- Oct 1, 2024
Happy October my Pleasant Peaceful Pumpkins!!!
Ahhhhhh I literally cannot believe October is here. I haven't yet.....but I fully intend to dive deeply into all things pumpkin-flavored now that we're officially in October. I've been eyeing an insane amount of pumpkin-flavored recipes both savory and sweet. And I just finished doing a lovely little fall Halloween refresh in the house (think ghost paintings, candlesticks, twinkly lights, little pumpkins, and hanging witch hats).
September flew by in the blink of an eye because we were out of town for most of it. I feel like I entered a time machine a bit, but we have returned to the end of September and the start of all the fall vibes ( so exciting!). So where was I for most of September??
FRANCE!!!!!
Ricky, Leonora, and I took our first BIG International trip together as a family and it was truly magnificent. It definitely wasn't easy traveling internationally with a 9 month old, but it was soooo worth it. We had a blast and got to experience September in much cooler temps and amazing beauty.
We started off the trip in Annecy, France - a small town by a gorgeous mountain-lined lake at the feet of the Alps. Then jumped to Chamonix which sits smack dab in the Alps at the foot of Mont Blanc (the largest mountain in Europe). We had amazing views every day and took Leonora on a few hikes and her first gondola ride. We rounded out the trip with some relaxing days in Paris, strolling the streets, eating pastries, and taking in the Eiffel Tower with the Olympic rings on it (seriously so cool to see).
I was so sad to leave, but we returned to Houston ready for all that fall brings.
Since I was gone for most of September I thought it would be more fun to share some photos of our French Family Adventure!! Hope you enjoy these pics and I will see you in November.
xoxo
Rachel
This lovely place is called Lake Annecy, about an hour and a half outside of Lyon, France.
We did a few small hikes, explored the old town that has major fairytale vibes, and enjoyed the view from our hotel of the lake.
Enter Chamonix...my favorite part of the trip.
We stopped to take pics at this beautiful mountain pass and to feed our little Leonora.
This is by far my favorite pic from my favorite day in Chamonix. We went on a lovely hike with amazing views the entire time.
We hiked to our little hearts' content. The Alps are filled with lovely little mountain restaurants that you can hike to, enjoy a bite and a drink, enjoy the views, and then hike on your merry way.
More pics from my favorite day!!
Next, we hit up Paris to round out our trip. Leonora got to take her first train and subway ride too.
We spent our time in Paris going to art galleries, roaming the beautiful streets, exploring the catacombs (perfect for pre-Halloween vibes), and eating at lovely cafes. It was a dream. So so sad to leave but we had a lovely time and I can't wait to go on our next adventure with Leonora.
Hello, my Beautiful September Butterflies!!
I've been a busy bee working on, you read that right, Book 2 in the ABCs of Grief series!!! Seriously, so exciting!! If you are new here let me give you a quick recap. Last year I had the amazing pleasure of illustrating "The ABCs of Grief" by Jessica Correnti. This book walks little ones through understanding grief and how to process it through simple, relatable, and child-friendly language. Life is full of changes; sometimes it can be overwhelming to understand our feelings. But this book is such an amazing tool to help not only kids work through it all but to help adults too. The first book came out early this year, and you can check it out on Jessica's website or Amazon. Photos below of the first book (eek...so cool to see the book side by side with my original illustrations).
Shortly after its release, Jessica and I started working on Book 2!! In book 2, Jessica dives into all of the Emotions and Feelings that go along with grief a little deeper and helps guide us in navigating these big accompanying feelings. We started working on sketches over late spring into early summer and over the past few months I've been feverishly painting all of the fun illustrations to pair with Jessica's amazing words. It has been a fun challenge to come up with new illustrations that are different from book 1, but still live in the same world.
I can't give away too much, you'll have to stay tuned for more details later on, but I wanted to share just a few behind-the-scenes photos of some of these illustrations to get you as excited as I am.
I enjoyed a homemade latte while I painted on this day.
Mixing both paint and colored pencil.
I'm going super colorful on the illustrations.
My sweet Frankie joined me on a day of painting (it was thunderstorming that day and he was seeking refuge under my desk...8 years old and he is still a puppy).
Can't wait for you to see all of the final pieces soon! Eeeek
Stay Tuned and I'll see you in your inbox next month!!!
xoxo
Rachel
- Jul 31, 2024
Happy August to you all!! Coming into your inbox right on time this month! As you recall I poked my head in late for July due to some incredibly unforeseen circumstances....a Hurricane!
The hurricane truly was not on my radar until I found out it was heading towards Cancun where a friend of mine was vacationing. I checked in on her while she was there to see her game plan, and once she told me they were going to leave a day early to miss it, I relaxed and put the hurricane back out of my mind. Then suddenly news alerts popped up that the hurricane had taken a turn and would hit Houston. I did a spit take, a "say what!", and a gasp simultaneously. So a relaxing weekend that Ricky and I planned turned into a frantic hurricane prep escapade. We cleaned up the backyard, tucking things into the garage, grabbed some non-perishables from the grocery store, and nabbed some gas for the generator if it came to it. Feeling prepared and ready, we watched the news. Throughout the day, the hurricane was slowing from a Category 2 down to a Category 1, so we felt a bit more relaxed and confident that it would be manageable once it made landfall.
The hurricane hit overnight Sunday into Monday morning. Ricky, Leonora, Frankie, and I sat and watched the rain and wind whipping through the neighborhood. The wind gusts topped out at 90 mph, and the eye of the storm was only 20 miles west of our house (Holy Bananas, I know!). We oddly didn't lose power until after the storm passed. Our house was fine, just some minor fence damage and a ton of tree debris. Everyone in our neighborhood went into clean-up mode outside once the storm passed, and we saw many trees having fallen on homes (we count ourselves lucky!). We got our generator up and running to protect Leonora's breast milk in the freezer and power our devices while we waited for the electricity to come back on.
We figured it would take a minute to regain power, but we didn't expect it to take 3.5 days. And as the days went on, the temperatures started rising. We were sweaty messes, to say the least, and found ourselves seeking refuge in any place with A/C that allowed dogs inside (Hello True Anomaly). I painted to meet a few deadlines as much as I could handle in the morning. And then we left the house once the heat became too unbearable. We eventually lost internet, making phone calls and most texts impossible. There are still texts from folks that I never received. We embraced the waiting game until our power came back on (what else can you do?), but it was a sweaty wait, to say the least.
It's been a few weeks now, and everyone has power back (it was over a week for many homes), but our streets are still piled high with tree debris. While the situation was a lot, I found it best to just accept it for what it was; otherwise, it would have made my sweating feel that much worse. We grilled out for dinner, read books, and restaurant/coffee shop-hopped to anywhere that had power. We embraced the rain, if you will. Shortly after we got power back, I started painting this cute little rain number for a personal project that I will be sharing soon.
I recorded this coming together and compiled it into a little video for you to watch at your leisure below with some relaxing rainy vibes. I know most people don't like the rain, but I find it to be both relaxing and cozy (yes, even in a hurricane haha). I included more moments of pause in the video than normal...more moments where I'm switching colors or thinking through what direction I want to head next or thinking of how best to fix a mark I didn't like. I loved painting this, but often with every painting I question if I need to start over or re-do a section. Sometimes I allow myself that luxury, but usually, I just push through and embrace the marks and paint strokes that were made and see where it takes me. Much like the hurricane, I accepted the painting wasn't perfect but that it would all work out in the end. (see what I did there....real full circle moment).
I will see you all in September.
Enjoy your August and the last bits of summer as we slowly start to slip into my favorite time of year (ahem...Autumn)
xoxo
Rachel
