Sierra Foothills

My parents live in a funny little town 3 hours east of San Francisco. Columbia, CA, is an old gold mining town and is still very reminiscent of the golden olden days. The first person struck gold in Columbia in 1850. Throughout the next handful of years, Columbia yielded $87 million in gold at 1860's prices!!

Throughout the years, Columbia has never been completely deserted, unlike many other settlement towns. Through the years it has retained much the same appearance. It's now a quaint little town for tourists, school kids on field trips, and about 200 residents. My parents live about 2 blocks away from Main Street. It's such a great little town to have a toddler, too! We go on stagecoach rides, feed the chickens, and go bowling (old school, where you have to set up the pins!). When he's bigger he'll be able to pan for gold and drink in the local saloons. 

Here are a few photos from a recent visit. The first photo is Columbia, second is a shop in Sonora (Tar Flat Antiques/Wright Sisters... they keep changing names), and third is Murphys.

For more on Columbia, check out their site.

A few additional pics of Columbia: Daily Kid Pic

 

Goals and Ideas for 2012

Welcome to another year of your life. I hope where ever you're reading this that you are well and happy and enjoying your life! This is what I'm thinking for 2012... go big or go home!!

1. I'm currently reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and it has ideas to improve happiness! Each month you focus on a different aspect of your life (Energy/Exercise, Love/Marriage, Friendships, etc.). My goal for the next couple of weeks is to finish the book and start putting the ideas into action! I'm half way through and am already noticing a difference in the way I approach things and just learning to appreciate everything we have. I notice that if I act happy (even if I'm not), everyone else seems to be happy! It's pretty brilliant and amazing. I highly recommend the book. Kindly check your local bookstore. Have you read the book? What did you think?

2. Continue to expand my photography business. I book a limited number of weddings and family sessions each year and am in love with it! If you know of anyone getting married, send them my way!

3. Plant some edibles. We just bought a house in October and while we have a pretty solid vision for the interior, we're a bit clueless when it comes to what we want to do with the yard. Luckily, my mom is a stellar landscape architect. One thing I definitely want to do is plant kale, spinach, wattercress, and wheatgrass. We do a lot of juicing and smoothie-making in our house (almost everyday) and it would be so nice to have our own garden! In the meantime, we'll probably join a CSA program (Community Supported Agriculture) and get fresh, local produce every week! My husband's office has it delivered and so he can just bring it home with him. Do you have an edibles garden- any recs or must-haves? Do you belong to a CSA program- what do you think?

4. Get back to my Daily Kid Pic. I did so well at documenting the first two years of my son's life by posting a photo every day to our flickr site. It's such a wonderful time and I love looking through all our photos! I miss doing that and hope that I can get back on track. Do you have project like that that you want to start doing again?

5. Learn how to write a book proposal and then write it!! I have an amazing idea for a coffee table/photography book... and I can't wait to share my ideas with you! Have you ever written a book proposal? 

6. Finish the interior of our house! We have made a lot of progress in the past few months, but we still have a good bit of work to do... painting, new floors, decorating, etc. What are your favorite resources (local shops or online blogs, etc.)?

7. Have another baby! We've been working really hard at this and have had some bumps and bruises along the way (2 miscarriages and a complete molar pregnancy... why don't people talk about miscarriages!?). I'm aiming for a nice healthy pregnancy that results in a nice, healthy baby! If I accomplish this and nothing else this year, I'll be a happy Kate. 

Apparently I skipped writing down goals and ideas for 2011, but my list for 2010 can be found here. And below is a photo of my sweet family. Maybe we'll have a new addition next year ;)

What are your goals and ideas?!?

 

A Little Bit of House Progress

Hey- Just wanted to offer up a few photos that shows a bit of the progress we're making on the house! We've been here for about 1 1/2 months and are pleased as punch with how much we've gotten done! The whole kitchen is completely redone (Heath Ceramics kitchen backsplash... yay!)! And we have about half of the floors done! We've done a lot of painting -including the ceiling- in about half the rooms. We are doing all the work ourselves (Chris's parents were here for the first 2 weeks and were invaluable!) Hope you like what we've done so far! Let me know what you think!

(Before photos can be seen here)

 

Married!! Meg and Max in Seattle

I had the supreme privilege of spending Labor Day weekend in Seattle with Meg & Max to photograph their wedding!! I got to shoot the rehearsal dinner right on Lake Union at Agua Verde, the wedding at University of Washington Botanic Gardens, and the Sunday boat ride with Argosy Cruises! We couldn't have asked for better weather... it was PERFECT!! Thank you, Seattle!

Meg and Max are absolutely adorable and super fun to be with. They're wildly creative, sincere, and so genuinely happy and in love. Their vows seriously made me cry. They were heartfelt and emotional, and it is clear that Meg & Max mean the world to each other! 

Their wedding was so much fun and full of unique details! The bride's sister drew a tree for everyone to sign, umbrellas scattered (cute! and useful just in case it rained!), and Meg made button-ieres for the special dudes of the day! Meg got her crocheted dress on ebay for (I think) $25 and it fit perfectly!!! Meg and her friends made adorable & tiny party hats (a-la royal wedding). The mother of the bride, Monika, picked up all the flowers from Pikes Place market for $75. The whole wedding!! How do you florists make a living in Seattle?!?! Meg's mom also crocheted the huppah for the ceremony! One of Meg's friends, Chrissie, hung an old window frame and it was instantly a great mini-photobooth!! Totally brilliant, Chrissie! Skillet brought their food truck and cooked us up amazing gourmet comfort food! And Max made all the pies for the wedding. There were sparklers and square-dancing. It was literally jam-packed with awesomeness! There was much laughter and love and I'm lucky I could be there to celebrate with them. 

Congrats to Meg & Max. I wish you happiness forever! Here are a few photos from the wedding.