And then there were 7s....

I was tagged by the Queen....so here goes:

7 Things I Want to Do Before I Die:
1.Live a long life with my husband and kiddos.
2. Have a fabulously modern home built for me, husband, kiddos.
3. Stay at Hotel Julen in Zermatt again (1000+thread count sheets....and the best fresh raspberry yogurt in the morning)
4. See children grow and raise their own children.
5. Go on a mission with Jonnie.
6. Climb El Cap
7. Go on lots of fun trips.

7 Things I Cannot Do:
1. Do underwater kick turns in the pool. (Ph, when's my free lesson?)
2. Keep my house clean for more than 15 minutes.
3. Feed my kids mac-n-cheese, crackers, yogurt, pb-n-j, string cheese, and most other kid-friendly snacks.
4. Cook a roast (never have, never will).
5. Touch my toes with ease.
6. Drive the speed limit.
7. Stay focused.

7 Things that Attracted Me to Jon:
1. He's cute.
2. He asked me out (to the I.C., no less) the first day I met him, and then asked me to pick him up because he didn't have a car.
3. And he worked at Burger's Supreme for a semester when he first got to BYU. (Numbers 2 and 3 add up to the fact that he was humble and a hard worker, and didn't really care what others thought. That was sincerely refreshing.)
4. He wasn't a hunter and he didn't like beef. (That may seem weird, but my bros. always teased me that I'd end up marrying some meat and potatoes-type hunter because that was somewhat the antithesis of me. I proved them wrong!)
5. He called me cutes and wrote me nice notes. (Note to Jon: I liked that a lot!)
6. He loved San Fran and Havarti cheese and had been to an Indigo Girls concert (he didn't go for the Indigo Girls, but he was at a festival where they played--and even that meant that he was somewhat of an honorary girl--the highest rank any man can ever achieve.)
7. I was super duper comfortable with myself around him.

7 Things I Say Often:
1. What should I make for dinner?
2. 1-2-3!
3. Leah, take that binky out of your mouth RIGHT NOW!
4. Esther, soft!
5. I love you.
6. When are you coming home?
7. I know I say a ton of stupidly weird phrases (heinous and insensitive?), but they're so much a part of my everyday life that I can't even think of what they are.

7 Books I Could Read Again:
1. Crossing to Safety, Wallace Stegner
2. Sun Under Wood, Robert Hass
3. John Updike short story compilations
4. Chrysanthemum, Kevin Henkes
5. I can't think of more right now. I don't read very often because I find that I'd rather be DOING something. I wish I were a more prolific reader, but I think I have adult ADD.

7 Movies I Could Watch Over and Over:
1. Cinema Paradiso (Italian)
2. About a Boy
3. Bridget Jones' Diary
4. The Mission
5. Moulin Rouge
6. 3 Seasons (Vietnamese)
7. I don't know...I don't watch many movies lately, either. I think I'm going to cancel my Netflix.

7 People I'd Like to See 7s From:
1. Tropical Velvet
2. Phoebers
3. Bluebell
4. chrissy
5. Nat
6. geo and cjane, did you already do this one?
7. miss c hopper
8. bek

**Oh yeah, the El Cap thing is just a joke. I did it to raise Jon's hopes. Sorry, buddy.

More than just a little troubling...

I was doing an early Sunday morning perusal of my yahoo news, and came across some pretty compelling reading:

Kids

Innocents

Civilians

Regardless of political orientation, these events are heinous, insensitive, and disappointing.

the virus is no respecter of genders

yeah, it was HIS idea....doesn't he look fetching? (and even though he's man enough to act like he doesn't care about this, i think he'll be squeamish when he actually sees it.)

the o.c. delivered

becca, phoebe, chantel--i gotcha covered.  

Wanna come?

I am actually pretty proud of the invite. We're renting a REAL sno-cone machine (nothing allergenic about refined sugar!), having a fish pond with "wicked" prizes, clothespin drop, BBQ, and a rice krispy treat cake. 

Leah's "Nature Talk"

In Newport, we spent a morning at the Back Bay Preserve (or something like that) and took a little hike/walk. I saw the stone pulpit and stood on it and started giving j, l, and e a cheesy "nature talk." Leah insisted on doing one of her own, and right here she was a little embarrassed to say anything and kept asking me what she should say, and I told her to say what was in her heart. And she said this line: "I love the flowers of the winds." Pretty poetic for an almost-four, aye? 

Total Tourist, Total Darling

 

MY DARLYBIRD

 

Sweetness personified

 

Preschool Princess

Birthday Girl 

Homage to LBluette

She'll be uno.dos.tres.quatro tomorrow. Love her guts. Even her whiny guts. 

nasty roots

I'm totally going gray/grey. It's a sad fact of nature. Highlights are the only way out....I'll be 30 next month, and although I'm excited for the new decade, I'm not ready to surrender to grey. So that leaves nasty roots. But at least Leah looks cute in this picture. 

darlybird logo

and here's the amazing logo that my graphic designer, martha c. designed for my biz. my newest goal: july 1st--i think that's actually realistic. website is designed, but now i just have to start photographing and uploading products. HELP! it will be www.darlybird.com 

so here's my shirt with a kooky self-portrait and evidence of the disheveled darlybird office in the background

 

catching up

I feel like I'm in a constant state of catch-up. I have 6 loads of laundry piled up in my laundry room; 2 piles of clean clothes piled in my bedroom; dirty dishes on the counter; a toy room that is unwalkable due to too many toys just thrown in on the floor (this saturday=major DI haul); a birthday carnival to plan and execute (L's 4th); a business to launch; product photos to take; photos to upload; descriptions to write; bills to pay,,,,,,,,blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.....

But sometimes it's nice to just realize that none of that really matters. Leah's preschool graduation was this morning--it almost brought me to tears....I think I'm becoming my grandma. IT WAS JUST A 1ST YEAR PRESCHOOL GRADUATION! Jon remarked (in response to my near-tears) that it is the first of MANY graduations, and that it really isn't a big deal, as cute as it was. But then that fact makes it an even bigger deal. The fact that my smudgy darling L. Bluette is now on the life track of accomplishments, recitals, camps, graduations--basically INDEPENDENCE. And kooky Giggabot will soon follow. What's a mom to do?

So, TO HELL WITH THE LAUNDRY! down with the piles....forget the toy room....I've got to catch up with my kids!

P.S. Right now L is involved in one of her hour-long Barbie reveries where she invents names, opinions, arguments, conflicts between one Barbie and the next. The Barbie names always crack me up. Right now they're Fronjia and Neena and Tulah and Tallulah, and they don't like boys because boys don't like sparkly outfits. WOW! She's a girl!

Miscellania

strawberries from our garden!

darlybird font. i'm getting tres excited.

this pic is supposed to show how e is finally deciding to stand up at about 18 mos. she's even graduated to taking a few steps....don't worry, she's been medically evaluated and everything's o.k.















these girls love each other so much. and i love them too.

And then some...

two patties and fries at in-n-out


DUMBO

Underwear head

One of E's fave Disneyland highlights

Taking a spin at Bolsa Chica Wetlands in Huntington Beach with the chicas.

More

I know these post backwards, so LONG TIME NO SEE was supposed to be first. But oh well. Here's more.

Long Time No See

Jon, the man of my dreams, finally installed our new-ish camera software. I've had a heyday looking through pictures. And so I'm going to post a bazillion.