the night of (anniversary post 2 of 3)

we took a walk to dinner in the next harbor over. actually, the place we were planning to go was closed, but we found these amazing red doors on the outside of the casino there in Avalon, and couldn't resist! i love the colors :) 

this necklace was my gift from Jason - a-mazing! if you remember, i posted about this shop i fell in love with at the Renegade craft fair, and he secretly contacted her and bought me this lovely fern piece (which joey is convinced is a J... "ya-ya" is how he says his name (josiah=ya-ya) and the letter J. yes, my twenty-one month old can identify every letter of the alphabet. i'm not proud at all ;)

 

dress: ross (i know, i know - but it was so pretty! i LOVE the ruffles & the gathering, and most especially, the yellow :)

necklace: fernworks, gift (see above)

purse: O'neill, also a gift from my love

flip-flops: old navy

The Long-Awaited (by me, haha) Anniversary Trip Post (1 of 3)

me and my honey, ready to leave for Catalina Island for a one-(and-a-half)-day excursion for our 8th anniversary!!
























what i'm wearing:
boots: a Christmas gift from my love
shorts: yes, those are the same thrifted cutoffs you have seen in multiple others of my posts - i like them, okay?? ;)
tank: thrifted
long-sleeves: french laundry (ok, really i got it at ross, but i'm pretty sure a style blogger's not supposed to admit they got ANYthing there. cheap, easily falling apart, not eco-friendly, inhumane - take your pick - oh well, it was last minute, and i did. so there.)
necklace: thrifted
purse: rafe, via Savers


Can you tell the part i was most excited about for this trip was the boat ride?? i purposely wore my most boat-y (er, nautical?) clothes - red and blue and stripes, and especially my purse! the handle is made out of rope! and the inside has blue stripes (see below)! can't get any more marinera than that!

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so i was MOST looking forward to the boat ride, but we ended up having so much fun (ok, mostly me :) wandering around town, shooting photos of the little details (and each other)... it was so peaceful and restful, and a beautiful, colorful, weather-worn place - my absolute favorite! here's a rare shot of my awesome photographer husband:

there were SO many photos from this trip (it was a full 36 hours after all ;) so i chopped it into segments - next is the evening... stay tuned!

less one part, all the more whole

i had my gallbladder taken out on tuesday. it has been a much bigger deal than i was expecting. they say "outpatient", and my expectations for recovery time immediately drop in half, at least. i asked the surgery coordinator about the recovery process, and she said i needed to have someone with me for 24 hours (while the general anesthesia effects wear off), and after that i'd be sore for a couple days...

yeah, not so much. i mean, she's right that the first 24 (ok, 48) hours were the worst. i couldn't eat - SO nauseous, couldn't rest because of the pain, definitely still groggy postop. "clear liquids at first, then lowfat & resume normal diet as tolerated." i couldn't even take a sip of juice, a bite of jello, or a lick of a popsicle!

gives me a lot more compassion for post-surgical patients (the main population i work with as a nurse)! being on the "other side" in general was a weird feeling. trusting the doctors and nurses, when you know full well the kinds of conversations and distractions that constantly happen in the course of a routine procedure... i was a little bit extra-wary going into this, knowing a fellow nurse who had the same surgery in the same place, and ended up in the ICU on a ventilator because of liver failure. MONTHS later, she was out and back to work. but i just had to trust that whatever happened, God knows and God loves. i was in good hands (and the surgeon that did my operation actually invented the “laparoscopic cholecystectomy”, along with some of the tools used to perform it, so i felt in especially capable human hands J)

i am so glad my mom was here (until this morning, when she flew back to hawai’i) – it was impossible to keep joey from running over and jumping onto me, my belly, up in my arms, without the loving help of Mima! and she cooked and cleaned, too, while i just sat around and looked at blogs & read & watched movies on Netflix.

all that to say, i definitely have one more good reason to eat healthier now! i’ve been “forced” to eat lowfat these first few days at least, and i’ve actually been enjoying it (except i need to get me some lowfat peanut butter – pretty sure i can’t live without peanut butter ;). here is my lunch today, thanks to dear friends who brought us a meal last night. 

 barbecued chicken with cowboy caviar on top

 (i'm pretty sure the "cowboy caviar" - a sort of salsa with avocado, corn, and black beans added - was for the chips they also brought; but i was sticking with lowfat as much as possible, so i scooped it atop my chicken, and mmmm delicious!)

about wholeness… 

i had been feeling a little lost these last few weeks. a crazy summer, full of people and places (i’m sure so many can relate), expectations and pressures, doubts and confusion about me, God, love…

this “time off” from any demands or expectations whatsoever have given me a chance to see how much i entrench myself in those responsibilities, at the expense of my own heart.

 in the midst, it’s so hard to recognize. 

you just think, 

oh, i just have to get through THIS, and then things (i) will be back to “normal”.

 Jason even tried to proactively send me off with time to meet with God and recover my heart… 

and with everything going on, i was resistant to it, even feeling like it was one more pressure… but it was so not. it was wisdom. and his good heart toward me. wanting me to be open and free and loved.

 it took taking a step back to see it. and i’m so glad i did. 

thank you for this time. to reconnect with you, with my desires and passion and creativity and love. i feel so much more fully alive in this place. 

one month in

 i decided i want to do a monthly "update post", with some new shots of me, and how the month has gone. and as a cue so you'll know it's one of the "month" shots, to take them with the shed each time, and wearing my favorite jean shorts.
so, my update is this: a month in, and i'm at 192lbs and 5'9 1/2" tall (hopefully that won't change...? ;)
but more importantly, i am making healthier choices. loving the gym (except when joey gets sick afterwards two weeks in a row :( boo). as far as food, it hasn't been perfect! but i've been trying to cook more often, so we're eating out less. and the foods i've been making, i've been enjoying - they're colorful and lovely and all spiced and herbed and yum. jason has been loving it, too... joey's a little pickier. currently looking for ideas for healthy foods that look good and my toddler will eat! besides grapes (had to get another costco box of 'em today, we're downing them so fast (the last box was bought this weekend - we never go through fruit this fast!)!

this outfit is almost too matchy-matchy. look at the purse and the shoes! (bought by two different people in two different stores, two different years - uncanny! ;) but i love it :)
the only part i "made" is the bracelets - any  guesses what they're made out of?

renegade!

 i had jason take these shots over a month ago now, as i was rushing out the door to the Renegade Craft Fair in LA (for an hour on my way to work that night - haha). i finally got inspired to post them after reading another blog post about wearing a skirt as a dress (here i thought i was the only one who did this! at least everyone looks at me like i am when i tell them it's a skirt... guess they're just not as much of "outside-the-box-thinkers" when it comes to their clothes ;)

i love this skirt-turned-dress because it hides (some of) the extras... and it's so "my style" - flowy, layers, ruffles, lace... kind of boho-indie-hippie but in a sweet kind of way. that's me :)

 couldn't complete the photo shoot without joey jumping into at least ten shots! he climbed up on the couch with me for this one ;)

and, my favorite part - my necklace. i took this closeup a different day (for my other blog), but wanted to show the detail of it here, too. i made this almost a year ago now, after coming home from probably the most inspiring class i've ever been to: Keith LoBue's mixed media jewelry class (can't remember what it was called) at Art Unraveled in Phoenix. i discovered there that i could "rivet" paper by putting a roll of it through a hole, and smashing it! the front ends up this lovely flower shape (and the back is just a smashed oval mess - you decide which side's the front after you smash it ;). this was something i invented myself, not an actual technique he taught - can you tell? ha.

 so when i came home, i immediately riveted these music pages into this metal gasket, added a chain, and voila! my favorite (and most popular) creation of jewelry ever! so many people ask me about this one (including this day at the Renegade Craft Fair! a couple of artists with their booths there were trying to get me to create a "line" of these! maybe i will! maybe i will...)

my purse and its contents, or...

alternate subtitle: is it fall or spring? california never knows (all these shots were taken on a july day at the park)

i love my purse. i scored it at an estate sale for a buck. i had been looking for something organized-friendly, with a lot of space, but squareish to keep it all easily accessible (most of what i have in the main pocket is rectangular: pocketbook, checkbook, moleskine journal(s ;), bible, glasses case, coupon organizer...). this lovely leather find was good, but not great... until i added the lace. then it was perfect! just a little touch of girly-ness and whimsy added to the all-business of the natural leather... love it.

and now for the insides...
i made this coupon organizer a few months ago (when i was super domestic-inspired), from scratch! you won't hear me say that much! i am so not a seamstress (yet?). i had bought this honduran burlap coffee bag (loving the print on it!), and had covered a wallet for jason - since fallen apart - a) not a seamstress, and b) he abuses his wallets. but i needed something for ME! so this was perfect. and i barely use it, so my burlap's staying together fine ;)

and this little checkbook holder i also found at an estate sale (little old ladies have such better taste/class than Chase Bank provides me with ;) - jason will no longer write checks due to its girlyness.

and now my favorite part: my "pocketbook". 

i feel so grown up saying my "pocketbook". i think i always had a squarer version, and it was always a wallet, but somehow this baby has to have a classier title ;)
i had been in need of a new wallet ever since joey's milk spilled all over my previous one (plus i was ready for a new one that was more "me", so i just became especially motivated at that point ;)
found this roxy pocketbook (okay, now i'm feeling pretentious saying it ;) at Savers for a couple dollars, and brought it home and added the lace and fabric flowers and a bead, and voila! beauty! (also very functional because i did NOT start from scratch - someone who knew what they were doing made the insides with spots for ID, credit cards, cash, etc ;)

ta-da!