Washington DC

Last week I flew to Washington DC to meet up with my closest friends from highschool - The American School in London: Keira and her husband Rodrigo live in Maryland, Amy and her husband Ryan live in Minnesota, and Brock & Gary live in Washington DC. We all came together to attend Brocks marriage to Gary on June 19th! It was a joy to be reunited with such special friends from my past. There aren't many friends in my life who share the common memories of growing up in London. I had not seen them for many years (mainly because I have been living outside the country and we are scattered around the US)...but a wedding is a great occasion to reunite and bless our friendships.












I really enjoyed meeting Gary for the first time and being with my buddies...










Us ladies helped Brock's mom Linda with the flower arrangements...














Friday night we went to a karaoke bar and of course I just had to preform!!!










Enjoying the many sites of DC...in 90 degree weather!


The Wedding:












So fun to celebrate together...yummy food, dancing & much laughter.















Rodrigo & Keira - Ryan & Amy















...so fun to be with my girlfriends!















Gary & Brock with their mothers whom they walked down the aisle

A sunny evening...

at Chambers Bay Golf Course with the Thomas Family:

My Birthday in Photos

The weekend before my birthday I went down to Vancouver, Wa to spend time with my best friend Stephanie. We enjoyed the local art walk & framers market, visited & hiked around Skamania Lodge near The Gorge, and ate dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant in Portland.























June 10th was my actual 31st birthday...it was a blessing to celebrate with my dear family and friends in Tacoma, Wa! Here are some photos from the days events:















In the morning I went to my favorite donut shop with Annamarie (8 months pregnant) and Jonathan & Alaina.















Then we met up with Britlese & her girls for lunch at the Spaghetti Factory. The photo of Kesley above with spaghetti in her hair displays our fun, but chaotic lunch with 4 kids under 4 years old.












In the evening I hosted a small dinner party with my closest girlfriends...















The theme was sparkle so everyone came wearing something shinny. I wore my mom's old home-coming tiara (which I hadn't worn since my senior prom).















After much champagne, laughter (& singing!)...I went to bed very blessed!

Thank you to all of you who sent emails, texts, facebook messages and singing phonecalls!

Another year of faith & adventure lies ahead...

Celebrating Our Heritage

"Syttende Mai" (17th of May) is Norway's Constitution Day. Each year, the Seattle neighborhood of Ballard has a large parade attracting thousands of Scandinavians from miles around. I have fond memories from my childhood of getting dressed up and coming to Ballard to wave our Norwegian flags. This year, as I am now living in Seattle, I attended the event with the Thomas family and my Papa...he looked so handsome in his traditional costume called a "bunand". My nieces Kesley and Abigail also had national costumes on which were gifts from their proud Norwegian 'MorMor' (my mom!). It is important to celebrate who we are and where we have come from. Many of my great great grandparents made the long journey West to America a hundred years ago. I am grateful for their pioneer spirits (which obviously runs in the family).