Mosaic Art Show

One of my favorite people in the world invited us to her mosaic art show opening at Cafe Aquatica in Jenner, California.  This show will be there from February 1st through the 28th and was created by a co-op of artists that attended two-day classes at the Jenner Mosaic Workshop.  It was such a beautiful way to end the last day of January with a glass of prosecco in hand, admiring original art, surrounded by the beauty of the Russian River spilling into the Pacific Ocean and, of course, friendships that will carry us throughout the year.

Our friend is interested in having the kids take a workshop and create their own mosaics, alongside the adults.  We discussed the possibility of using our overabundance of collected sea glass to create a permanent reminder of our sojourns to the sea.  Sign us up.

The Garden Movie

Last night we watched this amazing documentary about a community garden in Los Angeles, aptly named The Garden.  Another movie that makes you stop, listen, think and hopefully stirs the pot enough to push you into a little activism in your own community.

I've just learned that a community garden is going in at G's school in Tomales.  Not sure how they will set up or divide the land, but I think it's a wonderful opportunity to bring people together.  There is something so basic and primal about touching the earth, planting a seed, watching it grow, harvesting it and then nourishing you or your family with that food.  It feels empowering, while at the same time making you feel like a small piece in the puzzle of humanity.

I'm planning my Spring garden.  Won't you join me?  Just plant something.  Anything.  If I can do it.  You can do it.  I sound like Nike!

The Ocean is Like Santa Claus

We spent the last bit of our weekend at Secret Beach in Jenner and found out that the recent storms had completely transformed this stretch of coast.  It was muddy on the trek down the hillside, but what unfolded before us was a beachcomber's dream.

Here's what we collected and, of course, it all just had to come home with us:

• 1 hot pink bead
• 1 green twisty thing
• 1 piece of turquoise painted wood
• 6 light blue pieces of sea glass
• 24 green pieces of sea glass
• 3 cobalt blue pieces of sea glass
• 9 golf balls
• 1 wooden pig nose
• 1 rock that resembled a belted galloway cow (grey on both sides & a belt of white in the center)
• 1 plastic pizza triangle
• 4 smooth river rocks
• 1 piece of patterned driftwood
• 1 blue marble
• 1 piece of abalone shell
• 29 pieces of clear sea glass

When we were leaving the beach, G mentioned that he thought the ocean was like Santa Claus because it just kept bringing us cool things.  He is so easily satisfied.  No big box top stores, no shopping online, no batteries included.  Just gifts from the sea.  I'm a lucky mama.

January Days

::  Four cakes were baked this month

::  Dozens of eggs were collected

::  Art appeared before me at the beach

MLK Jr. Birthday 2010

Words as Art

Be Present 101

The day started with rain, then the sun poked through around noon and by 3:30 in the afternoon it reached 67 degrees. What? This was January, right? Well, we happened to be in Dillon Beach at the time visiting friends and the dunes were screaming our names! We grabbed some snacks from the General Store and literally ran as fast as we could towards low tide, found secret caves, met friendly dogs and caught a breathtaking sunset. Such an unexpected Wednesday afternoon and I'm so glad we seized the opportunity to bask in the glow of Sonoma Coast's setting sun.

I was initially hesitant to go and had a laundry list of things we needed to do once we got home but, clearly, those things could wait. There were more important things to do. Thank goodness I took my son's advice and just went to low tide "because we haven't done that in a long time mom and I miss the beach".

Be Present in this moment rang in my ears...and I was.

Little bit country AND a little bit rock n' roll

My sweet boy seems a little conflicted.  Rock out to the Strokes and have mom make him a really cool rocker cuff (made from an old button-down shirt and some ribbon & rick-rack)?

...or sport the hand-me-down suede chaps that a friend gave us, along with the red Wrangler cowboy snap shirt from Old St. Nick, his well-worn cowboy boots and real cowboy hat?

Well, when you're six and three-quarters you can pull off both looks.  Anytime.  Anywhere.  And he did just that for the entire weekend.

The Quiet of January

Well, we're a week into the New Year and I haven't posted a thing.  Actually, I haven't done much of anything this week outside of work and caring for my son.  I have been enjoying the quiet of January.  With husband out of town until Monday, I'm shirking a vast majority of my household responsibilities (but I'm sure I'll have to rearrange a few pieces of furniture in his absence!).  I feel a little beat up from all of the social engagements that December held.  Don't get me wrong, I love a party, but I feel like I needed this week to chill out, leave a mess in my wake, cook at home and read the stack of books that have been so patiently waiting for me on my nightstand.

After spending New Year's Day at a four-hour yoga workshop with my closest friends, I felt free and limber and open to all of the possibilities a new year can bring.  I am slowing reorganizing my home and making task lists for household projects.  I'm earmarking furniture that needs to be moved and/or sold.  I'm re-potting plants and purging closets.  It feels like a cleansing ritual and I am quite sure that January is the best month to do this in.  Spring cleaning seems like an interruption, but January cleaning seems like a rite of passage into the new year.

This week has been an exercise in being really present in my day-to-day life.  The heap of clothes on the bathroom floor...they can wait to be washed.  The dishes in the sink...they can wait a little longer, too.  The slew of random items in G's room that need to be saved/thrown away/returned to nature will have to wait another day.  I have so many pictures and thoughts to post about the holidays, but they just have to wait until I'm ready to sit down, dig in, reflect, edit the photos that go with those thoughts and share here with the few friends that read this blog.

Happy January to you.  I hope you embark on a project that helps you to slow down and savor the beginning of this new year.

Five Friends for Life

This is such a priceless photo.  G is surrounded by his God-sisters and his soul-brothers at Secret Beach on the eve of the eve of the New Year.  What a way to end 2009.  I can't wait to take this same picture year-after-year and see how they grow.  I wish I could just stop time and savor this age just a little bit longer.  No, you say?  Well, that's why I keep this blog - so that I can look back, reminisce and help my feeble mommy brain recollect all the precious moments that seem to slip so quickly from my mind.

This year I'm going to try to document the photos, stories, books I love, lists, art projects, cooking experiments, gardening blunders and chicken shenanigans that go on in my world.  I don't want to forget this amazing time in my life and I want to help preserve it with this blog.  Hopefully, I can print and bind this in book form at the end of this year and pass it down to G when he gets older and has his own family.

Buckle up.  I have a lot of things planned for 2010.

Happy New Year