there's not much better than a winter afternoon that feels like summer, a jar of tea, a good porch read, and a little lady snoozing away for hours on end. i used to be a cold-weather lover, but boy, has this sunshine been convincing me to be a warm-weather lover, instead.

hope your day was a wonderful one!

little bits

it's official (though i'm in denial)- we've said farewell to february, and hello to march.

this is our last month with a little lady who has no 'year-old' at the end of her age. to think we've almost been parents one year blows my mind. this time last year, we were soaking in the last weeks of just k and i. we were celebrating being married one year, and being in love three. we were preparing for the biggest and most fulfilling journey of our life. and what an incredible journey it's been, and what an incredible man to have been along my side through each new day, each new struggle, and each new joy. we've learned and grown so much in a mere eleven months, making huge shifts in our life in an effort to be more present. my love for him & love for charlie is hard to capture in words, but it's easily the best feeling i've ever felt. and that's  a bit of all that has been on my mind lately. not that every moment is very perfect, because many are far from that. but most are so, so very good, and for that, i am thankful.

with that ramble, i wish you a very happy week & a very wonderful march.

bueller?

after a somewhat unintentional & nearly three-month break from blogging, we are back! i may have underestimated how consumed our life would be with a move, two holidays, a birthday, a new job, schooling, & settling into a new home and a new routine. neither k nor myself were prepared for the business that lay ahead of us on that last drive from southern to northern california, but boy, has it been fun. we miss san clemente more than i think my words could describe, but there is really nothing like being a short car ride away from nearly every single person you love. old friendships have been rekindled, and new ones have began (we have a very big couple crush on the preusser gang & couldn't be more grateful for their companionship). i am working as a caretaker for my dear grandmother and kyle is finishing up his last big steps towards his medical career. we're both keeping up as best as we can with a rather quick almost ten-month old. the month after next, she will be celebrating her first birthday. someone please explain to me how that is possible (because it shouldn't be).

in short, life is so very good at this point and we're continually finding more reasons to be excited about this new chapter. i will be back very soon (scouts honor) to finish up the second part to our sunset trip! just a tad bit late on that... 

hope every single one of you are well, friends! 

-s

there are day trips, there are night trips, and there are sunset trips.
this weekend, we took our very last one to one of our favorite seaside towns here, dana point.

see past sunset trips here, here, & here and an early morning trip to the same spot here.
wishing you all a happy start to your week!

a love letter to san clemente

 

my heart has had a hard time grasping not living here any longer. a week from today, our bags will be packed, our walls empty, our cars full. thank you, sleepy beach town, for showing me that living by the sea may be just as good as living in the mountains. we'll miss morning dates to the bagel shack, dinner on the dashboard while parked along the sea, our spot on the hill where we'd watch the surfers at night, the movie theatre full of those terrible "clapping people", the tiniest home for three there ever was, the neighbors we were always convinced were murders (oh, that was just me?),  and being just a drive away from some of the very best spots in all of california. we grew here, from two to three. and you will always be one of my favorite places in the world.

farewell, sweetest town there ever was!

i plan to visit at least 101 times in the years ahead.