come true

"You never know who has the power to make your dreams come true."

So be nice.

And enjoy some beautiful moments today. It is another stunning day in Seattle, and I am going to leave work and prance and prance. It's not every day I feel like prancing, so I have to take these moments as they come. I'm looking forward to the weekend, but still a little unsure of what happened to the week. Weren't we just waking up on a Monday? Didn't I have all week to get this list of Things to Do accomplished?

By tomorrow, as I'm playing on a mountainside in the snow, I'll have forgotten about the list, and won't give it another thought until Monday.

inspired by this

photo courtesy of Michele M. Waite Photography

nothing like it

A sneak peek from the wedding! After two years of planning (well, one since they decided where to wed), a whirlwind week of preparations, a day of stunning beauty and lovely moments...

The adorable couple had their moment. It was fun, sweet, funny, memorable, and just about perfect. Even with the tropical monsoon flash-rain at the reception, and the officiant dropping out at the last minute (special thanks to the boyfriend of the author for stepping in and saving the day), the violin played, the vows were made, and their marriage has commenced.

I can't wait to show you more photos! The flowers, the special details that the bride and groom picked (and shipped across the country), the people (you'd be amazed at how big a party 22 people can throw!).

All followed with a week in the Caribbean on a boat or a beach. It was an amazing holiday.

Happy New Year, may it be the best year yet.

Photos courtesy of Bethany Rose Photography

gettin' crafty

I feel full of all kinds of exciting, inspired thought. It's as if I've been sleeping (or at least that my creative spark has been taking a very long nap) and suddenly it fills me up and my brain is filled with excitement for projects and creation and Doing-ness.

There's nothing like a sister's wedding to fan the flames. It's months and months of delight, when someone else is the bride and all you have to do is play with ideas and share blogs and photography sites to help her stay inspired. I love it when I don't have to feel the stress of something like planning a big event.

On the other hand, I constantly plan big events in my head, and wouldn't it be nice to plan them out loud for real? Like for weddings? For special people celebrating special things?

A couple of my favorite sources of inspiration:

Style Me Pretty

ee photography

this is glamorous

elizabeth anne designs

flower heaven

I want to run, leap, fly, or jump into this bouquet! I love it's softness and loveliness. It reminds me of a painting (in color, only) that I had hanging on my wall growing up. Another world of pretty skirts, a beautifully laid table (whites and silvers with pale blues), sun beaming through wide windows and summer outside.

If it were fabric I'd make it into a dress, it's colors splashing against one another and long silky layers fluttering and billowing. I'd walk through wild gardens, letting the breeze push me wherever it may.

photo courtesy martha stewart

quoting bambi

"I like flowers" is sort of a theme of mine. I notice them wherever I go, I seek them out as I walk through our neighborhood, and I take photos of the ones I'd like to know more about.

These photos are of a Pink Flowering Currant, and we had one on our property growing up. We called it the Fairy Tree, because it bloomed each spring in the forest nowhere near any other flowers, and seemed magical with it's bright, tiny blossoms.

I like to imagine my eventual garden (the one I'll have when I grow up) and picture a wild-looking place filled with indigenous plants and pretty stone pathways weaving in between. This garden will be quiet and peaceful, with birds chirping and a bench for sipping tea. There will be cherry and apple trees, hellebore, ranunculus, and maybe some non-invasive bamboo. I'd like to look out my kitchen window, smile, and think to myself how well things are growing, and how green and pretty my garden is.