happy new year

A new pair of gold pants and a happy dance for New Year’s:

Best wishes for the new year, friends!

renegade wrap up

Wow, this weekend was crazy. And fun too. But really crazy. I love Renegade Craft Fair. There are so many great vendors, and there’s a good variety of stuff and I always wish I had a lot of time to just shop. Tons of people come, and people are really in a shopping mood. But at times, I would look up and there would be a sea of people, moving en mass, and it sometimes felt like people were swept right past my booth, unable to stop. It’s fun to do this once a year, but I can’t imagine flying around the country to do multiple shows, as some people I met do. It was fun to do this with friends and I got to see so many other friends too. (see me up there with Maria and Patty? They’re the cutest, right? And there’s a pic of me with Jimin on FB)

I always like to say that I have to fight my true nature at these sorts of events and actually be friendly, which people take to be a joke, but really, it’s only half a joke. I really do love being alone in my studio, having my quiet time and working. I do really go a little nuts if I don’t have a certain amount of quiet time to myself each day. At Renegade, I found myself worrying: Should I say hi now or wait? Do I try to look busy but available? Should I just keep sitting this with this ridiculous yet hopefully friendly smile on my face? Should I take it personally if people pretend I’m not even there? I would occasionally ask my friend/booth partner Jimin these kinds of questions, and her response would basically be Life Is Too Short. Don’t I know it! It’s too bad I’m wasting so much of my short little life consumed by these questions.

Now Renegade is over, and the last of my holiday orders are trickling out, and I just need to buy all my holiday presents, get a tree and decorate it in the next few days. Last-minute holiday shopping is not fun, friends. We all have that same intense look in our eyes. Any day now, I think I’ll finally start feeling relaxed. Oh, and if anyone has any inspired ideas for a husband who can’t even think of what he wants for himself, I’d appreciate a tip. Or really, I’d love to hear what you’re getting for your partners!

waiting for the mailman

We, and especially the kids, had a really great time in Miami, sitting by the pool and playing. Though I will complain that I did not have nearly enough cocktails, I did discover that I am a “generic rum punch” kind of girl, which makes me feel strangely cheap. I’ll confess that I worried a lot about work while I was there and while it’s good that there’s work to be worried about, it would’ve felt good to leave it all behind.

So back to work I go, and packages are working their way out the door. Have I mentioned our mail man, Kerry, to you? I love that man. He is sweet and thoughtful, and always has a smile on his face. My kids always go crazy when they see him. Lately I’ve been trying to make fewer trips to the post office and instead just pass off my packages to Kerry. However, this led to either me, my kids, or my poor visiting mother being on high alert and racing towards the door whenever we heard the mail slot swing. Now, though, when Kerry sees a pile of packages by the door, he knocks. We were laughing the other day about how I now have him trained, and it was not until a day or two later that I realized that perhaps it was me who had become trained. Because now, when I hear that knock on the door, I jump out from from wherever I am and skip for the door, clapping my hands in delight. It appears, my friends, that I have become a trained seal.

fall

Fall has officially arrived here, along with damp weather and cold hands and feet. But we are holding on to as much warm weather activity as possible.

playing while inappropriately dressed

eating snow cones during a pumpkin-buying excursion

eating outside while we still can

catching up on sleep after a camping trip

PS – Isn’t it comforting to know that after all these years, kids are still reading Far Side, Calvin & Hobbes, and Garfield?

the talk

Ever since our brave friends gave their daughter The Talk in kindergarten, I’ve been thinking about when I want to have the same conversation with Otis. I don’t want for him to wait until Sixth Grade Sex Ed, but rather have him grow up thinking it’s just a normal, natural part of life. I think we’re BOTH finally ready to have this talk. GULP! What do you think? When do you plan to have The Talk with your kids?

We bought this book on the recommendation of our friends, and it looks great. It explains things in a fairly scientific way, and is pretty kid-friendly so you can look at it with your child. There’s also a version for younger kids or older kids. As a funny aside, after our friends’ daughter learned about reproduction, she thought it was so cool that she wanted to tell EVERYONE about it, and one of her classmates got a thorough lesson before her parents put a stop to it.

Also, I recently heard this story by Tina McElroy Ansa on The Moth about her first time, and I loved it. I hope I am one day brave enough to play this for my kids.