i resolve...

to blog again in 2009, 'for reals', as my friend Jillie would say ;-) Just spent the past hour or so looking through old blog entries, and, well, i need to start blogging again, because i want a record of all the crazy stuff that our life consists of...to look back on. Gonna do this, I promise myself. For now, here is a parting image of 2008. These next couple of weeks are going to fly by, and I'm sure I won't get down to blogging until the new year. So, I leave you with snow prints of 2008 ;-) Peace and good cheer in this holiday season...

well...

do I know how to put the 'hi' in hiatus, or what? It has been a while. My life is, as I can best describe it, going through quite a transition right now. I guess life really is just a series of transitions anyway, though, right? Writing and blogging for personal fulfillment just doesn't seem to be a priority at the moment, so I am directing everyone to my photography blog, which I will hopefully be updating here and there with some personal stuff as well as business details. It's all I can manage at the moment. I am still adding photos to Flickr, so you can definitely find me there, as well as Facebook and Twitter. Hope everyone is well and enjoying the crispy fall -- we had quite a cold snap this weekend! Here's our boy at the Council Farms pumpkin patch. He loved every bit of it.

his mouth gapeth open



Something deep within me could not go to sleep tonight without posting this photo. I have been going through a ton of photos, trying to clear space on my hard drive (blech), and this is one of my recent favorites. Doesn't he look so BIG?? Wahhh. It makes me want to cry. And then on another day, I am looking forward to reclaiming my life when he goes to college. Such is the paradox of motherly emotions, I suppose. We are back from Louisiana and heading to Ocean City for a couple of days with Jean, Jason, and little Eva, Eli's future prom date. I will be back with lots of photos and updates from both trips, hopefully. It has been a whirlwind since we returned, and Eli starts preschool on Tuesday, so I am guessing it will take me all of next week to fully regain composure. What the hell am I talking about? Me regain composure? I exist in a state of perpetual decomposure. I must accept this sad fact and move on with my life. Ahhh.

Happy Labor Day weekend, everyone. Try not to labor too much, okay?

P.S. These are Shaun's PJs from when he was a wee one. Cute, huh?

the great slide



Just going through my backlog of photos from the past month and loved this one! I met a photog friend in Annapolis last week, and this is where this pic was taken.

music and lyrics

When we were living in Texas, my good friend Sara introduced me to the sounds of Frances England, a children's folk singer. Well, I don't know if she calls herself a folk singer -- maybe not -- but the songs are 'folky' to me and just so sweet and catchy, and this CD, after being packed away for awhile, has been resurrected and is the current soundtrack for out rides to the grocery store, Target, and, well, most everywhere else we drive. I love all of the songs, but there is one, 'Busy as a Bee,' that makes me think of Eli at the stage he is in now. His mind is a racetrack with matchbox cars of every color and kind in it, racing and whizzing by, constantly. He is never finished for the day. I guess neither are we, with the piles of books and magazines on our nightstands that we hope to read after the daylight is gone, and the kids are in bed, and we finally get a chance for us.

The other night we were closing up shop downstairs, turning all the lights off, and Eli was still sitting on the floor in our living room, intently delivering cargo by train, over bridges and through tunnels. So you'll see why I love this song. My favorite part is when she says, "busy, busy, busy, busy, busy..."(you have to listen to the song to get the full effect!).

Busy As A Bee
Frances England

Last night about a quarter to eight, you came into my room
You said, “Honey, it’s getting late, it’s getting late.”
I said, oh no Momma this cannot be,
I got too many things to do before I sleep, before I sleep
I got trucks to pull and train tracks to lay before the break of day

Last night about a quarter to eight, you came into my room
You said, “Honey, it’s getting late, it’s getting late.”
I said, oh no Momma this cannot be,
I got too many things to do before I sleep, before I sleep
I got stories to read and games to play before the end of day

Don’t you know I’m busy, busy, busy as a bee
Don’t you know I’m busy, busy, busy as a bee
No sleep for me

Last night about a quarter to eight, you came into my room
You said, “Honey, it’s getting late, it’s getting late.”
I said, oh no Momma this cannot be,
I got too many things to do before I sleep, before I sleep
I got songs to sing and stories to tell,
I got animals to talk to, make sure they’re doing well, before I sleep

Don’t you know I’m busy, busy, busy as a bee
Don’t you know I’m busy, busy, busy as a bee
No sleep for me

:::

And -- you can listen to it here. Just click on 'music' and then the first CD cover 'Fascinating Creatures.' It's number 6. Shaun's favorite is 'Blue Canoe' (number 11), and Eli loves 'Tricycle' (number 2).

We're off to visit family and friends in Louisiana tomorrow, so I hope to be back, checking in with pictures! My friend Rachel says she wants pictures of the bayou, which she thinks is so beautiful. So, I will try to get some for her, as well as some of Eli swimming with my new disposable underwater cameras. He has been swimming something crazy at the Y these days, and both of our parents have pools, so I can't wait to see what he does, busy bee that he is.

Gotta run. Babysitter coming in 30 minutes, and I still have to wash my hair and get dressed. And then the rest of the afternoon will be devoted to packing. Oh, happy day.

Yay for My-tel Pelps (as Eli would say).

We are loving us some Olympics.

Happy Monday, everybody!

feats of valour

This is a Public Service Announcement: Please, when given the opportunity, give the breast-feeding woman in the check-out line a break, will ya?

All right, so I was in line to pay for my groceries this weekend, and the baby pasted to the hip of the woman behind me started to wail, so, I said, sympathetically to the mother:

Would you like to go ahead of me?

She said:

No, that's okay.

So, I proceed to load my groceries onto the black belt, when I hear that the baby has stopped its wailing, and notice, out the corner of my eye, that the mother has hoisted up her shirt and whipped out her child's food source, right there, while simultaneously hoisting her banannas onto the conveyer belt. So, I was like, um, okay, I wouldn't have done it, simply because I have modesty issues, and Eli was always an erratic eater, but, hey, if you can breastfeed and fetch banannas from your grocery cart at the same time, you've got one big one up on me, sista, and you just go on and wave that breastfeeding flag high.

So, as I re-focus on finishing my grocery transaction, the child-clerk, with about as much awareness as a 2-year-old who is about to stick his finger in an electrical outlet with bright red wires protruding from it, says to ME:

Can you tell her I'M CLOSED?

(in my head: I'm sorry, maybe you were born blind and deaf and have this amazing ability to still drag egg cartons across conveyer belts, but you didn't, for some unexplainable and odd reason, see THE WOMAN BREASTFEEDING HER SCREAMING CHILD BEHIND ME)

Me to breastfeeding woman: Um, (nervously gesturing to the blind-from-birth child-clerk), she says she's closed.

BW: ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Me to child-clerk: Um, could you just ring her up and then close? I *think* she's having a hard time.

C-C to me: Mmmmph. Well, I...(blah, blah, blah, blah, blah)

Then, no more words were spoken, and I shot her the biggest, baddest (well, okay, maybe not the baddest) GLARE of her life, as if to say, One day, oh young one who bags banannas while waiting to clock out so you can meet your boyfriend and skateboard off into the sunset while chewing gum, locking lips, and listening to your apple-green iPods, ONE DAY, you may have a child, and that child, if he's normal, may cry in grocery stores, and force you to hike up your shirt and PRAY that the girl behind the counter doesn't close her freakin' register on you.

Okay, so not exactly purple-heart material here, people, but she kept her register open, and they all breastfed (and skateboarded off into the sunset) happily ever after.

And on my drive home, I thought about never breastfeeding again.

:::

In other, non-heroic news, we have rekindled our affections for the YMCA (or the YPT, as Eli calls it) and have made it our absolute goal in life to go at least 3 to 4 evenings a week to pump some iron and take the child to the pool. The pool is wonderful and completely enclosed with an attached sauna and open year-round. I swam 4 laps yesterday and thought I might need to be rescued from drowing. If there was a doubt before, now it is confirmed: I am THAT out of shape.

And, appropos of nothing mentioned above, but just because it is so funny, Eli's own special name for the Golden Arches:

Ho-Donald's.

I told you it was funny. At least it is to us, even for the millionth time.

Hope everyone is having a great week. More from us soon...;-)

immortality...sort of

So, last week was Plein Air, an arts festival that draws painters from all over the country to little ol' Easton. The theme of this year's festival was 'Vanishing Landscapes,' and since there are ancient scyamores on our street, there were quite a few artists here everyday. There were literally artists right outside our front window each morning when we opened the blinds. It was actually very inspiring to watch their intensity and artistry. Mid-week Eli and I were asked to 'model' for one of the artists who wanted to paint us into his portrait of the street and the trees. Here is the nearly-finished painting and John, the artist, immersed in work. He was a funny fellow, and it was slightly odd when he was instructing me on exactly how to sweep my front sidewalk, but whatever. I am immortalized, right. I'm not so keen on the fact that I am sweeping because, hello John, this is the 21st century, but okay. It was fun, and we actually got to see the finished painting hanging in the art gallery in town, and we were so proud that we were a small part of it. Too bad it was going for about $3K or we could have had a new piece for our house.

Anyway, here is John and the August street sycamores and mother and child sweeping the steps. I still think it would have been more appropriate and realistic, albeit less romantic, if he would've had me pull out my laptop, sit on the steps, and, I dunno, play a video game with the kid or something. Because I really don't sweep the front sidewalk all that much. Bad housewife.

you spin me round, round, baby, round, round



Only a photo to share today. Back to feeling overwhelmed and like I will never be able to write (aka, truly reflect on my life) again. I guess that's what retirement is for. lol. Happy belated birthday wishes to Aunt Jenny and Nanny Mel, and happy anniversary to our good friends Jill and Brian who celebrated 6 years on Sunday ;-)

Got my new Canon 40D today (can I get a woop, woop?), so I am looking forward to taking my photography skills to the next level. I hope. I'm tackling full manual mode next. I wonder if I can do that and bite my nails at the same time?

And, just for the record, and in the event Eli reads this blog one day, he was almost entirely an absolute dream of a child today. And, yes, I fully expect to pay for it tomorrow.

hydrangeas

faith

faith
Originally uploaded by {eli's mommy/jen}

The kid's got moves.

Happy Friday, y'all.

boy of summer

WWOD?

Well, let me first say that I have wanted to do a post about my love-hate relationship with Oprah for a VERY long time, but as these things go, I just never did. Until now.

There is an undeniable paradox that exists in the fact that I find Oprah supremely annoying most of the time; however, I am drawn like a moth to every flaming product she endorses. And her books, gawd, the books. I mean, I am currently reading Eckhart Tolle's book A New Earth, if that doesn't speak volumes about my intrigue for Oprah. (Just as a side note, Eckhart is not like all the other kids, folks. I'm just sayin'.) And I still have yet to buy the bra that she swears will change your life, but don't think I've given up on getting that puppy. And don't think for one Chicago minute that I wouldn't be doing a happy jive if I was ever able to get tickets to her show.

But, oh, how she annoys me so. Like when one day she chronicles Lisa Ling's expose on puppy mills or the progress of her school for girls in Africa, and then the next she has Colin Cowie sipping a dirty martini on her stage while talking about how the shamelessly wealthy plan parties -- AND...AND, how you can, too. Except you will have to catch the K-Mart special on wine glasses and placemats to be able to afford for your guests to eat hot dogs.

To be honest, I don't even watch her show anymore, because I just don't have the damn time. But I think about it. Incessantly. And wonder if Nate will be doing another design show soon or if Gayle and Oprah will ever take another road trip. Or if Stedman and the dogs will ever be live guests on the show. Or if Dr. Robin will ever tell Oprah to shut the goddamn hell up when she interjects during every intervention Dr. Robin tries to do. Because, ahem, we all know that Oprah is a psychologist and a direct descendent of Jesus Christ.

And I wonder if Oprah *really* reads all of the books in her book club?

Okay, so anyway, I was so thrilled when my husband called on his way home from work today to tell me that I must listen to THIS interview that he had just heard on NPR's radio program All Things Considered.

I won't say a whole lot because I want you to go and listen for yourself (it's only about 5 minutes), but I will say that I'm kicking myself (with a heavy shoe on my foot) for not thinking of this idea myself.

It's brilliance, pure and simple.

Robyn (a.k.a. LO), the actress behind the social experiment called Living Oprah, also has a blog, www.livingoprah.com, where she chronicles her year of living according to all of Oprah's recommendations for 'living your best life."

I will also say that Robyn (no relation, apparently, to Dr. Robin) is not out to bash Oprah, and really, neither am I. I mean, she does do a lot of good, even if she does have to tell everybody about it and does own, like, um 10 houses or something.

The most important part, and perhaps entire purpose, of the experiment, according to Robyn, is to try to make people aware of the influences that work upon us everyday, particularly from celebrities and the media, and to make us think about what really informs (and what should inform) the daily choices we make.

Amen, sista.

weekend warriors

This weekend we were rock stars. We did all of our around-the-house chores on Friday, headed to Dewey Beach for the day Saturday, then decided on a whim to go fishing on Sunday. And to top it all off, we drank mojitos and grilled pizza Sunday evening. I will be posting the pizza recipe soon because it was tasty AND low-fat!

Anyway, here's our big fish in action:

a resurrection may be coming after all

So, tonight, as I am helping Eli brush his teeth and potty in preparation for bedtime stories, he walks to the edge of the stairs and says:

"Taunnn (rhymes with Shaun), do me a favor,"

just as serious as a brain surgeon would say, "Scalpel," and as I almost died from acute, insane laughter, Shaun came half-way up the stairs to see what our 40-year-old son needed, and then Eli proceeded to do a half-shuffle from one end of the hallway to the other, mumbling something, which I guess was the favor he needed, although we couldn't quite make it out. And then he just smiled and chuckled to himself.

Ha! Ha!

I may very well have found something to get me blogging again. Between this and his announcement in Lowe's last weekend that he had to make a 'number 3' on the potty, I could have blog fodder for the rest of 2008. We'll see.

dearest blog,

i shall return to you one day when my life is less chaotic.

(and stop laughing, all of you who say it will never be so).

i now have joined the facebook masses, so you may find me there more these days, beause somehow, it is less intimidating, and, of course, i'm always posting lots of new pics to flickr, and, if you still can't find me, i've been updating the photog blog here.

hope all of your summers have been filled thus far with lots of white wine, grilling out, and privacy fences, the latter of which we would like if anyone wants to get us one.

we are headed to the beach this weekend, so i'll have lots of pics to share, i'm sure.

xxoo,
me

home run



Doesn't it look like he is sliding into home base?

We ventured out to Assateage Park on Wednesday and hung at the beach for a few hours. He loved the sand but not the water. Maybe because it was ICE COLD. Yep, even in June, people. ICE COLD.

Much more news and many more photos to come...SOON, once I learn how to...ahem...blog again.

Cheerio.

wanna see some hot mommas...?

...and a new killer photography location right down the street from me???

Go here.

We've had a ton of out-of-town visitors lately, as well as lots of other things keeping us busy, so this blog is suffering big time, but I shall return when I find my head and reattach it.

Hope all is well for everyone.

Cheers.

get outta my face, and i mean it



My sister is here visiting right now, and all I wanted today was a nice photo of Eli with her, and, hey, I got it. I even posted it extra large for you to see.

Right.

Toddlers.

Hmph.