Cheryl

Today was a wonderful day with my wonderful friend, Cheryl Whitaker.

Cheryl has been a student of the New York Institute of Photography for the past couple of years, and today I was her model for her last photo project. We went all around Tacoma looking for rustic backgrounds to take pictures of with me in front of.

Brick walls. Graffiti. Ivy. Old barn. We felt so artsy.

I don't have pictures to put up yet from today (Cheryl is loading all 375 of them on her computer right now), but that's not what I am exceptionally thankful for today. Today, I am thankful for Cheryl and her friendship.

We are able to talk about life, love, and loss. We are able to laugh together, be sad together, and talk about God together. She's such a blessing to me.

Thank you, Lord, for Cheryl Whitaker. :)

Fun in Seattle

For those of you who live and breathe this blog, and become very sad when I don't post everyday, I'm sorry. (Actually, I doubt any such person exists haha). But, I do apologize for not posting yesterday; I was at a place with no internet service, so blogging was not a viable option.

This is what I did last night, instead of blogging:

Yogurtland at Capitol Hill in Seattle! :)

Foot-popping with Atia.

standing in front of vandalized property. :)

sitting in Pikes Place Market...after hours. :)

Ah! Elena and I! And Atia took the picture! Fun!

So, yeah, I had a fun time with my lovely friends in Seattle. Thank you, Lord, for the adventure you gave us. :)

As the Sun Sets

"As the Sun Sets"

waves crashing. children laughing.

wind is chilling. the ferry is docking.

cars are parking. cameras are capturing.

couples are cuddling. families are gathering.

the sky is purple. then red. orange. yellow.

beauty abounds

as the sun

sets.

Thank you, Lord, for this beautiful sunset, and for inspiring me to write a poem about it. 

Funny Accents

 "'...It was a bright, secret, quiet place, and rather sad; and all four stepped out into the middle of it, glad to be able to straighten their backs and move their limbs freely.'" I closed the book, and looked up. "Nicole, that's the end of chapter one; do you want to read chapter two?"

"Sure", she says, as she grabs C.S. Lewis' Prince Caspian  from my hands. It's summer time, and that means it's Narnia time. Our goal is to finish the entire series before the summer closes. We are sitting outside on our porch; the sun is shining, a rarity in Washington. Nevertheless, it's still chilly enough to drink our delicious mugs of homemade hot cocoa as we read to each other.

"OK, chapter two. 'The Ancient Treasure House' Oooh."

I roll my eyes. "Keep reading, Colie".

She smiles, and continues. "''This wasn't a garden,' said Susan presently. 'It was a castle and this must have been the courtyard.''" Colie read in a deep Southern accent.

"Colie! They are from England! They aren't southern!" I laughed as I spoke.

"Hahaha, oh yeah, that's right", Colie said with a laugh.



Thank you, Lord, for a hilarious time with the southern children from Narnia.

On my drive home...

I'm driving home, and this is what I see: 

Now, granted, I was driving, so this is what Google images gave me after the fact. Nevertheless, this is what I saw! It was beautiful! I was suddenly exponentially more grateful for living in the Pacific Northwest, where I can see the beautiful Cascade mountains on my drive home.

Snow capped mountains. Blue skies. Evergreen trees. I love it.

Thank you, Lord, for this beautiful scene on my way home.