the day after a year

Now I'm 28, the age my mother was when I was born. We've been celebrating all summer, but the events that follow occurred on July 17 2012.
1. The Portage's historic bricks were painted Red Bay. Perhaps we'll replace the trim/windows and give the porch a fresh coat of crisp white next year, but I am fond of the sage...
2. I attempted to vacuum & prep the dining room for painting, and had a horrible asthma attack. Four meds and two hours later I was okay again, but the walls remained blank.
3. My family went to Starbucks for my free birthday drink. Norah made me about 28 birthday cards throughout the course of the day, dear girl.
4. Crafting commenced with Andrea and Jodi, and I nicked an idea off pinterest to add word art to a picture matte, while they made jewelry.
5. Pretty much everyone has been clued-in to my anchor obsession. Thanks friends!
6. Our sweet puppy Kaya Laurë turned one!
7. My wonder~FULL life continues...

before...       ...after!

love her expressions!

perseverence

Never never never never never never never give up. - Winston Churchill

Because if you do, your sewing machine from the 1970s won't produce two adorable scrap quilts for your cousins' new little ones.

five years

We drove through cornfields, saw lightning and rainbows. Played a game of euchre with Ben and Silas. I walked him out to his car in the parking lot of AmericInn. He said he had an early birthday gift, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a deck of red playing cards from his summer stock theatre job. But there was one more thing, and he couldn't wait until my birthday one week later.

He asked me to share the rest of my life with him.

I said I would share forever with him.

such stuff as dreams

Elanor will often wake up bright-eyed in the morning and cuddle onto my lap and tell me her dreams. (Aren't I lucky?!)

Except the thing is, her dreams often sound like this: "I had a dream that we go for a walk to the park and have a picnic," or "I had a dream that we went to the library and picked out two movies," or "My dream was about going to [insert friend or relative]'s house and making cookies." Inevitably, these visions have a way of coming true.

I wish my dreams could predict the future.