yup. they are real.

and those too...

ok. cat's out of the bag...

true confession:

i am not well endowed ...
in the eyelash department
(like seriously sparse little spikes for lashes)

so...
instead of doing extensions
(cause they usually end up looking a little doll-like and nutty AND they're expensive!)

i put li lash on my lashies right before bed
and now my lashes are INSANE.
seriously.

they're longer, thicker, and...
they're so long that they touch my sunglasses!

secret's out:

there's no such thing as natural beauty.

xx

-d

[ten] great documentaries

i thought i’d share some of the ones i have watched in the last couple of months and have liked.

Surfwise tells the story of the paskowitz couple, who drops off the grid to drive their nine kids around in a camper and surf all day.
Food, Inc. examines the american food industry and corporate farms. not for the squeamish!
My Kid Could Paint That looks at the runaway success of a four-year-old girl whose paintings are compared to picasso. but is she the real artist?
Man on Wire is a documentary about a wild French tightrope walker and his jaw-dropping (illegal) stunts.
Mad Hot Ballroom follows a group of adorable New York City fifth graders taking a ballroom dance program.
Deep Water tells the gripping story of an amateur sailor who (insanely) enters a solo race around the world.
Seven Up is a series of documentaries that have tracked the lives of fourteen English schoolchildren since 1964, when they were seven years old. every seven years, the filmmaker releases a new documentary that checks in on their increasingly varied lives. (they're now 53!)
American Teen follows five high-school seniors--a jock, princess, heart-throb, geek and misfit--in a small Indiana town.
Autism: The Musical chronicles five autistic children as they rehearse for a musical production.
Stranded lets the survivors of the famous 1972 andes plane crash tell their story of survival.

(plus, of course, the new Babies!)

 

have you seen any other good documentaries? i'd love to hear!

tom palumbo

we have established that one of the reasons i am such a terrible blogger is because i am selfish and like to keep good finds to myself.  this is so not a good quality to have as a blogger. i discovered photographer Tom Palumbo a few moons ago and prayed that only myself would be 'in the know.'   but after all, this is the internet and when i started to see his photo's pop up on other blogs i cringed and cursed myself for not sharing but still i kept him to myself.   i am a piece of work.  i have mentally flogged myself for this behavior and will continue to do so until i get that i must share these things.

these photos make me happy… 

xx

d 

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that
you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them
when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust
no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better
things can fall together."

you are love

something pretty...

I’m in the mood for:
sunshine.  lots of it.
pizza.  lots of it.
beer.  lots of it.
this weekend, I’m excited to:
hang out with my sister and have coffee with my friends.
stay warm [whoa, 90+ degrees!]
beach it.
and act girly with my friends 

happy friday!  type to you monday...

xx

d

imperfect [the new perfect]

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.
I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived." 

 

— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

i won't be a finger-painting, cookie-baking mother.
i'll probably forget to plan holiday activities and i certainly won’t rotate the toys every three months.

i most likely won't own a nappy bag or, come to think of it, use a cloth nappy.
i’m not one for bringing the oranges to soccer practice.
i'll never do too well at mothers' meets or play dates.
and tupperware makes me nervous.

i do however, hope one day i'll be a mom who 

plays chasey through the house and catches butterflies in the garden.
one who lets her kids jump in puddles and roll in  mud.
and then, when they’re all cleaned up, lets them do it over again.

a mom who lies in the bed of her every child at night to hear their hopes and their woes.
and who still calls them darling when they wake me up at 3am.

a mom who encourages free thinking and wild dreaming and self believing.

a grateful, hopeful, flawed, adoring MOM, with an endless supply of silly dances and smothering cuddles and I Love You’s.

Happy Mother's Day to women who really live!

xx,
d

it's not you, it's me.

i know, i know.  it’s starting to appear that i’m winding down our relationship but really, i’m not.  everything’s fine.  i’ve just been well,  busy,  is all. sometimes life-stuff just gets right in the way of good intentions. Sanity is Over-Rated.

 

it's been eternity since i last posted, which is reflective of my crazy, crazy days at present… made up of jewelry designing, theater rehearsals, sleep deprivation, room renovating, bimester preparations, teaching sixty one children and missing no. 62.  i’m yet to master that thing called multitasking.   

W h e r e     Is       M y     M i n d,       i n d e e d.



but... let's get to what is really important. 

twenty six? are you sure? 

i’m aghast.  apparently I turned twenty six this past week.  if there’s one thing that makes you feel older than your own birthdays ticking over, it’s the fact that I distinctly remember a time in my life where i believed people at 26 were all grown up. they were responsible, fully fledged adults, cooking dinner, doing school runs, raising real children.  so, how did i get here?   i’m thoroughly perplexed, as well as aghast.

okay, so none of that is happening any time soon so back to my birthday…

i’m a big believer in celebrating birthdays – just ask my mother.  come april twenty seventh,  if we had anything less than a marching band and fanfare, i was not a happy girl.

i like that this day is special... i like that so many people sent lovely wishes and i like that not one hour of the day went by without at least someone hugging, kissing, shouting me happy birthday wishes.  more than anything though, the best thing that happened that day was my kids. they gave me sweet inexpensive presents. lots of pretty letters, balloons, cupcakes, heart shaped wishing-wells, flowers and sweets. 

but what i have, just underneath all of that, is an appreciation for their being that completely fills me... it never wanes. i can be so fed up sometimes with the fighting, the noise and the pesting, and the complaining as well but still be so very grateful they’re here to do just that.

it felt good.  actually,  it felt just wonderful.
 

Happy  Birthday  To  Me.
 

so,  to the beautiful, amazing twelve year olds who claim to be my students, mine...

thank you for being the gorgeous kids that you are...

for being sweet and kind, for thinking outside the square.

for carrying more than you should, at your twelve years of age,
and still making me believe everything in the world will be okay.
YOU make my heart sing.
YOU make me proud.
Every. Single. Day.

yes, sometimes they are the devil incarnate, but they’re also too clever and too funny and too compassionate as well. along with thoughtful and helpful and really very very brave.  they’re not going to be someone amazing, they already are.

i have a card someone once gave to me, it says I love you with a thousand hearts. and that’s what i do, every single day, i love them with one thousand hearts.