If Life Was Like a Movie...

Have you seen Almost Famous? Do you remember that scene were the band is in the airplane and they all think they're going to crash and die? In the last few moments, they all start shouting out things that had previously gone unsaid. They felt free to clear the air, be completely honest with each other, and own up to secrets they'd been living with. I sometimes wish life was like this. Why must we put on faces for each other? Why can't we always just speak what's truly in our head, not having to wonder what that person will think or how they'll judge us?

On the same note...sometimes (okay, all the time) I wish life was like a musical. We could just break out in song and dance - completely unrehearsed yet incredibly sycronized - whenever the mood hit us. Tense moment? Why not sing about it. Love sick and want everyone to know? Put on your dancing shoes and belt out a tune. Hey...it worked in Grease.

One Year

Wow....so it's incredibly cliche to say this, but time really does fly. Our little girl is about to turn one, and we're struggling to figure out where the time went. Goodbye baby days, hello toddlerhood. I just can't believe it...

This past weekend, we held a party for her over at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Lots of friends joined us, and it was a fun way to celebrate her big day. Here are some pics from the party.

A Tradition Continues

We recently took Sophie to the Clackamas County Fair for the first time. I (Melissa) grew up going every year with my family. We lived close enough that we could walk to it, and spent many summers afternoons there. It was a lot of fun to take Sophie and relive some of those memories. The highlights for her (I'm pretty sure she'd agree if she could talk) were the pony rides and seeing lots of piglets. A true Canby experience...

Beauty

I recently read an article in the magazine "Real Simple" (thanks Stacey!) in which six women write about what makes them feel beautiful. Their responses were refreshing and thought provoking - and really, the subject is timely for me as it's something that has entered my thoughts frequently over the past year. One woman wrote about being active every day. Another told the story of her husband who, just before passing at the age of 82 (and after 39 years of marriage), told her she had made him a happy man. His words made her feel beautiful.

So much has changed for me lately. My identity...the things I consider important...how I spend my time... Little did I know before starting this adventure, i.e. parenthood, that so too would my definition of beauty change as well. It had to. For if I wanted to continue feeling beautiful (at times), I had to reinvent what that meant. The ways in which I used to feel it now felt petty, and in some ways, unattainable. Pregnancy, child birth, and then 10 months of very interrupted sleep has taken its toll on this body. Pictures of my pre-pregnancy days remind me of this even when I don't want to be reminded. But in those pictures - no matter how radiant I appeared - there's something missing. I might have felt beauty, but I hadn't yet created it. I didn't know the beauty of a newborn's first cry. Nor how beautiful I would feel as, dressed in a hospital gown and sweaty from 15 hours of labor, I nursed my child for the first time. My body had helped bring her into this world, and now it was helping sustain her. THAT was beautiful.

Most days I spend at home, in not-so-flattering clothes, trying to remember what it felt like to wear heels and a nice outfit every day to work. But I pick my daughter up, hold her on my hip, and look into her soulful brown eyes - and I feel more beautiful than ever.

Walla Walla Wine

This weekend Tim and I took our first overnight trip without Sophie and headed up to Walla Walla Washington with some friends to do some wine tasting. We found some pretty good wineries, but mostly we had a really fun time with great friends. 21 wineries in two days....yes, we're a little crazy about wine.

Our first stop - Seven Hills Winery. After several hours in the car, we were ready to stretch our legs and drink a little vino. Bummer it wasn't the greatest - well, okay, the whites were okay. The reds were another story. But we tried to remain optimistic.

After several more wineries, we'd gotten into a groove. This is at one of the more picturesque ones...Trust Cellars. The best part? They had a wine named Sophie there.

Drinking more wine at our campsite. Ben treated us with a bottle from one of our favorite spots - Tamarack Cellars. You would have thought that by dinner time we'd be sick of wine, but not us!

Our last stop on the way home was at Maryhill Winery in Goldendale. It was absolutely gorgeous there and had beautiful views of the Gorge. A great way to end the trip. Then....played catch phrase in the car on the way home and laughed till we cried. Thank you Arthurs for a great trip!

10 Years

On Friday night, we headed off to Melissa's 10 year high school reunion. It was great to catch up with friends and share stories of where our lives have taken us...