joint shower

In February, I got a call from Mr. F to announce his sister's engagement!  Her happy news gave me the courage to finally call a doctor and find out if I was pregnant.  She was looking forward to a summer wedding and my suspicions about my growing belly led me to believe that I'd be giving birth around the same time.  The next day the doctor verified my pregnancy and our family has been in full-on celebration/planning mode since!

Sister is marrying a wonderful guy from New Zealand in a a few weeks and moving there shortly thereafter.  The wedding planning period has been extremely short but everything is coming together famously.  We were even able to cram in a joint shower last weekend in Florida to celebrate her wedding and our coming baby.

I wish I could explain how amazing that day was.  We were surrounded by an incredible group of women who spoiled us completely.  It was such a treat to feel everyone's love and support of our respective milestones.  The morning started with a brunch of quiches, bruschetta, and a smorgasbord of delicious iced beverages.  I got to catch up with friends from our days living there and have some much needed conversations about motherhood.  It was refreshing and made me feel so much better about the daunting task of raising a child.

After our meal, we opened gifts and the chatting continued.  I am still processing this group's generosity.  We had asked them to attend two showers at once and they gave to both of us liberally.   I am definitely taking stock and rethinking my gift giving.

My mother in law happens to be a master quilter.  She doesn't refer to herself as such, but I assure you, she is.  Amid a heavy travel schedule this spring and planning Sister's wedding, she somehow managed to make a quilt for Sister and her fiancé and for baby girl.  

I had daydreamed about what this quilt would look like and it is even more amazing than I had hoped!  It looks like a quilt my great grandmother would have made and is the perfect size for indoor picnics and cuddle sessions.  To top it off, the backer fabric looks just like the wallpaper I've hand painted in the nursery.  (..which I still need to show you...)

Isn't she beautiful?!  I often feel like she's the Diana Barry to my more Anne complexion.  Where I am fair, sister has these stunningly dark features that I envy.  And that smile?  Yeah, we've been seeing it a LOT since her engagement.  Can't wait to see her smile at the wedding!

To top it off it was my birthday.  I got to celebrate my sister and daughter in the morning and eat cake in the evening!  How great is that?!

A big thank you to everyone who came!  You are wonderful!  And an even bigger thank you to Mom for putting this shindig together.  I'm so grateful we got to share those memories together before Sister moves overseas.

beachcombing

My great uncle kept a house on the Oregon Coast.  For about a decade, we would trek out there during the summers and stay for about a week.  It was the highlight of every summer.  The Oregon Coast is a magical place, with rugged cliffs, wild pines, and cold, damp air.  Only there would you need warm clothing in August and be grateful for a cup of cocoa and a warm fire.  

While I hunted down book stores, two of my favorites are still in those coastal communities, my Nonny would be walking the beach.   He would wake hours before any of us even thought of consciousness, trolling the coast for precious agates, sand dollars, and shells.  We would bring home bags of them every summer, which my mom still has many of in the basement of my childhood house.  She uses them in decorating, filling shallow wide bowls with them, nestling candles in them, or leaving the perfect heart shaped rock on their dresser.

Over Christmas, Nonny allowed the rest of us to go with him.  We didn't go nearly as early as our Oregon summer days and the Atlantic doesn't offer agates like the Pacific does.  But we found shell after beautiful shell.  I loved watching my athletic mother leave us all in her trail as she walked gingerly over the wet sand.  I similarly loved witnessing the childlike enthusiasm of my father over each treasure he found.  I'm not sure if it's the result of him growing up in the desert or just his deep seeded love of the ocean, but he never grows tired of his combs.  

I brought home my own assortment of shells.  I even had a rock stashed in the pocket of that pink half-zip until about a month ago.  One day, I went for a walk.  When I tried to put my keys in the pocket, I found a shell waiting for me.  It was the perfect reminder of some wonderful days with my parents.

beach life

As you're reading this, we're on our way back here.  Life has been busy lately.  Really busy, and kind of hard.  About a week ago, I called Mr. F at work and told him I needed the ocean.  He agreed, requested a couple of days off, and the next thing we knew, we were planning on a long weekend vacation.

These photos are from Christmas.  My parents drove down from the D, picked us up in Atlanta, and the four of drove down to Florida to join Mr. F's parents for the holiday season.  On Christmas morning, the six of us and the two dogs got up relatively early and went for a long walk on the beach.  The tide was low, perfect for beachcombing.   This might be my new favorite Christmas tradition.  All of the family together at our happy place. 

I have plans to spend hours on this beach this weekend.  Walking endlessly, listening to the crash of the waves, my thoughts, and maybe a few NPR podcasts.  Goodbye real life, hello oceans!

this week according to my phone

I woke up on Monday feeling normal for about 5.3 seconds.  Then Mr. F told me he had another interview out of state being scheduled for next week.  The same week I'm leaving for The Stud's wedding.  Which led to mass chaos and internal panic.  Thus ensued the week of "AHH!!! WE'VE GOT TO GET EVERYTHING DONE NOW!"

So, I went to Target to try to find accessories for the wedding.  Found the bracelet on the left and fell in love with the skirt on the right, even though it did absolutely nothing for my birthing hips.

I've been feeling the need to step back into the kitchen.  Last week I made chicken pot pies that lasted three days.  This week?  The best pasta bake in the history of pasta bakes.  It was so good!  I'll definitely have to share this recipe at some point.  It called for some homemade pesto and for the counter to be overtaken by giant basil leaves.  Have I mentioned how good it smelled?

We like chambray.  Got this shirt for Mr. F this week at Walmart for $9.  Can you believe that!?  He officially has the longest torso known to mankind, so finding him shirts is something of a challenge.  It almost always requires going to specialty shops to find "tall" clothing.  Color me surprised when this shirt worked so well!  If only my chambray only cost nine bucks...

Speaking of clothes....I'm beginning to get things ready to pack while being wholly indecisive about what to wear.  It's hot here man! 

Part of the week of panic was getting business matters in order.  Lots of staging for upcoming blog posts and most exciting of all, getting notecards and CALENDARS printed!  This has been the ordeal of the century trying to find a good printer locally.  I have failed after many attempts and outsourced to my favorite printer up in Detroit.  My mom now has this stockpile on her dining room table!  Hopefully I'll be able to get the calendars available to all of you soon!

Lastly, nature in all its splendor.  I'm still keeping up with my walks, though a few factors beyond my control have limited my chances this week.  I haven't been back to the park in ages because I'm just trying to make the most of the beach.  The feeling that our days here in Florida are numbered has been weighing heavily on me and I'm fairly certain where ever we go, the ocean will not be nearly as accessible as it is now.  When not at the beach, the last of the summer flowers in our yard have been a welcome sight.  The heat of August is hard on everything in Florida but I notice it especially in the fauna.  Plants that were lush and bushy last month are now leggy and often drooping under the weight of the sun.

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

lately

I have been feeling the need to document the little things more.  Our lives since February have been so consumed by the Big. Week in and week out, we await phone calls and emails that will change our lives forever.  A new locale perhaps?  New friends? New job?  New adventures just waiting on...something.  With all of this waiting, I have neglected the Little.  Those infinite moments of seeming nothing that mean everything.  Clean loads of laundry, making dinner, walks on the beach, switching up my exercise regime, conversations with friends and family, folding notecards, and ironing shirts.  These small, small things that make life what they are.  Lone coconuts in the foamy surf and framing new prints.  Such simple things that bring me great joy...

on the water

{shirt: goodwill, shorts: j. crew factory (on sale for 19.99!!), glasses: nordstrom, baubles: gifts and garage sales, hairstyle: mother nature}

So it was Sunday.  And we'd had enough napping and decided to go to the beach for a walk.  And I had a new haircut and a decent outfit and was feeling pretty cute.  So we brought the phone to take pictures.  But we had to get to a part of the beach with fewer people, which took awhile.  Because it was Sunday and a nice day and everyone and their dog was at the beach.  So we walked.  And walked.  Which was fun!  Eventually we got to a clearing.  I started "posing" while Mr. F took out the phone.  Truly, two pictures in, the heavens opened.  Rain.  RAIN! See that last set of pictures, how the sky is so different?  Happy blue versus muddled blue?  Yeah.  Clouds.  Rain clouds to be exact.  So we took a few more pictures and I gave up the hope of my new haircut looking cute.  Mr. F stuffed the phone back in his pocket so it didn't drown in the rain that was suddenly getting harder.  It took us about two seconds to realize how far away from the car we were and to just give in.  We sauntered merrily up the beach through a high tide while surfers and loungers scurried under cover. That walk was awesome   AWESOME!  I may have sung, "If you like piña coladas, and getting caught in the rain..." repeatedly.  And then a few times more.  To top it all off, we got to eat birthday cake that night when we got home.  That rain felt so blissful in the late summer heat and giggling with Mr. F was even better.

treetops

I've been trying to go for walkruns three to four times a week recently.  For the most part, I've been going strong on this for almost a month.  Can I get a "WHOOP! WHOOP!"?  There's a park near the house I like to walk to with a pondish lake encircled by a walking path.  For me, this is perfect.  I do so much better exercising when I can be surrounded by nature rather than houses, or worse yet, skyscrapers.  I pass elderly neighbors and their dogs, listen to NPR and the BBC on my phone, and build up one massive sweat. A little bit of me time surrounded by trees I can't even begin to name before heading home to work.  I have always had an infatuation with trees, but I find myself increasingly more distracted by these foreign breeds.  The contrast between the crisp green hues and the violently blue Floridian skies.  The pines with boughs shaped like snakes and palms that climb inexplicably closer to the heavens.  And then, there is always the refreshing shade they offer as I awkwardly jog past, perfect for a summer workout.

the lake

David calls this The Lake.  It's actually a river that separates us from the mainland.  We cross it via one of several causeways.  Sometimes, we'll be on the bridge and it will be raining on one side and sunny on the other.  Other days, the water will be green, speckled with white frothy caps as the wind howls in another storm.  On this day, it was calm.  Slight ripples slid across the surface, the only movement on the river.  Blue skies and a calm "lake."  What more could you ask for?