Let’s catch up, shall we?
Wowowowow - here we are! Mid-september. I’m a little embarrassed by how long it’s been since I’ve written a blog post - and then I think of all the things that happened over the summer and I think, eh - it checks out.
This summer was…forever changing. There were a ton of highs - trips, decorating, friend + family hangouts - but there were also some not-so-fun moments. Earlier in the summer, there were definitely weeks where it felt like everything was kinda falling apart - family emergencies, health issues, friends health issues - it just seemed like nothing was really going right. Not all of these events are my stories to share, so I’m not going to. But, it didn’t feel right to not bring them up and just pretend this was the best summer ever.
So now that we’re through the not-so-fun moments, let’s catch up on more of the fun stuff that happened this summer!
Travel
This summer was the summer of girls trips and they were an absolute blast!! I went to 3 bachelorette parties: Joshua Tree, Disney World, and Fort Lauderdale. All 3 trips were absolutely amazing, and my favorite part about all of them was being able to celebrate friends I hadn’t seen in way too long, and be able to connect and make new friendships with their friends!
ps - did you happen to see this Furby Veuve bottle I made for Alex?? It was a big hit - hehe. The next big trip is next month to Seattle for their wedding and I CAN’T WAIT!!!!!!!
Decorating
You might remember that Curtis and I moved at the beginning of May! We absolutely LOVE our new apartment!!! We can walk everywhere and the neighborhood just feels so friendly. Because we’re renting (because hello, crazy market) - I’ve been obsessed with making it feel like ours in a renter-friendly way. I checked with our landlord and he was okay with painting + peel and stick wallpaper as long as we painted it back and I said say less. So over the summer, we did a peel-and-stick wall (I feel like I should write about my experience with this - lol. It def wasn’t as easy as the 30 sec timelapse makes it look..but it was def worth it!), painted the basement a really pretty greenish-navy, refurbished a console, and..our pink couch came in!! You know how home projects go though, I get one project done and think of 3 more to do - hehe. It makes me SOOOO happy to have a place that feels like home.
Work
Last, but definitely not least! I got a new job! You might be thinking whaaaaaaaat… I thought you were a full time artist? I probably talk about this on instagram more, and need to be better about chatting about it here - but even if it looked like I was a full-time artist, I typically have worked mostly-full-time as a freelance graphic designer. I think it’s important to be transparent about this. Don’t get me wrong, I think being a full-time artist is totally doable - but over the years I have just found for me, primarily getting my income from painting made it less fun and enjoyable, and was really starting to burn me out creatively. I actually read this post by local artist Adrianne Hawthorne, and it made me realize I’m not alone in feeling this way, and I’m not any less of an artist just because I also work a full-time job.
So anywho - the new job!! I started about a month ago as a senior designer at Crate & Barrel and I absolutely love it!! It’s so nice to be part of a team, and I can’t wait to see where this new career takes me :) And of course, I’ll always still be painting for fun!
New Print
Speaking of painting for fun - I actually just finished this new piece, ‘A Parisian Moment’, last week, and am so excited to have it in the print shop! I’ve had Paris on the mind lately! I think it’s because we traveled there around this time last year. My goal was to capture the feeling of simply strolling through the streets in Paris - seeing the cafes and architecture and the eiffel tower peeking through in the distance. Also, I couldn’t get over how many pomeranians we saw in Paris, so of course I had to sneak one in :)
Welp, there we have it!! It feels odd + refreshing to recap 3 months into one post. So much happened - but sometimes, that’s life! I walked Leo this morning and it just felt so fall. Crisp and refreshing. I’m excited for this new season, and all that we have to look forward to.
With love,
Rachel
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