this is emma’s dog, two-ey.

she wishes we could have a real dog, but our lease doesn’t allow it, and i’m too attached to the gorgeous light and dear neighbors in our building to ever think of leaving. also: the cats would never forgive me. (zooey cat’s still mad because we adopted a second feline, and that was six years ago…)

it’s a shame emma can’t have a dog of her own, because she really seems to understand the special magic of the barking class.

this is our buddy jake’s dog, briggs.
sometimes we schedule playdates with dogs (and their owners) just to get some puppy love.

* * *

speaking of love: i’m the subject of this week’s interview on my mom’s blog.
(#1: yes, my imaginary friends were jan and cindy brady, until jan got really annoying and cindy and i stopped hanging around with her…
#2: thanks, mama. xoxo)

hello, friends. hope your week has gotten off to a grand start. the last few days were good ones for us; em went ice skating for the first time, my concertizing went well, we did indeed find time for that family bruncheon, and the sun looks like it’s sticking around for a while.

good stuff.

if i’m being honest, though, i’ve got to admit that feeling a just a little melodramatically cranky (the kind of cranky that makes me want to lecture young people and grown men on the bus when they don’t give up their seats for the elderly, while at the same time wanting to lecture the elderly about how to get the heck out of my way when i’m trying to walk down the right side of the sidewalk, which should be easy enough as long as no one slowly and oppressively takes up the entire sidewalk, even though the sidewalks obviously have room for a slow-lane and a passing lane… the kind of cranky that makes me want to roll my eyes and laugh out loud at annoying mean-people (and every clerk at every Duane Reade). this particular cranky happens every month or so, and i know it well enough to just keep my headphones on, only dare speak to people i really really like, and take a deep breath and think before any sort of outburst.

these cyclical annoyances aside, i think i’m a pretty positive person (some of you that know me too well are laughing at that sentence. i don’t mean i never *vent* or enjoy a good laugh at idiocy, i just mean, well, i think that despite some pretty big daily challenges that i have to deal with, i generally feel….happy). on the wall in our walk-in closet, i keep a copy of bruce mau’s incomplete manifest for growth. i read it every few days, and it grounds me a little bit. one of the lists i’ve been making this year (in my brand new moleskine journal) is a manifesto of my own. sometimes i don’t notice how happy these things make me until i’ve forgotten to do them…. this collection of ramblings is helping me recognize just how much these little details matter in my own big happy picture.

the beginnings of my happy-life manifesto (your details may vary):

~ always make your bed in the morning. it only takes a couple minutes, and this orderliness helps establish your state of mind for the whole day. (i’m kind of crazy about this. if for some reason the bed is un-made at bedtime, i have to fully make the bed before i can climb in and go to sleep. did i say kind of crazy?)

~ don’t leave dirty dishes in the sink (they just add to clutter and become one more thing “to do”). wash them as you use them…

~ wear the things that make you happy. the other day, somebody said she liked my red cowgirl boots but wasn’t sure she’d “ever have the nerve to wear them”. i don’t think it’s about ‘nerve’. i like the way they feel, i like the way they look, and i’m not trying to follow some fashion trend; i never have thought about what other people might think. not when it comes to shoes, anyway.

~ along those same lines: eat off your favorite dishes (why bother having ‘good china’ if you’re not going to enjoy it?), wear colorful accessories, and go ahead and dye your hair blonde even if you’ve been a redhead for more than half your life…

~ smile at people. often. (be warned, though: when i was let go from my first temp job in the city, many years and many jobs ago, my boss said this in her review of me “she smiles too much. anyone who smiles that much is probably hiding something.” ….but see? smiling so much saved me from having to work with a crazy-bitter person like that! also, for the record: i’m not hiding anything. i’m just from the midwest; we’re smiley folks.)

~ sing and/or dance every day. if it happens to be your job to sing (wow, what a great job, huh?), sing something completely unrelated to your work. the idea is to let go and remember how soothing and amazing music can be. like the beastie boys said in that immortal song professor booty, “i been through many times in which i thought i might lose it. the only thing that saved me has always been music.”

~ laugh out loud. every day. my very favorite moments in life involve crying because i’m laughing so hysterically. total release.

~ if you love somebody, tell them you love them. your friends, your family, that one colleague you always look forward to seeing… whatever words you need to use, just take time to tell people they mean something to you. this has an exponential energy about it; you’ll start to notice more things and people you love, and they will too…

~ be who you are. keep trying to be a better version of yourself, but don’t ever think you’re supposed to be anybody other than yourself.

~ notice the little things around you. what were the colors of the sunset today? when are those tulips going to finally open their buds? where the heck do all those sidewalk paperclips come from?

~ whenever you’re feeling confused and solitary, read The Little Prince. it’s wise. and sad.

~ keep fresh flowers in the house as often as you can. i’m a big fan of inexpensive bouquets and single stems of beautiful color.

~ when all else fails: be sure to have a secret stash of very good chocolate. save it for a rainy day and replenish as needed.

* * *

“There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved.” ~ George Sand

* * *

i’m getting ready for a full weekend of singing and photo-editing; there’s lots of work to be done, starting with a dress rehearsal this afternoon. emma’s in her room with the door shut and i hear her turning up the music on her cd player. it’s a cd i recorded in college with The Singing Hoosiers and The Cincinnatti Pops Orchestra, The Magical Music of Disney; it means a lot to me, and emma can’t quite believe there are so many people she knows singing on that recording.

the sun is shining bright through the windows, and i’m so very grateful for the abundance of warm light in our apartment.

i’m grateful for the weekend, even though i’m working through most of it. hopefully i can meet up with the family and sneak away for late brunch after rehearsal; it’s my favorite weekend ritual…good company, sweet family time, extra laughter, a very good goat cheese omelet and a bloody mary.

life is good.
hope your weekend is relaxing and joyful.
xoxo

[i can never get enough pictures of the kid out and about in new york city, her hometown]

* * *

random things:

~ contents of my coat pockets, before i emptied them out today: four crayons, nine paperclips, two adult gloves, two small mittens, metrocard, ipod earbud headphones (never used), keyring with two keys, one pink blackberry. no wonder i was feeling so cluttered!
.
.

~ for the last few nights, we’ve been reading Alice in Wonderland at bedtime. it’s an annotated copy, illustrated sparsely with those original pencil drawings; i thought emma would get bored once she realized the lack of any disneyfication, but she’s been begging for me to read her chapter after chapter, listening intently. it’s probably because my (various and varied) british accents are so awesome while i’m narrating (ha!)
.
.

~ we’ve been talking a lot about prayer lately (ok, they’re learning about prayer in school and now emma wants to talk about it all the time), and making a point to pray before meals and bed. my favorites of the last week were sunday when she started our dinner prayer “Dear Mom, thank you for this delicious meal…”,
tonight’s prayer: “Dear God, you are the most awesome and favorite God ever…”,
and a week ago on the subway when she looked over and said “Hey! Let’s pray now!”

i have to admit, it really makes me giggle. she’s gonna fit in so well next time we visit my family in The Bible Belt (so long as no one asks about her politics…)

* * *

a few things i love:

~ clear glass bottles
~ fresh bunches of ranunculus on early spring days
~ saltwater sandals (so classic and simple, would look best with a simple 50’s sundress + petticoat. not that i have one…)
~ perfect squares and very straight lines
~ wynton marsalis
~ three potato four shop (this manhattan print has been on my wishlist for ages)
~ crack pie and cereal milk from momofuku milk bar

i’ve always loved Dr. Seuss, because my mom has always loved Dr. Seuss, and she’s one of the best read-alouders you’ll ever meet. in my childhood copy of The Cat in the Hat, i used a crayon to color some things in the book. namely, i took a black crayon and marked out the angry buzzkill goody-two-shoes (but very correct) fish every time he appears in the book. (this is funny considering how much more fish-like i am, as opposed to that naughty cat.) every time we get to the pages where i colored the fish, emma says “Who did that, and WHY?!” she’d never dream of coloring in her own books and can’t believe Grandma JoJo “allowed” me to color in mine….

truth is, JoJo probably didn’t notice, because i was reading this one myself from age three (I also used scissors to cut fringe in my favorite Grover book; Emma REALLY goes crazy when we read that one!). i always remember reading Seuss, and i’ve always loved reading Seuss; his cadences are a trip for the tongue, and as an adult i’ve realized that his stories are so very wise.

when i was pregnant, mom sent a special Seuss book for me to read to The Baby Bumble in utero; i read it every day for months, before and after she made her appearance in the outside world. as i was taking these pictures, i recited The Cat in the Hat aloud to her/with her as she turned the pages. she has that same look i always did: she’s known these books all her life, and i think she’s a great lover of books, too.

i am so easily sentimental, to say nothing of whimsical and silly. but on this occasion of his birthday, and as Emma is celebrating Dr. Seuss week at school, and as i’m feeling grateful and joyful and lucky, i just want to say thank you.

for making me a reader.
and a listener.
and a thinker of very big thinks.

. . .

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own.
And you know what you know. You are the guy who’ll decide where to go.”

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”

~ Dr. Seuss

today’s listening: Seussical the Musical
(of course!)