Happy Hour: Long days, Short Seasons

 They are biting at my ankles all summer long. Bored because it’s too hot to go out and, yet, they’re not allowed to spend the whole day plugged in. Dragging their feet when I try to get them to go somewhere to have some fun with me, yet don’t hesitate to ask for my attention when they can’t think of anything fun to do or want a snack at 10:30 at night. Why are you up anyway?!

But the summer is passing faster than I can cross things off our list. School supplies are in the stores and I have even seen glimpses of Fall Décor and Christmas Crafts. Before we have even finished with one season, we’re already planning the next two!  The house may get dirty twice as much with everyone home, but I’m not ready to give up summer just yet! I still want to savor the chaotic time I have in a house filled with viking boys. And what exactly makes it the best week of the best summer ever?

·         quiet mornings

·         super heroes

·         refrigerator pickles

·         cold water

·         pastel, oil, and water painting!

·         bees, birds and butterflies

·         lots of great friends

·         children biting at my ankles

So raise a glass with me and toast to summer! Pledge to make the most of these last few weeks before pulling out your Christmas tree and Jack-o-Lanterns. And tell me, what made this your best week ever?



Just a little pastel I did of Summer in Belgium for a friend!



Happy Hour: Bring on the Heat!

Most of America is sweltering right now.  Also, it’s hot outside.  At moments like these I am so glad my life can exist in the sheltered bubble of my air-conditioned home. I think it’s humid enough to steam an egg out there and don’t even get me started on what steams me if I let it! But I haven’t checked the news in weeks and I’m not going outside today! I am content to celebrate Happy Hour indoors and my drink of choice today: water! Pour a tall one of your favorite, ice, lemon, straw, as I review what made this the best week ever!

·          I have noticed that I’m right here, not in the past, not in the future, but in the moment. I’m sure it will pass, but it feels good to get here once in awhile!

·         A week ago I returned from the most amazing trip to Washington State to see my family. (more to follow!)

·         And after personal art lessons from both my Great Uncle Earl and my father I am inspired to create. (more to follow on that as well!)

·         I have drastically reduced my internet usage and have discovered much needed extra time. Now I just have to use in appropriately!

·         All my boys got short haircuts and I can see their wonderful faces.

·         My dog is a sweetheart if she can tolerate fingers in her eyes and pulled hair and still not bite back…I will finally agree she is a keeper!

·         I am growing a succulent garden in addition to my vegetables. I might need more space because I want chickens, goats and bees as well!

My list could go on. Life is good as long as I stick to the simple things like homemade meals, paper and paint, smiling faces and air-conditioning. What made this your best week ever!?

He Does it With Gusto!

He shakes those drinks. One in each hand, like a master with intent on creation. Someone will enjoy a perfectly mixed drink in about two minutes. I wonder what he wishes he was doing with that much strength and perfection. No doubt, dinner and drinks were perfect tonight at the Seatown Snack Bar. Who would have thought oysters could be just the new thing I needed? I'll skip the tatoo for now and just suck up the fact that I am already doing something new. Something different.

 The journey happens. You can't help uniting your fears and desires. You decide what the travel is about. Not exploration of a new environment, but rather the newness in you as you see something for the first time and feel something about life you weren't quite sure of before. Do we travel to check the box or to arrive home with memory of a new friend we've made with ourself? We want to see the world, but what it equates to when we no longer exist is only manifest in how we translate the experience to the next moment of our life. How we take the moment of awareness of the great big world and apply it to our relations of every day people.

Yes,  I want to go places and see things and do what I wasn't sure I ever knew I wanted to do. But truely I want to discover where I have been hiding all along. In the sheets, among the dirty dishes, I was always an explorer. I was always on top of the world. And I was always at home in my heart.

Sweat and Tears

SUNDAY CONFESSIONAL

 

I have something to say about my run today. I’m not going to bore you with the details of finding proper running shoes or how cheeseburgers do not make good fuel for lead thighs. But today I tackled the hill. I surprised myself. I’m doing it! I’m actually doing something good for my body and getting stronger as I go. I looked at the top of the hill and realized only a month ago I would have been sitting on my butt instead. And then I just kept going up that hill. I felt stronger.  I felt inspired. I felt happy. I thought about my sister and her accomplishment of losing a lot of weight and becoming athletic. She was running, and it encouraged me to run. It felt good to be doing something for me, and even better as it dawned on me that I was doing this for my boys. For the people I love. And then I began sobbing.

Someone close to my family was diagnosed with lung cancer this week and my heart was breaking. I was angry and sad for obvious reasons. I could not help but cry out at the top of the hill, gasping for a breath; not because it was difficult to run, but because it was difficult to accept that the action of NOT running (eating well, drinking less, quitting smoking, wearing sunscreen, etc.) would certainly result in pain and suffering somewhere in the timeline of life. At the very moment I was finding strength do the right thing with this one fragile and resilient body I’ve been given, I was also fully aware of what happens when you choose not to do just that. Either right now, or later down that road of life, we all answer to the decisions we have made on how to handle the flesh and blood we inhabit.

What is your answer? How are you making that choice every day? Are you going to wait until it is too late? Today is the day. If you have time for television and Facebook and Xbox, then you have time to get up and make your heart pump that oxygen rich blood. You can put down the high fructose corn syrup drink and pour a glass of water instead. You can ask a doctor to help you quit smoking or find the right nutrition plan to lose weight. YOU CAN. It’s not easy, but taken in small steps anything can be accomplished, including the way you treat your body. I have a long way to go. I know I can make better choices even now. But I am taking the first step. Will you take the first step?

RESPECT YOUR BODY. RESPECT YOUR LIFE. RESPECT THIS ONE CHANCE TO DO IT RIGHT!

because I can only handle so much sweat and tears on my own, you have to do the rest....

Slice of Life

This is Happy Hour Friday & Ten Before the Tenth!

Not every Friday is as happy as a Friday should be. Last Friday I wanted to post my Happy Hour summary of a good week, but I wasn’t feeling it. It was a pretty crappy day. Which is exactly why I should have put my “world is crashing in” attitude away and face the hard facts: Life is good, even when it’s not.

Let me rephrase that: Life is good, even when you think it’s not. The key is all in how you think. A lot has been written on happiness and how to find it. Jesus and Buddha and Plato and Mr. Rogers all had something to say. I’m still looking into all my options. But I do know one thing, when you focus on the positive it sure helps lighten your load. That is why I am working on a weekly post that celebrates both the joy that Friday’s release brings and the ability to look at all the little things that made the week at hand the best week I ever had…each and every week.

And because this is the first of the month, I am also soliciting participation in both my endeavor to write more on my blog and to push myself to create more original art. So, I am once again promoting my TEN BEFORE THE TENTH challenge. It’s Happy Hour, grab a drink and a pen and paper and chill with me for a minute! I am looking for ten things that made this YOUR best week ever. I know you love your family and you are thankful to have your home, church, job, health, etc. I am asking you to look past the obvious and find TEN specific things that happened or somehow affected you in a way that re-affirmed for you that life is good.  Let me go first:

1.       I ate a crisp cucumber from the garden I have growing in my front yard.

2.       I discovered lino cut art, and the ability to make any image I design into a one of a kind stamp.

3.       My youngest can’t properly say “hot lava.” Instead he says “hot mama.” Naturally I have been asking him to say it as often as possible!

4.       I went running today and when I got to the end of three miles, I just wanted to keep going!

5.       The sound of Legos is a beautiful sound. It means all the boys (dad included) are playing together for hours.

6.       Dinner at the dining room table sitting across from my husband and next to my boys after a long day is my favorite place to eat after working hard to make a great meal.

7.       My oldest at 12 (going on 20) still likes to give lots of hugs and kisses.

8.       After finding “To Kill a Mocking Bird” by Harper Lee at the second hand store for .50 I realizing there is a reason it is one of America’s best novels. What a treasure.

9.       Facebook connects me with my friends and family like I never thought it could and I have come to realize that without it, I would not know or be close to many of the wonderful people that I get to “chat” with everyday.

10.   When I was having a bad day (again on Sunday) my dear middlest child passed by me trying to sing Bob Marley in his words, “Cuz’ everything’s gonna to be alright.” And it melted my heart because he was right.

Ok, your turn! Write them down. Put them where you can see them, post them to the world, share them with your family, but be honest with yourself! Then write at least one of those things here as a comment to this post. And there is an incentive, everyone who participates will get an original ink printing of my hand carved stamped image in the mail from me. YES, everyone! (just  participate and then send me your address via email: mylifewithmonkeys@gmail.com with the word blog in the title.) You have until July 10, 2011 at 7pm EST. So turn on some Bob Marley, pour something cold, and celebrate because this was the best week ever!

Happy Hour: Mint Lemonade

One of my favorite places to lunch in our little local town of Mons, Belgium was a French café and Bakery called Le Pain Quotidian. It was the only place that served good strong coffee. All their meals were organic and prepared fresh to order! Their usual fair included open face sandwiches called tartines, fabulous salads with a homemade vinaigrette and a basket full of fresh baked breads. And I always finished with one of their desserts! Come to find out, this cute Boulangerie is an international establishment with shops in New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., The Middle East, and of course all over Europe. But it got its start in Brussels. Now I am sharing with you “Limonade du Maison.” I adored this refreshing twist on lemonade so much I had to try it at home and who knew it could just be so simple!

Squeeze the juice from about a dozen lemons and a few limes, add one cup sugar, and 3 quarts water in a big gallon jug. Add ice and a few slightly bruised stalks of mint. Mix and serve in your favorite glass. Mason jars make me happy right now! Here are a few other things that made this week the best week ever:

• We had a spontaneous trip into DC for a visit with my brother-in-law, Sam. It was great to laugh and joke with him for an evening.
• The kids are out of school for the summer! (but I’m still trying to decide if this is going to be a good thing!)
  
• Mexican Food. Need I say more!?


• Perfect weather all week followed by much needed rain.


• A day off.


• This boy:

These are just a few things that made my week the best week ever. What made this your best week ever?

Tuesday's Traveler: The Storm

“It’s a shame I only made it to Paris four times…” I can’t believe those words came spilling out of my mouth. My good friend looked at me with “that” look and I shut it before I put my foot in any more. Right? Most people would kill to go even once, while I lived just over the border of France for nearly four years. It seemed common enough to me, yet I failed to tell the story. I may not be Elizabeth Gilbert, traveling solo through 3 countries in a year (at the publisher’s expense!) But I have had a “Pilgrim’s Heart” and have made a journey or two with a story to spare. So I say why not share? There’s always a discovery worth telling when one travels beyond the front gate….

In the South of France on the Mediterranean Sea there is a small town called Cassis…. seems like the logical place to begin would be Paris, but I’m not going to start with that story. I’m not even going to start with my move to Belgium. I’m going to tell you my high seas adventure. I wasn’t lost at sea, but there was a storm coming and it didn’t look good. I was traveling with my mom, the original “Pilgrim Heart,” to the center of where all good travel stories begin; Provence and the Cote D’Azur. We had a late start to the day and wanted to squeeze in time to see the Mediterranean before sunset. Specifically, we wanted to be out in the Mediterranean. Naturally we rented sea kayaks, signed no release forms, and were instructed with a typical “C’est La Vie” casual sunny, southern French attitude to be back before closing.

We began paddling into the blue. Into the waters that reached across the ocean to break on the beaches of Morocco and Spain and Tunis. We were in that sea; the one mentioned in history books and old movies, and now we were feeling part of something much bigger. Our eyes were set on a large cliff on the other side of the bay’s opening. We had plenty of time to reach our destination, enjoy the wonder of the moment and then make our way back to land before our time was up and the old boat owner was ready to close up shop. But we did not take into account that the heat and humidity was quickly turning into a raging thunderstorm; one that comes for a visit every summer afternoon. But when you are the visitor, the host looks daunting as you stare at it rolling over the foothills, into town, and assuming right out to sea; the very sea in which you were moments ago noting you were becoming one with.

Ah yes, my mother and I are risk takers, but not fools. Lightning and water don’t mix. And though we were given no formal warnings or wavers when we signed up to paddle our own boat, we were ready to haul it back to shore before the storm overtook us. At the time we thought we might have twenty minutes to make it back before the storm, but that meant some heavy rowing because it took more than twice that to get out to the point we were at. But we did just that. We paddled our little hearts all the way back to shore, breathless and exhilarated as we proudly hustled under the first big fat rain drops. Rushing past the topless women, finally pulling their things together as the rain splattered down around us all; laughing as we caught our breath and turned the corner to meet our robust and very bronzed shop owner. He shrugged and gave us that pouted lip, raised eyebrow French look and proclaimed, “But Madame, it is only a little rain. Why hurry so much?”

Why worry so much? Mom and I thought we had dodged a bullet, but it soon dawned on us that we were the only ones trying to get out of the storm. We made our way through the villa in the rivers of rain. Locals and tourist alike took shelter together and continued with their meals and shopping and long conversations. Gentlemen pulled out Champagne and a light supper and partook right there under the awning of their local business. Kids played in overflowing fountains. Life in Cassis did not stop for the rain. Life in Cassis just got started. And for us, the evening just got started, too, as we joined the crowds to eat and celebrate the moment. There is a good reason for the longevity associated with Mediterranean coastal living; every moment is tasted, savored, and enjoyed to the last drop even if the thunder is rolling in. 

Happy Hour, part 2

Happily domesticated, irreverent, retro-feminist dreamer;
Rebellious artist, mothering redheaded vikings.

I wrote my TEN last year in a challenge to my sister. I know there are many other words that describe me, but I think I will stick with my original...
In the most diplomatic way I could think of, I did the draw the old fashioned way and wrote names on paper, tossed them in the air and let the littlest child pick one up to discover our winner. AND this month is my Aunt Kathleen! I'll be visiting her soon, so I guess she knows how it will arrive on her doorstep! ;) But I have to tell you that am so pleased to have some very enthusiastic responses, excited to participate and wanting to own a little bit of something that I created. So, the rest of my lovely friends who already left their TEN, try again next month because I'm not done yet!!

Friday Happy Hour

What better way to greet Friday than to proclaim my love!  Despite all my serious posts, this is a house full of laughter and closeness. I have so much to be grateful for that I feel the need to start a new “Happy Hour” trend and share all the goodness once a week. Please join me, with or without a drink!

·         I had a margarita last night and laughed out loud. It felt good.

·         My living room is almost complete and it feels so comfortable. Even David commented that he liked the neutral panel grommet top curtains picked out. I love happy places in my own home!

·         I talked with my sister for a long time on Monday. It’s becoming a regular thing again and I realize that if we aren’t always in touch, then something is missing. It feels good to connect, even on opposite sides of the country.

·         My body remembers how to run. I am so thankful that I have the physical strength to move and get out and go, despite all the aches and pains that want to creep up on me as I add the years on to the old machine. Just keep it moving along or it’s going quit on you!

·         I got lots of hugs and kisses this week because I gave lots of hugs and kisses this week. Redheaded boys fill me up like nothing else in the world can do!

·         Have you been to Etsy.com lately? It’s inspiring and I want to make things. I am making things. You will see…

These are just a few things that made my week the best week ever. What made this your best week ever?

{Important Note: Ten to the Tenth is over when Happy Hour is over tonight at 7pm EST. If you haven’t had a chance to post your ten words that describe you, then go back to this post and comment now before it’s too late! I will post my TEN at that time and draw a random participant to win an original piece of art by me! Yup, I’m putting it all on the line for you! Let’s do this thing!}

Sunday Confessional

From my Facebook status on March 2011:    “I have really bad days, weeks sometimes. I am unmotivated, I yell at my children, I say the F-word all. the. time. I get into fights with my husband, I have credit card debt - again, I let my kids watch too much TV and play violent video games, I obsess about getting cancer, I can't stop interrupting people, I pass judgment on the people I love the most, I spend time on the internet instead of being productive, I eat too much junk food, I say I'm going to paint, but I keep making excuses, and last week I almost ran away from home....but instead I made a joke about joining the circus. Do you really know who anyone is just by reading their posts!?” 

It's Sunday Confession and I admit I am being far too open about it. I confess that I am too quick to proclaim my great ambitions, yet slow on the follow through. I confess that I am still intimidated by a blank canvass and scrapbooking is a comfortable place to be. I confess that I am still guilty of the internet time suck. I confess that I make inspirational moments sound so much easier when I write than I can actually pull off in my daily routine. I confess that at some point I will blog about the tedious day-to-day and what my kids are doing despite stating this was not the blog for that. I confess that I love knowing people are reading what I have to say because I like “putting on a show,” in words of course.  

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."  I believe that identifying who you really are also means looking at your flaws. Maybe it’s not necessary to leave my dirty laundry airing for the public to see, but it’s freeing in a way I can not describe. We are not perfect people. I hope that for a brief moment, someone out in the cyber world reads my words and sighs in relief knowing they are not alone in the pitfalls of this human life. For those who keep it bottled up and buried at the bottom of the sock drawer, I suggest you start by being honest with yourself about who you are and where you are in life. Then turn to the people that are closest to you and do the hardest thing; admit your faults. You won’t melt, and it truly does matter. Follow by letting it go, because there is no place for guilt. Change the action or change the belief.

So, there you have it: My Sunday Confessional. You don’t have to confess anything! But you only have five days until the tenth….so leave your list of ten on my last post before it’s too late! (Oh for heavens sake! If I can admit all that I have, it makes your part easy as pie!) One more thing before it’s too late – gratuitous pictures of the people that matter most to me:

"Can you lie next to her and confess your love, your love? As well as your folly and can you kneel before the king and say ‘I’m clean’" - Mumford and Sons, White Blank Page