Saturday night I joined the ranks of the thousands of people in Portland who were no doubt having trouble sleeping. Not because I was about to embark on the 26.2 mile road race through various parts of the city the following morning, but because my little sister was.
Babycarrot sister had been training for a marathon [...]

Nothing is so strong as gentleness. Nothing is so gentle as real strength. -Frances de Sales
Chris is the most gentle man I have ever met. He is the most sincere and sweet person I have ever trusted, the most genuine and grand man I have ever let see me for me and yet remained unafraid [...]

For as long as I can remember I’ve had two dads.
One married my mom at age nineteen, fathered my sister and I some years later, and then he had to leave. You all know the story; maybe it’s your story, too. It didn’t work. He and my mom couldn’t get along, couldn’t raise us under [...]

I’ve hinted about an affection for Pugs in the past, but for quite some time Chris was admittedly skeptical. Chris’ personal dog history is marked by Black Labs, German Shepherds, Rottweiler mixes, essentially any pooch that could be classified as “non-small.”
On Friday Chris came home with this little ankle-biter, and he has fast become “the [...]

We are home! from the destination wedding to end all destination weddings, so perfect was every moment, and while there are piles of laundry sitting about (and, in my defense, myriad in the process of being washed and folded, too), and suitcases still needing to be fully unpacked, over the past two days I have [...]

Today Chris and I are (over)packing and heading to the Oregon Coast to at long last take the vows we have been so excitedly anxious to take for what feels like decades. It’s a mock-elopement of sorts, we having changed our original date myriad times, and finally, and quite recently, settling on not settling for [...]

I’ve always thought the way life stops for nothing, not really, not ever, is one of the saddest, and yet most beautiful parts of life. Strange, but beautiful.
I remember that after my dad died, I waited for something, for anything, to stop. To just wait a minute, for our sake. But life was bustling, and [...]

My grandmother keeps a calendar upstairs in her kitchen.
At first glance there is nothing extraordinary about her calendar hanging quietly, unassuming next to the cordless phone cradle and a set of corner cabinets. Almost hidden, small in stature and dull in design, it remains almost unnoticeable when surveyed with the kitchen as a whole. (Cutko [...]

Beautiful sentiment, beautiful design.

Listen when / All of this around us’ll fall over / I tell you what we’re gonna do / You will shelter me, my love / And I, I will shelter you. -Ray LaMontagne, from Shelter
While I was perusing some old notebooks recently, looking for long-lost addresses, and laughing at how nonsensical are [...]