[pianos scattered through the city for anyone/everyone to play]
[these signs in a store window. the one on the left says "make art not war"....right on.]
[quality time]
* * *
[seven more things i love]
~ this exciting fact: in 20 days, a TARGET store is opening withing walking distance of my house. Target! in Manhattan!
~ sour candies
~ v-neck t-shirts
~ big bundles of helium balloons
~ silk scarves on a breezy day
~ lavender-scented soap
~ fried chicken & mashed potatoes on the 4th of july
* * *
hope your week gets off to a love-filled, breeze-filled, candy-and-convenience-filled start. much love to you, friends.
xoxo
the papa and i are both working today, but we’re also finding some time to meet friends for lunch and creatively avoid the heat all afternoon. hope your july 4th is filled with family, friends, grilled and/or fried foods, very cold beverages, second helpings of ice cream, jaw-dropping-but-safe fireworks displays, great american music (you know, like the grateful dead and anything played by a marching band), laughter, fun snapshots and raucous celebration.
five years ago, in july 2005, my biological father died. he wasn’t the dad that raised me (the one i think of when i say the word daddy), but he was my father and i loved him with my whole heart. we had reconnected and forged a relationship from the time i was about 20, and what we had was something special. his passing was very sudden (having kicked cancer and shed some other big demons a few years earlier, i think we just assumed he was through the worst of it), and he was young: only 49.
if there’s one little regret i have in life, one “i wish i’d done that differently” line item, it’s this: he died before i took the time to tell him i was pregnant. oh yes, it was early in the process (we were waiting until after the first tri-mester to make official announcements), and i was very busy rehearsing/performing in The Sound of Music… but i just wish he’d known.
so… we’re not waiting this time. we’re not keeping it under wraps or worrying about the “what-if” factor of sharing so soon. we’re celebrating and being hopeful and excited (if kind of morning-sick-y and dizzy) and letting our friends and loved ones celebrate with us.
we let emma announce it here, but i’ll go ahead and spell it out: as of today, i’m eight weeks + five days pregnant.
last time i was gestating, we called the little person-in-utero “The Baby Bumble” (since bear calls me “bee”…get it?!). this time we’re using the code-name “Cubby” (since i call my husband “bear”…get it?). of course, emma has decided to call it “Beauty”, which is ok, too.
emma got to sit in for our first ultra-sound today, and the look on her face when i said “em…that’s a baby in my belly!” is one i’ll never forget. she’s so excited to be a big sister (she’s been begging for a while), and i think the five year age difference between the two will suit them very well.
thank you all for your kind words and warm thoughts in our direction; i’m so honored to share the news, and i’m completely and truly happy to put it out there and share our joy. xoxo.
[their first picture together: emma next to cubby's ultrasound]
Piglet: Winnie, how do you spell love?
Winnie: You don’t spell love, Piglet. You feel it.
* * *
[list: things i want to do in july]
~ spend more time at the beach
~ visit mom & dad’s farmhouse
~ take a road trip to cape cod
~ read 7 books
~ make a big pot of fresh green beans, bacon & new potatoes
~ make a summer playlist
~ reconnect with friends
~ design a postcard
~ clean the apartment from corner to corner. win the battle over the cat hair
~ pick some paint colors and schedule the wall transformation
~ write 5 letters
~ play the piano every day
~ make bread from scratch
~ make people smile
~ giggle with abandon
~ see some amazing tap dancing
* * *
[quote: Mary Oliver, the summer day]
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?”
[this is what happens when you tell her to look right into the wide-angle lens: total bobblehead]
* * *
[perfect things on hot summer days]
~ long lunches with good friends
~ diet cream soda, very cold
~ big red tomatoes that smell fresh like mom’s garden and are still warm from the sun
~ walking past a sprinkler and feeling just a little spritz from the passing spray
~ sitting in front of a fan, reading library books
~ falling asleep with wet hair on a soft clean pillowcase
~ freshly-shaved legs and jo malone perfume
~ short skirt (+ spanx to avoid chafing) + long blouse + big floppy sunhat and sunlasses. (yes, this is perfect jackie o weather)
* * *
today is a monumental and hotly-anticipated day for us: there is NOTHING on the calendar. NO playdates, no rehearsals, nowhere to be, no one to stop us from sitting around all day in our skivvies, eating ice pops and watching trash-tv… (we probably won’t, but we could!)
hope your day is similarly action-packed, friends. xoxo
* * *
[we had a sweet afternoon at the library. i've been avoiding the place for two years because i owed a staggeringly exorbitant late fine ($17)...today i paid my debt to society and we each checked out some books. somebody remind me to return them in two weeks, ok?]
[every raised curb is a balance beam, every fence is something to climb, every open floor is made for dancing. four is a really fun age.]
