* a house full of friends this past week lifting me up
* four new paintings finished and ready for the world
* a surprise quilt completed and gifted to a dear friend
* new friends that get my parenting style
* endless cups of green tea
* liver cleanse! and wine!
* black bean pie
* starting a new quote book
* lulu has started to run- and it's kind of the most funniest and incredible thing ever
* letting go
* accomplishing 2010 goals
* the upcoming weekend
* my lovely new business cards that my boss gifted me for christmas
* taco night! i need taco night!
* art magic swirling around, and painting with joey
* lulu's upcoming birthday------what!?! how is this possible that she's turning ONE! guess i can't call her a newborn anymore!
* ariel gore's book "whatever mom: hip mama's guide to raising a teenager". and yes, it's saving my life. and yes, i'm reading it and applying it to my SIX year old
"I thought of you today when I saw this picture: Actually, I thought of (insert: name of someone we used to know) for some strange reason but then I thought of you and how much fun we used to have in Tatnuck (our old bookstore) meowing like cats and making our own clothes. -Johnny"
it's very cold here today. my hands are cracking open from being so dry. we've already made our trip out to the grocery store. so now we have milk, bananas, apples, and kefir. i want to hibernate and create. but it's icy in my craft area. so it looks like i'll have to move some things inside.
that's all i have today. a quiet cup of tea steaming beside me. a banana peel. some socks on the floor. nothing special...but it makes up a day.
happy january 8th, everyone! the perfect day for a sale of eights in the shop. most everything is eight dollars, and everything has an eight in the price! making room for the new...
how can one tiny person drive me so completely insane, bring me to my knees, make me sob...
but yet i could not live a moment without her?
how is it that she drives me bananas but i wouldn't change a thing about her?
(i found the note below on the fridge: "i love mom...she poops (poop's!) in my face. i love dad. hey does tommy dad (a family joke- joey is tommy the sloth and johnny is tommy dad the sloth). love grace). for the record, i don't really poop in her face. although now i'm tempted.
well hello there, 2010 peeps. for 2010, i'm vowing to be creative every day, and to spice up this corner a bit. so we'll see where that takes us! looking back on 2009 was a really rewarding process for me. i sat at my computer and looked through all my picture files (i usually upload my pics about once, max two times a month and label the folders and put them on an external hard drive to be forgotten about). this year, i sat and made a folder entitled "best moments of 2009" and then printed them all out. and there were 307 priceless 2009 moments that i absolutely had to print out. and i just sat there with johnny, looking through the huge stack of photos and felt so blessed for all the tiny beautiful moments of our life.
when hanging out with a dear friend for the first time in many weeks, she asked "what have you been up to lately?" and i found myself saying "not much" like i always do. but when i look back through the months worth of pictures, i realize that saying "not much" is just a cop out. it's easier. there's just too much to put into words. lots of little moments that add up to "too much to say".
one big part of my 2009 was all the great books i had the opportunity to read. some friends ask how i have the time to read with three little ones underfoot, and my answer to that is...3am. i go to bed super early every night (like 7pm) and then wake up around midnight and read for a good 3 or 4 hours. i love looking back on my lists of books for the year. i feel like all the characters are good friends that i collected over the year. i don't know what i would do without books. it would be a sad life, i think.
so here's my 2009 list! (clearly i went through a little francesca lia block craze!)
Books 2009:
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
All The Fishes Come Home to Roost:An American Misfit in India by Rachel Manija Brown
Searching For The Sound:My Life With The Grateful Dead by Phil Lesh
Revenge of the Paste Eaters:Memoirs ofa Misfit by Cheryl Peck
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
You Can’t Get There From Here:A Year On The Fringes Of A Shrinking World by Gayle Forman
A Cook’s Tour:Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines by Anthony Bourdain
No Woman No Cry:My Life With Bob Marley by Rita Marley
The GlassCastle:A Memoir by Jeannette Walls
High Voltage Tattoo by Kat Von D
Jewel by Bret Lott
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
Labor of Love:A Midwife’s Memoir by Cara Muhlhahn
The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Are You There, Vodka?It’s Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler
It Sucked and then I Cried:How I Had a Baby, A Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita by Heather B. Armstrong
Dumbfounded:Big Money.Big Hair.Big Problems.Or Why Having It All Isn’t For Sissies by Matt Rotschild
True Mom Confessions:Real Moms Get Real by Romi Lassally
Wetlands by Charlotte Roche
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
This Is All by Aidan Chambers
The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Without a Map:A Memoir by Meredith Hall
My Horizontal Life:A Collection of One-Night Stands by Chelsea Handler
SalemFalls by Jodi Picoult
The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult
The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro
Untamed by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
Blood Roses by Francesca Lia Block
How To (Un)cage A Girl by Francesca Lia Block
Psyche In A Dress by Francesca Lia Block
Ecstasia by Francesca Lia Block
Primavera by Francesca Lia Block
Wasteland by Francesca Lia Block
The Waters and the Wild by Francesca Lia Block
A Homemade Life:Stories and Recipes From My Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg
Nighlight, A Parody by The Harvard Lampoon
Push/Precious by Sapphire
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Night World (Secret Vampire, Daughters of Darkness, Spellbinder) by L.J. Smith
dear december, you were so full. and you are actually still happening, so this post should be called "dear december, part 1". really...there was just so much of you- i couldn't blog properly about you.
you were silly faces and chapped lips:
you were santa hats and gatherings with family:
you were thrifting:
you were full of celebrations, including a birthday for a special four year old boy:
you were crafty:
you were nutcrackery (thank you mom!):
you were homemade marshmallows:
and cooking with family:
you were full of friends and love:
you were handmade lotion:
and ornaments:
and lots of sewing on the machine:
you were kitschy: and resourceful:
and full of simple creations:
and also filled with lots of naps by the christmas tree (and red cheeks):
you were fires outside in the snow, just because:
you were sledding:
but when you get down to the bare bones of it, december, you were pure love.
evidently, my blog and facebook updates have been quite worrisome to a few of you out there, which is totally flattering and super cute. but here i am! happy and chipper again! this TMJ will not get the best of me (even though it's bringing me to my knees with the intense pain...and no- i have.not.seeked.medical.attention...that's for you people who love to tease me about my lack of medical interventions).
so i bring to you...
my gratitude list!
* humongous salads filled with green apples, baby spinach, nuts, feta, craisins, black beans, croutons, and a whole bunch of other delicious stuff. healthy? not so much. but delicious!
* lulu walking! and now she's trying to run, which is totally hysterical and will certainly end up in a broken bone at some point. seeing a 10 month old walk is really funny- looks like it shouldn't be happening. and if you ask me, IT SHOULDN'T. how is this possible?
* gray's two ginormous front teeth
* joey sleeping on the couch under the christmas tree
* beef stew on the stove
* the best kinds of visitors this week, bringing gifts of calzones, gelato, a bouquet of flowers, fall flavored breads, painting supplies, a new bar of soap, babies, listening ears, and love
* the end of crazy PMS
* l.j. smith's new vampire series
* the forecast of a bit of snow tomorrow night
* checking my mailbox for christmas cards every day (you might say i'm sort of a junkie)
* real emails from friends that make me feel not alone
* real friends showing up with open arms making me feel not crazy
* using hot cups of tea as hotpacks for my face
* waking up at 2am every morning, going downstairs, turning on the christmas tree, and laying down and looking at all the ornaments like a complete dork
* family-time that we call "church"
* being on-call for a birth that promises to be magical. as stressful (sitter-wise) that being on-call can be, there's something really exciting about waiting for the phone to ring, letting me know that mama and baby are ready to rock
* have i mentioned that i think twinkle lights on my headboard equals therapy?
* leaving in a minute or two for the bus stop and taking the kids on an afterschool adventure to meet santa in haverhill, which is just sort of funny if you know haverhill.
* seeing lulu on the floor right now pretending to read jack kerouac.
* vintage pillowcases
* homemade fudge. and brownies. and fudge brownies.
i am in desperate need of a grateful list. this week has been...well...a real piece of work week (as we like to call it here in gilbertland). i'm left feeling depleted and in need of a life vacation. so instead, i'll focus on the positive:
**the little sock monkey that decided to join joey&i on our fireside coffeeshop date the other day. he had his own seat in front of the fire.
**a wonderful stack of vintage chenille blankets gifted to me by a yard sale fairy
**an upcoming craft table with two inspiring women in boston- i'm looking forward to drinking coffee in the city, wearing a christmas apron, and basking in their creativity!
**has anyone read this book?- the blog makes me think more about what i eat
**planning thanksgiving (we're hosting)
**our "gilbert family 2009 gratitude journal" that we've been making everyone write in when they come over
**nice clients at work that make me want to still be a massage therapist
**mexican casserole
**upcoming santa parade this weekend- the kids are on a float with my mom! always fun to stand on the sidelines and wave at them.
**christmas shopping done and christmas cards made. kids are getting about four things each this year (lulu gets two) and that's it. not doing gifts this year with lots of peeps and it feels so freeing to make a "no gift" pact with someone. not about the money so much as 'really, do we need more stuff?' i personally don't. seriously, you should try it.
aaaah. breathing in and out. today i'm keeping my voice low, wrapping myself in a big shawl, and having an extra cup of coffee. and trying to stay focused on the good stuff. xx
she kept it pretty deep and appropriate until the third to last line. but that's gray. she's just like that.
i am gray
i am talented and artistic i wonder about when my recorder will come in i hear my family's voice i see all the paintings i want to touch the moon i am talented and artistic
i pretend to be an explorer i feel that everything is magical i touch the sun i worry when somebody toots in my face and it's really splashy i cry when i go to weddings i am talented and artistic.
i love fall so much. but i love it even more when i upload my pictures and realize that gray has stolen my camera and documented her own love of fall. it makes it all that much sweeter.
happy list:
