In just an hour of paying attention:

The air is the perfect temperature – not so warm or cold as to demand attention.

Watching an artist become

The little one exploring – getting familiar with [...]]]> The magic happens every day, but I don’t always take the time to stop and notice.

In just an hour of paying attention:

The air is the perfect temperature – not so warm or cold as to demand attention.

Watching an artist become

The little one exploring – getting familiar with Mother Nature

And Mother Nature says hi right back.

A mama bird feeding her chicks…

A perfect rosebud…

Mother Nature reclaiming a chair…

I find the magic every time I look for it. I just have to remember to look.

Every day is a gift.

WW Linkup
Every week I host a photo linkup where we share posts featuring a photo. It started out being called Wordless Wednesday, but… Bloggers? Wordless? Then we started calling it Wordy Wednesday. Now we just abreviate to WW, and you pick for yourself whether or not to get wordy.

Link up your photo post below to share, and we’ll be by to visit.

More Blogs Hosting WW Linkups

It’s so very much like my daughter chasing these bubbles around the park – yet so [...]]]> Writing has been difficult lately. I feel like I’m chasing soap bubbles, and the moment I grasp a nugget, a train of thought, an approach, an angle, it disappears into nothingness before I can pin it to paper.

It’s so very much like my daughter chasing these bubbles around the park – yet so different.

First, I’m not having as much fun (I need to do something about that).

Second, my failure to grasp these bubbles, and manipulate them into a cohesive thesis, has consequenses.

Just a few more days, I can count it in hours now, till this semester is done. The last paper and final are friday; then I can exhale.

And then I can chase the bubbles just for fun.

WW Linkup
Every week I host a photo linkup where we share posts featuring a photo. It started out being called Wordless Wednesday, but… Bloggers? Wordless? Then we started calling it Wordy Wednesday. Now we just abreviate to WW, and you pick for yourself whether or not to get wordy.

Link up your photo post below to share, and we’ll be by to visit.

More Blogs Hosting WW Linkups

We may be adventuring at the grocery store

in the back yard

at the library

during the commute

or in a fountain at the mall.

I’m so blessed to have this constant [...]]]> Whenever you see me with my little girl, there is a good chance that we are adventuring.

We may be adventuring at the grocery store

in the back yard

at the library

during the commute

or in a fountain at the mall.

I’m so blessed to have this constant reminder to embrace the adventure in life, wherever we are.

I just had to fix up this picture with my favorite quote of hers from last summer.

More fabulous blogs with WW linkups here!

Favorite TV Shows: SuperWhy, Diego, Dancing with the Stars, Billy the Exterminator, Angelina Ballerina, Shark Week

Favorite Movie: The Princess and the Frog

Shoe size: 10

What she wants to do when she grows up: Rescue Animals – and – be like Mommy (mama swoon)

Favorite Books: Too Princessy, The [...]]]>

Favorite TV Shows: SuperWhy, Diego, Dancing with the Stars, Billy the Exterminator, Angelina Ballerina, Shark Week

Favorite Movie: The Princess and the Frog

Shoe size: 10

What she wants to do when she grows up: Rescue Animals – and – be like Mommy (mama swoon)

Favorite Books: Too Princessy, The Animal Encyclopedia, Too Purpley, Sharks

Best Quote of the Year: “Adventure makes me happy, and I have my shoes on.”

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl.

Spring Break

New year – well in some cultures, but I’ll take it.

Even Easter and Passover speak of fresh starts.

Time to stop and take a deep breath. It doesn’t matter that I’m not at a good stopping point; when does that ever happen?

Mommy needs a [...]]]> Spring cleaning

Spring Break

New year – well in some cultures, but I’ll take it.

Even Easter and Passover speak of fresh starts.

Time to stop and take a deep breath. It doesn’t matter that I’m not at a good stopping point; when does that ever happen?

Mommy needs a time out.

Mental margarita

Everything I need to do will still be there tomorrow

Makes it easier to focus on what’s really important

Hope you had a wonderful Easter/Passover/weekend.

.

I’m that on top of things.

How important is it to throw a party anyway? I didn’t even think it was on her radar, but then a [...]]]> Yesterday, my little girl turned three (yes, she shares a birthday with William Shatner). Today, I’m making calls trying to find a venue for her birthday party.

I’m that on top of things.

How important is it to throw a party anyway? I didn’t even think it was on her radar, but then a few weeks ago, as my daughter was explaining to a random cafe customer that she’s almost three and going to have a birthday party with a cake and presents and candles and new dress and and and [deep breath] and and and and – it occurred to me that I do have responsibilities in this department – and apparently, this year, she has expectations.

I was in the same boat last year with school, and fatigue, and bills, and everything-all-at-once. I even wrote about my frustration in deciding to postpone her birthday party till April last year, because I just couldn’t do it in March. And then the birthday party never happened. Too much everything. I can’t let that happen twice in a row.

And, I know this is a taboo topic but, I don’t know how many birthdays I will have with her. I can’t promise her I will always be here for her. I’m not planning on going anywhere, of course, but I got a big wake-up call with this cancer diagnosis. I need to cherish every moment I have with her. I can’t promise tomorrow, but I can give her today.

So what about school and everything else? I can’t count how many times a day I ask myself what the right thing to do is, and I don’t know the answer. In the moment, when she’s desperate for my attention, I want to say forget school. So what if that paper is due in 4 hours? When I sit back and look at the big picture, school is just so important. Hopefully it will help increase my earning ability, but more importantly, it’s an education. An education is so much more than just vocational school, and the more classes I take, the more I understand this. It’s critical. And I want my daughter to see that, come hell or high water (and I feel like I’ve seen both recently), I got an education. But attendance in school isn’t just about an education, either. We depend on my student loans to pay the rent. As much as it’s digging us deeper into debt, it’s also my way of helping to keep us housed and fed. Hopefully, someday it will pay off by leading to a decent paycheck.

But, I also want her to understand how important she is to me.  When I hear her say phrases like “I’m trying to get this done,” “I have work to do,” and “In a minute,” my heart breaks a little bit because I know exactly where she’s getting them.

So I’m going to throw her a birthday party. I know it wont make up for all that time with my nose in a book, but it’s important. It’s important to her, and it’s important to me. It won’t happen till April, but this time, I’ll make sure it happens.

And the gift? One of our little traditions is right before bed she picks out what she wants to dream about; we can get quite fanciful, because amazing things can happen in dreams and anything is possible. More often than not, her choice of dreams involves dancing, and several times she has chosen to go dancing in an orange dress, and holding orange flowers. (Before this, I had no idea she even liked orange, but I think it’s becoming a favorite color). The other day we were at the store and she ran right up to an orange dress and said “I danced in this dress in my dream.”  I think I need to find her an orange dress.

Also, is orange the big color this year? I seem to be seeing it everywhere.

Doris was good friends with my grandmother, and I got to spend quite a bit of time with her, so I may be a little [...]]]> One of my favorite views of Seattle is from Kerry Park, cut into the side of Queen Anne hill, and adorned with the Changing Form sculpture by Doris Chase.

Doris was good friends with my grandmother, and I got to spend quite a bit of time with her, so I may be a little biased,

But I still think the sculpture is pretty cool,

and the perfect place from which to photograph the ever-evolving city I love,

as well as my ever-changing little girl.

Last week the wind was still cold, but it was also exhilarating.

Of course, being able to nuzzle into Daddy’s coat just makes it that [...]]]> I hate the wind, but Gem takes a different approach. She has a way of reminding me to look for another perspective.

Last week the wind was still cold, but it was also exhilarating.

Of course, being able to nuzzle into Daddy’s coat just makes it that much better.

I hope this made you smile.

I didn’t mind the snowstorm much at all. It was a minor inconvenience, combined with a bevy of benefits. My husband at home for a few extra days. Family play time in the snow. A little girl’s first snowman. Soup with grilled sandwiches. Hot chocolate (Gem would be sure to verify that her’s was [...]]]>

I didn’t mind the snowstorm much at all. It was a minor inconvenience, combined with a bevy of benefits. My husband at home for a few extra days. Family play time in the snow. A little girl’s first snowman. Soup with grilled sandwiches. Hot chocolate (Gem would be sure to verify that her’s was “warm”). Days packed with guilt-free snuggle time and togetherness.

Until my internet went out. Then it got personal.

Oddly, up until I noticed the outtage, I’d spent little time online. But in the hours, minutes, and seconds that have creeped by since that devastating discovery, I’ve thought of little else. We are all safe and well. We have electricity, heat, water, stockpiles of food, and an ever-deepening wonderland of snow and ice outside. It doesn’t matter.

I’m not connected.

I cannot share my every passing thought on facebook. I can’t pin pictures of food I will never cook, and clothes I will never wear. And since we dropped cable in favor of using the internet for tv, we might even have to break out the boxes of dvds that have been gathering dust in the closet. Even my phone is on Roam.

I’m quite certain I’ll weather this trauma just fine, and I’ll try not to spend my time counting the moments till I can post this message. In the meantime, I hope you are all safe and sound, warm and dry, that your problems are more frivolous than substantial, and that the storm leaves your homes and loved ones unscathed.

She offers up snowballs as precious gifts, then tosses them up in the air like so much confetti, squealing and laughing as the snow tickles her face.

And when she catches a snowflake on her glove, she blows it away, and says [...]]]> It’s not her first snow, but perhaps the first she remembers.

She offers up snowballs as precious gifts, then tosses them up in the air like so much confetti, squealing and laughing as the snow tickles her face.

And when she catches a snowflake on her glove, she blows it away, and says “make a wish.”

I have no idea where she got that from.

She made her first snowman

And she set about playing as though it was her most important work

It is.

Even when seasoned with whimsy.

Sunday, she asked if Santa was going to come back, now that it snowed, so that he could have Christmas in the snow.