Hey hey! How’s everything? Sunday night, weekend winding down, maybe work tomorrow morning? Guh. Just going to pretend it’s the weekend for a little while longer, OK?
So I know I’ve been away a lot more lately, and it’s probably no surprise that 2015 is kicking my ass. In so many good ways, and recently, not good ones. But I know how lucky I am and there’s not a moment when I’m ungrateful for it. Every morning, I do child’s pose before getting out of bed, and whisper to myself, “I’m so grateful for this life.” No lie. Because good or bad, I have this time to live. And I will breath every moment of it in, enjoy the sun on my face, the comfort of my bed, the embrace of someone I love. My heart is full right now.
I thought I should catch you up on all that’s been happening, since I’ll be able to *hopefully* blog more now with less going on. This is a long post, be prepared! Here’s the rundown of our Spring:
The Garden
First of all: SO.MANY.TOMATOES. Holy tomato. I made 3 gallons of pasta sauce, 2 gallons of salsa, gave away countless bags and still have 2 bowls sitting on our counter. I was hit with the lucky stick for tomatoes this year. Zucchini had a great turnout, too. I gave away a few, made stuffed zucchini, grilled a bunch, and currently have a zuke sitting in the fridge that is bigger than my forearm. Zucchini bread, maybe? Ugh, it’s too hot to bake!
I intend to share the stuffed zucchini recipe I came up with, since Joe devoured it and doesn’t even like zucchini. Add that to the list of blog posts I have backed up, OK?
Carrots came out decent this year, although, Jones ate most of them. That dog loves him some carrots. He would steal from my harvest pile as I was digging for more. And I couldn’t even be mad, because, come on now. How cute is that?!? I planted in the cells of our cinder block garden while it was still cool, and the growth is slow and sad. They’re still going so I’ll see how long I can torture those poor seedlings before I let them go. Lavender bloomed for the first time ever, even though Joe begs to differ. And the roses loved how I pruned/trained them horizontally along their new trellis system. They put on a good show until the heat set in. I’ve stopped fertilizing since it’s over 110 degrees most days now. Overall, a great garden this year!
Our Life
May and June are CRAZY. Birthdays, graduations. This year it was housewarmings, too. A few people in our family bought houses all at the same time, and I’m excited to share the homemade gifts I came up with!
Seriously, Joe’s beard is like my favorite thing ever. One niece graduated from high school in May, another was born, and yet another celebrated her 4th birthday. So happy for our family right now!
Jones
This little rat will be celebrating his first year with us come the end of the month. He has been such a good addition to our family, and loves his human cousins like crazy!
We are looking forward to bringing Jones to Ocean Beach this year for the 4th of July. (our annual trips are here, here and here) I’m curious about how he’ll react to the sand, the ocean, and all the other dogs in such a fur-friendly place. One of his favorite cousins is coming with, so he’s in for a treat!
The Blog
You may have noticed a slower picture load time, although I’m not sure you would. I’ve been busy building my new site this weekend after letting it slide the last few months. The new site can handle larger picture files, and so from here on out, that’s what I’ll be uploading in an effort to streamline. You might have also noticed that I ditched the watermark on all these pictures: I won’t be watermarking anything but portfolio shots anymore. Speaking of portfolio, I’ve been working really hard to get mine together with lots of photo shoots recently:
Notice the new watermark? I really struggled with this. I was definitely overthinking it, getting overwhelmed with the possibilities and what felt like the finality of it. I eventually realized that choosing my logo doesn’t have to be permanent, and that shook me out of my paralysis.
Here is an example, with the final decision imprinted. Changed quite a bit over time, eh?
Obviously, I was going for something hand-drawn. That was the only thing I could decide on for sure. I drew a LOT of logos. I took many, many votes. I hope my final decision works out!
There you go, that’s the very, very, very streamlined wrap-up. Every day of May had something on the calendar, with the exception of two days. 2! It’s been busy, chaotic, lovely, lively, fun, frustrating. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I am so grateful for this life, you guys. I hope you find reasons to be grateful, too.
