May project: keeping friendships alive

May 20, 2013

Today is day 20 of the blog every day in May challenge! The prompt today is: Get real. Share something you’re struggling with right now.

Something that has been on my mind lately and I guess you could consider a struggle is how to keep friendships going when I’m not around. I guess it’s been coming up for me more and more especially now that I’m way off in Seattle away from all the close friends I’ve made in Michigan and now Texas. I know not all friendships can last but I’m talking about the friends you’ve had along the way you could never imagine not being friends with one day. But then life happens and you move away, they move away, you talk less and less and it almost seems weird to talk versus weird not to talk and you wonder when that happened. So much time has passed that you wonder how you could ever catch up and maybe it’s just easier to let it go.

I’ve never been one of those people who just had a group of friends that have been friends forever. Walker does. He has a bunch of friends still from high school and college and they all keep in touch. I’m envious sometimes. I still have a few friends here and there that we can go some time without talking but when we get together it’s like time has stood still and we catch right back up where we left off. But mostly I have what I would call used to be friends. We used to be friends in high school. We used to be friends in college. We used to be friends after college. We used to be friends.

Is that just how it is? Are we friends with people for a certain amount of time and then it’s just time to move on? I don’t know. What I do know though is that for now, since I’m the one struggling with this, maybe I have to be the one to pick up the phone and say hello.

May project: my favorite blogs

May 19, 2013

It’s day 19 in the blog every day in May challenge! Woo! Today the prompt is: what are your 5 favorite blogs and why.

I’m choosing some of the blogs that I frequent since it’s hard to say that just 5 are my favorite.

Gussy Sews-I was first told about her blog by a mutual friend of ours. I’ve since come to adore her blog because of her honesty, her willingness to give, and her adorable family.

Love Taza-I just love all the pictures and her and her family are adorable. They seem to make the simple things so much fun and I love that.

JulieAnn Art-I love the simplicity and beauty of her blog. Also fun fact: we are both from Michigan, recently quit our day jobs to pursue our businesses full time, and we live on the west coast! Cool!

Rouge and Whimsey-I discovered her blog before I moved to Seattle and once I knew I’d be moving there I would check in frequently to see how a person might dress in the PNW. I also love how Erika goes a little outside the box once in a while. It’s refreshing and fun. Also she makes super cute bags.

I have a few more but I think 4 is where I’m going to stop for now. What are some of your favorites?

May project: i’m taking all the rocks

May 18, 2013

It’s day 18 in the blog every day in May challenge. Today the prompt is: Tell a story from your childhood. Dig deep and try to be descriptive about what you remember and how you felt.

So this is going to be a bit of a quick one today. I’ve got a wedding happening later this afternoon, I need to pack to head back to Seattle tomorrow, and I slept too late (but it felt so good).

(Photo not from this particular story but I’m intently staring at a rock so it works)

I must have been pretty young, I can’t remember what exact age, when we visited the beautiful pictured rocks in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We hiked on a short trail in, although I’m sure at my age it did not seem short. We arrived on the beaches of Lake Superior and had plans to spend the afternoon there. It didn’t take long before I was off and collecting rocks. I still collect rocks to this day but at that age I was a maniac for rocks.

Everywhere I looked there was another beautiful rock that I just couldn’t put down. Each one more lovely than the next. I think I just felt so much excitement at the pretties I was going to be able to take home. Well at the end of the afternoon I had done a pretty good job of filling a backpack full of rocks. I don’t believe I thought there was even one I could part with.

I’m assuming in an attempt to get me to leave some rocks behind my parents said if I wanted all of the rocks that I had to carry the backpack all the way to the car. I couldn’t pawn it off on anyone else and I couldn’t get carried. I was a stubborn little thing so I put my backpack on and got to walking. It didn’t take long though before I started to complain. I wanted to be carried. We told you Jessica is all I got. I tried to get someone to carry my bag. I asked all around, even trying to slyly get my sister to help out. Which I seem to remember her doing for just a bit. After which I tried to get someone to carry me. I mean I had been carrying a bag of rocks and I was tired. I think they at least made me keep walking.

Anyhow we all made it to the car with the bag of rocks! Hurray! I showed them. Hehehe.