may days

i am so lucky to have this beautiful woman in my life...
for there are many a' days that her smile brightens my own.

and did i mention the love between my grandmother and husband?
joel has been helping to care for my grandmother in the mornings...
every time i see him with her, i love him all the more.
and fixing his bike gloves is such a perfect example of the
thoughtful relationship they share!

blooming cherries...

there is a total of 4 cherry trees in this glorious backyard of my mother's!

the addition to my mother's house that you can see in this picture was a
consideration for joel and i...
the thought was we would rent out our house for 6 months to a year and be able to
put some money away.

it was a nice thought, but we decided to be selfish with
our time and space and stay present in our darling house.

our sweet girl sure does loves the space to run around in though...
and chase squirrels, of course!

this is my new business partner wendy and her now husband jason on their wedding day!

two of my classmates at ocom are "roller girls"...
so i was determined to check out what this roller derby gig
was all about. allyson kept me company and was much
more tempted than i to give it a try.

this is my incredibly talented cousin julie's self portrait.
she is just completing yet another fine art degree at the oregon college of art and craft.
joel and i were honored to witness and celebrate her incredible work!


mom and julie with another of her 'faces'

julie. jim. mom. barbara.

the 'after the exhibit' dinner celebration...
i try not to always have my camera out and on the scene,
but how can one resist an opportunity like this?

i truly believe it had been at least 20 years since i had seen jim and barbara...
so we had to take advantage. julie hosted a family brunch.

i wanted to discretely give some perspective of julie's
amazing work. i'm totally inspired!

melanie's blessingway.
on very special occasion my personal life
meets my professional life...
melanie was first my friend, then my client
and continues to be both!

i threw her a delightful blessingway for
her journey into motherhood of two!