• Buddies,  Life Lessons,  party party,  spilling my guts

    Adios Amigos!

    invite-prep

    Is three days enough time to plan a proper farewell party for your very best friends? I mean a really good party that they’ll remember forever because they are moving so far away that it feels like they are moving to the other side of the earth and you want them to know just how much you are going to miss them? It’s kind of a tall order, right? That’s not nearly enough time to hire a Mariachi band or a sky-writing airplane, or even enough time to write a sonnet!

    Then why did we wait until the last minute to plan such a thing? I have no idea. I guess we were in denial. How could they just up and leave us like that? It’s abandonment I tell you! No no no no la la la la sob sob sob…also I’m sort of on party probation since I just hosted the spectacular Seed Rainbow party and I happen to live with someone who isn’t as excited about party-planning as I am (and I’m not referring to Bug).

    my couch is very friendly

    However they are our best friends and you know what? Best friends just want to hang out with you. They don’t care if your carpet is stained or if your bathroom isn’t sparkling clean. They don’t care if the meal is potluck and they bring the entire dessert course themselves. Coffee is fine, margaritas are nice too, but even tap water will do. Really all that matters is that we get together, all of us, one more time and do what we do best: talk, laugh and enjoy each other’s company.

    friends

    margaritas

    helping myself to some guiso

    margarita cupcakes!

    Sonja wants to take a nap

    Mr. Actually Owly Kid

    playing in Bug's room

    photo books

    margarita swilling dishwasher Sprite

    The thing that kills me is that before Bethany came to live in California I didn’t really have a group of friends like this. I had lots of friends but I didn’t have a group that all hung out together interchangeably. I remember talking late into the night with Bethany over instant message, telling her how I wished I had time to work on my computer or just plain sit with a cup of coffee uninterrupted but I couldn’t because I had a kid who needed my CONSTANT attention.

    cupcake capers

    I remember Bethany telling me that I needed a play-group. I thought she was nuts. It sounded nice and all but I couldn’t put upon my friends like that. They all had their own crazy lives. There’s no way I could just drop in on them and say, “Ack! Can I come over so our kids can play and I can get something else done?”

    happy kid

    But then Bethany moved here and in some strange quiet way she built a group of friends for me. It wasn’t so much that she organized a group. Nothing like that was ever said. I’m sure that wasn’t even her plan. It was just her way of sending out emails and not letting dreamed-up plans drop through the cracks. If someone wanted to do something, she was the communicator and it happened. No drama and no excuses for not having fun.

    garlands R us

    Rapunzel and Bethany

    Before I knew it my calendar was covered in penciled dates and times. Not a week went by where I wasn’t going somewhere to meet up with somebody. Our kids got to be friends and now sitting around with a cup of coffee laughing my head off while my kid is off somewhere else in the house laughing her own head off is totally normal. There was a time when I wouldn’t have thought that even was possible. But now it is. Now I have a play-group.

    And now she’s leaving! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

    Just kidding. I am terribly sad. But in a way I think God sent Bethany out here so I could learn how to be a better friend. And now that I’ve figured it out, I don’t need her anymore. I mean I do, but not in the way I did. I’ll miss her fiercely but there must be somebody else on the East Coast who needs her more. So with a tear in my eye, I will let her go because I remember what it was like before she moved here.

    all the bloggers in the house

    group shot goof shot

    bloggers

    Adios amiga. I’m gonna miss you. I’ll do my best to keep this group together even though sometimes it seems like you are the glue.

  • artsy fartsy,  Bug,  Life Lessons,  painting

    Thank You Note Resolutions

    ding!

    Now that I feel like life is going to slow down a little bit, I’ve been thinking about New Year’s Resolutions. Maybe I’ll call them February Resolutions. I’m not setting my goals too high. It’s just some thoughts I’ve had.

    My first resolution is to make thank you notes. Just like they say about the cobbler’s children having no shoes the same is true for me. I can make cards so I don’t buy cards. So does that mean I have lots and lots of cards at my disposal to send out thoughtfully for every occasion? NO! I have a box full of envelopes! Seriously. Come over to my house. I’ll show you. I’ve got envelopes in every color and size.

    I don’t know how many times people have emailed me to ask if a gift arrived and I’ve had to hang my head in shame and email back that yes, we got the gift, loved it and I’ve been meaning to write a note but somehow got steamrolled by five or six months of doing something else. It’s sad. Pathetic really.

    I could just go out and buy some cards. There are thousands and thousands of designs I love and drool over but I can’t! I just can’t make myself buy something that I know I could make myself. It’s madness.

    So I’ve resolved to kick myself in the butt and just make some. This will be the year of making cards I declare! I’d love to make some print-ables that you guys can download and play along. Help me stay on task and turn into that girl who sends cards. Really, if anyone should send kind thoughtful things in the mail, that should be me! The one who loves to design things on paper. Sheesh.

    As you’ve probably heard, we’ve been hit by some kind of epic storm. Tornado warnings and everything. We’re totally fine of course. I think the only people who have been in danger are people that live in lowlands that tend to flood. One of our neighbors had a tree blow down on their house but here in our second story apartment we’ve kept nice and dry.

    Being true Californians, we did not go out of the house. Ack! We might melt if we get wet! And forget about driving. Nobody drives around here if there is even the slightest threat of oil-slick roads. We stayed in the house and made thank you notes ALL DAY LONG. It was awesome.

    we work together

    I was supposed to design something with rainbows and seeds to go along with Bug’s birthday party since these notes were for gifts she received for her birthday…but I just wasn’t feeling it. I really wanted to draw and paint with water color. I knew if I waited until the rainbow and seed inspiration hit me again it could be months. Maybe even never! If I’ve learned anything about myself in these many years of pretending to be an artist, it is to go along with the flow of creativity. Don’t block it. Make it work.

    us us

    I’ve also learned that when you’re doing something crafty with a kid around you have to just let them go with the flow too. You can’t sit your kid down and say: Paint this. Use that color…etc etc. You’re better off just doing the craft by yourself and letting them flit in and out like a pretty butterfly. Sometimes they’ll knock over your water and smudge your ink but that’s life with kids. A good mother will (mutter a few choice words inside her head and then) mop up the water and look at the smudge as a way to commemorate that one day that you guys sat down and did something together. Maybe it’s not the masterpiece you set out to do but it’s a better one because now it’s a memory preserved forever in a piece of art. A messy piece of art. The best kind, right?

    new laptop and balloon Olivia

    I’m just glad that we made some thank you notes. And in a timely manner at that! Go us! Now if I can just keep this motivation going throughout the rest of the year.

    thank you notes

    You’ll help me right?