Bests roundup

Best packaging: Mast Brothers Chocolate, a birthday gift from Nancy.  They are wrapped in thick sheets of florentine papers with clean simple labels. Love.  Oh, and the chocolate was delicious: I had the fleur de sel and salt and pepper dark chocolate. Wow.

 

Tea of the year: I'm not a tea drinker much, although I do drink herbal tea a few times a month, especially when I need a warm comforting pause in the middle of the day. There's something about sitting there with my hands warmed around the mug, staring off into the middle distance, thinking wandering thoughts.  I'm a big fan of elevenses, with or without a cuppa.  Most often I have the very normal and probably boring honey chamomile. Or lemon zinger, when I'm feeling zingy.

Word or phrase: most often heard around here: amazing.  My daughters use it several times a day. I love it that they are amazed so frequently; it seems a close cousin to wonder and enthusiasm.

Shop: Um, a quick glance at my bank statement would tell you that Amazon is my best friend these days. It has allowed me to be (relatively) ready for Christmas gifting and I even do drug-store shopping there. Runner up: Etsy.  I love supporting independent artists and crafters & buy many gifts and house things there, too.

Car ride: August 2009, from our home to the Adirondacks and back, with G. and the kids.  We've entered a stage of relatively good humor and patient travelers (a far cry from the days of car-seat tirades and she's-touching-me tantrums...it only took us a decade to get here).  This trip was especially lovely, with the journey setting the tone for the entire week.  Runner up: the drive from NYC to Boston with my mom in September.

New person:  Who is your unsung hero of 2009?  Natalie saved the day this year for me at girl's camp by jumping in at the last minute when the camp director was put on pregnancy bed rest (who would have also been fabulous, by the way).  Natalie handled it with grace and enthusiasm and the girls all loved her.  Who was a new acquaintance you were excited to meet? Runners up: It was great meeting Whitney last week and having lunch--I've admired her from afar for a while.  Ditto Leslie, who I finally met at a fundraiser in November.  One of my students handled a painful year with great courage.  And (for purely selfish and vain reasons) my new (& first ever) eyebrow lady Lauren.  I am in good hands.

What about you? A new person in your life this year that has made a difference? A memorable car ride? Do share...

Best new blog discoveries .09

Every once in a while I find myself in the middle of a conversation and I want to bring up something I have gleaned from a blogfriend.  And I hesitate.  What do I say? How to introduce the strange, distant-but-connected network of colleagues and friends that has emerged from my forays into the blogworld?

I read blogs to be inspired.

I read blogs to laugh.

I read blogs to find answers. 

(I still do not care for the word "blog.")

I read blogs for the same reason I read anything: to transport myself, if not into someone else's shoes than at least to a little window on another world, another way of thinking or living.  To understand. Sometimes it's to find solace that there are others just like me.  Other times I want to know what it's like to live a completely different life.

One of my favorite new-to-me blogs this year fills all of those roles.  Have you visited 22-year-old Maggie Doyne's blog, written from her home for children she founded in Nepal's Kopila Valley?  You're in for a treat.  After graduating from high school, Maggie went on a trip that changed her life:

Four countries and 20,000 miles later, I was trekking through the Himalayas in war-torn Nepal, where I began to meet hundreds of orphan children. I fell in love with their bright eyes and beautiful smiles, but was shocked to see them barely surviving without the most basic things that I had grown up with as a child.

Playing inside the chicken coop!As I shared my dream to build a safe home for these children, with my hometown in Mendham, NJ, I was astounded by the outpouring of support. This past year, I officially opened the frontdoor of Kopila Valley Children's Home, built brick-by-brick, by me and the local community in Nepal. There are now 26 children living in our home. We have been able to enroll eighty children into school, facilitate life-changing operations for children in need, and create a village outreach program to improve schools in remote areas. I truly believe that if every child in the world is provided with their most basic needs and rights—a safe home, medical care, an education, and love, they will grow to be leaders and end cycles of poverty and violence in our world.

I'm inspired. Maggie's passion for what she does fuels some of my own dreams.  I can't go start a school in Nepal but I can think of something I *can* do, here and now.  Go check it out and cheer her on (plus she's had a difficult day today).

Other great finds this year: Dare to Dream, You Can't Be Serious, The Moth podcasts, and Jorge (Lost's Hurley)'s quirky blog Dispatches from the Island.  Happy surfing/reading!

. . .

Year in review, Gwen Bell-style, day 7.  

Weirdness + a contest

My English penpal Lindsay tagged me for the Seven Strange Things About Me challenge. Hmm....only 7?

1. There are no bureaus/dressers in our house.  Isn't that odd?? We just use closets and shelves and baskets.  I think the real story is that I've never felt like using funds for dressers when I can save it for a trip. Or books. Or camera lenses. 

2. I have not read the Harry Potter series. I know, I know. But I'm saving it! (I have actually read  the first one to Sam years ago but I'm savoring the fact that I still have them ahead of me.)

3. I like to do things at even intervals on the clock.  Not 7:08 or 7:09...I'll wait until 7:10.  Or, even better, 7:15 or 7:30.  This is how I delay getting out of bed in the morning.

4. I love to peel things: paint, wallpaper (now that I have a steamer. Thanks, Jen!), fingernails, apples, potatoes.  So satisfying.

5. I'd rather organize than clean.  My tolerance of a little dirt is higher than my tolerance for clutter.

6. I was a copy editor/proofreader for a book publishing company.  To this day I can spot those typos in books I read...it makes me feel like I should write to the editor if I spot one.  (I never actually do it. But I do correct typos I find on my blog posts so I end up posting some things several times. Sorry.)

7. We will be spending Christmas on an airplane.  In order to get the cheap tickets, we are leaving on Christmas Day.  Nothing says Christmas like airplane food, movies on tiny screens, and the little uncomfortable, paper-covered pillows!  

As for where we're going on that trip?  How about a little contest?  The person who guesses where we're going (hint: we will use our passports) gets a little care package from me, including some of my favorite goodies and a book giftcard.  

Guesses close Wednesday 10/8/08 at midnight, one guess per person :). If you already know where we're going (Mom & Dad? Matt?) you are not eligible.

I'll play along...

Liz of Calibosmom tagged me to do the show-and-tell meme. Now, I had seen this on others' sites and thought it was a great view into their lives. I even secretly hoped I would eventually do it. {Why, oh why, did I not go directly and clean my fridge? Tidy my closet?}

Alas, the rules are no tidying or prop styling. Kind of like having Publisher's Sweepstakes unexpectedly show up at your door but instead of giving the money, they demand to photograph the obscure and embarrassing corners of your life. Just keep it real. So here's the real deal, casa me, and the meme of shame.

1. Kitchen sink

Peonies (pee-OH-nies, PEE-un-hies. PoTAYto, poTAHto) from our garden...love those pretty ladies. Knife in the sink is from my breakfast of peanut butter & honey toast. See that little sliver of white soap? Sam carved it in scouts into a hedgehog. On the far left corner of the ledge is a nest the kids found which will eventually find its way back outside...

2. Fridge

We are one of those families that uses the outside of the fridge as a bulletin board: spelling tests, tickets, IOUs, calendars. They're all there. I try to use cute stylish magnets (see the typewriter key ones?) but other people in the family keep adding all sorts of atrocities. I have nothing to say about the inside. Too full. Not all that clean. Embarrassing.

3. Toilet

This is the toilet in the master bath, basically the view from the bedroom. The corner toilet has the effect of a spotlighted throne, don't you think? Sorry about the plunger on the bathtub rim. Not pretty. (I put it up to dogproof the room.)

4. Laundry

It is what it is. This is one of my next projects. It's basically a closet in the kitchen. Wouldn't it look great with some funky wallpaper in there?

5. What the kids are doing

The kids are at school, so no pictures there. Here's some mental pictures: Lauren had her last seminary morning today so they had a pancake breakfast before school {Louie treated the attendees with three accidents in a row in a one-hour period}. Maddy was running uncharacteristically late today and almost missed the bus so she rushed off with her shoes not all the way on. Sam brushed his teeth AND used mouthwash before leaving for school because, although I've been trying to get him to pay more attention to dental health (he couldn't be bothered sometimes, would pretend to brush), someone at school told him his breath was smelly and that has snapped him into hyper hygiene mode. Thanks, peer pressure!

6. Favorite room

The family room, off of the kitchen. It used to be mauve when we moved in so I painted it white until I could decide on another color. This is where all of our hanging out takes place. No dog accidents here because it's blocked off--humans only.

7. Closet

I like to organize the hanging stuff but I'm lousy at keeping the folded clothes, well, folded. (For some reason we've never purchased dressers for us.) The shelf above is G's shoes, since he graciously took the very tiny closet for his clothes but needed a place for shoes. The laundry basket's not usually in there. Shoot.

8. Favorite shoes

Love black, love wedges. I'm pretty tall (5'9") and I don't usually wear heels but I feel great in these. Great with skirts, pants, jeans. Peep toe very pedicure-forgiving. I wish I could remember where I got these.

9. Self portrait

This is where you'll find me if I've sneaked away for a quick read. {It's a self portrait so, yes, I did set up the camera on a shelf, push the timer, run across the room, settle in the chair, and pretend to be reading. Please pretend someone came around the corner and caught me unawares.} Still in my pajamas and not ready for the day yet {don't judge me!}, since I began this photo safari right after the kids left.

10. Dream vacation

Usually I would say London or Paris or Copenhagen but we've never done anywhere beachy. We're talking about a Christmas trip this year so I'm dreaming of Hawaii or Mexico or an island right now. Then I'll go back to my European journey dreams...

TAG, you're it...Stie (so you can put me to shame!), Jenny (yes, you), Diane, and Dayna.