thanksgiving

Feeling thankful for our easy to love nutty bunch. Zero stress family gatherings? Yes, please, and thank you! Succulents and mismatched silver, great grandmother's china, grandmother's silver, the bartered table, and chalkboard paper and pens. Add raucous family and friends, mix well, enjoy. :)









broadway comes to the south bay

finally made it. wonderful costuming, music...just like everyone said.

blur

the view from my driver's seat as i traverse 580 west, east, east, west. the sun sets as yet another fire smolders in the hills between school and home. the light is fading. the nightly drive home will soon be shrowded in fall's early darkness. 



and, he's off

it's anyone's guess if we will see him next summer. internships, work, girlfriends, life beckon his attention. so glad to have had time with him this summer, if even fleeting. 
up, up and away, friend and favorite iron man!
if we are lucky, we will catch him this way at lauri's...


annual beach tradition


 annual gathering of the usual suspects. 
one leaves tomorrow, back to college. 
below, students of life, film, all things interesting, 
and environmental sciences
 we remember 9/11 for someone's birthday
gathering before caching


good times.
and a birthday cheesecake on a 1930's flour sack quilt top. :)



son's latest video shoot



remembered

speaking of goodbyes...my heart is heavy when i think of the loss of this one too. it's been a year. what do we take forward? what do we hold on to of that beautiful heart? 
frankly, as much as possible. 

"You know, as we come to the end of this phase of our life, we find ourselves trying to remember the good times and trying to forget the bad times, and we find ourselves thinking about the future. We start to worry, thinking, ‘What am I gonna do? Where am I gonna be in ten years?’ But I say to you, ‘Hey, look at me!’ Please, don’t worry so much. Because in the end, none of us have very long on this Earth. Life is fleeting. And if you’re ever distressed, cast your eyes to the summer sky when the stars are strung across the velvety night. And when a shooting star streaks through the blackness, turning night into day… make a wish and think of me. Make your life spectacular. I know I did.”  as Jack Powell
“To live would be an awfully big adventure.”   as Peter
“Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.”  as John Keating
“What some folks call impossible, is just stuff they haven’t seen before.”  as Chris Nielsen






Tribute to Robin Williams

no goodbyes

after nearly 2 decades, i formally stepped down from committee work with my local homeschool group. i can't imagine our lives without this group, so it was with a heavy heart that i must let it go. but i refuse to call it a goodbye, so the ladies called it "see you soon" instead. i'll still be connected in other ways. 
i've never had my name on a restaurant menu before this night. what a lovely evening.



one for the queen

friend m needed a new car to replace her totalled miata of 10 years. we narrowed it down to 2 different brands, two different dealerships. the dealership with the best service, best price, best features, and best car won. service and integrity are *not* universal. she deserves every ounce of fun. woo hoo :)




hello again old friend


spent some time with this old friend. 
she helped in just the right way.





west coast sunset


sun sets over the pacific. waiting for boys while they attend a concert. truly, nature provided a spectacular waiting room. 










20

the night before her birthday, she came home to sparkly things. 
she likes sparkly things. :) 

in the morning, it started to look more like this
after picking up the lunch supplies and cake, i started to unload the dishwasher. that's when this happened after i dropped a plate on my foot and it shattered. husband says the quote of the day was, 
"is that my bone?"
it was not my bone but my tendons that i saw through a very clean cut. this led to a trip to the ER since the minor injury clinic will only see you if you have an appointment. i guess you're supposed to know when you're going to have an injury?
 just two stitches. and quite a bit of laughing. what else can one do? the doc and nurse were both very pleasant.
then we hit the reset button on missie lou's birthday. 
you only turn 20 once!




 lion king :)

forgot to take pictures with boyfriend. he gifted her with a gopro. woot woot! 
love my girl to the moon and back. so does her daddy.


new fellowship

bocce, dinner, good times. 
a fully enjoyable evening was spent with boyfriend's parents & brother. they are awesome, fun, and generous. missy lou goes to hawa** with them in just a few short weeks. so lucky! 
great night. great family.