Letters From Nashville

Owyn, 

my sweet boy, 

I am so happy I was able to Skype with you and Daddy tonight. You are such a big boy. And a funny boy. You're probably a little confused that Mommy is stuck in the light box, huh? Yeah, it's strange to me too. You should've seen your dad on Sunday when you were sleeping. He wore his funny hat with the fishy sticking out and did a dance for me. He's a silly Daddy. Don't worry, Mommy won't be stuck in the computer forever. I'll come out next Monday.

Are you being a good boy for Daddy? I sure hope so. He loves you so much. I know he doesn't let you do all the things I let you do, but that's only because he cares about you. Make sure he gives you chocolate milk if you want some. Are you being nice to Mitzi girl? I'm sure you are.

I must go for now, my love. You are the cutest boy in the entire world. I miss you more than anything.

I love you.

- Mom

Letters From Nashville

Dear Dave,

Thank you for giving me a ticket to come see my sister. Thank you for taking such good care of our kids and our home and allowing me to be here. You are such a good man. I love how I can leave without any worries. I know you have everything under control. I know my baby is in the best hands. I know Ill come home to a happy, well fed, healthy baby. I know the house will be clean, the trash will be taken out, the bills will be paid, the bed will be made, the dishes will be done and everything will be just how I left it. That is one of the many things I love and appreciate about you. We make a great team.

I miss you. I miss you being next to my side when I sleep. How is everything going? How's miss Mitz? I hope Owyn is being a good boy for you. I hope you have a really great time at the Sufjan concert on Friday.

Next week you'll have off and I come home. I can't wait to spend it with you and our family. I can't wait to go on walks, go to the zoo and go to Ikea like we plan. I think you need a day off from all responsibility.

Ill talk to you soon, my love.

<3 Chelsea

Can You Guess Where I Am?

 Nashville, the Music City!

I've been here in Nashville with Whitney and Josh since Saturday.
We're waiting for baby Riley to come out and play!
Whitney is 40 weeks today, so we're hoping it's  soon.

This place is amazing.
The perfect city for me. It feels like a small town, but it's a city.
Everything is so cute and old. There aren't many chains around here, mostly mom and pop shops, which you should already know how much i hate chains. The whether is great and I get to wear my boots and my sweaters. The buildings and houses are old and brick.

More pics later.
Now, let's have a baby!

Mommy & Son Day

I took Owyn to the Phoenix Zoo on Friday. 

I wanted to do something special with him because I was leaving Saturday morning. 

I let him do everything. 

We pet all the animals, I let him run around, I bought him a pretzel, took him on the carousel twice and let him pick the animal and I let him play on the playgrounds and walk through the water barefoot. We had such an amazing time just the two of us and he was such a good boy. 

I'm so obsessed with this kid. 

 

Date Night

Thursday night Dave took me out on a date.
We went to The Marquee  and saw The National.

The Marquee is a special place because...
once upon a January I quite my job at Nordstrom, changed my classes to online and moved to Denver.
Dave and I had been dating for 4 months. I was gone for about 3 and decided I wanted to move back. I came back without telling Dave (he thought I was coming home two weeks later. The night I came home he was playing a show at the Marquee and I surprised him there. I remember standing in the middle of the room when he and his friends walked out from back stage and he looked right at me and did a double-take and wasn't sure if it was me ( probably cause I cute all my hair off). Once he realized it was me he ran up to me and gave me the tightest hug ever and almost knocked me over.

that's why it's so special.

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

He Spoils Me

{flowers Dave gave me last week}

I think David is probably the best gift-giver ever. 

He loves to surprise me with gifts. 

Isn't that lucky? To have a man who not only surprises you but gives you the perfect gift?

I don't know how he does it.

The first gift Dave ever gave to me was for our first Christmas together and it was a special edition of Where the Sidewalk Ends. For our first Valentines day he bought me a piece of the moon. I have a certificate to prove it. My most prized possessions were given to me by him. My diamond ring (which I finally have back now), my Canon Rebel XSi and all my accessories for it (given at different times), my art supplies, my bike, i could go on forever. He's a really good listener and whenever I mention anything I want something, he usually surprises me with it. I usually try to talk him out of certain things. Like when he was gonna buy me the kitchen aide mixer I want and the time he bought me a zoom lens but luckily they sent the wrong one and I didn't let him get the right one.  The BEST gift of all was given to me Christmas 2008. That gift was an embryo that would soon become Owyn. I found out December 1 that he had planted his seed and I was totally surprised.

This past Sunday Dave surprised me with two gifts. No, they're not embryos. 

Dave came to the MCA's Benefit Show to support me and my passion. 

Of course I was so excited and I walked him around showing him the work (that was up for sale, all proceeds go to the museum) that I put up on the walls. I showed him my favorite piece and told him that there was another by the same artist in the next room that I loved just as much. At the end of the show he walked up to me and handed me a receipt with the purchase of not one but both of the pieces I liked. What a good man. Out of over 160 10x10 works he remembered what one I liked and found the other one. My heart fluttered. 

It meant so much to me because 

a) these pieces are from a very well known artist and are worth way more that what he got them for

b) it showed he cares and listens

c) he was gave money to an organization I really care about. 

 

These are my paintings which hang in our bedroom. 

The artist is Jerry Jacobson and we are having an entire exhibit of his work this Spring at MCA.

It was a really exciting weekend, but I have no pictures to prove it.

Last weekend flew by so fast. 

We were so busy I never had a chance to take out my camera. 

Pathetic. 

Mom and Scott were in town and stayed in our guest room. They came in to meet my nephew. 

Athen. What a cutie! 

They came in Friday night, but I had an event to attend to. 

It was the Fall Opening Reception at the ASU art Museum and I had a chance to go to Four Peaks and then the reception with my co-workers/mentors from MCA. They networking opportunity was way too great to pass up. I am so glad I was able to go because I met so many people standing by the side of our associate curator and registrar. They are so good to me over there at MCA and I am lucky to be apart of their group and everyone I met Friday even told me so. 

 After meeting people and running into fellow class mates and previous instructors, my lovely Dave and Owyn came to see me. I was able to show them off to everyone. I like to stay professional at school because this industry is such a small network of people and you never know who's gonna be a good reference or interviewing you for a job someday so it was nice to let down that wall and introduce those people who see me as the serious Chelsea to my son and let them see me as a mother.

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Saturday morning Owyn and I went with Mom and Scott to run errands for the big party we had later that day for new baby Athen. We went to Costco and my mom got Owyn a giant Pillow Pet.

The party was great. Just like every other family get-together it was loud. very, very loud. The kids run around screaming, Im not really sure why, and the adults talk loud over each other- my family has a whole lot of women. The only difference this time was that Owyn joined in on the chaos. I was pretty surprised. I guess he's a Buri. He ran around with the kids yelling. It was pretty funny. That boy copies everything these days. 

I love hanging out with the Buri's. I get to laugh and gossip with my aunts, talk to my cousin Victoria about how crazy our moms are, play with my little cousins, get made fun of for one thing or another by my uncle and clean with my grandmas. We all wished my very pregnant sister was there. We miss you! You'll be here soon! Someday Owyn and Riley will be laughing about how crazy we are. 

{i stole this picture from mom}

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Sunday was nuts because...

my mom was in urgent care because she did something to her back and couldn't move, 

I had a benefit show at MCA that I had to attend, and 

I had to work after the benefit show at Lucky until 2:40am.

It was exhausting and all I wanted to do was go home cuddle with Owyn and spend time with my mom. 

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Monday was also busy because I had sleep to catch up on,

an interview to conduct with a volunteer director, 

dropped mom and scott off at the airport and went straight to dinner

to a friends birthday dinner, went home and wrote a paper until midnight.

Today is school and then work until 10. 

Tomorrow I intern all day. 

Thursday I have school and a concert. 

Friday I pack and Saturday I leave for Nashville. 

This is my life.

Honeslty now,

can you think of any other creature on this earth cuter than this little boy?

(puppy puggles don't count)

 {leading, as always}

 {that smile makes my heart flutter}

 {look at those eyes. doesn't he seem so wise?}

 {photo's by the amazing Lang's. they did such a good job capturing Owyn's wonderful spirit}

The best thing about him is that his personality makes him 10x cuter. I know what you're thinking, how is that possible?

He's not the typical 1 year old. He is sweet, gentle, hilarious, and some times has little "rage fits" that make us laugh. He likes to copy everything we do and he thinks he's one of us adults, and sometimes the dog. He also likes to do bad things with a grin and knows he's so cute that he won't get into trouble. He's one of those kids that everyone loves because he's so mischievous and adorable. His small size also works to his advantage (for now, until he turns 12).

I am so lucky God has blessed me with such and amazing son and the ability to create such a being.

P.S. My sister is due in just a couple weeks. I'm sure Riley is already stressing about her competition.

HA! Yeah right. Luckily for her, she's a girl. Boys just can't compete with girls.

P.S.S. I'm leaving for Nashville to see Whitney in 10 days!!

Ditching School on a Rainy Day

Yesterday I didn't go to school. 

Not because it was raining, but because I didn't want to leave Miss Mitz alone.

I am so glad I didn't go because I wasn't expecting the weather that came around the time Id be riding my bike to school. Have I mentioned that I got a new bike this semester? She's pretty awesome. Vintage 1960's blue Schwinn. Ill post pics some times. 

Anyway, back to the weather.. we had a HUGE storm yesterday. I think it was God answering my prayers. Every Sunday I beg for a week where the air to be cooler and sun to be dimmer.

I've really been angry with the sun shine lately. 

This time of year is the worst because the sun is so dang low and it shines in your eye balls no matter what time of day it is. It's like 4:30pm all day long. -You know around the time rush hour begins and there's nothing you can do to block the sun because the visor is too short? You know what I'm talking about.

Well I'm no meteorologist, but I think we had microburst at our house yesterday.

Within 5 minutes it began raining which turned to hail and the wind was so strong I couldn't see outside my window. I couldn't even tell which direction the wind was headed. It was nuts. It only lasted 5 minutes and within seconds it stopped and the sky cleared. Strangest thing ever. I walked outside to find the streets flooded, everyone's trash floating on their side, out rv fence completely blown over and a large dead tree in our side yard uprooted and laying on the ground. Our yard was covered in ice balls bigger than Runts.

It was pretty scary. I thought our windows were gonna break from the ice. 

Weird thing is that Owyn fell asleep right when the chaos began and stayed asleep. 

Family Photos

Last weekend we were lucky enough to get our pictures taken by this lovely couple. 

I must admit, I am in love with these two and their precious little girl. 

They are my favorite photographers and I was so excited to meet with them.

Working and becoming their best friends..

Check out their photo blog and some of our family photos 

HERE

Ill post more once we get them!

Thank you so much Lang's. 

You rock!

Mitzi Jo

Yesterday we got a dog.
She's a 4 year old Yellow Lab.
As you know, (remember this) Ive been wanting a dog for a long time.
We finally decided it was a good time so we've been looking everywhere for the right dog.

A friend of mine told us about a friend of hers who needed to find a new home for her companion.
Coincidentally, the dog has been living in a temporary home right down the street from us. She's a very sweet dog, great with young kids and housebroken. She can even shake.

It was hard for Mitzi and her mommy to leave her here at her new home.
Mitzi has been running back and forth to all the doors in the house waiting for her mom to come back. It's really sad. She even escaped out of our house and tried to run home last night. That was scary.. and dramatic on my part.

She's slowly adjusting. I hope it doesn't take her too long to realize that we're her new family and we'll take good care of her. Last night she slept right be my side. It was sweet.

As for her and Owyn,
she- not that interested
he- very interested.

Owyn loves dogs. He loves saying "dog" even more.
He's been trying to play with her, act like her, and eat her food.
He keeps playing chase with the dog, but he doesn't realize that she isn't following him.

{already getting into trouble together}

 {bonding}

{Owyn trying to be a dog}

Side note:
My Dad likes to add Jo to the end of everyone's name. His name is Joe.
His dogs are Frankie Joe and Chloe Jo.

So naturally, we've started adding it to names as well.
My sister is Whitney Jo (for real) and her daughter will be Riley Jo.
My son is Owyn Joseph (O-Jo).

Shhhh....

We have a BIG surprise for Owyn when he get's home tonight...

His life is about to change forever.

I'm still waiting for Dave to bring him home but Ill post pictures of the big meet later.

Sneak peek:

Wedding Bands- For Him

Ive been asking Dave what type of band he wants and he's decided he likes wood and meteorite. 

Preferably meteorite. 

I found these from this etsy shop that have 1 million unique things that are perfect for Dave. 

My favorite is the first one because it has both wood and meteorite.

Wedding Inspiration

My sister found this wedding that The Farm, 

which is where we will be getting married this St. Patty's Day.

Images found HERE

Now, can you see why I was so determined to get a spot here?? 

It's perfection. 

Zack and Molly had such a beautiful wedding.

Renovations

Friday I decided to renovate the Family Room. 

I painted the built-in entertainment center, molding, baseboards and doors. This room looks brand-spankin new! I also took off the doors of the center and replaced them with curtains I made. Every woman should know how to sew. 

We still want to paint the walls and get a new TV!

Weekend

 I had a 3 day weekend. It was awesome. 

Owyn and I went to Ikea of Friday, which we probably shouldn't have done because I got too many things I didn't need. Which by the way, Ikea has GREAT Christmas decorations this year.

I had an itch to do something with the family room so I pulled out my paint, brushes and painters tape and went to work. By Friday night it was complete. Pictures in a post to come..

Saturday we went to see RATATAT!

It was incredible! 

Here is a song for your enjoyment..

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

We went to Papago Brewery (our favorite) and I had a glass of wine before the show. It was just like old times. We used to go there and do my homework. Once we got to the show there was a HUGE line, but then we ran into some friends who were just about to go in and we snagged a spot in line with them. Lucky, or what? We went to the bar area and found our very own VIP spot right against the the side of the stage.

Then, some girl standing next to me kept trying to push me over and was getting closer and closer to me, then finally turned to me and yelled at me. "I swear, if you touch me one more time!" She was an idiot, and clearly has never been to a concert before. It got pretty heated and we yelling back and forth until I said, "maybe if you'd move your fat ass over we wouldn't have a problem". It ended at that. I was shocked that came out of my mouth. I'm also shocked she didn't punch me in the face. Poor girl was so worried about me "touching" her aka- her nudging me over intentionally to get me out of the way, that I don't think she enjoyed herself one bit. I made friends with the sweet couple next to us and they stacked and made more room for me. I'm pretty sure that made her extra irritated, but I was just there to have a good time. And I did.

Today we've spent recovering from a long, eventful night.

 I had such severe acid reflux last night that I ended up vomiting the moment we got home. It sucked. I wish that sort of thing happened a lot less often than it does.

I haven't gotten out of my PJ's today. It feels great.

clean boy!