everyday awesome.

it's amazing what a difference
going to bed as soon as you're sleepy
+ sleeping until you wake up
can make.

three nights/days & i'm a new person.
a calmer person.
a clearer person.
a more confident person.

finally feeling my equilibrium
just in-between the full super moon & the equinox.

sweet.

again, wishing bottling some of it
for later use were an option.

oh, well. of course, i guess i could
try this experiment within a home environment.

a crazy notion, but maybe just crazy enough to work.

anyway . . .

today i'm being inspired by
the everyday things that make up
the awesome stuff of life.
[thank you, cathy z!]

witnessing a just-born [fewer than five minutes ago]
calf being licked clean by its mama
[& being staunchly guarded by one of her girlfriends －
who knew cows could be menacing?].

aunties.

getting to the grocery store just after
a new shipment of fresh produce has been put out.

chai latte w/skim.
rice krispies treats.

my iphone & its purple otterbox cover.

sleeping porches.
a darling new welcome mat.
before-&-after photos.

walking or running down a country road.
candied pecans.
spotting the first bluebonnet of the season.

carnivals.
pig races.
kettle corn.
riding the tilt-a-whirl with my kids.

pairing the perfect picture w/the just-right frame.

dogs. just dogs.

going to bed as soon as you're sleepy
+ sleeping until you wake up
[just can't extol this virtue/luxury enough!].

so, what slice of everyday awesome is inspiring you?

happy 100th, women of the world.

"we've come a long way, ladies,"
said the first black first lady,
playing off of a 1970s ad campaign
for virginia slims cigarettes.

um, yeah.

as michelle obama celebrated & commemorated
the 100th anniversary of international women's day
earlier in the month at the white house,
she accentuated the positive －
the progress & proven power of women worldwide.

"we as a nation benefit
from every girl whose potential is fulfilled,
from every woman whose talent is tapped.
we as a nation benefit
from their intelligence,
from their hard work,
from their creativity,
from their leadership.

". . . countries across the globe
are more prosperous, they're more peaceful
when women are more equal &
have the rights & opportunities they deserve.

"no government can succeed if it excludes half of its people."

m'obama noted that american women now make up
the majority of college graduates & almost half of the workforce.

but she also noted that american women
still earn less than men,
& still lag behind in math & science-related fields.

& that, as they say, is the tip of the sexist iceberg.

bratz dolls. hooters girls.
sexual enhancement products. birth control options.
reproductive rights. family leave.
breastfeeding. potty parity.
the list is limitless, really.

yeah, we've got a long way to go, ladies.

but women in many other countries have much further to go.

every day is a good day to help our sisters out
as they struggle around the globe for
their own safety, health & fair treatment.

whether you are a woman
or one grew you in & birthed you out of her body
[hint: this means you],
please consider contributing to one of the following organizations
as they work for peace & equality for women everywhere.

• women for women international － help female survivors of war rebuild their lives.
• care － help poor women live, learn & earn.
• kiva － empower an entrepreneurial woman with a microloan.
• save the children － put a girl through school for a year.
• say no - unite to end violence against women.

& yeah, she's applauding for you, ladies.


image source: vintage ad browser, associated press.

dalai mama.

ok, you know that professional organizers' rule
about tossing unread magazines older than six months?

well, i don't do that.
i know. i'm a rebel.

not that i've never done it,
but honestly, i typically subscribe to a mag
or pick up an issue at the newsstand
because it interests me & i want to read it.

goodness knows i've got shelves of books
i've yet to get around to reading,
but i'm not going to just toss them.

my life, as i've mentioned, is full.
& i'm trying to spend more time reading
& less time catching up on the series criminal minds,
but for now, i'm not blindly tossing reading material.

so there, napo members.
put that in your coupon wallet &
forget it at home when you go to the grocery store.

[whew. i showed them, eh?]

all of which is to lead up to my new writer crush.

so, i was reading my premier issue of wondertime magazine
[display until may 15, 2006],
& came across an article titled "dalai mama: a busy mother
learns to get her mind off the to-do list & into the here & now of raising kids."

well, we all know i'm all about this sh*t, so of course i read it.
& i loved it.

it was the perfect blend of the daily grind & the spiritual miracle of parenthood.

it was where the poopoo & the woowoo meet.

oh, & it was funny, with a completely relatable voice.
just amazing writing, really.

for example, love this:
all my life I had been waiting for this, this little being.
& yet here he was & already I was missing it somehow,
preoccupied instead with the frantic tedium of our lives.

which mamas among us haven't felt exactly that
at one point [or many]? show of hands?
mm-hm, i thought as much.

so the author is a woman named catherine newman.
which rang a little bell for me. where had i heard her name before?

& i realized she's written several other articles for other publications i love －
like o, the oprah magazine & whole living [formerly known as body + soul] －
articles i had ripped from the binding & saved,
simply because they spoke to me so very strongly.

so, naturally, i googled catherine newman,
my new writer crush [too stalky?],
& discovered she's still writing a dalai mama column
for wondertime.com . . . it's now food-focused [called "dalai mama dishes"],
but still wonderfully written.

& thank my blessed aunt, she has a blog,
named for her children, ben & birdy,
which i now follow [too stalky?].

her birdy just turned eight, just like my little boy.
& her ben is twelve, just like my big girl.
gee, it's like we're separated-at-birth twins.

maybe someday, we'll be reunited.
& all because i saved － & READ － a 5yo periodical.

[ok, too stalky. got it.]


image source: real simple.

bloom day.

my dear friend diana is a master gardener, talented writer
& now, a gardening writer.

her blog, sharing nature's garden,
often participates in garden bloggers' bloom day,
in which those with green thumbs & flexible clicker-fingers
post photos of what's blooming wherever they are on the 15th of the month.

so, even though i'm not a gardener of any kind,
neither actual nor virutal,
i still love to see spring busting out all over.

so in homage to diana & her fellow dirt-players,
i snapped some shots of the first, fresh signs of spring
here in the heart of texas.

up above, a pretty pink bud on our neighbor's peach tree.

down below, the bright new leaves of the same neighbor's willow tree, waving in the warm breeze.

a bradford pear tree's delicate white blossoms in another neighborhood yard.

the eye-popping purple flowers of a red bud tree.

& the grape-ish color [& aroma] of a downtown mountain laurel tree.

& finally, i thought i might share a photo of what i'm growing:

impassioned protesters,
recently rallying for adequate state funding for public education.

[perry refers to our governor,
who is always perfectly coiffed & almost always an inadequate leader.
imho.]

so, what is your garden growing, either literally or metaphorically??

lucky.

[holiday mashup alert] i heart st. patrick's day.

but not because i'm irish.
i'm german, through & through. yah.

sweet husband is closer . . . a proverbial uk melting pot －
british/irish/scottish/welsh －
but he doesn't relate especially to the irish piece,
however much of him it may or may not be.

& green isn't my favorite color,
though i like a vibrant spring green
[the color of my honda element, aka the happymobile].

& truth be told, i used to not enjoy st. patty's day
because i just didn't relate to it.
i mean, i enjoy an off-color brew as much as the next gal,
& i lerve me some rosie o'donnell,
but i just didn't feel it was my holiday to celebrate, you know?

until i began thinking about it as a holiday to celebrate & share & wish
good luck.

now, feeling lucky is something i can relate to.

so now i think of st. patty's day as a sort of
springtime thanksgiving.

a reminder to stop & smell the blessings of your life.

& for me, a shamrock is the perfect symbol －
a heart-shaped clover leaf each
for sweet husband, big girl & little boy . . .

my luckiest charms.
& a blessing bigger than a pot o' gold.

[i'm tempted to call them magically delicious,
but just for the pop-culture reference/chuckle, really.]

so, what are your top four clover-leaves of luckiness??


image source: coolclix.

binge bloggin'.

hello, dear readers.
i've missed you, & i hope you've missed me.

has it really be two full weeks since my latest post?
golly. my apologies.

the truth is, my life is full.
& rather than letting it's fullness
overwhem me & flatten me underneath it,
i've [at last!] been feeling up to
turning my face toward it,
rising to welcome it, &
basking beneath its glow.

because a full life is a good thing.
mostly.

but my bloggy baby has been rather neglected.
[in a full life, i'm realizing, something is ever neglected.
the key is to make sure it's not the real stuff of life,
like your health, your spirit, your relationships.]

so i've carved out a little slice of time
to catch up on my blog backlog.

my backblog.

i hope you can spare a little slice of time to catch up with me.

spring [at last!] is upon us, dear readers －
let us sit together & let the sunshine wash over us.

celebrate the everyday － march.

ok [ha!], this week has been sort of a lulu
[in like a lu-lu-lion, I guess],
but today is march fourth,
so let us, um, march forth!

welcome, march, when . . .

. . . napoleon bonaparte wed josephine de beauarnais [1796], paul mccartney wed linda eastman [1969], & john lennon wed yoko ono [1969]. ah, spring, when a young man's fancy turns.

. . . nathaniel briggs patented the washing machine [1797], alexander graham bell made his first telephone call [1876], the first movie was shown to an audience [1895], & rca first produced color televisions [1954]. which is why today, we can do laundry while chatting on the phone & watching a tv movie at the same time ... march is for multitaskers!

. . . alaska was sold to the united states by russia [1867]. but some alaskans can still see russia from their homes.

. . . congress authorized the establishment of yellowstone national park [1872]. get out!

. . . u.s. presidents millard fillmore & william howard taft died [1874 & 1930 respectively, but both on the 8th]. beware the week before the ides of march, mr. president!

. . . albert einstein was born [1879]. genius!

. . . the outlaw jesse james died at age 34 [1882]. insert snarky comment about sandra bullock's ex by the same name here.

. . . the girls scouts of america & the camp fire girls were created [both in 1912]. gee, girls, competitive much?

. . . constantinople became instanbul [1930]. why did constantinople get the works? it's nobody's business but the turks.

. . . the star-spangled banner was adopted as our national anthem [1931]. apparently by people with much wider vocal range than the average american.

. . . oklahoma! opened on broadway [1943]. oh, what a beautiful evening!

spring is finally & unmistakably in the air here . . .
the season for hibernation is coming to a close . . .
& i am ready for an awakening
& a new opening of heart & hand.

forward, march!!


image source: filmposters.com.

a busty brunette worth remembering.

from my perspective, she was first
the playtex cross-your-heart-18-hour-bra
spokeswoman of the 1970s, hawking
lift-&-separate technology for "full-figured gals."

later, for me, she became
the brunette counterpart to the iconic marilyn monroe
[a daunting duty, yes?]
in the 1950s movie musical "gentlemen prefer blondes."

she was jane russell －
actress, singer,
three-time wife, three-time mother,
howard hughes discovery,
wwii gi pinup girl,
international adoption advocate,
hollywood bible study group leader &
yes, a 38d.

it was 1940 & jane was 19yo
when notoriously eccentric kazillionaire
howard hughes cast her
in a western he was directing, "the outlaw."

but the movie's poster, featuring
the scandalously cleavage-revealing image above
of ms. russell, outraged censors so
that they postponed the film's release until 1950.

meanwhile, hughes' publicity machine
turned jane into a national sensation
& a military inspiration before she
was ever seen on the silver screen.

russell made only about two dozen films,
of which her favorite was the 1953 musical comedy
"gentlemen prefer blondes."

she & monroe were fast friends,
& the movie earned them both their
hand & foot prints immortalized in concrete
at grauman's chinese theatre.

jane joked that if she & marilyn
were to leave a genuine mark of their respective fame,
then she would lean over into the cement
& marilyn would sit in it.

that's the sassy, brassy, anything-but-plain jane
men wanted & women wanted to be a half-plus-century ago.

we lost her this week, at 89yo, to respiratory disease.
she left behind her three children,
eight grandchildren & ten great-grandchildren.

& very little doubt about what gentlemen actually prefer.


image sources: the corsetiere & her trade, never plead guilty blog, the traditional way.