Today marks many firsts, and many continuing traditions: a first day of work for my partner-in-crime ML at a new and awesome architecture firm here in Austin, our pup’s unofficial-official birthday [they found him in a box, in a field, out in the Hill Country, and I think mis-read their birth dates by a month or so, so we’re giving him July 11], and my beloved sister-in-laws wedding anniversary, which is weighty for another set of reasons.

Other family changes are afoot, including my baby brother’s engagement [above*] and their Moroccan wedding plans for next March, as well as a potential move in town for my little family, a real studio space, and [the clincher] more storage.

Things seem to picking up speed as we hurtle towards fall wedding season here in Texas — which is fantastic for my little business — but necessitates a real, deliberate, attitude towards spending time with family and friends. That’s my goal.

And, you know, posting on the blog some more.**

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*My mother’s second engagement ring, re-sized for Caitlin’s petite finger. It’s something to see something you know so well from a different perspective. It’s really stunning, which is a reaction I’d never had until this past June. [Her first engagement ring was from The Bay, cost less than $30 as my parents were both students when they married. My father would later give her this one after she’d willingly had all three of us children–hence the three diamonds. ] On the flip side: Moroccan wedding plans to be included here in the coming months!

**I had made a promise to myself that I would never, ever, publicly apologize for not posting more. I have to remember that, especially in the midst of the half dozen proposals I’m slogging through. A beautiful slog, but slog nonetheless. Sometimes blogging needs to take a backseat.