New Blog!

New Blog HERE

If you've wondered where I've been I should let you know that I've found a pretty fun new way to blog. It's a bit faster and makes a bit more sense for my left braininess. http://alliemurphycollective.tumblr.com/  I hope you all can join me in 2011 for some more new fun adventures!  : )  xo xo allie.

The Perks of Being Me

A couple weeks ago Anna Maria sent me a box full of fat quarters from her newest collection.  When I opened the box my heart swooned.  To finally see the fabric as fabric and not as images on a screen is such a fun process.  I am positive this satisfying feeling motivates her return to the drawing board for each new collection she creates.

I can't tell you how many times we listened to Frank Sinatra in Anna's studio, still I never grew tired of it.  I am convinced his romantic melodies influenced that brilliant colorful brain of hers for the new collection.  Just as Frankie crushed on whoever it was he was writing about in this song, I am certainly crushing over Anna Maria's Innocent Crush Collection.

And so this week we've been updating the shop.  Made a promo image for the Innocent Crush Collection on Anna's shop page and helped to update some new stacks.  Doing Handstands on Friday is always a brilliant way to end the week.  TGIF!

Colorado My Home Sweet Home

If any of you have seen the movie The Unsinkable Molly Brown then you'll remember a little song were Johnny sings into the mountains "Colorado My Home Sweet Home" and they echo back "Home Sweet Home". The movie was released in 1964 with stereophonic sound, I'm sure, but the mountains could never of course echo back in that too crystal clear sort of way. However as I found my self traveling home, I felt the echo in my heart of the place where I once belonged.

What's even more strange is the sudden trip back 'home'. I kept hearing my self say "once I'm back in Nashville" Everyone reminding me "You don't live in Nashville!!" Oh yeah. Keep forgetting that bit. But more on that later.

First drum roll please...let me revel the reason I traveled home in the first place, my newest nephew: Eli Parker. So so sweet. Yet took FOREVER to get here! My poor sister. It was so good to finally hold him in my hands and breath in his smell.

This picture is of my mom holding him while Bonnie was away at work. Mom and I baby sat while we were there. In fact that's about all we did no fancy excursions just plain, good old family time, which come to find out everyone needed.




We did do one thing productive. Only my sister, the creative resourceful woman that she is, would want to salvige the crab apples in her back yard and make jelly. So one afternoon us three women (me, my mom, and Bonnie) put our hands together and made some really yummy jam. We washed them, then we soaked them. You soak the ones with worm holes and the get flooded and crawl out. Incredibly gross in my opinion but to my mom's wonder she says "Life finds a way!" Which is true. And we found a way to cut them up wash them and strain them into jelly and my favorite: Apple Butter.











We did make time to go shopping one day. And a life long dream of mine was fulfilled. I was completely obsessed with American Girl dolls when I was a kid and about the time that I should have been too old for them they created the American Girl Place. A place to shop for dolls, up until then they had only been by catalog. Who knew that they built one in Denver my mom and I made a quicky stop to snap some shots.



Got to see my favorite, the red head Felicity of course!



Also took some time to go shopping for pillows to match the quilt that was handded down to me. My grandmother made a beautiful cathedral quilt of blues and purples. Once I make a few patches and give it a little TLC I'll show off some more pics...but until then here's the sneak peek with some Amy Butler pillows we found in Bed Bath and Beyond.



There once was a girl who said she would Blog. Well she's back. Sorry for such a long one next time I won't wait so long! xo xo

Sneak Peak

Here's the sneak peek of our home. Excuse the boxes please! I'll update more photos...better photos later. The camera is stowed away in a box somewhere...these were taken on my phone. My mother hen nesting instincts are kicking in and I am starting to make this place feel like home.

Packing was hard, emotionally, mentally and physically. I though it would never end. And then before I knew it we were driving to Alabama! Mike drove the U-haul with his jeep towed behind. I drove behind in the Subaru...until I passed him. He could only go 55 and that was a bit too slow for me. : ) I drove ahead signed the lease and got the keys so that Mike could drive straight to the town house and we could unpack. We had lots of help and the u-haul was unpacked in about 2 hours! It all felt very surreal. And now even here sitting in my new studio with boxes all around it still hasn't stuck.

Today is Mike's first official day of work. I sent him off with lunch and a kiss and it seams strange. Our life is 100% different than it was in Nashville. We're living in a new place where for the first time we can really see a glimpse into the future. This is the place that we're really going to grow up, have babies and grow roots! The town house is beautiful, more than we could ever ask for! Blessings have been showed on us! It feels good to begin new again with only the good ahead of us. Though hard times will come I'm sure and we will miss Nashville but for now I am smiling at the prospects of so many good things ahead.

Don't worry mom we ate the cake!

You can buy Anna Maria's cute tea towels HERE.

My mom was so worried that we'd move to Alabama and forget that our wedding cake topper was in my mother-in-law's freezer. She called twice to remind me. She even called my mother-in-law. Bless her heart. Apparently it's good luck to eat it one year later. So we did. One year and one day later for Mike's birthday on July 4, 2010 I lit a candle and sang him the song. All alone in our kitchen, in our new home we ate the cake. It actually tasted pretty good considering it was in the freezer for a year and then in the floorboard of the car on the way down from Nashville. Surprisingly too good. : )


Photo Credit: Rachel Williamson Photography see more of our wedding photos HERE.

Happy Anniversary my beloved!

Milestone

Some Milestones are unavoidable. Unfortunate but true. Some exciting and some scary, somtimes both. On our way to our crazy vacation...wedding, beach, and house hunting Mike's car finally hit 150000 miles. Scary times. It seems like a metaphor for our lives as we cross a milestone of our own.

I've wanted to start a blog for a while now. In fact I've wanted to ever since I started working for Anna Maria...sadly 2 years ago. It was going to be about my life in Nashville about what I make, enjoy, and do. And now we're leaving Nashville and moving to Tuscaloosa, Al to start a new life. (yes this Colorado girl is moving to the Deep South) Anyway, my procrastinating habits have left me once again at the end of something. But it seems now or never for this kind of thing...SO, here I am staring a new life and a new blog. Hope you can come along and join the ride!