Back in Seattle Again!

I had a fabulous weekend back home in Seattle to surprise my mom for Mother's Day! She had no idea either, which was perfect! My dad flew me in late Friday night and from there we headed to the house where mom had fallen asleep for a nap. When I tried to wake her, she thought she was having a dream, but alas! It was me! It was so beautiful too, no rain and all blue skies. The mountains and lakes were there to greet me and I had missed them so! And with a sigh of relief, there was never a Starbucks or coffee shop that wasn't within a few blocks distance. I mean really, how much better does it get than having your very own barista in the house, sleeping down the hall?!! (love you Kris!) And for those of you that don't know what a barista is, wel now that's sad! Oh and who was on my flight this time you ask? Bucky Covington - and he's still as redneck as ever.

The weekend was filled with movies, late night conversations, a soccer game along with many other things. I tried to fit in as much as I could and for those of you that didn't know I was coming home, I do apologize, but I was sworn to secrecy :-) However, it worked out just right that I was able to see my friend Chad from New Zealand, and I think it had been close to three years since we last saw each other! He's been back in the States to do some acting in LA, attend a wedding in Florida and see friends in Seattle and Portland. And the cherry on top, was running into Asher on Sunday morning at CCK! It was our own little mini reunion, just the three of us again. I also got a little time to hang out with Aaron & Heidi Powell and Jill Sonsteby at Kati's soccer game. I've missed everyone so much, I could seriously spend a month just trying to make up for the lost time with all my dear friends.

As you can tell, I had a lot of fun messin around with my sisters. And wow! Let me tell you, with six of us women in the house at one time, I don't know how my dad does it! It was crazy! For those of you that don't know, my cousins Kolleen and Kathrine still live with my parents and they've just recently turned thirteen - so you can imagine, there was enough estrogen for a few households! I loved having so much time with my sisters, it had been almost four months since I last saw them! Kris is working at a small coffee shack now, building for herself quite a reputation as the best barista there. They actually request her to make their coffee - now there's a Seattle coffee-snob for ya when you can tell the difference in coffee by who makes it! She's also going back to school to finish up, and I'm very proud of her for it! Kati has two weeks left of school at the UW before the summer and she's been super busy working part-time in an office job, babysitting and now being trained also as a barista for a different coffee shack in Bothell. I've commented to Jason before that if by some random act of God, my sisters moved out to Nashville, we would have to buy a big old warehouse and renovate it into an awesome coffee house complete with super comfy furniture, old wood floors, floor to ceiling bookcases with those cool ladders that roll across them, a stage for all these asipiring Nashville artists to perform on and big ol espresso bar. I can totally see it in my mind. Coffee is in our blood and it would be the hit of the town! We could call it the Kelly Cafe - or something like that... It's definately one of my many dreams. So, what do you think girls?!! (Don't panic mom & dad, like I said, it's just one of my dreams!)

Now that I'm back in town, I've been pretty busy with a couple invitation gigs. One was for a friend from work for her parents 50th Wedding Anniversary and the other gig is for my friend Kelley Skiles who's getting married July 7th to a worship pastor! I've attached the finished product of what it will look like when we mail it out. Simple, but classic and it will be printed on very pretty ice blue shimmer paper. I thought their idea of wanting to represent themselves with the treble and bass clefs was very sweet, since they're both very musically involved. Once I get the whole paper resource issue figured out, I hope to put up a simple website to advertise our invitation business, which I hope to get up and running in the next year. I've run into quite a problem out here not having any resources for quality paper - there's no PaperZone or anything like it here in the South and it sucks! So I've got to continue to keep a portfolio of paper I can order, build my designs and get crackin. My hope is that in the next 2-3 years I'll have built enough of a reputation that I will be making some good money making invitations, so that I can work from home and spend more time with Jason. Plus, it will make it much easier to be home raising a family when we're ready to take that step. This will be my 12th set of invitations - which includes all weddings, showers, private birthdays & anniversarys. I'm well on my way and already have another opportunity for another wedding out here. That's one thing about this town - word of mouth is the best form of advertisement, cause everyone knows everybody. So be praying for more opportunities and lots of creativity!

Tonight we'll be getting back into the swing of things by joining our awesome friends at small group, discussing chapter 3 of Simply Christian by N.T. Wright and then running off to Brentwood for Jason's softball game. And I don't know about y'all - but I'm pumped to see the finale later tonight of Dancing with the Stars and the Season Premiere of So You Think You Can Dance on Thursday - yeah!!!! I wish you all a fabulous week and much love!

The Keiths.