It Is Easy Being Green (and Blue, and Yellow, and Pink, and....)

For our anniversary, (the eleventh traditional anniversary gift is steel, and I always try to come up with something that relates to the traditional gift... sometimes non-traditionally) I decided to STEAL Jamie away for the day.  He had no idea what I had planned.  What better way to celebrate being Blue together than to get covered in blue?  We ran The Color Run together (you know...nothing says I love you like a 5k!) and were doused in powdery technicolor.  We ran along-side tutus, togas and even tidy-whiteys (the only stipulation of the race is you start your top half out in white.) and finished off rainbow-hued. 

I would like to point out that this picture is in front of the "Bean" which is yes, made of steel.... (Is that a stretch?)

It was the most fun I've had running.  Chalk it up to a really good day.  (Come on, that was funny.)

Eleven

On Sunday Jamie and I celebrate our eleventh wedding anniversary. 

Oh look at those grey skies!  And the river! Do you see how high it is?  It was so high due to the rains the night before- and the morning of our wedding, it flooded the area of this island on which we were supposed to get married.  Supposed to.  (I spent most of my childhood playing here, the island itself- in a forest preserve is called the "Isle of View" I mean come on!  What could have been more perfect?)  Supposed to have been....
But it was perfect.  
I got to marry that man standing there.  He still looks at me that way.  I still smile and blush the same way I am in this picture because of his look. He still grabs a hold of my hand- usually, somehow when I need it the most. Still.  Eleven years later.  
We spent the day with our family and friends- eating and drinking and laughing and celebrating being in love and being alive.  
Its not just the fourteenth of October I am so grateful for.  Our sweet, funny, rainy, chilly, grey, heart-achingly beautiful October day, no- its today and the everyday and all of the in-between days I am grateful for...but especially this day...our fourteenth of October.
I love you to the stars Jamie Blue, I do. 

Jim & Stephanie

It was a beautiful day celebrating love and Fall.
Pumpkins (I know!) down the aisle.

A sweet rustic arch where the couple said I do.  (Its at a ranch...there were horses in all of the pastures just to greet everyone and give their blessing on the ceremony.)

Lime green for the bridesmaids.

Dark purple calla lily, hydrangea and Dahlia for the bride.  (With a wee bit of baby's breath- because the bride loves it.)

The groom and his fellas all got peppers and dahlia, rosemary and lavender in their boutonnieres. 
The mothers and other family members all had hydrangea and bittersweet and little spray roses in their personal flowers.

The head table. 

PUMPKINS!

 

Pumpkins and moss and bittersweet.  (And brown craft paper runners which I thought was a nod to the caterers- who were barbecuing! The smell almost killed Jamie....) 

Since we were on a ranch (which has a working chicken coop, a bee colony, herb and vegetable gardens in addition to all of the horses) I thought it was only appropriate to include herbs and vegetables into all of the arrangements, and in some some of the personal flowers.   (There is purple broccoli and basil below. Artichokes and kale in pictures above. Also grapes and plums and mint and rosemary and lavender and...you get the idea.) 

Half of the arrangements are in pumpkins, the other half are in wooden berry baskets.

It was a good day.  A really good day. It was made even better when the people who own the property let us use their all-terrain vehicles to move everything around.  (That is Jay in the back holding together the massive arch, surrounded by a bounty of pumpkins.  We relocated them to the reception space to be a part of a photo-booth background.  I cannot even imagine having to carry that thing. Or lugging pumpkins.  It was awesome.  Awesome.)

Congratulations Jim & Steph!  Thank you so much for letting me be a part of this bountiful day.  (I couldn't resist...okay?)

Merry Go Round

I saw Sarah Dennis' work a few weeks back and I was just dead gone for it. Dead gone. Inspired by nature and childhood her magical illustrations make you want to crawl right in to them and be whisked away on whatever adventure they may hold.

Admit it, you want to jump right in too. 
You can see her work here. Or purchase here.

...And Now a Word on October...

I'm late. Its nothing unusual. In a blink of an eye we are a week into October.  Hocus- pocus.  Poof! Why does this month always seem to travel by faster than any of the rest?  October.  Even saying it has the promise of crunchy leaves, juicy apples, warm sweaters, hot ovens, sweet candy, crisp winds, cozy fires, and...pumpkins.  (Not familiar with my very small pumpkin addiction?  Oh you will be.)

I often think of the months as if they were people.  Friends to come and visit and stay for just a while.  (Some, over stay their welcome- like any friend can, and we are all to happy to see them go, but then we welcome them right back again come their turn next year.) October is my dearest of these friends, with such ties to my heart. (Always welcome, never over stays, in fact- usually leaves before I'm ready to say goodbye....) Is October one of the oldest months, dark and mysterious and looming?  Or is October one of the youngest months, playful- full of tricks and treats?  These are the things I wonder as I fall asleep between my deliciously chilly sheets, burrowing into Jamie as I hear the tree's barren branches tap tap tapping against a window, or the roof- is that October trying to get in? Hello friend- so nice of you to visit again.  I do hope you do stay awhile. 

Iris Evangelene 16 Months

Iris is sixteen months old. 

Lots and lots and lots of words have been added to Stinkerbell's vocabulary.  "Where arrre you?" Is among my favorites.  Also "W, X, Y...." Which is done in typical ABC singsong speak.  She can parrot just about anything she hears, which is mostly good.  Mostly.  

The world is Iris' cell-phone.  Remote control, banana, (seriously, no joke) Duplo block, empty toilet paper roll all get held up to her ear with a "Hellwo"?

Most of our pictures this time around were of her backside.  "Iris, look at Mama!" I would say, and she would giggle and turn and look the other way.  Is this a sign of things to come?

Iris is a delicious infusion of both of her brothers.  She loves coloring and music and dancing and is sweet like Ezra...and has the daredevil personality, and the "I'll try anything once" attitude of Avery.  Calm and cuddly, fiery and feisty.  Iris brings something we haven't had over here in the House of Blue though: Iris is definitely a girly girly GIRLY girl.  Bracelets and bows and ribbons and tutus... "pretty" has become one of her favorite words.  The boys love it.  (Daddy picked out Iris' first walking shoes...a pink pair of Mary-Janes...studded with flowers.)  Okay, I don't mind either.  

Sometimes, when she lets me cuddle her and I can feel her breathing slow down and her eyes begin to flutter shut, I take it all in slowly...as slowly and surely as I can, as if in some strange way I can trick time- I can draw it out- and perhaps make it stop for just a moment...or two.  I squeeze her a little tighter.  I smell her delicious baby hair.  I whisper dreams that I have for her, for me, for all of us. I stroke her smooth soft skin and tell her I love her.  That I am so grateful for her.  I hope as she sleeps and dreams she hears my little whisperings, always.

Hike

 Little moments, little pangs of nostalgia for our vacation have hit me here and there throughout the weeks that we have been back while trying to pick up our routines- or fall into new ones.  Daydreaming of what the sand felt like,  what the smell of the cabin was, the view of Lake Superior, the view of the never-ending sky, the smell of the children's hair after spending hours by a campfire, the sound of stillness.  Then I realize that my hands have been soaking in dish detergent, or that I was going to change a diaper, or that I was unloading a load of laundry, or pouring another cup of coffee and I sigh to myself and get back to the daily day-to-day dealings.  But there are pictures to be shared- and here for just a moment we (oh yes, you too!) are going hiking. 

 Hiking to wooded dunes (a bit of an oxymoron?  Nope.  They are deliciously (and deciduously, I might add) true.)  with views that ran with the waves for miles. 

We explored every nearby waterfall the boys could lead us to. 

 

  

 

 

We followed most of the streams that led away from the falls.

 

One led us back to the lakefront. 

 Where we (the boys anyways) ran through the little rivulet repeatedly collecting rocks, looking for fish, splashing.  Playing.

And can we, just for a moment talk about ferns? I think I could lose myself just dreaming on the groves upon groves of ferns growing beneath the trees. 

 

I think I could probably write a book about my love of ferns...or moss.  My high-school self would be horrified!  ("Ferns?  Moss?  Whatever!  Who is this crazy lady and what has she done with me? Her?  Us?") Do you ever have conversations like that with your former self?

Its the lake!  Not the "Blue Lagoon"!  I know!  Jamie and I had a brief idea of skinny dipping, but we couldn't figure out a way to get down there, and talk about scarring your children for life.... It was a fleeting thought. Very.  Fleeting. 

One day hiking led us to this lighthouse.  We were graciously given a tour to ourselves- and 3 of us went to the top where it was so windy I seriously thought we might get blown right off the side, or perhaps we could have just sprouted wings and woooooshh became one of the gulls that had been chattering at us all afternoon?

The trees.  Oh the trees.  The quiet calmness of these trees that peak the sky like old steeples. 

Hiking.  Thanks for coming with me.

Iris just woke up from her nap.  Back to reality!  I'm sure you have other things to tend to too.  But a little reverie never hurts anyone, does it? 
(More about our vacation here.)