Friday Happiness + a gratutious self-portrait

I can not get enough of::

Anna's learning the alphabet: I've seen this all before, and yet am always in awe of a human learning something so big, so naturally. I've been trying to learn French and am an idiot. I'm sure Anna could speak several languages by now, if she just had parents who were capable.

Wraps: I am so trying not to gorge myself on bagels and brioche and homemade bread. My most dear friend brought me lunch last weekend at the gallery, and a lightbulb popped on: yes! flatbread, protein, greens! Right on.

The Library: when I'm done checking out movies and novels and cookbooks and kids books, and they hand me the "receipt", I get so embarrassed because with.out.fail. I reach for a pen to sign. Oh, right. Free. Honor system. Got it.

Online photo inspiration: I'm a novice who can not get enough of Flikr, This Joy+Ride, and a million other daily shots of visual adrenaline. I know I am not there, but they show me where I want to go.

Writing real letters: My girls spend hours a week writing to my parents, sequestered for the winter in Florida. Typed letters, hand written letters, pictures drawn, love notes scratched on bits and pieces of paper. For kids raised with computers, they have not lost the art of correspondence. Now, if their mother could just get to the post office...

This weekend: not much planned. Exactly the sort of weekend I like best.

Enjoy your weekend, too. Thanks for reading.

tt

ps: that's me with my new haircut. Hence the self-exposure. Bonjour.

Friday Happiness :: Thirteen things

I'm loving today:

::sun streaming in the windows.

::the dog we're babysitting for the week, sleeping at my feet now.

::sneaking pink and red m&ms from the girls valentines.

::this movie, especially this, and the last four minutes.

::feeling well rested for the first time in weeks.

::listening to Al Green non-stop. All of it the same, all of it great.

::my first ever homemade biscotti, from here, a success.

::little encaustic paintings from tangled sky studio; find them here.

::friends who give wine as payment for babysitting a dog.

::books from the library; this one, The Houses of Greenwich Village, and this one about Georgia Keeffe's cutivated persona in photographs. There's a picture of her at thirty, that I just can't stop looking at.

::sneak peeks at design*sponge. Maybe just a little bit addicted to this, actually.

::little girls (not mine!) in coats and party dresses, playing in the park outside my window.

::loving that spring is coming. Soon-ish.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

tt

Monday Morning :: Random bits and pieces

::Coughs and sore throats all around here, today. A little lemon ginger concoction is just the thing.

::And some beans simmering, already, to make this incredibly comforting white bean gratin, from Alice Waters.

::A whole stack of New York and The New Yorker magazines to get through, from Tim's mom. We've never even looked into getting our own subscription. She sends them to us, without fail, when she's done. Complete with little sticky papers attached about which articles were most interesting, or some small note so we don't miss something good. It's like having our own reader's guide. We think it's hilarious to read similar pieces in each magazine and then trade; always two completely different takes on the same topic.

::We're two thirds of the way through the Three Colors trilogy, and I have to say, I'm a little baffled by White. I've got great hopes for Red, though. Blue was slow, but engrossing, mostly because I could watch Juliette Binoche read the phone book for two hours. In French.

::Next Friday, if someone would remind me why a sleepover party for ten year old girls is a good idea, I'd appreciate it.

And now, I have to get the remaining healthy child off to nursery school. Tim and I had promised each other to walk together every Monday-the gallery is closed and the kids, in theory, are all in school. I don't see that happening, now. It's so hard to keep these little rituals going in the middle of life's swirling business. But I think it's worth trying.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
tt

Who does she think she is?

I'm sorry I missed this film when it was at the Jacob Burns last month. Just reading about it, watching the trailer, browsing the site, makes my heart beat faster. The basic premise, that women who want to fulfill their own artistic passion have to do so at the peril of their being (or being seen as) sub-par mothers, is one that chills my blood.


Because, artists or not, don't we all feel like this, to some degree? That constant scale inside that tips uneasily whenever we are tending to either being a parent, or being our own person. The feeling that it is necessary to choose one or the other? And knowing absolutely that we shouldn't have to.

And, of course, it is not just in the art world that the challenge of pursuing one's own goals is mightily compounded by virtue of being a woman and a mother. Lawyer, vet, architect. Teacher, dancer, chef. In this day and age of fabulous promise and change, I can only hope my girls grow up feeling they can be their best selves, and still be the best mom.

That they can be whoever they think they are.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
tt

Friday Happiness

Another Friday, already? This one came up quick.

Another poker night for Tim, tonight, but no movie night for me, this time. It's getting down to the wire, gift-wise, and I've much to do. Although, I could spend the whole night organizing photos on our computer and still not get Thing One done.

Another party this weekend; this time with friends we don't see very often, at a house that will forever feel a little bit like home, so I'm much looking forward to it.

And Sunday; perhaps the last slow, easy, nothing-much-to-do Sunday for a while. So I am, most of all, ready for that.

Another subject:

The other day I referred to myself here as "girl", and that's been flitting around in my brain since. Because we all know how old I am (forty-one). And I'm way closer -seriously- to being a grandmother, than I am to being a teenager, numbers-wise. (We've got three 12-year-olds. At least one is likely to come up with a baby at some point in the next 22 years, right?)

So, I asked myself Satchel Paige's question: "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?"

And you know what I came up with?

Twenty-six.

I'm off by fifteen years. Fifteen. But that's my honest answer. Just on the border of "girl", maybe with the hood ornament over the line, even. But there you have it.

And another thing? I was thinking about what I might be wearing to this party this weekend, and I realized that I have in mind something like the perky little ingenue out of Amelie, and will definitely end up with something more in the style of, say...Olive Oyl.

Then again, what do I think I am? Twenty-six?

What's your answer? How old would you be, if you didn't know how old you were?

Enjoy your weekend. More tomorrow.

tt

Kismet

Tim and I both had Peanuts Christmas tree ornaments when we were young. I'm the sort to draw much significance from such a thing.

We grew up very far apart-geographically and culturally-and so small coincidences like that make me wonder. For instance, there's a possibility that we were both in Hawaii in 1978, at the same time, under very different circumstances.

Anyway...

I'm feeling marginally better, but I missed book club last night, and I really hate that. Not only did I love our book this time, and really wanted to hear what all the very smart people in our book club had to say about it, but the meetings are the best. Grown-ups I know and like, talking about all sorts of interesting things, with good food, wine, and I don't even need to get a babysitter.

Instead, we stayed up way too late for a Wednesday, watching just the worst movie. Stupid. Bad. And not just bad, but also disturbing-images of awful things, which the director saw fit to keep flashing back to. No mas.

From now on, I am:

a)not watching movies on Wednesday nights when we should be in bed, or at least, at book club

b)sticking to movies that end with either a wedding or a baby. No torture scenes. No serial killers. No Al Pacino.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go watch the Charlie Brown Christmas special. I think Lucy and Schroeder end up together in this one.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

tt

p.s. If you've read Half of a Yellow Sun, or even if you haven't, this thoughtful blogger also has a online book club which has great discussions of all sorts of compelling reads. You can check it out here.

Friday Happiness :: Home Edition

I am off this morning to visit friends; a friend of mine, and of the little blue-eyed one, who most often is dragged on whatever errand or mission her parents and sisters deem important.

I am lighthearted when I read the excerpts from this favorite book, quoted on this wonderful blog.

I am anticipating receiving what will be my new kitchen curtains from Denmark.

I am loving the number of members of the household who can't keep their hands off our piano.

I can not wait to watch this movie tonight, whil'st the man is off playing poker. The girls will most likely be watching this. (Don't judge until you're alone with five pre-teens on a Friday night!)

I love how Portland, Oregon and Portland, Maine seem to be twin portals of artistic, creative goodness.

I am inspired by the spare, natural holiday decorations in this month's Country Home magazine; a refreshing change from the usual over-the-top kitch and whimsy that's put out there this time of year.

And it being Friday, I spent some of my morning sitting in the car, in the driveway, in tears, listening to the end of today's edition of StoryCorps on NPR.

Happy Friday. Thanks for reading.

tt