The summer sun filled Valley Forge's hiking trails with fresh raspberries. Matt and I stocked up Friday night knowing that our favorite local bakery (Saint Peters Bakery) would have fresh cinnamon bread at the Phoenixville farmers market on Saturday morning. It look a lot of self control to not eat all of the raspberries ( I literally hid them from Matt ) but the cinnamon french toast made the wait well worth it.   

ps. Saint Peters Bakery is a B.Y.O.B. (www.SaintPetersBakery.com)

In early February, 2013 Lauren & Spenser shared the news that they were expecting. It was a long nine month waiting to meet my first nephew but we made sure to enjoy the beauty of Lauren's pregnancy. Whenever I would visit Lauren & Spenser at their home in Philadelphia I made sure to document Lauren's progress. A glowing mother-to-be throughout. Aris James was born on October 7th, 2013 at 12:55pm - 7 lbs 15.5 oz 20.5 inches. A day I'll never forget (especially because I was in the delivery room - a story for another day).

Matt told me he had a surprise planned. I wasn't allowed to ask questions - I had to get into the car and be patience (which is difficult for me). Twenty-five minutes later we pulled up to Ott's Exotic Plants, a nursery in Schwenksville, PA. It was beautiful. A hybrid of Longwood Gardens and Terrain. It took a few hours to whittle down my selected of succulents but in the end I couldn't have been happier. Succulents need lots of sun but only need to be watered once a week.