FAMILY PHOTO: THE WILLIAMS + THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY
FAMILY PHOTO: REBEKAH + ADAM
Sisters, Showers and Storytime
Sisters are amazing. Have I said that yet? Every day my gratitude grows. I could go on and on about each of mine.
My sister Rebekah is having her first baby, a new chapter in a life story that is just amazing. (Should you ever get to hear it, you would find yourself inspired and encouraged.) She told me the other day that being pregnant has filled her with so much joy. She said it with words just then, but her actions say it every day I see her in some way.
My sisters Elizabeth and Anna have made a profession of throwing showers. Baby. Wedding. Bachelorette Parties. More Weddings. More Babies. If the showers actually involved water, we could have filled Lake Erie with the amount of showers that went down this year. If Lebron James is good at Basketball, my sisters are the Lebron James (back in Cleveland, of course) of showers. The thing is, it's beautiful. Women supporting women. What a foundational, beautiful thing it is, all adorned with powder-sugar topped, gluten-free lemon cakes.
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I love taking photos. Every time I've sat down to my computer over the past six weeks, I look at my desktop and let my cursor hover over my memory card folder, contemplating whether I can put off to-do's. Alas, each time I've decided instead to spend time in what has become my best friend, a little file affectionately entitled "Master Plan.xls".
But blessings abound! While there are many to-do's, family and friends have been unbelievably helpful, allowing for moments adorned with coffee, cookies and beautiful sunsets in the evenings.
One of the most fun projects of wedding planning thus far has been the invites. We had a small assembly party that was altogether a blast, despite the fact that it felt a tiny bit like a sweatshop towards cutting the 215th glittery piece of twine. (Seriously. I find myself having "I get by with a little help from my friends..." in my head 95% of the time.) Pics to come...
Countdown: 46 days
-RS
All I wanted for Christmas...
...was a portrait lens.
What I didn't realize until I used it, is that portrait lenses have magical powers (now grouped with #Gandalf #Hermione and #CreditCards). They do, really.
It was an adventure to find that the the secretly wielded power of the portrait lens (SWPPL) is that it introduces you to someone in a whole new way, just like one of those unforgettable cup-of-coffee conversations with an old friend. You know what I mean.
This time, my lens introduced me to people I've know since they were brand new (one of them, still brand new). To capture their wonderfully exhilarated, rosie-cheeked personalities was a feat. I had to pin each of them down from various activities, including the massive 10-foot snowman building (encouraged by my brothers, their dads), the pulling one another behind the tractor on multiple strung-together plastic sleds (encouraged by my brothers, their dads) and the trying to throw snow balls at my new magical portrait lens (encouraged by no-one, promptly ended by the dreaded Mean Aunt Face).
So, enjoy meeting these beautiful joy-filled people. I hope you'll find yourself joyful afterwards; I always find that I am.