my sweet ramona,
you come from two lines of great families. we’re not political families, nor socialites, nor is there old money (or new money for that matter!). but between the powers and the drivers, your history starts w quite a legacy. there are teachers and counselors and coordinators and developers. there are students and doctors and entrepreneurs and artists. there are lovers and fighters and seekers and explainers. i list (and brag about!) these livelihoods and traits to illustrate to you that you can be whatever you want to be within this family. you will be supported and you will, unconditionally as much as humanly possible, be loved.
we are family people. we are tight knit. we like tradition and game nights. we love family dinners. we make fun of one another and we support one another. there are daily phone calls and texted photos showing off our little ones or projects. we do, of course, get sick of each other.
your family believes in marriage and God and hard work and silliness and creativity. we are not perfect. sometimes we fight. always we find a way to constructively make-up. family –and the history of a family– can be messy and complicated. we are not free from this. we are all so different. it is good to have this in your history bc it can help you figure out better who you are. and where you fit into the scheme of things.
this letter does little to fully explain to you where and who you come from or what your history is. ask questions. expect real answers. listen to the stories of your mother and father, your grandparents, your aunt and uncles. get to know us. as you get older you will piece together your own idea of your history and what came before you. this patchwork of the past will explain some things about who you are or why your parents do the things they do. it will probably frustrate you and sometimes, i regret to say, disappoint you. but my prayer is that you mostly discover the pride and joy that i have coming from –or marrying into– these families. i feel incredibly blessed and i hope you grow up feeling the same.
i love you, minka. love, mama.
read other letters to ramona bean over here, here, here, here, and here.
this post is done in collaboration with sakura bloom. the sling i am wearing is the simple linen in wheat. the beautiful photos are by megan newton of megan newton photography who graciously did a portrait shoot for the power side of the family. they were taken at the populist, jp’s new restaurant slated to open in denver at the end of august 2012.
ramona’s first birthday was last sunday, july 15, in our backyard. i knew i wanted to throw a pink & gold baby bash of sorts. my dear and creative and meticulous friends, nicole and christie of hey! party collective, were just the people for the job. they took my basic idea and had so much fun with it, while still keeping things simple. in this case, pictures speak a whole lot louder than words so i’ll let this photos take it away…
the party was a blast — certainly due in part that i had other people doing most of the stuff for me, so i could just soak it all in. ramona really seemed to get that it was for her and delighted in toddling around the yard saying hello to friends and family. with a bit of coaxing she dove into the chocolate birthday cake (and even shared with the other children!) and just generally, was happy and cheerful in her birthday best. it was so so nice for jp and me to celebrate this big day with all the loved ones that have been such champions and fans and advocates of ramona this past year. this party was also a thank you to them. we are incredibly blessed with an amazing village.
shout outs to my event sponsors:
- hey! party collective — event planners who made this party what it was. (if you live in denver, you need to look them up, for reals. they will take care of it all).
- samm sherman of root down and linger — she used her exec pastry chef expertise to lovingly make those pink & gold macarons (rhubarb buttercream amazingness!).
- lashley rhodes — dear friend and photographer extraordinaire
- banners on the cheap who offered me a credit toward their store (with which i ordered the vinyl banner seen in the first photo) in exchange for a link back to their vinyl banner page. they did not ask for a review, favorable or otherwise, so it is my unsolicited opinion that this is a good and affordable company in the event you may need a vinyl banner. their customer service was efficient and courteous, to boot. thank you for seeking me out!
- my parents — who bought all the food and accouterments after enduring the most obnoxious costco run of their life (their daughter was a combination of sleep-deprived and hungover and, in the scheme of helping them out for a party she was throwing, utterly worthless).
this past weekend, my parents were staying in our home during their visit for ramona’s birthday. we took advantage of the fact we had in-house babysitters and got away for an early four-year anniversary celebration.
- we started with drinks and small plates at charcoal restaurant
- then moseyed over to the clyfford still museum, where we had the galleries all to ourselves
- afterward we headed to squeaky bean’s new location (go there now!)
- we planned on ending the night at williams & graham (and should have as it was late and i had had plenty to drink)
- but after one drink there, we then went on to a friend’s house warming party
my parents had ramona sleep down with them in the guest room in the basement. technically, it was our first night away from little miss bean! i hurt the next day as going to bed at 1:00 AM and waking up at 6:30 is not my forte. those heavy-drinking, late-nights are not (or should not) be in the cards for this mama. but knowing that ramona can successfully sleep away from us is good news to me! i’m not eager to cart her off every weekend but sometimes, well you know, sometimes parents need a break.
jp and i love to celebrate special occasions by splurging on good dining experiences. here’s where we’ve dined for our previous anniversaries:
1st anniversary: root down (before we worked there!)
2nd anniversary: schwa
3rd anniversary: trattoria stella
ramona turned one on sunday! we had a great backyard party (all done up by Hey! Party Collective) with lots of family and friends and hot dogs and macarons. thank you to all who celebrated with us and helped make this day amazing (including the people over at banners on the cheap who contributed the vinyl banner). i’m waiting on photos taken by my talented friends, luca and lashley. until then, i’ll leave you with this poem, which my mother used to accompany a photo of me nearly 26 years ago, in that same white smocked dress you see ramona wearing in the second set of photos.
It’s quiet now,
the cyclone passed,
destruction in its wake.
The room is filled with limp balloons
and smeared with chocolate cake.
As I survey the damage,
I feel strangely close to tears.
An era’s….passed.
A door has closed.
I can’t slow down the years.
I watch them now,
my giggling brood,
so earnestly at play.
And stoop to brush
the crumbs aside,
The baby’s one, today!
–author unknown
i am so so so excited to announce a new giveaway!
my friend, paul michel, is a brilliant denver artist who has designed a collection of hand drawn greeting cards and illustrations, under the shop name mountain versus plains. his greeting cards are funny (omigod so so funny), irreverent, sometimes crass, quirky, and always so well-done. his illustrations of notable denver buildings are simple but spot-on and really capture the bones and personality of each place. i plan on commissioning him for a portrait of the powerdriver family in front of our little denver farmstead.
sifting through his collection had me laughing out loud to myself. i’m confident the same will happen to you. (p.s. please click through to his etsy site to get MUCH better photos of his awesome work. my diptich-ing does them no justice).
right now paul is doing a series of 33 cards in 33 days over at his facebook page and on his instagram feed (@mountainvsplains). it just started but these are two of my favorites:
paul has generously offered up three greeting cards AND a framed print (of winner’s choice!) to one lucky reader who comments on this post answering the question paul has for you all: suddenly the city of denver finds itself overrun by thousands of ravenous twenty-foot tall hamsters. what do you do? where do you go? (don’t worry if you’re not from denver; creativity and imagination are encouraged!)
this giveaway is running through july 31st and the randomly-picked winner will be announced in a blog post august 1.
BONUS!: extra entries can be obtained by liking mountain versus plains on facebook AND following his feed on instagram (@mountainvsplains) (which you won’t regret bc it makes for a daily chuckle). just leave an extra comment saying you’ve done so (and make sure to leave your instagram handle, please).
ADDITIONALLY!: paul is offering A Denver Home Companion readers 15% off in his mountain versus plains etsy shop through the duration of the giveaway. simply input promo code olliesvintage15 at checkout.
welcome
