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Welcome to my corner of the world. I'm so glad you're here. Join me in a conversation about how we build a bridge between daily life and the life we're longing for. As you explore, you'll discover stories, some of my favorite things, a whole lot of love, and perhaps even join me in a little lip syncing. Learn more about me right here.

(almost) weekly letters from my heart to you
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in the shop

Bowls of heart pocket talismans have been gathering in the studio filled with the words and phrases kindred spirits are holding close this year. What is your word? You can find the talismans right here.

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Entries in lists (30)

Thursday
Aug022007

Items said aloud (or in my head) in the last three hours

Holy crappoly1, I forgot to post my swap2!

Me: Did they blow it up on purpose?
J: (insert annoyed laughter) Honey, I've never seen this3.

Only a dog would seem like she is going to be sick but still sniff for food. (pause) Though, her nose is…nosier, so I guess I have no idea what it's like to be her.4

Even the devil will use the truth if it's convenient.5

It takes a special sense of things to be so damn funny. I love Neil.6

I have this theory that the more important and intimate the emotion, the fewer words are required to express it. For instance, in dating, "Will you go out with me?" Six words…"You matter to me." Four words. "I love you." Three words. "Marry me." Two words. But, what's left? What's the one most important and intimate word you can ever say to somebody? It's "good-bye."7

1My new favorite phrase
2Earlier this week I received my awesome swap package from Stephanie in Karen Beth's happiness swap. It deserves its own post, so please stay tuned.
3A new Babylon 5 movie came in the mail. And new means it was actually filmed recently and sent straight to video for all the fans (like my sci-fi lovin' husband…and…ahem…me).
4Well, I don't know what it is like to be her. Maybe Millie's nosier nose is part of the reason why she is the way she is.
5This is my new favorite devil quote. It was said by a character in the Babylon 5 movie. Second favorite is still, of course, Deb Talan with this line "The devil he wore such a fine, fine shirt, and it stayed so clean while he dragged me through the dirt."
6See this.
7Said by Joe Straczynski (the creator, writer, director) during the extras for Babylon 5: The Lost Tales. (Thank you for these words.)

Monday
Jul302007

a photo, a tag

Andrea issued a photography challenge today: Photograph someone in a glass of water.

Well, Millie does not like it when things block my face - like a glass or the camera - but I finally captured her here:

millie in a glass

(And, in case you need a reminder of how super cute she is when she isn't behind glass, click here to see another photo I snapped of her today.)

A couple of weeks ago, Pepek tagged me with the "eight random things" tag and then Kelly Rae tagged me with the same one earlier this month, so I am finally getting around to sharing some answers:

1) I really love the Little House on the Prairie era in books and movies. When I was in grade school, I read all of Janette Oak's Love Comes Softly series and I still read them all every five years or so. I also loved the Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea movies that were on PBS when I was younger. I used to pretend I lived in the "olden days" when I would bake cookies and wear aprons and my long prairie skirts. I spent a lot of time alone and I pretended this for a long time…until I was older than I care to admit. I started thinking about this again because I stumbled upon a huge stash of calico and floral prints at our local thrift shop and bought all of it for $15. There is a lot, I mean a lot, of fabric in this stash. I have been thinking about making some Anne of Green Gables/Little House on the Prairie inspired aprons.

2) I tend to stay in my pajamas for most of the day. I suppose I have mentioned this several times before, but I love that I can do this. You see, I used to say that my ideal job would be one where I didn't have to ever wear a suit or dress shoes or nylons and I could wear pajamas. I even dreamed of opening up a store that sells pajamas, called pj bottoms (and tops), where all the employees would be required to wear pajamas. How great would that be? Well, I pretty much get to wear pajamas all the time. It is fantastic.

3) Often when I am leading one of my yoga classes in meditation, I begin to feel as though I am just my voice and my body is no longer there.

4) When I was eleven or so, I thought that Joe Fredrick, a Notre Dame basketball player, was going to see me in the crowd after a game and find me so beautiful that he would wait for me to get older so we could date. Yep. When my girlfriends at the time were in love with the boys on the cover of Tiger Beat, I was obsessed with the boys of the Notre Dame basketball team. I knew all their birthdays and middle names and heights and on and on. The funny thing is that later when I was much older (aka, a teenager), I would roll my eyes at myself and my obsession with someone so much older than me, and little did I know when I was rolling those eyes that I would marry someone the same age as Joe Fredrick.

5) I don't miss much about Indiana (where I lived for most of my life until we moved out here). When people ask me what I miss, I have a really hard time coming up with something. I don't think is because there is anything wrong with Indiana. The people are wonderful there. I think it is more because I love living out here in the Pacific Northwest. It is home. (I do miss driving past the ever-growing corn fields in the summer. Yes. I miss that gorgeous green color.)

6) Sometimes looking at all the amazing craftsy+artsy blogs out there invites me to feel overwhelmed as though I could suffocate in all that I am lacking. I am learning to let go of the need to compare (learning being the key word here).

7) I was never really much a dog person. I liked dogs but tended to be overwhelmed by some of them. A little over six years ago, there was a golden retriever lost on campus when I worked at the boarding school, and I took it home in the hopes of finding its owners. I fell in love with that dog. A few days later, his owners did find him, and I was heartbroken. At that moment, I decided I wanted to rescue a golden and within a few weeks, I was off to Tennessee to rescue Traveler. Now, I can't imagine our house without the little patter of puppy toes (and by puppy, I mean "adult housetrained overall mellow dog"). Jon and I are pretty much dog people and when we are out and about, we are often on "pooch patrol" as we look for dogs who are out with their people.

8) I love tap dancing. When I see it on TV, I just want to get up and start tapping away. I have been known, if wearing certain shoes and on a certain type of floor, to just suddenly start tap dancing without even noticing I am doing it. I took tap from first to eighth grade. I loved it. And, I think about taking lessons again…or at least buying some tap shoes and tapping away in the garage.

(If you haven't done this tag yet, and want to share some random facts about yourself, please tag yourself and let me know...and I want to know those details!)

Sunday
Jul222007

(some of) the last forty-six hours

tea

taking turns reading (but)
being the one to read the last few chapters aloud (because I am)
completing the circle (and, with the last line read,)
feeling like I've said good-bye to dear friends (though now i am)
feeling content (about a weekend spent just the two of us)
drinking many mugs of tea (and)
eating chocolate (because we were)
fighting off dementors and You-Know-Who (and)
discussing what we thought might happen next (and)
deducing horcruxes and whereabouts and allegiances (and)
eating (because you have to do that along with)
sleeping just enough (and)
taking some time to celebrate bits of real-life excitement (and)
remembering (to find ourselves)
living in the joy (because sometimes we forget)

Saturday
May192007

ten things plus one

1. my shop is going to open on tuesday! here is another preview:

prayer flags: senses series (in pink)

selma tote: rainy days

prayer flags: seek series

2. i watched roman holiday last night for, i think, the fourth time. i love that movie.

3. watching roman holiday made me want to get my hair cut ala audrey in the movie or like amelie. (i am going to keep it long though.)

4. jon and i keep our healing candle glowing almost all the time nowadays as we know (and know of) several people who are ill or are waiting for test results. i know it isn't much, but i hope it helps in some way.

5. gram is still in the hospital and needs some sort of procedure/surgery. it is scary.

6. when gram comes home, i am probably going to go and stay with my in-laws and help out. i am selfishly hoping that is soon! as i am excited because their town has so many antique stores. (okay, you know, all i really want is for her to be okay, but that is the spin i am putting on all of it to try to be a little silly.)

7. i have been working a lot lately and when i am not working, i am creating and organizing for my shop...i kind of want to go and see spiderman tomorrow just to do something that won't allow me to multitask. because even while watching tv or talking on the phone or eating or talking to jon, i am multitasking with photoshop or email or cutting or pasting or...how the list goes on and on.

8. i am so excited to have a banner fairy (she is rescuing me from this equation: photoshop + liz = tears).

9. i am trying to figure out what kind of ink might be "waterproof" enough to be used on flags that would go outside. anybody have any ideas?

10. after gorgeous days filled with sunshine, we are doing the nothwest grey thing now. i have to admit, i kind of like it. a day for sweaters. but i do hope the sun will come out...ahem...tomorrow.

+1. several people have signed up for the tea towel swap! if you want to join in, check out this post for details.

{updated: thanks for letting me know about the comments everyone. not sure why they were disabled...ahhh...blogger}

Monday
Apr302007

good morning monday (april 30)...and finally, a preview of my prayer flags

reading

See the list of ten books of poetry I enjoy (along with the lists of a few other participants) in Dana’s column at Poetry Thursday (there are more...but these are ten books I would suggest anyone new to poetry pick up). Those ten books are what I will be reading for the next few weeks. I am going to try to read at least one poem a day in May.

Pride and Prejudice (I love it! But must admit that I am glad I have seen the movie(s) multiple times as I might be a bit lost in the language sometimes.)

watching

Planet Earth (If you haven’t already, please go to the website and check. it. out.)

The Illusionist (good, good movie)

listening

To David Whyte read poetry. (Yesterday evening I put a quilt down on the floor in the living room and layed down, headphones on, and listened to poetry from his CD. Soon Millie cuddled up next to me. Heaven.)

To the Dixie Chicks sing “I’m Not Ready to Make Nice” over and over again.

To Ben Taylor

eating

Right now…a Wendy’s frosty for breakfast. I am not proud of it…but it is warm in our house this morning and I am hot and it seemed like the way to go (we had one in the freezer).

Sushi. Just can’t seem to get enough of that salmon protein. Always crave it after emotional stuff happens.

drinking

Izze’s sparkling apple juice. This is my current favorite thing to drink and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

anticipating

Going to see Miss Potter (especially after reading Meg’s review). I think I might take myself on a date and see this movie this week.

dreaming

Last night I used Proactive for the first time (you know that anti-acne system you see on those infomercials? I bought it in one of those fancy vending machines in the Minneapolis airport last week). And then last night, I dreamed I used it on my face and my skin started peeling and suddenly I peeled off an entire layer of skin from my body. I literally stood in front of my mirror and shed a body’s worth of skin. What a metaphor. When I remembered the dream this morning, I looked up from my work and thought, “well crap, I do actually feel lighter today.”

A different kind of dream…one where I take a three-minute break from work and daydream about what I could create from Anna Maria Horner’s new line of fabric called Chocolate (see some of it here).

doing

Going to my teacher’s studio for yoga yesterday. (A deep breath and reminder of how important it is to take care of me. I plan to go again Wednesday.)

Exploring the Fremont Sunday Market. (When you visit, we will have to go there. If you live near me and I don’t know you yet, let’s meet there. And if I do know you, ahem…Kim, let’s meet there soon.) The sun was shining and I just had so much fun as Jon and I went from booth to booth. People make the most amazing things.

creating

Sets of prayer flags. Here is a little preview. (I really am gonna get that Etsy shop open soon.)

The first set is from the “begin” series. Each flag features a reminder to prompt you to keep doing what you do as you live in your life.

begin series: pink

begin series: pink (first four flags up close)

begin series: pink (last three flags up close)

The second set of prayer flags is from the senses series. Each flag is in honor of a sense (including the sixth sense of “know”). A meditation written for this series (by me) is read across the set, with each flag having one line that pertains to that sense.

senses series: meditation

senses series: meditation (two flags up close)

feeling thankful

To those of you who nominated me for a thinking blogger award. Each time, your words came when I most needed them. Thank you. Could I nominate five? I don’t know as there are so many I enjoy, but I will suggest that you visit the first five bloggers I started reading two years ago who invited me to think a bit differently, validated who I am, and changed my life forever:
Andrea
Christine
Jen
Keri
Leonie