Isn't it funny....

Isn't it funny that the older we get, the more we realize we are just like our parents and grandparents?

I first physically saw myself in my grandma Joan a week before she died. Most of my life I had known I shared many of her mannerisms (one of the many reasons we got along so well), but that week, I noticed we had the same hands. 

Like so many things that week, that realization changed me.

Now I look down at my hands all the time, and I see her hands. Sometimes I see her in my eyes and smile as well.

Our niece Eliza spent the weekend with us a few weeks ago. While she was here, she stopped in our hallway and stared at a picture of Joan that was taken when she was around 12 years old. 

She wanted to know if the photograph was of me. I told that it was my grandma. She said, "She looks like you."

Yes, I suppose she does.

Rounded shoulders and short shorts. Yep, I'm her granddaughter.

This is how I remember her in her kitchen. 

Trimming the roses just like I do today. 

We don't own a camper yet, but one day we will.

There are those rounded shoulders again. 

Birthday Boy

The love of my life turned 35 on Monday, so I thought it was fitting to share some fun childhood (and adulthood) photos to commemorate this milestone birthday. The 1980s-1990s photos are courtesy of his Aunt Linda.

It's hard to believe I've celebrated ten birthdays with this amazing man. Happy Birthday, Jonathan. I love you and this crazy life we've built together. 

Ten-month-old Jonathan with his great-grandfather Clovis Yates.

Jonathan and his sister Julie in matching Ole Miss shirts with their cousin Michael.

Baby Jonathan with his great-grandfather Clovis Yates.

Cousins.

Jonathan and his cousin Michael.

Jonathan in our apartment two months after we moved to Memphis, July 6, 2006.

Jonathan, Oscar, Eliza and Julie, July 7, 2006.

Denise, Jonathan and Sadie, July 7, 2006.

My dad, Eliza, Anthony, Lauren and Jonathan celebrating his birthday in our first home, July 2010.

Jonathan, Oliver, Julie and Eliza, July 7, 2010.

Enjoying a birthday breakfast in Hermosa Beach, California, July 7, 2011.

Greg, Eliza, Jonathan and Anthony celebrating Jonathan's birthday in downtown Memphis, July 2012. 

Me and Jonathan celebrating at the Overton Park Shell, July 2013.

Oliver and Porter a few weeks before we moved out of our first house, July 2013.

Jonathan celebrating 34 at Boscos, July 7, 2013.

Jonathan and Porter at Shelby Farms, July 2013.

Jonathan celebrating with Gerald, Denise and Josh (and the rest of his family), July 2013.

Jonathan, Eliza and Anthony, July 2013.

After watching the Germantown fireworks, July 4, 2014. 

joan's piano

We recently inherited Joan's piano. If there is such a thing as a family heirloom, this piano would be near the top of our list. Joan received the piano from her dad for her 12th birthday on September 10, 1945. It was her most prized possession. When the family relocated from Ohio to Southern California in 1960, the piano moved into my great-grandmother's living room because it wouldn't fit in Joan's apartment. Here's a photo of my mom playing the piano before her junior prom in 1973:

After my great-grandmother passed away the following year and Joan moved into her new house in the nearby suburb of Cerritos, the piano moved into a corner of her living room. You can see it in the background along with the chandelier that now hangs in our foyer:

For the thirty years she lived in the house, the piano occupied that space. When my sister and I were kids, we loved playing the piano. It was one of our favorite pastimes as children. After we sold Joan's house in October 2011, the piano moved across the country to my mom's house in Oxford, where it stayed until this spring when my mom decided to downsize. It now lives in our living room: 

We still have some work to do in this room, but we are excited to have Joan's piano in our home. Jonathan is already practicing his piano-playing skills. Porter sings along!

vintage summer garden

I love the muted colors of these early 1970s photographs of my great-grandmother's garden. Photoshop has some awesome filters, but nothing is quite like the real thing. These photos feel like a summer garden should feel....warm and soft with flowers and trees everywhere. Add in palm trees and the most breath-taking views imaginable, and you have summertime perfection.