horses & birthdays

I'm a bit late getting to this, but I had an amazing birthday weekend in March.

Friday Jimmy told me he had plans for the afternoon - surprise plans. I finished work early, found the outfit he laid out for me and was totally confused. I thought we were going to see a movie. He insisted I wear my boots. I couldn't figure out why.

We drove about 15 minutes outside of Redding to a small town called Anderson. We stopped at a horse farm. I was elated. Elated.
I had never had a chance to ride horses before and have been begging to go for quite a while. So on this beautiful, 75 degree day in March, we spent the afternoon riding horses on a trail near the Sacramento River.

If I could ride horses every day I would. Every day. I think I said, "That was so amazing!" 50 times a day that weekend. It was the best gift.

And nothing makes you feel more attractive than wearing helmets.

The next day the girls spent the day in Chico, a great little college town about an hour from Redding. We shopped, we ate amazing food, we laughed over ridiculous stories about first kisses.

I love these women and my life is so enriched by their presence. We somehow all ended up here in Redding for this season and if the whole reason was just to build this community - this family - it's all worth it.

an afternoon thought

“Do not depend on the hope of results. You may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself. You gradually struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people. In the end, it is the reality of personal relationship that saves everything.” 

― Thomas Merton

collecting art

We dream about some day having a home full of art and collected items from places that we've visited. We want to have a story behind the things that fill our home.

If I received art pieces and prints for every gift for the next few years, I'd be happy as a clam. Unfortunately, prints, paintings and framed pieces are usually pretty expensive.

Even though we don't have a big budget, we've been able to find some art in some unexpected places for super cheap (win!) and they're great reminders of our adventures.

(Sorry for the poor quality of the photos - I need to start using my actual camera instead of just the iPhone!)

Found this guy for $5 from a street vendor our first time in San Francisco.

This one is from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. There were some beautiful prints but they were upwards of $100. This watercolor print is actually a greeting card and cost only $2.95!

I picked up these vintage postcards in a shop in Ohio actually. Total cost: $1.80. They're from Eagle Rock, the city near LA where Jimmy lived for 6 months after we graduated.

This one was actually a gift from our friend Cat - also a postcard.

Hopefully one day we'll have walls full of this kind of stuff!

you make me a proud sister

One of the bummers of being far away is missing out on significant family moments.

My two youngest brothers really excel in athletics (whatever genes they got were totally lost on me) & both have had great basketball seasons.

Aaron is a junior in high school. His basketball team had the perfect season and were the first team in our county to ever go 22-0.

It was a pretty momentous thing for our (very) small town. Seasons like this bring the community together.

Aaron - we're super proud of you and your thousands of hours of hard work. We can't wait to see what next year will be like!

birthdays and celebrations

February brought birthdays and Valentines Day and celebrations that we did a poor job of documenting.

Jimmy turned 24 and we celebrated at a dinner with friends, which we have no pictures of. The next day was Valentines Day. Jimmy brought me beautiful roses and coffee early in the morning, we hung up the heart garland my family sent on the branch above our bed, and went to a great restaurant here in town for an awesome meal.

We don't do fancy meals out very often so we enjoyed getting to dress up, feel fancy, use multiple forks  for multiple courses... fancy things. And these were the best pictures from that event.

But we may have ended the night eating ice cream in bed, so let's be honest - we're not that fancy. And we like it that way. 

The day after Valentines day, it was warm enough to be outside in shorts, and we spent the afternoon on bikes riding around the city. Last weekend was warm enough to be on the beach. California 'winter' is over, and by the end of the month we'll be back in warm temperatures consistently. We're liking this California winter.

Though February was decently quiet the next few months won't be, and I can't wait for the change of pace!