Fresh Start to a New Year

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Lauren Christopher

So how is the new year treating you so far?

Mine has started with a bang! New writing deadlines, a child flying back to college, general clean-up of holiday stuff, feeling behind already, a few feelings of omg-is-it-really-only-week-ONE?, and … wow … snow!

We got snow on our Southern California mountains on Dec. 31. (So not technically 2015, but it was still exciting and felt like a nice way to start a new year!)

This is called Saddleback Mountain, and it’s normally dry and brown, with some flashes of green in the spring after it’s rained for a bit. (Unfortunately, the green only lasts a nanosecond.) But the morning of Dec. 31, I pulled out of my housing tract, glanced to my left to look for oncoming traffic, and sucked in my breath when I saw this:

I seriously breathed out “Wow!” right into my empty car. I did a quick U-turn and parked on the side of the street to take the above photo. (The things in the street are palm fronds that blew off the trees and into the street the night before, during our rainstorm.)

Hubby had called me in the morning and had told me there was “snow on Saddleback,” but I wasn’t prepared for THIS. Usually when there’s “snow” it only covers that very top peak, not ALL the mountains!

So I drove up to the lake (about a mile up that road) and took these:

I wasn’t the only one! There are a ton of people standing right behind me taking the same photos, and there were even cars parked on the side of the street with snow on them, who drove from about a mile away, from the base of the mountain. I guess they were even able to play with snow in their back yards! It was such a treat of beauty for us.

This last photo is one of my favorites because in all my 18 years in this town, I’ve NEVER seen snow on top of those mountains to the right! What-the-whaaaa?

(Plus, who doesn’t love a nice palm-trees-against-snow picture?)

So that got my new year off to a crazy, you-never-know-what-to-expect start! I hope the rest of the year is filled with such magnificent, beautiful surprises.

How is your year going so far?

More of My Daughter’s Life Through Instagram…

Gallery

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Lauren Christopher

This gallery contains 9 photos.

Here are more of the images of my daughter’s first year in college (and first “real fall”!) that I get. I love seeing all the beauty of Montana — and the beauty of being young, and free, and independent, and … Continue reading →

My Daughter’s Life Through Instagram

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Lauren Christopher

With my daughter so far away now in college, it’s harder to keep up with her life.

I’m rather thankful for social media, now, where I can vaguely follow along.

I’ve been getting a special kick out of her Instagram photos — especially the ones of her first “real fall” in Montana. This one’s from early September in front of her dorm:

Then, later:

Love my girl!

The ‘Adventure Boots’

Posted on September 3, 2014 by Lauren Christopher

This is a picture my daughter took of herself, sitting on top of the “M” on the side of the hill in Missoula, Montana, overlooking the campus, the stadium, the Clark Fork River, and most of Missoula, where she is now attending college and just finished her first week. (And is reportedly loving it.)

She took this photo last year, when we were visiting the campus, and she calls the photo “Adventure Boots in Montana.”

She bought the boots last fall at Target — just an ordinary pair of boots that she’d wanted, and got them on sale. But they ended up taking her on a lot of fun adventures over the next year, including Montana, NYC, and some great local California hikes with friends.

But I love that she even has something she calls “adventure boots”! Because this is the girl who always wore dresses at home, who had to have skirts with a certain “twirl factor” when she was 5 years old (although she did carry purses with dinosaurs and rocks in them), who has always been a rather introverted, quiet, reserved girl. And the idea that she’s been forcing herself out there to have “adventures” — and the idea that she was brave enough to travel 1600 miles away to go to college — impresses me to no end.

Here’s to many adventures for my daughter in the “adventure boots” — and a fun, new phase of discovery in this exciting time of life for her!

I’m so proud of the woman she’s becoming.

When’s the last time you had what you’d call an “adventure” — where you had to put yourself out of your comfort zone and do or learn something new? (I’m thinking I might have to get myself a pair of adventure boots and do more of this!)