October 2011
3 posts
4 tags
Conversations about body parts
“Is there a duck in there?” “Nope.” “Is there a dinosaur in there?” “Nope.” “Is Mama’s throat in there?” “Yep.” “Is there a monster in there?” “Nope.” “Do I have a throat?” “Yes, this is your throat.” “Am I an ostrich?” I think the coolest thing about Jasper...
3 tags
Thrifty Style: tribute to George and more...
So first things first: I’m kind of maybe? changing the name of the Thrifted series to Thrifted Style. While probably 85% of my wardrobe comes from thrift stores, I do every so often score really sweet deals on brand-new items, and I want to share those, too. Case in point: my Bensimon shoes that came in the mail like… an hour ago. I’ve been obsessed with Bensimons since I read...
3 tags
Melancholia & a French quest
I saw the trailer for Melancholia a few weeks ago and promptly fell over sideways. I’m not sure which cinema GOD or GODDESS decided that Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kirsten Dunst (aka my GIRLS) would be perfect cinematic sisters set in an end-of-the-world flick, but I am ever so thankful to him or her. This, friends, is the kind of film you cross state lines for (especially if you live in...
September 2011
9 posts
1 tag
Talking about Jesus and rock and roll
Yesterday my niece was christened. This was interesting because my sister isn’t particularly religious, but her boyfriend’s family is Catholic, and she didn’t mind if Lyela was christened (is that correct? Baptised?) into the faith. I think it’s pretty cool. Even though I’m not especially religious myself (although MAN do I have a post brewing about how I’m...
1 tag
Month Thirty
Dear Jasper, I realized midway through today that thirty months means you’re officially two and a half, so I can stop telling people you’re almost two and a half and just keep it real and tell them that’s the case. A lot has happened in the last month (or two) since I’ve written a letter to you. Let’s break it down, and then take it case by case. You...
2 tags
This is my friend. The rain.
My bike has had a flat tire for something like three months. This has been ok because it’s also pretty consistently been over 96 degrees every single day for around three months, so I wasn’t exactly hopping around begging to ride my bike. The weather has recently taken a turn for the MUCH more delightful, and so I started longingly staring at my bicycle on the porch and/or asking Sean...
1 tag
HOLY MOLY OK SO
I keep wanting to talk about Stuff That’s Happening, but what it all comes down to is that right now we’re having awesome times together as a family. In between all of our busy-ness (Sean’s school and work, my work, Jasper’s ballet and lack of school), we’re spending a lot of family time together… which has been so incredibly nice. Nice, nice, nice. Nice to sit...
1 tag
A fair-y good day
I love everything about all of this: We’re taking it day by day, folks. Good days so far, good days on the horizon. I’m happy that autumn is approaching; autumn is the season we began in, and it’s always our strongest. I’m not sure how many other people feel ups and downs in their relationship when seasons change, but autumn is a fantastic time for Sean and...
2 tags
All about my adventure in the ER and this sling...
It’s really not as dramatic as that might sound. The other night I had a hankering for biscuits (I used the word “hankering” here 100% for the benefit of my fellow Offbeat Empirettes, because they seem to quite AMUSED by my SOUTHERN-NESS). I asked Jasper if he wanted biscuits and he said no, but I was all, “CHILD OF MINE! We! Are! Eating! Biscuits!” So at the same...
3 tags
Today I'll be nice and ramble about music because...
I have so many things to say lately I’m not even sure where to start. They range from the crazy/borderline unbelievable (like, you know, someone sending an ex-boyfriend, one who hasn’t spoken to her in years because she’s kind of crazy and who he broke up with over half a decade ago, a friend request on Facebook the week she found out he and his wife are having marital problems...
1 tag
Thrifted: Cutie McCuter Cuterstein
So, Jasper and I went a-thrifting the other day. While my finds were minimal (I did find an amazing pink button-up shirt that trips me out, because I didn’t realize I could be so into shirts that button up), Jasper absolutely racked up. I realize that most clothing for boys either has stripes, robots, dinosaurs, or some combination thereof, but these stripes… these stripes were just...
3 tags
This is the last post about Panama (you know,...
We came back from the island and Kim and I went out by ourselves, hopping from bar to bar in Casco Viejo (ok, it was like three.. but when your tolerance is next to nothing, three is a LOT). We began our night with Ricky, a fantastic bartender. His favorite song is “We Are the World” and it came on while we were there and he sang it to us: At another place, Kim hopped behind the bar...
August 2011
9 posts
3 tags
Panama: Isla Grande is truly the grandest of the...
Holy moly, I didn’t realize I managed to turn a trip that last a week into three weeks of posts, but here’s even MORE. We spent two days on Isla Grande, aka Heaven, aka the place where Jesus lives in the ocean: Kim and I woke up one morning around 6:30. We were pretty gross (one thing the island lacks is hot water, but it’s ok because you can just run out into the...
1 tag
But seriously. It'll all be ok.
It just occurred to me that it’s Friday and I haven’t blogged all week. It doesn’t feel like that’s the case, but the last time I even visited this screen was Sunday to post more about Panama… so there it is. I’m not going to get into a big, emotional, description-heavy post about it, but I’ll go ahead and say this: Sean and I are currently working through...
3 tags
More Panamá! Day 4.
Let’s see.. where did I leave you? I was surprisingly NOT hungover the next day. I don’t think Kim was, either, but we were QUITE tired and, in retrospect, sporting some interesting hair. Side note: why did our hair go to Crazy Town? We walked around with the sole intention of taking photos, which was another big goal of mine. My friend from high school is also a photographer, so he...
3 tags
Panamá: day 3 (I think)
Our second or third day in Panamá found us at the Bahá’í House of Worship. That we even went here is all thanks to Kim — I had no clue it was there! There are only eight around the world (you can see a list here), so it’s cool to have been to one. I’m not Bahá’í by any stretch of the imagination, but I do know quite a few people who are, and I love them dearly....
2 tags
This is one of those parenting posts
I realize that I have… five more days of Panama splendor for you to feast your eyes on, but I’m gonna have to take a break in the action to say this: TODAY WAS JASPER’S FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL: I’ve discussed our whole Montessori debate, to-preschool-or-not-to-preschool, a few times (and on Offbeat Mama), but I’m not sure if I ever said what we decided to do. The...
3 tags
Just call me... Panamama. (Panamá: Days 1 & 2)
I’m here! I’m here! I’m here! Kim and I recently returned from our jaunt to Panamá. I use the word “jaunt” loosely, since it was a week and for a lot of people, that’s a long time. For me, if my little two-year-old shot of love had been with, I could have easily stayed for months on end. I’m going to have to break the Panamá posts into several,...
2 tags
Guest Post: Michelle gets deep on reading
I’m out of town, so I asked Michelle to write something to keep the blog active. Enjoy! — SK When I was in the 2nd grade, I started reading avidly. I remember plowing through Nancy Drews and Babysitter’s Club so quickly that my parents wouldn’t buy me anymore of those and insisted that I start reading higher reading level books. I read a few of my dad’s science fiction books, but...
2 tags
Sunshiiiiine and sea
I woke up at 7am one Saturday and roamed our then-beachy surroundings, snapping away to my heart’s content:
3 tags
Peep!
We’re home! For a little while! We three headed southeastern-ward (not a word? Or..not a correct hyphenated-whatever?) and visited the ocean (hi, Ocean!) and both parks at Universal Studios. It was pretty fast — we drove in early Saturday morning, beached all day and most of Sunday morning, and then went to Universal. We arrived back home at 3:30 yesterday morning, tired and a little...
July 2011
13 posts
1 tag
Atlantic-bound! by way of ocean and Harry Potter
We’re going to be gone for the next few days, and then I’m going to be gone for even longer, so things may be quiet around here. BUT THEN AGAIN! They may not! You never know. For now, I leave you with this:
1 tag
Thrifted: when the thrift store gods are good...
…they’re real good. This dress! I love this dress. In fact, I would even say I fucking love this dress. It was around $5 and is the best dress in the world. It is so great that I actually was bitten by five mosquitos (on my back, between two fingers, on my leg, on my knee, and on my elbow) while taking these photos, but I was all, it’s worth it! This dress! You could say,...
1 tag
Month Twenty-Eight
Dear Jasper, HEY YOU. I want to take a sec to document something: today we spent twenty or so minutes in the very cold waters of your inflatable pool. It wasn’t unlike other times we have spent in your pool, but today you were particularly excited and splashed a great deal. After you learned to splash on the count of three, you sat down in the water. “Sit down, Mama, please,”...
1 tag
Getting going
I’m really having a bad time with the internet lately. That’s not entirely true, it’s just kind of true today. So, rephrase: I’m kind of having a bad time with the internet today. A few days ago I woke up to a flurry of text messages and emails telling me my email account had been “hacked” and was sending emails to everyone. I discovered that it had in fact been...
2 tags
Budding bees and buzzing flowers
Much to my SUPREME disappointment, I actually don’t need glasses. I found this out over a week ago but kept forgetting to follow-up (on this post). I’m considering buying frames and wearing lenses that have no prescription just to get the urge out, though, and someone linked me to Zenni Optical, aka cheap frames heaven, which makes this all the more tempting. Today one of...
1 tag
Getting crafty with a two-year-old
The situation: I’m trying to come up with creative things Jasper and I can do together at home. I feel like I’ve been a little too focused on go-go-going all the time (mostly because he developed a habit of asking “Go in yellow car now?” each morning) and not really making sure that Jasper’s cool with just… kicking it at the homestead. I don’t think we...
1 tag
This happened in real life
Two nights ago all that existed between me and Britney Spears were three rows of chairs, a gate, and two security dudes. Not to mention SEVERAL pounds of glitter, paper, a lot of pyrotechnics, and plenty of dances. BUT YES. You are reading this correctly (I think). Monday night I was in the FOURTH ROW at a Britney Spears concert. I’m just gonna let that sink in. My sister called me a month...
2 tags
Just let me write this one and I promise it'll be...
I just got back from seeing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II again, and I’m not sure I really did it justice the first time I spoke about it on this blog. You’re going to have to forgive me; I’m going to repeat a lot of things that I’ve said before, and I’m probably going to contradict myself numerous times, but I’ll never live with myself or this...
1 tag
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part II
…was perfect. It is 100% perfection. When I finished Deathly Hallows the book I was immediately visited with this sense of total closure, peace, and happiness. I was worried that the movies wouldn’t provide me with that, that they’d somehow tweak it so that there were unanswered questions or something I was still wondering — but they didn’t. I left the theater with...
2 tags
Ugh, essence of Crabbe! CHEERS.
Sean: “I think when Jasper’s has a better grasp on language we can start reading books without pictures.. you know, like Aesop’s Fables, Brother’s Grimm — “ Me: “The Tales of Beedle the Bard.?” Sean: “…Sure.” I came here to wax poetic about Harry Potter and how I can’t believe (!!) it’s actually “ending”...
1 tag
Lately, it occurs to me...
Is it weird that I’ve been keeping busy to distract myself from the fact that Harry Potter ends at 12:05AM Friday morning? Because it does. I mean, it doesn’t really — it’ll always be around. Pottermore is happening, blah blah blah. But, seriously. It’s kind of ending, even if it’s not. These books and movies have been my thiiiing for over ten years. OVER A...
1 tag
They're only a couple of crazy cougars
I am OBSESSED with this song: It took me a few seconds, but once it goes through the chorus the first time I can never, ever stop myself from dancing like a fool. I love it. I LOVE IT. I also love this: and this: The top one is my new favorite photo booth (as in, a real photo booth) snap that Jazz and I have taken. He looks so sweet, so big, and so happy. The bottom is the first of a series...
1 tag
on a scale of 1 to 10, just how nerdy are glasses?
Last night I was driving us home when I mentioned that I was having a hard time finding somewhere to pull over. I wanted to pull over because I was tired of driving (keeping your foot on/near a clutch for over an hour hurts, guys), and instead of being like “I totally know what you mean,” Sean was like “Um…you can’t see somewhere to pull over?” So this...
June 2011
12 posts
1 tag
...bless our pad?
When we were in Portland last December we did our fair share of thrifting. While in one shop that was a particular favorite when we lived there, I stumbled upon something that looks like this: I was all, let’s get it! Let’s get it! And Sean was all, “We don’t have room for it in the suitcase, etc. etc. etc.” Later we went back to see if it was there, and it was, of...
1 tag
It turns out all that stuff they tell you about...
So, so, so. Today has been so… SO. I don’t want to get too into it because it’s his medical info and all of that, but because it’s also tied up in the large portion of my day that left me completely frazzled and stressed out, I’ll talk about it. Kind of. Let’s just say that Jasper has been going to physical therapy (this was his second time) because he’s...
1 tag
On this day in 2011
Jasper looked at me and said “I love you” for the first time. I know this might seem totally silly, but I’ve waited for this for the whole two years and three months that he’s been outside of the womb (and really, the whole 7 months he was inside it). I can’t tell you the number of times I’d say “I love you, Jasper” and he’d smile and give me...
1 tag
I am currently obsessed with our bedroom
…and not in a kinky way (somewhere in the world, Sean’s reading this and going “Damn!”). BUT FOR REAL. I recently discovered that Sean has never washed the actual duvet inside our duvet cover before. He’s had that thing for a million years, and I kind of assumed that, you know, he WASHED IT once in a while. Turns out that nope! He just washed the cover! Which can kind...
1 tag
When everyday (everyday!) is so glorious...
It’s funny to have a job that has crazy manic periods of activity and then a month or two at a time in which you do absolutely nothing at all. I don’t want to complain about being a photographer because I LOVE IT, but it’s just always interesting to see how time is spent. Every year I forget what this time of the year is like — the weddingweddingwedding rush, editing and...
1 tag
Just so you know, we have those days too.
Jasper pulls hair. He pulls hair and it sucks. Most noticeably, he pulls my hair and it really sucks. We’ve tried everything (barring physical punishment) we can think of or read about to get him to stop, and none of it is really working. Today when we came home from our morning stuff I asked if he was sleepy. He nodded, so we went upstairs. We read our Curious George stories, drank some...
1 tag
twenty-six and a half (months)
I know I have been especially guilty of doing a lot of photo-only posts, or at least photo posts interspersed with bits of text, but today… you guys. THESE PHOTOS. My kid is growing up. In unrelated news, apparently consuming high amounts of caffeine can cause you to hallucinate songs.
1 tag
Blue eyes, Baby.
This morning we were lying on the rug in the living room, face to face, giving kisses on both cheeks (it’s our thing), when Jasper stopped. He studied my face, smiled, and said “Blue!” Then he pointed at my eyes, and touched them gently, and said “Blue eyes, Mama. Blue!” I laughed and told him that HIS eyes were blue, also. That they were almost the same...
2 tags
This is guiding you home
A few weeks ago we took Jasper to a hot air balloon festival. We went last year, but he wasn’t really old enough to dig it and mostly looked around and fought with the medical bracelet he was wearing. This year, however, he was SO STOKED. We woke up at 5AM so we could get there by 6. We had the times a little wrong: we thought the balloons would be taking off from the spot where we went at...
1 tag
Forty-five minutes for me
Something that I think is kind of crucial to good spirits and over-all mental happiness is taking time for yourself — and totally for yourself. This can be done in all kinds of ways — if you happen to have a bit of time to read a book, or you’re out running errands, or…I’m sure there are more ways. Anyway! I’m talking about this because today I had to go to...
1 tag
Fifteen minutes of nerdom
So yesterday I’m sitting at the bookstore with Jasper when I noticed the woman/mother (she is both) next to me has a “Creating a Website for Dummies” book. I swear, I started squirming in my seat while my insides danced with giddy anticipation, like I was back in school and really wanted to answer a question because I knew I was right, but also didn’t want to look like a...
1 tag
Thrifted & recycled: I've had this shirt for half...
The shirt I’m wearing today wasn’t thrifted — I bought it at a head shop in 2005 or so for probably $15-$20. The kicker is that I never really wore it until last summer. I think this had everything to do with being shy (it’s almost backless) and nothing to do with the shirt itself, because I’ve always loved it. When I DID wear it back then, I always wore a t-shirt or...
May 2011
14 posts
2 tags
Your hair is so great; I say "thank you"
I have this pretty intense love-hate relationship with where I live. The short version is that I love it because it’s where the people that I love are. I love the weather (except tornadoes) because I prefer heat over cold. I love the seasons (except allergy time) because we fully experience all four of them. I love that people are generally pretty nice, that they’ll wave at you and say...
2 tags
Window portraiting
If anyone notices the Flickr widget on the right-hand side of the screen, you’ll probably start seeing a lot of photos of windows and mirrors. Sometimes I’ll be very obviously in them, and other times it will be less obvious. Anyway, what started off as a way to entertain myself at sessions and weddings has turned into a very easy, very awesome self-portraiture project that I plan on...
1 tag
Month Twenty-Six
Dear Jasper, Today you are twenty-six months old. If you don’t want to do the math, that means you’re two years and two months old. I personally hope you had no problem doing the math, since it’s pretty easy math. In fact, if you’re reading this and you’re all “Thanks, Mom, for laying it out for me because I really wasn’t feeling like working it out on my...
3 tags
Today has been an awesome day
We’ll start from the beginning! YESTERDAY, Ariel mentioned on Facebook that someone from the Today show had contacted her and planned to plug Offbeat Mama on the show. This was all in reference to the story about Storm and gender-neutral parenting, something we talk about ALLTHETIME (seriously), so it was both interesting and amusing. I didn’t really know what to expect, but Ariel said...