Conferences are refreshing, enlightening, and inspiring. You leave with that extra kick in your step to jump start that next project you have been waiting to do…BUT THEY CAN BE SOOO AWKWARD too. Or at least I can be. Okay, maybe it’s just me. I am the Queen of Awkward. My small talk conversations usually go as follows. ME: “Hi, how are you?” THEM: “Good. How are you?” ME: “Good, good…How are you?” THEM: “Great” haha. I even joke with friends that whenever I feel alone and awkward at a party I walk around the room like I am looking for someone…then when I see someone I know…blurt out “Oh there you are” (Like I have been looking for them the whole time..haha). JK.

I know it sounds really silly but I have been working on my less-awkward-self in social situations. And when I was at Altitude Summit this past week I took a few notes and set out to work on them. I am still a work in MAJOR progress let me tell ya. That being said, I am taking a different spin on What I Learned at Altitude Summit then I did last year (which was quite good if I may say so myself). This time I have decided to share a few tips for Less-Awkward-Situations For The Hermit Artist. haha. Am I a goof for having this? I think so.
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I would talk about it casually because I thought it wasn’t going to be a reality for us any time soon. We travel a lot and are very busy. And puppy is a responsibility…you know. BUT HE TOTALLY DID IT!! My husband, Brian, surprised me with a puppy for Christmas. How cute is that?! We got a puppy on our third Christmas together as a married couple. I always thought that would be such a cute story to tell our kids one day. Our Goldendoodle was born a few days before christmas and we get to go pick him up in Texas and take him home in late February. AHH!!! We are really excited to have a little buddy around the house. Sometimes you gotta celebrate the little things in life…. right?

So being a new dog owner I am on the look out for some tips!! Anything I should know or try? AHHHHH!! So pumped!! We are thinking about calling him: Parker. YAY? or NAY?

(This photo is not our puppy…. but it’s the same breed. How cute)

It has definately been a long time coming. So, I am excited to announce that the Messy Bun Hair Tutorial is finally up. This video will show you my process of how I create and wear my signature messy bun. I hope you enjoy it and maybe get to try a new look for yourself. Let me know if this was helpful at all and I will work on posting more hair tutorials.
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The house was decked with gold streamers, colorful confetti, beards, great friends, and GOOD food. I was pretty nervous considering I am not Susie Homemaker and I consider myself a terrible host. But with some help of some great friends I pulled off a surprise 30th birthday party for my husband Brian. I can’t believe he’s 30. He had NO idea and I was completely surprised that he was surprised. haha. I am very thankful that he was traveling in the beginning of November so I was able to sneak a few trips and planning dates in when he was gone. His parents came out to visit us and I told Brian that I was helping my assistent, Alex, get her house ready for her “open House” on saturday. His parents said they wanted to see her home and meet Alex too. So they brought him at 7:30pm. Little did he know that it was his surprise party. And SURPRISE!!! Check out the video above of the surprise moment. It was pretty epic.
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As I watched the tide rise up and fall back I saw similarities with the ocean and my life. I went where the tide took me and now it’s time to reevaluate.

We took a vacation. Because, although we have done a lot of traveling this year… it has all been stress or work related. So this trip was the opposite. We went to Hawaii for a week. Yes, that’s where I have been. And I have not hated any part of it. It was so good for us. To just relax and let our minds go blank. It’s hard to do that, if you are like me. My mind is always spinning. I like a challenge. I like to be doing something. And I like to feel like I am figuring something out.

But sometimes when your mind goes blank for a while… your soul starts to reboot and you begin to see the big picture again. I feel like I saw that this week. The big picture. I was inspired and rejuvenated. And I don’t think you need to go on vacation to see that but that’s where I was reminded this week. I was able to free my mind and dream a little too. I thought about ideas that before had seemed too heavy or undo-able. But this time I saw them in a new way. A lighter way I guess.
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On the way over to trick or treat with our friend’s kids last night… we had a conversation about dressing up and being characters. Do you have to actually BE someone for Hallowwen? Or can you just dress up silly? It’s kind of embarrassing when people have to ask “What are you?” Right? and You don’t WANT to be the person that asks that…. so you just say “Oh, cool costume” haha. (But what the heck is it?) haha. Well I always feel a little intimidated to actually BE something or someone for Halloween. So we just dressed up in whatever we could find around the house. Haha. That is actually a really fun creative challenge.

I did see a kid with blood all over his shirt and cereal boxes glued to the shirt with spoons sticking out of them. And he was a CEREAL KILLER!! hahahaa. sooo good. Did you see any memorable costumes?

Brian was calling me his 22nd century Martian girl. haha.
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This past weekend we had a design party, meet up, work party, hang out, fine dinning kind of weekend. I have been sooo blessed this past year to get to work with some amazing designers, partnering on inspiring design projects. I have been working with a girl, her name is Liz, from Sacramento for almost a year now on design projects. AND WE HAD NEVER EVEN MET!! So Alex and I invited her to come out, hang out, meet us, and spend some time together. It was so weird/AWESOME/and enlightening to meet someone we knew… but didn’t. haha. She was WAY better than I expected. I knew she was cool (thats why we invited her)…. But I just didn’t know she would be THAT cool. haha ya know?
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