All Systems Go

Looking to the horizon.

Feeling overwhelmed and intimidated.

And hopeful.

At Hog Island in my favorite Ferry Building in San Francisco, on our weekend's trip to the Bay Area.

Would love to be that person who's writing long insightful essays and keeping you

completely up-to-date, but at least I'm checking in.

That's as much as I can do for now.

Ginkgo

No snow-angels to be had here in Sacramento, but the falling leaves are beautiful. Today we discovered this lovely ginkgo tree (the largest I've ever seen!) in Capitol Park. Sunshine incarnate.

Moments of Art

I set my alarm for Early today. I wanted to get up Early so bad, I even woke up before my alarm went off. And I actually got out of bed!

There were plenty of things I could have spent my time doing, but I wanted this time to be for me. Once I had the time, and had gotten my tea and stretched a little, I thought, "Now what the hell do I do?" And a little voice said, "You could paint!" So I did.

As is usual, I didn't know when mommyhood would call me away, so I moved quickly. Here's what the spirit moved me to paint this morning.

And very very interestingly, the link that I gave to SARK's Doing More Things Badly post insisted instead on connecting to an entry about her new book, called Glad No Matter What: Transforming Loss and Change into Gift and Opportunity. Hmm! Synchronicity strikes!

Moments of Art

In the spirit of Doing More Things Badly, I took the opportunity to paint. When painting with my little one around, I'm never sure how long I'll have to create. So I just let whatever is in there flow, as the spirit moves me. It's challenging for the powerful perfectionist critic in me to allow such amateur art. But, you know what? I am an amateur! :-D I'm not expecting people to want to give me money for it, and I don't have to submit it for a grade. It's just for my own pleasure and process.

Here's what the spirit moved me to paint for myself. I love words, so they usually find their way into my art.

Some of it I like. All of it was worth doing.

Gratitude: For Gratitude's Sake

A great way to start the month ~ with gratitude. Our family has embarked on a ritual that will hopefully become a habit: of sharing at breakfast what we are grateful for everyday. We wrote down what we shared in a journal. Honestly, for people who consider ourselves brightside-lookers and sunnyside-seekers, we got off to a rickety start! It is my hope that I re-learn gratitude as a reflexive behavior.

Here's to setting the intention.

And interestingly synchronistic, my attention was brought to this Wall Street Journal article about the health benefits of gratitude just today.

Dear Reader: I am grateful for you. And I'm grateful for the outlet that this blog has given me for over five years now!

May it begin with me.

Gratitude: For Friends

Geez, I've just totally fallen off. I feel a lot of motivation to do a lot of things ~ but not blog! Not ever going to become an "A-list Blogger" this way! ;-D

I still don't feel like I have the time to really write something, but I at least want to send out a love note for the recent visit we had with Old Friends. As long as I have been friends with Gemini Cricket, I felt as if this visit brought our friendship full circle. This is the goal we'd been aiming for for well over five years when we chose to stop calling ourselves marriage partners and call ourselves good friends instead: getting to the easy, fun part! We have definitely had glimpses of it. But since our wee ones came along, we haven't found the time and space. Until this week. : )

Ahhhh! It felt good.

Cheers, Old Friends!

And also, Cheers to my New Friend: Stella Firefly. That feels really good.

Cup-of-Milk Buddies

Gemini: my oldest dear friend. We've been close since we were 18!

That's quite a while ago by now..

Hot Mama Honeybee: has more energy and drive

than most women I know

~ even while still recovering from radiation!

Health: now that's something to be grateful for!

Pretty darn cozy.!

For the most part the week was spent just chillin' in our new place ~ playing music, laughing at the little girls as they played, and enjoying plenty of good food and drink. Though I don't have photos of them all, I am thankful for, and to, everyone who crossed our doormat, helping our new house feel much more like a home this Thanksgiving. I love you all!!