Isn't this a great update on a simple childhood toy?
(iwood is selling it here)
p.s. Wired.com recently had a fun article about the 5 greatest toys of all time. My favorite was always the giant cardboard box!
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Simple Gifts
Isn't this a great update on a simple childhood toy?
(iwood is selling it here)
p.s. Wired.com recently had a fun article about the 5 greatest toys of all time. My favorite was always the giant cardboard box!
LOVE
Its the second week of advent and I've been spending this week thinking about that second little candle...
and I mean, really thinking about Love. (see the concussion messed with my sleep/wake cycle leaving me with many middle of the night, quiet thinking moments)
I am mostly working on reframing how to say "I really love you. so much. I do." this season, without spending money. (If anyone's figured it out, let me know)
Until then, here's how some people waxing poetic about love to some highly deserving subjects.
and I mean, really thinking about Love. (see the concussion messed with my sleep/wake cycle leaving me with many middle of the night, quiet thinking moments)
I am mostly working on reframing how to say "I really love you. so much. I do." this season, without spending money. (If anyone's figured it out, let me know)
Until then, here's how some people waxing poetic about love to some highly deserving subjects.
Love to our World
"Love Is..." by Common
Love to our Love
"Drunkard's Prayer" by Over the Rhine
You're my water. You're my wine. You're my whiskey from time to time.
(my crush on my husband is summed up in this)
Love to our Lord
"Selah" by Lauryn Hill
...and then He came. (this song 'gets' Christmas quite well if you ask me)
note: I do think these are worth a full listen.... a pause and a listen and a reflection because these songs are beautiful and this topic is worth it and we get too busy this time of year and well, maybe you don't sleep either.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
I recently finished the book "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer, and it's one of those stories you just can't get out of your head. The writing is haunting yet sweet. heartbreaking yet endearing.
Its, in part, a story about coping with loss. Most of the book is from the vantage point of a creative nine year old boy, Oskar, who attempts to move on after his father dies.
Its fair to say death is an exhausted topic in literature, but Foer's approach is so unique and fresh. The story is touching with out trying to manipulate your emotions (anyone who has read Jodi Picoult knows what I mean there). In a book that centers around the morose, there is lightness and laughter. Maybe that is the essence of what children bring to the world - honesty and humor.
When Oskar is sad he says his boots are heavy. When he can't sleep he imagines a series of drains under all the pillows in New York City, which collect the tears of all the people with heavy boots. And all the drains connect into a reservoir, where levels raise and fall, giving a daily report of the sadness of the city.
(how beautiful is that?)
I really loved reading from a little kid's point of view. Sometimes I forget kids can have big ideas and unique thoughts - ones still filled with imagination. There's an episode of "This American Life" called How To Talk to Kids where Ira Glass interviews some children and about thier biggest gripes against adults. The verdict: we treat them like idiots, and we only ask them about school.
Maybe it's time to reframe how I listen to the little ones around me and maybe it's time to find better questions than "how was your day? did you learn anything?"
Its, in part, a story about coping with loss. Most of the book is from the vantage point of a creative nine year old boy, Oskar, who attempts to move on after his father dies.
Its fair to say death is an exhausted topic in literature, but Foer's approach is so unique and fresh. The story is touching with out trying to manipulate your emotions (anyone who has read Jodi Picoult knows what I mean there). In a book that centers around the morose, there is lightness and laughter. Maybe that is the essence of what children bring to the world - honesty and humor.
When Oskar is sad he says his boots are heavy. When he can't sleep he imagines a series of drains under all the pillows in New York City, which collect the tears of all the people with heavy boots. And all the drains connect into a reservoir, where levels raise and fall, giving a daily report of the sadness of the city.
(how beautiful is that?)
I really loved reading from a little kid's point of view. Sometimes I forget kids can have big ideas and unique thoughts - ones still filled with imagination. There's an episode of "This American Life" called How To Talk to Kids where Ira Glass interviews some children and about thier biggest gripes against adults. The verdict: we treat them like idiots, and we only ask them about school.
Maybe it's time to reframe how I listen to the little ones around me and maybe it's time to find better questions than "how was your day? did you learn anything?"
waiting for the man with the bag
Two days ago we put up our little Christmas Tree.
Yesterday I did the first of my Christmas shopping.
Today I drink hot cocoa and listen to my new favorite christmas song on repeat.
And if the official warming of my Christmas spirit isn't great enough, this friday my family is going downtown to visit the Santas from around the world, see the train displays, drool over the gingerbread houses, and ice skate!
I hope the holidays are creeping into your life as well...
Yesterday I did the first of my Christmas shopping.
Today I drink hot cocoa and listen to my new favorite christmas song on repeat.
And if the official warming of my Christmas spirit isn't great enough, this friday my family is going downtown to visit the Santas from around the world, see the train displays, drool over the gingerbread houses, and ice skate!
I hope the holidays are creeping into your life as well...
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Cleaning House
There are some things that are so annoying and tedious, yet once you do them are soooo so satisfying.
For examples:
- cleaning floors
- scrubbing baseboards
- helping a friend move
- finding holiday decorations in your tetris packed tiny apartment closet
- baking a cake
- cleaning out clothes for Goodwill
(disclaimer: this is not my floor. Its no where close to my floor, however it represents EXACTLY the kind of cleaning satisfaction I seek)
For examples:
- cleaning floors
- scrubbing baseboards
- helping a friend move
- finding holiday decorations in your tetris packed tiny apartment closet
- baking a cake
- cleaning out clothes for Goodwill
There is something exhausting and almost stupid about doing it all in one saturday.
(disclaimer: this is not my floor. Its no where close to my floor, however it represents EXACTLY the kind of cleaning satisfaction I seek)
You'll Get Caught In It
Ever get something stuck in your head that you just can't get rid of?
Once for me, it was the dreidle song. For about a month. And i didn't know all the words, making it especially painful for those around me.
Lately it's this...
Once for me, it was the dreidle song. For about a month. And i didn't know all the words, making it especially painful for those around me.
Lately it's this...
you're welcome, friends
Friday, December 2, 2011
Yoga: for the People (of the upper middle class with disposable incomes)
A new store opened in the posh Pittsburgh neighborhood of Shadyside
An if you've taken any $18 hot yoga class in any similarly nice neighborhood studio you have probably seen the ubiquitous inverted U on all the clothes.
Maybe I just don't shop much and I'm unaware of the 'realistic' cost of items...but there's not many words for the sticker shock I experience upon entering this pristine world of American Yoga. I don't doubt that these clothes are nice, but how nice do you need your work out tank top to be? $60 nice?
And if you don't think that is crazy. Please consider the $88 allegro scarf because "studios can be chilly".
I discovered yoga after my accident when I couldn't leave my room, I couldn't stretch my shoulder, I needed peace of mind. I would slowly stretch, and lay, and balance, and work my way to feeling as well as I could feel. Imagine my surprise, to discover this beautiful practice (that I thought was all mine, in my dimly lit room) is also a huge consumer market!
I can't help but feel that something has been lost along the way and the practice that was to be accessible to everyone (all you need is a mat... and really, not even that), has become the top calorie burning exercise for predominately upper middle class white women - myself included.
Maybe all of this sounds very bitter. Maybe I just need to walk away from the dark maple floors and rows of $100 hot pants on Walnut St....
Maybe I need to roll out my dollar store mat and breathe deeply and use the money I saved by not buying anything today to start a "fly to india and ask this guy what its all about fund"
Lululemon
An if you've taken any $18 hot yoga class in any similarly nice neighborhood studio you have probably seen the ubiquitous inverted U on all the clothes.
And if you don't think that is crazy. Please consider the $88 allegro scarf because "studios can be chilly".
I discovered yoga after my accident when I couldn't leave my room, I couldn't stretch my shoulder, I needed peace of mind. I would slowly stretch, and lay, and balance, and work my way to feeling as well as I could feel. Imagine my surprise, to discover this beautiful practice (that I thought was all mine, in my dimly lit room) is also a huge consumer market!
does that wrap come in brushed periwinkle?
I can't help but feel that something has been lost along the way and the practice that was to be accessible to everyone (all you need is a mat... and really, not even that), has become the top calorie burning exercise for predominately upper middle class white women - myself included.
Maybe all of this sounds very bitter. Maybe I just need to walk away from the dark maple floors and rows of $100 hot pants on Walnut St....
Maybe I need to roll out my dollar store mat and breathe deeply and use the money I saved by not buying anything today to start a "fly to india and ask this guy what its all about fund"
Thursday, December 1, 2011
hope
I'm crazy about advent... stretching out the Christmas season, contemplating what really matters this time of year, a candle wreath!
This week is HOPE, and since the my well of hope is quite dry right now, I thought it was best to look outwards...
Today is WORLD AIDS DAY.
(and appropriately, here is the website)
http://www.worldaidsday.org/
Maybe I can spend a little time today considering a disease that still grips much of our world (almost 3 million new infections in 2009).
Years ago, when I was helping with a program in Nigeria, the face of AIDS was very real to me...
More recently it's been that guy I like on Project Runway
This week is HOPE, and since the my well of hope is quite dry right now, I thought it was best to look outwards...
Today is WORLD AIDS DAY.
(and appropriately, here is the website)
http://www.worldaidsday.org/
Maybe I can spend a little time today considering a disease that still grips much of our world (almost 3 million new infections in 2009).
Years ago, when I was helping with a program in Nigeria, the face of AIDS was very real to me...
More recently it's been that guy I like on Project Runway
oh, Mondo
AIDS has been out of the national discussion for some time now, but according to a quick googling (that's how far from this issue I've fallen) the disease isn't disappearing anytime soon
So it's advent, and specifically the part of advent where I consider how I find hope out there. Or maybe that's wrong. Maybe it's how I find ways to provide hope. To fill other dry wells. Tonight I'm going to a candlelight service on my former university campus. So I'll be doing the only thing my little liturgical heart knows how to do - gather and light a flame.
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