Newfound Love.

Cabo in one word was perfection. The wedding went off without a hitch and was beyond beautiful. Huge congratulations and unending love to our dearest friends Mr. & Mrs. Joshua Yurkowski.

*****

I fell in love with the ocean last week. She resisted my departure as much I resisted leaving her. She lingered in my thick messy braid despite 14 hours of travel back to YYC attempting to dry her out. She buried herself in my books and magazines in the form of wrinkled pages and sand filled spines. The English Major in me usually craves books with clean, crisp pages...but in this particular case I adored the imperfections Sunday morning on our red eye flight home. The tiniest particles of the ocean's floor found ten little homes beneath my finger nails. Her powerful waves left cuts and bruises on my knees and ankles. I hold no grudge. I gave her full control. I allowed her to let me feel weightless and vulnerable and held my breath trusting that she'd release me and my friends - old and new - from her powerful grip as we surfed her waves all week. 

Her physical presence is slowly and inevitably beginning to escape me. I can't avoid showering any longer. Trust me on that one. Although my distance from her has left me feeling strangely empty - as though I have lost something that never really belonged to me - I will carry her with me. I'll cling to the moments and memories that made me feel truly at peace.

I would need new letters to form new words to marry them in new sentences to describe my newfound love for the Pacific ocean. I hope these few photos might do this love justice. More to come.

 Our first walk along the Pacific ocean. Instantly addicted

R on his birthday - lounging in a hammock on the beach :)

Nothing but smiles.

May those sunglasses Rest In Peace at the bottom of the ocean.. darn.

 Post body surfing daze - love these two!

 Completely and utterly mesmerized

Made a new friend ;)

Him.

Beach bumming it

Our boat tour along the coast of Cabo St. Lucas. 

Can you see Scooby Doo?? ;)

 Who me...? ;)

 Giddy J

 Breath taking cliffs and arches just past Lover's Beach
One of the highlights of the trip!

Apple of his eye ;)

 Soaking it all in

 We left our mark for miles and miles up and down this coast<3

"Is it what we see or how we see it? Where we are or how we are? I have a distinct feeling that if we love how we are and choose wisely how we see all life around us, suddenly where we are will seem precisely right, and what we see will never stop astonishing us." - T.G.

This is just a tiny glimpse into our trip - much more to come - when life allows.

With love. 

J.

Growth.

I was browsing through my photo stream tonight because -- as I'm sure you all know by now -- I love reliving past memories through creative outlets, it's the root that grows my love for writing and photography.

I came across this photo that I took one year ago today on the last day of my University career. One word popped into my mind and almost instantaneously appeared in the Title section of the New Post box in blogspot. Growth. It's absolutely insane to me how much change and growth can occur in one year. After watching my friends and family grow up, and out, and in-between, and sideways this past year I suppose growth in some way, shape, or form is almost inevitable.  

It's late, I'm fighting off a cold and maybe I should be sleeping. But the word refused to be held hastage at my fingertips... so I typed it out. And then I typed a little more and I still seem to be typing...

"Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don't feel like I should be doing something else."

- Gloria Steinem

I watched this tree  sprout these amazing flowers every Spring for years. I often noted the semblance between this particular tree and the patterns of my life-- never in constant blossom, but always full of life. Always growing.

Thriving when supplied with essential life ingredients.

Grow. In all directions.

With love.

Photo taken: April 14/12 at University of British Colombia Okanagan 

Spit Shake

I'm someone who tends to view life through a pair of rose coloured glasses and admittedly spends a ton of time sitting on the fence of most decisions. But when it comes to matters of my heart I find it's either black and white. 

Tonight while sitting at our kitchen island waiting for a pot of water to boil R and I got to talking about our recent trip to the Okanagan and our love for its simplicity. It's been a longstanding joke of ours that we always tend to make our major life decisions in a kitchen. As bubbles crept to the surface of the pot on our stove, we decided that after our wedding-- someway, somehow-- we will find our way back to the Okanagan. I mistakenly made a joke about it not being a real promise unless it was sealed with a Spit Shake... I really should have known better.

And so, in two(ish) years we will be back living in the Land of Life (as I call it). And now that it's documented-- you all can ensure we follow through. In honour of our rare black and white decision making skills, here's a little black and white look into the weekend that changed it all. 

I will always love the blur of these lakes and mountains

Where it all began

We spent Monday morning wandering in our favourite park before we drove East

Little Straw Vineyards, Westbank B.C.

My favourite barn at BX Ranch in Vernon, B.C.

Summerhill Winery

Our Blondie... ;)

With love. 

Two Become One

I met J&A 5 years ago and although I've never known them separately, the romantic in me is certain that they were meant to live their lives as one. Never have I met two people more perfectly suited for one another than the soon-to-be Yurkowski's. Their seemingly effortless love and admiration is tremendously contagious and nothing short of inspiring. Ryan and I were over the moon excited when they announced their engagement a year and some change ago. This past weekend we kicked off the celebration of their love at their bachelor and bachelorette parties. I'm pretty sure their entire hometown of Merritt, B.C. joined in the celebrations in one way or another and despite the small town tendency to get a little (a lot) rowdy-- I'm happy to report that we all made it out alive! The celebration continues in less than 2 weeks when we head to Los Cabos for their wedding. 

I dedicate this post to J&A with love. Ry and I are honoured to be a part of your big day and can't wait to stand beside you when you officially promise the best of yourselves to each other. You have our endless love and support- we promise to be there on those inevitable days when "Yes dear" becomes "Dear God you're driving me crazy"! ;)

 One of the 5 amazing wineries we visited Saturday afternoon. Little Straw Vineyards. 

 So delicious. Times nine. Warming up for Mexico.

Cheers to lifelong love and friendships.

P.S. Ever wonder how many bridesmaids it takes to bake a cake for a bridal shower after drinking 3 bottles of wine? One to cut the cake layers, one to ice the cake, one to document its awesomeness..plus one more to help eat the scraps. In case you lost count it takes 4 bridesmaids :)

It was DELICIOUS by the way ;)