July 22, 2009

Scattered thunderstorms!?

I just looked at the weather for Playa del Carmen for the next ten days and the result is...

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS EVERY DAY!! 60% chance of rain... Hopefully this means scattered and hopefully it's raining during nap time and we can still get some good pool and beach time in... If not, we'll relax and read and play games and sleep and still have a great time but seriously! Thunderstorms every day?!

July 21, 2009

i carry your heart

At times, the complete and wholly consuming love that I feel for Eliot overwhelms me and I can hardly find the space in my being to house it and I feel as though I will burst into a million pieces of earth from the strain of it all. This poem, which I re-read today for the first time in a long time, embodies that feeling for me...

**************************************

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)

i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars
apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

e.e. cummings

July 20, 2009

2 days and counting!

After a busy and fun weekend, we're down to two days before we leave for Mexico. I'm really excited but the days right before a vacation are always a little stressful. Unfortunately, our house is a total disaster which means that's what will welcome us home from vacation. Also, we have tons of laundry to do in the next two days plus all the other little miscellaneous stuff that needs to get done. Our flight leaves at 6:30 am on Thursday, which means we need to be to the airport by 5:00am... ICK! I hope Eliot does ok with such an early morning and sleeps on the flight.

We also found out today, that our neighbors right across the street had their home broken into on Sunday during the day. IN BROAD DAYLIGHT. And they have a security system. So, needless to say, I'm nervous about leaving for a week. We have our security company coming on Wednesday to install some additional security measures, but I'll probably be a little on edge the whole time we're gone. I hate waiting for the other shoe to drop... Pray that our home is left alone. I don't really care about all the "stuff" but the feeling of being violated that goes along with a break-in would be very, very difficult for me. Also, if we had to file another insurance claim this year, our insurance company would probably drop us and that would not be fun...

Wow - I didn't mean for that to be such a depressing post...I was thinking it would be fun. Weird what comes out when you sit down and start writing. Thanks for the therapy session! Good night, all!

July 16, 2009

Crazy for Poppies

I'm currently working on some crafty projects and have a list of other ones that I want to start. Here's some poppy related items that inspired me today...

Poppy Baby Quilt (from Etsy):


I have had all the materials to make a quilt for our bedroom for almost a year and haven't gotten brave enough to start on it. I think I've wrangled my mom into helping me out and maybe by winter it'll be completed.

Poppy Painting (from Etsy):


Poppy & Mushroom Kitchen Towels (from Etsy):


Poppy Pin (from Etsy):


Can you tell I love Etsy?! :) Happy crafting!

July 14, 2009

Let's play catch-up, yet again.

So I'm thinking that in order to be more accurate, I need to change our blog description to read: "We created this blog to document our family life on a quarterly basis" as opposed to our day to day family life... I don't know why I cannot find the time to update the blog. It's all about priorities, I guess. When you have a one year old, priorities change. That's my excuse today. So here's a quick update since we last checked in.

Mother's Day: It was great! Jason and Eliot surprised me with a massage at Spa Ivy which was *heavenly* and then we all had a fantastic picnic in the Walker Sculpture Garden and spent the afternoon chasing Eliot around and watching ducks. Eliot is OBSESSED with ducks and buses.




Father's Day: Our friends Jen and Tom and Paige came into town for the weekend and we spent Saturday at Rock the Garden, which was awesome. It was a gorgeous day and we got to see four bands - Solid Gold, Yeasayer, Calexico and The Decemberists. We were a bit worried about how the babies would do since we were there for over 8 hours, but they loved it. Paige took a catnap, Eliot ran around like a crazy man and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The music was fantastic and it was a perfect day all around. Then on Sunday, Tim and Erin and Lucy (Tom's twin and his wife and their daughter) came to town and we all had a very yummy five course champagne brunch at the Nicollet Island Inn. We lucked out with a private dining room so we could shut the doors and let all three toddlers toddle around. It would never have worked otherwise, as the brunch took over three hours! Afterward, we all went to the zoo for the afternoon. It was a quick but very fun weekend!


Over the July 4th holiday, we took a trip to Canada for my cousin's wedding. Since both sides of my family either live in town or were in town for the wedding, our weekend was absolutely jam packed! But it was so great to be able to see everyone again and the wedding was beautiful! Congrats Curtis & April!



This past weekend, Jason had his 15 year high school reunion on Friday night and a bachelor party (woot woot) on Saturday night. I couldn't bring myself to attend his reunion with him (I despise those types of events!) and so me and mom headed to Sioux Falls on Friday night and came back on Saturday night. We got to spend Saturday hanging out at the pool with Danny & Aymee, and Charlie and Berkley and Eliot. I got a sunburn so it was totally worth it! Jason had a good time catching up with his old classmates (he doesn't despise those types of events) and an equally good time at the bachelor party although he did leave early to come home and see me and Eliot on Saturday night. What a softie he is!

Today, we found out that two engineering firms were unable to conclusively determine the cause of our van fire, and as a result our insurance company is not able to pursue further legal action against Chrysler. Seems like we're just out of luck there... I'm guessing our premiums jump up quite a bit in the near future.

So in May I posted our To-Do List - well, I'm embarrassed to say that we've gotten virtually nothing done. We're just not very productive, are we?! We did renovate our lawn organically although it is a HUGE task to keep up with the weeding when you don't use any weed killer. We haven't been very consistent and I think the weeds are winning this battle. Argh! Our garden is planted and growing. We've enjoyed lettuce, raspberries, rhubarb and basil, so far. We have tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, squash, onions and cucumbers still growing. We were able to dig out our boulevards and plant native plants there - most of them are doing well although we do need to water quite often to keep them green. Hopefully they'll be more established next summer and need a little less water. And finally, none of our indoor house stuff is done. It irritates me just to write that sentence so that's all I'm going to say about that.



Next week, we are going to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico for a week of relaxation on the beach. We can hardly wait. I am eagerly looking forward to sand between my toes, floating in warm, salty water, drinking a cold margarita, eating fresh guacamole and fish tacos and ceviche, sweltering in 100 degrees, sleeping in (please Eliot?), laying in a hammock and everything else that is so wonderful and lovely about a vacation in Mexico!

And on August 13th, Jason and I will celebrate our 5th anniversary. We haven't made any plans yet so any ideas for how we should celebrate? What is the 5th anniversary anyway?

I'll try to post another update next week...seriously.
Peace & love!