Sweeping Down the Plains

I am back from my 2 week trip to my hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. No matter how long I go for, it always goes by way too fast. I found this gorgeous painting of Tulsa titled, "Downtown Dawning." It is by Celeste Vaught, an amazingly talented artist and a fellow Tulsan! I found the painting on her Flickr page and when I emailed her to get permission to use her painting in my blog, she couldn't have been sweeter! She has a whole Downtown Dawning series, featuring other cities as well. Her work has been featured in numerous galleries and has graced many magazine covers. She is inspired by the Impressionist artists such as Monet and Cezanne. I think that is one of the reasons that her work really resonated with me. I have always loved the Impressionistic style of painting. Her work is now being featured in the new Water Street Gallery in downtown Sapulpa, Oklahoma. To learn more about this wonderful artisit, read her blog and visit her website. I hope to meet this extraordinary person on my next trip to Tulsa.

Going home always brings back old memories! I especially love going through my old books and reading them again. On this trip, I picked up the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This series always make me feel so warm and comfortable. It is so perfect for today's hectic, chaotic lifestyles that we all tend to lead. The simple morals and day-to-day lessons are so valuable, I think, especially for today's tweens who whine when they don't have the latest cell phone! (I know, of course, that not all of them are like that, but I have seen a few, and that's STILL too many!) It is so refreshing to read how Laura and her sisters relish the littlest moments in their loves, like how they are so excited about getting real glass windows in their house! They are postively skipping with delight...and me along with them! I can't wait until Fazal and Zahra are old enough to share these books with me.

This post would not be complete without some Oklahoma-themed finds from my beloved Etsy. Here is this awesome journal made from an upcycled vinyl record album cover of Rodgers and Hammersteins musical Oklahoma!

And I found this print of a Oklahoma state sign. It is a "through the viewfinder" photograph, which means that you take a photograph of an object through the viewfinder of one camera with another camera. The effect, as you can see is very shabby vintage feel and I love it!

How cool is this photo album made from an Oklahoma license plate? I thought that this was so creative and wonderful!

After I came home, Nasir was off for the week, so we spent the weekend down in the delightful town of Cape May! Stay tuned for the details of that trip, especially all the fun things that I bought :)