Model Musings

Whew!

I had another runway show this weekend on St. Patty's Day and it was a lot of work and a lof of fun. (imagine that) They spent FIVE hours on my hair and make-up! (or "pick up" as Aiden calls it) There was a lot of waiting in between, but Kira (the blonde in the green in the group of four- from left: Kira, Me (in drooping "fur" hair, but we'll get there) Casey Sue (of www.caseysue.com - check out her clothes!) and Lauren, her assistant and friend) was there taking pictures, which I have yet to develop. That's two rolls of film I'm sitting on now- one from Grammy's and one from this weekend. I'll get there!

It's always so interesting to step out of one's world and into a completel different one. This weekend, I went from domestic warrior goddess to furry haired fashion diva. Let me just tell you a little bit about what that takes- (aside from 5 hours of having your head poked, pulled, sponged, glooped and schelacked) I had to practice walking in heels for a couple of days (OH my aching feet/toes/calves/quads!) and spray tan (better than fake-n-baking and getting cancer in like a month) on top of watching a number of other runway shows to try and snag the vogue-ness of other models so I can pretend to know what I'm doing. :) When I develop the pictures, I'm sure they'll speak for themselves!

Casey was by far the top designer of the evening, and went last as a result. She is SO commited to excellence in her work, as well as incredibly creative and professional. She is one of the friends I've had for many years who I always come away from feeling inspired and happy. There are a selesct few that I have met in my life who just have that spark that spreads to everyone they know, and Casey is definitely one of them.

Among others off of the top of my head are Grammy (& Boppa... they're usually not too far from one another) Genery, Annie, Tara and Randal. I'm sure there are SO many others- luckily for me, I have a wonderful array of friendships on many levels, all of which inspire and fill me. These people are infectious, though. Infectious, I tell you! You simply can't walk away unchanged, even if it's shaking your head, muttering, "Never in my life have I seen/heard/thought...." These people guarantee to poke around in the little embers of the recesses in your brain and rekindle fires. At least for me, which is why I keep them around! :)

Things are going well at home-it's actually staying clean(ish- do houses ever REALLY get & stay clean? Please, tell me if you know! ...although if your answer is yes and it's yours, be prepared for your robe, crown and scepter (apron, hairtie & scrub brush) for you are the true Domestic Queen!) I am able to drop off and pick up Aiden from school, and have time to pick up the house/run errands/breathe in between, which is amazing.

Truly, it is the most simple of pleasures for me to straighten the shelves, vacuum (with my sweet new vacuum! That I bought for mySELF on Valentines Day. Yeah. Okay- trying to feel *good* about my domestication here...) So back to my finding joy in vacuuming, dusting, wiping... I still hate mopping, though. Not growing on me there. But I love what it feels like to walk into a clean, well balanced room. I *LOVE* it. I love everything having its place, whether functional or sentimental. It makes me feel so much better about what I have and who I am, both of which are a lot.

Well, once again my life is calling, but I'll try and write more when I get those other pics in (tomorrow...?) more about the kids and Randal and whatever else I feel like at the moment. :) I hope you all are well- I'd love to hear from you, too! Feel free to comment anytime!

quote for the day: "And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others." Marianne Williamson

Rabbit Rabbit

In high school, someone somewhere (actually, my friend Matt Gnat (Guh-not) if I remember correctly) said that it was good luck to say "Rabbit Rabbit" first thing on the first of the month. I have no idea, but since it's the 1st, I figured I'd sort of translate and have it the first thing I wrote this month. You know, like holding your breath over a bridge (in case it collapses and you fall into the water!) putting your hands on the ceiling (and holding your breath?) in a tunnel (in case it collapses!) or picking your feet up and saying "Peanut Butter!" over railroad tracks. Come on, you know you do something, we all do! These are all vices that both my sisters and I observe on a consistant basis, and always have. There are also all the other unwritten but observed rules (although I guess this constitutes writing them) like no one can call shotgun (passenger) in the car until I have my keys in hand, or that the biggest sister gets the biggest piece of cake. I mean, this is common knowledge here! :)

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've written- I've heard through various avenues that new words and pictures have been requested (Hello to my small group of 2nd mothers!) so here they are for you. I should have even more pics coming back after another couple of days when I get them developed. These are from our trip a couple weekends ago to Humboldt to visit Grammy (who is ailing in a number of ways, poor thing!) and Boppa (who is helping in a number of ways, bless his his heart).

I have been well, mostly, and the boys have been well, mostly. For about a week during Xmas, both boys and I were maintaining temperatures over 102, pretty much laying in a heap on the hide-a-bed at my Mom's for three days straight. That was NOT cool. I don't remember feeling that sick EVER, honestly. Good riddance to that!

The boys are in seperate preschools now and both doing spectacular- Tobin is in the child development program (full time and *free* since Manny is enrolled FT) at the JC, and Aiden is in a home-based Waldorf  Preschool (see info on Waldorf and Montessori methods here: http://www.awsna.org/awsna-faq2.html) three days a week, which is vegetarian, organic and serves hot meals the kids (in some way) help make. *love!* Man. I want to go to that school! I kinda want to go to Tobin's too, really. It's what happens when a group of proffessors and 4 year olds make up a place from scratch with tents, hammocks, slides, guinea pigs & veggie gardens, two huge sandboxes, etc. etc... I get to take Gabby & Aiden there on Wednsedays, too so that she and the boys still have time together. (She just turned 5! I'm not ready to talk about it yet, so just drop it.) This is going on my... 4th? year watching her. Whoa. It was three years in November, because I remember it was riiiight after Tobin turned one. One! Man.

Aiden turned two in November and is as classic of a two your old as one can imagine. Preschool has really helped his vocabulary- his 2nd week, he went from one word here and there to sentences! Children, mine in paticular, never cease to amaze me. Tobin is as articulate and aware as always, if not moreso. Aiden is still an avid skater, as you can see in the photos, even the sand is no deterrent. (of course, it's easier to balance and hurts less to fall there- win-win if you ask me! :) He sleeps with the darn thing! I need to get him a good board one of these days- the ones made for his size all have plastic trucks and lame grip tape- he's worn the grip off of two boards already, and snapped one. (you can tell in the picture the nose is missing)

Randal is doing as well as one can where he is, which is really unknown at any given point, anyhow. Somewhere near water in the Middle East is my closest guess, in general. For those of you that don't know, he will be stationed out of San Francisco when he comes home at the end of May for three years. (insert moment of speechless joy here) Done? :) I'm not, but sometimes I resolve to come back to it because I've got so much work to do.

I've cut back my hours at work to be with the kids more and give myself some breathing room, which is WONDERFUL. I felt myself turning into the overworked mother who is too tired for her kids at the end of the night (or picking them up at the end of the night and not seeing them at all) and not able to stay on top of the house, the cooking, the cleaning, the laundry, the garbage... did you guys know that there's a REASON they smashed house and work into one word? MAN! It never ends!

Well, alas and alack, I muse be going, for my unending stream of things to be done is catching up to me. but at least this one is out of the way! :)

take care & eat your veggies....

quote for the day: "I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence." Frederick Douglass