list seven: words you love

culled from list five's comment section and a few willing twitter peeps. these are your favorites. and now they're mine too.

1. scrumptious
2. tweeze
3. clunky
4. marsh
5. hullabaloo
6. defenestrate
7. aboulia
8. unctuous
9. new york
10. montagne
11. qualms
12. rapprochement
13. iridescent
14. vestibule
15. shenanigans
16. smithereens
17. incandescence
18. menagerie
19. quixotic
20. moisture
21. aperture
22. aesthetic
23. hijinx
24. broccoli
25. apropos
26. humdinger
27. exacerbate
28. conundrum
29. onomatopoeia
30. swoon
31. literary
32. et cetera
33. gingham
34. yummy
35. luscious
36. subterfuge
37. anthropomorphic
38. quandary
39. caliber
40. delete
41. plethora
42. palpable
43. superfluous
44. lovely
45. hootenanny
46. scalawag
47. insane
48. zack
49. beloved
50. allegorical
51. moonlight
52. mayhaps
53. sublime
54. bemoan
55. bequest
56. tiny
57. hello
58. deluxe
59. bonus
60. cozy
61. angst
62. rustic
63. ballerina
64. melancholy
65. chartreuse

oh you word lovers, you. you are my people. I spent a good part of the afternoon rolling these words around my mouth. I said many out loud and spent more time with a dictionary than I'd care to admit. these are good words. these are really really good words. they deserve to be written over and over again, to be used in sentences and paragraphs and stories of all kinds. they deserve to be said out loud, to be casually interjected into conversation whenever possible, proclaimed with conviction over dinner when the lull is too much and muttered softly under breath when there's nothing else to say. thank you for sharing. thank you very much.

consider this an open call for more words. there's no end to good words. I am sure of it.

(seven down, forty-five to go)

this weekend

I was all set to tackle the chaos in the basement this weekend, I was. boxes and labels and sharpies, ready to go. I was in the perfect frame of mind, I was ready to take it on.


and then I saw it. the weekend forecast for the oregon coast. two days of guaranteed sunshine. two days of blue skies. two. whole. days.


and so the aforementioned plans were promptly chucked. bags were hastily packed and thrown into the car and people were happy. as it turns out, the people were ready for a road trip. late saturday afternoon found us barefoot on the beach. barefoot! in the middle of february! which, of course, was worth all the meticulously organized basements in the free world. and then some.

it does, it really really does

street art makes me happy.

list six: clothes I loved to wear as a kid

1. red and white striped tee-shirt, circa 1981. as pictured above.

2. maroon stretch velvet pantsuit with creamy lace trim and gold threading, circa 1982. normally reserved for holidays, natch. although I remember it most as the thing I wore to the emergency room on christmas eve, thanks to the worst ear infection ever.

3. hot pink dance costume crazy with fringe and sequins, circa 1975. my mom picked it up at a yard sale for 25 cents and thirty years later, it still manages to bring the house down.

4. little cotton red and white gingham romper with matching hat, circa 1975. witness.

5. esprit muscle tees, circa 1982-84. in grey and fuschia. witness.

6. calvin klein jeans, circa 1980-83. with chic jeans a close second and jordache a distant third.

7. shiny red lycra leotard with matching gold chain belt, circa 1980. worn only when rehearsing solid gold dance choreography or acting out imagined scenes from fame.

8. white jersey tee with a rainbow that stretched from sleeve to sleeve and across the chest. three quarter length sleeves, circa 1982. does anyone remember these? I want one for ava so bad I could cry.

9. cotton paisley print halter top, circa 1977. my childhood summers defined.

10. red satin jacket with baby blue corded stripes down the side of each sleeve, circa 1981. repeatedly worn to the local roller rink.

11. white esprit trousers covered in black splattered paint, circa 1983. very jackson pollock. in the small southern illinois town I lived in, nobody had ever seen anything like them. my friends? so jealous they wanted to spit.

12. red tee-shirt with john travolta on the front, circa 1978. I refused to put posters of any boy on my bedroom wall (because what's the point if he can't really love you back?) but I wore john travolta around til he was spotty and faded.

13. I Dream of Jeanie pajamas with sheer, billowy pink pants that gathered at the ankle and reddish-pink satin top (billowy sleeves to match), circa 1976. my absolute favorite thing to wear, maybe ever. I wore them until there was practically nothing left, til they nearly evaporated into thin air.

(six down and forty-six to go)

and speaking of words

vintage is the word over at words to shoot by.

ezra still says valentimes

and I really sort of love it.

happy valentimes day, friends.

xo

list five: words I love

mostly for the way they sound. or the way they look on paper.

1. cerebral
2. languid
3. electric
4. phosphorescent
5. cerulean
6. luminous
7. preposterous
8. kinesthetic
9. bohemian
10. vinyl
11. aquamarine
12. bambino
13. cheeky
14. peripatetic
15. starlight
16. vernacular
17. mambo
18. rouge
19. vintage
20. betwixt
21. exuberant
22. brilliant
23. catapult
24. maudlin
25. spectacular
26. tangerine
27. italiano
28. shrill
29. ranunculus
30. hustle
31. lush

(five down, forty-seven to go)

blog it forward, baby

word on the the street is that this whole blog it forward thing started with a conversation victoria had on twitter. one thing lead to another and voila: the ultimate blogger mash-up. three hundred bloggers from all over the world writing about what inspires them, starting today with me, victoria and eight other terrifically lovely and inspiring blogs.

hello, I'm inspired by color:



color color color.



color found



in my everyday.



color found while looking up and



looking down.



color found out on the street and



abandoned on the side of the road.



color found at the market,



the cupcake shop and



the thrift store.



color found in snow cones,



inside a box of crayons and



in an assortment of found papers cut and pasted together.



color found in my kitchen and



in corners of my home and



in so many of my personal collections.


color found while traveling and



then traveling some more.



color found in dance and movement and



in street art.



color found in the paintings and drawings my children make and



in the spectacular work my husband does.



color found in photography, in the way my world looks through a few favorite viewfinders.

color color color, everywhere I look.

you should know, color is only the first item on a long and lovely list. modern dance, art, photography, books, films, music, my family. it's a list that makes my head spin, a list that needs more time, more space, more everything. consider color my official jumping off place and the beginning of a long conversation to be continued in fits and starts.

tomorrow, follow the parade of virtual inspiration over to a blog called good good. because with a blog title like that, you just know. it's going to be good.

here, not here

oh that karen. I like her so much.



I'm over at her place today with a little guest post. because that karen is busy writing a book, the kind of book I'd very much like to read.

stop by and say hello, if you like.

number 19

number 19 off last year's list and key tag jewelry might be my new favorite thing.



hours of fun, I promise you. the earrings, by the way, were totally ava's idea.



and the earrings are my favorite but the bracelets are such a close second.

make some, if you feel so inclined.

photobooth friday

dear friday,

I am so happy about your arrival, I sort of want to cry.

list four: gold stars I deserve (or, things I'm good at)

1. parallel parking. I am an excellent parallel parker. and when I say excellent, I mean excellent. I swear, I can practically hear an imaginary audience go wild as I reverse-swerve my honda into each impossible-looking space. I am not going to lie. I have a gift and I know it.

2. kickball. not that I play anymore but back in the day, I was the stuff of which elementary school kickball legends are made. when it was my turn to kick, the entire opposing team spread to the far corners of the field. because I was not a kicker to be messed with. unfortunately, my kickball career peaked near the end of second grade when my team won the summer tournament and I took the title of MVP. the grand prize? a dairy queen banana split, which I lovingly placed in the freezer once I'd licked the whipped cream off the top and scooped out all the hot fudge. and it sat in the freezer for three whole days (an edible testament to my rock star kickball capabilities) until finally, I was forced to throw it out. nothing left but half a frozen banana that looked as if it had been gnawed on by small animals. shortly after, I lost interest in kickball. my dreams of becoming a solid gold dancer had just taken hold and clearly, I'd gone as far as I could with the whole kickball thing.

3. gift wrapping. I have been told that my great grandmother was seriously skilled in this particular area, that her gifts were exquisitely wrapped with fancy flocked papers and complicated bows. I have been told I take after her. I don't know about the exquisite part but I do like to make a package look pretty, I do. I love the smell of scotch tape, the way scissors quietly glide through wide stretches of paper. I love the choosing of patterns and colors and papers and ribbon and string. I love me a handmade tag. and I'll never say no to a pile of presents that need to be wrapped. not ever. I can't help myself.

4. spelling. I was the girl who won all the spelling bees in school. now, I am the go-to girl in the house when a spelling crisis arises. if I close my eyes, I can see the word. and it is almost always perfectly spelled. am secretly convinced that this is my superpower in life and would not say no to a special cape. should a special super speller cape ever be presented to me.

5. birthday parties. when I was seven, I ordered a book from the school book fair called 'popular party games'. I read it from cover to cover (again and again) until I had every game in the book memorized. and then I began to plan imaginary birthday parties with a wild variety of themes. no surprise then, that I can throw down when it comes to birthday parties. I am the mother that throws the curve off for all the other mothers. though I swear, that is not my intention. I do it because I love it, because my kids love it. because I am a sucker for crepe paper and lanterns, for party hats and horns. I think the assembly of the goody bag is a lost art. I go crazy over cakes. I've baked them in all shapes and sizes-- race cars, mermaids, robots, legos. more importantly, I've lived to tell about it. I take great care with details and take great pride in the fact that I spend little money. and more than a few times, I've been asked, would I ever consider doing this professionally? why, yes I would but what would be the fun in that? it's only fun now because the parties I throw are for the people I love most in life. I go all out because I can. but also because I know there will come a time when I will not be allowed to plan and scheme and throw these very special birthday parties. in fact, there may come a time when I will not be allowed within fifty feet of the party. but I try very hard not to think about that. I try very very hard.

(four lists down, forty-eight to go)

my sunlight

'know this' by remnant featuring scar, directed by nathan corrona

he does good work, that brother of mine. I'm so proud I could cry. and I did, actually. in the middle of the stupid coffee shop the other day when I first watched this. while people were eating their eggs and drinking their coffee and tap tap tapping away on their computers. you should know, I do not cry easily.

it's a love letter to color and light and I can't stop watching it. and I'm thankful that my kids are growing up with this kind of hip hop. I'm thankful when words and music and pictures come together like this, I'm so very thankful.

and I've got a brand new song to add to the list.

joy for haiti

each time I sit down to write about my sweet friend myriam and how the earthquake in haiti has devastated her family, I hit a wall. because it's beyond comprehension, this thing that has happened. it's tragedy redefined in new and unfathomable ways. there really aren't words. which is why I struggle with the writing, I suppose.

but myriam tells her story in a way that gently cuts a swath through the hopelessness. her words are clear, unfaltering. and more importantly, full of hope. myriam's goal is to raise 30,000 dollars, all of which she plans to hand deliver to our brothers and sisters in haiti, all of which will go towards the most basic needs. better yet, the entire process will be documented.

you can read her story here and should you feel moved to do so, you can give. there's a chip-in button right on site and even if it's just a dollar or two, it will help. every little bit will help.