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Spring has sprung



And it's all we can do to stay on task. Stay inside, even when it's raining.






Stay on task and clean or do laundry. Not when there are tulips growing in our side yard...and green grass to run on.









Vegetarian grilling extravaganzas to have.






It's spring and that change thing is in high gear. It happens ever year and there is a tremendous amount of comfort in it. We always know how we'll spend the first few weekends searching for the perfect heirloom tomato plants. Searching for the most organic way to weed our yard and water our gardens (got my first rain barrel last summer.) New peppers to plant, choose flowers for our cutting garden. In the summertime, I will show up on your doorstep with flowers in a mason every time you ask me to visit. There are few things I enjoy more in the summer than growing, cutting, arranging and gifting fresh flowers.


BUT we are in a holding pattern this year. We are putting things in boxes instead of the ground. Covering garden spots with mulch instead of compost. We are preparing to leave instead of stay and harvest our summer's work. It's all happening so fast.


I fancy myself a bit of a nomad. I get the urge to go about every 5 years. I warned Brandon of this urge about 2 months into our relationship. He said it was cool and that he was down for it.


We've moved about every 2 years since then, always anxious to press on to the next bit. Staying put has always felt like a straight jacket to me. Why stay put when there is the world to live in?


But...we got married. Bought this house. This house that is perfect for us. When people visit us here, they often say "this house is so...you guys." And it is. We found out we were pregnant in this house's kitchen. Brought our baby boy home to his house...our house. Brandon build a deck and fixed the plumbing. The girls finally met some "neighborhood" friends who's parents we know and run into at the grocery store.


When this happened, my dear sweet husband said "I just want some stability for a while, some peace."


This weekend we started packing. And he is still down for it. 


And I am too, but it is so much harder this time. Who knew I'd ever feel at home somewhere? Surely not me. And I know that with my family, we will make a new home in South Dakota. But we have such a wonderful home here, for the first time I'm scared of what is next. Excited, but scared.


Brandon moves in two weeks. Scary.


My tough girl Autumn has such a heavy heart about leaving the first group of close friends she has ever had.






Miss Annika is right now living that bullshit middle school mean girl drama. She is both thrilled to leave the bully behind and scared to death there will be a worse one waiting in the unknown.



I am tired of 5th grade girl politics.


Thankfully, us girls get better with age.  God bless my girlfriends! My big girls, the ones that keep my head straight when these worries worm their way into it. My big girls are the standard I hold up to my baby girls, my promise to them that someday, your best girlfriends will love and inspire you regardless of close or far away you are from them. They just know when you need them and what you need.


Witness the email I got today:

"You totally have to take chances! I think it will be a great move for your family, the ones under your roof and the ones you are going to. I LOVE moving, the new space and place and town and people. It's so exciting! I loved Minneapolis when I was there, but there is something about leaving the big city behind and heading back to your roots, to the small community and the basics. Less traffic, less noise, stress is simple and so are the people. There is always love in my heart for the city and the people I left behind there, but it's so exciting to go back and take a trip to where you spent happy hours that turned into all nighters, drunken theatre dates, started careers and ended them, met stupid boys and ditched them. Ahhh the memories. There is something to say about smaller towns and new opportunities. I don't think you will regret it. And if you feel it's the wrong choice, the roads will always lead you to where you are supposed to be. In the big city or on to your next small town.

Are you packed?"

Angie

Amen sister.  That is the truth of this adventure that lives in my heart and the truth that makes this move the right thing to do.  Thank you for doing the cheer today when I felt like maybe I was losing it:)


Who is this wise sage you ask?



So off I go, to pack my house, reassure my babies, cheer on my husband and find the new "me" at work.


Work...


You know you are a short timer when you start writing haiku poems about the people that live in the cubicles outside your office. As the HR Master of the Universe, there are much more pressing issues to address, but since I'm on the outs, I can dazzle my team with my non HR humor for the first time. People hate HR, but they really shouldn't. We have the best stories.  Just saying.


Before I wrap things up with fantastical photos of my Mother's Day, can I make a request?

Can giant purses please go out of style?  My "cute" giant purses keep eating the crap I put in them.  Half of which I don't need, but put in there because I can.  Like shoes...seriously I had shoes in my purse.  Who needs to do that?  And how gross.  I can't wait to see the look on someone's face when they ask to borrow chapstick and I reach in to my purse/shoe tree and grab it for them.  Rub it on your lips...no worries about where the bottom of my shoes have been lately.

Whew. Thank you for indulging me that little gripe session.


Mother's Day was a dream. Even though I asked for a walk to the lake and a picnic and it rained all day. How selfish of Mother Nature.  All that meant was that my husband (who is so cool) took it up a notch to deliver something grand on a rainy Mother's Day.


He assembled my new studio lighting kit.

The "beginner" kit for the super rookie photographer. We emptied the dining room and set up the whole damn thing.


I present...the first studio shoot of my career. The Schapekahms.









I even got in some shots, a real test of the lighting:)

Perfect

It's not easy, but it's fun. We'll see how this studio stuff goes. While I practice with fake lights, I'm still going to shoot in my favorite natural light spot...our shower.






So if you come to my house for some photos...don't think twice when I direct you to get into the shower with me;P


Peace XOXOXOXOX