After spending some time with my side of the family for Christmas, Paul and I flew out to Portland to see his crazy fabulous family and friends. We flew in just in time for a fun New Year's Eve gathering, and the party was complete with party hats for all! Welcoming 2014 with sparkly wavey things (pre party hats being passed out)! I just love Paul's aunt and uncle - they are some of the best hosts I know and really know how to throw a party. I always tell them they should open a bed and breakfast. His aunt would make the most amazing dishes, and his uncle would be the comedian who would make everyone feel at home. (Luckily his uncle doesn't read this blog otherwise he might make me take down this adorable picture.) New Year's day we took our time waking up and then drove to the Oregon coast to ease into the new year in pure Oregon sytle. During every single Oregon road trip - without fail - I feel like I'm living in a postcard. Our view looked like this for a solid hour (the drive from Portland to the coast is less than two hours). My favorite trips to the coast involve a stop by the Tillamook Cheese factory. What dairy-tolerant person doesn't love free cheese samples and triple scoop nowls of ice cream for less than $5?! Don't introduce me to them because we might not get along. Or maybe do, and I'll take their samples and ice cream. (P.S. Do you see those jackets they're wearing? It was January 1, and we were wearing light jackets and no gloves!! I'll take winter weather like that any day.) So.much.cheese. And then we made it to our coast lodgings, and my jaw dropped. Sometimes in my life I feel like I have to pinch myself because I'm suddenly seeing so incredibly beautiful, I feel like I can't still possibly be in my own life. But that's the great thing about life. Lots of lovely little - and big - beautiful moments. I couldn't think of a better way to welcome in 2014. Oh, did someone here just finish at the Tillamook Cheese Factory? One more photo from mine and Paul's sunset shoot at the beach. Still haven't printed these pictures off, but you bet I'll be doing it soon. There was a moment on the beach when Paul pointed out a shell on the beach to me (or maybe I showed him one I picked up? do those exact details really matter?), and I got this strong feeling of "oh my gosh, I can see Paul doing this as a dad someday." I told him that someday he'll be holding all the shells/treasures our kids find and give to him to hold. And I'm pretty sure he just smiled or held my hand or did something very Paul-esque like that. That little moment mixed with that beautiful sunset was pure magic. Oh, what's that? You want a few more pictures of the ocean? Well then let me share a few more! Thanks 2014 for starting off so fabulously. Hope there's lots more moments of magic left in you.
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I have been one sick puppy the past few days (that's my voice, not adorable Dory's above), but I'm finally feeling a little more like myself. I'm back to blogging today and sharing some final posts from my holidays. You can still post Christmas pictures in mid January right? Sure, why not? So here's a few of my favorites from my Christmas, spent with my family in St. Louis. First, my favorite little elf: Ms. Dory. My mom's Christmas display in her new dining room - love how she incorporated the painting I made her! What an eye she has! One of my Mary's angels ornaments. I've been getting a new ornament in the series since I was just a few years old. Our family has a tradition of giving an ornament each year for St. Nick's Day. Each St. Nick's Day I can expect a little angel ornament, and I love it. Paul can now expect a Snoopy - how perfect for that beagle loving husband of mine? Me and my Uncle Romie - one of my favorite people in the world. He taught me to paint and how to identify deer tracks. He can win court cases and make the best jambalaya you've ever tasted. He has a great eye for art and a great talent for catching frogs and shooting deer. He's a fascinating guy. And then my cousin stole my camera and took about a million selfies. Here's one of my favorites. Diego and Pedro both dressed up for the holiday. They looked very snazzy in their bow ties. That love of mine. More of my favorite people in the whole wide world. We took this obligatory picture in front of my aunt's Christmas tree, and then we all stood right in front of it so you can't even see the tree. And it looks like Pat just has a lot of bows growing out of his head. I guess he's just fancy like that.
Christmas seems so long ago now! Was it just a few weeks ago that we were wining and dining with our family? What a great holiday it was, and as always, I'm glad to have pictures to help me remember more fun times. being back at home with our pups
seeing Diego relax being back at home (and barking much less!) a day date with my hubby urgent care clinics modern medicine and affordable prescriptions time to rest and feel better listening to favorite songs on our new record player meeting new people and catching up with old friends making travel plans a fresh start in 2014 Every city seems to have its own fun winter traditions. In St. Louis, winter is the perfect temperature for outdoor skating - cold enough to keep the ice frozen but not too cold to make hanging outside for a few hours miserable. My favorite place to skate in St. Louis is Steinberg skating rink, located in Forest Park. I have so many memories of going to Steinberg as a kid, and I will forever feel sentimental about this place. My family used to have a tradition of going skating during our Christmas break and then getting a snack at a local Irish pub afterwards for a snack (we actually went to this same Irish pub for drinks the day of my wedding - funny how that kind of thing comes full circle). It also seemed to turn into a tradition to take my sister to the hospital after she fell and hit her head too hard on the ice. My family usually laughs about that, but writing it now it seems a little serious. Yikes. I guess you just have to take any injury story from my family with a grain of salt because we all seem to be extremely accident prone. Especially when you involve something unyielding like a large sheet of ice. This year my brothers and I took my younger cousins skating, and we all had a blast. A blast if you don't count how bad my feet hurt. My nostalgic memories of iceskating did not involve aching arches and tired, painful feet. I guess I'm getting old. The skaters! There's four skaters there - you might not be able to see my cousin because he's dressed in camo :) What a great day! I'm really glad I have these pictures to remember our adventure - or at least the parts where I could feel my feet. I'll choose to remember the bonfire, the hot cocoa, the holding hands with my cousin as we skated around talking about life, the Mom's Deli sandwiches, and the much needed nap I took after our adventure was done.
The holidays were a crazy, amazing time for me and Paul. We like to fit visits to both of our families in if possible, and we were fortunate enough to be able to spend time in St. Louis and Portland (OR) during the past couple of weeks. During our trip to Portland, we took a day trip to the Oregon coast and shot these pictures. I'm thinking of framing them or putting together a small coffee table book because I love them so much. Our holiday travels are usually bittersweet for me. While I love seeing family and friends, visiting St. Louis and Portland bring up the lingering question about which part of the country Paul and I will choose to settle down in. We're both happy in the city we've made our home as a married couple, but we're feeling more and more that we'd like to be closer to family as we get older. Currently we're both vying for our hometowns, and we've gone through all kinds of crazy ideas about how to make a bicoastal living arrangement work (no luck on making any of them a reality yet). While we wait for teleportation to be invented, we try to focus on being lucky enough to even have two places that we want to be so badly. We're loved bi-coast-ally! And I'm totally not complaining that the Oregon coast is the place I visit my inlaws. Not at all. In an effort to not let this big question cloud our happiness now, one of my New Year's resolutions is to just be present. To enjoy my life exactly as it is right now. I've had varying success with it over the past week, but having it as a goal feels like a good first step. And watching the sunset over the ocean sure helped push all worries out of my mind. Which gives me an idea - these pictures could be my go to reminder to be right here, right now.
What helps you be in the now when you're trying to be patient with an unresolved issue? Tis the season for knitting! It's the perfect time of year to curl up on the couch with a warm blanket, good movie, and a little knitting action to keep you busy. I caught the knitting fever from my mom, who really knows her way around a pair of knitting needles. I took some pictures of a few of her projects last year and received a few awesome knitted gifts from her for Christmas. We went on a yarn date to a shop in St. Louis called Knitorious and picked out some beautiful yarns for a few projects we'll be working on this winter. Mom is doing another one of her long multi colored scarves, and I'll be attempting a scarf and blanket - and will be using round needles for the first time. Wish me luck! It was tough to pick my yarns with so many beautiful options! What are your winter hobbies?
You might say it's been a bit chilly in our neck of the woods lately. Like real chilly. Like inside of your nose freezing chilly. Like boiling water turns into snow in midair chilly. The driving conditions are so bad that I ended up staying in St. Louis a few extra days. So I got to have two (2!!) snow days with the fam. Which was exactly what I needed after all the craziness of the holidays. We did all the usual snow day stuff (minus snow man making because come on! Too cold!). We watched movies, laid around in our pajamas, made a puzzle, painted, knitted, took naps, ate good soup, and had a ping pong tournament! (Every family does that right?) Being stuck in St. Louis means I'm also home to celebrate my sister's birthday!! Yay!!! We'll be going out to brunch and dinner and maybe even getting some pedicures...yes! Happy birthday Libby!! And if it's Libby's birthday that must mean it's also mine and Paul's anniversary! Woot! Unfortunately we'll have to spend this anniversary apart with the weather conditions, but I'm sure we'll enjoy celebrating as soon as we're back together. Hope everyone is staying safe and warm! P.S. I can't believe two years ago we were able to take our wedding pictures outside in St. Louis! Sooooo thankful we had the weather we did and didn't have to deal with this arctic blast business!
a wonderful start to 2014
safe flights, drives, and train trips warm shelter a snow storm and days off work time to rest visits with family and friends a trip to the Oregon Coast happy holidays giving and receiving thoughtful gifts a cousin ice skating trip spending all day in my pajamas |