good morning and happy friday!

today's post is going to be really random...cause there's just a lot of good stuff i want to share with y'all. the good stuff is backing up~ it's about to burst- : )

let's start with this book: traveling mercies, by anne lamott. i'm about half way through with it and loving every page. one review says this~

"as confiding as one of j.d. salinger's narrators, and as funny-she draws you in...putting the book down would be like hanging up on a dear friend." -austin american-statesman

would one of you please read it and let me know if you love it too? thx-you're the best!

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now, how fabulous are these pillows? wouldn't a whole bed full be the cat's meow.

(pun intended)

they look like they'd be easy to make actually, don't you think?

i have a thing about pillows. pillows, and honey bees and tiaras and/or crowns, berries, any hurting child, iced coffee- (yumm- i make it the night before, stick it in the fridge and it's there waiting for my on these sticky summer mornings, when a hot beverage sounds awful).

i also love berries in flower arrangements, knit headbands, white sheets and towels, a different pr. of reading glasses in every room and a stack of books to go with them. oh and little birds serenading me outside my window.

i also love cameras and pretty pastries, great gardens and old chairs...

 

braids, silver jewelry, anything that makes me laugh out loud and

situations that call me to be a better person. yesterday i had one of those ah-ha moments.

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 i had clients come in that had driven a long ways to have

their daughters senior pictures taken. this family was not the typical family that comes to our studio. we are used to clients with very comfortable lives. people who live on the lake and who's teenagers have quite possibly not ever had a job.

the family that i worked with yesterday had no gps to help them find our studio. they don't own a computer either. just trying to help them figure out how they would get across the city to excelsior, mn. was a challenge. the whole family came too. the senior girl. mom, grandma, dad, the brother.

when i saw them i was a bit shocked i must admit. sleeve tattoos, long unwashed hair. poor hygiene.

 like i said, not our typical clients.

what i also saw was pride. the same kind of pride on their faces as our clients who live on the lake and have computers in their cars. they wanted nice pictures of their daughter and they were excited. the senior girl could have brought 6 outfits to be photographed in. she wore one and brought one other t-shirt. she loves hearts and she loves baseball games.

annie found a wall with a heart sprayed on it and also dug in the basement and found a ball and glove she could borrow.

i asked her if she'd ever been to the new stadium in town. she said no, she just loves to watch it on t.v.

by the time they left i wanted to take their whole family to a game. i will admit that when i first saw them i felt a bit of disgust...(the smell, the clothes...) but as i worked with them i was reminded that although they may  not have been as "clean" as most of my usual clients, they loved their daughter the same way. they loved her and they wanted her to have this rite of passage-beautiful senior pictures.

i can only imagine how hard it probably will be for them financially to afford what we offer.

but love comes in all shapes and sizes doesn't it? inside old clothes and under hair that hasn't seen a hair salon, maybe ever.

today i am reminded of the goodness of the human heart, and how we may all look very different on the outside when inside, we are all so very much the same.

*i'll be back on monday- with pictures and stories and a bit more of my story to tell,

~thanks for reading,

*(i warned you this was going to be random...it actually ended up even more random than i even thought it would be. :  ) i just write. i never know what's going to end up on these pages!)

xo, beth