Sneak peek...

{many more to come}

Sand

I do not know much about Ukraine or its political situation (past or present) but it does not take much to hear, feel, and see the emotion of the nation through this performance. I have never seen anything like it, and I'm sure you have not either. Please take a few minutes to watch this. Brilliance.

Countryside

Last weekend, my roommates and I drove out at 9:45pm to a small farm town in Eastern Washington. As we got closer to Zillah, I saw something I haven’t seen in a long time – a dark sky full of bright burning stars. It brought me back to nights in Ghana where constellations were never hard to spot and sadly, I took it for granted. We pulled over next to some cornfields and three of us climbed on top of Amanda’s car to lie together under the stars. Very Romantic.

The next morning, we cooked eggs and bacon in Amanda’s family kitchen. So yummy! Her family owns a golf course and family fun center & pizzeria in Granger so we went over there to spend the day playing. BUT, before we left the house, we found a vintage red “De Luxe Twinn 5” tandem bicycle. Soooooooo rad and fun. Riding the tandem was rather challenging and slightly scary but very very amusing and enjoyable.

It was so hot. The best part of the day was sitting in the front yard as the sun cast a warm haze and I honestly felt like I was living in a beautiful photograph. My heart has been craving the countryside – slower pace, wide open spaces, really fresh air, barefoot kids that talk to you even though they don’t know you (in a slight country twang). This fed my soul a little bit; but oh, how I wait for the day I won’t have to leave.

The Butterfly Circus

Eduardo Verástegui plays in this 20 minute short film. Wow - Beautiful and Moving to say the least. Please take a little time to experience The Butterfly Circus.

Eduardo Verástegui also produced and played the lead in one of my favorite movies of all time, Bella. The work he does is so inspiring and I truly admire the life he has chosen to live. What a man!

Creature of Habit

When I get comfortable with something- a seat in a classroom or at the dinner table, a tasty treat, a pen, and/or other various things- I usually stick with it for a very long time. I have always known this about myself, but I suppose it has just become a little more apparent than usual in the last few weeks. Two specific comforts: music and clothes.

When I find a song I like or love, I listen to it on repeat over and over and over... and over. I usually don't get sick of it for at least a month or two. I abandon many other pretty melodies for the infamous "favorite of the month." Usually I make copies of the song for my car, bathroom, and office. To those who cannot listen to the same song more than once a day, I apologize - my mind works a little different than most. I decided to share my quirks with you. Here is a list of songs I have been listening to many more times (this month) than I feel comfortable to admit:

Hazelton - Justin Vernon
Hurricane - Mindy Smith
Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap
Our Love was Good and Our Love was Right - Bradley Hathaway
Flightless Bird, American Mouth - Iron and Wine

Clothes- haha. I don't mean my day to day outfits... those I can change and have lots of variety with. But.... my lounge clothes- talk about comfort! Today is my third (or fourth?) day in a row to wear the same gray tunic sweater with matching gray leggings (My roommates have noted this because of the distinct color coordination or lack thereof). Before that I had, for about a week, worn the same red shorts with green t shirt every night. It was hot (the weather). Since the weather got a little more fall-like over the weekend, I dug up the ole gray leggings and paired it with my newly found used gray tunic sweater. Not too hot, not too cold. Now, before you go thinking these clothes must get pretty unpleasant in a week - keep in mind I am only wearing them about 2-3 hours a day. (If you want to catch me in my gray gloriousness, pop in around 8 or 9pm... i'll be comfy!)

Goodnight.

Deep Blue

On September 18th 2009, we went sailing on an 84 year old wooden boat around Lake Union. We had no destination but to be under the stars and on the deep blue. A wise fellow onboard stated, “My favorite part of this ride is that we’ve been going nowhere for four hours.” Moving with no destination - it’s a nice feeling.

We ate hors d'oeuvre, drank sparkling cider from champagne glasses (which I scrounged around Goodwill for to find 18 matching pieces), listened to Josh Phillips’ acoustic guitar and soothing vocals, listened to poetry, shared laughs, stories and quite a bit of love. The air was warm and deep.

{photos by Kristen Stemke}
{see more here}

Toast + Jam

The last several days I have been delighting myself with Toast and Jam! (I even wrote a little song about it... you can ask me to sing it to you when you see me) Such a simple snack and/or meal:
-Oroweat Whole Grain 100% whole wheat bread (toasted, of course!)
-Brummel & Brown Natural Yogurt spread
-Bonne Maman Apricot-Raspberry Preserves
I recommend serving it on a glass or ceramic plate with a preferably cute design of your choice (as opposed to paper plate or paper napkin). Cold rice milk on the side is always a plus!
Enjoy!

My Place

{All photos by the beautiful Anuhea Akamine}
{model: Whitney Moreno}

Cry Often

Crying on my way to work tonight was the best thing I could have done because it:
-caused me to miss my exit off the I5
-which required me to take a different street to work
-which prompted me to stop quickly at a cute little yard sale on that street
-which provoked me to buy a cute $1 framed cross stitch
-which required me to go to QFC down the road to get cash
-which encouraged a conversation with a single mom of two
-which allowed me to buy her family a warm dinner
-which resulted in more tears for everyone
Crying gets a bad rep sometimes but it can help feed hungry bellies.

Today I