This beautiful place

Let me start by saying.... How is it mid January already!!!? 

The holiday season seemed to come and go like a freight train this year. Maybe it was a mixture of, year one holiday rush with my business, traveling and getting the flu. That all seems like forever ago now. 

Recently we had our first "out of state" guest come and visit the ranch. Our dear friend Stephanie ( lovingly referred to as The Dost). As always I had some yummy food waiting, we went out and fed carrots to the critters and checked out the Eagles nest in the back field before heading into North Cascades National Park. 

We love visiting the park at different times and experiencing the seasons. This was our first trip in the middle of winter, so we weren't sure what to expect. 

In the spring the giant waterfalls are flowing and the park is bustling with tourists and hikers. This time it was very quiet. All the waterfalls were frozen, creating stunning icicles the size of me! Its like stepping into a winter wonderland. 

As we summited, looking over Diablo Lake, I was reminded of how lucky we are to call this beautiful place home. It was so nice to share the park ( still one of my favorites) with Steph during her visit. 

Happy New Year!

Happy 2015 Everyone!!

After taking a break from posting on the blog for a few months its nice to be back!

2014 overall was a great year for us. We started the year off with friends in D.C.  and after a few long days and nights on the road we were back in Washington state. We spent the next few weeks job hunting and figuring out where we wanted to live (with a BIG thank you to our dear friends who let us live with them during this time).
On Valentine's day we moved to Mill Creek, WA, Ben started a new job, our friend Zack came to stay with us and six weeks later, Zack left and we moved again!
The theme for 2014 was faith in transition. Looking back at our first few months here I laugh at how stressed I was. The unknown is scary, but when you release control its kinda fun!
Since then we've been happily settling into our new life in Northern Washington. Its quiet and a nice change of pace from years past.
Together we've focused on having quality time away from distractions. Ben took a new job that allows him more time at home and I've focused of building my business and making new connections with other creative women here in Washington.

Most recently we took a quick trip back East to celebrate Christmas with our families and meet our new sister in law and nephew. We had a great time seeing our families, I only wish we could have stayed longer (and everyone wasn't sick).

I'm pretty excited to see what the new year will bring. We have some fun trips planned and we are excited for our families to visit, so we can show them how beautiful Washington is.

I hope everyone had a safe and joyful holiday!

Growing a business.

Being self employed is fun! Having your own business allows you to work as little or as much as you want. It's also a lot of hard work and the hours can be long. I'm always thinking about new designs, marketing or what I can do to improve. All this is part of daily life and I feel so blessed because I get to do what I love everyday. Our biggest motivation ( I may be the designer and face of JES Design Studio, but we are a team) is that it becomes a successful earning business that allows me to be at home with our children.

Since last October I've been slowly growing my business. It all started with a pair of earrings and the search for a creative outlet on our upcoming road trip. Here we are almost a year later. I started a Facebook page in March, an Etsy shop in June and now just this week my designs are available in a local salon in Fairhaven,Washington. It's very exciting to look back and see how much we've grown. I went from collecting beads and vintage componets to sourcing high quality gemstones. All along my focus has been on providing high quality jewelry at an affordable price. My tag line has become " unique designs for everyday" because you should be able to wear a necklace or a pair of earrings with confidence any day, not just on special occasions! 

I wanted to share a few photos of my designs and of the display at The Grotto Salon just south of Bellingham Washington. 

It's been quite the journey, I learn something new everyday. I can't wait to see where JES Design Studio is a year from now! 

Working on new sketches of upcoming necklaces! 

Before 

After 

With The Grotto Salon owner Karly Lane

Life

This summer has been beautiful! Living in the country we are surrounded with farmers markets and roadside produce stands. We've enjoyed our towns weekly market and on more than one occasion I've scored a sweet bouquet of fresh sunflowers! 

Recently on our days off together we've been exploring North Cascades National Park. The park is pretty close to where we live so it's easy to fit in a hike or picnic on the lake in a day. 

This past week we did just that. We had a picnic lunch on Diablo Lake and later in the week we hiked the Cascade Pass trail. The hike was incredible, about 7 miles up to 5,400 feet with some spectacular glacier views along the way. 

Celebrate!

Dear blog,

I'm sorry I've neglected you.....

Is it just me, or did July fly by?!! Life has been full. My business is growing, which is so encouraging. We've had our first dinner guests, plus some. 

Most recently we took a four day mini trip down south. The first half was to Portland, Oregon where we stayed at our favorite place, McMenamins @ Edgefield. Summer time brings quiet a buzz to this resort of the PNW (Pacific Northwest). In the past we've stayed in the Fall and Spring which are less crowed and a little dreamer, for the atmosphere is different... or I'm slowly learning that I much prefer Fall to any other season. We had a great visit and celebrated 6 years of marriage!! Yeah! Hard to believe 6 years has past already! 

After crusing around Portland we headed up to the Olympic Peninsula to the town of Sequim. This past weekend was the annual Lavender festival. We have some dear friends who happen to live right in town so we visited with them, ate some delicious food and smelled all sorts of lavender things!! 

We've both been working so hard lately it was nice to get away and relax just the two of us. We've decided that we are going to keep it up, every few weeks taking a few days off to just visit a new place and just be. 

Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks.