Collaboration

Hi!  We are blogging together now!  

Dan had a very short-lived blog called Coffee.Community.Creativity.  It was a place where he wrote bizarre creative stories and also hashed out his faith in thought-provoking series of questions and simple, beautiful answers.  He really is an excellent writer.  

This blog has been so much of my story and my photos.  With the addition of a wee-little child fast approaching, we wanted to have a place that was both of ours.  We wanted a place to record our families triumphs and struggles and, of course, continue to showcase our photography.  The blog is already named "a photographer, married to a rock star" so it's super easy to add Daniel!  We simply changed the info in the tabs up above:  The Photographer, The Rock Star.  And we hope you like the new layout!  He's on the road quite a bit so we're not sure how often he'll get to post but we're so excited to collaborate!  Chances are he wont be writing a lot but everyone once in a while you'll get his point of view on our story.

All the photos of me are by him and all the photos of him are by me, unless otherwise specified.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy our blog!

Reflection

I have been struggling with aging for a few years now.  The summer in which I was 25, turning 26, was super fun.  I spent that summer skateboarding, river floating, high-fiving, and kickin ass.  Then, things got really stressful and I didn't want to be a grown up.  So, I started doing some really wild things.  I joined a punk-rock band and pretty much stopped being an adult.  Then, turning 27 was the worst day of my life.  Okay, the actual DAY was fun.  Here are some photos so you can see just how fun it was.  But, I  hated the idea of being 27.

Now I'm 28.  I have wrinkles.  I don't have the energy for the 2-hours-a-day-everyday workouts that I did in college.  I'm getting kind-of fat and my body aches more often than I think it should.  However, every cloud has silver lining.  For starters, I am more confident than I have ever been in my life!  I'm becoming a mother to a child who really needs a good mom.  Suddenly, the things that mattered before... just... don't.  I'd rather save up to buy this kid a high chair than buy myself a new pair of boots.  I want to be the best person I can be for this little one.  I look forward to becoming more wise and more confident in who I am, flaws and all.  [And I look forward to not referring to my flaws as "flaws"!]  So, I think I'm okay with aging.  At least, for today.  Bring it on, 2012.

A totally unedited photo of myself.

A huge part of moving forward is looking back.  Reflecting on the past year will help me appreciate where I was and where I am now.  Most importantly, who I am.  2010 was the worst year EVER.  2011, just as I'd hoped, ended up being a great year of healing and happiness.  Here are some of my favorite moments, month by month.

• JANUARY

My mom came to visit and I also had a fun night at a new coffee shop in town with some really great friends.

•  FEBRUARY

I got into hot yoga and taking pictures of street art.  It was the first month that we hadn't gone back to France since we lived there so I remember being sad about that.  I also got into a pretty bad snowboarding accident which ended my snowboarding season early.

•  MARCH

My darling husband rang in his 30th birthday!  And, I went wine tasting with my best friend, Sara, in Oregon!

•  APRIL

Wewent out to Sequim, WA for Easter Weekend and we had a blast!

•  MAY

May is always a strange month here in Washington.  You're anticipating summer but it's usually cloudy.  I spent May hiking and going on adventures.

•  JUNE

Dan travels a lot in the summer because his band plays a lot of festivals.  This June we had enough sunny weather for me to get on the longboard a bunch of times.  I also helped my friend, Ben, plan GO SKATE TACOMA on June 21st, International Go Skateboarding Day.

•  JULY

In July, I said goodbye to my best friend here in Tacoma.  We moved her halfway across the country.  The trip was horrible and fun at the same time.  Then, we stayed in the midwest and celebrated 4th of July in Chicago with Dan's side of the family.

•  AUGUST

Dan played a huge festival and I was so proud of him!  I turned 28 and we celebrated our 8 year anniversary!

•  SEPTEMBER

We took a little vacation to Kelowna, BC and learned to golf.

•  OCTOBER

I flew to Arizona to celebrate Brit's Golden Birthday!  I got a tattoo and climbed a mountain.  When I got back, we moved into our new place!  Good month.

•  NOVEMBER

We had our home study which was the last step in becoming registered parents!  The baby's room is ready. We also had an eventful Thanksgiving and hung out at the Washington/Oregon coast.

•  DECEMBER

Dan has been home a lot this month.  Our community found out about two local families that were really struggling this Christmas so we got together and spent $1000 on them!  We chose presents for their kids and got them Visa gift cards to help pay their bills.  It was amazing.  I  had an eventful Christmas and hoping to have a fun New Years Eve.

Goodbye, 2011.  You were decent.  Happy New Year to all!  Bring it on, 2012!
also.... BIG BLOG ANNOUNCEMENT TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Augustus

Over the holidays, we watched our friend, Ruthy's, dog - Augustus!  Gus, for short.  We took him down to my mom's house and he spent the entire Christmas holiday with us!  We don't have any pets anymore.  We gave our dog, Bisou, away last year when we moved into the loft.  We were travelling too much and she was depressed.  She was sleeping more than 20 hours a day, not eating, and crying constantly.  So, now she's on a farm in Cle Ellem, WA and probably doesn't miss us a bit.  To be honest, I don't miss having a dog one bit.  I've always been an animal lover but our lives are way too busy for a pet.  [Except a rabbit.  I'd love another rabbit.  Someone needs to eat the tops of our carrots and snuggle with me while Dan's on tour!]  We've decided we'll tackle parenthood before we try to be pet owners again.Gus is a really good dog!  He plays fetch better any dog I've ever had.  He loves that ball!  These photos are Christmas day, at the park in my old neighborhood.  Isn't he cute?!

Holiday Food

Here are some of the yummy foods I ate this holiday season!  I think I gained at least 5 pounds.  Whoops!  Who wants to go to extra circuit classes with me at the YMCA?

Matt, Jill & Jack

 

These are some of our very best friends: Matt and Jill and their little baby, Jackson.  I had the honor of taking their family portraits for their Christmas card this year.  We took photos of Jackson at their house.  Babies are the most comfortable in their own homes so I try to arrange for that as often as possible.  They took me to this abandoned dairy barn near their house to take some family photos of the three of them.  It was really a really beautiful place and I'd love to take some more photos there.  Jack was so cold and tired by the time we got around to taking the family photos that he wasn't too smiley. I had so much fun anyway.  (And I hope they did too!)

I designed this Christmas card to show off my graphic design skills and it turns out that they liked it and used it!  I think if I had the time [and money] to get some more schooling I'd like to be a graphic designer.  It's one of my favorite things to do.

Merry Christmas!

Merry be your Christmas

Peaceful be your home

Joyful be your family

Blessed be each one

"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

Playing Tag

I'm responding to a tag from Tabitha at Mommy, Daddy, and Mason.  Thanks for the blog love!

Rules: 
1. You must post these rules. 
2. Each per­son must post 11 things about them­selves on their blog.  (I'm not doing this one because I did a 25 Things You Dont Know About Me recently)
3. Answer the ques­tions the tag­ger set for you in their post, and cre­ate 11 new ques­tions for the peo­ple you tag to answer. 
4. You have to choose 11 peo­ple to tag and link them on the post. 
5. Go to their page and tell them you have linked him or her. 

My Questions From Tabitha
1. What color lights did you put on your christmas tree this year?  -- All white. It's the only way Dan will have it.  last year they were red and he did not approve.
2. Do you exercise regularly?  -- Yes!  About 4 times a week.  If I dont, I am not happy.  I'm addicted to those endorphines!
3. Are you making a new years resolution?  -- I would like to lose 10 pounds and do a photo shoot in my wedding dress!
4. How do you usually spend your new years eve?  -- for years I spent NYE with my dad's best friend and all their family.  NYE is his birthday and his daughter is my best friend so it worked out!  Since being married and living in Tacoma we've done all kinds of things but we usually just go out with friends.
5. Hair up or down?  -- Down.  Unless I'm going running.  I even wear my hair down in yoga class!
6. Heels or flats?  -- Heels!  My husband is 6'4" and I love being almost as tall as him.
7. Where is the farthest place you've traveled?  -- Prague, Czech Republic
8. What do you do to relax?  -- Ha!  This is funny because my blog URL is "dontknowhowtorelax.com".  I literally dont know how to relax.  For me, relaxing is getting stuff done.  But, sometimes I read for more than 20 minutes and that is relaxing.  Also, going running relaxes me.  
9. Favorite thing to do outside?  -- Taking a long walk through the city or by the water.
10. Would you go white river rafting?  -- Yes!  I've gone about 10 times and I love it so much.  Such a thrill!
11. What's the last movie you saw in theaters?  -- "Midnight in Paris" and it was magical!  Literature and France are two of my favorite things.  

Your Questions

1.  What was the best vacation you ever went on?

2.  What is your favorite thing to eat late at night?

3.  Who was your favorite band when you were in junior high?

4.  If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?

5.  Favorite TV shows right now?

6.  If you could re-paint your house, what color would you choose?

7.  How many best friends do you have?

8.  Describe your 'go-to' feel-good outfit.

9.  Who have you known longest in your life (besides family)?

10.  What's one thing you're a super-nerd about?

11.  I'm making you spend $10,000 - what would you do with it?

Tagging:  Ruthy, Erin, Rachel, Grace, Carlotta, ... that's all I have the time for!  Off for a Christmas Eve Eve with my sweetie pie!

XOXO,
Lindsy

la Musique de Noël

Since I love all things French and all things Christmas, I wanted to let you know that you can get an original holiday jazz album for free from Stella Artois.  Click here!

I also dug up some of the photos we took while we were living in France.  It was our first Christmas alone together.  The city was so beautiful lit up at night with twinkling lights.  We took a Christmas card photo but we were too poor to mail cards so we ended up creating a digital card that we mailed to family and friends.  It was a lonely Christmas but it was also a peaceful one with lots of time for reflection.  I cherish the time I got to spend with Dan in France.  We had so much free-time and very little money.  It helped shape who we are.  We don't need money to have a good time, we love to explore and seize the day and go on adventures!  I never want to lose that spirit, because it's become a defining part our fabric as a family.

This might be my favorite photo from France - of all time.  Christmas 2006.

Christmas Light and a steeple.  France, 2006. 

The sum of all the Christmas decor in our apt.
(And look how blonde I was!)  Photo by: Dan.

December 2006.  Dan on our balcony.

The final design of our Christmas Card, 2006.

Photos of the Day

For the entire year I've been posting a photo of the day on Facebook.  When 2011 started, I wanted to have a memorable year -and I think have!  Looking back through the Photos of the Day has been fun.  So many memories I had forgotten and here they are, all laid out.  Dan is really good at dates.  He will remember where he was or what he was doing on this date years ago.  I am so bad at that.  I cant even remember some of my best friends' birthdays.  I am proud of myself for sticking with Photo of the Day.  In October, I unintentionally quit for about 30 days but luckily, when I realized my error, I found that I had actually taken a photo each day but had simply failed to upload it.  Here are some recent (and festive) Photos of the Day for your viewing pleasure.  Only 10 more days to go!

A Few of My Favorite Things

This time of year it's so easy to get caught up in the materialism of Christmas.  You're surrounded by people asking you what you want. "I dont know" or "I dont want anything" usually will not suffice.  Plus, you're doing WAY more shopping than any normal person should so you're seeing millions of ads and looking at millions of things and you start to turn into a green monster.  I am so embarrassed that I bought myself Minnetonka moccasins and a clutch within the last couple weeks.  Whoops!

When I look around, I find that I have so many beautiful things.  The sweater at H&M isn't going to make me happy - and I'd rather save that $29.95 to go to France in February anyway!  Here are a few of my favorite things....

I am so happy that we have our new house!  I love it.  It's so cozy and I have huge kitchen for cooking and crafting.  A record player is the best way to listen to music.  When I play a record, I actually listen. It's not background noise.  I love my Nikon because I love taking photos for me and for you!  LMR Photography is really a lot of fun.  I inherited my in-laws china last year when Dan's older brother went away to Hawaii.  He had gotten it because his favorite color was orange.  Dan's parents were married in the late 70s.  I think they all think the china is ugly but Dan and I love it and feel so blessed to have it in our home.  My ghetto jewelry collection is a hodge-podge of vintage watches, junk from Goodwill, cheap stuff from Forever 21 and precious gifts.  I love it.  The cello is also something I inherited when my brother-in-law and his family moved away.  I played viola as a kid so re-learning this instrument has been fun.

When I put things in perspective, I really do have a lot.  I am looking forward to a simple Christmas spent with people I love and seeing less and less of the green monster I become every December.

Happy Holidays!

 

Linking up with Jessica!

Red Room, Live Art

Tacoma is amazing.  This city is filled with artists and musicians and I love that most about Tacoma.  On Saturday, we participated in a live art night at The Red Room (South 23rd and Tacoma Ave in the Dome District).  DJ Ordan laid down some sick beats to inspire the creative mood.  There were some supplies but most people brought their own.  My friend who put on the event says he'll plan to do more of these.  I cant help but miss Brit.  She and I used to get together to create things.  We called these art nights: Creation Station.       

Dan an I collaborated on a piece for our friends, Ben and Sam, who have NO ART on the walls in their apartment.

Photo of the Day:  12/17/11.  DJ Ordan. Dreams come true!

 

Blog dividers FREE, courtesy of IROCKSOWHAT.  

Party Time! Excellent!

Our sort-of annual Christmas party took place on Friday.  My favorite part:  The White Elephant Gift Exchange.  It's always fun to see what people bring.  Dan and I gave an 80s Rock Mix CD, a Jimmy Buffet CD, and a few other random things.  There was, of course, a Shake Weight which has made its rounds through the years of White Elephant Gift Exchanges.  Lucky me, I got it this year!  Also, someone brought a mustache pacifier which Rachelle got and her baby, Audrey, looks so cute in it!  

I love Christmas parties!  Dan and I dont get to have office parties so we like to host for our friends.  I feel like I'm ready for Christmas, save for a few last-minute purchases.  And, my paycheck didn't arrive Friday NOR Saturday so I will be braving the busy stores sometime this week to finishing shopping.  YAY.  Wish me luck!  Oh, and Dan is barfing so let's hope I dont get the flu also.

Our front porch lights!

My paper table runner.

Audrey's mustache pacifier - a great White Elephant Gift.