Timber! Outdoor Music Festival - a weekend of camping, friends and music in the woods

I just had the best welcome back weekend with my Tacoma family of friends.  We camped at Timber! Outdoor Music Festival July 17-19, 2015 out in Carnation on the Tolt river.  Everywhere we went there was something fun to try (and loads of kid friendly activities - a huge plus!), but we mainly enjoyed a weekend together lazing on the river and chatting in the shade while our kids disappeared into a make-believe world in the woods.  Oh, and there was some pretty great music too.

My personal favorites were The Dead Milkmen and David Bazan.  The kids really enjoyed dancing to Beat Connection.  I thought it was a really diverse and well curated weekend of performances.

I was relieved that they had cold Sierra Nevada on tap at the main stage and food trucks so that I didn't have to cook over the hot camp stove the whole time - cooking is usually my least favorite part of camping.  The Russian dumplings were especially delicious.  :)

But the best part was just being with friends.  It's so hard when we have kids and jobs and responsibilities to really spend quality time together.  I laughed more than I had in a long time.  I'll cherish these memories for a long time to come!

house show fundraiser recap

Last week some friends and I put together a little house show with a few Seattle/Tacoma area bands to raise funds for the Food Connection's Backpack Program at our local school.  The Backpack Program has become a cause that's dear to my heart.

We raised over $300 for the program.  A big thanks to the musicians who played - Pablo Trucker, Apartment Lights, Luke Stevens.  The show was intimate, beautiful.

Here are a few photos I took.  It was way too dark and my exposure could have been better, but I have been playing around with Photoshop actions and having fun.  It's tough to set up a good shot when you're manning the door.