A Very Special Birthday Gift

Last year, when we sold our house in Richmond by owner, we said we'd "gift" ourselves a commissioned painting of this, our first home.

The four years we spent in this house held many treasured memories--the start of Philip's new career as a student in dental school, the birth of Wade and Holland (Holland was literally born in the house!), and the forging of many cherished friendships.  We learned to be neighbors here, where we were thankful to live amongst people with whom we had much in common and those who were very different from us.  It's where I experienced both joy and difficulty as I adjusted to my new life as a mom, and it's where I developed a love for decorating and DIY projects.

Needless to say, this was a place to remember (and really, aren't they all?).

Unfortunately, like so many things, commissioning someone to paint our home became yet another thing it seemed hard to justify doing.  There were so many pressing things going on as we prepared to move and subsequently tried to quickly get settled in our new home in Illinois that we never got around to making this dream happen.

In the meantime I discovered that a friend of mine from growing up, Kate, had quite the artistic talent and she had recently gotten back into spending time painting.  Reading through her blog, I was smitten with her work!  I love watercolor, and I think Kate has such a knack for the way she captures her subjects on paper.

Check out some of her work:

all images taken from Color Me Happy

Being the subtle person I am (cough), I suggested to my sweet mom that "Gosh, I sure would love a painting of our house by Kate!  I think she's really talented and how cool to have a piece done by a friend!"  My mom being the doting mother she is, took note of my suggestion :)

Can you imagine how excited I was to open this belated birthday gift tonight at my parent's house?! (We are finally in the great Commonwealth visiting our family before we head west to Cali!!)

I snapped the picture really quickly with my phone and there's a bit of a glare, but isn't it lovely?!  I think she captured our home so beautifully.  I'm already scheming about how I'd like to frame it.

Thank you Mom (and Kate!) for this gift I will treasure forever!  Be sure to check out Kate's blog and join me in asking her to keep on painting!!  :)