This isn’t my usual bus…

I’m typing to you from the bus up to visit my friend Jessica in Portsmouth, NH! But this isn’t just any bus… First, I printed out my ticket directly from the C&J website. I arrived at the gate and was handed a bottle of ice cold water. Walking down the aisle of the bus, I turned from leather chairs to televisions (with headset jacks at each seat) to the ample leg room, and right to the jewel of it all – CUP HOLDERS. Why is this the first bus I’ve been on with cup holders? How awesome that would be in the morning for our coffees.

We start to pull out of Boston’s South Station and – what’s this? – we have WIRELESS INTERNET??

Anyway, Jess moved to Portsmouth recently while beginning an exciting job opportunity in Newburyport, MA. I look forward to getting up there, taking her dog for a walk (her other dog is home with Gary and the boys right now), and walking around town with only margaritas as a goal.

So what have you been up to lately, my friends? Are you enjoying these lovely two weeks of summer before it all disappears again? Exciting to be talking about hurricanes already…

I’ve gotta say, the photography biz just took an extreme turn for the sky in this beautiful weather (that means it’s gone “up”).  I have booked six dog gigs over less than three week’s time, and that’s not including a spontaneous session at a family reunion with four families (and three dogs) on the coast of Rhode Island! My press release was picked up for the first time today by the new BostonPetLink.com, and I even interviewed with the Barnstable Patriot yesterday. How funny, because my friends and I used to be in the Patriot for local rec and high school sports.

Gary’s been doing a ton of fishing, and we’ve been eating a ton of fish. Our garden is finally catching up and we’re seeing lots of cucumbers, tomatoes and hot peppers forming. Unfortunately, our many dog walks through the woods and ponds has led to us both having poison ivy on our hands right now – ITCH!

These photos are from the recent annual trip Eric & Jill made to spend a week on the Cape with the kids and friends!

I do have photos of Jake and Emily helping with construction…

There was also lots of play in the backyard while Gary was busy in the corner…

But then on Sunday it was time to get serious… Eric, Gary & Jill all ran the Fairfield Half Marathon! CONGRATS to them!

This is what it looked like from where I was standing…

No, it has nothing to do with sunshine or anything – don’t be crazy. June has now passed with 30 days of rain, rain, rain. Honestly, even July has sent us packing for the hills of Vermont this 4th of July weekend. I haven’t been on the boat once, but Gary’s been squeezing in some excellent fishing with pals whether rain or shine, daylight or midnight.

Heather was in town from Arizona for the last few weeks, which is always awesome. We managed to hit a couple of our regular spots to catch up and eat ice cream, but the time went fast. Here are her girls playing at Craigville Beach one evening:

The Pashbys came into town one weekend as we also kicked off Emily’s bachelorette weekend in Wellfleet and Provincetown! Drag-queen karaoke is the perfect bachelorette festivity, FYI. Highly recommended. It was great to have a bunch of our friends meet each other that weekend, all cozied around the back deck sharing laughs and that now-so-familiar bottle of Hound Dog iced tea vodka (classy). We also got to meet Otis that weekend, the adopted little boxer brother of Toro Pashby!

In the meantime, a local animal hospital is ordering up about 10 to 12 of my prints in art gallery canvas and they look incredible! Check out the first trial order  below, and you’ll see this 30×20″ vision of Brewer above your bed when you visit next. It’s so exciting to see these and to be able to start showing them to clients.

On that note, I dabbled in my first-ever family photo session on the beach for a college friend, and I actually loved it! While I don’t expect to change the business name to ‘Warm’ Nose Photo any time soon, please do spread the word to friends and family that I’m available! Click on the photos to go through to the larger portfolio.

Stay tuned for more photos from last weekend, when Gary, Eric and Jill all ran the Fairfield Half Marathon in Connecticut, and the nieces and nephew had their uncle build them a big sand box in the back yard!

I hope you all have something exciting and dry planned for the holiday weekend ahead!

Just a few highlights from our holiday… It started with a big family dinner on Christmas Eve at my cousin Ian & Kate’s home, and then our own little family of four cozied up to watch Jim Carey’s “The Grinch” for the first time ever.

We woke up on Christmas morning for a breakfast of blueberry pancakes, opening presents – which lead to reading books for a while on the couch – and then a run. It definitely felt funny having such a peaceful Christmas morning when kids everywhere were waking up early and shrieking with Santa excitement. As we ran just a three-mile loop around our neighborhood, I enjoyed thinking about the different families and traditions inside the windows.

My parents came over for dinner and more gifts that night, and barrels of laughter filled our home as Brewer looked in the opening of a box of 50 multicolor tennis balls! The look on Brewer’s face was of sheer ecstasy and disbelief.

As tradition goes, we drove down to Connecticut for the big Hedman Christmas festivities on Saturday. Always a fun time sharing the holiday spirit with our nieces, nephew and extended family. Gary was of course the perfect uncle to give little Jake his first tool bench, complete with table saw, drill press and more!

We took our full bellies for a walk on the beach this morning and ate all the same food and dessert again this evening. Ooomf.

So what was your Thanksgiving emergency this year? Have you learned the frozen turkey lesson already? Did you forget a key ingredient? Unexpected guests? Busted oven?

Ours was the tablecloth. It seems like a small thing, realizing that we didn’t have the extra large tablecloth that we used two years ago. It meant that we didn’t have any tablecloth at all (just the table runner by itself) for our extra large Thanksgiving dinner on fold-out tables. Not a show-stopper, but kind of deflating to realize at 9am on Thanksgiving day.

If you’ve ever bought curtains at Ikea, you know they all come extra, extra long, and you have to cut them down to size. So randomly, we had four yards of chocolate brown woven fabric chillin’ out in the basement waiting for a good use. HELLO tablecloth.

Mom Hedman and I set up an impromtu sewing shop on the Thanksgiving table, and within 30 minutes we had a huge square tablecloth for the day! Phew!

The rest of the day was spent lounging and chatting with family, and cuddling up with our niece in the evening to watch movies and snack on popcorn. We love the bustle of guests.

Now the holiday shopping continues on Etsy and Amazon!

Today I took comfort in knowing that what I consider “out of shape” still means I have the ability and desire to run three miles on a beautiful November day. I can arrive back home, whip up an apple pie (and yep, it’s sitting on a tea-towel I sewed) and hold a conference call while watching my bread rise.

Our family has started to arrive, and wonderful smells are filling our home. Here’s wishing you and your family a beautiful Thanksgiving!

Not quite sure what the “traditional” celebration brings for each of you this year. There have been a couple of losses and hard times, and there have also been some births and joyous times. We are holding each of you in our thoughts as a new year begins!

In our own non-traditional way, we woke up here at home together this morning. No giddy children, no good-night reading of Silent Night last night… but we have each other, we have Bromley, and we had waffles! We also took a long walk on the beach, and we’re closing out the day with Kevin& Danielle and their families.

This past Sunday was the grand Hedman/McClarran family Christmas in Connecticut! The kids were definitely building up their excitement, as adorable as ever, and the food and cookies were overflowing! Coming from a very small family myself, it’s a wonderful feeling to have almost 20 close relatives laughing and sharing stories with each other in one home – even if only for a day at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is nice to look up in any direction and see someone you share that family bond with. Thanks to everyone for the thoughtful gifts and warm hugs!

In your own geography lessons growing up, did you learn enough about the rest of the world or were you too busy memorizing State capitals? What about your kids now as they read books and start school?

We all hear that languages sink it most when started early – thanks, Dora – and I hope you encourage world geography and cultures too.