Snow day

Max obviously had an out-of-body experience

when he found out that school was cancelled indefinitely. 

Fellissimo did too, only he's a bit more quiet about it.

Get to know your shoe maker

Dear Manolo,

These are the reasons I love you so:

1. You drink milkshakes.

2. You can not live without plum cake.

3. The way you say vulgaaaar. 

4. You wear hot pink flats.

5. You're as sexy as your shoes.

I love Bergdorf Goodman's blog .
I think about it while I'm mucking out the chicken coop.

Grab a coffee and listen to your favorite designer answer 5 questions. 

Off to wear my vulgar platforms.

Alt Design Summit

I ran away from home to play with pretty things. 

I was so amazed by the talented group of people I got to share a few days with at the Alt Design Summit in Salt Lake. 

Not only was the fashion inspiring but the sheer talent that these gals have was more than I could handle. 

And Mondo was there from Project Runway! 

(We all let him know that he was robbed of his win) 

I was totally not prepared fashion wise for such a barrage of style gurus. 

Shayna Kulik of Pattern Pulp and myself via flickr taken by Angela and Ithyle

I got to mingle with some of my favorite bloggers 

like Swiss Miss, Mighty Girl, Amy Turn Sharp, and Dooce and I found some new blogs

 to spend perusing my day away on. I was in celebrity blogger heaven.

And then I came home to shanty town. 

So while I was away Mr. decided to create a shack club house for the boys and neighborhood kids in the back yard. 

Our yard transformed to redneck glory. 

Is this what it means to live the hi/low lifestyle?

Seafaring Nomads

What to do about the problem? 

If you have a moment, please watch the video.

The photography by James Morgan is exquisit and the problem is grand.

People of the Coral Triangle from James Morgan Photography on Vimeo.
 The NY Times article summarize the problem.
"His painterly images portray traditional lives. But they also expose the pressures faced by the Bajau to adopt economical but environmentally destructive fishing techniques, like using potassium cyanide. Fear of hardship has put the Bajau at risk of destroying the very reefs that sustain them."


I can only relate with my experience with Rainmaker. 
It's amazingly difficult to change the way a culture lives.
We learned pretty quickly that our own ideals could not be imposed 
on others unless they saw a benefit for them. 
Our major obstacles were hunters and loggers. 
To this day, we still have both. 

Loafing around

Just in case you can't find your slippers.

Practical and tasty.

via Design Milk

Morning

Can we just say that at 9

we are already living the rock star life.

Sorry Max, I'm using this for blackmail in the future.

What's Your Secret?

Your secret from Jean-Sebastien Monzani on Vimeo.

Watching this video and reading the responses at Soul Pancake just solidifies my thoughts that

 we are all so alike in our quirky worlds. 

I was surprised to read that a lot of the kooky things people do- I do as well.

My secrets...

I have conversations with my hens. I act out both parts though. 

And like another person said, when I'm shopping and I accidentally touch clothes that I think are ugly, I immediately wipe my hands off. 

One more, when I was a kid I thought I wasn't cool enough to watch

 The Electric Company on tv. I would leave the room.

You can imagine my dismay when they started airing it on tv again. 

At least I know my kids are cool enough to watch it

and that is a big relief.

The Khan Academy

One of the things I regret when I went to NYU was

withdrawing out of physics class.

I went there to study film and somehow 

ended up in a physics class with 200 others trying to decipher 

what the lines and arrows were supposed to be

on the board.

I simply could not understand the professor.

 I wanted to so badly because

he was so consumed with love 

for physics that how could I not want to know 

why he was so excited. 

I had never withdrawn out of a class before and that was 

the last.

But it still nags at me. 

Somewhere in the deep dark recesses 

of my brain I must know what that world

he was in was all about.

I've been sneaking some physics classes in over at

The Khan Academy

If you haven't made your way over to that site

you should.

 Because maybe there is a class you 

never took 

and we can be study pals together.

Manger-in-a- tree

For lack of table top space

we decided to place our nativity scene 

in the Christmas tree.

To a 9 and 10-year-old

this seemed like a great idea.

Surprisingly to a 30 something year old,

this seemed equally as exciting.

Some things to note...

-yes, we put baby Jesus in before the big day

because that's how we roll

-yes, that is the "elf on the shelf" on the roof

 because he didn't want to be left out

and finally,

 if attempting this as well, put the lights 

on BEFORE you set it up.

Because we like our holiday decorating

as difficult as possible.

Reality Check

My sentiments exactly...

Tighty Whities

A word to the wise.

Do not buy the same color/brand underwear for your boys

 that your husband wears.

Mr. will not think to check the size label

 and will be convinced that you shrunk the laundry.

Strangely, he will wear the mini undies until you ask him

 why he is walking funny. 

Wild Letters

“Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters — sometimes very hastily — but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, “Dear Jim: I loved your card.” Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, “Jim loved your card so much he ate it.” That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.”

-Maurice Sendak

via Catherine Campbell

Remember

Just so I don't forget about this...

When Max was 4 and in pre-school, he was making holiday decorations using pinecones. 

He was particularly fidgety ALL morning until finally Mrs. Steinbock, a rather charming British grandma,

said to him, "Max! Do you have ants in your pants??"

To which he replied quite seriously, "No, just this."

And pulled out the biggest pinecone

 he could cram into his britches. 

When asked why he had a pinecone in his pants he said,

"I was hiding it because I didn't think I could take it home."

ahhh, boys...

Max left,  Fellissimo right

Jay Parkinson

"Success isn’t just about what you do with your life,
 it’s about what you inspire others to do."

-Jay Parkinson

If you have not visited his site, you should. 

You'll learn something. 

I promise.

Our Today is Forever

Garbage sucks.

It sucks even more in the bellies of our friends. 

Please be responsible with your trash. Next time you go to the supermarket, ask yourself if you really need those plastic bags, containers, and bottles. 

Take a moment to watch the video. 

With your kids.

Because they are the ones that will be affected by your trash.

From the wonderful people at TEDx.

Oprah, unexpected...

Sometimes you are given little jewels from the universe. 

My came in the form of Robert- the hotel concierge. 

While this post was going to be about the trip I took to the Chicago Fabric and Trim show, it happily turned into something else. 

10:35 am : From our hotel window

Walking back to our hotel room after a long day looking at fabric, Mr. says, "Why don't we see if we can get tickets to Oprah for tomorrow?"

Poor, sweet, innocent Mr. 

He knows not what he speaks. 

He knows not that I have been trying to see Ms. O for like 20 years. He knows not that I've spent hours on the phone when tickets are up only to hear the busy signal

 over and over and over again. 

He knows not that I've spent hours in front of the computer pouring my heart out into that little box of possibilities only to find out that my story is in fact more than the allotted 2000 characters.

He knows not that any given woman would just about sell her first born to be able to hold said tickets in her hand. 

"Ask the concierge." he says.

Three little brilliant words that come out of his mouth.  The three best words he's ever said. 

OK- it's up there with I love you.

So we casually walk up to Robert (aka Mr. Wonderful)

and while I roll my eyes around I say, "So, there's no possible way we could get tickets to see Oprah tomorrow right?"

To which he replies, "Um, yeah, I think so." 

And then the ceiling opened up and the angels began to sing, beams of light poured in, babies stopped crying, people were healed 

and then my husband shook me out of my daze. 

"Hey, hey- he needs our name and number." 

I think I babbled something and handed him my card and he simply said, "I'll call you in a few minutes."

You see, people of the world, there is such a thing as the "hotel stand-by line" in Oprah world and Mr. Wonderful has put us on it. 

So while my initial shock wore off, new thoughts of horror sank in. 

What am I going to wear?

I don't have my Oprah outfit!

 I had to accept my clothes as they were. Luckily, I did bring my red lipstick. 

5 am : Safeway grocery bag as shower cap 

Mr. Wonderful assured us that if we get there by 6:30am, we would have no problem getting in. 

And so, we got there at 6 am and were 2nd in line.

Everything is lovely in Oprah world. The Hillman bagel truck was outside giving away free pastries and coffee for all in line. 

As we waited more and more lovely ladies showed up. There was so much estrogen in the air that even Mr. was starting to get weepy. 

6:10am : Waiting in line

They seated all of the guests that had tickets first and then came to us. They had about 7 seats available for the stand-by crowd and we were 2 of those. 

While we went through security, we saw blown up pictures of past shows lining the hallways. The car giveaway, Oprah giving her two handed high five, a sobbing woman looking overjoyed about something. I could only think back to all of those past shows I loved to watch when I would get home from school. I've gone through pretty much all of Oprah's different hair dos starting in the 80s and yet I can't actually pinpoint any particular show that was my favorite. 

As soon as she strolled out everyone including me had been wound up to such a frenzy that I thought the studio would explode. 

And women started to cry. And then the gay men started to cry. And then the straight men, who didn't quite know how they ended up there, started to cry. 

I realized why there was a box of tissues in every aisle. 

The show was about Tiger Beat teen idols. So not only were there women who adored Oprah but also really FREAKY fans of David Cassidy, Jackie Jackson (Oprah's teen love), Peter Frampton and the Backstreet Boys. 

It was so cool. 

Cool, because I can't think of a better word. 

I was exhausted, emotionally drained, and needed a stiff drink. 

I am thrilled to have been a part of it. 

That show will air on November 4th, 2010.

Moral of the story: It never hurts to ask. 

10:35 pm : From our hotel window

What has been your favorite Oprah show?

Pinching Earth

Mehmet Ali Uysal, Pinching Earth


No explanation needed.

For the love of Steve

If I haven't mentioned it before- whoever invented the DVR is a genius. 

I get about 47 minutes while the kids are watching Myth Busters on Saturday morning.  47 lovely minutes to myself and the computer. 

We have a sort of arrangement, the computer and I. We've had our ups and downs and now we know each other very, very well. 

I have an imac and contrary to popular belief, it is the bane of my existence. Just ask Brian, Mel, and Brad over at the Apple store in Tyson's Corner and Jake and Jenny over at the Fair Oaks one. And the patient David who spent about 5 hours on the phone with me.
They know. We've gone through really rough times together. Somewhat akin to giving birth. In the end I ended up with a new bouncing baby computer.
I named it Steve after it's father.
So apparently after all that, Steve is still a bit touchy. He only likes to go to certain websites. He's very picky and somehow he knows when I'm in a hurry because he will taunt me with that little circle thingy going round and round until I get fed up and snap at him.
Then he gets offended and tells me that the server "lost it's connection".
I've learned though.
I've figured out how to get Steve to go where I need. The conditions have to be right. I have to set up mood lighting. It has to be quiet. (He does not like the kids around) And then while I'm on the websites he likes, I sneak around behind his back and open up another browser.
He has no idea!
It works! I feel like a teenager sneaking the folk's liquor out of the cabinet.
Like stealing their car and going for a joy ride in the middle of the night.
Errr- none of which I have ever done- boys.
Oh Steve. What will ever happen when you find out?
I just hope you will forgive me because I can't quit you.

Happiness is...

Having the stake park all to yourself.

Fellissimo conquering the half pipe.

Out You Go

There are many ways to go,

from the short walks and well-marked longer paths...

the main thing is to get out

of your car and away from

the parking lot if you can.

-John Madson

Life on the Back Side of the Moon

The Badlands, SD 

Maxi in search of the unknown on our 2010 summer vacation.