happy me

in California, dreaming.

while sitting and chatting happily with handsome son yesterday I looked up to see the profile of darling daughters pregnant belly. she is eight months along. glowing. beautiful. in the presence of our two children I am one very happy mommy.

we are in California to host a baby shower for the expectant parents. given with love. joy. pride.

we are lucky that both kiddos now live in LA. a direct flight from Austin. so visiting is easy. and while a little bit of sadness creeps in every once in a while. that twinge of homesickness - away sickness - at being twelve hundred miles apart. I relish the thought of knowing that everyone is happy. healthy. loving life. having life love them.

and what more could a parent ask for? honestly not a thing. well, occasionally I do ask if the house next door is for sale. and ignore that bit of fear I see in their eyes.

'joy is the grace we say to God.'

thought through

(courtesy of melissa loves)

mad about you

my remodel is finally looking like a house. I can see the end approaching as they hang drywall today. the cabinet guy and I have finally come up with a design I adore. and everything is waiting patiently for installation.

so after dragging the hubs all over creation to look for a small sofa to furnish the new morning room and only being ever-so underwhelmingly wowed, I am so happy to report that today I found exactly what I was looking for. can I hear a big BIG ta-dah! (cue the music please) TA-DAH!

this sofa ...














in a combination of these fabrics (sadly the images don't do the colors justice) ...








'come up on my verandah and sit a spell.'

character study

I've just finished reading 'The Help'. a story beautifully written. a saga. a soap opera. a tale complete with fairy godmothers and wicked witches. fiction. fact. told so gently. firmly. using that inside voice, when spoken, makes you listen. even when you don't want to hear.

as far as we've come in the last fifty years (or 50 centuries) some days I wonder if we've changed at all deep down. prejudice. hatred. superiority. comparison. suspicion. faith. trust. innocence. love. joy. friendship. betrayal. power. in harmony. discord. different song. same tune. always sung with hope.

the author 'in her own words' sums up her feelings with a line from the book. a lesson easily forgotten. but best learned. remembered. told in refrain.

'wasn't that the point of the book? for [women] to realize, we are just two people. not that much separates us. not nearly as much as I'd thought.'

best friend

[i] love life shared a heartwarming heartbreaking story this week about the loss of a family member, her dog Crash. Crash was a handsome brindle boxer, a mere 8 years old. her story made me cry. and her posts about the love and life they shared made me laugh out loud. and I thought I would share her story because I know that my friends who read this blog love their animals like children. I know that you will join with me in sending thoughts of sympathy at their loss and joy at the time they had to spend together.

so kiss your 'kids' tonight. better yet go do it right now. no time like the present to love the ones that love us unconditionally. they teach us the ultimate lesson, wag more - bark less.














'my dog - a heartbeat at my feet.'

imagination

(images from Waverly)

'trust that little voice in your head that says "wouldn't it be interesting if ..." and then do it.'

baseball

'this is a game to be savored, not gulped. there's time to discuss everything between pitches or between innings.'