taken with the iphoneroid with absolutely zero post production work other than a crop, amazing.
Category Archives: matt&kate
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we took a trip!
July 22, 2010 – 11:05 am
on august 18, 2007 two things happened:
- matt & i got married!
- a category 5 hurricane slammed our honeymoon destination.
we scrambled around to create a plan b and ended up in the mountains of north carolina in the beautiful vacation home of some friends of ours. our jamaica getaway was rescheduled for two months later. after that we started a business and vacation was a little bit of a foreign idea to us for a while… ;)
fast forward two years. we struggled to do it, but we successfully blocked off three (consecutive) precious summer weekends. we were finally planning a trip together! just matt & me, heading out west to explore a new landscape, relax & rejuvenate! but then, just before we booked airfare, we found the perfect little home for us and welcomed baby stella into our lives. it was SUCH an exciting time for us but before we knew it those three weeks were over and we were still surrounded by boxes and discovering little ‘gifts’ stella was leaving all over the house. love her.
SO THIS WAS THE YEAR! we blocked off three weekends without looking back and booked airfare as soon as we could to cement our plans. june 28th snuck up on us and before we knew it we were sipping coffee in seattle- shortly after we found ourselves surrounded by snow on mount rainier, followed by a rainy day in astoria before walking cannon beach and hitting up portland including an afternoon exploring the columbia river gorge. from there we stopped for fresh veggies in eugene, oregon on our way to crater lake where we breathed deeply before wandering down the coast to petaluma, napa and sonoma. we followed that with a couple days in san francisco before leaving for big sur and landing in orange county to catch up with old friends where we threw on hoodies for an afternoon in laguna beach before finally crashing in san diego for a couple of days and catching a flight home. oh you guys, it was AWESOME! we saw some of the most beautiful landscapes we’ve ever seen, ate some of the very best food we’ve ever had and generally vacated life in georgia for 15 days of exploration! there is no way to recap it in one blog post- it was hard enough to narrow our pictures down to 900! but here are a few of our faves:
ace hotel, seattle, washington:
we were so happy to have some of our favorite people EVER join in for the first week of the trip! erin & sean moved to california last year and we miss them so much. kerry park, seattle, washington:
gas works park, seattle, washington:
mount rainier, ashford, washington
judge if you like but i couldn’t help but be reminded of stephenie meyer’s description of the forests in the pacific northwest- everything covered in green moss and ferns- even tree trunks. i couldn’t help but fall in love with the emerald, foggy landscape as we hiked and wandered all over the area:
goonies, anyone!? cannon beach, oregon:
we stopped to smell an overwhelming number of roses at the international rose test garden, portland, oregon:
crater lake, crescent lake, oregon:
tasting wine and wild plums at bartholomew park winery, sonoma, california:
cave tour and tasting at gundlach bundschu winery, sonoma, california:
thrilled & overwhelmed at baker creek heirloom seed bank in petaluma, california:
golden gate bridge, san francisco, california:
bird rock, monterey, california:
we loved this little cottage! it reminded us of how we always pictured shell cottage in the order of the phoenix, nerdy much?
bixby bridge, big sur, california:
really i could go on for days about the amazing experience it was to see all of this but i’m cutting myself off now. i hope you enjoyed some of the images as much as we enjoyed living them! thanks so much for making it all the way through our trip ramblings- we’ll be back to regular scheduling starting NOW, so watch our for kayla & newton’s photobooth in the near future!
running: ew?
June 21, 2010 – 9:06 am
i don’t know what triggered it but about a year ago EVERYONE started running. like, for fun. all around us friends were entering 10Ks and 1/2 marathons, collecting race teeshirts and comparing (always ugly) options for new running shoes. [sidenote: WHY ARE RUNNING SHOES SO UNATTRACTIVE? i know that 'is not the point' but really- every women's favorite color combo is no longer pink, teal and white. rant!] unfortunately, i’ve always been one to argue the idea of running- i just don’t get it. i understand exercise where there are points, rules and interaction, and also exercise where one goes to the gym and uses lots of fancy machines but i have never understood the allure of just. running. and then turning around and just. running. back.
BUT, we want to be in shape! matt has run off and on since his cross country days in high school but me? i’ve never run just for the sake of running. soccer conditioning until i quit mid-high school, running from a store to the car in the rain & the occasional sprint to catch the dog has been the extent of it for me. until 6 weeks ago.
so yes, we decided to give it a shot. mostly because i couldn’t come up with any other form of exercise that was more efficient and i wanted this ‘getting in shape thing’ to take as little time as possible. so, we’re running. our friends tell us that means we’re ‘runners’ now which kinda makes me giggle- who’d have thought!? we’ve been steadily lengthening our runs and we’re finding ourselves filling short work breaks reading about barefoot running, foot strike and looking for races that aren’t on saturdays.
i wish i could get all flowery and talk about the beauty i’ve found in running but that would just not be the case. it almost breaks my spirit every single time we go. ;) BUT, after about 5 minutes back in the air conditioning i feel a sense of pride and accomplishment that kinda makes it worth it. it at least makes me happy enough to forget the drowning humidity of running on a 100 degree day in atlanta- enough that i’ll get out and run again. so, i guess what i’m saying is that we’re trying this. no idea if it will stick with us but so far we’re looking ok. i just wanted to let you know in case we run into you and we’re all gross and sweaty and (in my case) terribly splotchy. it’s because we’re runners, ya’ll- HIGH FIVE!
and since it is HOT out there- a refreshing image for you! [feel free to click on the image to access the larger file and make it your desktop background!]
a room of one’s own
June 1, 2010 – 5:37 pm
kate said that she likes this room because she can hear the rain better. i think that’s awesome… and i love her.
evidently this title was originally a virginia woolf essay (i can’t claim that i’m a fan since i’ve never read it), but i know it from a pattern language, which mentions: ‘no one can be close to others, without also having frequent opportunities to be alone.’ i think kate totally believes this ;)
stella is 1!
May 26, 2010 – 10:25 am
on august 1, 2009 on the way home from jen & jake’s wedding in asheville we stopped at a farm to meet ‘big sis.’ the awkward little pooch with big white paws and blue eyes stole our hearts right away. we couldn’t help but giggle with happiness as i put all 17 pounds of squirmy pup in my lap and we drove off scrambling with the phone to get a pic to share with the world! stella’s first portrait:
then we freaked out.
we immediately decided that everything we’d ever read could go wrong in great danes (or just puppies in general) was already wrong with her- she might be blind, she might be deaf, she might have mites, is she limping? her hips!, she’s bloated!, she must be crawling with heartworms! oh my gosh! turns out, after all the tears, after putting everything in our cart back at petco and deciding we had to return her right away- we just needed to take her to the vet to get checked out. we should probably never have kids…
she was perfect. absolutely healthy- just overwhelmed with her new environment, new food, her own big puffy bed and also just recovering her energy after we cleaned the fleas off of her. she just needed to rest. by the next day we had our perfect little pup!
also, she winces (winks?) when we’re doing something to her she doesn’t like- i guess first baths and birthday crowns fall in the same category:
and today, she turns one year old! happy first birthday stella bella altmix! (that middle name isn’t totally official…;)) congratulations on gaining 100 pounds in the last year and also learning to sit, come, bow & eat on command. thanks for putting up with your birthday crown turned birthday necklace long enough for a few images; you’re the best!
birthday treats!
we love you big baby!
