hand-drawn herb notecards with watercolor

I wanted to create something special for mothers' day to send to my sweet mom and my wonderful mother-in-law. I knew they would both appreciate the herb motif since they are likely to be growing one or more of the above as we speak. I drew the herbs, scanned and printed them on 100% cotton scored cards and hand-painted them with watercolor. I sent our moms a set of six (two of each card) with matching envelopes.

If you're also a reader of Kaylan's lifestyle blog, you may have seen that I recently began offering short-run printing services (Kaylan was my first official client with her gorgeous original watercolor notecards). My new printer is capable of the highest quality printing and especially suited for fine art papers and heavy cardstock--making it perfect for printing stationery, wedding invitations, announcements, etc. Nightingale Handmade is now an official business registered in the state of California in San Diego county. I pay taxes and everything, woo hoo!

It's a fun new endeavor that's still at the very beginning stages, but I'm excited to see where it takes me. If you are a designer or artist looking for a custom digital printing job, I would love for you to contact me to discuss the project. I know as a designer how difficult it can be to find top quality flat printing on the paper you want with the care you yourself would give it! You can contact me at nightingalehandmade@gmail.com.

 Oh, and if you'd like to purchase a set of the cards above, I'm hoping to make that possible soon with an online shop. Changes changes coming to the NH blog! 

current living space

Hello! It's been awhile! We've been settling into our day-to-day routine here in San Diego. We've met some kind people, been attending a church downtown, spent a fair share of time eating fish tacos. I'm training for a half marathon! We are learning to trust God more and more every day. And, of course, we've had more than a couple beach days. :)

Today I cleaned our apartment because our landlord asked to show a couple people the floor plan, and then later I thought to snap a few photos so we remember where we spent our first several months in San Diego. We're looking for a new place to live with 2 bedrooms--however, if we don't find anything affordable, we might stay in this current tiny place! It's month-to-month until August so we have a bit of time to decide. 

Enjoy a few snapshots. There's not much to see! We sold or donated most of our possessions and I'm enjoying this massive simplification of our belongings. Turns out we really don't need much to live at all. 

Here's one of the two of us from last night after a mini-date of craft beers from a cool place down the street. Oh yeah, did I mention that THE BEST taco shop, bagel shop, donut shop and happy hour joint are within walking distance of us? We're in trouble!

Stay on the Bike

The day we left New York for our cross country road trip extravaganza, a few of our friends gave us hours and hours of driving music on burned CDs. It was awesome and we appreciated every single disc. One of them, however, got a lot more play time than all the others...because our singer/songwriter/jack-of-all-trades friend Matt wrote the songs, and our other multi-talented friend Annah contributed her insanely beautiful vocals to what became the soundtrack of our trip: a self-titled, home-recorded/mixed EP, the debut of their musical collaboration known as Stay on the Bike. 

From the very first listen, these 5 songs spoke to us.

Each and every morning, we began our day's journey with 1) a prayer for safety and 2) several consecutive plays through the EP. Matt and Annah's voices blend together with a sound I can only describe as pure. And maybe heavenly (clearly I'm not a music critic, this lingo is straight from my heart). I have always been blown away by Matt's musical talent, but hearing these songs took things to a new level. And considering that I always thought of Annah as a pretty quiet person (not to mention one of the sweetest, most creatively gifted people I know!), it was a relatively surprising--but awesome--realization to hear that she has a voice like glass. Friends, this is good stuff. I'm really passionate about what these two have created so far and I'm anxious to see what's in store for them in their new musical endeavor! The EP was released today for streaming and purchasing. Go check it out!

Matt and Annah, thank you for the gift of these songs, and more importantly, the soundtrack to a road trip I will remember for the rest of my life. The first line of "Build" is my favorite from the EP, and every time I hear it I know it will bring to mind a vivid reel of our vast country's hills, plains, rocky mountains, deserts, and finally, rolling seas. I drank in those scenes along with your sound. I will think back to those moments, embarking on a new adventure with my love, and I will sing along earnestly:

"I want to carve a road
like the one I used to travel with you..."

Monique's Baby Shower

My dear friend Monique is having a baby in several weeks!! I had the pleasure of creating the invitations for her shower. She picked out the colors and the chevron pattern based on decisions they made for Baby Penny's nursery and I loved the pale orange + mint together. I overlaid the chevron pattern with a subtle watercolor design to get some slight variation in the color. We used gray top-open envelopes which worked out great with the oversized hang tag shape!

Monique's mom and sisters threw her the most adorable party! There were so many thoughtful details and the food was amazing. It was a huge blessing to be able to be there (the day we were packing up our trailer!) although it kills me that I won't be around for the birth of her sweet baby--the gender of whom is yet to be determined :) Luke and I are so blessed to have Monique and her husband Gavin in our lives. We miss them so much and can't wait for precious Baby Penny to arrive.

 

 

Mo, I love you and miss you so much! You're going to be an AMAZING mommy.

easter sunday

Our God is so faithful to provide for all of our needs. Last Sunday we planned to visit 2 different churches...but ended up not even making it into the service at the first church because I started to cry. It had been a hard week (2 weeks ago) and I was sad, lonely, and feeling like we didn't belong anywhere. This particular church didn't have its own parking lot so we parked several streets down and began walking, coincidentally alongside another member of the congregation. Maybe this middle-aged woman was shy, or maybe she was having a bad day herself, but she made no effort whatsoever to engage with us in conversation or even ask our names. It was an awkward, silent walk to the church a few blocks down. I was in a weak, self-pitying state and just before we entered the church doors a thought came into my mind that caused me to utterly break down.

"We don't belong here."

I couldn't control my tears and we had to walk away. I cried because of all the things I was deeply missing--mostly, at that moment, our sense of belonging. We had a place in Nyack among our friends, in our work, and especially in our church, and I was grieving the loss of that. I felt sorry for myself for the hours I had spent alone that week and the many uncomfortable situations I'd been in, fully aware of the fact that I just didn't quite fit in.

But I know that our God is good! In him I have the power over those debilitating thoughts (lies) telling me I have no place. As a child of God I belong to his family, and in him I find comfort just like a little girl finding comfort in the arms of her mom or dad. I can trust that his plan for my life is good and that no matter where I find myself (even on the opposite side of the country from my family and friends!) God is with me and will not leave me alone. After that very difficult morning, we went on to the second church and were received by some of the most warm and welcoming people. I believe that God was teaching me to find my place, my fulfilment and my sense of belonging in him.

What a different experience I had this past week. Holy week and the celebration of Easter are all about what Jesus did for us so that there would be NO MORE SEPARATION between us and the Father. This intimate relationship I have with God--one in which I find all of my hope and peace and belonging--exists only because Jesus died on the cross. I am so thankful for that sacrifice!!

So we had a wonderful Easter day. Like all wonderful days, it began with pancakes and bacon. We went back to the warm and welcoming church, came home to make salsa and watch basketball, and then spent the rest of our day feeling like adopted family members at the Easter gathering of some of our good friends' relatives who happen to live in San Diego. Luke and I are blessed and thankful. Thank you so much for your prayers for us!