on plastic

great blog i found on ways to reduce plastic we use...

http://www.fakeplasticfish.com/

i liked her list from last year too:

http://www.fakeplasticfish.com/2007/10/list.html

i think i'm going to try buying dry goods in bulk at new seasons...and maybe even buy shampoo in a bar to avoid the plastic bottle...

family and christmas trees

wow. what a few weeks! went to oklahoma, stayed with my parents for a few days, then to stillwater for the funeral and to spend time with travis' family...then to north carolina to see travis' parents and little brothers for thanksgiving. it was so good to spend time with family! thatch was very entertaining, he is at such a fun age!

thatch and i have flown the last 3 saturdays. whew! he has become quite the traveler. he did so good...and he did great with all the different places we stayed. i'm so proud of him. and he was smiling at everyone on the plane. he would look at people just waiting for them to smile at him.




we got back into town last night...and today we went to get our christmas tree. thatch's first christmas. he has no idea, but it is still exciting.

jonathan friend

yesterday morning travis' grandpa, jonathan friend passed away. he was an amazing, godly man and we will miss him terribly. i think he touched everyone he knew. travis and him were very close...they were kindred spirits. he was a huge part of travis' life growing up...living just a few miles away and working on the farm with him in the summers. he is the type of man that has a very gentle quiet spirit, patient, loving, and he lights up when he tells you stories about the farm. he reminds me a lot of travis.

we were able to see him this summer and he said to thatch "i can't tell you how proud i am of you." travis, his grandpa, and his brothers took a trip to the farm this summer, soaking up the memories. and we were able to spend several days with him. we only wish we could have seen him one last time.

edna mae on etsy

check out my cards and vintage jewelry at my etsy shop:

ednamae.etsy.com

november already?

i can't believe it is already november. thatch is 7 months old and just so much fun. he is SO happy. and he smiles with his eyes...i just love it. he is army crawling everywhere. and we are finally making progress on our sleep at night. we are both getting more sleep and let me tell you, it is feeling very nice! he makes me laugh all the time. it is fun watching his little personality start to come out...and i'm anxious to see it come out more and more...but i have to stop myself and soak up these precious baby moments right now. i have to consciously stop and enjoy his head leaning on my shoulder. his coos. his laughter. his smiles. him grabbing at everything he can get his hands on. him sticking everything in his mouth to investigate it. him always moving...he is quite the wiggle worm. his curiousity. this stage is wonderful and i feel very lucky that i am able to work at home. freelance is a little slower right now...i'm starting to feel the effects of the economy...but it gives me a chance to push edna mae originals forward. (and btw the website is down right now b/c issues with my domain provider. if you are wanting card packs please let me know!) i'm going to be working on baby books next. can't wait to start desiging them. i've been designing pages in my mind and i need to get them out on paper! so much fun!

life as i know it

life is good. right now i'm listening to the "chair and a microphone" (enter the worship circle) and drinking a thatch brew...while travis is making his own "wort chiller" for his brewing...and enjoying my son being asleep upstairs...

my days consist of cleaning bottles, making baby food, singing songs, and designing during naps. i look forward to going to trader joes or whole foods and taking walks. life is pretty simple for me right now. my schedule revolves around thatch, and right now, that is exactly what i want to be doing. i don't get out as much as i like, but i get out enough. i'm getting use to travis' schedule. i'm getting up before the sun comes up...but i get up to a boy smiling at me and it's worth it. we are starting to get into a rhythm...although thatch is not about to get on a schedule...and that's okay.

the coast

travis, thatch and i had a little family trip this week...it was so relaxing and great to get away...to my favorite place, the coast. we tried out pacific city and really liked it. ate at pelican brewery and tried their delicious brews. enjoyed stimulus, a coffee shop (several times), walked the beach, hung out on our balcony...it was superb. it was just for a night, but just long enough. thatch was so good and slept in the hotel room so well...(i'm not quite ready for camping with thatch just yet) he even took a nap as we walked along the beach. we had so much fun.

photo booths are so cool...

today was a beautiful day...travis, thatch and i went for a picnic at washington park, then walked around downtown and enjoyed the farmers market, stumptown coffee and took pics at a photobooth. it was a wonderful afternoon!

oh, the things i've learned!

the last 5 months have been "wonderfully hard" as another mother put it. challenging, sleepless, and absolutely wonderful...here are some things i've learned in the last few months:

natural childbirth was the most exhilarating experience. it was amazing...and i would do it again in a heartbeat. (just not anytime soon)

follow your instinct. baby books are informative and other mothers have great advice, but in the end, even if you feel clueless, you really do have a gut feeling about what is best for your child...i think i'm going to follow it a little more, and worry about what other people think a little less...and give other parents a little more grace on the decisions they make for their children.

i have gained so much respect for mothers...it's a hard job, but well worth every second.

don't get your nose pierced when you have a 2 month old. you don't have time to brush your teeth, let alone soak your stinkin' nose twice a day.

never say you won't do something...i never thought i would be singing "skin-am-rinkee-dinky-dink" all the time to get such wonderful smiles out of my little boy, among many many other things.

i have the most amazing husband...he has been my strength...and housekeeper, and cook. it was so wonderful to have him home for 2 months while he was on paternity leave. and he is an incredible father. thatch lights up every time he is in the room. we've had so much fun being parents together and i'm looking forward to each day as we watch thatch grow!

fruit in season didn't mean anything to me until i moved to oregon...and oh is it wonderful...the blueberries are delicious right now!

hike

trav went on a beautiful hike yesterday and this was the view of mt hood! (on top of zigzag mountain)

good quotes from the book "walking on water" (a book about faith an art...a great read)

"Unless we are creators, we are not fully alive. What do I mean by creators? Not only artists, whose acts of creation are the obvious ones of working with paint or clay or words. Creativity is a way of living life, no matter what our vocation, or how we earn our living. Creativity is not limited to the arts, or having some kind of important career..."

"In art...we move, unfettered, among the stars."

"When we are writing, or painting, or composing, we are, during the time of creativity, free from normal restrictions, and are opened to a wider world, where colours are brighter, sounds clearer, and people more wondrously complex than we normally realize."

home sweet home

wow. traveling with a baby is quite the experience. whew. pre-kid traveling was so relaxing. i loved working on the plane, reading, just enjoying the experience. now my mind is planning when i can feed thatch, when and how he'll sleep...and carrying the extra load...and no room for my stuff in my back pack...

thatch did an amazing job. he really did. we had no major meltdowns and even received complements from fellow travelers. wahoo!

and the week with family was great. busy, but great. we were ablle to see lots of extended family at trav's cousin's wedding and in both our hometowns in oklahoma. it was so good to see everyone. if only oregon were closer to them! (pictures of thatch with family coming shortly to his blog)

but i am exhausted. hopefully i can use today to recover before work tomorrow!

ahh, life is good!

this past week was wonderfully superb...

with "women & wine" at sarah's house, it was so fun to hang out with the women from evergreen and just enjoy a night out...fun conversations, great wine and food...couldn't be better.

and then the wonderful 4th of july with fellow evergreeners. i loved that people just hung out for hours on end with no agenda and no place to go. the weather was AMAZING! and it was so relaxing. i left with a huge smile on my face and so thankful for the community around us.

and i spent the weekend finishing "same kind of different as me" a wonderful book. i love 3 day weekends, i wish i had them every week!

and i just bought shane claiborne's book, "jesus for president" not sure i love the title but i've heard it is great!

what a wonderful weekend

my sister-in-law, emily came out to visit this weekend and it was just so much fun to hang out with her. i really wished we lived closer.

we hung out downtown, went to a brew pub, went to the coast and hiked Neahkahnie Mountain, ate at a great little pizza place in cannon beach, enjoyed thatch's celebration beer...it was a great weekend.


bridgeport brewery




oswald west...one of my favorite beaches on the coast...i hung out and fed thatch lunch and enjoyed a little picnic...





view on the way up the mountain...



i almost made it to the top of Neahkahnie with thatch, but he just wouldn't have it. (i even fed him a pumped bottle on our way up!) i was so close to the top, so close. it was a warm day and he needed a little time out of the wrap...so i hung out in the forest while travis and emily made it to the top where you can see the entire coast line.






thatch was a good sport...and friday night he had a huge laughing episode while we were waiting on the max...it was so amazing. amazing. i am still smiling thinking about it.

tasting the thatch brew

some pics by my sister-in-law of us trying out the incredible thatch brew...

speaking of farms...

sunday after church we went to sauvie island with some friends to pick strawberries. the farm was so beautiful...my first trip out to sauvie island (an island where the river goes on both sides of it)



and then i fed thatch under this beautiful oak tree and enjoyed the scenery!



it was a wonderful afternoon!!

let's be farmers...

i grew up in oklahoma in a town of 45,000. but i was a city girl at heart. i wasn't much for the cowboys that seemed to come in abundance. and i denied the idea that we were in the south. my mom and i would take frequent shopping trips to "the city" and yes, that's what we called it...and i would love to buy things at the trendy stores...i had no interest in horses, country music, having land...and i didn't understand "small town charm". and even when i first moved away from oklahoma, i was a little embarrassed to say where we were from...

but now i see that there is beauty in simple living, of growing your own food, having your own chickens to get your eggs...and i actually crave that life. i would love to own some land here in oregon. grow our own vegetables...and heaven forbid, maybe even have a cow.

i think maybe oregon has taught that to me. i drive out in the country and i am amazed. i can't imagine what it would be like to be a farmer here. it would be so much fun.

city life is wonderful. i love the culture. i love what it brings...but i have found and respected that thing called country living. and i hope i can bring some of that into my life...the life i wouldn't take part in as a child. it's still part of my heritage and i'm starting to embrace it.

i think i use to think you were cool if you lived in a big city...and now i'm realizing that is not the case. sure, there are some darn cool people in portland, i could only dream of being that cool. but i'm not so sure the city is what makes them cool.

country living for the first time in my life, is starting to appeal to me. i think i finally understand why travis loves the wheat fields of oklahoma and has such wonderful memories of helping his papa on the farm.

i just read lacie's blog on intentional community living and my heart leaped with joy...growing crops together, living on a big piece of land with a group of people and having our own garden and farm...what beauty!

"...She lifts her skirt up to her knees
Walks through the garden rows with her bare feet, laughing..." [ray lamontagne]

hiking at the gorge

thatch's first hike was a success. we went on a small little hike this week. the weather was beautiful, thatch slept in the ergo...i can't ask for anything more.

Here's to Thatch!

limited edition celebration pale ale...

Balanced with three types of hops, this American-style pale is down right delicious. Cascade and Williamette varieties with their citrus notes and subtle woody tones give this brew a lively flavor. Garnished with crystal hops for a floral aroma...mmmm it tastes so good on the lips. So, enjoy this limited edition beautiful thirst-quenching liquid delight.

And be sure to raise your glass and say,
“Here’s to Thatch!”