Found

I found this lovely little girl in the thrift store today in a frame that I purchased.  I wonder where she is now.  This picture has notes on the back about what the colors should be.  Could you imagine having to manually add colors to your photographs?   I love it when I find items with notes on them, especially books with inscriptions.  It makes me feel connected.

Have a wonderful day, I hope it includes bubbles ❤.

The Many Faces of Discovery Park

This weekend I was able to experience another park of Seattle with Aaron and Sagan.  This one may be my favorite yet.  Discovery Park is a 534 acre public park with 11.8 miles of hiking trails and many beautiful faces.  Located in the Magnolia neighborhood just 5 miles away from downtown Seattle it is quite the oasis.

There were forests,

fields,

bluffs, beaches,

 spiders,

and even a decommissioned lighthouse.

It was a lovely place.  Next time there will be a picnic.

One Year

Going about my daily activities I have been experiencing many deja vu moments; most have been centered around approaching fall events.  See I have been a Seattle resident for a year now which I find almost unbelievable, but the coming of fall and familiar activities bring me back to our first fall in the Pacific Northwest.  There were memorable moments of apple picking, stumbling upon The Noble Fir of Ballard for Fresh Hop Night, hiking up to Heather Lake for our first trek through these drastically different forests or a cool bundled day on the beach at Golden Gardens.

As we enter our second year I'm reflecting on our lives here and whether this is where we want to be.  Our original intention was to live in Portland, OR where we had a stronger base of friends but opportunities led us to move 3 hours north instead.  I have no regrets about the change of plans and found in Seattle something I hadn't known I'd been missing, my connection to the waterfront.  I grew up in a small coastal town where the waterfront was a part of everyday life, then for 7 years I went to school and lived in the Appalachian mountains where my love for those mountains almost made me forget about my love for the coast.  Now I find myself on a new coastline with a new set of mountains and having a connection to both in one place is a wonderful feeling.

Am I a Seattlelite yet?  I would say no but with a sidebar of 'maybe one day'. Being a country girl city life is still a bit daunting, I miss all my friends back home and I have a hard time fighting the urge to just read a book all day when it's overcast (200 days of the year).  But Mount Rainier still takes my breath away every time I see her, new friendships are forming with time and it's incredible to have all the options a city has to offer. Slowly but surely Seattle has won my heart and as our lease ends with it comes the decision to stay or to go.  Do we give this city the chance to make us fall completely in love or move on to another possibility?  For now I'll be happy with the fact that I have a choice and I'll see where that takes me.

         

#1 Visit Alaska or Hawaii.

Visiting Alaska has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember, and now I've finally been.  It is quite the amazing state, incredible beauty wherever you go (at least from Homer to Talkeetna which is where we were) and as much wildlife as you could hope for.  We went for 9 days, but with 20 hours of daylight it felt like 18.  I can honestly say it was one of the best vacations of my life and I'm looking forward to the next time I return.