of inspiration….just working on an event inspiration board for the upcoming Sewell Ballroom Bridal Show on January 22nd and thought I’d share…if you are a bride getting married in 2012 and are interested in going to this show for FREE – I have 5 pairs of two free tickets to give away ($30 value) – shoot me an email and we’ll get them your way! Here is more info on the event: http://denvercenterevents.org/upcoming-events/
I always love New Years Eve…there is just something about being on the precipice of the unknown of a new year – and looking back on the year gone by – and to have the optimism and hope of good things to come. I’ve wised up a bit over the years and realized that the goals of a new year don’t happen in the first few “perfect” days of a new year – but instead – our ambitions and resolutions have to be ongoing – and every single day brings you a new opportunity to seize your true self – and exactly where you think you fit into this world. 2011 taught us about “going for it” – through that being the theme with our SUBSTANCE workshops for women – to embarking on the beginnings of some creative projects we’ve thought about for years (more on that later) – to Katie making the trip of a lifetime to Ethiopia while learning what making a difference was really all about…our message to ourselves was to learn through action – and without beginnings there can be nothing else. Because just by starting – you are going somewhere…
Katie, Matt and I had the good fortune of working with over 40 couples on their weddings, spending 6 tear and laughter filled days with 26 amazing women in our SUBSTANCE photography workshops (you gave way more to us that we ever could to you!) and over 100 amazing families through treeSwing Kids. You ALL make life beautiful and as I sit here this morning – I just need to say to each of you – that we value our time with you and your lives captured is something we are so proud to be a part of. So – really truly – thank you for that.
2012 will bring us plenty of new beginnings with the arrival of Baby Walker #2 in just 8 short weeks (or so)…no doubt that will stop us in our tracks with awe like Story did just 3 short years ago. 2012 is filled with goals of making things happen – and to take more risk without the fear of failure. To be comfortable in uncomfortable places…
So join us in 2012 – be great – be bold – be unafraid – and I say – GO FOR IT!
Happy New Year!
Jenna
There are the moments that define us as fellow humans – moments that remind us we are all in this together, moments that reveal our great capacity to love.
About a year ago as I waited for a flight back home for the holidays, I saw a young soldier saying his goodbyes to his family. Just minutes earlier, I was grumpily going through the standard airport security routines. You know the drill – taking off your shoes, removing your laptop from its case, fiddling with your watch…these are the things that troubled my life. You can imagine then – the instant shift in gratitude that was born from watching that young man’s departure. My woes had been put in their place.
On Monday, we saw the good on the other side of those kinds of stories. Captain Mitch Marzo was coming home – to a crew of family and friends who would hold signs at the top of that escalator at DIA we all know so well – the one you’ve always hoped would have a sign for you. Mitch was coming home to the shaking of hands by strangers on the train from the terminal. He was coming home to the claps of a holiday travelers who never expected that kind of giggle cry at Gate A26 on a Monday. But most importantly, Mitch was coming home to a welcome from his biggest, albeit shortest, fans – his daughters. And his wife – who waited the beautiful wait with grace.
Mitch was one of the last soldiers to leave Iraq.
And knows he is one of the lucky ones. In his return, he reminds us there are still countless service members around the world still risking their lives every day. There are daughters who are still waiting on dad to come home, mothers praying for their sons, wives who wait. And there are those who now serve from above – who made the greatest sacrifice.
I know we can’t make that wait end overnight. But what we can do is love. love with all we have. love the kind of love that is abundant in gratitude and inspired by giving.
Thank you Mitch. You remind us today that we have much to be grateful for – and that the world is filled with great great love.
If you would like to honor those who have served, please consider making a donation in gratitude.
The Aaron Grider Foundation : Our dear friend Brittany lost her husband in Afghanistan on his 30th birthday. With strong conviction that hope endures, she dedicates her life helping widows and orphans of the fallen through service-based missions. “While grief and pain are exhausting, service is life-giving.”
The Wounded Warrior Project : We first learned of this non-profit through our clients Kate & Tyler who made a donation to the WWP on behalf of each wedding guest. The WWP provides programs and services to injured service members during the time between active duty and transition to civilian life.
With incredible gratitude for the beautiful capacity for love and service in this world,
Katie, Matt & Jenna
It’s never too late to be a kid again. Whether Jeff wanted to remember those childhood memories of snowy boots or not, I’m not sure. But like a trooper, Jeff & Julia traipsed through the snow like the kids you and I remember being. And…
it. was. awesome.
There’s something about the winter light, the snow, the quietness of the season – all of it makes all the good things shine a little brighter. Julia & Jeff are no exception. They came up from warmer climates and well, I can’t say enough great things about the grand ol’ time they brought to Colorado. They’ll be making it official this March. Woohoo!
much love!
katie
We’ve saved one for you. A seat at our table – one filled with people like you who remind us every day of all we have to be thankful for. This morning – the day dedicated to gratitude – is no different.
Our cups are full, thanks to you. And grateful we are.
We are grateful for wide open spaces. for friends & family who are pretty much our kind of day-makers. We are grateful for words and the way they go together, especially ‘possibility,’ ‘awesome’ and ‘wooohooo!’ (“Shine” gets its own category.) We are grateful for any experience that includes but is not limited to a giggle cry or the kind of laugh where no sound comes out. We are grateful for conversations that go the distance, for big dreams and even bigger hearts. We are grateful for snow days and ski days and campfires and the kind of quiet that allows you to hear the snow crunching below your feet. We are grateful for three year olds who just get it, and for bucket-fillers of all ages who, everyday, make the active choice to choose joy. We are grateful for travel and the things we can learn from getting lost. We are grateful for moments that stop us, people that fill us up and for the fulfillment along the way. And mostly, we are grateful for gratitude – the one thing that keeps everything in perspective, everyone elevated, and every experience one worth having.
May your heart be light today – a day when there is a seat saved for each of us.
Happy happy thanksgiving,
katie, jenna & matty
“The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.” – Morrie Schwartz
So is the lesson that becomes quite clear if you spend but a few hours with Kate & Tyler – a couple whose generosity in spirit is rivaled only by their generosity in kindness. On this week that marks gratitude, here’s to celebrating that kind of love – the kind with a limitless capacity to brighten each day.
Kate & Tyler – thank you for showing in both action and in words what good love looks like. You just get it. And that – that’s something worth celebrating.
Here’s to a week of gratitude! And a very Happy Birthday to you, Kate!
much love,
Katie
It’s an expression you hear all the time. It’s something we fall back on at convenience – to express the overwhelming task of appreciation. gratitude. goodness. you name it – the trusty ol’ saying covers it.
I returned this week from Ethiopia – where I spent 15 days taking it all in. We worked intimately with the education goals and communities of Imagine1day to build schools in the northern region of Ethiopia where a new generation of leaders await. Where communities hope to elevate their place in the world with books and pens and paper – under the simple and important truth that education is, in fact, freedom.
And so, There are no words.
Or should I say…there are too many.
Too many words and stories and photos of sweeping changes and great progress and limitless beauty and take-your-breath-away moments to narrow in on just one giggle-cry. or one child who stopped me in my tracks. or one elder who expressed his gratitude in a way I only wish I could bottle up and share with you.
I live for this stuff. I live for the people who stop you in your tracks with their joy. I live for the kind of global exchanges that remind you “we are all in this together.”
And I live for the telling of stories with words and cameras. But to be honest, I’m completely overwhelmed, in that best kind of way, by the responsibility to give a voice, to be an ambassador for the country and its people who have taught me so much. A country that is filled with incredible capacity. an incredible capacity for joy. for community. for bountiful crops and bright spirits. an incredible capacity for prosperity – one rich in education.
I’m patiently waiting for the stories to come to my pen in the way I feel they ought to be shared. In the meantime, I’d like to introduce you to the Ethiopia I’ve come to know. One that has so very much to teach us. These are the faces of the kids your kindness reached. These are the communities you said YES to. These are the landscapes you believed in. This is the country that will not let your generosity down.
(**after pushing play on the slideshow, please pause it to allow it to load fully or it may stall on you**)
I’m infinitely grateful for every effort each of you has made in this journey. Know that your contributions were never just a number. Your contributions have changed, forever, the lives of children who are so eager to learn, who want to study at desks, who want to grow up to be doctors and engineers. You are not just a number to the lives of their parents – who are deeply committed to education, who wish to see their children grow up to have lives grander than their own. And your dollars are not just a number to village elders who said to us, and to you, that through this school they can now move “out of the dark and into the light.”
Thank you for being the light.
Shine on!
Katie
Well…I figured there is no time like the present to start catching up on blogging – and since we are expecting snow tomorrow – I thought I’d post some warm South Carolina images from Merice and Will’s Welcome Party on Kiowa Island outside of Charleston, South Carolina this past April. The details put together by the team at WED – based out of South Carolina – did an amazing job…for those of you planning an early summer wedding – I figured some details would be fun for now…
Merice and Will – you know we adore you! Thank you for nicknaming Matt “Spyder” for the weekend…he still wants me to refer to him as that!
Much love -
Jenna
Hi all!
Well – Katie has been gone now for over a week – and while it has been hard for her to send updates – I know the team is having a blast and is safe. I was sent a newsletter by their team this morning – and there was a quote from Katie in it…I thought I’d share it with all of you – some of her biggest supporters!!
“There have been so many times that I’ve been looking out the window and I want to cry. Not because I’m in this hard place or even the people that I’m seeing -and I thought that if I ever had tears it would be because something was so sad. There are people everywhere in the world that choose joy and there are people who don’t and what I’m learning is that there is a universal language among those that make a concious decision to choose joy.”
I also found this photo that was made for Katie 45 days prior to her arrival in Ethiopia…very thoughtful! (and yes – my sister is an aspiring -yet struggling – ukelele owner)
For complete updates on their trip – you can find more info here:
web: www.imagine1day.org
twitter: @imagine1day
facebook: imagine1day
Choose joy!
Jenna
It’s 7:22am and I’m on my third cup of coffee (I’ve switched over to decaf at this point)….and I feel alive with energy. Today people will be flying in from across the country to gather at Chatauqua for our second SUBSTANCE workshop of the year. I feel energized by their energy alone – and am reminded yet again that often times your passion and life is fueled by others with this amazing energy. So in a very quick post this morning I just wanted to share a snippet of something we’ll read to the group this weekend….it’s a snippet of a letter to ourselves we wrote this year.
This excerpt is talking about finding passion….something we believe is necessary in whatever you choose to do with life.
“Rest…rest until that fire in your belly can do nothing but ignite great things. You’ll feel it coming. You’ll feel that energy that makes you giggle cry and makes you your unstoppable you. And if you think the fire will never come – then change the way you fuel are fueling your fire. GET. OUT. THERE. Change your art. Change your goal. Change your mission. And then – fuel your new fire. Fuel it with energetic people. “Yes” people. Celebrate the small successes along the way. And fuel it with passion. A passion to be the best you can be. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. And then…burn baby burn. Make bonfires.”
Choose awesome!
Jenna (and Katie!)
