life is short.

happy, happy ice cream for breakfast day!!

actually, it was officially yesterday, but considering the origins of the occasion,
i'm fairly sure any day at all is appropriate for this specific celebration.

you see, 3.21.2012 was the first eat ice cream for breakfast day ever,
& we've got bruce rosenberg of rock hill, sc, to thank for it.

when bruce was diagnosed with cancer on march 21st, 2011,
he chose not to wallow in grief, but to celebrate life.

he invited everyone he knew, & everybody they knew —
& it eventually made its way on to facebook — to celebrate with him
by eating ice cream for breakfast every year on march 21st.

bruce was his neighborhood's jewish champion of christmas lights,
called his cancer "humperdink," & embraced a flatulent unicorn
as his mascot & humperdink's nemesis. he was clearly something special.

sadly, bruce died just nine days prior to the inaugural celebration
of the holiday he created. he was 41, & leaves his wife, julie,
& two young daughters — lucy & ella — to carry on his joie de vivre.

& now, we can help — & honor all who have been touched by cancer —
just by enjoying an indulgence once a year.

life is short, people. eat ice cream — early & often.

as an aside, an educational fund has been established for bruce's daughters.
you can contribute by mailing a check made payable to either ella or lucy rosenberg
to po box 38101, rock hill, sc, 29732.

the tutu project.

there is a man who is a professional photographer who lives in new york city.
his name is bob carrey.
he is married to linda.

the carreys used to live in phoenix. while there, ballet arizona asked bob
to contribute an original image for a media campaign.
bob chose to snap a shot of himself in a pink tutu.

a few months later, in 2003, the carreys moved across the country from phoenix to nyc.
bob thought he might begin a series of himself in the tutu,
so he kept it close at hand as they drove across the country.

the first tutu self-portrait happened in santa fe.

in bob's words,
"i began to realize that a bit of pink tulle can change the
context of an environment & people's reaction to it."

six months later, linda was diagnosed with breast cancer.
she beat it, but a few years later, in 2006, it recurred.
she has been undergoing chemo ever since.

again, bob's words:
"oddly enough, [linda's] cancer has taught us that life is good,
dealing with it can be hard, & sometimes the very best thing —
no, the only thing — we can do to face another day is
to laugh at ourselves, & share a laugh with others."

& so the tutu project continued,
spreading its rare tincture of silliness & beauty
one pirouette at a time.

soon, bob will self-publish ballerina, the book,
a collection of his tutu images & some humorous stories
about the adventures of a man & his pink tulle.

all proceeds from the sale of the book will go directly
to breast-cancer organizations.
the carreys' goal is to raise $75,000.

you can purchase prints of tutu photos or preorder the book here.
you can visit & like the tutu project's facebook page here.
& you can enjoy just a taste of bob's terrific tutu self-portraiture here:

they do it. why can't we??

meet bff's kate & pippin.
kate, the great dane, & pippin, the young deer.
they're adoptive mother & daughter, & best friends.

pippin was just a newborn fawn in june 2008 when her birthmother abandoned her,
frightened by some neighbor dogs. pippin wandered around isobel springett's property
for three days until isobel finally rescued her.

isobel's dog kate adopted the tiny fawn almost immediately.
the two became inseparable as kate — who had never mothered & was spayed —
cleaned pippin, tried to nurse her and slept beside her.

eventually, pippin grew into an independent deer,
who lives out in the woods with her fellow deer, but
who comes for daily visits & playtime with her adoptive mother.

isobel, a photographer, documented their rare relationship,
& with her brother martin's words telling the amazing tale,
has just published kate & pippin: an unlikely love story.

they've also got their own youtube channel,
where you can enjoy moments like this:



there's something uniquely uplifting about animal odd couples like kate & pippin.
i think it's that they prove without doubt the power of love —
that love can override even something as ingrained as animal instinct.

happily, unusual animal friendships can be found all over the interwebs:

:: 9 unusual animal relationships, a huffington post.

:: dozens of photos of unusual animal friendships @ kikiriki pics.

:: a whole blog dedicated to photos of unusual animal friendships @ let's be friends.

:: unlikely friends: why we love odd animal pairs, an analysis.

:: unlikely friendships, a book by jennifer holland.

:: friends: true stories of extraordinary animal friendships, a book by catherine thimmesh.

:: & the classic animal pals story of tarra the elephant & bella the dog:
:::: there's the book, tarra & bella: the elephant & dog who became fast friends by carol buckley;
:::: & here's the cbs tv feature that i believe got the two on oprah:



ah, wise, wonderful animals — proving once again
the power to "reason" is highly overrated
& no match at all for the power of compassionate kindness & love.

celebrating no-kill, year one.

technically, teen girl & i have been volunteering
with the amazing rescue organization austin pets alive!
for almost a year.

[realistically, seventh grade has dramatically diminished our capacity
for putting in volunteer hours, but we occasionally help out
the apa! adoption counselors at our friendly neighborhood petsmart.]

regardless, thanks in large part to apa!, austin just hit
the one-year mark of being a no-kill city for homeless pets.

[no-kill is defined as a minimum of 90% of homeless pets
coming into the city shelter leaving alive to forever homes.]

the austin city council declared yesterday as no-kill day
in austin to honor the occasion.
austin is also currently america's biggest no-kill city.

in 2011, the austin animal center — with the help of apa!, the austin humane society,
& dozens of other volunteer rescue & foster groups — had an average
91% save rate, with a total of 5,541 dogs & cats avoiding euthanasia, including:
3,224 dogs, 2,317 cats,
1,032 bottle babies [animals too young to be weaned],
256 parvo puppies & 132 barn cats.

so let us raise a glass — or a tail, as the case may be —
in celebration of austin, texas, the music capital of the world,
& the best place on earth to be a helpless, hopeful critter.


image source: our own apa! adoptee, skipper inkspots,
with bone & duckie, on the recent occasion of his first birthday,
without whom our pack would be incomplete &
merely 5,540 austin-area pets would have been saved last year.

top five regrets of the dying.

australian writer & songwriter bronnie ware
spent several years caring for dying people
who had gone home to spend their final weeks of life.

bronnie questioned them about any regrets they had or
anything they would have done differently, & within their answers,
she discovered common themes emerging again and again.

bronnie's memoir chronicling how these regrets helped
change her life will be published march 20th.

here, from the top five regrets of the dying:
a life transformed by the dearly departing, are
the five most common life regrets:

1. i wish i'd had the courage to live a life true to myself,
not the life others expected of me.
the most common regret of all.
make choices that honor your dreams.
from the moment you lose your health, it's too late.
health offers a freedom frequently unappreciated until it's gone.

2. i wish i didn't work so hard.
every male patient had this regret,
& as more & more women become breadwinners,
i sadly suspect they will share it.
simplify your lifestyle & create more space in your life.

3. i wish i'd had the courage to express my feelings.
many people quashed their feelings in order to keep peace with others.
consequently, they settled for a mediocre existence,
& held onto lifelong resentment over it.
speak honestly, & it will either
make your relationship healthier or
release the unhealthy relationship from your life.

4. i wish i had stayed in touch with my friends.
many people had let golden friendships slip through the cracks
while they were caught up in their own busy lifestyles.
give friendships the time & energy they deserve.
at the end of life, all that remains is love & relationships.

5. i wish i had let myself be happier.
many people don't realize happiness is a choice.
they stay stuck in old patterns and habits,
pretending they're content because they're afraid of change.
don't let fear or familiarity hold you down.
this may well be your one & only opportunity to live a happy life.

concludes bronnie ware:
life is a choice.
it is your life.
choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly.
choose happiness.


image source: windows7 wallpapers.

10 of marc & angel's best life hacks.

i guess i'm way behind the self-improvement-blog curve,
but i just discovered marc & angel,
a too-cute california couple blogging with the maybe-overinflated,
yet-aspirational mission: "to inspire."

marc & angel hack life is a self-described
"personal development" blog featuring posts on,
well, lifehacks, as well as productivity, health, wealth,
technology & overall happiness.

what captured my attention is the quintessential
blog-post-title format marc & angel invariably use;
i think you'll see what i mean once you peruse
my personal picks for a marc & angel sampler:

:: 30 things to start doing for yourself
:: 30 things to stop doing to yourself
:: 40 extraordinary things happening right now
:: 50 questions that will free your mind
:: 30 challenges for 30 days of growth
:: 60 ways to make life simple again
:: 12 things happy people do differently
:: 10 simple truths smart people forget
:: 10 commandments for a good life
:: the 30 most satisfying simple pleasures life has to offer

thanks, angel & marc [give that girl a little top billing!] –
extremely inspirational!


image source: tara winona @ etsy.com.

desperately seeking: my groove.

do you ever feel all askew?

lately, it's like i can't get into a groove.

i can't sort things through.
i can't get stuff done.
i can't organize my thoughts or my stacks or my time.

despite all that, i also can't seem to get
enough sleep or enough produce or enough exercise.
i can't get around to my work projects or my creative practices.

i can't bring myself to bring up difficult issues,
even though it will help ease them.

i often feel overwhelmed . . .
& overcome with the fantasy of napping for a solid week.
i rarely feel impassioned or inspired to action
[i.e., so inspired that i must act].

is this depression? i'm already doing antidepressants.
is this hormones? i'm ten days late & not pregnant.
is this midlife? longtime marriage + motherhood = bleh??

i feel like i've got a crowd of elephants
just milling about me all the time,
shuffling their giant-toenailed feet & vaguely swinging their trunks.

following me from room to room,
from school to grocery store to doctor's appointment to client meeting,
some connected tail-to-trunk, but others just free-roaming.

sometimes, i can coax two or three of them into some sort of orderly position,
but as soon as i begin to move the next one over to its spot,
one of them wanders off again, & soon i'm once again surrounded by
the world's most aimless, lumbering & pungent cocktail-party participants.

& so, i am askew. off-center. off-track.
& not sure how to get to "flow" again.

mama wants her groove back.

ideas? please, share 'em if you've got 'em.


image source: eadweard muybridge.