Fire Lookout Trip

Justin and I just returned from a fantastic road trip across the South Eastern part of our home state.  We started off in Sisters for our annual pilgrimage to the Sisters Folk Festival with my parents.  It's always such a wholesome, beautiful celebration of good music, community and positivity, and this year was no different.

Next we headed east to meet some friends and spend a couple of nights in fire lookouts.  There's a ton of these all over the state and you can rent them now, which is pretty cool!!  It was one of the more unique experiences I've had, and I highly recommend it.  There were hot springs along the way, a lake swim, sandwiches in the van, and endless driving down windy dirt roads.  Aspens, desert, juniper and sage.

On the way home we spent a bit of time in the Bend area, which we discovered we really love! I just recently started learning to mountain bike, and I totally fell in love with it on this trip.  What a fun way to be outside, and a great form of exercise.

I hope your fall has been fantastic so far! 

Ginger and Brighams Farm Wedding!

This wedding was so bursting with love, originality, color, and community!  Ginger and Brigham run a fantastic small organic farm in the Nehalem Valley that supplies an abundance of fresh veggies to our community.  They are also really inspiring, beautiful people, and their love for each other is so huge and so evident.

Their wedding day was one of those moments that reaffirms why I live here.  The feeling of community, of growing together and supporting each other, was truly palpable for these two.  

A beautiful, simple ceremony as the sun set over the late summer veggie fields, followed by bluegrass, the most amazing and varied potluck spread, children dancing in the grass, twinkling lights and booze snow cones (yum!) rounded out the evening.

Congrats, and I can't wait to see what you grow together! (pun intended:)

Micah and Chris' Wedding!

My friend Micah is more like family than a friend really.  We grew up together running around on the beach and traipsing through the forests of our small hometown, and in many ways I consider her family an extension of my own.  

She and her awesome husband Chris have made their way back to our part of the world, and this is also where they chose to celebrate their wedding.  It was everything a wedding should be:  Community, friends, family, good music and food, and most of all, FUN!!  I don't know if I've seen a bride and groom having as much fun as these two did on their big day.  

Congrats guys, and good luck in the big city!

Addie and Adams Wedding Week!

This August we flew to the other side of the country to spend a week celebrating the wedding of my dear friends Addie and Adam.   Addie and I were college roommates, and we have remained the best of friends for almost a decade now.  They're the kind of friends I hope my children will call Aunt and Uncle, and who will be in my life for a long time to come.

We spent a glorious week in New England creating crafts for the wedding, cooking, swimming, and catching up with old friends.  It was wonderful to see the love these two have for each other and the way they have created an amazing community of friends and family from all over who love them deeply.  And, the wedding was downright-drop-dead-gorgeous.

Yay for friends and LOVE!

A Few Thoughts on Forgiveness and Creativity

Hi there folks!  I realized recently that it's been a little while since I've written anything here, so I figured I'd sit down for a second and share a few thoughts I've been having recently about my creative process.  I have lots of photos and adventures to share from the last month or so of summertime, but until then here's some ramblings from the mind of an artist.

I seem, every so often, to go through phases where I'm less interested in creating new work.  Sitting down to work on jewelry or art of any kind feels a little bit like pulling teeth, or at the very least like a chore (which isn't normally the case).  This usually leads to bouts of frustration with myself, and a general feeling that I'm "failing" in some big way.  I struggle, and fight it, and drag my feet. 

So, when I encountered this feeling recently I decided to approach it from a different angle.  Leaves were starting to fall and the quality of the light was changing, and it felt like the last gasp of summer was right around the corner.  All I wanted to do was run out into the sunlight, swim in the river, and enjoy everything that summer has to offer on the North Coast.

 And so I did!  I got all caught up on the work that I had to do, and it being a slow time online, I closed my Etsy shop for a bit and decided to allow myself to take the time to recharge, and to work on new designs and art for the holiday season.  It is so hard for me to be kind to myself, and to offer myself forgiveness in these situations.   I worry sometimes that people think my life is "too fun," or not "serious" enough, and when someone says "man, you guys are always traveling" what I hear instead is, "jeez, do you ever work or is your life all fun and games?"

But then again, what is the point of life if not to have fun, and to be happy?!  And who said being "serious" was the goal?  I want to be ambitious, and strive, and create the best, most fulfilling art that I can, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be FUN right?!  

I am learning that being kind to myself is something that requires practice, and doesn't happen over night.  So this is me, practicing,  and growing, and changing.

Cheers to trying something new, and to enjoying the shifting of the seasons.

Thanks for reading, and for being here.