A LITTLE BIT OF THIS A LITTLE BIT OF GO THERE

I am absolutely rapturous over the This American Life podcast. Like usual, I was bowled over by this past week’s episode, ‘Show Me the Way’. This is such good stuff, I cannot emphasis my recommendation for this podcast enough. If you love stories, if you love words, if you are a human, you will love this podcast. And then you should donate to it.

Other recommendations: NPR’s Scott Simon’s twitter feed; the part where he tweets about his time in the ICU with his mother who eventually passed away.  It sounds like it might terrible and trite, tweeting such a sad moment in time, but it’s somehow not that at all. It’s riveting, heartfelt, and poignant. Technology and humanity meld together for good here and I am somewhat reassured out of my occasional luddite tendencies. 

And,

Cold Speck’s Blank Map

Rob Finley, guerilla gardener. Check out this TED talk. 

George Saunders’ advice to graduates 

And because I have these photos floating around in my phone begging for a home, some recent captures:

our first meal on the deck

improvised chicago-style dogs

she's got attitude

note to self: go back to finish reading this book

a perfect sunday afternoon on park ave 

she wants to do everything by herself these days

the day before my mom had to go back to korea

i miss this face / clementine red wine sprtizers with sister

sloane's first time at the pool

august, i'm gonna savor you

FARRELL & CO

I am positively salivating over these gorgeous handmade leather bags by Farrell & Co. 

Aren't they beautiful? You can watch a video of the owner, Meg Farrell, making the one of her goods here.

TO THE END OF A MONTH BURSTING AT THE SEAMS

I am breathing in the fumes of the aftermath of an incredibly full month of July. I was right to get all excited and worked up about this past month, which was filled with so much of family; I couldn’t have been happier or busier.  I wrote up this quick and cursory (and probably not that all-encompassing) summary in an email to my family, but I want to include it here so that I can record it in my catalog of memories:

Dad and mom came into town, Joe and Lois (my cousins) came into town, Val’s family came over from Romania, Eunice and Val got married and had a beautiful and meaningful wedding (!!), Dad celebrated a birthday with all of us, we got to go to the beach with mom and dad (my first time in two years, and Sloane’s first time everrrr), mom and dad ran up and down the east coast and made a visit to NYC and Baltimore (and CT), Paul celebrated a birthday (happy birthday Paul!), I celebrated my 30th birthday (Sharon, Eunice, Sloane, Mom and I had ourselves a girls weekend in DC), Joe arrived in Switzerland, Lois found herself in a lab identifying mosquitos under a microscope, Ken went to Chicago for work and saw his first MLB game (go Cubs), Val and Eunice successfully moved to their place in Alexandria, Sloane turned one year old, Sloane had her first experience at the pool (which she loved), and yesterday morning, family from Atlanta, Bulle, Peru, Seoul, and Richmond got together on Google hangout to celebrate Aunt M’s life and commemorate her death. 

I had a moment of quiet this morning and I used it to take a breath and read one of the morning entries from ‘The Diary of Prayer’ given to me by my mom who had just left for the airport. My goal is to have daily moments of this kind of quiet, so that even during those time that seem like the dessert, I will feel the fullness and gratitude that I feel now. I also resolve to go to bed earlier more often.  I went to bed at 9:30PM last night due to utter exhaustion, and even with Sloane waking me up twice in the middle of the night, I feel clear-headed and contain genial feelings towards even those that usually get on my last nerves. Note to tired future self: go to bed early ! 

I am going to post a few more photos for Sloane’s birthday party on Saturday because I love these ones here. I had made her an applesauce spice cake for her birthday (using applesauce instead of sugar) and a frosting (also with no sugar: cream cheese, apple juice concentrate, vanilla), and hey it was actually pretty good for having no sugar but she was only somewhat interested in it. Plus, she ended up bursting into tears right after we sang her Happy Birthday (I can’t remember why now), but she kept poking her finger into the icing to taste it and as we were singing, and threw her arms around my neck to squeeze it tight and oh it made my mama heart swell.

SLOANE TURNS ONE!

As it happens, but i am still grasping at, time flies at breakneck speed (at least in hindsight) and our little baby girl is now a one year old. I am such a proud mama and i am so grateful for the love and support from all our friends and family this last year (yes I'm talking about YOU!!) 

 We had a little get together with family to celebrate and what a great day it was. Sloane was so excited she skipped her afternoon nap and she went down to her night time slumber so quick and deep that I am assured it was a fantastic day for her too.

the birthday girl!!

          WE LOVE YOU SLOANE!

BIRTHDAY WEEKEND PART III: ADAMS MORGAN

Last one! Just as I bring these set of birthday weekend photos to a close, Sloane’s first birthday looms around the corner and I am surprisingly excited for our little celebration with the family.  This baby of mine has been making me so happy these days and I love that we get a chance to get together to reflect on how happy she makes all of us by her tiny, fiery presence. Just today I was thinking about how she rolls her hands into a small fist to knock on doors. How she picked up on that I don’t know (she obviously observed this happening, but incidents like this make me look back and wonder because when do I ever knock on doors?). She knock knocks (silently, because her fists are too small to make any noise) and then looks back at me with glee. 

And with that, here are the last set of photos from our day out and about in DC. After a delicious hot lunch at Sakuramen, we spent the entire afternoon in Adams Morgan, going from thrift shop to record shop to thrift shop. Taking rest in coffee shops, changing diapers in the car, and walking the streets, we enjoyed the milder summer weather.  Later in the afternoon, we ended up in a used bookstore called Idle Time Books and stayed there while it rained and Sloane napped.  Sloane kept napping through dinner, which was a loud and hurried experience at Amsterdam’s Falafels, and then woke up to join us while we had drinks at a wine bar down the street. All in all, it was pretty much exactly the way I wanted to spend my big birthday and I am so grateful for the lovely ladies that joined me for it.