Pea Soup

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Today is MY kind of weather: steady rain with thick grey enveloping me everywhere I look and go. It's pea soup out there, that's what my grandma would say.

I need a day like this on a day like this. Earlier today we had quite a scare when we came home from the Noodle's class party with the class guinea pig and discovered our dog had accidentally turned our gas stove on! One burner was on full blast with an empty pot on top. Apparently he was trying to find a snack? In any case, although the house still smells burnt, it is all in one piece. I am counting my blessings.

My nerves are quite burnt as well which is why when I sat down to write a little blog post, I noticed the serenity in my own backyard. It is so opposite of what I am feeling in my body. I grabbed my camera and took a few quick snaps.







I feel a lot better now. A little hot cocoa and a viewing of Elf (Zooey singing is always a highlight) and I should be all fixed up. I think it's appropriate to order pizza for dinner tonight too, don't you agree?



Isn't this a lovely contrast to the outdoors? I'll leave you with this cozy scene for the weekend and hope you are all snug and happy!

A California Native

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I have to run back to the Noodle's classroom now for a holiday party but I wanted to leave something pretty here until I can get back. I found this picture that I took back in September, but never posted. It is from a local park that is filled with plants native to California.




I am not a California native, I was born in Queens, NY. My mom and dad moved us to San Diego when I was one because my dad didn't want to raise me in the big city. (I regret that decision of his, I would have loved growing up in NYC).

Where were you born?

HaPe Contina Stacking Creative Game

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Got a kiddo to buy a present for this holiday season?


You may recognize these blocks. I must say that they totally reinforce my belief in wooden, open-ended toys vs. battery-operated gizmos for kids. We have done endless things with these blocks but lining them up and flicking them into a chain-reaction free fall continues to be the favorite for the Noodle.

P.S. If you click the "buy" link above, notice how cute the company is on their page title.
P.P.S. Click here to see these blocks in action in a different way.
P.P.S. These photos were taken by Mr. Nichols, processed by moi.

A Tree Saga Plus Soft Lights

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We got our Christmas tree yesterday. This year, we struggled with opposing aesthetics for the first time. Jeff and I prefer asymmetrical, tall trees with lots of space between branches. The Noodle apparently prefers the traditional triangular variety that are very dense throughout. This led to a huge upset to the tune of 30 minutes of terrible sadness when he fell in love with a tree that we didn't. 


In the end, the winning idea was to get a miniature tree just for the Noodle's room. He actually managed to find a close replica to the one we left behind at the first location. Every year we name our tree and this year we welcomed Schroeder into our family for the holiday season. For about five minutes our tree's name was Charlie, therefore the Noodle named his tree Charlie Brown so now our tree is called Schroeder. 


To celebrate the first night with Schroeder, I was inspired to make a traditional Italian Sunday family dinner. I made my Grandma's lasagna, meat balls and sauce from scratch. We had pistachio gelato with butter waffle cookies for dessert (not from scratch). White mums graced our table in tiny little jars and the napkin rings were made from pipe cleaners strung with two miniature glass ornaments.


the Flat Stanley of ornaments

What's not to love about all of the wonderful soft lights of the holiday season? It is a key part of what makes it all so magical, isn't it? Twinkles, candles, soft reflections...it is easy to get lost in a daydream. 


superfly 70s ornament


dandelion ornament

My wish for all of you is that you're beginning to feel the magic of the holidays, and not feeling too stressed. I have been simplifying the holidays in bits and pieces over the years and I think this is going to be my most relaxed season yet. I exchange ornaments only with most of my girlfriends and this year the family is swapping names for the first time. There are only three little ones in the family to buy for so overall I am looking forward to my shopping. I am limiting my card list this year too.


My Cherry Blue Art Wall

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I've shared with you my love for the cherry blue color combination before. Lucky for me, Real Simple seems to love it too.




It fits in perfectly on my art wall dedicated to the greatness of turquoise and red. See that cute little picture next to the magazine? I found that recently in one of my bins as part of a desk calendar from 2004 that I never opened. How fortunate! It also fit right on my art wall.




Isn't that a heavenly staircase and door? The whole calendar was photos from Greece. Greece is definitely somewhere I want to visit. And soon! I even had a dream a couple of months ago that I lived and worked in Greece. In my dream I was walking down a street to work with someone and I said to them, "In all my years of living here, I haven't once been to the water. I'm always working." I woke up very sad but I do not think that dream could ever come true.

Have you been to Greece? Tell me all about it! Do you like how I started out talking about colors and landed up on vacation far away from home? That's just how I roll. :)

P.S. I bet you've noticed that I'm tinkering with the blog again. I know you all loved my camera drawing. But I got bored with it quickly. I may put it back up. I also finally got a third column installed! Now I can load it up with pretties like a blogroll for starters. I've been wanting to do that for a long time. Thanks for your patience!

Advent Candles

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This round up of advent calendars led me to this solstice countdown using candles and that is how I came up with The Js inaugural advent candle ceremony.










I used the biggest tray I own along with fresh pine branches from our tree in the back yard. I nestled in the chestnuts and then arranged the votives. Each evening we will light the appropriate number of candles working our way in towards the Christmas Eve candle. The Noodle will choose a story book, we'll read it and then blow out the candles.






Last night was our first night because I was a day late getting all the candles. We had a surprise guest for dinner (Nana) who read Olivia Helps With Christmas. The ceremony was enjoyed by all, including fairy!

Swell Season: Low Rising

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I noticed in Starbucks the other day that Swell Season has a new cd available, Strict Joy. I fell in love with their movie Once and their music really moves me. This video completely captured my attention this morning so I wanted to share it with you.



Hey, don't forget to check out their super awesome collection of posters! I'm loving them. You can also find Swell Season on Facebook and you can find Glen on Twitter.

Chestnuts

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On Saturday evening after dinner, we went for a family "night walk" down our street. Our street ends at an unfinished residential construction site and the road continues but unpaved into the hilly canyon area that we live in. We had headlamps and the Noodle's solar-powered, self-powered radio flashlight.

By the time we returned home, we had an excellent collection of chestnuts.



Today I am shipping an order from my shop, making soup for lunch and later knitting with a friend and then dinner out with other friends. There is serious Lego ship building going on beside me at the moment and anxious waiting for a playdate with the neighbor. I'm in charge of the yams/sweet potatoes for Thursday so I guess I'll be recipe hunting today too. Does anyone have a favorite recipe to share? Leave me a comment! :)

Fate

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Yesterday I promised you a story about gratitude from my life this week. It is a bit of a long story but I believe it is worth your time.

It all started 11 years ago when my father died. I had been estranged from him for the year prior to his death for many complicated reasons. I was finishing college after a long ten years of struggling to put myself through school. I had one three-week summer school class left to get my degree. I took the final exam on a Friday morning and flew from San Diego to the Bay Area late on Friday night so I could visit my father.

I spent Saturday with my dad in the hospital in San Francisco and was shocked to see how poorly he was doing. He could hardly speak but he was definitely surprised and happy to see me. I told him that I had finally graduated. Around 9 p.m., I went to a nearby market to get a snack. I asked him if he wanted anything and he squeaked out the word, "Sprite!" I brought him his drink but little did I know that was the last thing my father would ever say to me. I don't remember what time I went to my hotel room that night but I woke up at 3 a.m. and could not sleep. I wanted to go back to the hospital but I was intimidated by figuring out how to get access to him after hours. Eventually I fell back to sleep and at 5:30 a.m. I got "the call." It was Sunday, June 21, 1998 -- Father's Day -- and my dad had died.


It was about two days later, it's all a blur, but I had to return home to San Diego. To say I was distraught is an understatement. It was very difficult to be out in the public, with the regular people and regular activities swirling around me. Somehow I got myself checked in and to the gate. I was totally unable to hide my grief. I don't remember much of the flight, only that I was miserable and wanted to be somewhere private. I was unaware of anything but my heartache. As I was sitting in my seat waiting to disembark, a woman handed me a card silently. I remember feeling jolted by the realization that other people could see me. She left the plane and I opened the card.



This is what it said: "I saw your pain today and I wanted you to know you are in my prayers. There will be a time when you feel happiness again. Please have faith in that and it will give you comfort. Kim." I cannot really find the words to express what a gift this woman gave me that day. I am an only child and my dad had raised me after my mother left when I was four. I felt all alone in the world when my dad died and to know a perfect stranger was showing me love was the gift of a lifetime. Time went by and I did find my feet again. I have had a lot of trials and tribulations in this life from a very young age, but this random act of kindness made a huge impression on me. I never forgot my kind stranger.

But I did forget where I put her card. For years I couldn't find it. I knew I wouldn't have ever gotten rid of it but I never knew where I put it. Until Tuesday morning, I went looking for some old photos of my dad in one of my famous bins. There was the card, nestled right in among the photos of him in Yosemite. I have looked in this bin many, many times but never saw the card until this week. To my sheer amazement, Kim's full name was on the back of the card! I had never even thought to turn it over the day she gave it to me.

Finding this card was the biggest item on my gratitude list this week that I emailed to my girlfriends. With the power of Google, and their encouragement, I set out on Wednesday morning to see if I could find Kim. It was easy! She is an accomplished artist and photographer and is all over the web with her beautiful art. I took a deep breath, and composed an email to her to tell her how she had helped me so much so long ago. I had no idea how she would respond but it didn't even matter. The opportunity to thank a stranger doesn't come along every day and I felt so good and so peaceful that I had found her.

Kim is as wonderful and amazing now as she was 11 years ago. She responded to my email with kindness, amazement and gratitude back to me. We have been corresponding all week and the reason this post is titled fate is because she was flying home from a friend's funeral and had recently lost her grandmother so she was tuned into my grief. I believe in fate and that is why we were on the same flight that day. I also believe for some reason, it took me until now to find the card and locate her. I am not sure why exactly but it seems we have a connection in this life and I look forward to getting to know her now.

The moral of my story is that you never know how you might impact a stranger. It was a random act of kindness. We've all heard the phrase but how often do we muster the courage to reach out to a stranger the way Kim did for me? I think it took a lot of courage for her to write a grieving stranger on a shared flight a note like she did. She had no idea why I was crying so much, but she trusted her instincts and reached out with her big heart.

Our story inspires me to the deepest levels and that is why I want to share it with the world! Love and kindness (and art, frankly) makes this world turn 'round. I believe that in my bones. I know this was a long story and if you made it all the way to the end, I thank you.

Gratitude

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'Tis the season to be thankful and for the past three weeks, I have been contributing to a weekly email series on gratitude with some close friends. I thought I would share some of the things I wrote in those emails with my readers.


I am grateful for...

...trees, big old trees (like my in-laws stunning & tall birch tree above).
...the way my husband supports me as a mother.
...mini burger patties from Whole Foods.
...all of my cameras.
...my spontaneous remission still.
...the short distance to school this year.
...the quirky, old camera shop my husband found that sold me Polaroid film.
...cold, bubbly French lemonade served in a Mason jar.
...Ellen DeGeneres, if only she knew how many sick days she has gotten me through with her joyful spirit and beautiful smile.
...Moleskin journals, even empty they hold so much promise inside.
...the sound of crickets in my backyard every night.
...coffee beans.
...that someone invented Solitaire, I am finding a deck of cards very soothing lately.

Tomorrow I will share the biggest one from my list this week, okay? It's a long story but happy and important. I would love to hear something you are grateful for lately, big or small, in my comments. :)


PSA: Blog Tinkering

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Well hello there! You have probably noticed my new banner.

I have not liked my banner for a long while. I thought I would try drawing one this morning. I have thought about hiring someone to draw for me but I cannot settle on a direction for my artist friend. Meanwhile, I need to mix things up around here for my own creative reasons. So pardon the dust today, I may do even more tinkering before sundown.

Thanks for your patience. :)

Artist Profile: Masha D'Yans

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Good morning! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

 I never did make it back here on Friday as you can tell, it was a busy day at school and then we had friends over for cocktails in the evening. Saturday we went to my in-laws for the weekend to house sit and even though a mean migraine landed on my head for two days, I still had a nice time getting away.

I'm here now to show you the artist I discovered at the car wash last week. (My local car wash has the best little gift shop around).



I immediately fell in love with Masha's amazing art which I saw featured on a line of greeting cards. Her work is so whimsical and colorful that I could not stop staring at it.


When I got home, I wanted to learn more about her. She is very well established as an artist, so as the old NBC commercial goes, "if I haven't seen her, she's new to me." (Do you remember that marketing campaign for summer reruns?).

I am very drawn to images of girls on swings for obvious reasons, but I am clearly not the only fan of Masha's work. You can keep up with what's new on her blog. I love the pale grey background she chose because (of course) it makes her art jump off the screen.


I have put these two lovely gals on my desk to remind me of my playful spirit.

If you like her work as much as me, you can shop her cards here, her home decor here and all the rest here.

Scene Around Town: A Classic Mustang

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When I saw this car across the street from my friend's house, I couldn't help but spend a few minutes on it with my camera. It is quintessential -- a classic car on a tree-lined street with fallen leaves all over it and all around it.





It's the majestic in the everyday that keeps me going. I think that is part of the reason I have fallen in love with this song this week. What keeps you going?

Obsession: Granny Squares

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This obsession of mine with granny squares has been growing all year, like the moss on the shaded side of a California redwood tree. After I finish my three-year knitted blanket, I am going to delve (huh?) dive headlong into grannyhood.







I see them here, there and everywhere.
Inspired? Learn how to make one.