coffee date

Things – November

- Stephanie Leave a comment

I used to blog about anything and everything, and I miss that. So let’s jam.

ONE WEEK until the Gilmore Girl revival airs!!! I don’t think this needs more commenting. Just all the happy emojis 😍. BUT I solemnly swear that I will not blog about this topic again until at least one month after that air date to ensure there are no spoilers on the internet 😉

Pizza Fridays are kind of a thing:
If ordering pizza for dinner semi-frequently is lazy and unhealthy, then let us be lazy and unhealthy. Mostly-every-other-Friday-pizza is our current favorite tradition and neither of us feel bad about it. Pizza is life. Someone get me a t-shirt.

I’ve been to SOME concerts lately:
Switchfoot and Relient K at the House of Blues was a blast from my 14-17 year old past and they both put on a huge, fun, dance-y party. Seeing Matt Wertz perform his new album Gun Shy was so fun and proved that there’s definitely something right about my eleven year obsession with his music 😉 Pentatonix and Us the Duo are all SO talented and their concert was a bright, encouraging, positive light during the mostly bummer of a week last week (more on that later).

Speaking of music. If you need new music to listen to: 
All those mentioned above plus: Savoir Adore, Jon Bellion, Castro, & ARIZONA, you’re welcome. P.S. Currently hand-crafting my Best of 2016 song list and I CAN’T WAIT to share it with you in December.

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If you need new *Christmas* music to listen to: Got you covered with that, too. Click THIS. (It’s the new Pentatonix Xmas album, obviously.)

Speaking of holidays, they are soon and I can’t even: 
I was never a “holidays are so stressful” person until I became somewhat of a real adult human and realized that you should probably treat holidays as a real adult human and not like a “there’s free food? ok I’ll be there” college kid. Things that sort of stress me out, but I’ll get over it: Contributing legitimate, yummy food options to family parties, actually putting thought into presents and not just giving people your leftover artwork that they probably will throw away anyways, seeing everyone you ‘need’ to see in a timely manner, traveling various distances to see those people, and when you’re married, making sure both families have the same amount of time with you. Ugh. Holidays. Was that too real? But I’m very excited to decorate our apartment and go on a date Christmas-light-sight-seeing around town. 😉

I saw the super moon: 
Didn’t everyone see the super moon? It was kind of hard to miss. I wasn’t planning it, but I happened to be on a large hill, with my camera, when it rose over the Boston skyline, so I hung out and snapped a couple photos. There were some INTENSE lenses up there. It was crowded and I like this photo the best.

supermoon over boston stephanie rita

World Market ruined me: 
My life was ruined to minute I stepped into World Market for the first time. I can’t go back, but I have to go back (let it be known I’ve been back many times). I don’t need more stuff, but I need all their stuff. It’s the worst, but the best. So much conflict is happening within me.

I am not a vegetarian anymore:
My streak of vegetarianism lasted almost 2 full months, but I have decided to give up the fight. It was fun and pretty normal and totally doable while it lasted, but for some reason (I like meat) it wasn’t meant to last.

On a more serious note:
Let’s be honest, last week was hard. I want to say thank you to those who did their part & voted in the 2016 presidential election. Thank you to those of you who voted for respect, experience and acceptance. A lot of us are heartbroken with the results, I know I am. I am doing my best to hold onto this truth: “God has not given us a spirit of fear.. but of love…” Be the love, you guys. This country needs it right now. LOVE YOU BYE.

Coffee Date | July 4th Wknd

- Stephanie Leave a comment

We haven’t had a coffee date in a while! So let’s do this: grab your Tuesday-but-it-feels-like-Monday coffee and stay a while.

On Saturday afternoon Nate and I, along with two friends, put our kayaks into the Charles River and took off for what was officially our longest ride yet. We were on the water for almost 3 hours! We explored a lot and I liked it. The way out was nice and easy because the wind was carrying us along, but on the way back the same winds were not on our side. Definitely an arm workout! Highlight of the day: the 6 cute turtles I saw. Because turtles.

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On Sunday we drove up to my parent’s house in NH to celebrate the 4th a day early. Nate’s parents were there too, so it was a whole big party! We played yard games (bocce! kanjam!) and then walked along the perfectly sunny beach for a while. The weather was the bomb dot com and the buffalo chicken my mom made for dinner was something to write home about (or at least pin on Pinterest). Lowlight of the day: Nate and I lost to our dads in bocce ball.

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On the actual 4th we watched our local parade (it’s a big deal), and hung out with some friends before the fireworks! Low key and livin’ life. I’ve never had a strong love of July 4th as a holiday, but I definitely appreciate it and all it’s American dreamin’. *insert american flag emoji here*

OMG WAIT! Last Friday I installed my first ever solo art show! It is up and viewable in the bakery on Natick Common until September 1st. It’s a collection of bold and fun life lessons to encourage your day, lovingly named ‘Paper Pep Talks’. Highlight of this: Maybe I’ll be famous soon.

letters from rita - bakery on the common 2

Short coffee date, but hope you had fun! Come back Thursday for a summer music roundup!

Coffee Date!

- Stephanie Leave a comment

It’s been a long time since I had a coffee date with ya’ll! First I want to share recent Etsy Shop work! This is a family crest which I so love and adore because it’s so personal. I feel like it’s almost as good as family photos (but not quite as good 😉 ) because of the legacy it leaves. I worked with my client to incorporate all the important life/family things into their crest: the state tree of West Virginia (where they were married), the year they were married, the mountains of Kentucky (where they now live), a cross and a shield that is based off of their family Bible verse, and ocean waves for their favorite place to vacation. I created this with pen and watercolors and it was really fun for me to make!

Family Crest Letter from Rita

I’ve been re-growing my nails out since the beginning of September, mostly because I really missed doing fun designs on them! These days I’m sticking with the less time-consuming design of polka dots, but I plan on getting more creative once my photo season winds down. Look out for fun Christmas designs! 🙂

nail art letters from rita

NEWS! I started a YouTube channel on a whim! (Like most of my creative endeavors, this has the possibility to be either short, medium or long term.) Obviously you know I love making art and listening to good music, so I decided to combine the two and do some live-painting to my favorite songs. The idea came to me as I was trying to fall asleep one night and the next morning I had to try it! First I set up my paints and my camera, and then I turn on a GREAT song and paint what I feel and hear! Live! In real time! So basically these are short, abstract watercolor sessions (with me singing along in the background, but I try to keep that to a minimum 😉 ) Here’s the result from my latest:

live-paint

In other non-artsy news, Nate and I booked a weekend trip to DC in a couple weeks! I’m so excited! We went once before, the summer of 2013, and had SO much fun, so I am really excited to make some new memories. I’m wondering if you have any must-see places (or more importantly, must-eat-at restaurants) you’d recommend?? Please share!!

S

Coffee Date | Bible, Wedding, Christmas!

- Stephanie Leave a comment

August is upon us! I’m ready for the craziest month of my summer! I’ll be traveling for weddings and photo shoots every weekend, and on top of that decided that I want to commit to blogging here 3 times a week. Which is like, OK, but how? Well I’m pre-scheduling some posts and also relying on good old WINGING IT. Because I do what I want. Not busy. Wildly productive. 😉

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My husband Nate has a goal this year to memorize more Bible verses. One verse a week was the original goal, but if it takes longer than one week to memorize, that’s OK too. He told me that the idea behind it was because in many situations when talking about his faith, he has a verse (or principal from a Bible story) that he can reference, but many times doesn’t know where to find it in the Bible. So he thought if he memorizes those frequently-talked-about passages and verses, he can actually point someone in the right direction so they can continue reading the Bible! I love my man. Pictured above was the first verse he picked, which is ironically one of the few Bible verses I know by heart already, so I got to help him out in memorizing it that week! I’ll keep you updated on new verses he picks.

coffee date with letters from rita_0041

You may remember me doing collaborations last summer with some bloggers in the Boston area. The sweet Courtney of Jeune Amour emailed me many months later (thanks for remembering me, friend!) and commissioned me to hand-letter small signs for her June wedding! She sent me the most luscious, textured paper and I experimented with many different types of pens and ink before I settled on using gouache! Guys, it was soooo good. I mixed a shade of gray-ish, navy blue pigment and had the best time lettering those little signs. Courtney just recently shared her wedding images on her blog! Go look! It’s a dream!

PeaceLoveLine

I have a couple new projects in the works for my little lettering biz! A new line of PRINTS! My first ever non-custom, ready-to-order, really cute, really pretty line of prints! They debut in September! I’m giving you a little sneak peek above, you’re welcome 😉 I’m also working on Christmas print/card designs! Yeah, it’s only August, and yeah, I have been listening to Pentatonix’s Christmas album to get in the right mindset, but YAY. Christmas prints/cards!

That’s all I have to fill you in on right this minute. What’s new with you?!

~S

Coffee Date | July Mornings

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Hey blog readers! I’ve been struggling between really wanting to blog for the sake of blogging (and not only for business), BUT not knowing which blog I should choose to do this on. I even toyed with the idea of starting a whole new blog. But I like this blog a lot and want to stay here! I don’t think this piece of my internet needs to solely be a lettering and art, so I want to share more of my regular life and random things and inspiration! So keep this URL in your blog list. Because I’m gonna be a real blogger again 🙂

~*~

Onto our coffee date! This picture is actually from a couple mornings ago, but I do have iced coffee next to me right now. P.S. Got the mug at Target! Anyways, Nate and I were up in New Hampshire for the first part of this week, relaxing by the lake, seeing friends, and reading our Bibles a lot. On this morning I was reading Colossians. I remember because the verses I read were very relevant to something going on in my friend’s life and I texted her the verse Colossians 1:11 “We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy.”

Another big part of our NH week is for catching up with our good friends and all their kiddos (the CUTEST kiddos, mind you). Whenever we see each other it’s like we never even missed a beat. I love that! When you’ve been friends for 10 years, I guess it’s bound to happen.

Nate and I took our new kayaks out on the lake for a couple rides. One of the rides being a sunrise one! We got up at 5 am to catch this beauty of a view. It was chilly outside that early, and reminded me of fall. But I promise I won’t talk too much about my favorite season until at least September 1st. Gosh, I love lakes. And sunrises. And fall.  oops 😉

I watercolored a quick little piece while sitting on the beach one morning and I used the lake water! It was a little gritty, I think I got some sand in my water cup. But I like how this painting of the lake is made with water FROM the lake! I got that idea from my great grandfather who used to paint covered bridges using the water below. Coolest idea, right! 

Welp, we’re off to the Cape for a couple nights of camping with our friends. Have a great weekend! ~S

P.S. Sorry, I’m kind of rusty at this blog-for-fun thing. It might take a few posts for me to get back to normal.