9.11.2012

Home is Wherever I'm with You: New Print in the Shop

MerMagHomeIsWhereverImWithYouinBlack
Last month Jon and I celebrated our 11th year anniversary.  Crazy. I sometimes feel like we are the same young rock-a-billy kids who fell for each other so many years ago. I mean just look at that pompadour on Jon. How could I resist this cutie? I'm not sure what was going on with my fashion, but I think I was trying to channel the "skater girl" look? Who knows really ...anyway...those were the days, right?

On one of our first "dates" in college we walked around my neighborhood for hours into the night. We just walked and talked about our dreams. How we wanted to travel, create art, perform, change the world, you know all that sort of mushy "you just might be the one" type of stuff. We definitely had the rosy colored "starving artist" glasses on and I'm pretty sure we were both hooked from that night on.
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Being freelancers - myself an illustrator, creator, and kids craft blogger, etc. -and Jon an actor, director, teacher etc., life together has definitely been an adventure. It hasn't always been easy - not having consistent income, stability, etc. - but I think it's the only kind of life either of us can really live (otherwise, believe you me, we'd change things up in a heartbeat! Security and comfort is so NOT overrated, especially with kids).

Throughout our journey together we've been able to travel and live in some pretty incredible places. We started our second year of marriage in NYC and loved it. I think we will always hold a special place in our hearts for NYC. So many things happened for us there and the friends and experiences we had there are unforgettable. We then switched gears and headed south to Knoxville, TN for Jon's graduate school. We bought our first home and that is where we had A (how has it been 6 years?!). Needless to say, this time of our lives, being first time parents, is very special to us.
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Then Jon graduated and it was off to LA to dive right into Hollywood. We loved living in South Pasadena and we of course had Little O there. My boys loved Cali and still talk about their friends, the beach, the sun and of course the myriad of exciting amusement parks that were available there. Jon and I also made some wonderful friends who mean so much to us.
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We have now moved on and Jon is living his dream as a college acting/theater professor. And let me tell you, he's a natural at it - students love him and he's most definitely in his element in the classroom. In addition to illustrating, I've loved where blogging has taken us and I'm so grateful for opportunities, friends and associations I've been able to make through Mer Mag. Baby number three is about to arrive and we are thrilled about what the next chapter in our life has in store for us (even if we are just a tad bit freaked out about it!).
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So as you can see, we don't seem to stay still for very long. In fact, we sort of have a joke that we have a three year limit. When three years hits (right when we're feeling settled and at home) we start getting antsy and life calls for a change of scenery. With kids however, we do hope to find a spot we can call home for a longer period of time (especially for A who doesn't like change so much at all). But in the mean time I think the Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zero's song, "Home is Wherever I'm With You" pretty much sums it up for us.

So as a gift to Jon, I created an original paper cut out based on this song (which we of course both love). I wanted it to be a companion piece to the I Lovely Love My Family paper cut out art that I gifted him a couple of years ago. (I think we have a thing for songs in our family...)
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And just like the Lovely Love prints, I'm offering a selection of "Home is Wherever I'm With You" prints (in all the same Lovely Love colors!) in my shop for you to also place in your homes (wherever they may be!). Skip on over to the shop to take a look!

And what about you? Any good stories about how home has come to mean more about who you are with than where it is you live? I'd love to hear them!

11 comments:

  1. Funny, I just blogged about this very thing; this print sums it up quite nicely actually. I probably need it! My husband is in the foreign service which means we move to a different part of the world every 2-3 years. We're currently in a developing country so when I got pregnant last fall I knew it meant coming back to the states to have the baby. This is typical, but being apart for 5 1/2 months isn't. It's been hard, but we did it! The dream team will be back together this weekend. While I have loved living in the land of convenience, right now, home is bleaching fruits and vegetables and brushing my teeth with bottled water.

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    1. Wow Anne! What a story. Thanks so much for sharing. So happy you'll be together this weekend.
      xo
      Mer

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  2. Nice blog! Thanks for share so many nice thinks to do with the kids.

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  3. What a beautiful post! Happy anniversary - I've enjoyed reading about all your adventures together and look forward to reading many more.

    As for how home came to mean a lot to me, my family moved around every few years when I was a kid and it made me really appreciate having somewhere stable, somewhere which was all mine. In hindsight, though, the moving around was also pretty good for me as it made me more adaptable than a lot of people I know.

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    1. Thanks Sarah! I try to hang on the the "more adaptable" thoughts when thinking of the many changes my kids have and will probably still have to go through.
      xo
      Mer

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  4. I LOVE this new print, i swear you must have been reading my mind, (or my etsy search history ahahaha.) This is EXACTLY what i've been looking for, thank you Merilee!!!

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    1. yay! I'm so happy you like it Lisa! We are quite fond of it in our home. :)
      xo
      Mer

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  5. Oh, congrats, Merrilee. How wonderful. What a wonderful gift to your husband and a great addition to your store.

    I've not moved in a few years, but as long as I have a place to do art, I'll call it home.

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  6. i love this! that song spoke to me too and i created this for my husband as a gift! http://aprilscraftnest.blogspot.com/2011/04/home-is-wherever-im-with-you.html

    happy anniversary! love your blog!

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    1. thanks Jordan! been missing you guys ever since my recent LA trip. xo
      mer

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