[pictures from our day at the races. ellis park, kentucky. september 2009]

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[a vacation memory]: about 10 hours into our drive, somewhere around the ohio/indiana border where there’s nothing to see but open sky and a few billboards dotting the landscape, the sun started to set. it was a beautiful sunset – the sky was awash in perfect pink, purple and golden stripes, and the sun was a giant orange ball on the horizon. emma was AMAZED, like she’d never seen a sunset before. she said the sky was a big rainbow and the sun was a giant egg yolk circle, and she talked about it for days. a couple nights later, we happened to be in a friend’s backyard as the sun was setting. she ran in circles, fueled with the excitement, sure that our friends had never witnessed such an amazing sight before, either. “Look! Look! The sun’s a ball! It’s a rainbow sky!”

of all the things she could latch onto about indiana, i like that she sees it as the land of big open sunsets and rainbow skies. (…and mailboxes. she’s fascinated by all the mailboxes lining the residential streets!)

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[random list: things i love]

~ this handmade pillow. i’ve added it to my bottomless “make this! …someday!” pile.
~ map tote bags. i’d buy one, but there’s no way i can choose between “East Coast”, “Manhattan”, and “Cape Cod”…
~ this DIY paper magnolia kit.
~ the blog of jen gray
~ the artwork (so simple and pretty and strong) of jen lemen
~ the awesome spiders on danny’s wall-tree
~ this picture on my mom’s blog. who took it? i don’t think it was me…
~ f-u penguin (warning: uses adult language and sarcasm)

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[editorial note]: it’s going to take some time to go through the vacation pictures, which makes me feel a little sad, since i know so many of you are waiting. as you can see above, i edited exactly one picture before i decided it was going to be best just to resize and post them as-is. still, limited computer time, emma’s heartbreaking and priority-taking nightmares, several big projects in the works, and literally thousands of pictures to sort means it’s going to take a little time… i’m working on it! xoxo

see also: my family

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[emma and my brother mike. she used to pretend like she wasn't that into him, but they're cool now.]

[this is my niece olivia. she's like a little magic elf, with the cutest walk you've ever seen]

[don't be jealous, but the stars on her boots light up when she walks.]

[future cup-stacking champion]

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