Project 365 Day 31

No, not mine. But I love the colors and the reflections.

Project 365 Day 30

Bird Condominiums

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There is nothing quite so much fun as getting together with a friend. A great place here in town to do that is Stratford House. Anything from a cup of tea and a scone with Devonshire cream to a great sandwich and soup lunch. Tasty. :)

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Happy Birthday to The Men

I remember fearing the day my twins would be born. Not because of the actual birth; this was not my first birth. It was the weather that I worried about. A niece of ours had been born during an ice storm a few years earlier. My sister-in-law and her husband were driven to the hospital by her dad. The roads were incredibly treacherous, it took them hours to make the trip that would usually take only 30 minutes or so. When they got there they were told, no, not yet. Go on back home. No. That was what my father-in-law told them. No. We will not go home. We will stay right here. My niece would have been born either on the way home, or the way back to the hospital. They wouldn’t have made to the hospital in time. Not safely. So I worried when I was told my babies would be born in February. We didn’t make it to February. The weather was above freezing, overcast and it didn’t even rain until the afternoon. But that didn’t matter. We had an uneventful trip to the hospital where our beautiful, healthy boys were born within 3 hours of our arrival. So, when I awoke this morning to snow, I smiled.

Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday.

Timeless

In a world where fashion is constantly changing, where the colors of the up-coming season are now available on the internet, when we jump from pastel to jewel to earthy to neon, it's difficult sometimes to arrive at something that feels "timeless".

Try black and white.

No distractions of color, be they subtle or demanding. The fashions themselves may change, but they are muted rather than blatant.

Black and white images are often the answer to the question, "What will go in this room?"

Black and white can be quiet (relaxing, peaceful and free from excitement; not grand, showy or pretentious) or quite (to a considerable or great degree; remarkably good, fine, attractive or otherwise admirable or impressive).

We view black and white as one of our specialties.

Here's a look at Quiet:



And here's Quite:

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My daughter and my newest "grandson", Jack.

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This gives new meaning to "an apple a day". I could seriously do that if this counted as my apple. Another yummy (double shot) treat from St. Honore.

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Once upon a time...Doesn’t that just do something to you? When I was in 2nd grade, when all of the other kids were (literally) reading Winnie the Pooh, I was reading Grimm’s Fairy Tales. And if you haven’t actually read Grimm’s Fairy Tales, let me tell you, they give renewed meaning to the word “grim”. I was living in England at the time, and it was very easy for me to believe that the fairy tales represented “the good old days” and weren’t just, well, fairy tales. I felt surrounded by castles and ruins and deep, dark forests. Not far from my home, there is an old farm that has been refurbished as a restaurant/brewery/venue and is actually where my daughter got married late last summer. This building is called the White Shed and is for cigar smoking and scotch (you can see the bottles through the window). To me, it looks like the shed that the woodsman in Snow White would have lived in. Okay, without the lights in the surrounding trees, and without the historic octagonal barn it sits next to (it was really the dairy shed). But I can see the woodsman there, I can smell his pipe, and if I close myeyes, I know that Snow White is coming, and my heart beats faster, because I have read the story, and I know what lies ahead.

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Congratulations!

Did you get engaged over the holidays? Congratulations! How exciting! No post-holiday lull for you -- so much to do! After you say yes, what is usually your first decision? Pick the date. Yeah. The date. Well, one of the things you will need is something to remind your friends and family to save the date. After all, it's probably not coming up real quick, and a reminder is the thing to do if you want them to plan on attending. Enter your Save the Date card.

There are so many ways we can customize your Save the Date card. Size and shape. One side or two. Your friends and family may have a hard time deciding which side of the card to have showing when they put it on their fridge or bulletin board!

For the month of January (regardless of your wedding date), if you book your wedding with us we will include an engagement session and a 20% discount on your Save the Date cards.

Have a great time with your planning. Time is going to fly. Did I already say congratulations?

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Winter came down to our home one night
Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,
And we, we were children once again.

--Bill Morgan, Jr.

We are only a couple of weeks into the Winter of ‘08-’09 and already alot of people are sick of the snow. Here in Western Oregon we don’t get snow that actually sticks very often so I look at sticking snow as something special. I love the silence and beauty of it. It’s almost cleansing. Don’t really care to drive around in it, but I love to watch it through my window. It takes me back to Spokane, Washington when I was growing up. We had a winter one year (’67-’68) when we had 38” of snow on the ground. That was an incredible year for snowballfights, snow forts, and inner-tubing at Manito park. I was in 7th grade that winter and girls weren’t allowed to wear pants to school. So we’d walk along on the top of the snow, and would occasionally fall into an air pocket and were suddenly up to our mid-thigh in snow. And the snow would also be down our boots. Considering we lived just under the 2-mile limit for being ableto ride a school bus, it made for a really long walk to school. Our neighbors, the Mayberry family, had 4 kids -- Marilyn, Marcia, Linda (my friend) and Mark. Their parents were Ed and Lydia, and Ed was the guy that made the determination for the school district if there was going to be school that day or not. That was quite a Winter. I think this could be a comparable Winter here. How exciting for my grandkids to have a memory like this. Most of them will be too young to remember, so Grandma will have to take lots of photos.

Farewell Christmas

Here's to the end of the Christmas Season. It was an interesting one this year. Read: ALL THAT SNOW!!! We had a wonderful time with family and friends, which is the best part of the holidays. So, here is a parting glimpse of a couple of my favorite decorations on my tree, and now we're starting the year off with a special offer. Check back tomorrow for details.

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This is one of my favorite Christmas ornaments. We seem to be getting more snow this year than we usually do...the Portland area known for closing everything up when we get more than a couple of inches. I think if I actually get a chance to build a snowman this year, I want to build one like this. It makes me smile.

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A rather boring shot of my street, with such a very little bit of snow. But, one of my favorite winter pictures is of my twins, when we lived on the other end of this street, standing in snow suits and shoes. My mom had been in South Korea and picked up a couple of great snow suits, but we had snow so seldom I didn't have boots for the kids. So there they are, in these fabulous snow suits and one wearing sneakers and the other in saddle shoes with their hands in their pockets looking quiet and cute. They were always cute, but not always quiet. Actually, when things were quiet it was like an alarm going off! Maybe that's why it's one of my favorites. If I ever get it scanned, maybe I post it. On the other hand, maybe I'll keep it special, just for me.

The Snow of 2008

Here in western Oregon, snow is something that happens to other people. Enter the Snow of 2008. Schools were closed for an extra week at Christmas break. Businesses were closed for days. And the world was quiet and white and peaceful, as long as you didn't need to leave your home.

Note to Self...

Okay, so I am admittedly the world's worst blogger. I'd give myself a prize if I could think of something appropriate. But, a new year has arrived and I am going to see how many consecutive days I can blog before I fall exhausted at my keyboard, begging for my own mercy.




Here in western Oregon we don't get much snow. Maybe a slight dusting every couple of years. And that slight dusting might just be enough to close schools and businesses for a day. Enter the Snow of 2008. Schools were out for an extra week at Christmas break. Businesses were closed for days. For some kids this was their first White Christmas, and may be their last for a very long time.

And may I say, with any luck, this will be my last snow post for a long time. :)