up, up and away!!!

it was a fast 3 months!  hard to believe it, but Ayat is on her way back home now.  and we all survived!  heh. 

laughing at the kids

see that skirt?  there's a funny story.  hab took her out shopping to find a new outfit (i've since learned her closet is jam-packed full at home, with skirts and dresses that she loves, could never part with, or, ahem, fit into anytime soon).  this was a priority for Ayat; she pestered mentioned it to H a few times.  when they returned from the FIRST shopping excursion, she put on her 2X top and size 18 skirt.  clearly she is not a plus size gal, so that outfit had to go back.  the next trip was to schmacy's, with coupons in hand.  she found that skirt, pictured, and a simple top that matched perfectly (and the ensemble for 22 bucks. for that price, i'd say she looked stunning!).  for some reason, she decided it had to go back, it just wouldn't do.  too colorful.  fine.  back to the mall.  did i mention the habinator despises the mall? yeah.  can't stand it.  he likes to get in, get out, get on with life.  on the third shot, they found an equal bargain which he told her was not going to be returned.  she did try to get one more exchange out of him, but he didn't budge.  so this skirt, you know, the one that wasn't going to work, went back.  skip forward a few weeks to thanksgiving night.  ayat returns from my favorite person's house WEARING THE SKIRT.  i spotted it immediately and brought it to my husband's attention.  we started laughing. 

after she had settled into the couch, he mentioned this skirt was a repeat.  she laughed and said martha gave it to her. uh-huh. okaaaaaay. (i think she just didn't like the shirt they found to go with it the first time.  gah!)  oh ayat, you are such a stinkerdoodle.  safe travels, m.i.l. until next time, Adios!

........

travel is such a strange thing.  you wake up in one place, and go to sleep somewhere completely different.  even on a trip to the u.p., the act of moving from one side of the lake to the other amazes me.  continuing through space and time.  hmm.



things i didn't know.

um, kids? (by kids i mean you there, with your coffee and your bagel/muffin/banana, not my children)  i did not know just how long it takes a turkey to thaw.  dang.  i made one other turkey in my wife life, and it must not have been frozen.  so lets us hope this bird is ready to go by supper time on saturday.

if you want to make the mil happy, take.her.picture.  not kidding.  she is just giddy that we had a little time to take her photo today.  i did her hair, she lined her eyes (her lashes are pretty much gone, no one tells me why.  do they know? those kids of hers?), put on her new duds, and posed in the dining room.  it took her so long to get ready... well. actually, to START getting ready, that my favorite sunlight time in the dining room had passed, but it was still the best lizight in the hizouse. hollah!

airbrushing is fun.

i don't know why we americanos like to cheez it up in photos, but it is not the norm in e-hope-ia (as theo says it), the photographed tend to have a straight face.  this just would not do for the mil portrait, so i called in the heavy hitters.  'THEO! SUVI! COME MAKE AYAT LAUGH!!'  and so they did.  good kids.

my mil really closes her eyes when she laughs.  who knew?!

tickle, tickle!

suvi LOVES to take photos...she is using my phone here, since her pos camera she got for Christmas last year is broken ;)  i just love her concentration!!

like white

on Rice Park in Saint Pauli.  We did a drive-by on Sunday night to look at the pretty lights.

I like this Angel tooting his horn.  He's got a good message, it's about THE best birthday.  Ever.

Rice Park is in front of the Landmark Center (i have no idea what is special about the Landmark Center, i've just always heard about it because it lives in the Capitol of Minnesota, and that's from here. wink.).

it's a good lookin' building, tho.  and i like the clock up there.

theo and suvi and addis are at the foot of this tree.  you can see t's red jacket.  these photos are sooc.  maybe i'll play around with them a bit...

Wishing you a light and bright Thursday, yo!

it is really so very complicated having a mother-in-law

it is really so very complicated having a mother-in-law.  some of you may have already known this.  while i have been married pert-near 7 years, one might guess this should not be big news.  dude.  my mil lives on t'other side of the world?  and i haven't had to share my family until now?  hooh. 

and now we have just one more week with her.  hooh.

getting to know a person with whom i do not share a common language is a bit of a challenge.  not letting myself fill in the blanks is a challenge.  accepting the things i cannot change, total challenge.  loving the mother of my husband: done and easy.  she is a bit fragile.  not her bones, but her countenance.  since her husband passed a few years ago, she isn't sure of herself and what her purpose might be.  together they raised 14 children, so now that her husband is gone-on and her children are adults, it seems she doesn't know her role anymore.  somehow the mourning sadness faded a bit, but she stayed still. 

i had imagined walking to the park with ayat and the kids, showing her our beautiful zoo, walking the lake... she isn't the woman my husband remembers.  it seems she has a bit of The Blues and she doesn't know how, or that she can, shake it.  and it breaks my husband's heart to see her wounded this way.  and mine. and... it ties me to her in a way she'll never know.  she and i are made of the same sensitive cloth; i see similarities between the two of us.  i love her.  sometimes i want to shake her, but i do love her.

this time with her has taught me a lot about my husband.  he is resilient.  he manages to muddle through the dredgy, boggy, depressiony aspects of life with his wife.  and his mother.  my sugar booger is, lest you forget, totally awesome and wonderful...and a looker.  Ahem.  these last three months are evidence of the first two, and the third part there, well, that's just obvious fact my friends. 

Whit-woo, if I do say so myself.

the kids have fallen in love with ayat, too.  they will surely miss her.  theo likes to snuggle under her gabby blanket in the afternoon, suvi often takes her perch on the back of the couch behind ayat, and judah...well, he loves practically everybody he meets, especially if they share their food with him. heh. 

  

That's Right, I am not your Friend.

As a whole, my clients are rather enjoyable. Interesting lives, stories I want to hear. Some clients make me crazy; a handful are extra special to me. What I see in them and the parts of self they share with me, make me forget that I am the hairdresser. Mostly, that phenomena is a good thing. It helps to have a sincere connection with people, especially because it's my job to be inside their bubble. I have to touch head, neck and shoulders. When I was pregnant, my baby belly pressed up against an arm and a shoulder or two. These clients celebrated my wedding, my first house, the births of my children, they sympathized when my dear mother was ill, hoped with me when my husband's job was ending, and cheered when he found a new one. You are witness to my open-book manner of living & sharing my life. I love people. Because of the nature of my work, I have the privilege of meeting folks, all kinds, who would not otherwise be in my friend world. The thing is, what I am reminded of tonight and the inspiration for this post, regardless of the relationship I perceive with my clients, a line exists which cannot be seen until it is crossed. It is the divider between the one behind the chair and the one under the cape seated in the chair.


Tonight I crossed the line. I'm not sure how many years Janet has been with me. 6 or 7? She is delightfully quirky, a California grown seeker and veggie and so interesting. She was a bit weary tonight, maybe end-of-the-week weary, maybe my in-laws are fading weary. I wish I was gentler with her. She did a little unloading of the regular stressors, then asked me about my Thanksgiving plan. As I was telling her that I will bring the Ethiopian coffee ceremony, she interrupted several times. While I described the ritual, she did not seem to be following me. I said: Oh my. You are showing a lot of resistance, so I am just going to stop, and let you *be*. This brought out apologies from Janet, and clear distress. I wanted her to not apologize, and to step back and take my place behind the line.  I love the listening and sharing that both client and I, the stylist, do during an appointment.  I was excited and proud to explain the coffee ceremony to Janet, I felt disappointment that she wasn't taking it in.  I was embarrassed that I wasn't setting aside my own desire to tell my story in order make room for the extra time, extra breath she needed.  I was reminded that I am the hairdresser, not the friend.  She isn't paying me to point out that she isn't being a good listener, she's paying me to color and cut her hair.  It's part of my job to listen, and simply a bonus when I am able to indulge with a captive audience.

These realizations occurred within a few short moments.  It was good to have that 30 minutes color processing time to step outside of her personal space, let flow return to normal, to shape-up the next client's hair. Take myself completely out of the awkwardness I felt and welcome a fresh face/perspective.  I even moved to MOE's station across the aisle.  At the end of the second woman's appointment, I mentioned something about the VIP.  In the mirror I saw Janet watching and listening (remember, it's a small salon.  we typically talk across the room, it's cozy); her eyes opened w i d e and her mouth dropped open when she heard me say 'my mother-in-law is with us.' 
    "I thought I sensed something was off with you!" 
I was like, uhhh. nope.  that was you, lady.  you came in here complaining and complaining and weren't able to make room for the answer to the question you posed.  it is you who is off. 
    "Nah.  It's been good with her."
I wanted to leave the earlier weirdness, shrug off the comment. I pulled the foils from her hair and swished her back to the shampoo bowl.

That tiny bit of disconnect made me feel vulnerable.  What does it mean to be understood completely?  I want my words to be transparent, in the way that I am speaking honestly, directly.  I have been worried and frustrated when I am not able to convey my thoughts, to lay out the thought map in a way that one can easily follow.  What really struck me tonight, though, was how she was so relieved to find a place to pin a label on that stray kink in the conversation link, to lay the awkwardness on me.  To say that the hairdresser was a bit off tonight because her mil is visiting.  Which is NOT to say that she asked a question to which she really did not require a reply, and to NOT say that interrupting on that level is not good for flow. 

It struck me how hard it is for me to be called on my shit, and that she did not like it either.  It must have been hard for her to hear YOU ARE RESISTING ME.  Just like I wasn't happy to hear YOU ARE ACTING DIFFERENT BECAUSE THE VIP HAS BEEN AT YOUR HOUSE FOR TWO MONTHS.  If I were sitting with my friend, drinking coffee or tea or listening to the lake lick the shore or the fire crackle, or better yet--the rocks hiss when we throw more steam (DANG.  I AM FREEZING AND I WANT A SAUNA!!), if we were chatting and you, as the friend, kept interrupting me, I'd just say, HEY.  I'M TRYING TO TELL YOU SOMETHING.  WHAT IS UP WITH THE INTERRUPTING!?  and then you would throw more water on the rocks and say GET REAL LADY, I AM FULL IN THE EARS OF YOUR JABBER BECAUSE I HAVE MY OWN THOUGHTS AT WAR IN MY NOGGIN, SO LAY OFF!  and then i would throw a ladle of water on the hot rocks and one almost on you and we would laugh.  in my heart i could be happy to be taking a sauna with my friend where we don't sweat the silly stuff, we sweat our butts off.

I thought it was Janet WHO WAS OFF.  Janet thought it was Jenny.  She was WRONG. 
Okay, fine.  We were both right and it wasn't wrong to hit a little bump.  It's good to remember I am the hairdresser, the friendly, blunt hairdresser with cute kids, and a mother-in-law on the couch.  (I brought her some milk tonight and teased her, "Here is your baba."  She doesn't speak much English, but she knows how important the baba is around here!  I love when I can get a giggle out of her.)  But I am pretty sure it really was more Janet who was off.  Just sayin'.

observationalizisms

• when i am short on sleep, my temper is quick-lite and white hot
• when sharing a living space with others, regular conversation is a must
• when sharing a living space with others, regular conversation is huge
• when sharing a living space with others, regular conversation is critical
• when sharing a living space with others, regular conversation is helpful
• i think you get the picture.

i am a worrier, and worst-case scenario imagine-r, and this is not a good quality or characteristic when sharing a living space with OTHERS!!! :)
However, it's reassuring and a blessing to be able to call on the resource close to me.  You know, the husband kind of resource.  Who is, let me be sure to mention, bi-lingual.  Unfortunately he isn't fluent in Female (nor I in Male), yet quite fortuitously, he is absolutely fluent in both Amharic and English. 
Yesterday I was making wrong assumptions about what the VIP was saying, so I literally ran away from her, out the back door, and flagged Habinero down to translate.  Turns out she was just feeling a little down, and worried what I might be thinking of her plan to get a new dress.  I squeezed her shoulders and H conveyed my response: Lady, I love clothes and shopping, and I ain't gonna be the one to tell you not to get a new dress.  DON'T.WORRY.

It's just a good philosophy in general, the not worrying thing.  Lets just try a little thing called trust.  I trust we'll keep the words and sentiments flowing freely and with great clarity up in here.

superman, princess, ducky.

this boy. this face.  OOOH!  he loves to dream up plans for toys and fun things to do.  and yesterday he flushed a night light. bless his heart, he's so curious about things. (superstinker.)

hooray! they ducky costume still fits judey! we got some hilarious video of him running on the driveway.  the padding in the lower parts of the costume made it look like he really was waddling. 

grammy came over to see them in their costumes and give them some extra treats.

we brought ayat out for lunch today (wild wings, of course)--she liked it as much as we do :)  on the way home we stopped at walgreen's.  i wanted to pick up carving kits, because i have made the same jack-o-lantern for the last 28 years.  those tiny little serrated carving "knives" are just so fabulous!  it was the easiest and most fun i've had doing pumpkins. ever.  it came with a scraper, stencils, and plastic eyes (in suvi's pumpkin).  she added the toothpick hair.  theo gave his spooky pumpkin pumpkin gut hair.  the candles were decorations from our wedding day.  i'm glad we could put them to good use!

suvi and i made her crown from a cereal box.  the ribbon is also from our wedding time!

own your story

once upon a time, in an old and creaking house lived a limping, lumbering, mysterious creature.  the creature's feet hurt from carrying the weight of five 25 pound sacks of flour under her skin.  she lumbered across the cold wood, her joints echoing the creaks of the floor beneath her painful feet. 

sometimes, the mysterious creature opened the flimsy windows of the shadowy house; those times the wind blew the curtains back, blew the cobwebs off the walls, and blew a bit of golden sun across the chilly rooms.  the wind invited the beast outdoors, and there, one autumn afternoon, the shadows fell away from the creatures brow.  she chased the little urchins back and forth the length of the lot of land (the little urchins that squeaked and squawked and whose noses oozed a clear, slippery substance, demanding to be fed and watered at all hours of the day and night, the little urchins who stole the sleep from under the creature's head, who put sand in her eyes, then leaped and bounced and bounded across the creature's stack of yellow pillows).  as she chased, the pain dropped of first the right foot, and then, eased off of the left foot.  her limp was lopped off with the giggles and squeals of the littlest of the urchins.  the chubbiest and screechiest and softest and smoochiest of the urchins swallowed the mystery of the creature.  that urchin's feast revealed a whole lot of mother, grinning ear.to.ear.

and she forgot about being so irritated at the smallest things un-urchins do or don't do. 

so my story is, i have some emotion wrapped up in food that is as of yet, not clear to me.  i am eating for comfort right up the scale and out of my comfort and into a scary world of hugeness that doesn't suit me in the slightest.  and so, i'm cranky.  and it's exhausting to beat myself up all the time.  yes, i let other little irritations become more powerful than i ought.  all.for.naught.   what i'm trying to say is, being outside is good for me, getting crabby with someone who is operating on a different field is pointless, i don't want to get mad about food, as food is sustenance, not love.  this nice crap takes practice.  oh yeah, i am living in the practice of bitchiness love.

aaaanyhoo, have a good weekend.  i'm off to work.  driving in the sunshine, thankyouverymuch.  and, for what it's worth, if i buy spinach and chickpea patty things with you in mind, just eat the dang thing.  don't eat everything else on your plate, i mean EVERY grain of rice, leaving this special thing i found just for you untouched.  even though i know it doesn't mean you are being mean, i am kind of nutser than you'd first think, and it's going to BUG me.  okay then.

peace, joy, and LOVE!!!!

Sometimes my head explodes

Wow. Today is not a day that I am proud of my behaviour. No. Not a good teaching day for the kids.
today was the day when all my little irritations came together to protest. It turned into an awful riot. There was yelling. There was tossing of clothes. There was hiding. There was embarrassment. There was laughing in disbelief at my own actions. Which means, of course, there was ridiculousness. There was anger. There were buckets of tears. There was a head hanging apology. There was my husband translating.
that's right. I had a tantrum today, and my mil was the unsuspecting victim of my brain malfunctioning. It is the second day of my period. Coincidence? I think not.
Sorry, Ayat. But at least now you have a good spectrum of your dil's personality and charm. Love you, lady, despite my nutserness.

why DID the chicken cross the road?

to show the raccoon it COULD be done.
(ba-dum dum)

• today's banana bread is okay, but it got a little "done" on the ends and edges.
• i remember not liking coffee breath on adults when i was a kid
• suvi just told me my breath is gross
• nothing like the honesty of a daughter
• the last few days i felt like i was edging closer to the brink than i like to be
• last night i cried on my husband's shoulder
• today my mom watched the kids and the vip so i could run to use my finnstyle groupon before it expired
• i love marimekko
• and aarikka
• why don't all banana bread recipes call for 3 bananas
• 2 bananas is not banana-y enough for me
• i nearly fired a client this week
• either i got over it, or chickened out--not sure yet
• pretty sure i'm not over it
• i just brushed my teeth so my client won't have to suffer as suvi did
• my clients don't realize how much work it is to be the fabulousness that i am
• it's better if there is a little mystery and magic surrounding your hairdresser
• especially if i am your hairdresser
• sometimes it's okay to say hair stylist, like all the time, but please, not beautician
• the vip is vocalizing
• that's what i call it when i know she is talking, and to me, but i have no clue what she is saying
• i finally finished reading the glass castle at 12:37 this morning
• i'm really glad i don't have to sleep under a tarp because of the leaky roof/glad our roof isn't leaky
• i'll get back to cutting for stone tonight
• back in the day it was common for me to be reading two books, going for one over the other depending on my mood
• i enjoyed having options for my reading
• maybe part of the reason i had two books started is i couldn't find one book or the other at any one time, so i read whichever book i could locate
• i have been using one of those little led touch puck lights to read in bed
• theo is sick, we've been using his neb a few times yesterday and today
• when he was napping yesterday suvi built him a little tower, she told habtamu it would make theo feel better.
• so sweet! too bad he knocked it down immediately upon waking
• off to bed, sleep helps to ward off the quick sand of tired.  ever notice that? get good rest, not tired in the morning.  really an amazing correlation!

das wassup

i finished going through kristin and mark's photos on saturday.  i miss them. ;)

this is the bride with her sibs. xo

they used to all have the same initials: kj.  now the girls are ke and ko, but the suffix is the same. 'son. 

oooh.  i am just remembering when they were little and i was a teenager and they were so cute.  they'd run laps livingroom-middle room-kitchen when i was babysitting and trying to herd them into their room.  stinkers. ko is expecting her first baby; girl, what goes around comes around!!

sigh.  oh how i love mari's kids.  adult kids. ;)

last week theo's preschoolers had a trip to an orchard.  'course, his mom was hetta that morning, and in so doing, delivered him too late to go on the wagon ride with all the other cutie pies.  we enjoyed checking things out, starting with the chicks.  and then the pumpkins. and the cows.

and since we brought our snack, we ate it before we headed back home to get our vip her lunch.

recently we brought h's mom to the beach...these are from my phone, i love-love-love the beach.



windy windy

I've been writing a lot lately.  Upstairs in our new bedroom it is very relaxing and quieter and less distracting.  i am writing away up there nearly every day.  it's great.  heartfelt, angsty, funny, juicy...
i am writing it in my head; none of it has made it to paper or screen.  it's like trying to hold water in your hands, what doesn't splash out leaks through my fingers. ;)

life with our newest arrival continues to be good.  she has recovered from a cough, and rested up; we are encouraging her to do a little more for herself.  my darling sister in law is now in her second week of class,  AND back to work in the evenings, which means she starts off around 8 am and gets home at ten minutes to eleven. P.M.  she is making her mom's breffy and coffee and sometimes lunch everyday before she gets herself ready.  without question and without complaint.  she has a servant's heart.  i can hear her washing up the couple of dishes that were in the sink.  wow.  i am happy they are here.

however... my head is full!  i am a weird kind of tired.  it's really no...what is the word...well, trouble to have our VIP, yet being conscious of one or two more people sharing this living space...it's weird.  it takes up room in my brain.  i am not even complaining.  it's just a strange feeling.
i'd hoped having our ayat here would fill this little gap in my heart. alas, it happened again.  yesterday, at the orchard, (it was a preschool trip. we got there late, so it became mom and the three kids trip) we were looking at goats.  suvi and theo were up to the fence, judey in the stroller.  i realized i was looking around because i had that feeling someone was missing.  nope, 1-2-3!  all three here.  when i was younger i would have dreams and sort of sensations of holding a baby.  they started when i was about 18.  i would just have this longing to have a baby on my shoulder.  now and again i get this feeling like there should be one more little shaver hanging on my legs.
too freaky?
well, halloween is almost here.
hmm.
it's kind of like that feeling you get when you walk into a room and forget what you went in there to do.  it's not that three isn't enough, it's more like there is room for one more.
i can't burp the VIP on my shoulder, or carry her on my hip, or put cute outfits on her.  i tried to do that, but she hasn't tried on the cute clothes i found for her at costco.  i can, however, enjoy her while she's here.

and if having her here keeps my  brain going, it also keeps me off the couch, and my chin up.  i'm getting a little bit more done, and tooting much less.  yeah, this is not the kind of mil you just let one rip in front of.  is there such a mil?  well, off to bed.  i gotta get my beauty rest, write more fabulous invisible posts, and reboot the head!

PEACE! xo jt

five-oh-one.

you know, this contest is bringing about just what i needed.  laughter, interaction, a little mist, a little flattery...sigh.  i am just so clever.  yes, this was all my sinister plan to draw more from you.  it is making me grin and smirk and i am much appreciative of all the entrants.  yes, i am.

in VIP news, we brought her to Wayzata beach today.  she was shocked to see suvi going in to the lake.  this made me giggle.  she wanted a photo by the water, but didn't want to mess up her shoes.  this made me roar.  i gave her my spare flip flops in order to spare her sandals of any dust or sand.  too funny.  tomorrow is our first day alone, with no hubbinator, no addis.  i might be pretty much strongly wondering how it will go.  hopefully it will be slick as something really slick.  and stuff.

locals, hasn't the weather today been just DIVINE?!  all others, you would not beLIEVE the weather today.  ab fab'ly parfait. (absolutely fabulously perfect)  THIS is what i am lovin', weather-wise: sun, low humidity, breeze, warm but not sweaty.  fresh.  inviting.  i even got my used to hang-dry all my laundry arse to hang out a load today.  it's folded and put away already, and it's not dark yet.  i know.  this weather makes me do crazy things.

i used a new/old banana bread recipe on saturday.  i made it a year or two ago, gluten-free.  theo liked it, but mama did NOT. me-mama, not mi mama.  i wanted to try again because it calls for maple syrup instead of sugar.  feels cleaner.  3 bananas, 11 oz of flour, 2 eggs...it is num.my.

if you haven't submitted an entry for the drawing yet, get over there and do it now!  there is sweet loot waiting for one lucky duck.  but you gotta play to win.

LOVE all y'all!!
xo ethiopifinn

good things

something good.  really, really good is happening over here.  i.am.so.happy.

i am not sure what it is about having my mother-in-law here, and h's sister, A...i love the feeling in the house.  and we have seen sister M so much more than usual in this last week.  M and I have become such good friends in the last couple of years.  i so enjoy her straight forward perspective on things, and i LOVE to make her laugh.  {joni, so many things about her remind me of you, and often i wish you lived near me (for many reasons), i think you would have fun with M, too.  she's your kind of people.  ( i miss you.  and when we talked on saturday, i was thinking it was sunday, so i hope you know i meant 'on monday' and not 'tomorrow' which was sunday. lol)} 
tomorrow is ethiopian new year, so with english phonetic spelling, i wish you melkam addis amet!

 መልካም   አዲስ ዓመት

we went to the girls' apartment for supper tonight.  my mom was invited, too.  it makes my heart beat joyfully that she is getting to know h's family.  it's like the weave of my life basket sturdying up.  like fingers lacing together.  and things are not perfect. 

we all had/have some adjusting to do around the VIP.  she's in need of a little bolstering, so i'm pretty much going to have to get 50-75% stricter with her. (wink)  you know, i love a little bump to get over and then to ponder on the construction of the bump, and why it was placed in this particular section of road, and then to plan how i will approach any sort of similar bump, should they appear on the path before me. 

A is just unbelievably sweet to her mom.  in the evenings she sits right next to her on the couch.  i like it.  she makes me smile every night.  and. during the day? oh my.  she does what ever she can to help her mom, too much, probably, while helping me with the kids, or just enjoying playing with them, as well as keeping the sink clear of any dirty dishes, which totally inspires me to stay on top of it.  no clutter, my friends, has collected this week.  my dining room buffet thing?  no piles.  laundry? done and done.  (oh my word. A's jeans are so tiny. 26. what is that? size one? and her shirts are XS.  i used kid hangers to hang them up!)  yesterday their relatives came over, h said A cleaned all day while i was at my niece's bridal shower (forgot my camera) and then at work.  kids toys, blankies, sweeping, straightening...busy, busy girl.

 

i'm no pollyanna. there are totally moments when i'm like, really? are you kidding me with this? they don't last long. family does, tho. last long, i mean. it's a good thing. super good.

i was wishing for a photo to post, alas, nothing new to share.  i thought i'd post from this month 2010.  look at these two cutie mccutersons.

and here they are again 11 months later.  at the same lake, different shores.

and because when i came upon it i laughed, this one is for you, bette-bette-better. xo!

day three

a moment i never thought, but often hoped, could happen.  lunch with my mom and h's mom.  together. at the same table.  that means on the same continent, in the same COUNTRY!!!  (they have matching expressions)

roast yer own

borrow cups and saucers from mom (these were a hand-me-next-door from sandi) and pull out the spoons from finland (to match the arabia cups)

enjoy!