It's been a minute, but I've been so busy lately that I forgot to post about this really awesome chalk experience I had. It was almost religious, I tell ya. 
I heard an ad on my favorite Atlanta radio station a couple weeks ago (that I've been listening to since middle school) looking for artists for this Heineken Cities Showcase in the East Atlanta Village. It's only my favorite place to party in the city (since I live *gasp* in the northern 'burbs) so I applied for fun saying I wanted to showcase my street art. Imagine my surprise when I actually got chosen!
My original plan was to just do a small-ish piece that I could finish in a couple hours, but something about that wasn't speaking to me. The weekend before the show, I was starting to panic when the leaders of my chalk art group hosted a 3D tutorial with some rather famous street painters from Florida. Monday morning, I knew what I had to do. I took some measurements in my fabulously flat driveway, whipped up a quick proof-of-concept sketch, and emailed the marketing director of 99x asking for a 10'x44' space for my piece instead of the 4'x8' that I'd originally applied with. It only took about 10 minutes for him to call me directly and say that he loved the idea and they'd get me the space. Oh no, what have I done?
After lots more sketching, Photoshop stretching, and gridding, I was finally ready to start on the afternoon of the show. My husband came out to help me and several of my friends and family also showed up for support. It took a bit longer than I thought and I had to cut out a small detail piece, but I actually pulled it off! I managed to design and draw my first real interactive 3D chalk piece. I can't even describe the amazing energy and fun atmosphere that night. Surrounded by musicians, fellow artists, and my cheering family, it was certainly an  experience I won't soon forget.

It also marks the latest I've stayed up partying since college, so I counted that as another win because I can usually barely make it to 10pm. 

My friend got herself a new man on Tinder recently and asked me to make a funny card for him. It'd been awhile since I had any calligraphy projects, so I spent the other day practicing my flourishes. I thought that was going to be my only cutesy, obligatory Valentine's Day Instagram post, but my husband surprised me and our daughter with two beautiful bouquets. We've been together for 12 years and usually don't do anything for "Hallmark Holidays" like V-Day except maybe make a nice dinner at home. This year I also had to go update a Starbucks menu after-hours on the 14th, so we had our dinner the 13th. I was so touched at the romantic gesture that I wanted to try another medium I hadn't played with in awhile---watercolor. It took most of the day because I'm so rusty, and I didn't get to write our favorite song lyrics on top of it, but I didn't want to rush and I actually love how it turned out. I might play with some text for it on my iPad but for now, I'm glad I'll always have a reminder of my husband's sweet spontaneity.

​You can go throw up now. ;-)

I'm not big on pro football, but as an Atlanta girl, it was hard to not get caught up in the excitement of the Falcons going to the Super Bowl. One of my dear friends from my Whole Foods days has a huge chalk wall in her kitchen and asked me to do a Falcons mural when they made the playoffs. She and her husband are season ticket-holding superfans and their periodic house guests were all taking pictures in front of the wall in the weeks leading up to the big game. I went back when they won their conference to add the NFC and Super Bowl logos, and my family was invited to her house to watch the big game.
We were all laughing and planning to take a huge group photo in front of the mural...that is, until the Pats did what the Pats do and crushed all our hopes and dreams into the dirt. We never did get that group photo, but my friend and her family are still taking pictures with the wall to show they support their team no matter what. It feels really great to create something that holds so much sentimental value. Even their energetic 2 year old son respects the chalk and doesn't touch it :-)