Liner notes 16-20

16. Enthusiasm is cooler than cool is. Go all in.

17. Righty tighty. Lefty loosey.

18. Value experiences over things. You've heard this; it's one of our family's informal mottos. If you have the chance to see the world through someone else's eyes, to enrich and expand and even challenge what you already know, take it. It's one of the important things we're here to do.

19. A little mystery is a good thing. Shut the bathroom door, for instance.

20. If you see someone you know, go say hi.

. . . 

With the first of my children leaving home in the next few months, I'm writing occasional (weeklyish) Liner Notes, bits of advice to my kids concerning my take on how to be a gracious, awesome grown-up-type person (both trivial bits and major advice). Why "liner notes"? Because, back in the day, I pored over the liner notes of my cds, curious to find the story behind the music. That's what I hope this will be: the story behind the music of growing up and setting off on your own. (Or at least a ready-made catalog of how you can avoid making my mistakes.) Feel free to chime in! What would you add?

. . .

photo of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong by Phil Stern, 1952

Five Fives

Five songs I most recently downloaded:

1. Jerusalem, Choir of Westminster Abbey (because I watched the wedding + remembered how much I love that hymn)
2. You Were Never There, Diego Garcia (not sure where I heard it)
3. If You Don't Wanna Love Me, James Morrison (because it was on So You Think You Can Dance and I shazamed it)
4. Gravity, Sara Bareilles (because Maddy loves it)
5. Our Eyes, Teddy Geiger (because Lauren loves it; just ignore the cheesy video)

Five things we're having for dinner this week (can you tell that my meal motto is "easy peasy"?): 

1. homemade pizzas, cooked on the grill, cantaloupe
2. grilled chicken, spinach salad, orzo & shrimp salad
3. sandwich bar & potato salad, fresh fruit
4. pasta (red sauce and alfredo), fresh bread, green salad
5. rotisserie chicken tacos, watermelon 

Five things on my To Do list today:

1. laundry
2. plan meals
3. buy wedding gifts
4. grocery store
5. make reservations for L's family graduation dinner

Five things not on my To Do list that I've done anyway: 

1. spend browsy time online 
2. watch Larkrise to Candleford season 1 dvd while I fold laundry (and then some)
3. have a good, deep heart-to-heart with one of my kids (best thing all day)
4. worry a little for one of my kids who is sad
5. update my ipod and look for new apps (please tell me your favorites) 

Five things I'm looking forward to: 

1. Dinner with this lovely person tonight
2. My parents' arrival this week
3. Lauren's graduation in a week and a bit
4. Seeing this with my sister in June
5. Summer plans (although the kids don't get out until June 27th. I know, right?!)

How about you? Do share...

. . .

Image via Number of the Day

List of five: How we roll today

1. It snowed. Happy April Fools Day, New England style!

2. Unfortunately, this car is not how we roll today.

Lauren and Maddy got into a fender bender last night, where they were the middle of a three-car cruncher. Luckily, everyone was okay other than being a little shaken. (They complained of some achiness this morning so we asked the doctor to check out Maddy's headache and neck ache and Lauren's back ache. All is well.) But still scary.  Someone please come up with a bubble wrap enclosure for our teenagers. Okay, thanks.

3. G had to do a video teleconference from home this morning so we got him all set up.

The tower of board games to position the light was particularly delightful. Oh, yeah. That's how we roll.

4. School is hard work. Naps are how we roll on Friday afternoons.

Changing the world, one nap at a time.

5. Thank you for your paint suggestions! They definitely led me in the right direction and now I have a very nice reference folder for future projects. I settled on Moonshine for our bedroom, a soothing grey. This was my Moonshine inspiration, at Young House Love , where someone sent me but I can't remember who:

So far I love it. The faded wallpaper and quirky tree mural from the previous owner are gone, baby, gone! Um, yes, it took me three years from that wallpaper post to get to the bedroom paint makeover. And, yes, I STILL decided the paint color at the last minute. I'm coming to realize (and G has long known) that's just how I roll.

Happy weekend, one and all! I will be enjoying General Conference, attending a dear friend's daughter's bat mitvah, doing prom errands with Lauren, and cozying up for some family time.

Seeds.

Ha. If only!

Seeds of inspiration*

1. This motivating (for me anyway) talk by photog Andrew Zuckerman about the creative process
2. Episodes of new t.v. show Fairly Legal (just pure fun...those are good seeds, too)
3. An inspiring TED talk by mother-daughter Somali doctors
4. Bohemian Rhapsody on the ukelele (This reminds me that we had a discussion about the beginning words of that song. The kids thought it said "Mama just killed a man" and I was pretty sure that it was someone talking to Mama: "Mama, just killed a man." We googled and I was right. What a difference a comma makes!)
5. Nigel Marsh's words about work-life balance

 Seeds of hope**

1. I'm so moved by the scenes in Egypt today. Amazing. I hope things go smoothly for them.
2. That reminds me. Have you read Persepolis? It's a graphic (comic-strip) memoir (and also a movie) about a young girl in Iran during the revolution in 1979-80. My students are assigned to read one of five books to apply social and emotional development principles to the character. This is one of them.
3. Another of the choices is The Glass Castle, which I also just finished. What a grueling, heartbreaking, funny story of hope and resilience. Have you read it? (I think I'm the last person around to read it.)

Seeds of love***

1. This profile of the Neon Tree's {female} drummer rocks.
2. Stacy Julian has the BEST idea for a Minute to Win It valentine. We're doing these for sure.
3. You will melt over the sweetest batch of valentines ever, via Brooke at inchmark.
4. Loved Michelle's chronicle of their Valentine making night, too.
5. The Tale of Two Parkers (on Segullah today) will probably move you to tears. Just warning.
6. Sarah, you'll never be a bad mother but your post made me laugh. I've totally been there. 

. . .

*Lately I have been trying to exercise an hour a day. The snow and ice are conspiring against me so I have taken to watching or listening to something while I glide away on the elliptical. Mind happy, body happy. Here's what I've watched/listened to lately.

 **I've been thinking a lot about hope and looking for examples around me.

***Spreading seeds of blog love. These are some ideas and posts I starred this week.

Making grey lemonade

Print by John Kenn

Yesterday's cozy has become today's dreary. Not only is it rainy and blah, I'm mourning a bit over a trip-that-didn't-happen to the big city this weekend. I think this calls for a list.

Things to do on a dreary day like today:

Take a nap at 10 a.m.

Pick up fresh flowers at Trader Joe's

Read

Turn on all the lamps in the house

Start the weekend early with a movie marathon

Laugh at old yearbooks

Smile at Maddy's birthday Amazon wishlist

Bake + sing + tapdance in the kitchen

Wear red shoes

Go get a McDonald's diet coke (crushed ice, big straw)

Think about Thanksgiving plans

Order fun stamps from USPS

Order prints of lots of computer-trapped photos

Read Lauren's letters of recommendation for college apps

Decide everyone should get affirming letters of recommendation now and then

Take deep deep breaths

imagine I'm here^

Or all of the above.