Fall beauty, finding time for creativity, always in transition.
We've been enjoying a gorgeous fall in West Philly, missing Maine a bit, starting to plan for our next transition. Mike is in year 3 of his veterinary medicine degree at UPenn, and we just celebrated his White Coat Ceremony, which marks the 3rd year students' completion of the classroom portion of their studies, and transition to the clinical portion of the degree program. Starting in January, he'll be working and studying at UPenn's large-animal hospital in Kennett Square, PA. It's about an hour outside of Philly, in a beautiful area full of working farms - lots of cows, horses, cornfields, and mushroom farms. We had planned to stay in the city until Hattie finishes her year at preschool, but for a variety of reasons we decided to move out to Kennett Square sooner, and it looks like we'll be out of the city by January 1st! I've fallen madly in love with West Philly and I am going to miss it very much, but we're also super excited to start exploring our new home soon.
These days, my creative work continues to be a balancing act, always striving to find time for making, amidst the busy days and nights of small kids and grad student life and moving homes and traveling and being far away from my studio space (which is still in Cornish, Maine!) for most of the school year. This complicated situation has definitely led me to explore more portable aspects of my design work, from hand-embroidering scarves to painting with gouache and working to build up my surface design portfolio. I'm sure if life were simpler I'd probably be bored, but I definitely feel that life is very full and complicated these days. I've been trying to dedicate some time every day to yoga and meditation, to create a bit of a calm amidst it all. I'm grateful for the summer days that I was able to spend in the studio, printing fabric and building up inventory which I hope will find a home during this holiday season. I'm also incredibly grateful to my amazing studio-mate and helper, Sabrina, who helps me with printing, packing and shipping orders while I'm out of town. And grateful for everyone who chooses to support handmade and small businesses during the busy holiday season! Thank you!!