Wildflowers.

Today I went walking. 

When I walk, I think about my life... 

Sometimes it makes me sad. 

Not today. 

Today, I realized once again just how fucking fortunate I am. 

I am seriously the luckiest girl in the world. 

I have a kind, loving and beautiful family. 

I am strong. I am confident.

I am SO blessed to be in Oregon. 

I am ALIVE. 

So, why NOT be happy. 

So...

I started smiling. 

I started picking wildflowers and handing them to people I passed. 

I started walking slower. 

I started looking up, instead of down. 

I looked around and realized, again, how beautiful everything was. 

IS. 

I love when the sun is out.

I love when people hold hands. 

I love when you can tell someone is in love. 

I LOVE when people smile back at me. 

I love doing random acts of kindness to the people who need to be reminded 

JUST HOW GOOD LIFE IS. 

Because, boy, is life good. 

Please, if there's one thing that I want YOU, who ever you may be... to remember is that.

Life is happiness.

Life is rain in the fall.

Life is that one cloud in an endless blue sky. 

Life is the baby nephew that is growing bigger each day.

And

Life is flying by. 

So

Don't waste it in misery. 

Don't waste it with sleep.

Don't waste the moments you'll remember when you're old.

Don't waste the dark pink sunsets and the sweet deep kisses. 

It's too great. 

<3 

Have a good day! 

Hiking the PCT

Dear PCT,
We are not that experienced, we are young, out of shape and tired. We want to have a safe, fun and beautiful trip for the next 120 miles. We would like to have a clear and well marked trail on (preferably) snow-less ground. We would like to get along and have a friendly time with animals as well as people. We would like to stay away from all bears and rain. We would like to feel healthy everyday, and leave this trip with new muscles and a new sense of love for the outdoors. We are so excited to begin this journey and we can not WAIT to begin hiking your trail tomorrow. Hopefully all of those requests are do-able, if not... please, above all else, keep us safe.

With much love and dedication,
The snails, Hannah, Cassidy and Christiana. 

Dear tomorrow,
Please, Please, Please be as wonderful as today. Let us walk, talk and laugh as hard as we did today. Let us feel confident as we walk down the ever-changing and ever-wonderful trail of the PCT.
Thank you for a fantastic day filled with beautiful wildflowers, smiles, lakes and sweaty boobs. It was a great day. Let's do it again tomorrow.

With love and greasy hair...
The Snails, Hannah, Cassidy and Christiana.




More pictures and writing soon!

The simplicity of the silhouette

For the last two days, I have been designing the backdrop for the 25th annual 

HOES DOWN HARVEST FESTIVAL

main stage. 

Go to the website and check it out! 

Or better yet, preorder your tickets and get a tee-shirt

(which I designed)

:)

I can not WAIT for this years Hoes Down, each year gets better and better... 

And this year is NO exception, I know because the farm is already in full preparation mode.

But more on that later... 

Right now I want to talk about those beautiful dancing people...

I love the simplicity of the Hoes Down logo. 

Those 8 people have so much energy and detail, while at the same time, not overwhelming the viewer with chaos or "over-detailing" which takes away from the whole scene. 

I am always trying to draw and paint silhouettes for my room.
I think they are so fun (and simple)! 

I can't wait to upload pictures of my work on the backdrop so far!

Welcome To The World Baby Nephew!

Dear Baby,

My name is Hannah and I am your biggest fan.

I am also your auntie. 

Which doesn't mean much to some... 

but to me baby boy, you are my world. 

And that means that already I am planning for our future together.

Oh how I can't wait to take you on your first adventure camping in the woods.

I also can't wait to teach you all sorts of bad words so that you'll repeat them to your mommy and daddy.

I can't wait to snuggle with you and kiss your soft round cheeks, which are the most perfect things I have ever seen.

I can't wait to run around with you.

Teaching you the best places to hide at Full Belly Farm.

I can't wait to help you with homework and girl problems.

I will be there for you baby.

Through it all. 

I will hold your hand as we cross the street

and help you decide what car you should get.

I will wish you luck on tests and football games and first dates.

I will hold you in my arms when your momma is giving birth to a younger sister or brother for you to play with.

I will tell you you are my favorite. 

Because everyone deserves to hear it.

And because I will always mean it. 

I will love you forever, baby. 

You are the most precious thing in the whole wide world and I can't even begin to
describe how lucky you are to have chosen this family to live with for the next 18 years of your life. 

These two parents already love you more than any other thing in this world.

More than cooking or their dog Milo. 

They think you are the most perfect thing in the whole world. 

They couldn't stop staring at you when I saw you for the first time last night.

And I don't blame them. 

How could you possibly stop looking and stop loving a small person as perfect and squishy as you?

You don't. You just can't.

I love you to the moon and back again.

Love from,

Your auntie H. 

Born yesterday, September 1st, 2012. 

8 pounds 8 oz. 21 inches. 

Cutest baby boy in the world and my very first nephew.

Fall Time Again.

One of my newest late-night habits is re-reading my old blog posts. 

I have been writing this blog for a year and a half. 

Looking back, I have changed SO much, my attitude towards life, my openness to love, my fashion and my friends... 

One thing that hasn't changed... 

and that is my LOVE for fall. 

I love going back to school, I love the excitement of making new friends, decorating a new room, and creating a new style. 

Ahhhh a new style. 

As you are all aware, I'm not the most fashionable of people, but this summer I have gotten so much more confident with expressing myself through what I am wearing. 

Plus, traveling around the world made me aware of all of the interesting things that people are wearing and making. 

One thing that made me a floppy dresser in the past was the fact that I didn't think I had the money to be fashionable. 

People relate having a fashion to high-end retails and white collar girls. 

Well

I don't have money to buy from high-end shops and still have enough money to eat every month. 

I see how much money girls my age spend on online shopping and I still don't think I will ever own a Gucci handbag. 

I am okay with that. 

I am the best thrift store shopper I know. 

Seriously. 

If there is a deal, a ridiculous outfit or over-sized sweater I will find it. 

It is the best high there is.

I never look for the simple things.

I never look for the half great things that I could buy any where else. 

I look for the craziest things I can find. 

And when I find something? It feels great. 

Finding a treasure in a store full of awkward junk, it's kind of what I live for. 

Making something that was deemed "ugly" by society into something fashionable and fun.

It makes me giddy.

I get whole outfits for less than ten dollars.

I can spend hours looking in corners of the store that people have forgotten about. 

Pintrest is filled with all sorts of fun ideas for fall outfits, but most seem WAY too expensive for the "average jo" 

So, instead of getting irritated by that fact, I have started looking at those fun outfits as a challenge. 

I WILL find that 300 dollar sweater for 3 dollars. I will find those high heels that I have been pining over... somewhere soon. And I do. 

So, here are my newest challenges for this fall.

 I am in love with these outfits and these styles and want to incorporate them into my wardrobe.

 But I want to do it the cheep way. 

Australia Wedding.

I am back home and already looking through pictures, which, will be coming your way shortly.
If you remember from earlier posts, I was just recently up in Washington hiking with my two best friends. After we finished, we all went to our old teacher (and my current employer at the camps that I went to in Australia and Whales) and our good friend's wedding in Seattle on Bainbridge Island. It was incredible. And stressful. I was handed a clipboard and put in charge. I also did all of the flower arrangements. It all turned out to be a smashing success and I am so thankful that I could give them a bit of peace of mind on their wedding day. You see, they have already gotten married TWICE this year. They have had ceremonies in Costa Rica AND Australia. (And now Seattle) I got the opportunity to be at the gathering in both Australia and Seattle. I know that the pictures from the wedding most recently are going to be INCREDIBLE. But they aren't up yet. Boo.
You all know how much I LOVE weddings though, so I thought I would put a few pictures from the wedding in Australia that I attended. Enjoy!

Angel From Montgomery

I bought a used acoustic guitar from a grimy

pawn shop coming down highway 1 yesterday.

I own a fake Fender.

Her name is Lucy and she's beautiful.

She makes due with my poorly trained hands

strumming her strings the wrong way.

She sings sweet, the only two cords I know.

It was around exit 552,

That I began to miss you again.

So instead of calling you to rehash painful wounds,

Lucy kept me company as I sat barefoot in the sand.

On that forgotten California coast last night.

Her smooth wooden body held my hands, keeping them busy.

I was no longer empty. My lap was full of music.

I had something to distract my heart from loneliness.

And there in that solitary second the waves began

to make my sorrows into something to sing about.

My busy brain feels hushed for a moment.

Letting in the simple sound of a single tune.

I can hear the rhythm coming from me.

I am here... only here.