team lovely.

I'm SO excited about Elsie's new collection: Team Lovely. In the update at the RVA site this morning, she listed her first installment of 6 out of 100 lovely girl paintings! I love them all, and can't wait to be a part of Team Lovely myself.

Elsie puts so much heart and effort into her paintings, and it would be so cool if we all joined the team, don't you think? They will be keeping track of where each Team Lovely painting is shipped to, on a map! I'm looking forward to seeing more of the collection, and picking my own lovely girl to name, and display in my home.

Be sure to also check out the cute new kit as well! I love the faux-photos! RVA kits never cease to take scrapbooking and paper crafting to the next level!

Everyone keeps asking me what Simon is going to be for halloween this year.... but the truth is, I haven't had the time to make him a costume! I thought of making him a starbucks latte, with a whipped cream hat... which would've been awesome, but there's just no time. I figure I have many years ahead of us for me to make Simon cute costumes. So this year we're taking it easy.

Speaking of halloween, I'm looking forward to it being over, lol. Sorry to all those halloween fans out there, but I just can't wait to start thinking about Christmas! I've been brainstorming about decor ideas for the salon, and I'm thinking a nice big tree, lime & teal ornaments, with peacock feathers, and other ornaments that I used on my home tree last year. For my house, I dream of having a bright crazy tree.... like purple! Where my Mom works, she can order me a purple one, but it's a little pricey... so we'll have to see. Anyone else already thinking about Christmas decorating?? It's my favorite time of year.

Time to make lunch, and get ready for work.

Have a lovely thursday, blog friends.

XO holly

ps: Do you plan on getting a Team Lovely painting? I'm excited to see who's all going to join the team! :D

pss: wearing maternity pants today. :S So it begins...

spaaaaah

Happy Friday everyone!

Just thought I'd leave a quick post. Simon loves my fugifilm instax photos, and was asking for some, so we took some with him for him to have, and he loves them, it's cuuute.

aaaand, I'm excited because I'm getting treated today, and taken to Ten Spa, in Winnipeg!

It looks lovely, and I'm looking forward to it. :)

enjoy your weekend!

xo holly

cravings.

my new favorite tea.

apples. crunchy and not too sweet, but not too sour. Macintosh are the choice these days.

sun maid raisins. :) Childhood favorite.

and SOUP! any kind. all I want is soup. :P

I made an awesome corn chowder the other day, and it was a hit! I made a huge pot, and it was gone before 24 hours were up. My sister in law shared her recipe with me, and I'm sure she wouldn't mind me sharing it with you all. It's a great soup to make with the chillier days among us.

2 tbsp butter
olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves (I use garlice powder)
6 sprigs fresh thyme (I use thyme powder)
1/4 c. flour
6 cups canned vegetable stock
2 cups cream
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
6 ears corn (I used 2 cans of corn)
s and p
1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley leaves

Heat the butter and 1 tbsp olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and thyme and cook until the vegetables are good and soft, 8 to 10 minutes. Dust the vegetables with flour and stir to coat everything well. Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Add the cream and the potatoes, bring to a boil and boil hard for about 7 minutes, until the potatoes break down. Cut the corn kernels off the cob and add to the soup. Season with salt and pepper and simmer until the corn is soft, about 10-12 minutes. Stir in the parsley and give it another little drink of olive oil. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.

mmmmm.

I also posted an afghan pattern on the Red Velvet blog yesterday, if you're interested.

(see how Simon's foot made the photo..lol)

I'm only a small portion complete, but I'll be posting my progress on wednesdays on the RVA Blog. :)

Wonderful things to note about today:

-the sun is finally shining!

-I woke up to a shining clean house! (thanks Mom!!)

-I had my maternal physical today and got to hear the baby's heart beating. He/she kicked the monitor a bunch of times too, making me giggle. Hearing those sounds remind me that there is something living inside me, and why this is all worth it.

-belated Thanksgiving dinner with the best of friends. :)

-relaxing with tea and New Moon.

-starting new knitting projects

it's nice to think about the wonderful things.

XO holly

Ps: my mom e-mailed me this video today, it's pretty cool. :) How fun would it be to be in that crowd?!

bump watch.

baby bump, originally uploaded by hollysarah..

When I was pregnant the first time, I took maybe 3 photos of my belly and how it grew. This time I want to make sure I'm documenting it better, to keep the memories, because I don't know if I'll ever want to do this again. Here's photo #1 in bump watch for baby #2. :)

xo holly
ps: I'm showing much earlier with the 2nd baby... but that's normal I think.

friday's here.

Check out the latest goods at the RVA store! I made some cute fall inspired coffee cuff's for your next venti. :) Do you fancy apple or acorn? Plus make sure to check out the Baby Bear Hats that Rachel made! They are the cutest!! I grabbed a pink one.... with hopes that we'll be able to use it on our little one coming in May. ;)

There's lots of new posts to check out at the Red Velvet Blog too!

I posted an easy tutorial for knit arm warmers.

Check out the new blog header too! I used some great digital frames from Kitschy Digitals. You can find them here.

I've seen some great talent from some girls from my town, so I thought I would share the links with you. :)

Sweet Sock Monkeys! Check out her Etsy shop, MonkeyingAround.

Gorgeous handmade clothes from Dove Tree.

Morden has some awesome talent! :)

I'm excited to add these 2 decor items to my home.

Darling crewelwork from Lune Vintage.

Daydreamer Secrets painting by elsiecake, from Red Velvet Art. :)

aaaaand, I'm in the middle of reading New Moon (so good!), and I'm looking forward to the movie coming out next month. :) The trailer looks so exciting!! (I'm slightly obsessed, lol, and totally ok with that)

Jenna and I have a date to go see it. :D

happy weekend!

xo, holly

home away from home.

photos by Janae.

You can see some of the other forts that have entered here.

One of the many fun things that went down (er... up) this weekend, was our fort! It's been too long since I made one, and this one was perfect. Elsie's loft is full of all the best kinds of happy things to make one awesome fort. I miss it already, and had some good times watching tv shows and knitting with some of the best company under the vintage tapestry roof.

It's been a fun day of flying so far. (never fun to say goodbye to friends, but I'll be back :D) I was kinda nervous.... well, make that pretty nervous about traveling alone, but now that I'm 1 flight away and a 2 hour drive from being home, I'm realizing that it's not so bad. It's rather fun actually. I haven't felt this independent in a while, and I'm proud of myself for navigating around, and making every flight in good time, while managing to eat properly and not leave anything behind! lol.

me and my starbucks will continue to chill out until I leave Minneapolis for Grand Forks.

Happy Thanksgiving once again to my Canadian blog friends! Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend.

XO holly

bff's

This weekend is coming to an end... which makes me sad. But we still have a fun filled day ahead.

Our photoshoot went great yesterday. Our photographer, Janae, was really fun and super sweet.  She was so thrilled about the paper dolls, our outfits, and the fort we made.

Speaking of the fort, I can NOT wait for you guys to see it.  Elsie will blog about it soon, it's pretty much amazing.

We cuddled up and watched tv/hulu before bed last night and we watched all 3 episodes of Modern Family..... seriously, I think it's my new favorite show.  I laughed so hard.

We're headed to the local coffee hot spot for a baby shower this afternoon, and hope to do some knitting and more hanging out later on.

It's Thanksgiving back home, today, so here's a list of things I'm thankful for right now:

- for the RVA girls for allowing me to be a part of Red Velvet and the AMAZING thing that it is.

- for coffee (thanks Emma)

- for the baby inside of me

- for the fact that I'm feeling great, no more nausea!

- for my Fugifilm Instax for making fun photos to scrap when I get home.

- for other moms (ahem, Rachel) to chat birth stories with

- for weekends just like this!

- I could go on..

Happy thanksgiving to the ones back home! Eat an extra piece of pumpkin pie for me! Hopefully there's leftovers when I get home. ;)

xo holly

friday friday.

(photo from elsie's blog)

Today was full of:

more thrift store shopping

more crafting

more time all together

sewing on buttons

online chats with chinese food
discussions about art, tattoos, mommy stuff, photo shoots..

i love the girls, and I'm having a blast. I feel so welcome and happyyyyyyyyy.

I've been craving cherry limeade and Emma brought me the hugest one possible tonight. She's sweet like that.

aaand, Danielle made me a zombie, how fun is that?!

check out her blog to say hello.

can't wait for tomorrow!

xo holly

fun fun.

finishing up some cuuuute projects. :)

today we have:

gone for breakfast (one of my favorite things to do)

shopped at a cute scrapbooking store

got reeeeally wet (it's raining here lots!)

much more fun to come!

xo holly

tomorrow!

I'm going to hang out in Springfield alllll weekend with the RVA girls!

I can't wait to see Elsie & Rachel again, plus I get to meet Emma! 

I'm nervous about traveling solo (first time! eek) and also bummed that I have a stupid cold, but I know that it's going to be a weekend to remember. 

I'm bringing PinkLady (the mac) along with me so I'll still be present in blog world, with lots of funs photos and tweets I'm sure.

yays! I'm so blessed to have such awesome friends.

xo holly

If ever I've been inspired..

It's from this photo.

This photo has a story.

It is from the blog of a couple that go to our church, we don't know them well, but Ryan is friends with their brother.

They had a baby boy on Sept.29.

He was only with his mommy & daddy for 25 minutes before he went to heaven.

The strength of this couple astounds me, and I wept as I read her birth story that she posted on her blog. 

Life is just so precious and amazing, even if it only lasts 25 minutes.  They are so happy they had the little time with him, and their attitude, love & respect for God is completely inspiring.

So I thought I would share it with you.  

holly.