great gift idea

Just got a gift from the kiddos' Aunt Ayme: a pile of books and a CD of her reading all of them!  What a thoughtful and creative idea!  They love it, plus they get to hear her voice whenever they want!  And some of them even have songs that she sings!

(photo from this summer's visit with Aunt Ayme)

sounds like rain

I'm not sure what object in my yard causes the rain falling outside to sound like a guitar strumming, but I love it.

listmaker

I have a few nagging things to finish up - and some things to start - so here's my quick list:

1. Finish my wedding album.   It's been 10 years!  This is a photo of me and my sis Gina, as I was making my first real attempt at getting this done during our girl's weekend.  I have been collecting all the photos, the album, the paper, and some album bling - like stickers and paper flowers -  for years.  I think I told myself I would finish it before I finished grad school, or at least before we were married five years.  Um, nope.  Then I promised myself to finish it before we started our family.  Or before we had #2.  Oops.  So now I have a real goal - 08.12.2010.  That would be ten years!  Hoping I can do it. 

I should really stop there, if I expect to feel like I can accomplish something soonish.  But I look up and notice that our curtains are halfway done.  The finished part is a SHEER.  It's lovely, but, um, sheer.  So goal #2 is:

2. Finish my bedroom curtains.  I have the fabric and thread.  This should probably be more front-burner, since I often find myself changing clothes in the closet or hiding behind the headboard.  However, my sewing table is also my scrap table.  hmmmm....


3.  Join a gym, for crying out loud.  Preferably one that has some built-in childcare, so that I can take a class on Friday.  Otherwise, I'm looking at 8pm every time I want to work out, which I may want to do, but there are usually no late classes, and I am not sure how I'll ever finish an album or curtains... 

Are goals supposed to be mutually exclusive like this?

Mama-cation

Returning from an extended weekend with my sisters and mom (and baby nephew), to celebrate my sister's 40th birthday, which, yes, involved deluxe pedis, I started to wallow a little bit.  It is my pattern after a family visit.  It's especially difficult for me when I don't have a clear sense of when I'll see each of them again.  Then I start thinking about how to relocate la casa close to family (which is a stretch, since we're spread from St. Louis to Salt Lake City, but maybe Texas would cover a lot of ground)...  This time my wallowing was met in the airplane by a friendly woman and her husband who just spent their weekend in Denver celebrating her sister's 70TH birthday!  She is one of 4 siblings in all, and when everyone literally "left the farm" in South Dakota and started having children, they decided to make it a priority to gather together every other year.  She said they were faithful to this, and all the cousins did get to know each other, because they learned the value of being around family.  Those were special times for them.  And look!  They still make it a point to gather together and celebrate special occasions.  It was perfect timing for me and my wallowing to hear her story.  Okay, okay, very reassuring, so I won't relocate la casa just yet.  I guess this is just what people do in these circumstances, and my struggle isn't new or unique.  But still.

Spending time with the girls was such a needed getaway aside from our every-other-year gathering that is starting to occur with the larger group (our families together total 20 people now!), and since each of us has returned to our daily routines, plans are in motion to make this Mamacation (?vacation for the mamas?) an annual event, Including the deluxe pedis.  phew.

cafe mamas!

Sitting in a wifi free location, consuming coffee with my sisters and mom...

curly Q

Fia's hair is curly!  Though decidedly blonde (for now), she seems to have acquired my curls.

I was explaining this to my hairdresser today, who specializes in curls, and she also shared my excitement.  I have no idea what to do with straight hair, so Ms. Fia is in luck.

Meanwhile, my hair is not the same since having given birth to Fia 14 months ago!  Lots of spots where hair is growing back - from the front to the middle of my head, shorter clumps are cropping up.  Curly hair is good for covering up all of that, thankfully.  Mama hormones are strong!  Even my hairdresser was a little surprised.

so my curly Q is this: when does it stop changing?

some new blog

Inspired by family and friends, I am finally joining the bandwagon of bloggy-bloggersons out there. so here I am, posting a post.

A new year, my short list of resolutions:

1. more time with friends and with family, even if it means sticking our necks out there and throwing a party that leaves us exhausted the next morning (which we did new year's eve, to kick it off - and look how wild it got!) 

My brother and family came out to Portland for our New Year's kick-off, which was only enough time to play with our baby cousin in the snow, make a traditional posole (which involved multiple phone calls to my Mom 1700 miles away), do some window shopping with my sister-in-law with babies in slings, get Fia's ears pierced, and stay up late playing Farkle (really fun to use it as a verb: I farkle. You farkle. She farkles. Especially when it's late and you're drinking a Golden Cadillac.) After they left, I asked myself again why we all live so far apart...

BUT wait - This week marks the first gathering of the women in my family for a retreat of sorts, to celebrate my sister Marie's 40th (!) birthday. First of all, I can't believe we're pulling this off! Yay! This will be my FIRST trip away from home without children in 3+ years! Second of all... 40!!! I remember sneaking in the garage to *tape record* her 16th birthday party (which was co-ed) with my other sister and partner-in-crime. The result was just static - we were a little disappointed, frankly. And kind of, well, losers. So this should be much more fun.

        2.  more time for introspection, so voila.

there you have it, the yin and yang of resolutions.  Blogging is kind of cathartic, but I'm not sure how to sign off. So there.