Twelve months (and two days) have passed since Stella’s last birthday, and this year has changed her in such remarkable ways. She is growing into a strong-willed, inquisitive, noisy and cuddly and boisterous and introspective little girl. Three years. It’s been three years since she was born and forever changed my life – and my holiday season. This girl…she’s perfect. She makes me want to pull my hair out and scream while at the same time wanting to scoop her up and snuggle her into infinity. It’s been a blessing being her mom, and I am so honored to watch her grow. Even if it is all too quickly. To Stella, so as to remember exactly right now: The last three years have been some of the best of my life. You are an amazing child. My world would not be the same without you (or your will and zest...
playing mario in basements (and other thoughts about childhood)
Childhood is a magical time; Free and effortless. It moves across the pages of our lives the way a summer storm moves across the plains – beautiful and remarkable and loud and fast. It leaves us changed. New. But childhood can be trying, too. We’re learning so much about ourselves, about the world, our brains growing and absorbing at an alarming rate. Our bodies changing and feeling and hurting and yearning. When I was a young girl life was much simpler than it is now, an admission that makes me sound much older than I actually am. But it’s true, nonetheless. My summers were spent with cousnins and friends. Chasing dreams in fields of long grass, and jumping into cold, clear lakes, bobbing my head up in secret hideouts under the docks and rafts, fish biting my toes. I fought dragons and played Mario Brothers in basements during summer storms,...
the greatest man I never knew
The thing no one really explains to you when you’re young is that things only exist the way you perceive them. Grown ups spend so much time trying to convince children that things aren’re real, but when you’re a child, real is one of the most basic truths: If you think something exists or is true, it is. This includes the obvious and ubiquitous list of things like monsters, ghosts, unicorns and Santa Claus (and okay, maybe even a tall tale about a legendary northern in your hometown lake). The thing with childhood though, is that it ends. For all of us. Even for those of us that fight it kicking and screaming, there comes a time when we are forced headlong into LIFE. If we’re lucky, the transition is an easy one, and we let go of our adolescent ideologies easily. They fade into the background as we get older and we trade Santa Claus and the tooth fairy for MVP’s, rockstars, or God. Adolescence...
kindred hearts | me + jenna leigh
I met Jenna what seems like forever ago…but I know for certain it was about a year ago. We were netroduced (that’s introduced via the internet. See what I did there?) through her friend Brit, and their shared blog A Northwoods Wedding, and we became fast friends. We finally – FINALLY – met in person on Thursday and we barely stopped talking long enough to snap these few frames. It was as though we’ve known each other our whole lives..well, her whole life (one of us is considerably older. cough cough.) The hour was too short, and the time far too fleeting, but I have a sneaking suspicion we’ll be seeing each other again soon – or, at the very least – on my next trip to Madison. Here are a few shots I took of her, and just for kicks – a few she shot of me....
