Wellllll, it's not that far. Sort of. I miss my friend and want to ride bikes with her!
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Going to Australia.... this is from Mooloolabah beach, last time we were there.....

Ho Hey. (Thanks Justyn)

How we roll

K's bracelet that she designed.

K's bracelet that she designed., a photo by annamaren on Flickr.

My daughter designed this bracelet, and we made it together.
The two darker blue crystal beads are fixed in place- they are knotted into the silk the way I do prayer beads. They represent her dad and myself. She is represented by the opal colored crystal surrounded in tiny silver beads... he bead is free to slide between her dad and me... telling the story of how she sees herself.
Beautiful and intimate, she came up with this design all by herself, and we shopped for the special beads at a local bead store.

By the water...

Chicago this weekend was so wonderful. I was there for 5 rhythms workshop... Stayed by the lake... So perfect.

The Red Barn Band is a back in the Red Barn!

The weather has been so nice that last weekend we moved all the equipment out to the barn to play. Most Pittsburgh Friday nights this is where I end up, hanging out, sitting in with harmonies and drums sometimes as this eclectic group of friends and musicians belt out cover tunes from every possible year and genre. It's an interesting kind of thing, the group ranges wildly in age, but they are all passionate about making music, and really enjoy playing, and it's so much fun to be around that!

This is the photo I took last Friday.... my textbook is out, and I am trying to get some school work done. It's like having my own personal student union. Food, live music, good company. : )

From Spain 2 weeks ago. I love to travel.

Here I am standing at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. Just two weeks ago I was there, now I am back here in the midwest, surrounded by flat landscape. Not Sea. 

I love to travel, to go, see, do. I miss the sea. It was so cold, I didn't go swimming. And now I am regretting that, I feel like I would give anything to jump in that cold salt water. 

I have been wearing blue a lot since I got home from the blue blue sea. I wanted to bring it home with me somehow. To share it with myself here. 

Remembering Paris last year....

Blackbird- with Gianni from Walk Off The Earth

I loved finding this Joseph Campbell docu.

The Hero's Journey from Malcolm Kelly on Vimeo.

Girl Walk (Girl Talk/ All Day)

My good friend and neighbor Jim introduced me to Girl Talk, and all summer long I ran to "All Day"- an eclectic mashed up mix that was perfect for my newbie running cadence. However, it kind of made me dance a little with my running.... it's been so much fun to keep up with this ongoing release of Girl Walk, it's what I look like when I run/dance. Sort of. Not really at all.... Girl Walk // All Day: Chapter 3 from Girl Walk // All Day on Vimeo.

knitting, and exploring my relationship to winter

I am making an attempt to explore my relationship to winter a little further.
After having grown up in sunny sub-tropical Queensland, Australia... and now living in the Midwest of the USA, this time of year is harder on my system than I often care to admit.
I don't relish the dark and cold.
My body doesn't do cold well.

Perhaps with a project like this in my hands this winter, I could make an exploration of the weather, and wear a season... the winter of 2011/2012.



Sky Scarf from Leafcutter Designs on Vimeo.

L brings his whole self to the dance! I love a good dance party with him...

Sharing my desktop background

In an effort to create some organization on my laptop screen, I made myself a background that I can organize. I took a photo of the journal that I got in Paris, shaded it, and can collect the files that clutter my desk top on it. Plus a quote, just because my desktop images always seem to have quotes. 

I thought I would post it here to share! 

{10 Days Of Open Hearted Thanksgiving}

Today is 10 Days before Thanksgiving.

This year I am choosing to celebrate Thanksgiving in a different kind of way.

I have so much in my life that I am thankful for, and so I am choosing to celebrate the art of Giving Thanks, by passing on kindness that has been done for me.

This is an intentional act of practice: I am intending to move the ways that I am Thankful through my life and out into the world, in ways that can be experienced by others....  I feel so grateful for the many ways that I have been blessed in my life lately- kindness shown by my neighbors, gratitude for the health and well being of my father, I could go on and on...

In order to share this, I am going to make 10 acts of kindness in the 10 days before Thanksgiving. The first will be bringing coffee and a treat to the kiddo's teachers this afternoon at school pickup.

What will be next? I am looking forward to including the kids, and getting their input for some acts of kindness!

Here are the jpegs of the card that goes with the random acts of kindness. (I made some up, to kind of explain it, in case any of my kindness acts might be misinterpreted!)

 Feel free to use! I printed them out as wallet-sized photos to cut up. (One is singular, and I added one that is plural, for those working with their children. Thanks for pointing that out Tammy!) 

An interesting article

Here's an interesting article from today's New York Times.

I just wanted to have a place to book mark and share my virtual Sunday paper!

Fall Wilderness

John Muir had the right idea... spending some time outdoors today was clearing to my mind and soul.... the clear way right into my own inner universe.

Cooking apps- making cook books obsolete, and me drool over an ipad want.

Are apps making cookbooks obsolete?

An interesting article from the New York Times. Thinking about how we make and share food, and how after reading this, I have to agree... I will probably buy an occasional cookbook that has beautiful images... but for the most part I have been more 2.0 with my cookbooks for a while. I like to collect and share recipes digitally, (and in analog form too! Thank you church ladies who write our recipes!) and print out the really good ones to save if I need to. I use allrecipes.com a lot.

This article talks about how the newest cooking apps contain information embedded within a recipe- for those that need extra help with particular things... and the ability to flow over the places of following the recipe that a seasoned cook might not need the detail for....

Sweet.

I am drooling for an ipad all over again now....http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/11/09/dining/20111109-RECIPE.html?ref=dining#11

{Heart}

Baby G's birth, a photo by annamaren on Flickr.

A dear friend of mine had her baby yesterday. So much heart was in the room at the birth. It was such a beauty-filled and sacred birth... I was absolutely honored to be there and to support her.
Here she is with new Baby G and baby G's sibs, who were over the moon to greet their new sibling!!