Birffffffday!

Birthday toe-snack.

Birthday pup.

Birthday dinner.

Birthday cake.

Birthday girl!

I love Birthdays. Even when they aren't mine.

A Secret Spot...

Ok, this one doesn't quite fit. But it's the most perfect strawberry I've seen yet!

...Sort of.

Ever since leaving the land of 10,000 lakes for the land of 10,000 rainy days, I've been in search of a beach spot that will mimic the many days I spent lakeside back home in Minnesota. Our neighbor (and wonderful clothing designer) let us in on her secret spot. Although it's more of a boat loading dock than a beach, it's still a perfect spot to spend one of those rare sunny days.

Sala, vitamin-d replenished

odd, yet effective fishing contraption, oars+flippers

iced tea and a good book

perfectly packed beach bag (flea market find!)

Five things: A Sunny Day

All of my posts so far have had to do with the weather, and this one isn't an exception. I promise from here on out the weather shall only be mentioned in passing.

On Friday, I headed down for a shoot in Portland. A trip out of town is always a wonderful thing, made even more so by our first day of spring weather!

I love Portland, it reminds me a lot of Minneapolis, minus the home-grown midwestern vibe. I had a lot of fun taking photos. Here are five of my favorites:

This Truck. For some reason it seemed to sum up the vibe really well.

Hedges. I love hedges.

This portrait of Roger of Cartlandia.

Frozen yogurt in the sun. Hopefully many more of these to come.

Portland's colorful old houses

Five Things: Rained out

My mom and one of our family's good friends just departed from a 5-day Pacific Northwest excursion. True to form, it rained nearly the entire time, but I think we managed to make the best of it.

With blossom hunting (because technically, it IS spring)

walks along the harbor at night (when it did finally stop raining)...

a lot of desserts...

Some x-treme puddle-hopping adventures...

and warm drinks...

Five Things: Winter Edition

This time of year is always a trial. The holidays are over, the first snow of the season has melted, or frozen, or been covered by a thousand other layers of snow, and it seems like a million years have passed since the last sunny day. But rather than surrender to winter-time blues, I'd like to take a moment to appreciate all the aspects of the season that I usually overlook this time of year. If nothing else, winter is an excuse to indulge in wearing many layers, subsist entirely off of soup and carbs, and to spend more time in front of a fire, watching netflix, than can ever possibly be considered healthy. So in the spirit of winter, here are five things that have helped me preserve my sanity this season:

warm fires and warm socks...
a pulled fire alarm ending in a snowball fight...

outdoor baths...

homemade soup...

eaten with homemade bread.

And now can it please be spring?