New career or hobby?

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I may have majored in Magazine Journalism at Drake, but I minored in Fine Arts. Specifically, Graphic Design and Painting. And if I had ever thought I could make a living on my terms doing either, I probably would have changed majors.

Anyway... I have been dabbling in design again. Ok, and painting too. (I recreated Scott's Aunt & Uncle's wedding picture in Acrylic for their 40th Anniversary.) For the same Anniversary party, I did the invitations, the open house announcements, the response cards, and the place cards. And I loved it. I love the creative feel of the design and the thrill of making something others will see. (It's the same feeling when I cook for other people. I really think I might be an attention hog deep down inside.) So... above is my latest invite, for a Couple's Wedding Shower. It's a Harley Theme, in color and thought. I wanted to include their theme and love of motorcycles, but still keep it classy and modern. I hope they like it. (And yes, I smudged the important personal info!)

So... the point of this rant? I am trying to build my portfolio. And I think I am going to start freelancing. So, if you know of anyone needing a personal invite for a private event... give them my name. I'm not up to fancy-shmancy yet, I need to find a better printer for that. But I can try anything.

update

Thanks to all who helped in our prayer circle request from last week.
Meghann and Baby "Gummy Bear" MacKinnon are doing great! This baby is a true miracle, conceived against great odds, though the parents were unaware at the time, they are twice bless now that the baby has prospered even under extreme circumstances. Meghann is resting and will be back on her feet soon.
Thanks again!

To come: pictures of our fun weekend at Maifest in the Amana Colonies!

Religious Help

I know that most of the people who actually read my blog are fairly religious. So, I'm reaching out to you, and asking for your help.
One of my sister's 2 BFFs, Meghann (Radke) MacKinnon, is in need a little Prayer Circle help.
Meghann is about 8or 9 weeks pregnant with her and Rob's first baby. On Wednesday night Meghann sated having severe abdominal pain. So bad that she called an ambulance while Rob was in class. She was admitted and found to have a ruptured cyst. After surgery at 9:30 pm last night, they had removed a ridiculously large amount of blood from her abdomen as well as the cyst-remnants and an ovary and Fallopian tube. Meghann's body will heal. And as of late last night, her and Rob's baby was doing great. But stresses on the body like this can have adverse affects.... Please pray for Meghann's speedy recovery and for the health and protection of their unborn and already loved baby. We should find out today how Baby MacKinnon tolerated the surgery.
Most of you also know Meghann... and you know that she is an extremely private person. Keep her and her new family in your thoughts and prayers.
Thank you so much!

I love the weird looks i get from grown men when they realize that Weston is being treated by Dr. Mandy, our Chiropractor, same as me. And the reaction to the fact that she has been treating since he was one week old is priceless!

Newest picture, and other things

Today, Paisley's mom Jeramie finally sent me a picture of my niece. I haven't had a single picture or seen her since she was under the blue lights last Saturday. Suffice it to say, I'm not happy about the lack in communication, but it is nice to see her beautiful face. Isn't her onesie adorable? My sister makes them. This one is still too big (we were expecting her to be a bit bigger.) Seriously though, Shannon makes the cutest onesies, all personalized for the baby or family. (She even hand drew the Paisley pattern.) If you have a baby shower coming up and want a personalized gift, let me know... Shannon is for sale! :) My favorite, ironically, isn't one of Paisley's, Shannon made one for her friend Esther. Esther's maiden name is Starr. So Shannon made baby Annabelle one that read "I'm A Starr!" and decorated it with stars. It was adorable and personal. Funny though, she never made Weston one... I guess boys are harder than girls.

Speaking of Weston, he is feeling much better and has been at daycare the last 2 days. A huge relief for me. I hate it when he is sick. I have been enjoying the weather here in Iowa... 83 degrees today. I had lunch with the girls outside the back of our warehouse. I even worked on my bracelet for the big Anniversary Party this weekend. It's almost done. I would say that i am going to hang outside tonight or tomorrow when it's supposed to be 85 or so... but I have to finish a painting for the happy couple (Scott's Aunt Linda and Uncle Byron). They've been married 40 years this Sunday, and they do not have a large copy of their wedding picture. So I am repainting it. :0 We'll see how the finished product is. I have a feeling I am not sleeping tonight. It needs to be dry before we get in the car for Sioux City tomorrow.

Arg. Ok... back to work. I'll hopefully have big pictures of the party after the weekend.

the weekend, etc

We went to Clinton Friday. We raced from Des Moines and headed to the hospital to visit Paisley. As we rolled into Clinton at 9:07pm... we were a little dejected. Visit hours ended at 9pm. (Visiting hours? What is this, 1975? Des Moines doesn't have visiting hours!) So we headed to the Home Base to visit the parents and Aunt Linda and Uncle Dave. Which meant that Weston turned into a performing Monkey as he showed everyone that he could crawl, and pull himself up to standing.
On Saturday, we headed up to the hospital to meet little Princess Paisley. She was incredibly Jaundiced so the doctors had her under the Sun Lamps (which look like a mini tanning bed.) It was creepy and scary and very warm. I don't think I have ever held such a small baby! She wasn't holding down food at that point, so she only weighed 5.5 pounds! After lugging a 19lb Weston around, she felt like a paper clip!

(Funny note, Jeramie gave birth Thursday morning. She was released Saturday morning, but was given a room since her daughter was not being released. She left at 830 am to have a cigarette, after claiming to quit. She did not come back until around 1. She left again in the afternoon and again in the evening. My brother only left Paisley once... to get clean clothes when Jeramie did not bring any back for him. I don't care. It's weird. I would never have left my baby at the hospital when they had a room available for me.)

We visited for a while, left for a while, grabbed lunch and then headed back. It was about 80 degrees in that room. And climbing. We hung out for a while, held little Paisley again when the lamp was turned off and the room was cooling down, flipped Weston around, but we left around 430. Weston needed to rest and cool off. Our plan was to visit again on Sunday before we headed back to Des Moines. But we didn't get to.

After 2 days under the lights, Paisley was well enough to be released. And Nathan said that they were stopping by in an hour. But they didn't. Suffice it to say, there was a lot of DRAMA. And it was Jeramie's fault. I do not trust her behavior. I do not trust her with my niece. I do not trust her to not lie to my brother. I do not trust her period. She is a manipulative, greedy woman who blames her mental sickness for everything she does. Or as she told my mom yesterday, She was in a "grouchy or bitchy mood Sunday." (Right... grouch = domestic violence against the supposed father of your new daughter while driving that newborn baby home.)

So, I have not held my "niece" while she was healthy. I only saw her twice in 2 days time. We left Clinton when it became clear that Jeramie was not going to let us see our niece again that weekend. Weston was kind of iffy... not very hungry, kind of warm. By 7pm, he was running a 102.7 fever. It was crazy hot. Jason and Rachel stopped by for a visit... A new Walker for Weston! He like it at first, but he's not that interested when he's sick. I took him to the doctor yesterday. His fever was 103. He has Acute Pharyngitis. Basically a super swollen, sore throat and high-grade fever for days. Great. He's super cuddly when he is sick. My favorite Aunt in the whole world (my Aunt Linda) came in from Cedar Rapids to take care of him today and tomorrow if necessary. Thank goodness for her. At least I can work. I used the little sick time I had yesterday to leave at 130pm to take him to the doctor. Ugh. Fevers scare me.

Who knew?

Who knew that Nathan could make something so beautiful?

She is changing so much every hour! I can't wait to meet my beautiful Paisley.
(She's only 16 hours or so old here.)