The Best of 2009- Moment of Peace

Q: Moment of peace. An hour or a day or a week of solitude. What was the quality of your breath? The state of your mind? How did you get there?

A: I meditate and do yoga on a daily basis. I reach a point of "zen" where my body relaxes and I think that I'm feeling what I'm suppose to feel, how it's explained in books and how I've heard that moment described by others. Would I call it peace? No....Yes, maybe. I know that I'm not alone, I can hear the kids breathing in the next room. I know that soon enough they will awaken and that this moment will soon be forgotten. I breathe in and my mind always goes to the feeling I get when I push off the wall in the pool, dolphin kicking my legs, tucking my chin to my chest, hands stacked one on top of the other stretched ahead of me....the silence surrounding me. Being submerged in water has always been my peaceful place. On days when my mind is racing, when I'm feeling overwhelmed I often break away and head to the pool to do laps. There in the depths of the pool I can clear my mind, find my breath, leave feeling rejuvenated and renewed.

The Best of 2009- Blog

Q: Blog find of the year. That gem of a blog you can't believe you didn't know about until this year.
A: Not only am I a blogger but I'm a blog reader. The list is really long, the blogs that I check out on a daily and weekly basis. But if I had to narrow it down here are my top 5...yes that's as narrow as I can make it.
1. Kelly Rae Roberts: loving her art work and her energy written into her blog.
2. Walk Slowly, Live Wildly: a family of four who travels the US in a RV powered by vegetable oil! Need I say more?
3. Shutter Sisters: because pretty pictures are always nice to look at.
4. A Beautiful Mess: Elsie is super cute and I totally want to "know" her, I think we'd be fast friends.
5. Ordinary Courage: Brene` Brown is amazing, her words inspire me to "tune out and tune in".

The photo above is from BlueCocoon, I love how light and airy her pictures are, the story that is created in each frame. She is having a Buy One Get One Free Offer in her etsy shop. In case anyone cares I like this one and this one. :)

Dollar Days at Baltimore Museums

Don't miss dollar days at Baltimore museums this weekend. Yesterday the boys and I checked out the Maryland Science Center,
it was awesome! I love science centers, all the hands on learning, the wide age range that it appeals to....the kid play area!!! Logan loved putting a skeleton together and learning more about the inside of the body, this is a recent new fascination and we are strongly encouraging it. Cancel your plans for the day and head to Baltimore! Come on the roads aren't that bad.

The Best of 2009- Book

Q: Book. What book - fiction or non - touched you? Where were you when you read it? Have you bought and given away multiple copies?
A: I Will Not Die an Unlived Life By Dawna Markova
Yes, I've blogged about this book before, click here. It's the book that I keep coming back to, that I tell so many people that they have to read. I haven't loaned out my copy because it still lives in my car. I pick it up at random moments and read a passage that I've underlined/circled/starred...it still speaks to me in a way no other book has this year.

The Best of 2009 Blog Challenge

I recently discovered Gwen's blog and I am so excited to participate in The Best of 2009 Blog Challenge. Basically the concept is to take a moment and look at the last year and reflect, remember and then share my favorite moments from 2009. There are no hard rules, so I may post everyday or I may not. That's the beauty of it. But to catch up here are the first 2.
Q: Trip. What was your best trip in 2009?
Hands down the best trip I took this year was when my girlfriend Lauren and I went to NY to ride our bikes 100 miles in one day. I am still amazed that we did it. I still get giddy talking about it. After the ride we went to the beach and watched the sun set, I haven't taken the time to do that enough in the past year. To sit and BE and allow life to happen around me and just enjoy it.

Q:Restaurant moment. Share the best restaurant experience you had this year. Who was there? What made it amazing? What taste stands out in your mind?
A: For all you local folks you have to check out Jackie's in Silver Spring, MD. By far the best food I've had this year. The serving sizes are perfect, you don't feel sickly full, you leave feeling completely satisfied. Make sure you call and make a reservation, yes it's that good!

A lot on the fire....

I have a lot going on right now. A lot on the fire, as my Grandmother would say. I'm trying to find a balance but with Christmas fast approaching I'm like a lot of people...feeling a tad overwhelmed and wishing there were more hours in the day. I've paired down my handmade gifts this year and right now it's all I am working on so sadly you won't be seeing many craft posts until after Christmas, as the recipients read the blog.
I'm steadily building my yoga classes for the new year. I'm also in the beginning stages of something new and exciting and I can't wait to tell you all about it!! Really excited!!! Trust me, so worth the wait! :)
I hope all of you take a moment to breathe. Be in your body and allow the emotions you are feeling to have their space and then move them on. Focus on the reason why we share these holidays together. Be there. In that moment. And carry it with you.
be well.

The day after Thanks...

This is what the day after Thanksgiving looked like in my house, exactly the way it should. I chilled out in pajamas until about one-ish.
Never do I do this....though I've done it twice in the last month. hmmm.....
One of the boys, sometimes both, were at my feet playing cars, games, asking important questions like "can we decorate for Christmas NOW?!?!" I sat on the sofa knitting with a very cuddly Dharma next to me while texting my mom. Talk about a relaxing day of multitasking!

A day at Fort Washington, MD

I grew up just five minutes from Fort Washington, MD. My parents use to take us every Easter morning for the sunrise service. As a child I hated getting up that early but then the sun would start rising, and that moment when it's dark and it seems like you blink and the sky is filled with light in an instant....still takes my breath away. There were all these people of different faiths at the sunrise service joined together, a handful of ministers sharing one podium for one Sunday morning. And even as a child I could feel how spectacular that was.

Later Fort Washington became this secret place that my friend Amy and I would sneak into after dark and lay on one of the grass roofs looking at the stars sharing our dreams of what we wanted to do with our lives. Feeling so grown up for getting away with sneaking into the park after dark (against the rules) and yet small and childish enough to be easily scared at every sound we heard in the dark.

It's nice to come home again, as an adult, and share these places of my childhood with my children. They force me to look at it in a different light. It's refreshing. It makes my heart light.

If you are in the DC area, I highly recommend spending an afternoon here, in the winter it's free but even "in season" it's really cheap to get in. My boys loved rolling down the steep hills, pretending to shoot cannons and discovering all the hidden dark rooms.
Here is a glimpse of our day at Fort Washington.

Birthday Gift for a Friend

As the person in the family who takes all the pictures and then scrapbooks those moments I know how hard it is to feel like you are being seen. There are barely any photos of me in the scrapbooks I make and I often wonder if in 10 years I'll regret that. I've been trying to be more mindful of creating layouts that involve me, have photos of me, so that my kids will see me in the books I make. When I was in Seattle I knew I wanted to capture Corie in a moment of mothering. She's such a wonderful mother! I am often in awe of how she gracefully handles what is put in front of her. She's the mom-friend of mine that we can curl up on the couch together and talk about parenting and it never, not ever, turns into a competition or a one upping the other on cute things our kids did or said. We share the journey and advise each other with our whole hearts. And I am so very thankful to have that relationship. Every mom needs one of those or two. :)

And now the magic of photoshop, as you can see in the first two photos one picture Corie looks great but True's eyes are half mast. And the other with True looking stunning, Corie isn't smiling. And I wanted that smile. I merged the two pictures in photoshop to create the perfect image of the two of them. I created a layout that she could either frame, add to her existing album or just post on her desk for awhile. Happy Birthday Corie! Love you sweet friend!

Celebration Banner

It's raining! That's cause for a celebration, right? In some parts of the world it is. Don't wait for a birthday or a major holiday...pull out the celebration banner for milestones that go unnoticed.

Your kindergartner walked down the hall to class without crying for the first time since school started, 3 months ago.
A perfect score on a spelling test that hours were spent studying for.
Your first grader finally made it across the monkey bars all by herself.

The moments when children's faces light up, when they are so proud of themselves...celebrate that! Celebrate the everyday!
Available in my Etsy Store for you to enjoy at your house.