Meaningful Christmas Decorating

Decorating for Christmas is so much fun with children!  When my husband and I were first married, my mother-in-law gave us a box of decorations she had been buying for my husband since he was a baby.  We instantly had a whole set of meaningful Christmas decorations, it was so thoughtful!  I started doing the same thing for my boys.  I've been buying them quality, handmade ornaments from countries of their heritage.  The majority of their heritage is Swedish (from my husband's side; our last name is Ek, which means Oak), English, German and Polish.  We also have Spanish, French, Russian, Irish, and a dash of Mali, Western Asia, Polynesian and Iranian.

My favorite Christmas decorations are handmade in Germany.  I'm particularly fond of German Smokers, I find them so charming!  One of my favorite Christmas treasures is our German-made Sherlock Holmes Nutcraker.   I also really love Scandinavian ornaments.  Seattle has a rich Scandinavian heritage, so I'm fortunate to find little Swedish or Norwegian trinkets in local thrift and antique shops.

I've also added some American handmade ornaments to our collection.  I absolutely LOVE the ones I chose this year, they're from a local woodworker, Stumpdust.  They are high quality, adorable and so unique.

I don't buy anything plastic, resin or mass-produced in China.  Quality is definitely an investment.  Our Christmas decorating started out small but each year gets a little bit bigger and a lot more meaningful.

Cold December Days

One thing that has surprised me about my kids is how comfortable they are in shorts and t-shirts.  They both love going barefoot and it's a struggle to get them to wear coats and sweatshirts.  These photos were taken on recent visits to the beach, when it was FREEZING!!  They are such goofy boys!

November 2015

A few things:

::  The longer I live in Seattle, the more I appreciate how lucky I am to live here.  It really is such a beautiful place to raise a family!

::  I've been listing some vintage finds in my Etsy shop.  You can find my Etsy shop ::here::.

::  If you're not already following me on Instagram, here's the link.  I post regularly there.

::  This dress :: 

::  This song ::

::  This cookbook ::

::  This article ::

Happy Monday, Friends!!

10-9-2015

When you spend enough time down at the shore, you're bound to see some pretty amazing things.

Like watching the release of two orphaned seal pups.  They were rescued earlier this summer, and are big enough now to be released.  It's was so spiritual!  (I joke, but it really was).

The crews from PAWS and Coast Guard Auxiliary forces to make this release possible.  And I was honored to have my boys there to observe.

Riding The Ferry

My parents moved up here to Washington from Mendocino, CA in 2003, the year I got married.  They live on a cute little island northwest of Seattle.  It's not far from my home, just a quick drive, then a short ferry ride and we are there within an hour.

My boys and I go over at least once a week while Alex is working.  We love riding the ferry!  Here are a few shots from this summer's rides on the ferry.

Summer is moving right along, school starts in a few weeks.  We're soaking up the time as much as we can.

(All photos taken with various vintage film cameras)

 

Mendocino August 2015

Digital cameras are very, very intimidating to me; so many buttons and settings and modes.  I'm a proud manual film photographer.  But I've been wanting to become more adept with my digital camera.  For my birthday last month my husband bought me an upgraded lens, and it's awesome!  I took a stroll through my hometown last when we were visiting California.  I snapped a few photos along the way, these are a few of my favorite.  The entire album can be viewed here.  I edited these in Lightroom with the VSCO presets.  Enjoy!

(Where my family stayed on our visit)

(The street where I used to live)

(The Mendocino Village Skyline)

(Albion River Inn, where my sister used to work)

(The famous headlands)

(So many airstreams around town)

 (Where I worked for years.  My favorite job ever.)

(How many hours did I spend roaming the streets of this town, holding hands, kissing and goofing around with my boyfriend???  Such good memories.)

 

(The JD House Watertower, where I want to stay on my next visit)