Dreaming of a dress

Love this Halston Heritage dress.

We like to spend New Year's Eve on the couch. Safe and warm with a bottle of champagne and a good movie. But this year, I'd love to step it up and spend the evening in this dress (on the couch with the champagne and TV, etc.)

Do you have any plans for New Year's Eve?

I'm thankful: Toddler thoughts

You may have noticed that I've been feeling a wee lost of late. Down and out. A bit pissed off. Generally bitter. I don't particularly like myself this way but there is no ignoring a mood.

Yesterday, Melissa's post pulled me out (momentarily) of my slump and reminded me that there is something in everyday to be thankful for. It was a message I needed to hear. I'm doing my best here so please hang in with me while I attempt an experiment with gratitude.

Today I am so very thankful for Emerson's enthusiasm. Specifically, for the decorations I put up last week. Each morning she comes down stairs so eager to visit our decorations. She wants to know "How that nose get on my penguin?" and "How those candy things light up?" By the way, try explaining solar power to a toddler. Good times, indeed. And my favorite - "I touch those balls?"

No kidding. We have this conversation several times a day. It's not even coming close to getting old.

I know the day will fast approach when I can't knock her Elmo socks off with tiny lights and colorful plastic. So I'm slowing down to love every bit of this.

Randomness is all I have

Image found on the decorista.

I came across this image over the weekend while throwing myself a most epic pity party. It's a low moment in life when you realize you'll never be that girl in the picture. Not that it was ever an option, but at this stage that ship has surely sailed. And that's something to mourn, yes?

For a long, ugly moment I really wanted to be this tiny and beautiful one. And then it hit me that she's probably pretty hungry. And cold. And I'd be willing to bet that her feet hurt something fierce.

I wore my jammies all weekend long. Ate my weight in carbs and never once put my shoes on. So there's that.

And now it's Monday and in this photo she looks like a dream I'd still like to have.

Obligatory holiday cheer is kicking my ass. Thank you to those who validated my Christmas-can-suck-it sentiment on Friday. Seriously, it helps to know I'm not alone.

O.k. working on a more grateful attitude starting. Tomorrow.

The things we do (for the children)

I like Christmas about as much as I love Halloween, which is to say, not at all. For a million and one reasons I find the holiday season insufferable. Every year, I have the same fantasy where I go to sleep just before Thanksgiving and wake up a few days into the new year. I like to think of it as my own little holiday hibernation.

But as Emerson continues to grow, it turns out she is also highly impressionable. She notices decorations and lights and is currently obsessed with our neighbor's "snowman" which doesn't actually exist, save for her imagination. But that has not slowed the all-snowman-all-the-time conversation around these parts.

As a family, we'll probably skip town again this year for Christmas but I've decided to give in to a little festive ornamentation in the way of one wreath, six plastic candy canes to line the drive and a penguin (that lights up).

Progress, my friends. Progress.

Stuff I want

Danielle included my holiday wish list today on her blogger round-up. Check it and see if you can guess which beauty I have already ordered for myself. This was fun, Danielle. Thanks for including me. Bonus, there's a photo of Emerson when she was a bald baby. Before we knew she would be a bundle of crazed red curls.

Light matters

Just before heading off to the east coast, Emerson and I hit up the Leo Villareal exhibit at the San Jose Museum of Art. It was bonkers. Room after room of illuminated installations. The ambiance created by so much color and changing light was fascinating. My photos cannot possibly capture the magic. It's a must see - in person.

If you live in the Bay Area, I highly recommend a visit. The exhibit runs through January 9, 2011. And the museum basement is completely kid-friendly. i.e. it's full of legos, blocks and colored pencils to create amongst all the visual inspiration.

Sunset in the city

Our annual trip to Massachusetts was full of family time, as all of my husband's relatives live north of Boston. There was no shortage of obligatory visits to all the aunts and cousins for card games, coffee and Greek cookies. But the onslaught of babysitters family meant we also got to have our annual date night in Boston.

We were thrilled to hike up Beacon Street to our favorite restaurant for a magnificent meal. Just before ducking in for our reservation, we were knocked over by this sunset. We (and many others) stood outside the capital building and watched the show unfold. It was stunning. Boston never looked so serene.

Oh yeah, and it was warm outside. As in, warm enough to stand around in the street oogling at the sky.

And she's back

As promised, my camera arrived, along with all my treasured photos. (This is just one of many from our stroll from the Public Gardens). I am still overwhelmed by the honesty of Walter, the Hertz employee who turned it in. Now I just need to come up with an appropriate 'thank you' for this man. Hope you are all having a fabulously fall weekend.

Studio sick

For a number of reasons, I struggled with being away from home last week. I'm the first to admit I'm a lazy creature of habit and I love my routines and the total comfort of home life. i.e. jammie time, couch time, reality-TV time, etc. But yesterday I realized the thing I missed most while travelling was my creative time.

While on the east coast, I didn't spend one moment writing or drawing or playing with anything colorful. I was home sick for my studio. An hour spent sketching healed all that was ailing. It just felt so right to be sitting among piles of fabric and paints and the tools and machines that help turn my daydreams into reality. For one hour, time stood still. It was bliss.

P.S. My camera should arrive this afternoon. I think I might make out with it.

Tent obsessed

In the weeks leading up to our Boston trip, Emerson was making daily requests to build forts throughout the house. I happily oblige these sorts of projects since I would totally build a tent around my own bed if my husband could be convinced. I absolutely love hideaways. Tents, teepees, forts, tree houses, you name it. Currently, I would like to have this little number set up in my living room. Doesn't it look like the perfect place a for a good nap? 

Images from Junkaholic.

P.S. Are you following Tales of a Junkaholic? You really ought to consider it. She finds (and makes) the coolest stuff.

Hold the phone - this will make your Monday

You guys, there are honest people walking among us. Hertz Rentals just called to say my camera was turned in. Honestly, I am floored and crying a bit. I assumed the worst in humanity and the universe rewarded me with the absolute best.

My camera (and fingers-crossed) all those irreplaceable images is being FedExed to my door in two days. Seriously, happy Monday.

Best intentions

I had big plans for this post and all sort of plans for last week. There were to be updates on our trip to Massachusetts, nonstop photos of the constant cascade of multi-colored leaves, reports from Emerson's first trick or treating experience and her growing love-affair with too many aunties and cousins to count. I caught a sunset on Beacon Street that would have led you to believe the city of Boston was on fire. The most hardened commuters were stopping on the street to snap photos with their phones. It was madness. 

And then I lost my camera. To be more specific, I left it in our rental car and I'm sick over the entire thing. The lost equipment, which is too expensive to replace. The lost images, which cannot be recreated. The reality that someone took what was not theirs to begin with. It all sort of breaks my heart and leaves me cold. 

So much of my blogging experience has been shaped by my own photography. I have been inspired time and again by the camera's ability to document and often manipulate a moment in time. I have loved playing with light and composition and editing. And when it comes to sharing with all of you, the images have usually influenced the words and helped me to write in new and unexpected directions.

Now I'm re-thinking my blog and how I will proceed. I'll be downloading hipstamatic to my iphone and hope that may provide some visual inspiration. But I also think I'll be forced to focus on other creative inspiration in the way of writing, sketching, painting and sewing. I'll continue to share those things that I think you will be interested in. So, my apologies for the extended absence and the bummer of a post. 

I've missed you guys and hope to start catching up with all my daily read this week. Happy Monday, friends.