of billupses and bees

as if my birthday weekend could get any better, drew & sara came to visit (from seattle) on saturday, spending the night with us until sunday. drew & sara are dear friends of ours from indiana days (college, actually), and it's been so fun going through this pregnancy at the same time as sara, who is due in one month.

we went out for lunch on n. mississippi, spending the afternoon visiting favorite shops. sara shares my love for the art of nikki mcclure, and we were able to catch one of the final days of her gallery show, currently displayed at land. it is difficult to get a sense of the intricacy of her work when it is not only enlarged to fill the space of a poster or calendar, but also 2-D. her work consists of tiny cuts with an x-acto knife on black paper, and seeing her work in person is breathtaking. here's a video i just found online of her + her work + her family.

(this photo from the gallery is not the best, but you can see how the birds are connected, everything cut out of one piece of paper)

: strolling through flutter, a favorite place on n. miss. :

sara & i slipped away to cacao for some drinking chocolate (a new favorite indulgence!), then we began preparations for halloween evening. it was heron's first time dressing up + going out on this holiday, so it was a big night!

heron cried when we first put her in her bee costume, but by the end of the night she didn't want to take it off.

: here she is, a little bee-wildered by her first trick-or-treat door knock :

: running around the fountain at night :

: stalling for more time in the bee suit before bedtime :

the day after halloween, she woke up crying, "bee! bee! put on! put on!" pointing at those magical stripes strewn across her floor. thus, we had a little bumblebee buzzing around for two days after the big event. thanks, aunt alli, for the costume!