Chasing Bluebirds

mish mash

i am still struggling to get decent interesting posts up regularly here... i find i take the coolest photos on my phone and then i post the most god awful crappy ones here on the blog. here goes with a few favorites from a recent phone download...

lots of cloud photos to inspire me to get back to painting


new car love
kitty love
milestones
embracing tweendom
miss maggie
getting the backyard in shape for some major plant redo and finding a way to paint again in my own personal outside studio
black bamboo... best choice ever
fathers and daughters... love! gotta get to school, working on our garden club...it's coming along s l o w l y... cheers!

whirlwind new year

For the first time in a long time, i didnt take on extra work over the holidays and just hung out and took it slow...
spent time up at the cabin, didn't spend every minute trying to clean up and fix this or that, just hung out
gazing at snowflakes
watching the snow fall and pondering this past year. 2012 was a year i carefully created and with intent to accomplish many personal goals. it was important financially (no more child support and a refinanced house) so we weren't struggling to make ends meet the way the past few years have been. i took some risks to put the italy trip together and it came off without a hitch, truly a trip of a lifetime on so many levels. i worked less and checked more things off the "to do" list. i made it to the gym more regularly and could feel the benefit of regular exercise for the first time in many years (still have a long way to go on that but it's a start). i cut back on all my volunteering and put more energy into my family. i finally took the plunge and bought a new car, something a little reckless that has energized me in ways i haven't felt in years. i studied and passed the first of a two part test i need to be credentialed in a new specialty for my career. something i had put off since i was pregnant with emily, 13 years ago! i find myself thinking about how every morning my mom would ask me as a kid, "what's on your agenda today? what are your plans? what are you looking forward to?" and i remember no matter what i had going on, i would think about the one or two good things i had to look forward to. something fun was on the horizon even if there was school or work or whatever too, there was a tv show i had waited all week for or dinner at my grandparents or a letter coming in the mail from a friend or a new book to read. i have always been a hard worker but my secret is to have a focus, something amazing to distract me while i muscle through the hard stuff. so for 2013? well, we'll just have to see!

xmas 2012

we had a little family dinner for lizzie a couple nights ago and found the "elf yourself" app fun as well as the guitar hero game

Looking forward to a movie and maybe a nap before dinner... back to work tomorrow but will FINALLY have a weekend completely off so we can head up to the cabin for New Years. This has been such an awesome year, so many good things to be thankful for, really the best ever. Hoping to keep this going for 2013! Planning a Florida/Disneyworld trip and maybe take another mom and me adventure (Scotland!!) I was surprised by many Padre Pio gifts from chris, having been introduced while driving through Italy. I do wish I hadn't done any research on him though, as the mystery was better than the reality but that's what I get for being curious all the time. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!!

happy birthday lizzie!!

someone turned 9 today!! 

December happenings

I started out the month way ahead of schedule and it FEELS GREAT!! I have done most of my shopping and even wrapped most of my gifts, a definite first for me. Having two kids who are at such different maturity levels has proven hard for me this year. Lizzie is just 8 (soon to be 9) but Emily is closer to 13 than 12. This means that toys are pretty much off both their lists, even Lizzie! Last year eveyone wanted dolls (boy barbies too ???) and I obliged because I could feel the end of the doll era approaching. I guess it makes me a little sad to be moving out of the toy section and into the "curling irons, nail polish, make up, clothes" tween/teen world. Oh well! At least SANTA can still bring toys, right??

Karate and New Trucks, yay!! (food is not allowed in the new truck, yet)
Talent show and awards ceremony, we have almost gone a full year of karate, can't recommend it highly enough (especially for those kids who really really really need it)
On the Camp Fire front: we have done progressive xmas dinner parties, potluck parties and many parties at a very special grandma's house... but we have never just gone out to dinner for the heck of it! This year I decided to set our Xmas party at our local mexican food restaurant. It turned out great and I enjoyed letting the girls just "hang out" We left a nice big tip, hugs all around (hugging is BIG right now with the middle schoolers, so cute!!) and full bellies after a quick handmade gift exchange.
Some things i am enjoying right now: 1. Rachel Khoo especially her new cooking show on the cooking channel, so fun! 2. this cookbook 3. and this one too 4. this blog (I stumbled onto this blog about the time she delivered her twins and thought it was a really refreshing blog about parenting. since then i have been just smitten with it, i love her mom as well. when my kids were babies i didn't have a girlfriend to hang with or talk to and i remember feeling really lonely sometimes. i was lucky to find a really homey nurturing day care for my daughters and i met some other working moms i could talk with. it still wasn't that "dream girlfriend to hang at the park with" situation, but it did help me feel less neurotic! anyways, this blog is what i was looking for then and i don't mind taking a little trip back to the baby days sometimes, it's that good) 5. this blog totally inspiring, she has a video i watched and wow, what a lovely lady!! 6. and this one, are you KIDDING ME?? can these people be any cooler? sheeesh!! ok, off to my date with the laundry and super quick house pick up... we have had some algebra issues so today we meet the new tutor... yippee!!

Belmont Shore Parade

one of the first things i blogged about was the annual belmont shore christmas parade 7 years ago, wow! having two groups i try to be with both and sometimes it works out, sometimes not. this year we were able to stay together so it was a pretty smooth event

the younger kids still clowning around
my older group a little more reserved



parade photos always seem to come out dreamy and fuzzy and surreal... sorta how it feels while you are walking in it. never stops amazing me how exciting and fun it is to march down the parade route with all the noise, music, lights and action. another year down, getting ready for christmas, for once i am organized and early!!

halloween

just a quickie (after the fact) halloween post. i turned 45 this year! seems like a milestone but i feel pretty much the same. i have been in midlife crisis mode for about a dozen years anyway, right?
i like homemade, handmade costumes but the girls begged to look at the cheapy costumes at the store so i went along. it was actually fun and surprisingly easy !! Lizzie is some character from the monster high books? cartoons? not totally sure
emily was little red riding hood, always a favorite in our house (lizzie still has the cape my mom made her when she was about 4 or 5)
we used the "fish" game again at our camp fire carnival. it is so easy to set up and has a nice big look to it. our halloween carnival is super corny and retro, which i love, but we are trying to elevate it a bit so the kids don't get bored. the big kids REALLY get into it
they did a gross out booth... which was very popular!!
this cracked me up because i remember sorting out my candy with my friends and my brother.... the girls were so excited! another halloween (and birthday) has passed! on to thanksgiving and christmas we go...

London, chasing the sun

my mom and i would decide what to do each day depending on the weather. we actually got lucky with a few sunny days

it was a challenge to find the Dulwich Picture Gallery, but we made it! a beautiful park was adjacent to it so we took the scenic route
and caught a glimpse of the London Eye on our bus ride back
one of my favorite trees was in full autumn show:
and on one or our last days i saw a vespa club zoom by on regent street
just out and about

Cemetery tour

London: hmmmmmm.... what to do? been here many times and seen so many things.... let's check out ANOTHER cemetery! Actually, my mom and i have a "thing" for any ancient cemetery. they can be creepy, yes, but i find them extraordinarily beautiful too. we decided to hoof it out to hampstead heath to one of the oldest victorian cemeteries called "highgate cemetery" it is a good 30 minute bus ride and then a little hike, plus you have to go when they are offering tours... only took us 2 tries to get it right. :)

the tour was very informative: i learned that London became industrialized much earlier than many other cities with the population swarming into the city... there became a large demand for places to bury the dead. there were no cemeteries in the city and people were traditionally buried beneath churches where with the increase in bodies, fumes began to fill the churches and made people sick
cemeteries were not allowed within the city so around the edge of London, many cemeteries sprang up. highgate is one of the first
victorians liked to bury their dead in the ground rather than putting them in crypts above ground. they chose decorations from a catalogue, it was quite a big business
a rare example of a crypt
common victorian decoration: upside down torch still burning
church above the cemetery, many victorians visited the cemetery weekly after church services
angels were a common decoration, most were picked from a catalogue but this is a custom made sleeping angel
snake chasing it's tail
i would recommend this cemetery if you could only see one in London, it is very special!

paris dog cemetery

today we visited the paris dog cemetery

 

we also took a walk around the tuileries gardens, it was raining but not too hard so umbrella in hand... we took a little tour
the louvre is here as well

d'orsay museum

fontaine st michel


italian lunch in paris and a metro ride home: fun day!!