To See You, To Hear You

I am sorry the posts have been sparse lately. So far, in 2009 I have been very, very blessed with work and travel. I am praying to keep up and at the same time not lose my enthusiasm for creative endeavors which are such an important part of how I organize (or pretend to order) chaos.

I am re-stocking inspiration. I know you are much more interesting than me. I would love to see you, to hear you -- your voices, your stories, your photos. Blogging can feel like a bit of a solo enterprise at times. Leave me a comment or link about what is exciting or inspiring to you these days.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope to post more in April.

In the meantime, here's a potpourri post to give you something to snack on:

Books

I'm still working through this insightful book, Thomas Moore's insightful A Life At Work


Moore writes, "A life work is a multicolored, tattered quilt. It is not simple, monochromatic, one-size-fits-all template that you simply adjust to. It may have gaps and holes and incomplete sections. It may not even feel like a life work, especially when you are in the middle of it. There may come a time when you can look back and see the sense in all the parts and glimpse a true life work, but even then it may be full of holes made by a long history of struggles."

He says that your life work doesn't have to fit into one job description. It appears in different aspects of your life and you don't have to choose just one. Amen.

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Films:

Looking forward to seeing the Sundance Festival darling, 500 Days of Summer



and Spike Jonze's take on Where The Wild Things Are.
Both look like movies with good soundtracks, too.

...this preview gets me with the boats, the sunflare, the sense that -as I have always felt- children understand the tension and the balance of it all. It reminds me of the Children's Defense Fund motto, "Dear Lord be good to me. The sea is so wide and my boat is so small."
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Music
This week, my husband is teaching Pride & Prejudice, {which makes this English major nostalgic about being a student} so I've been listening to this soundtrack from the most recent film adaptation. It's really, really good for writing, cooking, editing photos, whatever you happen to be doing. Here's a link to my favorite song:

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Food

Speaking of my husband {who has a passion for cooking} I've asked him to share a few of his quick-veggie-simple recipes here and asked him if I could videotape demonstrations of how to prepare the food and he agreed and said, "let's call it Plate Worthy." Love it. A new Plate Worthy series coming this Spring!

Can't get enough of Intelligensia Coffee which tastes amazing and also cuts out the middle-man putting money directly into the hands of the growers. I found mine at Fresh Market, but I know it's available elsewhere.

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For those of you who have written that you want more essays, thank you so very much. I am working in that direction. I didn't realize how much I need that outlet until now.

Permission To Live

I saw this inspiring piece on Karen Walrond's blog and thought I would share it here in case you missed it.


TV appearances '07 from Crazy Sexy Life on Vimeo.

"We all wait for that great permission to live and nobody is going to give it to you, so get goin' folks."

Hooah!

Brothers, Freddy Mercury & Bears

I lucked in to so many blessings when I married my husband, including two amazing brothers. As the youngest of three girls, I didn't know much about brothers. Now, I can say with certainty, brothers are awesome and it's so great to be part of their lives. They have both been great friends to me and never made me feel apart from what they have, which is so generous.

I asked Brother James (19) which Queen album to check out and received the following thoughtful response (reprinted here with permission):

That's a tough question.

Here are my top 5 favorite queen albums:

5. Hot Space (1982) - This album was panned by most of Queens fans for
it's disco style, but I learned to like it. Back Chat is a great track.

4. Queen (1973) - Their debut album. Hard to beat the original gangster.

3. News of the World (1977) - In my opinion, Queen's most overplayed
songs like "We Will Rock You" and "We are the Champions" are both on this album. But a few very underrated songs like "Sleeping on the Sidewalk" and "Fight From the Inside" are also included.

2. A Day at the Races (1976) - This album has the highest
concentration of hit songs by Queen (Somebody to Love, Tie your mother down, etc.)

1. A Night at the Opera (1975) - This is in my top 5 albums of all time.
My favorite Queen song "Death on Two Legs" is the best hate song ever
(dedicated to their former manager). Need I mention that "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "You're my best friend" are on there?

Choose wisely.
--James

Let us know which one is your favorite. I'm going to have to agree with James and go with A Night at the Opera. Happy listening!

Brother Carson, who does things like offer to hang out with our daughter so we can see a movie, and makes us laugh so hard that red wine sprays across the table, sent me a link to a Clem Snide song called Find Love the other day that the singer wrote for his daughter when she was about my daughter's age that brings me to tears.

"Wrestle bears, bring 'em to their knees,
steal the honey from killer bees
Find love then give it all away."

It's good to have brothers.

3 Quotes Making A Difference in My Life This Week

1. "You are how you move." Tracy Anderson

I've never been one to buy fitness magazines, but I picked up the latest issue of Fitness Rx for Women because Tracy Anderson, trainer for Gwyn Paltrow and the like, is featured on the cover. She says in the article that she doesn't believe in body types. No pear shape or apple shape, etc. She says that you are how you move. Swimmers have swimmer's bodies. Dancers have dancer's bodies. Runners have runner's bodies.

Wow. This is so obvious but it's very empowering. It also explains most succinctly why I have sitter's body. Or reader's body. Or both. Either way, it's good to think about as I move around {or don't} on any given day. With my work, there's lots of driving, writing, reading, computer time...all sitting. I start to feel like Prudence in Once Upon A Potty.
She sat and sat and sat and sat and sat and sat and sat and sat
and sat and sat and sat and sat and sat and sat and sat and
sat and sat and sat and sat and sat and sat and sat and...

Not complaining, just putting pieces together.What I love about it is that it shows just how powerful these things we tell ourselves can be. I've thought a million times: this is just my body type. What if that's just another lie I have told myself? Sure, it would seem that my shape is what it is, but if anyone is going to re-write this little script running in my head, it's got to be me. Particularly since the script is about the only thing that has been running consistently.

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2. "If it can be done, you can do it. It's a matter of choice." Marian Robinson

Loved this interview with Marian Robinson (the first lady's mom) said about parenting: "We wanted them to have the feeling they can try anything. The saying was, 'If it can be done, you can do it.' It's a matter of choice."

I love that. How many times have I discounted myself before I began. This is more than saying to your children that they can be astronauts. It's telling them to look at what is possible and choosing -active voice- to do the work it takes to get there.

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3. "Your home is the airport for your life." -Peter Walsh

So true. The runway is looking better around here, but I still have some work to do in baggage claim.

Sea Shells

"John & Michael often spent summer days on the lagoon with the boys, swimming or floating most of the time, playing games with the mermaids in the water."
-J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan



I just finished this novel The Highest Tide. It's a lovely, quick read if you are craving salt water like I am. I tend to read about winter in the summer, the summer in the winter.

Love this portion of an e.e. cummings poem
Days of Innocence section 5:

"maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach (to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles, and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea."