Tags
I’m really really happy to reprise this once beloved hairstyle.
Check out Cate’s hair trends post over at Wild Ruffle!
31 Wednesday Aug 2011
Posted Fashion, Lovely people
inTags
I’m really really happy to reprise this once beloved hairstyle.
Check out Cate’s hair trends post over at Wild Ruffle!
29 Monday Aug 2011
Posted My designs, Work to love
inTags
design, efficiency, study, work, Zurich
Fischli & Weiss »How to Work Better«Mural on office building in Zurich-Oerlikon. Image courtesy Benedict Froggatt
I was inspired by the image above to create my own. It’s dedicated to Jesse, who starts high school today.
Feel free to click on my design below and print it out for posting where you work (it’s linked to a high res file.) But please do not distribute.
I’d love to hear which of these 10 tips resonate most for you and why.
If you answer my question by commenting here, I’ll enter you to win a $10 gift card to Starbucks or Caribou, whichever one helps you to work better.
I’ll draw the winner’s name–fittingly, I think–on Labor Day (Monday, September 5th)
26 Friday Aug 2011
Posted My life
inTags
Now that Jesse has seen his new room, I can finally share photos with you.
As they would say on Extreme Home Makeover, time to “move that bus!”
Many, many thanks to the lovely Sonia Mosch of Therapeutic Design for helping us to conceptualize the space based on Jesse’s specific interests, tastes, study habits and psychological profile–a highly extroverted young man who is distracted somewhat (who are we kidding, that is obviously an understatement?!) by socializing but wants to excel at his studies. She was fun, insightful, savvy and used all of the right teenage vocab (“chill zone” and “study zone.”) She also shared with Jesse lots of useful information regarding psychology and strategies for effective teen study habits that he can put to work in the upcoming years.
Sonia suggested color palettes, furniture purchases and layout of the room which gave clear direction to our DIY project, while also allowing us to bring some of our own ideas and creativity to the mix. She was fantastic to work with and a real professional. Thanks, Sonia!
Below is one BEFORE and one AFTER photo. If you want to see more photos (there are LOTS more), visit my Facebook album, here.
Can’t wait to hear what you think, friends!
25 Thursday Aug 2011
Posted Quotations
inTags
anatole france, change, going, living, melancholy, new, old
23 Tuesday Aug 2011
Posted Have a little faith, My life
inTags
beloved, change, childhood, children, courage, faith, first job, first paycheck, growing up, high school, independence, intimacy, Jennifer Richardson, journey, letting go, love, parenting, parents, progress, Ripplespeak, steps, teenager, tending to the turn, trust, wonder years
The boys finally return from their four dreamy summer weeks on Georgian Bay (Canada) on Friday.
Jeremy and I left them behind a couple of weeks ago, returning home on our own. The time has flown by as busy-ness with work, friends, and various projects–the ones that seem to never get done–have filled our days.
Our major focus though, has been redesigning, painting and organizing the room of a boy who has gone from a child to a teen.
Jesse starts high school in just 6 days. He had his first official job this summer and he earned his first paycheck. He went scuba diving for the first time just this very week. These are some wonder years, truly.
Despite our natural propensity to want to keep him close, we’re making the changes to his room as a symbol of this new stage of his life. We’re acknowledging–with a mixture of wistfulness and excitement–that he’ll be taking more and more independent steps from here on out.
How do we let our eldest child–he who is so beloved–step out onto this new road? How do we let him walk through the big, unfamiliar doors of a school where he will surely be one of the youngest students? How do we simply watch him join the throngs of strangers, trusting that he will capably make his way through uncharted territory?
There is no how.
We simply do.
We know that we cannot let our anxieties obstruct his eager progress.
This is the natural way of life’s unfolding. This is what God intended for us to experience in the often difficult dance between intimacy and independence.
So I deliberately don’t focus on all of the things that my boys will encounter on a daily basis that I simply cannot control.
I try to trust and hope and let them be them.
After all, they are pretty fantastic.
And yet this is a novice’s attempt at faith and parenting and letting go when compared to the one soon to be faced by my new blogging friend–who just happens to live in Charlotte–Jennifer Richardson.
She writes here, on her blog Ripplespeak, about what would be one of the hardest letting gos a mother could ever face. She calls it “Tending into the Turn:”
~~~~Please wrap this warrior poet in arms bigger than mine
and hold him close to the tender light
and love him whole even in breaking
….. cover him with your bright wings
and bring him home safe to us again~~~~~
Prayers for you, Jennifer. Prayers and peace across the miles, new friend.
May I have such courage each and every time I too am tending into the turn.
18 Thursday Aug 2011
Posted In my garden, Inspired writing, Life is beautiful, My designs
inTags
garden, happiness, how perfectly, joy, mary oliver, nature, poem, poetry, rose, summer
16 Tuesday Aug 2011
Posted Inspired writing
inTags
anne lamott, bird by bird, death, enjoy, life, live, obsessive, oppressor, perfectionism, truth
15 Monday Aug 2011
Posted Inspired writing, Life is beautiful
in