(Caveat: This will not be a short post. I have been a total slacker and therefore I will be unloading a season's worth of little details that I can actually remember. It's been a blur. So there you have it. Stop reading now if you're not into art, girly caca, or french macaroons, or Gaudi.)

Being the list lover I tend to be. Here's what's been lighting up my soul:

+++August + September were FULL of paintings for special people... here are little peeks from my studio (which has been a busy place!)

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This is Sir Gillie. He was created by a lovely woman who just turned 80. Her family had me illustrate the story of Sir Gillie for her birthday. She was touched. It was soooo fun!

My friend Laura from Sweet Blossom Boutique had me help her with a new logo... I can's wait to share it with you.

+++September Tour of the South... a girly road trip from Atlanta to a 150 year old farm in Nashville, and then off to the most charming B & B in Columbus. It was a HOOT!

Lizzie & KP at some little shop somewhere along the road... goofin'.

This darling pond had a real live MAN lurking in it. We had the willies + the giggles all at once for a while over that sight. Let me just say- Columbus never stopped surprising us around every corner!

My girlies are pictured here- admiring an artist's flair in at the Country Living Magazine Fair... where I also found this: by Deirdre Friebely. Her work floors me. I love that she was able to make this darling piece with the words "hummingbird cake" clipped from a newspaper for inspiration. She certainly is a clever lady! +++ she puts little houses in her work, too... which made me feel instantly connected to her.

I went cuckoo for these. I have a thing for cuckoo clocks ever since (my then five year old) T asked Santa to bring him a cuckoo.

+++October brought me to Portland, Oregon. Where I think my family could up and move! I went to meet my new leetle cousin, Adam. What a doll! We enjoyed a morning at the Saturday Farmer's Market- it was truly lovely! We enjoyed hot cider with lavender + cardamom. My momma and I both LOVE cardamom- so we were floating about. And then I saw these dahlias... and oh, how a flower stall at an open air market can bring me to my knees. They also host a wonderful gluten free baker + thus bought T a bunch of treats for his lunch-box for the upcoming week. We popped into a wonderful little fabric store called Cool Cottons where I found this designer from Portland named Lizzy House. I adore her crisp, clean, whimsical designs- infused with her wit + charm.

Baby Adam's daddy had a nightly Daddy Dance Party that touched my soul + made me cry. Click here to hear one of his grooves. Adam's momma, Annie, is a poster child for breast feeding. Being in their cozy home with my momma was just what the doctor ordered for my soul this fall. I have dozens of paintings swimming in my heart from those tender days shared in Portland.

+++Late October in . . . . . . Paris!

Ahhhhhhhh. What a way to end the autumn!

The Paris Metro was so good to us. Lucky for me, B has a way with maps. Lucky for B, I have a way with French. Sorta. It was a good visit.

I had to double back in a Metro sortie to catch this little moment: Some street folk had peeled the paper back from this framed ad space + the color just spoke to me. If you came to my little art show at Sacred i Yoga this November, the piece called "Passion" was inspired by this wall. I love the humanity + grit to be seen on the Metro as much as the beauty + grace above ground in Paris.

Some things will always tug at my heart strings... one of them is thistle--just look at this tile from the exterior of a darling little boulangerie. It was just near this little skate shop where we rented skates for the Pari-Roller. The roller evening of MY LIFE! If you like to skate + find yourself in Paris on a Friday night- you must do this! I'll never forget wizzing by the Hotel de Ville at midnight with more than a thousand other skaters. Some were wearing actual roller skates as you see here. Hee Hee! On eve of Halloween- it was really cool to imagine the spirits of that lived in Montparnasse where the Pari Roller gathered to begin. It made me wonder.

Beauty and design. My goodness. There is a ball to be had at the Centre Pompidou. The installations, the cinema, the fountain by Niki de Saint Phalle + Jean Tinguely, the library store... and the shops in that neighborhood. Divine. From lingerie to noodles, art to thrift. It is a mecca of art, culture, and F.U.N.

A moment for Laudree Macaroons. My good God- the Lavender-Casis flavor could put me into a tizzy. They are perfection.

And another moment for the amazing Kenzo. Ever since Louis Vuitton bought the Kenzo brand- and even before then some pretty cool architectural design moments in Paris. Talk about eye candy. The Kenzo Spa- La Bulle is an amazing sight. I had read about it + in Wallpaper so I was excited to stumble upon it. Also on this eye candy list is Kong. This 2003 restaurant space was designed by Phillipe Starck. The juxtapose of the house music, the Starck acrylic chairs with pop images of ladies faces adorning them, the incredibly vivid colors with the panoramic view of grand Paris is powerful. It's like a place of fiction compared to the typical Parisian cafe. Kong has received really poor reviews since 2003- but, I say pop in for a drink after you're done touring Notre Dame +/or after you're done forcing your fellow to try on an incredible jacket at Kenzo downstairs.

I, of course, had a good old cry in the Musee de Orsay. There is nothing like visiting the master impressionists & post impressionists there. Emotion floods me as I climb the steps to the salons full of Van Gogh's, Gauguin, Matisse, Maurice de Vlaminck, Monet, and their contemporaries... It is overwhelming to see Manet's Olympia again as an adult. Yet, I was still fascinated by that black cat at the foot of the bed.

There was a James Ensor exhibit open at the Orsay. This rare + bizarre collection of pre-expressionism work is amazing to take in. Ensor used symbolism through masks to portray satire + irony in a series of works. These frightening + somewhat grotesque works were tender once you had a chance to read about Ensor's life... and a bit appropriate for a Halloween visit!

This is the humble view from bed. Take me back. Just saying.

This city blows me away!

+++November began for me in Barcelona.

BCN, O' BCN, Te quiero, te quiero. Te quiero all your green, your azure, your ochre, your shades of grey, + your amazing shades of rose. Thank goodness for all your color.

El Born is a wonderful little neighborhood in Barcelona, flanking the Gothic Quarter & Barcelonetta. The churches, shops, & tapas restaurants are AMAZING. I love how during the day they are open, then closed for siesta, then open for evening, then closed for a few hours & back at it again the next day.
The siesta schedule works for this girl's body clock.

It's so wild how the streets look like a foreign place when everything is closed. Its hard to imagine that a darling little boutiques lay behind these graffiti ridden doors.

I love the old + new all over this city. I was told this is the oldest public fountain in the city. It reminds me of my dad.

This dress is from 1803. I snapped a shot of it while I was walking by an antique store + 2 older women were standing in front chatting about it.

It was so wild to see because just a few doors down was this little H + M store... which in some ways is sad... but sorta great for us- because we don't have H + M in Colorado. SoOoooOOoooo... we paid a little visit.

What gets me about Barcelona is the pulse. It feels like home to my soul. The sea air, the creativity around every corner, the simple + pure food, the fashion, the music, the night life + evidence of Gaudi everywhere. I love it!

Lunch + a little hike around Parc Güell,

a tour of Gaudi's Casa Batllo + siesta by the sea is a near perfect vacation day for me.

The whole wonderful time went by in a flash... + there was very little sleep to be had in Barcelona. That city likes to dance + play...

¡Vamanos a Barcelona!

p.s. Check out the link for food above. It's for a restaurant called La Plata in the Gothic Quarter... They are famous for fried sardine tapas + it's been said the Bono has been known to eat there when in Barcelona. I'm not usually a star f***er. But, its the sweetest, cutest, littlest place with the teeniest menu ever. And just a few doors down is a handmade candy shop called Papabubble. It makes the streets smell so divine! I hope you get to go!

+++ if you find yourself wandering BCN- be sure to visit the museum- Fundacio Joan Miro. Then stop for a bite at Quimet + Quimet. Yummy.

Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you Nana Suzanna + PopPop for hanging out with our bambinos on Dayton Street so we could go!