it's been real

2011 treated me well. I married my best friend and I found meaning in my work. My 2011 resolution was to "quit dogging myself." I set out to simply accept things about myself that I perceived to be different rather than spin my differences into deficiencies. I'm not who I was a year ago. And it's good. 

That's why I believe it's time to say goodbye to this project. I'm thankful for your readership and for all the encouragement you've given me during this little blog experiment. I've learned more than I can enumerate. Lavender Honey was a place where I felt free to develop my own voice, whether that voice "be written photographed, knit, sewn, or eaten," but now it's time to follow my voice elsewhere, toward new goals and new adventures. Writing this blog has helped me gain the confidence necessary to dive head-first into 2012 and I cannot wait to see what this year has to bring. 

When my grandfather would bid farewell, he never said "goodbye" or "see you later." Instead, he'd simply grin, stretch out his arms to give you a hug and say, "It's been real." Indeed it has!

Wishing you well in 2012! 
Erin 

Keeping up with me in 2012: I'll be creating over at a drape a day and will be showing my first fall collection of Erin Roby clothing at the New York Fashion Academy's spring fashion show on April 14, 2012. From there, I have no idea what I'll be up to, but I do know that I'm looking forward it. 

honeymoon'n

Chris & I are honeymooning in France! Très romantique!!

You'll be pleased to hear that the wedding was wonderful - parfait - and I'll be back here soon...but not too soon...

WedWed - Wedding Wednesday {24}

These are the thoughts I had this morning while brushing my teeth: "Today is September 1st. That's right, September. You get married in September. 3 weeks left. It's September." *Repeat for two more minutes of brushing*

Riveting, I know.

As much as I have to accomplish between now and September 24th, I've managed to keep the counter-productive, emotional kind of stress at bay by recalling one of Jessica Hagy's quirky index card illustrations: 

*Thanks to Monica for sharing!

Breathing is not a bad way to start September.

image{s} of the week

The lilies are blooming again, filling the backyard with their heavy sweet fragrance. Well, heavy as far as floral scents go.

Living in a house long enough to see the same flowers bloom each year is a good way to keep time in check. Last year, when they started to grow, I had no idea that our garden had lilies and was fascinated by them because they were taller than I am. Maybe even taller than Chris but I'd have to verify that for you. 

The hydrangeas are also looking gorgeous right now. This is the first hydrangea plant I've been able to keep alive. After a stint of bad luck with them in Austin, I finally broke down and bought another last spring. We've had our share of disagreements this year - It hated being next to the shed, then fussed about being next to the ferns. It almost died there actually. As a last resort I moved it to the bench near the porch and it's loving' life there.    

Hope you all have a relaxing weekend.

WedWed - Wedding Wednesday {23}

The invitations went out last Friday! I still have a few remaining, but the vast majority are out there in the world. Hooray! 

When I began my initial invitation sketches, Chris expressed to me that all he really, really wanted was a conifer tree on our invites. I set out to make that happen. Using my WedWed invitation inspiration post, I created a conifer tree in Adobe Illustrator that I then repeated, scaled and flipped in order to create variation in the forest. From there, I turned to my wedding palette for color choice and to my new favorite font Strange Love for the typography. My goal was to have our invitations feel handmade, light-hearted, and welcoming. We chose to keep the invitation suite simple: the invite itself, an RSVP postcard, and a business card with the wedding website URL for more details. 

Here's a close-up of the invitation itself:   

Before the invitations went out, we had to create the website. Every couple has things they like to do together; some couples read books, ride bikes, and travel. In addition to traveling and cooking with one another, Chris and I enjoy designing together. Things like websites are perfect for us to work on as a team. I generate the wireframes, meaning that I set up what I think is a good layout for the website based on what the two of us discuss. Then, once we've agreed on the wireframes,  I create the graphics such as the headers, images, and illustrations. From there Chris does the hard stuff - he actually builds it and makes it function properly. He worked extremely hard on this website - even writing all the content while I was at my fabulous bachelorette party - and I am very thankful. 

Here are some screen shots of the site:

Good work Chris!!

In the end I would say that, while at times stressful, creating our own invites was certainly the way to go and it's my hope that they were well received.