coldest day of the year since ...

April.  I am talking about Saturday Oct. 6th - it has been the one random cold snowy and sleeting day of the year so far which happened to fall on the same day as our last outdoor craft show of the year.  honestly.  

We were very lucky to have the shoppers and handmade supporters that we did!!  Thank you to all of the dedicated show goers that braved the cold, we really appreciate you!!  and my sweet family that made us as comfortable as possible :)  Carlee brought us hand and feet warmers and my dad came by with this beauty...

Rollin' on propane heat it felt like heaven!!  we were able to dry our pants and toes and it made the day go by so much faster :) 

 It was certainly a first for us!  We have been very lucky to always enjoy nice weather and big crowds but this show was our first nasty outdoor experience.  to say the least I am happy we are indoors for the rest of the year! 

 I decided to sign up last minute for a Greeley Gift and Craft show with all of our leftover inventory from last weekend - It is Sat. 9-5 and Sun 10-4 at Island Grove Park in Greeley.  There is more info here and I don't know much else!  This is my first time at this event so I'm excited and anticipating what the weekend has in store :) 

weekend re-cap and hello october!

Hello october 1st, It is looking quite fall like in our backyard! 

we had a productive and delightful weekend at the Butler Abode.  Jared was busy make plaster molds of his newest baby doll (arc store find!) and some slump molds for sushi plates!  I was finishing custom orders, glazing, and assembling magnet gift packs.  love it when we are out in the studio at the same time and get to work together... We have a show coming up next weekend and as it is now the month of OCTOBER I get the feeling shoppers are going to be in christmas gift mode!  **I hope** 

 I put them in cute little clear bags with colored paper and ribbon - Ready to give!! 

It was a good mix of fun and work this weekend with date night on Saturday, we went to chili's (probably our 2nd favorite food destination next to chik-fil-a ;) and spent sunday afternoon watching the broncos at Zach and Nicole's.  Happy to say they kicked some Oakland Butt :)

 Their cats were being cute and cuddly; Luna in Nicole's lap and Sunshine in Mine! 

 Our weekend also included sunday morning pancakes :)  pretty much amazing if you ask me. 

 XOXO

it's starting to feel like...

fall!  I love it SO much!!  

It was overcast yesterday and has been rainy all morning, amazing weather if you ask me :)  It has been a great start to the day going through my winter wardrobe and putting sweaters towards the front of my closet.  I also found some jackets I have outgrown and some older pieces I can't see myself wearing anymore.  I ran them through the wash and I am going to be stopping by Plato's Closet to see if they will buy any of my old clothes... they are kind of picky but I think they are going to want some of my nicer name brand stuff :)  AND a whole bag of items going strait to the clothing donation box.  I am shedding some bulk in the closet area.  feels good.  

Also opened a Glaze Kiln thismorning and have to share some new cuties!!

 is this not the cutest honey jar you've ever seen?!  I am too thrilled with how it came out :)

I'm excited to package and ship a couple of special orders that came out too!  I love my job!! If you can even call it that... it makes me so happy :)  yey for pretty jars and pottery <3 br="br">

xoxo

holy shmokes

has really been over a month since I sat down and uploaded pictures and thought to update the blog?!

yup.  

it is about time I play catch-up-on-a-bunch-of-haps in our little world.  where to begin.... We have got nice and adjusted to our school year routine - takes a few weeks to get used to seeing eachother in passing and having opposite schedules.  I have failed at adjusting mine to getting up earlier - What was I thinking?  all of a sudden I could become a morning person.... HAH reminder to self, set reasonable goals.

That said I have been better about being productive - at night and during the day before work.  Some things I have been really excited about working on are glazes!  honestly, It is weird to hear myself say this.  mixing glazes is one of my least favorite studio tasks, but right now I am so excited about the results I am not minding it so much!  I am hunting to find a new red glaze for our studio

some more glaze related progress is my new color chart!  showing off all our current studio colors to make ordering something custom online easier.  not to toot my own horn but it turned out pretty adorable with all the owls ;) 

 

The first week of september I finished up my first ever wholesale order!  It included 10 owl mugs and 5 shot glasses that went all the way to Kentucky - I can't believe the owner of this cute boutique found me online, I hope she sells out and orders more :)  

I am also excited about taking my owl designs in a new direction!  they are not just owl mugs anymore, but owl bowls!!  

It is fun to make them in XL versions.  change can be good :)  

and also on my fun list is coming up with new ornaments for this season and making jars.  I can't explain what it is about sockets and lids that is making me so happy... but jars are my new obsession right now haha

And one last ceramic recap was our show in broomfield for Broomfield days!  It was a great day, with a big turnout and family and friends that came to support us, thank you for making it a great day!! 

(Can you believe how big Payton is getting?!)  

she is not such a little girl anymore!  speaking of getting big... haha just older really...

Jared had a birthday last week!  

happy belated birthday shoutout to my sweet boy who turned 26.

I had too much fun surprising him with a shower full of balloons.  He said it scared him when they all fell out on him haha my mouth was a bit tender after blowing up so many! 

a showertub holds a lot more balloons than you would think :)

 

We are going to be going to the halloween store today to find a creepy baby for jared to slipcast.  Love how that sounds like a good time to both of us haha throw in some chik-fil-a and I call that a date!  hope you all have a wonderful weekend and cheer for the the broncos tomorrow! 

hugs and love

xoxo

Back to School

Monday was Jared's First day back at school, woah.  It came too soon!!  For me at least, I wish summer was a month longer :)  He is excited to be preparing for his students and starting a new year.  His school announced they are expanding and growing into another building: a two story building for middle school expansion!  It is exciting to think of what is in store in the future!! 

I have been busy @ kenny's and trying to keep up with ceramics - after getting stuff done for our loveland show this weekend I am back to special orders and custom pieces that got put at the bottom of the pile.  It is always hard for me to go to work (@kenny's) when I have things at home I would rather be creating..  My goal for this school year is to start getting up earlier!!  and use my daytime for creating (as much as I love being a night owl) and try to structure my days to maximize all the time I have before going into work.  I am usually pretty flexible (more like easily distracted) with what I accomplish and I want to try and make a better routine for making stuff AND growing the business.  It is amazing how far it has come just since the beginning of the year, and I want to keep the momentum going, especially into the holiday season and be prepared for what that entails :)  It is almost exciting to think I have more work than I have time - but for right now that means I just need to get busy :)  

here are some snippets from our weekend...

which also including an amazing comedy show in Denver!  Lynn made it all possible by coming up to watch the pups while we left straight from the craft show and went down to the paramount to see Aziz.  The show was absolutely amazing!!!  It was so much fun to see him live and jared and I both said our faces hurt from smiling and laughing after :D 

 

here's to the new school year and setting goals, yea!

cheers!

hugs and love 

xoxo

Craft Show season has begun

it is officially here!  and I can't tell you how happy it is making me :)  I had so much anticipation in the weeks leading up to our big opener at the Arts Picnic, and it is such a good feeling to be back showing the public what we love to do.  We could not have had a better First show of the season, and for that I am so thankful to our family, friends, and fans that came out to support us!  We love Greeley and all the amazing creatives and art fans that dwell there!!

Jared did throwing demos on Saturday - he didn't splash too many on-lookers!  And he had a bunch of students come out to see him, which was very cute :)  We are getting REAL in the studio busting out some more pieces for Art in the Park @ loveland in just a week n a half!!  I don't think either one of us expecting to sell some of our showcase items the first show, I love being Surprised :)  

Jared has been busy taking care of a lot of stuff around the house.. we had a cracked spigot in the backyard that was leaking water.  He did a full replacement on it all by himself!!  I was so proud of his plumbing abilities and DIY skills - after about 6 trips to the hardware store :) He also had to change a spare tire on my car that went flat on sunday, of course.  When we needed my car to load up after the show.  Crazy how craft shows always seems to come with car problems for us.  last year it was my window being blown out on the highway... just crazy i tell ya.  

I also had a really good b-day a couple weeks ago :) 

  IT seemed like a week long birthday with celebrating with my family, getting spoiled by jared, and going to denver to enjoy lynn's birhtday treat... She got us tickets to see comedian Aziz Ansari!!  He is one of mine and jared's favs.  It was sad to find out he rescheduled his show - it was so close to the Aroura theater shooting that he said it didn't seem right to come make jokes - so true.  We had a great time anyway and are still super excited to see him in a couple weeks!! 

My yoga challenge was finished on tuesday, and sadly I didn't reach 30 classes.  I had stuff stack up at the end of the month and I ended up being 4 classes short, Bummer!  as much as I wanted to accomplish it, I still feel pretty stoked about how many classes I was able to do.  I did more yoga this month than I have ever done period, and it is super exciting to see how much my practice and body have changed.  more than anything I think this challenge has motivated me to keep going as much as possible.  I have so much enthusiasm for class and the process is keeping me wanting more!  

this was my calendar @ the half way point.  Also an exciting part of the challenge was getting stickers for each class.  I love Stickers!! haha I think I might keep doing it, just stickering my planner for every time I go.  Stickers just make a person happy, doesn't matter how old you are I say :) 

happy August all!!

hugs & love

xoxo

summertime

crazy how the days go by so fast.  I blinked my eyes and june was over.  

As of July 1st I took on a Yoga challenge that my instructor friend Maggie created.  The Challenge is; 30 classes in the month of July (which has 31 days!!  sneaky and brilliant to give us a day off lol)  As much as I love Bikram's yoga, I only practice 1-2 times per week.  This is the most yoga I have ever done in my life but I so excited for the progress and results of such an intense challenge.  It is also a lot of fun to be taking classes with all of the girls from work!  there are 5 others taking the challenge too and it makes class really fun, and motivates me to go.  

One Quote that has stuck with me from bikram's dialogue is "If anyone steals your happiness, you are the loser.  If you let anyone make you sad or angry, you are the loser."  It is a wonderful reminder in the back of my mind to stay positive.  And I love that yoga has that power to change your mind & body & life.  Even though summer is rushing by I am holding on to memories and the things that are making me happy... and would really love to share a glimpses of the past month!  and what is making me smile :) 

Hanging out with this skateboarding, pokemon collecting, tank top wearing boy.  He is enjoying time off to its fullest and I love that he makes no rules for summer.  

Fresh eats - blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, and melons.  OH YES

Seeing much anticipated movies... escaping the summer heat for matinee shows, put your feet up and enjoy.  

sweet packages that make me feel so loved and special.  and jared's new found love for checking the mail - he has been a card collector through e-bay.  our postal love is just about equal i would say. 

(and I now have my own scale for printing shipping labels at home.. it will be a huge money saver, yey!)

daytrips and adventures to new places, finding some of the best pizza i've ever had in my life:

holidays with friends and family, makes me really thankful.

 My patient handyman, taking care of me and our house.. and all of my little projects :) 

Fresh pots and Jared's new collection of GLAZED stuff!!

SO ready for arts picnic.  

Skies that aren't filled with smoke coulds and ash.  (colorado's wildfires have been relentless and devastating especially in this summer heat.)  

I have to so much to be happy for and for that I am thankful.  

free your heart from hatred.

free your mind from worries.

live simply.

give more.

expect less.

laugh often.

xoxo

hugs and love