Ellen [anytime photos, Sayre, PA]

She made me a big sister.

We shared a bedroom and slept in bunk-beds.

She blamed me for everything and for some reason my Mom always seemed to believe her.

She was in love with Orlando Bloom while I was in love with Elijah Wood.

Once, I pushed her down the steps and she broke her wrist.

She's the one who laughs at everything and makes you want to laugh with her.

She can sit down at a piano and ticker away forever - no sheet music - no problem.

Ahh to be little girls again :)

My sister Ellen is fierce.

She's a fierce photographer. A fierce student. A fierce worker. A fierce survivor.

She's fiercely amazing :)

I remember staying home from work one day because she was having brain surgery. I was so scared for my lil sis. I remember laying in bed that morning, squeezing my eyes tightly shut and praying my heart out for her. I couldn't imagine going thru such an ordeal myself and here she was being so brave.

She's still brave.

She came and visited me last week and we had an amazing time. It went way too fast.

And both being photographers, we had to do some shooting - it was a requirement.

Check out how fierce she is :)

Miss Savannah [6 month portraits, Sayre, PA]

"I just love how her she smiles with her whole face." - Savannah's Mom

I couldn't have summed up my evening photo-adventure any better. 

If you are ever having a bad day - are kind of down in the dumps, all you need to do is go visit this little girl because she will brighten your darkest of days in an instant with her enormous grin :)

And that ginormous smile equally houses a giant curiosity. At 6 months old, Miss Savannah wants to touch and examine and then eat most everything she comes in contact with - especially grass! She has a pocket-full of cute noises including giggles and snorts and her mama thinks that she has decided that she is going to walk before she crawls!

It's so hard to believe that just a few short months ago, we did baby pictures - time has sure flown by.

Her big sister was along for the evening and so we couldn't resist getting some photos of the sisters together!! They are wayy too cute!

Did I mention that her mama is super creative? She hand-made Miss Savannah's tu-tu!! It is soo adorable!!

Happy Independence Day!

Hold up just a minute here - isn't it illegal to have holidays fall in the middle of the week? I mean, since when has anyone ever heard of the 4th of July occurring on a Wednesday? Sure, it's bound to happen every few years or so, right, but, isn't there some way for the government to change how the whole calendar-thing works?

haha - just kidding :)

Because this wonderful day that we celebrate our freedom-as-a-nation falls smack-dab in the middle of the week, that means we get to celebrate 3 times as much - last weekend, today, and this weekend.

That means 3 times as many sparklers, fireworks, picnics, and yummy food :)

Okay, so maybe this whole middle-of-the-week-holiday-thing isn't so bad after all!

Last weekend we celebrated by attending the largest event hosted in our Valley - the annual 4th of July fireworks extravaganza.

Seriously - our little tiny Valley couldn't even hold this many people, I have no idea where they all come from. 

Everywhere is where they come from. Literally thousands of people show up and flood [ha ha flood] the Riverfront Park [yep the same one that was flooded last September]. 

Last year, I remember seeing a lot of familiar faces, having worked 9 months as a teller at the bank downtown. But this year I was overwhelmed with a sense of pride: not only because I could put names to most of those familiar faces, stop and chat with them, and feel like their friend, but pride in my little tiny Valley. I love the small town atmosphere and the sense of community that was flooding the little park.

While we were waiting for it to get dark and for the fireworks to start, we played around with some light - pretty fun, eh?

And then, there were fireworks! :D

the garden = year 2

[far left: yellow & green beans, middle back: butter-crunch lettuce and arugula, middle: peppers, middle front: tomatoes, right back: zucchini, right front: cucumbers]

Nights like tonight [after days like today] I love to go outside and poke around my garden.

I never thought I would enjoy gardening so much - I have all these horrid memories of trying to start little plants and having them all croak on me about a week after they poked thru the surface. Maybe it was just because I was 7 years old and had no clue what I was doing, but that's besides the point! I was convinced in my mind that I had the complete opposite of a green thumb.

Well, after moving into our house last year, I decided I wanted a garden. I blogged all about it - from prepping the ground to planting everything to harvesting and what I learned from year 1 of gardening [which was ALOT]. So coming into year 2 I felt much more confident - and I have to pat myself on the back for a moment - my garden looks pretty darn fantastic, if I do say so myself :D

And this little guy right here is my pride & joy.

One of the things I learned last year was that I could plant pretty much everything as seeds right in the ground and have success - except for tomato & pepper plants. They needed more time to grow if I was going to plant them from seeds and actually get some fruit by the time October rolled around :P

So back in April, I planted a few tomatoes and a few peppers inside and by Memorial Day they were ready to go outside. For the most part, they all are doing great, but this little guy is leaps & bounds [err, more like a good 5 inches] above his little brother tomatoes. They aren't quite big enough to produce any fruit yet, but I am so proud of the simple fact that he's alive!

[the photo of the tomato above is actually from 1 of the 4 heirloom tomato plants I bought from the local theater in town, who was selling the plants as part of "Project Grow" - a project in the Valley to restore the local food systems]

And, after I successfully documented how beautiful my garden was - I "destroyed" it by picking all my lettuce :P I can't wait to eat it!! The lettuce portion of my garden is simply a little bare at the moment - that's okay though because it should come back! I'm crossing my fingers!