"brown paper packages tied up with string... these are a few of my favorite things!"

hot chocolate recipe
found in "apples for jam" by tessa kiros

2/3 cup chopped best-quality semisweet chocolate
2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon confectioners' sugar
unsweetened cocoa powder or ground cinnamon, to serve

heat the chocolate and milk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon so it doesn't catch. bring it to just below boiling point and whisk with a wire whisk to make sure it is completely smooth.

meanwhile, whisk together the cream and confectioners' sugar until quite thick but not stiff - just dense enough to sit on top of the hot chocolate.

pour the hot chocolate into cups and gently spoon the cream over the top, dropping it first onto the back of a spoon and letting it slide onto the top of the chocolate. sieve a tiny amount of coca powder or cinnamon (i highly recommend the cinnamon) over the top and serve at once. makes enough for two.

warm your little hearts with this tasty treat and have yourselves a merry little christmas. loves, lin

"the near and the dear ones... the old and the young" -john and yoko

so this is christmas...
we safely arrived at the SLC airport sunday night... and thank my lucky stars that the little mister slept the entire flight cuddled up in my arms. yes, thank my lucky stars.
i love to be home.although, i miss my a*love, dearly. will someone please make sure that he is being fed well and goes to work bundled up, warm?
we spent yesterday cozied in at ashlee's enjoying the warm company and the smell of all things delicious she had been cooking up. she sent us home with armloads of warm sugary bread and even warmer happy hearts.

luc and i then spent the evening bundled up, wandering through "the gateway" on our annual holiday shopping trek. i spent a good hour or so in anthropologie running my fingers through all the lovely threads and getting a brain-full of ideas for our house. we picked luc's ornament for the year and i was sure to have them gift wrap it for me in great anthropologie fashion. we shared hot chocolate and the boy slept through the insane utah traffic all the way home. perfect.

the package i had sent here from this little etsy shop of goodness arrived. had i known it was going to be the size of a small country i would have found a few folks out there to go in on it with me. needless to say i have a spool of red and white bakers twine that will last me and amy three lifetimes each. or more. let me know if you need some.
today is fabric shopping. don't tell my husband. the drought i've been on in the homeland has left a giant fabric craving that is screaming to be satisfied. i will hit up as many little shops as my little heart can stand. including ikea's textile section. this will make for one wild day and one happy lindsay-girl when the day is over. any requests while i have all this fabric goodness around me?
we'll spend the rest of our little holiday bundling up packages (tied with bakers twine of course), drinking warm drink, and visiting our loves. there are still babies to meet and good friends to cuddle. saturday will come quickly and i am looking forward to diving back into my sewing creations before christmas.
what is your favorite part of this holiday hustle and bustle? enjoy it. oh! enjoy it.
love, lindsay

"from now on your troubles will be miles away" - quiet company

goodness. where have i been??
buuuuuuuuuuuusy with these:

i've begun to cozy up this house of ours

1. teapot we got for a wedding gift
2. cookie jar that's waiting for these.
3. silhouette made after watching this lovely lady on her television debut.
4. izze bottle from a certain momma-o-mine's birthday celebration
5. the new most perfect shade of yellow/khaki/beige walls ever

and

1. schemeing up something fierce for winter card mailings
2. awaiting amy butler cotton
3. a handsome attempt at crocheting a winter hat for "little" and his yummy ears.
4. the perfect plaid pj's sewn for my soul-cousin
5. comment treats!! they will be on their way soon. maybe along with those fab winter cards i was talking about. i did not forget. i'm just trying to track down an elf that can cut metal. any tips?
6. happiness in a red recycled cup.
7. my beauty of a sewing gal that is nearing her first birthday.

i am having so much fun with the "handmade pledge" that i took. i am up to my chin in courderoy, modge podge, yarn, my favorite cotton prints, the prettiest papers and oh! my heart is full.
i love this season. besides the obvious reflection on christ, and life and all that i am blessed with and thankful for, i love the crisp air, the hustle and bustle, picking the right treasure for the right person. i love the gift wrap, the twinkling lights, the warm drinks. i love warm sockies, flickering peppermint candles and countdown calendars. i love the memories of people from seasons passed. a grandpa with bags of shiny boxes, catching a shuttle to kiss the cheek of a granny i miss dearly, and silly boys that have held my heart. i love this season.
lucas and i are hopping a jet plane back to the "heart-land" this weekend. to a place where mittens and scarves are necessity. where my momma has a menu of good-ness waiting to fill our bellies. where a little girl named pretzel has begun to grow into her smarty-pants and i hope she remembers my face.
take care, my loves. let your hearts be light,
lin

"i'm foolish and crazy, i just think that maybe, i've got alot of things to figure out"-rosie thomas

i've been tagged. by miss j. six facts about myself and i've been stumbling all over them for the past few days. so much silly pressure! at this very moment i've got nothin'. so let's just get right to it and see what happens, shall we?

1. i would rather sleep on the couch than my bed. this could actually be a fact for most everyone in my family. i play this game with my mom on some morning phone calls. "guess where everyone slept last night." she'll say. i then proceed to match a name to every couch or squishy chair she's got in her house. we've even been known to try and go to bed in a bed only to crawl out in the wee hours to find an empty spot. don't get me wrong. i love my bed. it's comfy and warm and my two favorite boys are snuggled up there right now... but secretly i want to go grab my red plaid blanket and tuck myself in... in the living room.

2. i haven't bought a real girl outfit since lucas was born. wait. that's a lie. i've bought them... and returned them. i have yet to come to grips with this new after boy body of mine. not just come to grips with it... but do something about it. one plus years later. until then i feel so silly buying myself something pretty. i've thrown out my skinny clothes. thrown out my fat clothes. i'm left with a couple pairs of cargos and some sweats. this is not good, i realize.

3. um...number three...let's see...i'm a sucker for anything written in the font papyrus

4. i never return movies on time. ever. and netflix just won't cut it for me and my need for instant gratification. so i've just come to accept this as fact and so has my poor husband.

5. my senior year of highschool i took a dental assisting course. mainly because we got to leave campus. {i am at this very moment laughing out loud as i type} i had conviced my nearest and dearest miss lacie friend to take it with me. and i'm not laughing because i also convinced her to let me put sealants on her back molars but because she was the accomplice to a most horrible of crimes that year. i'm not sure if i'm allowed to speak on the subject due to matters of the law and everything... i'll just say that it invovled an apple, and a numbing agent. you'll have to ask her about the rest. and the sealants?! still there.

6. i have a four year old cousin named reno. and a twenty year old sister who answers to weenie.

now it's your turn...ashlee, my second cousin cathy, my sister natalie, miss roxana m., sweet amelia and of coarse the one and only weenie.

"you belong to a simpler time" -the shins

do you know that part in "garden state" when sam and largeman are sitting in the waiting room of the doctors office. she's got on those gigantic headphones and they've just met. she says that famous line, "you gotta hear this one song. it'll change your life, i swear." and then the tambourine beginning of "new slang" floods his ears. and yours as you're watching the movie. in that instant i added that song to my own soundtrack. i went to the movie in a theatre with a*love. it had been a compromise. my girl pick. in the end i remember we both just sat there through the credits. affected. back in the car we both said, "what was that song?" and off to hastings we went to purchase my first shins cd. in the soundtrack to lindsay's life this song starts playing the first time i see andrey.
this is my husband:

we met at the mall.
he is handsome and has great hands. he is strong and smart and his heart is huge. he has lousy musical taste (except for the tiny comparment he's saved for led zepplin, pink floyd and the beatles.) he has a closet full of spendy jeans and fancy shoes. his accent comes out in full force when he's sleepy and he dreams in ukranian. his favorite place on earth is a little fishing hole he fished as a wee little ukranian boy. he works from sun up 'til sun down and would work more if he could. he eats onions like apples and garlic like it's candy. we are complete opposites. we clash. we argue. sometimes don't understand eachother. i don't know how we ended up together.
i had this dream the other night. i was at this big celebration in a big room full of people i knew of... had seen before... like the lady who always checks you out at the grocery store... the starbucks girl... that guy you see everywhere. people from highschool... friends of friends. then i saw andrey. he looked confused. not like himself. he was happy but a little nervous. i made my way through the crowd to him, grateful to see a face that i really knew. i remember saying to him, "where are we? isn't this weird? do you recognize all these people, too?" he just looked at me confused. like he couldn't place where he knew me from.
"let's just go, bub" i told him. i tried to grab his hand and he just put it in his pocket and started to back away from me. i was getting frantic. surrounded by strange people in a strange place and i wanted him to get me out of there. i grabbed his face in my hands and pulled myself close to him. "IT'S JUST ME! ANDREY! IT'S LINDSAY! WHERE'S LUCAS?! ANDREY! IT'S ME! LET'S GO!" he looked at me again, unable to place how he knew me, picked me up and moved me out of his way.
that's when i woke up.
the dream bothered me all day. how he didn't recognize me. what it felt like to just be someone in the crowd to him. how he didn't belong to me. how there would be no lucas and no others like lucas. what it would be like to not know that he talks in his sleep or that he makes a mean batch of fried potatoes.
it reminded me of the first time i saw him.
at the mall.
no cheesy love at first sight. just recognition. from all the people in the crowd i remember thinking, "i know that guy from somewhere"
i thought of telling him about it during his lunch phone call but i was too busy putting peanut butter on a sandwich and he had to get back to the roof.
when he came home that night, after dinner, after a baby was tucked safely in bed and he was settled into his spot on the couch dozing off to some sort of ball game on television, i climbed into his lap and whispered in his ear, "don't ever act like you don't know who i am. you scared me." i said. "don't ever do that to me."
he opened his eyes, looked at me like i was crazy and said,"lindsay, what are you talking about?!"

we are complete opposites. we clash. we argue. sometimes don't understand eachother. i don't know how we ended up together. but we did and i love him.

what's a song on your soundtrack? how did you find it... and where does it come in?

"it's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark" -michael jackson

halloween picture update:
so... at the very last minute and with a little candy convincing from his cousins he agreed to wear the shark suit. i was so proud of him because really the thing scared the kid to death. giant sacrifice made for this family's candy stash. thanks my boy. thanks. (can you hear the crinkle of my snickers wrapper?)


next year... something with smaller and less frightening teeth.
***


i love this holiday. the obvious change in the season. the crisp air. the color orange. blackbirds. the smell of burning jack-o-lanterns. caramel apples. pillowcases full of candy. mittens. i loved coming home from school on halloween with plans for the evenings adventures. trick-or-treats with my dad and the little girlies. dressed as a homemade clown for the third time.
***
lucas is terrified of his costume. and i can hardly wait to zip him up in it. is that cruel?! he says, "mama. you da wear da sharkeee suiteee." so i'll put it on my head and wander around the house for a minute. maybe even cook lunch in it. still. he'll have none of it.
last year him and the presley-pretzel-peanut were just little ones. their dada's bundled up to take the babes and their last minute costumes out on the town. they even kept ringing doorbells after lucas and presley were fast asleep in their strollers. i remember being snuggled upstairs all by myself and loving the moment of a break. they came home with cold noses and rosy cheeks. we put on their jammies and they kicked their baby feets around in the mound of candy while the dada's picked out their favorites. the snickers. the twizzlers. the milky ways.
has it really been a full year since we packed up our new family and trekked to utah? a full circle year? no wonder we miss presley so much this week.
***

happy halloween! i can't wait to read tomorrows blogs and my email inbox to see what you and all the kidlets turn into tonight. i hope your evening is ghoulish and scary and that your buckets are filled with snickers and twizzlers and milky ways.
love, lin

"sell all of your burdens. keep all of your prayers" -katie herzig

resolutions on my fridge:


one full hour of pure lucas attention:



happy autumn. i wish for each of you - one full hour of "you" attention. what will you do with it?
love, lin

**in honor of resolution number four, it's time for comment treats my friends. leave me a comment on this post and i'll get you a little-lindsay-creation sent to your mailbox**

"everybody needs somebody to hold them down...when your feet are leaving the ground" -patrick watson

it has been a jumbled few days of crazy early mornings and i've been a busy lady... but it's been great. and happy. and all is well. thanks for your sweet comments, my bloggy friends. for the sweet treats in the mail. for just plain old thinking of me. i wish i could collect you all up into one place and share a real chat and a real smile or two. i feel so blessed to have this connection to you all. through miles and miles. through a gazillion computer wires. you are here... and i am thankful.


lucas and i have a new relationship now that he's no longer my little nursling. toughest few days of this very "attached parenting" life of mine. far more emotional than i had ever imagined. i found so many neat blogs and articles about gentle weaning and i feel so thankful that i was able to nurse luc for so long. i've tucked that special "minute" of his boy life away some place safe... to pull out when i need it. i think we've figured eachother out... again. i've re-taught myself how to soothe his worries/owies. how to put him down for bed. how to be his mama with-out the secret weapon. and he still loves and needs me! who would have thought?! he cuddles more, talks more, sleeps more. awh. all is well.
goodnight loves, lin

"gradually, i will get wiser. i will get stronger. i will get older. i will not settle and i will fight back" -rosie thomas

it rained most of the way to washington. wouldn't that just be how it goes for me, though? we'd made it half way when the sky turned completely black. the clouds just about ready to swallow me and lucas, along with our car load of gear, right up. it poured down. each drop hitting my windshield with a thud. i gripped the steering wheel, tense. we trudged on. we reached a stopping point and i phoned in for help.
"is it going to be like this the whole way? we're so close but i don't think i feel safe in this?"
"it should get better. everything i can find says it's clear... clear sunshine straight ahead," she told me.
"ok. i'll just keep going then." i said. definitely a bit uncertain.
i'm not sure if maybe i'd really wanted her to tell me otherwise. that the sky would stay dark. the storm would follow me the entire way there. i should stop. maybe even turn back. a reason to haul my son and i back to a safe place. i'd been crying my eyes out up until the storm started. my momma had packed me up with cookies and a travel cd just as i'd imagined. and the flood gates... yup. they ripped open. a reason to turn around almost sounded good. instead i decided to welcome the rain. knowing that it would soon end... we kept going.
...and just like my awaiting auntie had said, the sky opened up right in front of me.


we're here. safely moved in to our new home. my old friend of a couch. lucas tucked sweetly into our familiar comfy bed. i spend my days cleaning and cooking and chasing boy. trying my best to be a better wife, mother... such a blessing this house and everything else that seems to be falling into place... and then...

"they come upon me all silent and menacing like pinkerton detectives, and they flank me - depression on my left, loneliness on my right. they don't need to show me their badges. i know these guys very well. we've been playing a cat-and-mouse game for years now. though i admit that i am surprised to meet them in the elegant italian garden at dusk. this is no place they belong.
i say to them, "how did you find me here? who told you i had come to rome?"
depression, always the wise guy, says, "what- you're not happy to see us?" ("eat, pray, love" by elizabeth gilbert)

how did they find me here? in this new beautiful fresh start? wouldn't that just be how it goes for me, though? will it be like this for the rest of my life? should i just start expecting them to show up with their ugliness, uninvited...forever? this time they bring along a mix of confusing homesickness, an overwhelming "to do list" and a giant scoop of uncertainty. this time, i've decided to welcome them in. hopefully without a fight they might not stay long. i'd use them to my advantage and tap into the creativity that flows during these moments i spend stuck in this familiar rainstorm. i stayed in my pajamas for a few days. kept my phone calls brief. spent the time in unloading boxes and reading books.
and then gradually... as i keep trudging along... the storm seems to be lifting... my brains are slowing down the craziness and as i sort through my thoughts with honesty, things seem to be getting brighter... "clear sunshine straight ahead."

"only guessing 'til I get there then I'll know...that all will be well... only time will tell" -gabe dixon band

"what comes is better than what came before... and you better come to me. better run... run, run to me" -cat power

coming and going. isn't that just it? we're always just coming and going. me, anyways. it's been a long time since i was just... hmmm... settled in. and holding still. years long, i've realized. it's always something else for me. what's next? what to look forward to? it's what keeps me going. right now, it's moving. 10 more days and i'll pack up our bus and travel with my lucas boy back over the mountains. back to where we came from. we'll meet up with da-deee/my love and start over again.

so here i go. both coming and going. i've got this little something- this lump right here in my throat. it's been there since we signed the papers for the house. and the tears... right there at the brim. waiting to spill over. it will be right after i've buckled lukey in his seat. i'll squeeze my sisters and kiss presley's cheeks. my mom will hand over my road-trip-survivor-kit and they'll come flooding out. that's what it always looks like when i'm going. in the meantime everything is... "when i get to washington i will."

when i get to washington i will:
-start my diet... again.
-walk everywhere
-paint the house/some art
-wake up early
-play with lukey-j instead of elmo playing with lucas
-write more letters
-pay more attention to my husband

until then:
-i'll indulge in microwave popcorn plus reese's pieces and dr. pepper
-lay on the couch
-ignore the piles of laundry downstairs
-sleep in waaaaay too late
-plop in roooBOTS, again.
-avoid all emails awaiting replies
-miss my husband dearly

isn't that how it goes with me, though? procrastinate. ignore. wallow. lovely, eh?
i'm feeling very "the glass is half empty" these days. i am afraid of this move. afraid that we're taking steps backwards. isn't that weird of me? afraid that i'll be sitting in my sparkling new house thinking up our next move. unable to sink my feet in and start checking things off my list. unsatisfied and waiting for what will be coming next for us. i can't be like that. i hate to be like that.

coming and going. with lucas it's always going. he's always off and running somewhere. which explains why all pictures of him right now are of the back of his head. this kid... he takes leaps. big giant ones. he'll scope out the scene and then... just... jump. i love that about him. because i am not that way. i scope out the scene. then scope it out some more. weigh all pros and cons. then maybe dip my feet. no giant leaps here.
mmmmm. can you just taste the melancholy?





cat power lyrics twice in a row. lucky yous!

"when no one is around... love will always love you" -cat power

it's been awhile. a long while. my eyes are tired and my brains are too.
so more words to fill this empty space tomorrow or the next day...
or maybe even the next.

goodnight loves, lin

"lovliness and tenderness and happiness and openness and togetherness and hopefulness and happiness, yeah yeah" -michael franti

there is a small corner in this big house. my momma's office. it's the safest place on the planet. dim amber colored light... perfect for dreaming up lovely schemes. a beautiful swirly rug. the biggest squishiest striped arm chair with a place to pull your feet up tight. a bookself full of delicious books. the simple smell of sage, lavender and the hint of incense that was burned earlier. it's my favorite place in the world. my momma will poke her head in every once in awhile to check on you... sometimes curl up on the floor and join us girls for long talks and good music. a place to dance. or cry your eyes out if you need too. it's safe here. we have always had the freedom in her care to be whomever we want. to turn out just the way our own story decides. that is very clear in this room. does everyone have a place like this? where is yours? close your eyes... what does it smell like? what can you hear? who is there? what does it look like? can you taste it? i'm such a lucky girl to have this space. to be going to bed cuddled tight tonight and sleep a safe nights sleep. to know that i will wake up tomorrow and probably do this day or one just like it all over again.

i think that we mother's all have pretty much the same wishes for our babes. that we will have a safe place for them to grown into themselves. that we will be able to protect them from all things scary and dangerous. that they will be happy and live childhoods full of adventure and wonder... and grow into wise "grown-up" babies of ours and have sweet babes of their own. don't we all? don't you think every momma... everywhere... thinks those same thoughts?


"i join with my sisters in every land
in the pax materna-
a permanent declaration of peace
that transcends our ideological differences.
in the nuclear shadow, war is obsolete.
i will no longer suffer it in silence
nor sustain it by complicity.
they shall not send my son
to fight another mother's son.
for now, forever, there is no mother
who is enemy to another mother."

i feel like i need to do something. and while i may be a bit naive when it comes to everything that we as a nation have got ourselves into... i do know for sure that i have been entrusted the care of this sweet boy of mine. i will be ordering peace packets from anothermother.org. let me know if you feel like doing something too and i'll send one your way.

"but it's all the same. same old song, it's the same old thing. cuz it waits ...it waits on you." -joshua james

cd's i need:
two gallants -steady rollin'
joshua james -the sun is always brighter
jose gonzalez -veneer

this is how i feel. like i'm trying to roll/run 90 miles per hour with too little shoes. my momma mobile got a flat. a much needed flat. (did i just say that?!!) we i needed to slow things down a bit. it's not like i've got that much going on, really. just that i seem to be in such a hurry to get it all done. i sleep fast, eat fast, pee past. i hurry lucas to nurse. i push us out the door so quickly (grab the purse, the shoes, the hats, the bags of errands.) the flat... it slowed me down good. with the spare still on today... we got up slowly. got dressed slowly. and with no hurry to get things that i couldn't get done with a spare tire on ... i decided to go at luc's pace. which is much slower than i realized since i'm always in such a panic to fit his wild carefree wandering into my hurried life. he was in deep thought today.

i'm not sure what exactly was on his mind... but it was important. the perfect time for me to step back and let him have his space and do his thing.


he had books to be read. bushes to look under. rocks to collect. slides to climb. popcicles to be eaten. dancing to be done. naps to be taken. it was such a sweet day... maybe we'll leave the gimp tire on through the weekend.

he's slowly weaning himself. (very slowly) which makes for new creative ways to put my boy to sleep. but with each nap that he drifts off on his own... i feel the dull ache of "fullness" and the pull at my heartstrings.
no matter how much i thought i was ready for this...

i studied his chubby hands as he ate tonight. his sweet lips sucking away. it was the prettiest little picture i'd ever seen. i took a snapshot in my brain and tucked it away deep. my babe.

a*love and i have decided we'll be packing up the brood and movin' ourselves back to washington. it's just worked out that way and it feels good and exciting. i got an email from rox.ana last week. i'd told of our decision and her thoughts on the subject had me thinking and thinking in great-lucas-deep-thought fashion. eyebrows furled. pros-cons-list-making thinking. tri-town is a creative killer. "you need to be in a place that is constantly flowing creative juices," she said. this i know. kennewick is as blah as blah gets. i have big dreams of a seaside seattle porch. planting our roots deep in the salty soil. our plan is to get there in a few years. this tri-cities move is supposed to be temporary. i told her how i envied her adventurous life. no dream stifling going on there. and i got to thinking about why not taking the adventure now? why this holding time to weigh things out? why?... well because i'm a wuss. that's why. because tri-town is familiar and safe. just like i do everything in my life. i take no giant leaps.
this has had me thinking. alot.
the same playlist plays over and over as i ponder. in the car. on the computer. the ipod. same songs. the mix i just sent out to a.h. and someday years from now... i'll hear jose gonzalez sing "ten days of perfect tunes" and i'll remember this pondering time. before we packed our boxes up. lucas still a little nursling. our slowed down day to think things over together. and i'll miss this contemplation time and smile about where we've ended up...
on a porch swing watching a northwest sunset and still dreaming big.
goodnight loves, lin

***

a sweet treat showed up in our mailbox yesterday from jen over at beebee mod! her new suburbia onesie design. love. love. love it. so did lucas. when i opened the package he said, "ohhhhh cu-utte!" and cute it is. she is such a sweet/talented/lovely momma chick. her blog inspires my creative guts and the way she balances her babes and her beebee mod store amaze me. her shop re-opens in a few weeks and will be stocked up with some lovely new goods and i hope that you'll all support the handmade etsy adventure she's on.

"baby don't be blue, gonna make for you... gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle" -quincy coleman

"baby don't you cry, gonna make a pie, gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle. baby don't be blue, gonna make for you, gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle. gonna make a pie from heaven above, gonna be filled with strawberry love. baby don't you cry, gonna make a pie, and hold you forever in the middle of my heart. "

lucas is in rare form today. he's cuddley and quiet. moving so very sloooow. oh yeah and warm. yes... he's caught some kind of a bug and has gone very quickly from my wild-thing-can't-hold-still-big-monkey-boy to this need-my-mommy-and-my-blankie-baby. my wee baby has a belly ache and i'm sure a big fat headache but can only wiggle around in my arms and wimper. and i'm not really able to tell him what exactly is going on.
i tucked the boys in last night and set myself up upstairs. my favorite pack of watercolors. fresh paper. playlists of songs. cup of iced lemonade. i was feeling the creative juice bubbling over. my knees tucked up to my chin... pajama pants and bare feets. so very much in my element... "llllliiiiiiiiindsaaaaaaaaaaay! come quick!!" i ran.
thus began my night. i was the momma. the one in charge. he needed me. what?! what do i do? i set us up on the couch the way my mom used to set us up when we got sick. lay down a sheet. stack up some clean towels. mixed up some emergen-c and put in a movie. then texted my mom to come downstairs. the momma needed her momma. between several changes of clothes (mine and his) and a couple times through the robots movie he fell quietly back to sleep. i scooped him in my arms and carried back down to bed sometime during the wee hours.
he's taken 3 naps today. yes. he is in rare form.

we had a great weekend. my silly mom and me trekked down to the gallivan center for the free peter, bjorn and john concert. nat and pres had saved us a spot right in the middle. my mom is great. it was awesome people watching. saw some real creatures! great concert. i was really only sure of one of their songs... but they were so dang cute that i'll probably plop down and buy the real cd. not just download some goodies. i'll make the whole purchase. =)
andrey and i went on a date. a real date. like i got ready all day kind of date. curled up my hair kind of date. we held hands and i'm sure i did some girlie-giggling. we missed lucas. first real date without him... and we were ready to come home. crazy crazy folks.
i finally made it to "the waitress" this weekend. my auntie, my gram, and my momma all took a girl trip to a late movie. i.loved.this.film. it's been a long time since i actually enjoyed an entire movie. the cast. the soundtrack. the story. every piece. i can't you tell how much i loved it. it's not playing in many theatres but go track it down and give it a shot. lovely. lovely.

it's quiet and peaceful around here today. i took a bath and got back into my pajamas. i think i'll finish up last nights painting and then go cuddle up with my feverish little sonny-boy and watch "botsssssss", again. happy monday. love, lin

"grain for grain, sun and rain... i'll find my way in nature's chain. tune my body and my brain to the music of the land" -peter, paul and mary

these almost finished pieces of lucas's rocket quilt have been wadded up on the sewing table downstairs taunting me. for some reason i was frozen at batted and quilted. the edging... scared me to death. i'm not sure why? i think i was afraid i'd ruin something that so far, looked pretty darn good. there it sat. laughing. i'd run out of projects. all things checked off my list... do i dare???! i dared. it's finished. first quilty-lovey ever made by me. and i am soooo-oh-so-very proud of myself.


happy august loves. comment treats go out tomorrow. finally. love, lin

***

***update: due to an annoying old navy commercial that snatched up my ingrid michaelson song and the overwhelming amount of google hits this song is bringing here... i've changed the title of this post. only because i despise drawing attention to myself. (and i hate when my song loves "sell-out" on me.***)

"oh hiiiyeeee!" he says. first thing in the morning. first thing at 6 am. with every bit of sweet enthusiasm that his 6 pm voice has. i open one eye and in a groggy/gruffy-not-very-sweet voice say, "oh.hi.lukey." and pull the pillow over my head. i take a deep breath, stretch my arms and leggies... and try again. "good morning to lucas!" i say, a bit cheerier. he smiles, does a quick search for his paci under the covers... plugs it in his silly baby lips and snuggles up to me. if i'm lucky he'll snuggle for a couple of hours. i love this. this good morning of ours.
...and then onto our lovely summer day...

sundance catalog arrived today. delish. drooling over these:





and this... oh my... yes... this:

my momma and i can't stop talking about this camper. this camper that costs 24,000 big 'ol smack-a-roos. we want it. and we hope that for the price they're planning on throwing in the pretty little meadow in the background to go with it. oh yeah, and the cherry pie too. we want to know who buys one. because that person is rich... has great taste... and needs us to be their friend. we're probably soul mates. so if you're out there...???? we belong together. you, me and this camper. i'll bring the jars for firefly catching. and wear a twirly dress for dancing under the stars.

the boys are tucked safely in our bed. my regular blog time. it's raining outside. crazy rain. and thunder. lightning. is this dangerous? typing in lightning?

the apron's finally done! it's from amy butler's "in stitches" pattern book. i love it. love the finishing touches. the sweet pocket. the towel loop. i've already made another. thanks go out to my super model sister jade aka june cleaver. this ones already been folded up sweetly, wrapped in pretty tissue paper and given away. someday i'll keep something for myself... or start charging folks. i'll accept fabric as payment... ha!
good night loves, lin



p.s. my little lindsay finger has healed in super human time. i let my momma use secret herb remedies and i snuck it in some good fresh air. a good 'ol chunk is missing though. silly finger of mine. what an ordeal that was. happy to report that all pretty fabric was spared.

"you pass through places and places pass through you... but you carry them with you on the soles of your shoes" -jolie holland

the boy finally took a real nap today. a couple hours of good nap.
i had time to:
-shower a real shower. shave my legs kind of shower.
-eat a good...sit down quiet lunch. and snack on a yummy juicy pear.
-get a start on the enormous pile of laundry
-straighten up the kid toys everywhere
-read my mail and write back some good words
-sort my fabric and get to work on my comment treats...

he woke up wailing
just in time for me to:
-slice off the tip of my prettiest pointing finger.

isn't that just how it goes?

peace y'all. -lin

"be this sunset one for keeping... this junebug street sings low and lovely" -iron and win

i've been waiting all day for my night-time-alone-time. my list of things to do come luc's bedtime kept getting longer and longer. soak feet, paint toes, pluck eyebrows, catch up on bloggy reading/writing, make a treat, read magazine, play with new fabric. so here it is and i'm in love with the peaceful quiet of my sleeping boy loves, dim lights, and pete yorn singing softly in the background.
my eyes are droopy. i am deep in the throws of a twelve hour drive hangover. we traveled all day yesterday...my boy and me. home from washington and a great summer vacation full of singing willie and the dry k-town heat. lucas become a boy on this trip. a real boy. he ran around with his cousins, splashed in puddles and ate big boy sandwiches.


i looked at a house while we were there. not exactly what we want...but i looked. it's a start and i feel washington calling us home. will we listen? i'm not sure. we're still so torn. the great debate is still raging between a-love and i. both of our minds changing from one minute to the next. how do you make a decision like that? maybe we should just pack it up and keep on driving. any suggestions? i visited our storage unit. saw my couch. the big brown box with "luc's nursery" written in marks-a-lot. i wanted to climb in and cuddle up on my very own couch and take a good nap. it was a bit surreal to pull the cord and turn the key on the padlock to all of our belongings. our life as we know it so far is stuffed in that room. hmmm.
i could not wait to get home and share what goodies seven, seven, oh-seven brought to me. a lucky day indeed. i found these:

at joann's. yes, joann's. did all you crafty ladies out there already know that if you dig enough you might unearth some alexander henry delights at joann's??? why didn't someone tell me?! and at such edible prices too! i couldn't believe my eyes when i spotted the apples and pears out the corner of my eye. i bought the rest of the bolt when my fabric-crazy-heart took over. i don't even know what i'm going to do with it yet. i wanted to make an apron out of it before. but what else?! and the rest! perfect for the comment treats i'm hoping to whip up this week and send out to you lovely commenting friends of mine.
this was waiting for us on the counter when we got home. the summer tank i ordered from quilt baby. it's adorable. too bad lucas was too busy getting into everything that is messy for me to get a picture of him actually in it!

luc has so many blankets. so many. i imagined him running around with his favorite "lovey" and even tried forcing my favorites of the bunch onto him. i'd snuggle him up with the polka-dot blankie his auntie made...the flannel one my gram crocheted...the space-puppies that faith made him...he would kick them all off. wanted nothing to do with them and especially not to be cuddled up in one. well today...today he carried this thing all over the house. all day. this five dollar receiving blanket i got at old navy. are you serious??!!! this is the one you're going to pick?! ha. sweet boy.

off i go my loves. to rest this restless head of mine. i wish you happy feet... and dreams of lovely new fabric and smiley baby boys.
love, lin