Memory Monday - In A Pinch

Living in Japan I was constantly asked, "What is your hobby?" Every Japanese friend I met had a quick and easy answer... AND a neat and tidy hobby to go with it. My host mother's hobby was cake baking. She told me that when she first became interested in baking cakes, she baked a cake EVERY DAY for a year in order to perfect her skills. She showed me a photo album filled with photos of beautifully decorated cakes and baked a number of delicious cakes during my summer with her family. But one night, a friend stopped by unexpectedly and she invited him to stay for dinner. In the kitchen, as she stirred a pot of eggs and flour over the stove, she taught me her secret for a great last minute dessert -- cream puffs! Elegant, easy and delicious. Although I've only baked a couple of cakes, I've made cream puffs many, many times and thought of her every single time.

Hard to Say -- Even Harder to Do

Twenty-nine days into the challenge, I've finally learned to pronounce NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month.) Even more exciting... I have actually blogged every day so far! Which has NOT been easy. I've been sick. I've been tired. (More than once - including tonight - I've dragged myself out of bed to blog.) I've been distracted. I've been on a long road-trip. The power has gone out. The computer has acted up. But amazingly, even with all of the difficulties and assuming I am able to get a Memory Monday post up tomorrow, I did it! Which makes me think, maybe I can accomplish some other goals I have for myself. Like organize the garage. Or train for a half marathon. Or stick to a budget for once. NaStiTABuMo - National Stick To A Budget Month?!?! Maybe I'll start with the garage instead. :)

Silly Sis

Recently I shared CeCe's bib adoration, but while visiting my folks, she had another funny fashion passion that my mom captured in this hilarious photo shoot:

 

 And yes, that is her swim suit! She insisted on wearing it over her clothes, like a bib.  :)

Favorite Photo Friday

Jeep riding a family friend's tractor on Thanksgiving.

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

I've had the following quote on my facebook page for quite a while... minus the last line. I guess when I first found it, that line didn't resonate with me, but today I am inspired by the whole quote:

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. ~ Melody Beattie

After a long road trip with my husband and little ones, spending a few days with my parents, celebrating a birthday, and enjoying Thanksgiving with dear family and friends, I feel like spending some time letting my thankfulness create a vision for my near future. I'm excited to see what goals will rise up out of my gratefulness.

Happy Birthday (to Me)

To all my dear friends and family who helped me celebrate my birthday - THANK YOU!!! My life is so much sweeter because I am loved by all of you. I've had a great day and I look forward to enjoying "the best year yet."  :)

Birthday Turkey

People with birthdays around Christmas time get lots of sympathy, but those of us with birthdays on/near other major holidays suffer too! My neighbor's son was born on the 4th of July and while fireworks every year can be fun, it isn't fun when none of your friends can come over to your house on your birthday because they have holiday plans. I can relate. If my birthday wasn't actually ON Thanksgiving (which happens every 5 years or so) then in most cases my friends still couldn't celebrate with me because they were either out of town (often at Grandma's house) or they had company. When I was younger, I really did NOT like it when my birthday feel on Thanksgiving. I wasn't the biggest fan of turkey, stuffing or gravy. And a candle in a piece of pie was not my favorite either! Plus sitting around eating and then sitting around watching football was way too boring. But over the years I've become more fond of Thanksgiving and I am grateful for the chance to be with friends and/or family to celebrate all our blessings. So I don't mind being the birthday turkey... just as long as we can have cake along with the pie!

Memory Monday - Bright Lights, Big City

I enjoyed the movie "Lost in Translation" a few years ago and was impressed with Sofia Coppola's ability to enable the audience to experience jet lag and culture shock along with the main characters, Charlotte and Bob. Watching the movie, I felt like I was seeing the mesmerizing neon lights of Tokyo for the first time. My first night on Japanese soil was at my Youth for Understanding exchange student cultural orientation in Tokyo in 1990. I remember staring at the long, narrow streets with the complex layering of lights, colors, letters and characters and I felt like I could not close my mouth or even blink without great effort. So different from anything I had seen before and yet so facinating and wonderful. I still love the electric feel of Tokyo and I look forward to staring sleepily at those shiny streets many more times in the future.

Raisin Remedies?

Here is a question for those of you who live in humid parts of the world -- When you visit drier parts of the world do you suffer? I do! My eyes feel parched and itchy, my cuticles seem to immediately shrink and curl off, my fingertips feel like sandpaper, and worst of all, my lips chap and burn. Ouch! What are your favorite prevention/solution tips? My go-to plan is to ramp up my intake of essential fatty acids such as fish oil and/or flax oil, drink LOTS of water, and keep a good emoillient moisurizer on hand at all times. Tonight, I ate a whole avacado hoping the "good fats" will help me fight the fight from the inside out.  Please leave your advice - I would really appreciate it!

Road Trip Thanks

The first day of our road trip went amazing well! I am so grateful:

~ that the kids did SO-O well. Sure, Jeep logged a couple of hours of watching videos on the iPod, but he was content and cooperative the whole time and CeCe cried maybe five minutes total during the whole 8+ hour drive.

~ for clear roads. We saw lots of snow on the ground on all the mountain passes and drove through some snow flurries, but the roads were smooth and clear the whole way.

~ to find a bright, clean, HUGE hotel room at our overnight stop. I knew this hotel was newly built, but I'm delighted with the space, amenities and bargain price.

~ for my darling hubby who worked hard to help get us out the door (even with both of us packing, we left 3 and a half hours later than we thought we would -- which was fine) and then he drove the whole way!

Here is hoping and praying tomorrow goes just as smoothly. :-)

Favorite Photo Friday

Billy Elliot and friends!

Toy Pixie

How is it that adding a second child means that suddenly we can't keep track of the toys in our house? We have a small place and compared to most preschoolers I know, my kids have less than the average number of toys. Before CeCe, we knew that all our puzzles had all the pieces, every car had four wheels, games were complete in their boxes, that legos were in the legos box and blocks in the block basket. NO LONGER! In the last few days, somehow we have lost a whole puzzle... except for one piece! Two other puzzles are missing pieces -- one of them is a floor puzzle and the pieces are about 8 inches square. How can we lose something that big?! The other one has large wooden pieces and at least HALF of them have disappeared in the last week. I am completely confused as to where they could be. Seriously, it is strange how we have so many incomplete and lost toys now. It isn't all her fault, but I do think this cutie is the major culprit!

Blog Slog

Don't feel like blogging.

Dumb ole' NaBloPoMo!

Darn Gratitude Challenge.

Ain't doin' it tonight.

So there.

Phtthththththttttt.

I Think I Can, I Think I Can...

Gratitude Challenge Day 15: Take the time to focus on yourself. Appreciate & give thanks for your unique personality, skills & talents.

My first thought after reading the assignment was "I can't do this today." It wasn't a Terrible Tuesday like I've had before, but it was a blah day and I've been in a blah mood all day. Can't I be grateful for myself another day?! Well, yes. But I think I'll be stronger if I can push aside the blahs and try, try, try to be a little grateful.

So here goes... here are a few things I appreciate about myself:

I think I'm often funny and I'm grateful for my sense of humor.

My writing skills aren't too bad and I've been especially proud of my Memory Monday posts the last two weeks because I sat down and wrote, edited, and published them both in about 40 minutes each.

I grew (with help from my handsome husband) two babies who have turned out to be adorable kids!

Public speaking is something I enjoy and I think I do it well most of the time.

Friends and family are important to me and I work hard to stay in touch, although I'm less consistent now I am a mom.

When I worked (for money) I was an above-average manager. I certainly made mistakes, but I did a good job of communicating with my team and made affirmation and celebration a priority.

Since I've been at home, I've done a lot more baking and I've had mostly positive results.

And a few more things. That I would certainly cover if I were in a job interview. But I'm not.

I'm grateful for me. And I'm grateful for you. And that is enough.  :)

Memory Monday - Nor Any Drop to Drink

The first time I saw the ocean I was seventeen years old and in Yokohama, Japan. Even though my flight to Japan flew out of San Francisco, there was cloud cover the whole trip and I didn't catch even one glimpse of blue water. My host family could barely comprehend a land-locked life so once they learned of my ocean ignorance, they immediately made plans to take me to the beach.

We settled into a spot on Yokohama bay and as soon as we changed into our swimsuits my host sister and I ran giggling into the waves. The water didn't even come up to my waist before ocean spray hit my face and I remember the shocking taste. Without thinking I shouted, "It's SALTY!" which sent my host family into fits of laughter. I can still see and feel the whole scene in my mind: the crowded beach; my host sister's long, dark hair swinging across the back of her black one piece suit; the dirty, grey, gritty feel of sand; the hazy sky; the urban presence of the city pressing in on the beach. But the strongest memory of that day is the surprising, salty, bright taste of the seawater on my lips.

Don't You Mean Nightmare?

I'm guessing blogging angry isn't recommended. Right now I should go run a mile, take a hot bath, drink a glass of wine or even better, do all three. But instead, I think I'll exercise poor judgment and write some public hate mail to my enemy of the moment: fantasy football.

Dear "Fantasy" Football:

I'm not a fan. Actually I don't like you one bit. Here are the top three reasons I think you stink:

1.) You waste SO-O much time. Now not only does my husband want to check in on the Seahawks score, he wants to watch EVERY single NFL match possible so he can track the performance of his fantasy team. As the hours tick away every Sunday, I loathe you even more.

2.) You impair my husband's ability to communicate/engage with his family and friends. Not only does he not have much time for us because he is focused on the TV, if he is forced to talk to me, play with the kids, or go anywhere with friends, he will frequently check in with the fantasy football app on his phone. Nothing says "quality time" like sideways phone glances and endless rolling of the Blackberry trackball.

3.) What makes me hate you the MOST is the way you turn my funny, kind, smart, loving husband into a total Grump-a-saurus Rex! This is a game right?! I thought this was supposed to be something that is fun. You are not fun. For any of us.

So, F. Football, long-story-short, you certainly aren't MY kind of fantasy! If I could figure out how to kick you to the curb, I would do it in a heartbeat.

Resentfully yours,
Seattle Sun

Dress Up

Tonight CeCe figured out how to get one of her dresser drawers open and she discovered that it was full of bibs. She brought me one, big grin on her face, and held it out and nodded and grunted until I put it on her. She toddled around so proud of herself! Not too long after she brought me another one and insisted I put that one on too. Then it became a game -- she would waddle from the kitchen, down the hallway and into her room where she would dig out another bib and bring it back to me (with a proud smile) and I would put it on top of the bib(s) she was already wearing. Repeat. Final count? NINE BIBS! She wore all of them around for quite awhile. What a funny, funny girl. :)

Favorite Photo Friday

CeCe enjoying a PBnJ.

Love everything about this girl !

Slower Than Molasses in the Winter

Gratitude Challenge Day 14: It's been two weeks since you started The Gratitude Challenge. Write about how The Challenge has changed your perspective thus far.

I was laughing about how LONG it has taken me to complete 14 days of the The Gratitude Challenge. I was thinking I've been at it almost double the time. Then I went back and determined that I started the challenge on SEPTEMBER 24TH... FIFTY DAYS AGO. Over six weeks ago. Oh dear. That's worse than I thought. Oh well, carry on. I don't think stretching out the gratitude will hurt -- might help even!

Looking back on the last month and a half I can see a shift in perspective. Not wholly grateful (grin), but certainly more grateful and grateful more often.

Grateful for Girlfriends

The Gratitude Challenge Day Thirteen: Pick three friends or family members you see (or talk to - creative license on my part) regularly. View their actions and gestures through a positive lens, assuming their goodness and witnessing their best intentions.

FAIRY*:  You are so dear to me. Thank you for teaching me so much about being a good mom and great friend. Your joy for life is inspirational and hanging out with you always brightens my day. CeCe is so lucky to have you as one of her fabulous "fairy" godmothers!

LAUREN*: Thank you for being a neighbor and friend. I am grateful for the way you help every new family feel welcome. Thanks for hosting a mom's lunch this week! The food was great and it was so lovely to meet and get to know our newest neighbor. Can't believe our nearly twin baby boys are already so big.

JOY*:  We've been friends for a long time and I'm more grateful for you than ever! I know I can call you no matter what I need -- to laugh, cry, or vent. You are always there for me. Thanks for being such an important part of my life. I miss you!

*I didn't use anyone's actual name. 'Cause blog code names are just more fun!