The Technicolor Phase

(artist's butt)

"I am the red in the rose, the flowers
on the blankets on your bedroom floor.
And I am the gray in the ghost that hides
with your clothes behind your closet door.

I will always be your keys
when we're lost in the technicolor phase"

"If you cut me I suppose I would bleed
the colors of the evening stars. (my darling)
You can go anywhere that you wish cause I'll be there,
wherever you are. (my darling)"
--Owl City

Everything's Not Lost (Life Is For Living)

Rio couldn't make to the start of the show

alternate title: Lost And Found

The best show of all time ended Sunday. {sniff, sniff}
We had our weekly Lost party and Joey went all out. He made cheeseburger pie, pigs n blankets, swedish meatballs, watermelon (well, he didn't make the watermelon), chocolate chip cookies, and malted milkshakes. It really got us through.

I applaud the writers of this show for providing us with an intelligent and yet emotional show. We cared about every one of these characters (except for Michael and Annalucia) and felt their struggles. They did a fine job of completing the character arcs and left us feeling at peace with the show's departure.

"When you thought that it was over
You could feel it all around
I'll be counting up my demons, yeah
Hoping everything's not lost."
--Coldplay

I hope everything's not Lost...I'm not sure there'll ever be a another program as captivating.

I won a Lost contest a couple of years ago. You had to sum up the first three seasons of Lost in 7 words or less. I wrote "it's a small world after all." I won a 42 inch plasma t.v., a blue ray dvd player and the 3rd season of Lost. It was incredible!

We had just gone through a failed adoption and life looked bleak. Winning that contest gave me some hope for positive things.

I think that is the most amazing thing. We're all Lost at some point. We all have demons to fight. We all feel stuck. We all try to find the answers. And we all need each other.

"I was standing in a graveyard
Under silver studded skies
In a forest burning ashes
On the bonfires of our lives
As the sky fell down
I was lost and found
Saw my world spin 'round
Round and round

All the ghosts have gathered 'round me
Come to tell me of a change
In the darkness that surrounds me
I'm falling down again
On this haunted ground
I was lost and found
Lost
Lost and found"
--Echo & The Bunnymen

Thank you, Lindelof and Cuse. I loved being Lost.

Life's Too Good - Birthday

Rio - 2 days old

Rio - 1 year old

First morning of her third year

To my baby doll:

You truly are the light of my life.
You make me laugh and smile and cry
and hug and kiss and tickle and play...
get down on the ground to see the "gugs"
or fall to the ground after ring around the rosy.
I kiss the "boo boo" on your toe (at your insistence) no matter where the actual injury occurred.
I happily help you out whenever you're stuck - "Ma! I dah ducks!"
I love how you are almost always dancing and
of course, with jazz hands!
Your favorite songs are Dinner Bell and When I Hear Music
but you'll dance to anything.
I love how you tell people to "shhhhh" whenever anyone is sleeping. You make sure they won't be disturbed.
You love fish, balloons, animals, books, the moon and stars, babies, and water most of all.
If there is a drip of water on the ground, you are trying to swim in it. You are a water baby through and through.
You currently love to say "Oooooh noooo, das a mess!," or
"Come me! Cat! Come me!"
You love to learn and know your letters, numbers, shapes,
colors, and animals.
You can read a lot of words and love to read books
to mommy or yourself.
You are super cuddly and always have to be holding my hand. We've considered trying to find a prosthetic hand to give you
when I'm driving or am unavailable.
You are the sweetest thing I've ever known and you changed my life immeasurably.
I hope you will always give group hugs, butterfly kisses,
and hearty laughs.

I love you, chickadee. Happy Birthday!

"She lives in this house over there
Has her world outside it
Grapples in the earth with her fingers and her mouth
She's {two} years old

Today is her birthday
They're smoking cigars
He's got a chain of flowers
And sews a bird in her knickers
Ohhh... "
--Sugarcubes

Strawberry Avalanche

My little darling is turning 2! two. dos. deux. zwei....that's all I got. Anyhow, we celebrated this past weekend with a strawberry avalanche at the beach.

It was beautiful. And my girl? She was precious.

She clapped her hands up to her face when everyone sang
"Happy Birthday."

Cousin Dawn & Emmerson

Uncle Jason, Aunt Jackie, & Noah

Poppy

Aunt Leta & Nanny

Aunt Becky & The Godfather

Grammy

Auntie Joey & Uncle Mike

Cousin Steve & Logan

Daddy, Mommy, & Rio

Cousin Noah & Rio

"This is a world of dreams and reverie...
O strawberry avalanche, crash over me"
--Owl City

Sunsets

"Sunsets in the east
as I leave alone
you're right behind
I take it slow

oh, you better run, boy
oh, you better run now

we'll see if you follow me
we'll see if you follow me
we'll see if you follow me"
--The Concretes

side notes: this is my best guess at the lyrics. it's what i hear anyway.

Goodbye Girl

Mark was so gung-ho to be Mr. Destructo that I almost didn't get any before pictures of the kitchen!

After the complete annihilation of the kitchen.
We had to cut through cement to make an opening into the
family room.
Turns out that was the exterior wall of the house. yikes!

This was the other entrance into the family room.

And now we have a nice, wide opening. Again we had to cut through cement. (When I write "we" I really mean Mark and occasionally my mother - she really gets into demolition.)

I like to think of myself as a Goodbye Girl.
(not like the lyrics to this song, of course)
But I work hard at trying not to hold on to objects.
I have a yard sale every year to get rid of things...to make a change. Maybe it's because we moved a lot when I was a kid. My mother made it an adventure and I always looked forward to decorating a new room!
So I say goodbye to the old...
can't wait to meet the new!

Disclaimer: we do not destroy without thought. all cabinets were preserved and donated to Habitat for Humanity.

We Are The Sleepyheads

This is some serious bedhead.
We wake up to big hair on our little girl.
It's really cute.
But I have to do something about it.
It's getting longer and increasingly more difficult to comb through during bath time.
Satin pillows are in our future.
The child was born onto goose down and now she shall touch her cheeks to satin.
What a life.
My grandmother slept on satin pillows.
She said it allowed her hair to glide across and thus stay
beautiful and intact.
We'll do whatever we need to keep those curls full of spring
instead of frizz.
Oh how we women must suffer for beauty! {wink, wink}

Lovely Love My Family

"Sometimes when I am sitting by myself

Those quiet moments when not with no one else
I'm mesmerized by all the many good things in my life
I think about the time when I was younger
And the older that I get the more that I feel wiser
With the love of friends and family
Get stronger and it carries me on through.

So I say lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely love, love my family"

--The Roots

I love my family.
Each person adds to my life in a different way.
They're like a swarm that gathers whenever there is work to be done or food to be eaten.
Our new house is like a revolving door of visitors. My 94 year old grandfather is raking leaves and supervising. My grandmother is keeping watch over Rio. My father is head of security, hard labor, and hugs. Our siblings come and go, pitching in when necessary. And my mom...well, what can I say? She's the guiding force in my life. She's right there living this dream with me.
Thank you, Mom. I lovely love you.