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friends

the stewart family.

Again, kudos to Facebook for reuniting an old friendship.  Jainy and I went to high school together.  We met in Biology class.  Being that we are both malu’s, it was inevitable that we would eventually gravitate towards one another — Jainy with her cheery personality, and me with always something up my sleeve, we had loads of fun on our mini adventures (like walking through graveyards), hanging out and laughing hysterically.

Jainy and I lost contact after I switched high schools in 10th grade.  But we connected almost 13 years later via Facebook.  She’s now married to an awesome guy, Dwayne, and they both have an amazingly cute baby boy named Jayden.  This little guy has got some serious adorableness going on.  Jainy wanted some family portraits, so we decided to meet at the beautiful Brookside Gardens to capture her lovely little family in action.   It’s been so neat catching up with her in this season of our lives now that we get to talk about cloth diapers, sewing and knitting.  : ) Meet the Stewart’s.

neighborhood friends.

anuj, wyatt, macy, dhara, jaya, ria

investigating a worm homicide

awesome chi alpha t-shirt. a gift from the national office. thank you!

dhara + aunt beth having a moment
playing in the woods

dhara + zoey.

sue + susan, college years, may 2004

It’s funny to think that Dhara has friends.  I mean, she’s only 15 months old, but yes, she has friends.  She actually has a good handfull of them.  One of them is Zoey — the daughter of our friends Josh + Sue.  Greg and I went to college with Sue, so it’s wonderful to still be connected after marriage and now, kids.  It was neat to catch up with them over the weekend.  It was especially neat to see our daughters catch up.  Dhara calls her friend, “Zozo.”  It was hilarious to hear Dhara call out to Zoey before they left — Dhara was getting her diaper changed in the next room, but still managed to yell out a, “BYE, BABY!” to Zoey as they prepared to walk out the front door.  Picture quality isn’t the best, but I still had to post some of these two buddies.

photos below from last fall, september 2010


photos below from last weekend, april 2011


priceless

And as you can see, Dhara is super affectionate.  Sometimes she doesn’t know when to hold back.  Fortunately, sweet little Zoey didn’t mind too much!  : )

savage mill.

photography by Chelsea Hudson

The Dhara-girl and I spent the morning with Chelsea (as in Chelsea Hudson Photography) and two of her three girls, Sydney and Nadia.  We strolled the compound of Historic Savage Mill — an old textile weaving mill dating back to the 1820’s.  It functioned as a textile mill for over 100 years!  I so wish I could go back in time to experience what went on at this beautiful stone mill.

It now functions as an art inspiring place that houses resident artist studios, offices, galleries and crafty shops.  Not to mention small restaurants and a nifty french bakery with buttery flaky soft pastries, fruit tarts and breads — don’t mind the girl behind the register, she may roll her eyes at you, but the sniek pastry (Cheslea, spelling?) is still really really good, trust me.

As you can see in the photos below, there is also a neat old red bridge that sits right over the Little Patuxent River.  The girls had a blast as Chelsea shot some really fun photos of them.  Photos below by Chelsea Hudson.

my Dhara-girl in a handmade sweater. I so love this shot.

Sydy

bashful bridge walker

high school twin.

Yesterday I visited a longtime friend, Diana.  I’ve known her since high school, so that would make us friends for about 13 years and counting.  I remember the first time I met her.  I guess you could compare her to the energetic Ellie, from the Pixar movie, “Up”.  I, on the other hand, was more timid and composed.  So the story goes a little like this:  Diana walks up to me the first week of school, as I’m putting my books in my locker, and she says to me, “So you’re the one that everyone is mistaking for me!”

Yep.  And we’ve been friends ever since.  : )

Diana had a baby girl back in April, and so with my small family in tow, we went to visit Diana’s little baby, Shreya.  It was so weird sitting next to my friend as we both held a baby in our lap.  And not just any baby, but our own babies.  In honor of little Baby Shreya, I sewed her a Black Apple cloth doll.  [I was actually working on the same styled doll for Dhara’s half-birthday present, when I thought I would also whip one up for pretty little Shreya.]

My doll is somewhat different than the typical Black Apple doll because she has a simple cloth face with no features.  For her dress, I used a block printed fabric I picked up in India last year at my favorite fabric store in Madras.  The shop is located in an outdoor market bustling with business everywhere you look.  I could literally spend an entire day at that fabric store looking at all the beautiful cottons and ethnic prints.  I also love the little lace collar I added to the neckline.  So sweet and feminine.  I think I’d like to call her Amelie.

I think Baby Shreya is enjoying her Amelie Doll, don’t you think?


Mama’s doll.

Diana and I had a great time watching our babies and marveling at how life has changed so much since these little ones arrived.  In the last 13 years, Diana completed med school while I went into the world of information technology, and then onto campus ministry.  We’ve both had our ups and downs, but eventually got married to great guys, settled down and are both in a good place now — mommyhood.  So looking forward to what God has in store for us in the years to come.

Susan and Diana. 1999.