. Thanksgiving is the week!! How did that even happen?!

And so begins the holiday season. I love this time of year, but like a lot of people, it can sometimes be kind of a difficult time of year. Growing up, my mom always made the holidays seem magical. She really went all out. It was the time of the year that she really shined. She would decorate and make cookies with us. My parents were really amazing when it came to Santa too. They would set things up so special, they really made it seem like he existed. Even when we got to be too old to "believe" in him.

Remembering all those times is bittersweet. It makes me miss my parents and what it was like to be a kid. It makes me wish that we had a better relationship with each other. It also makes me wish that we lived closer to family members. It's a happy time of year and I wish that we were closer to family to help share that.

But, we both live far away from our family and working in retail doesn't really allow you much time off this during this time of year. So we stay here in our small cozy home, just the two of us.

I try to make the best of it by creating a festive and cheery atmosphere. Lights and a tree and I even attempt to bake things! They don't always turn out well, but sometimes it makes the house smell nice! We give presents and see friends and this year we're even going to watch the tree lightening ceremony downtown with friends.

So even though this time of year is sometimes hard, I still look forward to it. Even if it is the two of us, we have each other (plus Chloe), and that in itself is really wonderful.

I hope everyone has a really wonderful week. Stay tuned for my special weekend sale coming up!

I haven't been ignoring my blog this week, I promise. After what happened in Paris on Friday I just wasn't really sure what to write about. I felt silly writing about the work I was making and I just couldn't seem to write anything about the attacks that I felt okay about.

It's a complicated subject and the complications are such that they will most likely never be solved. What happened was a tragedy and a nightmare. The attacks in Lebanon and Beirut were also horrific. I have no words to say that will help with either events.

I just don't understand. I don't understand how people can be so unwilling to forgive, let go and to be willing to kill for what they believe is right. I just can't comprehend that. Be angry, be upset, be whatever it is that makes you feel, but why kill? Why take people's lives? It just makes no sense to me.

Maybe it's because I'm a white American girl that I don't understand.

Anyway, I had written 3 blog posts on this subject and none of them felt like they really held up to all of the sadness and confusion that I feel, and I'm sure many other people feel as well.

I'm just a white American lady, without any answers or true insight, but I know that my heart hurt when I heard about Paris. My heart continues to hurt for the Syrian refugees and the Muslim people, who don't wish any harm on anyone, but are being shunned regardless.

After 9/11, like the day after, I was driving to work, stuck in traffic, listening to the radio and John Lennon's "Imagine" started playing. It's such a fitting song for all days, but especially after such tragic losses. Sometimes the works, and words, of writers and artists, are the best things for me to turn to when events like this happen.