This year I was on the Festival of Trees team with the Mount Vernon Chamber of Commerce and Skagit Young Professionals. Our team was made up of mostly women, so the theme is decidedly girly. It was Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend from the old Marilyn Monroe movie. Our tree was part of the overall event which is a charity gala for the local cancer foundation where they auction off the trees we made. We gathered about $6000 of stuff donated as part of our tree. On Tuesday there was a Designer Appreciation Night and we were voted Designers’ Choice by all the other tree designers. I’ve uploaded a ton of photos to Flickr, most of which I have to get permission from people before I make public, but I do have some public photos to show.

There was also a Tiki tree there that I really liked and I took a few photos of it too.

Ya know, sometimes I feel like I’m watching the world flow past me like so much water down the river. In a few days I’ll be 31 and the last few years I’ve been searching for something. Myself. You see, somewhere along the line I lost who I was in so much work and blind ambition to build a business or two that I seldom took the time to step back and actually see where I’ve come from and where I am now.

This time of year, when it gets cold outside and I get a little older, I look around me to see what I let slide past the rest of the year. The fun hikes, the work, work and more work. The dinner out with friends. I started a new business this year as well, became a chamber of commerce ambassador, took lots of photos, and generally got in the way a lot.

It’s been a fun time, but something has been missing, or rather someone. I thought for a minute that I’d found her a few years ago, but alas she slipped through my fingers. Maybe the next year will find her, whoever she turns out to be. Until then I’ll wait and see, there’s always the work, it never leaves.

So, my friends who read my rambling, remember to take a minute to see what’s truly around you or you just might be surprised when it’s gone.