Ahhhh...

What a perfect weekend! Oh my goodness.

Stephanie took me out on Saturday to celebrate my upcoming birthday (it's Wednesday!) and I can't imagine a nicer way to spend the day than the way we did Saturday. Oh! Now I've been spoiled...

Our lovely babysitter, Cynthia, who is now LIVING WITH US!! (Yes, we are the luckiest parents EVER!) had a fun afternoon with the girls while Stephanie took me to Blue Koi (I'd link you up, but their link appears to be down) for a scrumptious lunch of shrimp dumplings and the most tender pot roast you've ever sunk your teeth into (Alice quite enjoyed the leftovers--talk about spoiled!). Our decadent lunch was followed by my first ever visit to a spa! We spent a divine 45 minutes in the steam room, sauna, and rainbath and just when I thought I might melt right into the woodwork, it was time for our facials. Okay, I'm not one for too much intimate contact with strangers (not even a fan of massages here!) but this facial was about the most relaxing 60 minutes I can remember in... well, maybe ever. I swear, if I had one of those once a week I'd never lose my patience again! But I'll settle for once a year.

After our time at the spa we sauntered on over the ice cream place we used to frequent when Stephanie was pregnant with Alice (it's right by the hospital where we spent many hours having our little miracle monitored before her birth) and finished off our afternoon with dessert and coffee.

Contented sigh.

I even got to spend some time back in the studio this weekend. Finally! It feels so good to be finished with finals. I started on a couple of new pieces and am still working on finishing some others that I started weeks ago. Hopefully I'll have some things to add to the shop very soon. I'm working on adding some less expensive pieces as well.

Thanks to all of you who came out for my shop opening last week! And thank you to Aimee over at artsyville for the love!

It's going to be a good summer.

(and in the interest of not leaving this post picture-less, here's a completely unrelated one from the weekend before last)