This is the second year in a row we've rung in the new year with a van camping trip, and I'm pretty excited about making it an annual tradition. New Years can be such an anticlimactic holiday, and I don't have much of a desire to spend it drinking in a bar these days. I love starting the year off with some of my favorite things: campfires, no cellphone service, beautiful places and awesome people (and vans of course). It sets the tone for the rest of the year, and I have a feeling 2016 is going to include even more of this. Here are a few (belated) photos from the trip, and I hope your year has been great so far!
I always have the intention of posting more regularly here, just a few photos and words once or twice a week, but it rarely seems to happen. Oh well, maybe in the New Year right?:) As 2015 winds down I've been reflecting on this past year, and the one to come. Life is such an amazing, strange, beautiful, hard thing isn't it? I'm hoping for more healing, more growth, and more adventures in 2016, but also trying not to create too many impossible expectations. Trying to be gentle with myself. Anyways, I'll likely share more thoughts on the new year soon, but for now here's some photos of my world lately (the highlights, since there have also been some down-in-the-muck-of-it-all low moments, tears, pain and general struggles of course. Guess it wouldn't be life otherwise right?). Dramatic winter storms, chilly beach walks, cozy days by the wood stove, holidays with family, fishing and fire wood cutting. Hope your holidays were cheery and bright, and here's to an almost new year!
This past week we had a stretch of perfect, sunny cold weather and despite working a lot, and not feeling 100% I was able to get out and enjoy it quite a bit. There's really nothing like time spent outside to make me feel happy and content in the world, and I feel as though I stored up that time this past week for the coming days when I may be too busy/sick/tired to get out there. I've been hard at work in my studio cranking out jewelry for upcoming holiday shows, Etsy and wholesale orders. Speaking of Etsy, there's a handful of new pieces listed in my shop AND I'm having a sale this week! I was also lucky enough to be featured on Alisa Burkes awesome blog this week! Check it out for a little behind the scenes of what it's like to start and run your own small business, and the day to day of being a creative entrepreneur. Hope your week was great, and the weekend ahead even better! XO.
It's finally feeling like winter around here, the mornings chill and crisp, the wood fire burning at all hours of the day to keep our little house warm and cozy. I'm loving seeing christmas lights on houses, the full moon bright in a clear, cold sky, woodsmoke curling from chimneys and smelling like home. We went out to cut firewood recently, and will go again to ensure we'll stay warm all winter. Cheers to a new season, and may you have much to be thankful for.
I turned thirty this past month, and decided I wanted to spend a long weekend up in the San Juan Islands to ring in a new decade. The San Juans is a place that has captured my imagination even though I've spent little time there, and this trip was no different. Our adventure was just what I had hoped for and included a few nights at Doe Bay sleeping, soaking, and eating stunningly good food at the warm, elegant cafe there. We explored Orcas, driving its backroads in the rain, stopping to take photos of weatherbeaten cabins, colorful skiffs pulled onto rocky beaches for the winter, and misty alpine lakes. We hiked, ate, talked, and took in all of the beauty the islands have to offer. I also finally got the chance to meet Lissa of Barnacle Bags and her sweet family. Lissa and I met through Etsy years ago and have stayed in touch over the years through our blogs and Instagram, chatting here and there about this creative, entrepreneurial life we're both leading. It was inspiring to see her beautiful home and piece of land, and to talk to another maker about their journey, struggles and successes. I hope our paths will cross again soon (and if you haven't already you should check out her bags, I have one that I've carried around everywhere for the last few years and I LOVE it).
