is hidden away in a memory's bouquet

originally posted last year on BOXING DAY! Enjoy!




Thank you cards are terribly important to me.
I am behind on my own birthday thank you notes now and it makes me feel prickly, but with the kiddos I like to get right on it while the memory is still fresh. My parents made me sit down at the wood table and take pencil in hand at a very young age and express gratitude. I can remember that it was a bit taxing as a child and somewhat annoying as adolescent, but I think it has made me a better person.

I think it taught me two things:

Yr time is love- a phone call is quicker- but yr time and effort show love & the handwritten word is sacred.

So- I make my kids think about taking time away from play and the drama of the day to say thanks and I also plan on keeping a small writing center this year for Finn to explore the lost art of letter writing.

(INSERT MAJOR DREAMER HEAD HERE)Someday I want to hold a letter writing workshop and travel the country in a silver Airstream and show people how delicious is is to write love letters again.
I love texts and little words floating in and out of computers, but the sound of pen to paper makes me most delirious.
The way letters bend and sparkle across a page cannot be rivaled by even the greatest font foundry. The way "I love you" looks in bold black sharpie or the backwards wonky letters of a preschooler can buckle my knees and break my heart...
Write letters.
Love Letters.

***Here is a simple and fun way to make thank you notes for those little ones who cannot yet write a proper thank you.

1. Take a photo of child with gift.
2. Ask the child how the gift makes them feel.
3. Write that sentiment on the blackboard along with thank you.
4. Print photo and include with simple handwritten child signature or scribble scrabble.




How sweet of a thank you is this?
And for those truly against having to send thank you notes or super eco friendly - you can email it although I think you know what I think- mail it mail it!!


Happy Boxing Day!
This is my husbands favorite day.
It is the day of true sloth like behavior for this family.
(Leftover food and drink and feet up-like all day)

^^^^^^^^^^Some other cool chalkboard links:

Here and Here and Here
xo

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word!

Danja, Summer Spirited, originally uploaded by Mareen Fischinger.

Breaking News: The CPSIA Mandatory Testing & Certification Proposed 1 Year Suspension
Long Live Little Alouette!
xo Happy Weekend

GO Here TODAY AND USE YR GORGEOUS VOICES!



IT IS ALL HERE: THE ACTION KIT

We sat with a reporter the other night and talked about our business and I realized as I sat there and talked about Little Alouette that I love this little cottage industry so much. I love Little Alouette like my family because it is our family. And yes, I cry a lot lately bc I may not have a business in a couple weeks.
The business that was created to make safe toys is going to be put out of business due to this poorly written law.
SAVE HANDMADE

"Old Spice. Phil says it's a timeless classic."

Blaise will be two in a few days and I went and took his yearly click today.
The same date as last year. (how sweet is he?)


I am taking a photograph each birthday with a prop so I will be able to watch them grow and to give them some cool photos in their adult life.
Finnian wears his dad's shirt in his yearly click and Blaise wears an amber necklace.
I wrote about birthday traditions and ideas last year here.
I did not make this idea up as I recall reading about a woman who dressed her baby girl in a vintage Pucci shift and took photos. She hung them on the staircase. It was gorgeous seeing her grow into the dress.
So you should do it too!
And don't fret if yr kid is a bit older and yr just starting.
Just think of collections.
Many of one thing is always cool.
No matter how many.

The Yearly Click:

1. Choose a prop that the child can grow into or outgrow for drama.
(like a dress or a shirt of an adult in child's life or a piece of jewelry or something fun like a clown nose even!)

2. Commit to keeping the prop in a safe place and taking a yearly shot on the child's birthday or birthday time frame.

3. Write the age and date on back of print! yes PRINT it out! My mother and grandmother told me to write the dates on everything and I laughed! Now I am screwed with several photos and it has only been 4.5 years with Finn! Seriously we do not remember all that we think we always will.
6 months old and 8 months old look the fricking same to me now!

4. Display them! (staircase/wall/nursery)

5. Have fun and guess what? Yr creating amazing memories for the future! Yr an archiver of lovely.

title post- My Girl 1991

Feeling Good, Nina Simone
Uploaded by mrfnk

We went to our local MLK Jr. program today and it was very inspiring. The boys loved it and we were able to gather with community neighbors, friends, and elders for a luncheon. I felt a swell in that church. I felt a movement of powerful hope.
How can you serve today? What dialogue will you have with yr family?
How can the spirit of the day continue all year long?
Happy Birthday Dr. King. Thank you.






photo via cacv.org

"Jimmy, what color are my eyes? "

I love Schmutzie. She is doing this cool series called Grace in Small Things here.
I wanted to join her but I feel so stretched and busy that I did not want to commit to something that I would perhaps not be able to fulfill. But I keep going back to her sweet premise. (She says- "I will post a list of five things that have graced my life, either on that day or at any time in my life. ")
I love this.
So on Sundays and probably not a ton of them- but on certain Sundays while the family naps I may share some Grace in Small Things here. I find music to be quite inspiring to me and I need inspiration daily. I love it when certain lyrics snarl me in and capture me. Like these ones. Like these ones.

title post- Thelma and Louise 1991
Matt Bauer singing - swoon

"What we have here is a dreamer. Someone completely out of touch with reality. "

I try and keep this space more about me lately and not so much my business, but dude!
We are in Daily Candy today!

Check it out. LIKE RIGHT HERE VERN.

I am so happy yet at the same time in a bittersweet mood as you all must have heard by now of the SAVE HANDMADE nightmare going around the country.
My gorgeous teethers and toys may soon be ILLEGAL.
Read this and catch up.
I urge you to go tell Obama that the CPSIA is not the change want!!!!
Vote today to Save Small Business from the CPSIA HERE:
We need your vote by January 15th (no later than 5pm EST)! NOW NOW NOW.
I promise to stumble yr words, drink with you at Blogher, tell you stories that make you pee yrself, vote for any assortment of contests, and even buy Girl Scout cookies- just help me!
Help the small guy. That's me.
Help yrself. That's you.
You love more than Mattel.
You love thrifting.
It could really all end.
Word.




title quote- The Virgin Suicides 1999

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Put on the day/And we'll talk in present tenses

I think this world is about to experience a renaissance of lovely. Of human touches. Of kindness. I believe it, and I believe it is being sparked by you and people like you.

I have had the fortune of having a lot of good feedback and comments this year, but the above one gave me goosebumps and made my lip quiver a bit because this is all I want.

A renaissance of lovely

Won't you join the movement?
Won't you go tell Rowena that you believe? I thank her so much for that comment- one that was such a lovely gift to me.

I also want to believe that we are headed for great change as we blaze right into 2009. I feel a vision quest forming for our country. I don't think it is always fair to think others will change things for us though. I have a ton of faith in Obama and the new administration, but I also think there is a lot that we need to shoulder ourselves- there is a lot of parenting and neighboring and loving and changing to do in each small life. There is a key that needs to be turned and we all need to hear the click before things are gonna really change. Small ripples and don't you ever forget that

The Mississippi's mighty,
but it starts in Minnesota
At a place that you could
walk across with five steps down

Are you ready?

A renaissance of lovely...wouldn't you like yr legacy to be that? Perfect.

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With a voice as big as the the sea

I need to not be so busy bc my gal wants me to talk more about Christmas.

I am more in the mood after Finnian's Christmas program this morning.
It's like Christmas music continues to makes me cry. WTF?
Of course the children may have intensified it but the last few years I am even like in a mall and some slow holiday tune will play and I will feel it coming on.
I will be a wreck by the time I am an old woman.

I just buried my head in Blaise's neck and let my tears drip down his fat back and he giggled and giggled and the whole church smelled like childhood and pine cones and I just had to eat at Bob Evans I was so overcome.
I know what will make me freaking happy though is watching A Christmas Story this weekend and eating these. How bout you?


photo via people.com

we will remember that there is something happening in America

Not much really seems more important today
no writing or pretty little things
can match the day
so I won't try
I only cry and smile
at ever single soul I encounter

pics via NYTimes

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To your longest night/To how hard you fight

I found the Motherhood via Gabrielle. You can leave a message about yr voting experience there! Mine is below! I was so emotional at the voting booth. Were you? xo VOTE!

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She can take the dark out of the nighttime/And paint the daytime black

Get thee to a screening of this amazing documentary!
WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS?





I had the pleasure of attending a a screening for this documentary last night and I left the building feeling as if I could speak louder and I could breath deeper. I felt a part of my artist self climb out of my body and join the other women on the screen and in the room to dance and be joyful in the fact that motherhood and the artist life can coexist.

I let go of what others expect of me for a bit longer than usual last evening and felt a powerful connection to other women/mother/artists who really do get the short end of the stick. Why can't art in general be more sacred and why can't mothers be more than mothers? Why can't it be validated that I want a room of my own and two or three hours a day to be in that space? Why?


All I know is director Pamela T. Bolls has got a gem on her hands, she has got a documentary that speaks to women and all artists and art lovers. She has to get this out there for more folks to see. Go to the website and find a screening or act locally!
Wexner are you listening?

Drexel are you listening?
I will help you organize it with my big mouth!


*** I also has the pleasure of meeting Janis Mars Wunderlich!

She is a fabulous LOCAL artist in the film.
I loved her. Her art is amazing and she has FIVE children. I think she has figured out a lot of the right ways to live the artist life. She choose the right supportive partner, has a strong faith in something, and makes art a daily part of her life! She was so inspiring! Check her out!

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