pre-Thanksgiving…. i went on a “fall” retreat with my small group girls.  I say “fall” … because well…. there was very little “fall” in sight.  Instead, I got to drive up the mountain with snow falling.  Seven miles from the lodge,  we had to put chains on the vans, so I have now officially driven with chains!  The whole landscape, that dark snowy night… was just breathtaking.   The tall trees had so much fluff on them, untouched.

We pulled in, and I began to blast Christmas music… Winter Wonderland, to be exact.

On Saturday,  I snowshoed for the first time ever, and it was oh so fun!  We pounded through untouched snow, all around the lodge.  It was so quiet!  And powdery!  And such a great workout, especially when we wandered quite far downhill and back up!  I wish I had pictures of this part, but the reality is, I spent a solid three hours outside… and several times, espcially while sledding… the snow won!  I was covered, and too busy throwing snowballs to take pictures!

This all occurred two weeks before Thanksgiving..and all the sudden it kind of felt like Christmas.  Only, like I arrived at Christmas with nothing required.  I show up with merely some snow gear and drive the van full of kids.  The youth staff takes care of providing talks and small group curriculum and worship.  The lodge has snowshoes to try, and sleds to ride, and games and puzzles to play, and food to eat.

And my girls….. they show up with laughter and some tears and homework and smiles.  And … wait for it…. they show up with Christmas decorations for our room.  Yes, they do indeed rock, in case you wondered.  Streamers, glittery garlands, lights… and a big red bow for our front door.  Seriously, they are perfect.  And God, well he shows up too, in big and powerful ways, to touch me, through these kids.  I always am amazed.  I hope that moment of amazement never departs from me.

Some days I  have to really fight for Christmas to be like that too.  Because the reality is… all I have to do is show up, not worried so much about the details, the lists, it all.  All I have to do is show up and enjoy it.  Enjoy each minute of this season, each homemade gift, each strand of lights, each excuse to see a friend, each song to jingle to, each pair of fun socks, each advent worship song.

enjoy it, even when it seems too full.  You can sleep in January, after all.

Fa la la!

I woke up this morning so excited to upload my set from yesterday. Yesterday I had a perfect opportunity to showcase images from a day of travel from the west coast to the east coast and I got some great shots showing that story. Colorful airport images, serene out-the-airplane window shots. But for some reason only 4 of the 15 or so photos I took saved to my memory card – its so sad! Gone were all the mountain and cloud vistas from 30,000 ft. It did however save this shot above of our fall dining room tablescape, which perfectly captured the glowing happy mood of the day, so theres that.

So, a quick snap shot of left coast to right coast – my bags ready to go, the tram at SeaTac, and Erik picking me up in the Norfolk Parking garage.

I’ll let you know if the photos come back from oblivion, or maybe I’ll share a travel set coming back the other way next week. . .

Yesterday Ten on Ten was not happening, sadly. My flight landed at 11 pm Sunday, then back to the grind catching up at the office yesterday. Just couldn’t muster it, which makes me sad. Instead I decided to do ten California recap pics from the weekend leading up to the tenth. Sonoma, Stinson Beach, Wedding in Mill Valley, and Tiburon. It was a great weekend catching up with the Tulane Crowd

I LOVE this concept that I stumbled today on A Chow Life.

Sweat Shop is a by-the-hour sewing cafe in Paris. What a better way to collaborate with other crafters, or drop in at your lunch hour to finish a project?

Wait a tick! As I was typing this something popped up in the back of my mind. Stitches – a Seattle Sewing shop holds open studio time, Fridays 1-5 pm. Not quite as flexible, but the same wonderful collaborative process.

What do you think? Would you drop in and learn how to sew??

This summer my family had our family reunion at Silver Falls State Park in north central Oregon. It was a gorgeous weekend full of family, games, laughs, smores, and general relaxation.

While there, a group of us hiked the Trail of Ten Falls which is a meandering 8 mile loop taking you past ten separate waterfalls and a winding river throughout. It was gorgeous! I thought I’d take you guys on a virtual hike through the various falls. [I can't guarantee these are in order, but I did my best!]. A couple of the falls you get to actually walk behind and its pretty spectacular on a glittering summer day.

Our smiling crew!

For those of you wondering, we hiked North to South cutting off about 3 miles of the loop. There seems to be a local debate about which way is best. The way we did it means you hike slightly downhill most of the time and then have to climb what feels like a million foot hill and staircase at the end. Starting at the south means the stairs are downhill but then you hike gradually uphill the rest of the way. I think at least we saw the falls in the more dramatic fashion (saved the best for last).