they were dancing

On Saturday morning, the air was thick with the grumps. The "it took us 45 minutes to get out of the house just to go to the bakery" kind of grumps. The "nothing I said was the right thing" kind of grumps. You might know those kinds of grumps.

But we went to the bakery anyway.

And after a lot of questions like "why don't they have chocolate cupcakes today," they went to find us a table while I paid. As I waited for my chai tea latte, I looked up and saw this.

They were dancing.

Dancing.

And in that moment I thought to myself, "We're doing something right around here...even on the days it feels like things are upside down and we don't really know what we're doing."

Even on those days, there is dancing.

Yes.

here.

view from the pier at my mom's house in northern wisonsin

This is my "want to do list" today:

Rest. Find the kitchen table under all the mail. Watch the last two weeks of The Voice. Let the hangover from nostalgia from the weekend spent at my 20-year high school reunion settle a bit. Laundry. Unpack (maybe). Rest. Put email off for one more day. Create a new altar next to the bed to help me reground after all that travel. Dip my toes into Pixie's Boundaries Boot Camp (there is still time to join in!)

I also want to stand outside under the blue sky for a few minutes and maybe even take a nap out there on a blanket. I want to soak up the silence, and then pick up Ellie ready to dive into bubbles and eating dinner on the backporch. And as my fingers itch to keep typing to make this list even longer, I'm realizing it might be time to make a true "want to do this summer" list and start checking things off. (Perfect a biscuit recipe. Pick strawberries. Get in touch with a few people who didn't make it to reunion. Risk saying "hey, do you want to come over for dinner." And how the list goes on.)

My hope is to post here more often. I have stories swirling around inside me and a few other ideas I want to plant in this space. I want to get out my big girl camera more and capture this beauty of this part of the world this time of year. I want to remind you that you are not alone. I want to invite you on a few adventures. Yes yes yes.

But first, I'm going to unearth something for lunch...

seeking magic

At first glance, there was a little girl picking up grass from Grandma's yard and bringing it onto the deck and throwing it everywhere. And it would have been easy to say, "Stop making that mess."

But if you listened closely, you could hear a little girl singing a song about how fun it is to dance and decorate Grandma's house with beautiful golden sparkles as she ran back and forth and twirled and smiled and giggled.

And if you looked really close, you could learn this really beautiful lesson: You really can create your own magic.

Just like that.

(And sometimes letting them make a mess is the best parenting move you can make.)

here.

here a little one teaches us about resilience.

here a woman feels laughter shake out the cobwebs.

here the flowers are bursting with audible exhales.

here the hummingbird chirps.

here the sky appears with unexpected blue.

here is a dream about picking fresh berries.

here black pen slides across the blank page.

here the old story slips into the earth.

here there is a wondering, a sadness, a hope.

here the neverending cold is not fading.

here beads are wrapped, words are hammered, talismans are created.

here days are measured in mugs of tea.

here hand to heart, breathe in, breathe out.

*****

"Here" is on of my favorite creative prompts. You can use it to capture photos of what "here" looks like in your corner. You can try to make sense of your world with a poem note. You can make a list and add it to Project Life. You can fill up a whole page with here. Try it.

around here

 

Snow. It rarely happens, so looking out the window last night and seeing a couple of inches brought about feelings of pure joy inside. Each winter I miss my Midwest roots even while I hold the gratitude of never needing to shovel or drive in it anymore. Having it stick around all day today when we had no where to go was awesome. 

While Ellie was sitting on Jon's lap while watching the Olympics yesterday, this conversation happened:
Ellie: "Valentine's Day is a season of family."
Jon: "Did you make that up or did someone tell you that?"
Ellie: "No one told me and I did not make it up. Valentine's Day is a season of family!"
Me (softly to myself): "That was awesome."

The days leading up to Valentine's Day have been busy ones for my shop, and I'm deeply grateful. From parents sending daughters away at college little reminders that they are loved to so many beautiful souls buying the kindred necklace set with the intention of keeping one and giving the other to their dear soul friends to sisters giving their siblings sets of talismans, my heart is honestly smiling. 

In the midst of it all, Ellie's had an on-again off-again fever that has her going from leaning against me almost asleep to running around with endless energy with hardly a breath between. Intense. Lots of crafting and reading and watching movies and cuddling while she sleeps on me and forgiving myself when I lose it a wee bit and breathing deeply. (And yes, I did let her go outside for a few minutes because she was feeling better and, hello, snow! Because she has only been in it once before, her version of "playing" is "Mama, I must clean the snow off of all the furniture in the backyard." I had to stop her from moving on to cleaning it off the plants.)

And in the inbetween spaces, I'm working on something new that has me so darn excited. Like oh my goodness this is really going to happen excited. I'm feeling plugged in to the reasons why I'm here and what I want to share with you. And in this moment, I'm pausing right here as Jon reads to Ellie down the hall and I'm bringing my hands to my heart and taking five deep breaths saying softly to myself, "Just keep showing up as you and those who get it will come along and stand beside you. Yes." 

Sending love and light,
Liz