first wedding of the season...

My cousin Jordan got married today, to a lovely girl named Rebecca.

The sun shone brightly on the new couple, and there were lots of smiles and tears to go around.

The Secret Place in Nampa, Idaho

Mom and I doing the "hustle." It's so fun!

Giving my tried and true (!?) marriage advice to the groom.

Congrats you two!

Mother's Day

Meet the REAL Sarah Lee.

My mom is my favorite person in the world.

How lucky/blessed/fortunate I am to be able to say that.

She has been through a lot in her life, yet:

"She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs with no fear of the future."

(Proverbs 31:25)

I could have no better role model!

And she is nice to people who tell her Sarah Lee jokes, even though she's heard them all.

Love you mom.

un bon repas, en français.

*Je écris en français parce que j'ai besoin de commencer a utiliser la langue. C'est un gaspillage de ne pas le faire - mais je ne suis pas française donc je suis désolée si je ne parle pas couramment. J'irai en France cet automne - après qu'il serai mieux! Si vous êtes français, envoyez-moi un email si je ne l'écris pas correctement, s'il vous plait! Merci! *

Ce soir nous sommes allées avec la famille d'Andy au restaurant Everett Street Bistro. Ce mon restaurant favori! Nous avons partagé quelques plats comme un steak tartare, les pâtes carbonara, les travers de porc, les coquilles St-Jacques, et la saucisse avec la choucroute, ainsi que le bon vin. Pour le dessert, nous avons partage deux petits godets de crème chocolat. C'était un très bon repas, comme d'habitude.

Je regrette les mauvaises photos! J'ai les pris avec l'appareil photo de le portable d'Andy. Mais on peut voir les couleurs de la nourriture - c'est belle, n'est-ce pas?!

(I write in French because I need to begin using it - it's a waste not to - but I'm not French so I apologize if I don't speak "couramment". I'm going to France this autumn - after that it will be better! If you're French, please send me an email if I don't write it correctly. Thanks!

Tonight we went with Andy's family to Everett Street Bistro. It is my favorite restaurant! We shared a few dishes like steak tartare, carbonara, ribs, scallops, and housemade sausage with sauerkraut, and some good wine. For dessert, we shared two small pots of chocolate cream. It was a great meal, as usual.

Sorry for the poor photos. I took them with the camera on Andy's cell phone. But you can see the colors of the food - it's beautiful, isn't it?!)

hubble.

My family came to town this weekend for soccer, and it also happened to be a birthday weekend for my dad and brother. We took the whole fam to the OMSI IMAX theater on Saturday night to watch Hubble. It was incredible!

"Recounting the amazing journey of the most important scientific instrument since Galileo's original telescope, viewers will experience firsthand Hubble's awe-inspiring imagery, from the heart of the Orion Nebula and our Milky Way to the edge of the observable Universe".

Yeah, those are real, and YEAH, my brain exploded too!

See more pictures at the Hubble Heritage Site.

Credits:

NASA

Hubble Heritage

spring break part two (cemetery hill)

One thing I love about visiting my family is the daily walks that we take. Jacksonville is a beautiful place to stroll (or powerwalk), and "cemetery hill" not only gives you a great view of the little town, but it's also great for the glutes! The cemetery is also a great place to learn about the history of this small but very important mining town.

Jacksonville was founded following the discovery of gold and a rush of miners from 1851 - 52, and the cemetery was founded in 1860.

The front circular road at the top of cemetery hill...

There are so many infant and child graves...

And many prominent families...

This poor baby gets me every time...life was so rough out here...

Mom and Charlie following the winding path that volunteers keep clean...

Want to climb up on this seat with Caitlin, Charlie-boy?

Okay! Good boy.

Third installment coming soon!

Some Notes from a Small Island

I can't believe this is still floating around in cyberspace...if feels like forever ago! It's my blog journal that I created while I was living in England with my Aunt and Uncle in 2004/5. It was the experience of a lifetime, and everything I wrote takes me back to that time and also chuckle a little bit at my silly self. I need to print all the pages off and get them bound so they last in case the internet goes the way of the Dodo. I'm a little curious about what happened to my updates at the end; we took the most amazing trip to Cornwall and I didn't write anything about it...I'm confused! I'll do some digging. Cornwall is the coolest place.

http://www.ukmeg.20megsfree.com/

I also still get updates from Webshots on a monthly basis that tell me how many people look at my pictures, and even 5 years later, there are still about 90-100 views per week! It's crazy!

Disclaimer: Here's the problem with the name of this site, which I only realized way too late to change it. I'm a little irritated at myself still for this...The name of the web hosting site was 20 megs free, which "megs" is the amount of memory. Megs is also my nickname. And I was 20 at the time. So basically people unfamiliar with web hosting stuff might assume that I named my site 20 (age) Megs (me) Free (implying I was in a prison?) I feel bad for certain people who may have thought this was the case, and I have some specific faces in mind. Oh well *sigh*.

two ways to feel refreshed and recharged.

We always feel refreshed after 1) visiting our family 2) a trip to the coast. So blessed to do both in one weekend!

Andy had the weekend off to relax before the coffee shop grand opening next weekend and things get really crazy. We decided to drive down to Jville to visit the family, including the newest member, Charlie Samuel Houdini Lee. He has everyone smitten. And my sister is starting 7th grade! How and when did this happen? She is our baby-it's a little traumatic for us all.

Our in-laws situation is unique in the best kind of way. My parents moved in next door to Andy's parents when I had just graduated high school, so they have been friends from even before Andy and I were even introduced two years later. We had a BBQ in the Kimmelshue backyard with a full moon rising over the mountains.

The last of Kay's hydrangeas - her yard is always beautiful.

From there we drove over to the coast and stayed at a little B&B in Seal Rock. We travelled up Highway 101 and enjoyed the majestic beauty that is the Oregon Coast.

Yaquina Head, half-mile hike up to the lighthouse...

What did I see? This...

Andy amongst the trees. Enjoying a beautiful afternoon beach stroll...
And a few leaps of joy!

Mommy & Me

Mom and I refinished their cabinets during Spring Break. It took us way longer than I think either of us expected, but it was really fun to do with her and it makes the kitchen look so good! Her new countertops that she had wanted forever, plus the backsplash she put in, just POPs against the distressed cabinets.

(BEFORE)

My mom is very DIY; my earliest memories of childhood are of her, paint-flecked, redecorating a room, adding her touches to whatever house we were living in. Because of her special hobby, I always had the greatest rooms growing up. In California, I had a room where the wallpaper border was differently dressed rag dolls with red, blonde, and brown hair. I would always talk to them during my nap time when I was *supposed* to be sleeping.

(Sanding, peeling off icky contact paper)

In our first house in Oregon, I had a wallpaper border that had a Mickey and Minnie Mouse "Cruisin' California" theme, and that was endless fun for the imagination. To go along with these themed rooms, she also made pillows, comforter covers, and whatever else would make my room look the part. As I grew older, my tastes migrated towards more "sophisticated" things (anyone else fall victim to the sunflower trend?), but my mom would almost always be on board for a room makeover.

(primed, outside and in, which we found out later we didn't need to do! Oh well.)

Not only does my mom like to decorate and renovate her house, she likes to do it for others too. One of the running family jokes is that whenever my mom goes down to California to visit my Aunt Janice, my Uncle Mike always groans and says something to the effect of, "What wall are you going to knock down now?", because that IS what they do. Cabinet in the way? It's gone. Grab the crowbar. It's pretty hilarious.

(finished! They look so good! The finishing touches not pictured were bronze-y half-moon drawer pulls)

Even when I moved home from England at the age of 21, she fixed up my room to be a beautiful place, with paint, pictures, pillows, with little touches that made me feel like she was truly glad I was home. It was really special.


So this project was really fun just because it's kind of a "family thing" to recreate our houses and living spaces to make us feel at home. And it was great Mommy & Me quality time!

Read it...and Weep!

Family trip to Mexico (ow ow ow!) for 6 days next week! I hope to come back more relaxed, a smidge heavier, and a little tanner. Maybe even with some good pictures or an interesting story...

That's a happy "ow ow ow", you say it in a high pitched voice, the last "ow" being higher then the other two...oh nevermind!

I will think of you all in Portland while I'm lying in the hot Mexican sun.

When we get back, we're moving out of our apartment into a smaller place out of downtown, so it will be hit or miss here on the site. Once I'm settled I'll get back into the swing of things...

a midwinter's drive

Andy and I went to visit his grandparents in Hood River on Sunday. It was a gorgeous wintry drive; cold and desolate, but we were snug in our little Honda with coffee, and ipod, the heater, and our newest little gadgets: courtesy my parents (the gps) and Andy's parents (the camera). After attending church, we ate at the Riverside Grill overlooking the Columbia and then headed home to beat the 10 inches of snow Hood River was expecting that evening. But NOT before we looked through Grandma & Grandpa's records and books! I have 6 new George MacDonald books to read, yay! Between that and the Gilmore Girls, I think I need to quit school.

Do you see the blurry white rectangle on the left side of the picture, amidst the trees? Apparently there was a landslide years ago that completely took the house out. There have been landslides in Portland lately that have destroyed a couple of houses. Scary!