100 Truths

This is a list that has taken me a few days to write. My sister-in-law wrote one, and I was truly moved by some of the things she shared that I never knew about her. I have been doing some deep reflection ever since because there are things about myself that I don’t like, but that I can’t or won’t change. This is who I am. I can’t apologize for that. It’s hard to share some of the things you don’t like about yourself, or some of the things you wish were different. I am not where I want to be. But maybe by facing these truths I will be able to work on these things and become the person I want to be.

I encourage you to write your own list. You never know what you might discover about yourself.

Losing a sister, but gaining a…Zank?

My little sister is getting married. It’s strange. For 4 years now my older sister and I have been the only siblings in my family who are married. It wasn’t weird for me to see by older sister get married, it just seems like what older sisters do. But having my younger sister get married is a bit weird for me. In my mind she is eternally the age she was when I left home-15. And even though consciously I know that she is an adult of 22 now with a career and living away from home, my immediate reaction when I found out she was getting married was “no way, you are far too young”! Ummm, she’s 2 years older than I was when I married Mark. I worry that she hasn’t known him long enough. Ummm, she’s known him just as long as I knew Mark when we got engaged.

I guess I just hate change, even when that change is something that makes my little sister so happy. As you saw in an earlier post, they came to visit us last weekend. It was good for me to see how in love they are, and how happy they make eachother. It has calmed my fears a lot. I still hate to let go of my little sister, but I have to remember that I’m not losing a sister, I’m gaining a fun bother-in-law.

Can you say busy?

While I am thrilled that my photography business is taking flight, it has also taken on a life of it’s own it seems. June has been pretty hectic so far with two engagement shoots alone this last week. I’m up to my ears in photos to edit for the two happy couples and an on a pretty tight deadline so they can send out initiations. It’s been crazy, but so worth it. Photography is something that completes me. I love it. I don’t know what I would do if it were not a part of my life.

One cute bride-to-be is my sweet sister Kellee who you may remember from this post last year. She and her fiance Jared came play with us this weekend and get in some engagement photos while they were out (which is another post entirely). We had a blast with them and did a bunch of the same things we did last time she visited-a day in San Francisco at Fisherman’s Wharf, a day at the beach in Carmel with Cibo, and some yummy Bay Area cuisine. We also took a bunch of non-engagement photos and played a little bit of Guitar Hero for Mark’s sanity.

Reese did AMAZING this weekend. I was a tad worried about Reese not wanting to let Kellee or Jared hold her without crying and reaching out for me every chance she got. It’s so sad when we are visiting family because she won’t let others play with her or shower her with affection. I desperately want this separation anxiety phase to be over. It’s been over 6 months now and I’m so over it! Anyways, back to this weekend-all my fears about Reese not wanting Kellee or Jared to hold her turned out to be completely unnecessary. She was fine. More than fine, she LOVES her Aunt Kellee and Jared. She also did so well without her afternoon naps both on Friday and Saturday. I was happily surprised (of course we paid for it after K&J left with 3 days of very cranky overtired baby, or maybe she just missed her favorite Aunt and Uncle-to-be?).

Brace yourselves for the remainder of this post being a very picture-heavy experience…

Family, SmugVault and soccer

Family

My sister-in-law Kellee and her fiancee Jared came to visit us this past weekend.  It was really nice of them to come out, especially since they are busy preparing for their wedding.  Meghan gets a bit lonely living so far from her family.

Unfortunately, I had to work some very late nights last week to ship SmugMug’s new product (more on that later) and I was tired and cranky most of the weekend.  Sorry Kellee and Jared!  The highlight for me though was doing one of my favorite things: a visit to the beach in Carmel.

Get Firefox!

My wife and her family have come to depend on me somewhat for computer advice/help/support/shopping/etc. over the years.  One of the most important pieces of advice I give them is to ditch Internet Explorer.  It’s an abomination and I could write pages on how much damage it has done to the Web, to developers, and to its users who never even knew there was another choice.  It comes installed already on Windows machines and is by default the most used Web browser in the world.  Unfortunately, it also is absolutely terrible.

Without spending too much effort on explaining why it’s so bad (it’s like a cheese grater that grates your hand instead of the cheese) and how much damage it does (the cheese grater is also made of lead), I want to propose an alternative to anyone else stuck in the purgatory of Internet Explorer:

Hairless Heads

MacAskill babies aren’t bald, they are just follicly challenged.  Here, we can see Reese trying cover up Logan’s luxurious locks.

Success!

BIG NEWS!!!

I fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans. I’m not even talking about the jeans that have some stretch to them and that I wore well into my pregnancy. I’m talking about the skinny jeans that I used to wear when I wanted to look especially good and have no stretch whatsoever! I have not worn these jeans in over two years. Granted, they don’t quite fit the way they used to, but I am well on my way to buying a whole new jeans wardrobe since this is the smallest pair of jeans I own.

Oh skinny jeans, it’s nice to have you back:)

*UPDATE*

The joy continues…Today I stepped on the scale and it read the same number as my pre-pregnancy weight. That means I have lost 15 lbs in 2 1/2 months! Of course I am reluctant to share the number on the scale as ideally I have another 10 lbs at least to go before me and the scale will be friends. But it’s the first time in my life I’ve ever lost a significant amount of weight. It’s the best feeling.