period- the end.

today i'm choosing to focus on the things that fill me up and make my life whole.

there are certain things i like

there's an expression in our household, and it goes a little something like this "but there are certain things i like!". one would say this particular expression if you were asking your spouse to go get you a big bowl of ben and jerry's- or better yet, you ask them to just go get you the whole container. or if you rub your scratchy feet back and forth on their legs in bed and they ask you to stop and you say "but there are certain things i like!". or if you need to do certain things on the weekend, like get drink treats or go to bed at 6:30pm. it's all for the love of "there are certain things i like". you should try it, because it gives you permission to do and ask for all sorts of crazy things, free of guilt.

so here i present a list of certain things i like lately:

dreaming big

being together

being alone
making the little baby on my tattoo hold funny things like seashells

meditating

laying in the grass on tapestries

long tables filled with cool people

chocolate and candles and paint splatters

sharing art supplies and leading a workshop! (and evidently having bad posture and sticking my post baby tummy out!)
-sweet friends from NH
creative masterminds
funny baskets of art supplies, especially the rainbow brite lunchbox filled with scraps

roadtrips, and then coming home again


what are your certain things that you like? xx

up up and away!

headed off for the weekend for a sweet little retreat- the brainchild of kat! i'm feeling very spoiled to be leaving again..and very lucky. we will be by the sea...sharing food and sitting together, learning. i am also excited to be leading my first ART WORKSHOP! this is huge for me. which is why i woke up at 3am. i feel externally calm but i think internally i may be freaking out a bit. i'm bringing fairy lights, tapestries, and fresh flowers...clearly these are things i think are important to teach an informative workshop ;) can't wait to report back after my weekend at the sea!

xx

life is a whirlwind

holy crap- my dad got married this weekend!

and what a wonderful, beautiful day it was. i got a little teary (ok, a lot teary) and a LOT goofy during the ceremony this weekend. yes, even though i am old and mature enough to be a witness and sign an official marriage certificate, i'm never too old to make tool-ish faces for pictures. and as you can see, gray is following suit, just as i expect her to.

but back to LOVE. it's a beautiful thing, isn't it? i'm so happy for my dad and nancy, and if you've had the pleasure of seeing them together, you are probably pretty happy for them, too. love works in mysterious ways- and when it's right, it's right. deep sigh of relief- they ended up together. aaaaahhhh.

even in the rain...even though i was wearing birkenstocks (which gray informed me were 'a bit off' and 'manly') and a soggy, furry viking vest (which people took turns wearing and posing for pictures in!)- the day was just as it was meant to be. and i got a whole new family out of the deal! we have a lot of fun together, each of us allowing each other to be exactly who we are. i appreciate everyone putting up with me! i'm so happy (big dorky tears).

channeling the joy

today i'm channeling the joy captured in these small faces. the bravery, the abandon, the joy. what are you channeling today?

journey there and back

i'm home from my trip to miami. people think i'm crazy that i traveled all the way there, only to dive into a stack of books, eat the same meal at the hotel restaurant two out of the three nights, and go to bed around 8pm every night we were there. but i don't call that crazy. i call that my idea of the best vacation ever.

my view for three days

yummy new beer with oranges at our tiki bar, also located conveniently right outside our door

perfect traveling companion...someone who needs to find a dunkin' donuts just as much as i do

leaving on the journey- made everyone appreciate me a little more...until i came home- and since then it's been total payback!

so i'm channeling this peaceful vibe that i rode on in miami...i will be back!

today.

today i leave on an adventure. wearing my old boots, the same old nina beana, conquering some of my biggest fears (flying, being away from my kids). i like jumping out of my routine, only to come back renewed and more grateful for the rhythm of my everyday. this afternoon i will dip my toes into the ocean and swim in a pool outside and order a fancy meal and have a couple of delicious adult drinks. i'll walk on the sand under the big glorious moon. i have my husband to thank (and an awesome friend who was the planner extraordinaire) for gifting me this adventure for mother's day, just so i can have a little r&r.

it will be a chance to let my beastly hair down.

so off i go! goodbye dear ones. maybe i will sleep on the plane considering i missed four hours of sleep last night due to lulu's random crying episodes.

and here's an offering from joey, always reminding me to see the beauty in the most everyday of things. xx

highlights

i live a charmed life, that's for sure, but no more charmed than anyone else's. i just try to approach each day as a gift, focusing on the 'everyday amazing'. how fitting then, when a friend gifted me a cup of this tea:

these past weeks have flown by. we're coming off a week of school vacation, which was surprisingly pleasant, jam-packed, and flew by. there were many highlights- too many to list here. but here were some of my favorites--


delicious vegetarian meals with one of my bestest friends from far away

taking the kids on a beautiful earth day walk and picking up lots and lots of trash and then sorting through it. they were so proud of themselves!

homemade playdough with friends

busking for cash on the side of the road (upturned hats and all!)

hippie tea date with my girl

new art journals and mandala drawing (and little helpers!)

a few tears to keep the happiness in check

field hockey and gray wearing lulu's legwarmers as her shin guard covers

lots and lots of gathering with friends

a little bit of crafting thrown in for good measure

some quiet time reading and holding steaming cups of tea


little blue eyes (six of them) peering at me constantly, reminding me why i do what i do

headwraps!

i'm headed off on an adventure to miami tomorrow for the weekend. yes, i will be wearing a bathing suit. yes, i will be dipping my toes in the ocean. and yes, i will probably be the only freak with a suitcase full of feminist lit and magazines. have a beautiful weekend! xx

why i love my local coffee shop/farmstand

most days around here have the same rhythm- drop off gray at the bus, get our coffee mugs, and then a trip to our local coffee shop/farmstand/apple orchard. you see- they have this beautiful thing- you can buy a reusable coffee mug for cheap (20$) and then you can go and get coffee five million times a day if you want, for the rest of your life. and tea! and now they have raw unprocessed honey. this makes mama happy, and also makes for a happy four year old coffee-drinkin' joey. joey received his own mug from puppa for christmas, and now holds the title as the youngest member of the coffee club.

so on most days, you'll find joey and i (and lulu in the backpack- which i'm finding is quite controversial- people either think it's fantastic or have very not-nice opinions about it, which they aren't afraid to share!) toting our mugs into the farmstand, where joey loads up on half decaf half milk (hey! i pick my battles! the kid likes coffee. i promise decaf won't kill him) and mama loads up on her beverage of choice. my favorite part of our adventure is that it imparts this really great feeling of community for us- everyone knows us by name, and we stop and talk to our produce peeps, and our checkout peeps, and on any given day i run into a friend, oftentimes one of my BFF's, and we get to sit and have coffee. and when i'm done i load up on apples, avocados, stuff for salads, cage free local eggs, cider, and milk. yes, it is a luxury, but one that i never take for granted. my children know where their food comes from- they know the people who work to make it possible. they know the names of most vegetables. they also know the sweet rush of morning coffee and the taste of an occasional apple cider donut.

in my mind every day (and out loud, too), i thank john for working his tail off so i can be there for my kids in this special way.

i can't help but wonder what our lives would be like without this little ritual that has become so important for us. i'm so glad a place like this exists in my community. and this is why i am so grateful for you, dear coffee shop.

little lulu

so my little lulu is one of the main reasons why my blogging has been severely lacking lately. as you can see, she's my first climber...she likes to get on top of anything, oftentimes just intentionally plunging off the edge of furniture just to see who's on their toes, and who's around to catch her. she manages to get up onto the dining room table, on top of the tv cabinet, and she also likes to throw around my prized vinyl records like frisbees. needless to say, my computer time is pretty limited.

she is the most confident, self assured child i have ever met. when she puts her mind to something, she just does it with ease. those beautiful diamond screw-back earrings that my girlfriends bought her? the ones that are supposed to be impossible to take out? it took her only a couple of hours before she managed to yank them out of her head. she takes off her shoes and socks and hides them so we can put them on. she climbs behind the couch. when i'm in my craft room sewing, she unplugs my sewing machine to get my attention. she eats the tops off of markers.

i am tempted to say that some days with lulu are hard. but really, they are just intense- focused- and energy zapping. there is little downtime. she will leave no crayons uneaten. she will find the most dangerous thing and put her finger in it. at the end of the day, i fall into bed exhausted. but i know that all this is temporary, and sometime very soon, i will look at her and wonder what happened to my little baby toddling around, conquering the world.

next, she'll be eight and trying to get a tattoo (which would actually be pretty cool).