Inspired by...

We--all of us--have been made for goodness. We have been made for laughter. We have been made for caring, sharing, for compassion for we do indeed inhabit a moral universe. Yes, goodness is powerful.

Desmond Tutu

. . .

To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children...to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition...to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived: this is to have succeeded.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

. . .

Love shared anywhere transforms situations everywhere. Your life is your corner of the garden; tend to that and you tend to the world

Marianne Williamson

 

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Just a collection of images that bring out the happy & hygge in me. 

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The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life
Deafening
The Spies of Warsaw


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Entries in weekend (6)

Monday
Oct052009

Louie, Louie

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Louie the dog is cracking me up lately. He's decided to become Sam's long lost brother (from a different mother). Notice how he's holding the paper for Sam's coloring page*? And how fascinated he is by the whole process? I see you're using the red crayon, Sam. Good choice. I might have gone with magenta but clearly you know your way around a coloring page. This is how he is all day long: interested and involved. I unload the dishwasher several times a day but each time, it's the most fascinating thing in the world to Louie.

Wow! Dishes go in there, huh?
And then where do they....oh....in the cupboard. I get it.

Of course, he wasn't such a fan when his collar got caught somehow on the empty dishwasher rack and he pulled it out and across the kitchen floor, attached to his neck. Unexpected! The sky is falling! He's a little more wary of it now.

The other thing that never fails to make us laugh is his response to either (a) phone messages on our machine or (b) sirens. Oh, my. He howls and howls like a wolf on the prairie. I'm pretty sure he thinks the sirens are other dogs asking for his help and advice and support. Not sure what the answering machine is all about. Maybe he just misses me.

Oh, Louie. If only you didn't still steal things from the table. And jump up on shy little Chinese students. Then you'd be almost perfect.

*we had a lovely, lazy Sunday listening to conference talks at home, eating fresh picked apples and pumpkin bread, most of us remaining in pajamas all day. Sam (above) set up projects on the floor where Louie joined him.

Tuesday
Sep222009

Magnificent

weekend.
Thanks for coming, friends.

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Jen, me, Deirdre, Vicki (behind the camera) at Burdick's Chocolate in HarvardSquare (fantastic truffles and decadent hot chocolate). Such a beautiful day. Or days. I love showing people around Boston and this weekend the city put on her best weather and represented well (not a city of blinding lights, but almost). Good food, a bit of sightseeing, great chats. It was a great chance to get together and do what friends do: show up, support + love, laugh, scheme, and be serious and indignant and silly at all the right moments. I feel refilled + replenished and hope they do too.

Anyway...
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Uno, dos, tres, catorce...
Before the show. Yes, we came early...
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but it was worth it.

I wasn't really prepared for how emotional an experience it would be. U2 has provided the soundtrack for a lot of my life. So many images came flooding back to me: moments of longing, joy, heartbreak, memories both manic and melancholy. There were some great melodies woven into the setlist. They combined One + Amazing Grace, added Blackbird to Beautiful Day, and a sing-along Stand by Me that got me all teary. It was such a great night*. Can't wait until next time, whenever that is. (The other three are heading to Vegas in October to see them again, the luckies.)

Now to get back to real life...

p.s. If you go (or are planning on it) get general admission tickets on the floor. I loved our seats--and they were on the 30th row so pretty good!--but if I did it again I would sacrifice sitting for being up close at the band's feet.

Friday
Sep182009

happy jumble


Happy to take off my mind:

  • Did I register Lauren for driver's ed? Yes, I did.
  • the paper for the class last night. I finished it yesterday. Whew, that was a close one.
  • the presentation at the Harvard Faculty Club on Wednesday. Turns out, when I get exceptionally nervous I get really, really drowsy. In spite of my desire to find a quiet corner and nap, it went really well. And best of all? It's over!
  • Was my house clean enough for the houseguests last night? No. Not even close. But oh well.
Still whirring in my mind:
  • how to teach Lauren to be a good (safe, no accidents, please) driver?
  • hmm, why does the stake have a big youth dance on Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve?
  • are my kids too busy? and (unrelatedly) when will they learn to clean a bathroom really well?
  • and, especially, how to best love and support an awesome friend who has been massively betrayed? and help her see that she's incredible and strong and will be fine?
Happy to look forward to:
  • time with 2 longtime friends and 1 new one, staying with us for a long weekend*
  • touring around Boston in this lovely early fall weather
  • going to a concert by a little band that starts with U and ends with 2*
  • slowing down a bit more to enjoy September
  • maybe finally hanging a few pictures around the house? And curtains?
  • apples and pumpkins and mums and soup and pies...autumn is my favorite
Happy weekend to you

* I am justifying these fun things and my trip to NYC (and, I'll be honest, anything else that comes along--hear that, Christie?) by classifying them as my happy 40th birthday fall extravaganza.

photo via loveyourchaos

Tuesday
May262009

Wringing the magic from the weekend

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1. at Providence's WaterFire, 2. L, contemplative at dusk 3. easy picnic on Monday
4. L @ park 5. we love the park 6.gondola @ WaterFire
7. white legs playing games 8. Miss M 9. more games
10. G on his first holiday off since January 11. protective geese parents 12. crazy Sam

We got two hours of gardening work out of each child (yay!)
went to WaterFire
had a picnic
played badminton
saw Night at the Museum (kids)/Angels and Demons (grownups)
took naps, went on walks
did a lot of lazing
had reallyreally good burgers from our grill
had patriotic, thankful thoughts
and planned and dreamed.
A good restorative weekend, all in all.

Wednesday
May132009

Bostony weekend

In New England, we seem to wait all winter lonnnng (all 6.5 months of it) for a lovely, blooming weekend like the one we just had.  Now that the dreary grey and brown landscape has perked up again, I can fall a bit in love with New England again.  Blue skies (full disclosure: with a little showers in the morning). Sunny. Light breezes.  As luck would have it, when that particular kind of Saturday rolled around we had some great reasons to be out and about enjoying it.


March of Dimes walk in the morning along the Charles.
Red Sox game in the afternoon.

Holy Boston baked beans! Now I remember why we like it here...


Now if only the Sox had won that game... 14-5 isn't pretty (you can see Sam's dismay in one of the photos). Eh...you can't have everything.  And I think New Englanders secretly enjoy having something to gripe about. It brings us all together in misery:)