My Friend

[pe2-image src=”http://lh4.ggpht.com/-_f81GHaKWUg/S-o0yBN1-yI/AAAAAAAABJc/b7xMzpVCobQ/s144-c-o/Charis%252520and%252520Emma%252520003.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/103687591071624398660/20090826CharisAndEmma#5470242731319491362″ caption=”Charis and Emma 003.JPG” type=”image” alt=”Charis and Emma 003.JPG” ]

I think we all have those people in our lives- you the ones. The ones that inspire us. Which means we will, inevitably, compare ourselves to them and it never works out in our little brains. (which is why we should never compare, but so is humanity)

So I have this friend who  fits in that category of just awesomeness. She is open and real with herself and not shy in sharing her life with others. Which is courageous if you think about it. She and I have been friends for some time and a common passion of ours is writing. We just love it and on occasion- need it. Last year she lost a friend suddenly and is still writing/processing through it. Tough times. 

As we talked last night, she shared about her experience at a “writing conference weekend thing”. I was immediately jealous and hungry to hear every little detail. A long lost desire of mine had been to become a writer as an adult. Instead, I was given the bigger and sweeter responsibility of  being a mom. But the desire still pops it’s head in now and then…

She and I had been in the same place of having a blog but not writing on it because of life happening. Which isn’t much of an excuse but oh well. So as we were talking, it was clear the spark of writing was in her eyes and it excited me. Inspired me. Enough so that I’m trying to get back into the groove of blogging. 

Yaaayy! I know a couple of you die hard fans have come up to me and asked about the hyades on here. Well, I’m back. There’s a couple things weird with this theme so it’ll be changing a bit here and there but I hope to be posting more regular on here. 

Peace out friends.

 

Friends

18636636174.jpg

I’m loving the friendships God is placing in my life right now.

I’ve heard a lot of people say how they feel disconnected and like nobody will go out of their way to make that extra effort. Yet I also see them sitting in their house not doing anything about it. It’s like we get used to the same patterns in life.

Change it up yo!

18637114811.jpg

There should be friends of all kinds. Not nesesarily one friend for everything. I remember being shocked when I was told this. I had felt this burdon of being the perfect friend. No idea where it came from, but it was there. 

Once I heard that I could have many different kinds of friends I felt free to expand and explore the relationships I had around me.

18073743016.jpg

Find the friends you can cry with.

Find the friends you can laugh and giggle with.

Find the friends you look up to.

Find the friends who are passionate about the same things.

Find the friends who are past your stage in life.

Find the friends that slightly annoy you.

Find the friends you can be spontaneous with.

C360_2012-01-15-11-34-34.jpg

Photo shoot: The Wardens

18789518706.jpg

Travis and I were asked again to take some pictures of some friends. We jumped at the offer! We wondered around downtown Portland and thanked Jesus it wasn’t crazy windy! We had beautiful weather for the beginning of February.

A couple words to discribe this couple: fun, caring, silly and sensitive. A wonderful couple and we’re so happy we’re friends!

My favorite quote of the day was from Chris, who is very…detailed in picture taking. 😉  “Should my lips be on top?” I just laughed. hahaha

**warning, TONS and I mean TONS of pictures coming your way…they just took too many good ones! **

18784564129.jpg

P1140617.JPG

18789593170.jpg

P1140746.JPG

P1140743.JPG

18790114833.jpg

18789711636.jpg

18789491587.jpg

18788835545.jpg

P1140659.JPG

DSC_0019.JPG

18784824780.jpg

DSC_0055.JPG

18784973863.jpg

18789461699.jpg

18785125934.jpg

Love having these opportunities to take pictures! 

Tour a Polish flat

 A lot of you have asked us how the Polish decorate and if it looks different or similar. Since we’re staying with some friends I thought I’d take advantage of their cute style and show you! So with their permission, here is a small tour of their house!

House Tour: Witamy u Trochimiuków!

Pokój Dzienny (living room):

18075046330.jpg

It took me about 5 seconds after reading this to realize it’s in English! lol 

18088993007.jpg

18088882415.jpg

18088900858.jpg

18088969507.jpg

18088942906.jpg

Wonderful, beautiful IKEA.

Korytarz (Hallway):

18075093097.jpg

18089120441.jpg

18089650978.jpg

Kuchnia(kitchen):

18089028537.jpg

18089047050.jpg

18089069960.jpg

18089086207.jpg

Their daughters’ room requires a whole other post. 🙂 Be looking forward to it. 

Visiting Poland for New Years!

17893869886.jpg

We’re leaving to visit some friends in Poland for New years and I’m so excited!!

 It all happened really fast and I’ve been freaking out ever since. Lots of details to take care of…and just so you know- I HATE details. there. But when I first found out we were going I couldn’t sleep till 3am I was so excited! So yeah, the good far exceeds the stress. Emma’s even been learning a lot more words to use with our friends. 🙂

But I wanted to give you a heads up. I will do my best to blog on all the things we do, see and taste. And the best part- the people! 

 I’ll leave you with a picture we see a lot. It’s the drive between Nowy Targ (where we’ll be staying with our friends) and Krakow. It’s BEAUTIFUL countryside. 

17894570685.jpg

PAPA! (bye bye!)

Friends

We had the awesome opportunity to hang out with friends we usually don’t get to see…mainly because they live in Hawaii. And believe me, I wish I was able to see them a lot more…in Hawaii. 😉

It was the first time Emma was able to hang out and play with my friends two girls. It was so great, but made me feel  OLD! lol

17673199160.jpg

Tea time but of course my dahling.

Pardon me, but could you pass the Grey Poupon? hahahaha, I had to.

17673176818.jpg

I learned tea that is drunk in purple or pink cups actually tastes better.

17673151731.jpg

Emma actually learned and has maintained the skill of eating with her mouth shut. She is super proud of herself and I thank Melissa and her wonderful polite girls for teaching her that. 🙂

Halloween Scavenger Hunt

Title pretty much explains the whole post. Enjoy the pictures! 🙂

17087195137.jpg

It was raining but that didn’t change anything, we were all really happy to be there. 🙂

17087028649.jpg

17082360211.jpg

17087464158.jpg

17087050683.jpgand a little kissy kiss. Hope you had a great weekend!

17082442226.jpg

Photo shoot: Brianne

I have a great friend who I was able to take some pictures of, for her blog. She sells fabulous scarfs and is about to open an Etsy store! I’ll let you know when she does, you’ll love it!

Not only am I learning more about taking pictures of people, but this is a free way of shamelessly promoting my handmade ‘artisan’ products…and…..

This is totally going to embarrass her too so it’s just one more fabulous reason to post this. 😉

17030160167.jpg

This black and white is my favorite. GORGEOUS.

I hope you like these- I do! It was impossible to take bad pictures of her- she is too beautiful. 🙂 One of her favorite colors is yellow, so…..

17030078877.jpg

I’ll only limit this post to maybe 5 pictures. Or 10.  😉

17030104557.jpg

17033816532.jpg

The beautiful, lightweight, flirty, girly necklace was made by me. 😉

Go check her blog out and say hi!

17033890152.jpg

“This is SO feels like I’m taking my senior high school pictures.” Brianne

“Yeah, only this is way cooler! It’s like, your awesome blogging ‘Hi!! Look at me! This is my blog’ picture!!” Me

“Uh huh.” Brianne

17033969112.jpg(she made the scarf above!)

OK, end of photo overload, you found the end of this post.

I’m ending it with another favorite.

17033943539.jpg

Craft night

I’ve had this dream for years now. That some crafty friends would all get together and make messes doing what we all love best. Some would sew, others wouuld scrap book and others whatever they love doing.

Well, I kinda started accidentally. I had a free night with Trav gone and so I called a few girlfriends to keep me company be creative with me. This was our night:

16984845818.jpg

She’s posing here. I was like, ‘OK!  Ready?! One two….oh crap. OK let’s try that again, One, Two………….Three!’ Poor Brianne. Oh and she has a great blog here. Go say you liked the rainbow skirt she made for Emma!

Also know it was really late at night and so my pictures aren’t that nice. I’m a snob and only like natural light.

16985918293.jpg 16985078377.jpg 16985943981.jpg 16986020461.jpg

And of course I asked her to pose with the finished skirt. She is such a good sport.

16985005656.jpg

Pumpkin bread, coffee, girl talk and fabric. Wonderful amazing night.  🙂

South African Autumn!!!

I am out of town right now, relaxing on the couch of my Oma’s/Opa’s. Eating sauerkraut (yum!) and watching 4 generations of ladies hanging out. Family. Fun times. But I have a great friend who I asked to guest post today. Her name is Kerstin and lives in Cape Town, South Africa. I asked her to give us an idea of what a typical South African Fall is like. Please give her tons of awesome comments! 

 ********************************************************************************

16889755200.jpg

Hi there, this is Kerstin. I am a German long term missionary in South Africa.
When I think of Fall or Autumn, Herfs (africaans) or uKwindla (xhosa) as they call it here, I want to help you understand HOW different it is here in Cape Town.
Cape Town is the most southern big city in all of Africa. I live south to the equator  in the southern hemisphere. Thus my fall/autumn/herfs/ukwindla looks quite different. I call my Fall: Spring. I know, it’s getting complicated. Please hang in there. For everyone who lives north to the equator (USA, Europe, Russia, Canada etc).

Fall is the season before winter. When the leaves fall from the trees, we can see fall in its full glory. Fall brings cooler temperatures and fall prepares nature for winter. Now, it is getting confusing: this is pretty much the same for us living in the southern hemisphere EXCEPT that our Fall functions like a Spring. Our Fall prepares nature for Summer. Yes we have Summer during Christmas time. I still need to get used to that one lol.
Our Fall shows warmer temperatures and lots of colors. It begins in the late September, early October weeks.
In South Africa we celebrate the 1.st of September as Spring Day and in October all the flowers blossom.What a great season here!
We have warm days and cool nights. Every day, I can see more vibrant colors and I looooooooove colors. I am an artist, so colors inspire me.
It is said that the Western Cape (the region around Cape Town) has the widest range of flowers and plants. Incredible. For anyone who is extremely allergic (pollen), this season is not such a happy one 🙁
So YES: Fall is my Spring. Fall-Autumn-Herfs-uKwindla!
What do I like to do in this season here in South Africa?
-getting in my car and driving around to stand in awe of the beatuy of nature that is unfolding before my eyes
-starting to sun bathe again ( I have fair skin  and I KNOW how to protect myself after several experiences… – the sun here is extremely aggressive!)
– listening to the birds and watching them
My car  Snowflake starts to be hot again even with the amateur AC I start to cook in it…and I can leave my windows open overnight hehe.
I loooooove Fall in South Africa!! Here, the colors are green, red, magenta, fuchsio, teal, yellow, bright orange and yellow…amazing!!!
Fall – Autumn- Herfs – uKwindla