shapirodesigns @ 5 0

if you gossip about others, share confidential conversations, judge other peoples life choices, compare your kids to others, use religion to convince yourself you're a good person, use social media to share only your good side, use money to manipulate: maybe don’t? one thing I can say rings true @ half a century old is:

continue to be. kind. + clear out the bs

thx to my loves. who support me

my best friends who take the time. + always learning from each other. everyone’s struggles are real + grateful to those who understand the life of an artist. a life most don’t understand.

forever. the jaded optimist.xo

“when someone shows you who they are. believe them the first time” M.Angelou

shapirodesigns @ victoria

since moving to the pnw everyone i met has given ideas of places to visit + the possibilities of outdoor activity are endless. we are not extreme patagonia people, more city-centric but honestly going to check out these places almost every weekend really is something I look forward to. my teenager would disagree but there are worse things than forced family fun day + know one day he will be experiencing an adventure on his own + hopefully will think of these times with us!

hiking the cascades, snowboarding stevens pass or snoqualmie, snowmobiling leavenworth, strolling gasworks park, boating on lake union, lounging on greenlake, experiencing taylor oyster farm, visiting the observatory, checking out fisherman village, being part of the edmonds art walk, I mean we really have experienced so much since our 1.5 years here.

looking forward to visiting victoria after much chatter, i embark on a three-ferry tour via car from the Mukilteo ferry right outside my door. first stop a couple favorite places double bluff beach hones sand dollar pods, flower house cafe for brunch + bayview garden shop. we make the Coupeville ferry to port townsend [where I swear I saw a fin.] early phew! wally’s new Zealand ice cream will not disappoint while you wait for blackball ferry to victoria. adamantly looking over the starburn bow we wished for a whale sighting + might have seen some blowholes in the very far distance. arriving at the last port of the day victoria was a lot larger than i imagined. a sunset stroll through town, bnb at abigails + tea @ the empress, morning walk through beacon hill has exceeded my expectations. looking forward to another visit for sure!

welcome to victoria!

shapirodesigns @ mukilteo

having lived in mukilteo for over a year and a half now, home improvement projects took over taking my soul with them (a first-world problem i know). interviewing artists fills the void for about six months. as the winter looms, i take pup down to the local beaches every chance I get. this winter from november to april seemed as if they were the longest rainiest months of my life. it has been dark + lonely in this city by the mountains. everything shuts down, even the people. as i struggle to stay focused on my next creative venture i go through my images. our long-awaited trip to israel in December seemed to give me hope. whether traveling locally or to a new place across the globe, i believe it gives renewal + a sense of belonging in this world. traveling is a luxury. traveling is the unknown. snowboarding in the mountains, joining the garden club, and a recent trip back home to the house I grew up in (and was a front runner for the movie american hustle) brush strokes of creativity into my mind that was once a blank canvas. a photograph there a vision of a very specific color here, i am excited as i have been searching for this image of simple texture for some time now. now to execute the vision. that’s the fun part…linger in this moment of possibility..to be continued…

me finally embracing the cascade mountains