WE'VE BEEN MARRIED 8 YEARS

I've been married to this man for 8 years! 8 years of some of the best growing we've done as people. 

For our anniversary last month, we stole away (thanks to our MIL who held things down at home with the girls) for the night and stayed at a local hotel, Quirk, in downtown Richmond. It was bliss. some photos of those almost 24 blissful hours below:

Such a gorgeous lobby, where pink reigns supreme.

The hotel is connected to the Quirk art gallery, which features local artists and also has a very cute shop in it.

Our room was a lovely burst of whimsy, modern, cozy...pink! 

The room had a balcony with a wonderful view of Richmond and it was right next to the rooftop bar that Quirk has at the top of their hotel. 

I was giddy with excitement getting these bikes and rolling around the city streets.

Brenner Pass had our table ready with complimentary champagne because they knew it was our anniversary. It was perfect and got us in the mood for oysters and fries, which is what we settled on.

Oysters, clams, trout roe, creme fresh and corn cakes were all delicious.  I got this St. George's rye gin (neat) and it went great with the dish.

Fondue Frites!

Beef tartare

Our bike ride back, listening to LANY.  (Notice my jean shorts... I brought flats and shorts to tuck my dress into, and when I got to the restaurant, I changed my shoes and took my shorts off. Voila!)

We went back to the hotel, got a drink at the rooftop bar, and spent the rest of the night talking and drinking on the balcony. The next morning, we slept in until after 9AM, which was one of the chief things we were looking forward to about this getaway. 

Coffee at Alchemy and then back home to our babies (where Ken cooked us an epic breakfast).  

What a joy and luxury to be able to celebrate something like marriage! A celebration of the relationship, an acknowledgement of ourselves as works in progress, a commemoration of the kind of love that puts the other first.  Thanks for doing this with me, Ken Lu. 

FAMILY SESSION BY BETTY CLICKER

These days, I think my main purpose in life is to whisper little prayers of thanks for all the dozens of small things I encounter in my day.  "Thank you that the girls have clothes to wear throughout the week" I think as I pick up the pile of laundry in the bathroom, "Thank you for a laundry machine" I pray silently. "Thank you that they are healthy" I sigh, as I walk past their bedroom where the girls are fast asleep. "Thank you that we have a home to keep them warm," I think, eyes upward. "Thank you that I have food to pack my kids for lunch", while packing lunchboxes.  I gather feelings like this inside and push it outward, releasing and relaxing. "Thank you for running water", as I wash my face...and on and on.  My day is made up of these little prayers, carrying me from moment to moment, my buoy in the up and down waves of the day.  That's where I find my purpose, to give thanks for these small things that make up my life, and to pay close attention to the way I feel and think in the in-between moments. It's a discipline I've practiced for years, and one that feels more and more natural as years go by.  And over time, I've found that this sort of rhythm of gratitude helps fuel the things I want to get done, and prioritize the things that need to get done. How peculiar, and magical.

The other week, Kate Thompson (of Betty Clicker fame) came over to spend an hour hanging out with us and worked her magic capturing some of these in-between moments of a regular morning at home. Kate is a RVA treasure and has a lovely demeanor and calm energy that made us all relaxed around her. More and more, I treasure moments like these at home, where the pace is slow and we are called to care for the things that are closest to us, to look after the place that we inhabit day after day. 

You can see more of the photos below! (And because she's awesome like that, if you tell her I sent you, you can get a 10% off any family session from her.)

Also, throwback! Kate did these photos for us back when I was pregnant with Logan. I have these printed and framed in our home. Logan loves looking at these pointing out that it is her in my belly in these photos.

WHAT I'M READING V. 35

1. Clifton Strengthsfinder

I had heard about Clifton Strengths Finder from my friend, Emily, who had done the test with her work and recommended it as another helpful personality framework. This one in particular focuses on your strengths, and helps you to determine how you work in a group or team. The bummer about this is that you have to pay to take the test ($20! -  Or if you buy the book for $20, you also get a code to take the test, which is what I did. - and that only gets you the first five strengths. For the rest, you need to pay more, which I haven't done.) but my friends and I made it into my birthday activity, and all took the test in preparation of us getting together for my birthday so that we could discuss. My friend Emily even put together a power point presentation so we could analyze our results over wine and snacks. I think my results were pretty accurate to what I believe my strengths to be - although I missed several questions (I was interrupted for a chunk of time during the timed test and I couldn't retake it) - my top one being "Strategic".

2.  Calypso by David Sedaris

David Sedaris' latest book! Some of these I had read before in the New Yorker, but it was just as fun to ramble through them within this collection of short stories.  It is the usual collection of delightful and humorous stories, but a little darker and sharper than his previous collections.

3. March by Geraldine Brooks

This was last month's book club reading and I liked it more than I thought I would. I'm finding that is the fun of book club - I get to experience books that I haven't heard of, like this one! This one wonders about what the character of Mr. March (the father of the four daughters "Little Women"!) was doing when he went off to war. At first, during the first couple of chapters, I wasn't sure if I would like it, but as it progressed and I saw that it was touching on topics like idealism, morality, marriage, communication and Emerson and Thoreau make an appearance, I was sold.


4. Mother tongue: English and how it got that way by Bill Bryson 

This was my fourth book by Bill Bryson. I have loved every single one I have read, and I am more determined than ever now to get my hands on everything he has written. His writing is precise, informative, interesting, smart, with doses of humor sprinkled throughout.  This one was fascinating and I thought several times that I should have taken more classes in Linguistics (than the one I took in college, and loved!) I listened to this book on audiobook but loved and appreciated it so much that I bought the physical copy so I could read it through again.

BEACH IN SUMMER 2018

Greetings friends! 

It was a wonderful summer. This summer, my parents got to be here for longer than usual, Ken's mom was here for a great long stretch of time, Logan turned 3, I turned 35, Sloane turned 6, we hosted parties, and we swam, a lot. This summer will be marked as the summer when Sloane began swimming, really swimming, and that meant that the girls swam in the pool almost everyday.  The girls became even better friends and playmates, and Ken and I became better friends and partners. 

We saved our beach trips for the middle of August because we knew we would make a couple of trips down to Virginia Beach with Ken's mom, and we had a really lovely time both weekends.  Below are pictures of both! 

We stopped by Handsome Biscuit in Norfolk for lunch because of a recommendation from a friend, and it was well worth it.  The fried chicken was delicious and I loved the sweet potato biscuits!

The girls got some of their homemade watermelon soda, which was perfect for the hot and humid weather.

My obsession with shibori extended into Sloane's closet where I found a white dress I had thrifted for her a while back. I turned it into this blue number!

We were eager to get to the beach and made our way over with plenty of toys and snacks to last us all day. Unfortunately, we got rained out about 30 minutes in but it was wonderful while it lasted. 

This spot of Chick's beach is dreamy and reminds me a little of Nags Head.

We got a few moments of soaking in the sea and playing in the sand before the skies opened up and dumped rain all over our beach day. The rain then turned into a thunderstorm!

On our drive back home, we stopped by Rally's for fries and ice cream. Those fries were soo good!

Later that night, Ken and I went out to Esoteric to meet our friends for drinks and I was inspired by this garage door while we were out.

Their manhattans were fantastic. 

The next morning we met our friends again at the playground at Mt. Trashmore. It was one of those beautiful days after heavy rain, where everything is glistening and colors look like they are in high definition.

The next weekend we went back down to Virginia Beach again, resolved to get more beach time. We decided to kick off the day by waking all of us at 5:15 AM to make it to the beach for the sunrise! It was glorious and so worth it.

Utterly beautiful. 

"Mom, we should do this everyday!" - Sloane 

Amy and Ken's mom and aunt met us at the beach and we took turns burying the girls in the sand while the sun made its way up the sky. 

She was my little fairy of delight that morning. 

After our sunrise excursion, we went to May's Parlor for pastries.  

Their everything croissant was superb.

Me and my girls, covered in sand, pleased as punch. 

We went back to the spot on Chick's beach and were ecstatic about getting in the water. The beach stays shallow for yards and it felt marvelous. I didn't want to get out. 

"Wow! This is amazing!" - Logan 

I loved how much the girls loved being in the water. 

Three little brown nuts! 

It was a lovely morning. I wanted to stay all day, but we had to leave in order to have lunch with old friends of Ken's. 

My sweet darlings discussing their next play.

We headed back to the playground at the boardwalk and planned to play there for a while before dinner, but Sloane fell asleep in the car so Logan and I spent a few moments on the bench people watching, eating cherries we had packed. 

We met our friends at Big Sam's Raw Bar for dinner.  I am happy to confirm that happy hour drinks, shrimp and fries tastes so much better when your skin is tingling from saltwater and sun.