Kelli Trontel

It’s been a super busy month for our little family. Reed spent a week in Philadelphia [right when hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast- so scary!], Ezra and I spent a weekend in Bozeman as I photographed a Skull Church event and last week we were all together in Portland, Oregon! Whew!

I had never been to Portland, but I had been begging Reed to drive me there for the past year! This city girl needs a city fix every so often and Portland was a place that I wanted to experience.

Well, business ultimately called us to Portland, but we did get to squeeze in a little shopping & dining [yes, even food carts!] here and there. We serve Stumptown Coffee at our cafe and we were invited out to the Stumptown Coffee Roasting Headquarters for a private one-on-one training and it was the best time ever! It was so refreshing to be among people that love what they do and are passionate about the art of coffee from the beginning of the process to the end. Stumptown is so legit and I am stoked more than ever to be partnered with them.

Stumptown had just moved into their new facility and it is gorgeous! So many interesting details…

Here are a few snap shots from our week in training….

I am super excited about this new E-course that my friend Elsie of A Beautiful Mess just released last week: Blog (Design) Love! I have taken a few of her other courses over the last few years- Style School, Indie Business & Blog Love.

If you are a blogger…or a soon to be blogger….and want to learn some photoshop tips and ways to design your own blog- this course is for you! Elsie is a wonderful teacher- she holds nothing back- and is so honest in her approach to business and design. She’s my favorite! She’s the real deal.

I plan on taking this ecourse as well- if you decide to take this- let me know!

I am thrilled to present to you the NOVEMBER desktop download, which just so happens to be the 6th consecutive month that Ashley and I have collaborated on this together.

I’ve truly enjoyed this project….it’s been wonderful to hear from so many of you who have been encouraged by this monthly series and from a creative standpoint- I’ve loved dreaming up ideas and executing them every month!

November represents so many things to me. It’s a time for gathering with friends and family. A time of reflection. A reminder to be thankful….in all things.

It’s the “In All Things” that can be hard sometimes. Sure, it’s easy to be thankful for the things that we have asked and hoped for. But what about the things that happen in life that we didn’t welcome or even see coming? We have all experienced some sort of pain and loss…and for me, my loss was losing my little sister 2 years ago this month, which has drastically changed the way I view November and the Thanksgiving season.

I choose thankfulness. I choose thankfulness because God is good. I choose thankfulness because I never walked through that valley alone. I choose thankfulness because of the HOPE that anchors my heart.

Ashley and I decided to not include a quote on this months desktop, instead….we encourage you to write your own quote everyday for the next 30 days. We have started the sentence for you: “I am thankful for…” Whether this be family, friends, health ect….WRITE IT DOWN! Lets all embrace thankfulness this month!

If you’re on INSTAGRAM [twitter or facebook too!]….join us in a PHOTO A DAY with a hashtag of #ichoosethankfulness

Hope you enjoy this months download!
xo

DESKTOP DOWNLOAD // right click and “use as desktop picture”

iPhone DOWNLOAD