pearce family at evergreen rotary park :: photography



 

I was so excited when Lisa contacted me.  She and her husband along with her 3 youngest children would be flying to the Pacific Northwest, meeting up with her two oldest children and their families to welcome their son, Hanner, home.  He would be arriving in Bremerton after many months out at sea. 

 

We picked the perfect park, set a date and waited.  This family was so much fun. An extra special treat being that I have actually known Hanner's girlfriend for many years.  I can't express how much fun I had helping this family capture this time together.  Thank you Pearce family for choosing me.  I had an amazing time getting to know all of you. :)

"grace" by t. greenwood :: literature

 

Grace. According to Webster's dictionary, is 'disposition to or an act or instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency.'  Recently, while doing a walk thru at a local book store, I came across this intriguing novel.  I haven't read anything from this author previously so wasn't sure of the writing style I could expect.  The inside flap shared a glimpse into what would turn out to be the complex life of the novel. 

The story within the pages of this novel dealt with so many aspects of life we face every day.  Bullying, grace, parenting, sorrow, joy, fear, solitude, hoarding, and so much more.  With her novel, T. Greenwood made me extremely angry to the point of almost not finishing, then made me smile, cry in disbelief and ultimately feel relief. She reminded me to be careful to judge, to not keep in the feelings I may have and to talk . . . most of all to talk to those around me and not assume the conclusions my mind comes to are fact.  There are so many complexities that surround the lives of those around us. Be careful with how you view others.  Don't let your preconceived notions of who you think they are judge how you treat them. 

In my house we have chosen a verse from Ephesians to focus on this summer.  Ephesians 4:29 "Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear."  It was shortly after we made this choice that I read this novel and it couldn't have been a better example of why all of us need to work on this skill.  The skill of building people up and ultimately always acting with love and kindness to everyone we interact with. 


**** The act of graciousness is amazing and this book follows close behind.  It has been awhile since I have read a book that so aptly invokes such strong contradictory feelings in me.  To be so angry and then so happy, to laugh and then cry.  Wonderful.  It is not an easy book, dealing with some real issues that many of us have to face in real life.  That said, I encourage you to check it out, pick it up at your local book store, buy it online or borrow it from a friend.  You will be glad you did and just possibly, will look at the next unknown person you see walking down the street a little differently and with a little more grace.

"the art of racing in the rain" by garth stein :: literature

I came across this novel at Barnes & Noble and was intrigued by the simple fact that it is a story written from the point of view of a dog.  I mean how can that not be intriguing? A local author from Seattle, Garth Stein did an amazing job.  From the turning of the first page I fell into the story being told, loving how it made me laugh, cry, get mad and rejoice.  I look forward to getting ahold of his other two novels and diving into them.

**** I would definitely recommend this book to all adults.  The skill involved in writing from the dog's perspective really is amazing.  If you have an aversion to car racing you might want to skip it simply because there are a lot of comparisons made between life and racing and a lot of references to pro drivers and their careers.  I recently saw a preteen version of the book I would be intrigued to review that.  The original version is definitely not kid appropriate. 

weekend in sequim :: eats

This last weekend my hubby and I spent up in Sequim staying at Fern Hollow while we had guests there from out of town.  On Friday night, having heard of a little place called the Next Door Gastropub, we thought we would head to Port Angeles to give it a try.  Gracious me . . . . I can't say anything bad about it at all. 

We arrived around 6:30 and waited about 20 minutes until a seat opened up.  The street side wall of the pub was a garage door style that they had in the open position with patio heaters placed along the outside surrounding bar tables.  There was a wall of booth seating, misc. tables and chairs and a long expansive bar area for seating.  A great atmosphere of people gathered enjoying amazing food, great drinks and fun conversation. Once seated we began perusing the menu and knew right off the bat that we wanted to try the mac & cheese with the Dungeness crab added.  It was delicious, creamy, great flavor and served piping hot from the oven.  We followed that up with the Not Your Average Joe burger.  A coffee rubbed 1/2 lb 100% natural Northwest beef patty topped with tempura onion straws, and a romesco sauce all served on a lightly toasted pub bun. We got this with fries covered in chopped garlic and shaved parmesan.  Nothing says love like a big 'ol kiss after eating fries covered in chopped garlic. :)

We of course couldn't stop there and finished off our meal with a fabulous order of Poutine.  We would definitely recommend the Next Door Gastropub to anyone looking for a place to go and grab a bite on the Olympic Peninsula.  It was delicious.  Not only was the food great, but after about an hour, we saw a couple I had gone to school with years ago and who I hadn't seen in almost a year.  It was great to catch up and hear how their family was.

19 years and counting :: family

Growing up in a small town I am blessed with memories of activities I would have never experienced had I grown up in the city.  One of those such memories revolves around what happens to be the longest running Washington State Festival, the Irrigation Festival. Tomorrow it will celebrate 118 years and up until 19 years ago it never really held any special significance to me other than a fun activity to do on a weekend in May each year.

It was Thursday. A Thursday just like any other. I was 15 years old. My best friend and I had made plans to get together that evening and go to the opening night of the carnival.  Opening night was the night to go because all rides were 1 ticket and all the kids went.  We would go to the carnival, eat junk food, ride rides, play games, hang out with friends and then spend the night at her house.  We arrived and promptly began going on rides. We had to leave at 10pm and head back to her house so we didn't want to waste any time.  All was going great until we realized we wanted to go on rides her sister didn't and her sister wanted to hang with her friends and not us.  So, she and I went on the hunt to find someone to go on the rides with us.  She happened to see her neighbor hanging with some of his friends and so we went and asked him.  He said sure.

I have to admit I was a little giddy.  This was the same boy that my friend and I would watch from her bedroom window.  He was pretty cute.  Although I had never really thought a ton about it since he was 4 1/2 years older than me and therefore didn't even go to the same school.

The next couple hours seemed to fly by.  We talked, rode rides and laughed a lot.  We even laughed when the ride we were on came apart while we were hanging upside down in it.  (Something that brings us to laughter to this day.)  Before I knew we had to leave.  It was already shortly after 10 and we were under strict instructions to head back to my friend's house at 10pm.  Sad to have to go, we said "goodbye, see you around" and left. (Very casual and nonchalant of course.)  That evening we did what any normal 15 year old girls would do and stayed up into the wee hours talking all about the cute neighbor boy from the carnival.  His family and my best friends family were close and I wanted all the details.  She was happy to fill me in. I wondered when I would see him next? Turned out that day wasn't far off. On Saturday May 14th, dressed like ducks, my best friend and I walked in the Irrigation Festival Parade handing out candy and advertising the annual duck derby.  What better way to get a guy to notice you than to dress in a HUGE bright yellow duck costume, right? Nothing screams hottie like that does I tell ya. It turned out the duck costume didn't deter him and after the parade he asked me to join him for the afternoon/evening.  My very first official date and the beginning of the next phase of my life.

The decision on May 12th, 1994 to ask this boy to join us proved to be a pivotal moment in my life and one that would lead me down an amazing path of friendship, love, marriage, travel, children and so much more.  Because of that one decision, I am blessed with a husband who puts up with my idiosyncrasies, desires, quirks, jokes, late night giggle fits and so much more.

  

thank you matt & rachel nickel for this photo.

thank you moch snyder for this photo.

thank you moch snyder for this photo.

thank you moch snyder for this photo.

thank you moch snyder for this photo.

I can truthfully say that 15 year old me had no idea what was ahead but I am thankful every day for the amazing coincidences that God blessed us with that lead us to each other and into this life we are leading.

adventure in gardening :: kopperskogen

scrape of the shovel. dirt in my fingers. small seeds falling in a line. 

a dusting of dirt. water. sun. growth. harvest.

All the things that call me to my yard and to the creativity it gives me.  With each decision I am painting a little piece of earth. Amazing to have found a raw piece of land to mold and paint into an expression of me and what I hope for my family. Ever since moving into our garpartment in 2007 we have gradually worked on this.  From the creation of our first garden dug into the dirt and surrounded with chicken wire, to our current raised bed garden with pea gravel pathways and beautiful hand built cedar and copper gate. It is a lot of work but so worth every bead of sweat when we get to stand at the top of our stairs and look out over everything.  Every year we get to see more and more of our hard work come to be.

This last fall I expressed to my most fabulous husband that the next step in my gardening adventure would be a greenhouse.  He was more than happy to help me realize this dream.  He began designing and building it in his head.  It was going to be a custom greenhouse; I was so excited.  I began collecting things for it with the hopes of building most of it from recycled and re purposed products; windows we got from an apartment complex remodel, a sink & faucet found at a garage sale, doors that were being thrown away, and so much more.  This February we started sketching out some drawings, my hubby finally decided on a design and at the beginning of March we broke ground.  He is a month into it now and it is taking beautiful shape.  I am so excited to be able to start growing in it. 

This weekend I plan to spend some time with my girls getting our second batch of seeds into the garden as well as planting some of our pots.  I found some french flower pots at a garage sale that I am going to plant with fuscia.  Last year I took some old galvanized garbage cans (think Oscar the Grouch) and cut 4" off the bottom.  I then planted these cans in the ground and grow herbs out of them.  I have decided to use the 4" bottoms of them as tops to the posts in my garden and am going to plant them with succulents that I picked up at Bainbridge Gardens. If only the rain will hold up on Saturday we will get out there and get dirty - and of course get some photos to share with you all.

Having this little piece of property brings so much happiness to me.  I love watching my girls run around, playing in the dirt and with their chickens, planting seeds in the garden, and harvesting the vegetables for us or to share.  Ahhh, the adventures in gardening!

tell us something about who you are :: reflections

I recently started participating in an all female study group that meets weekly.  At the first meeting the facilitator asked us to go around and say our name and something about ourselves.  This is something that always catches me off guard.  I am never quite sure what I should say; whether I should share a life characteristic, job title, favorite food, etc.  So as I am sitting there wondering what I should share and listening to the other women in the group tell the rest of us something about themselves I started to realize my answer was probably not going to fit in. I realized each woman started by saying 'I'm so and so and I have ___ children, or am pregnant, or have ___ grandchildren. . .'  Some left it at that and others elaborated specifying where their children went to school, whether their children had children, etc.  I found it interesting that in this large group of women (about 30) they all seemed to define themselves by whether or not they had children.  It got me thinking, who are they outside of their children? What type of food do they like? What are their hobbies?  What do they enjoy reading? Do they have a passion other than their children?

Now don't misunderstand me, I love my girls.  I love every little bit about them, even the frustrating parts that make me slap my forehead and go "really?"  That said, when asked to say my name and something about myself, I didn't think to say "Hi, my name is Jessica and I have 2 kids."  Instead, I thought "Hi, I'm Jessica and I love life.  I love being a photographer and getting to capture people living their lives. I have leapt out of a plane and free fallen 5000+ feet. I love getting my hands dirty and growing things in my garden.  I thoroughly enjoy eating deliciously beautiful food. I love to breath in the fresh air that can only be experienced when you are hiking through the woods. Unlike some people who don't get to see their family much, I work with mine every day. And I am wonderfully blessed to be able to teach my children to search out and love all aspects of their life."

So, how are you going to respond when asked to share something about yourself?