Life shopping

My childhood best friend Shelly and I used to take the Sears catalog and "call" an item on every page spread.
"Oh! I call the green shimmery dress..."
"Well, I get the leopard print pajamas..."
on and on through the whole book, through lingerie (interesting and educational!) and power tools (I call the riding lawnmower!) and jewelry (where subtle and understated was not in our vocabulary).

Then we'd shut the book and go climb trees and pretend Donny Osmond was our boyfriend. (We were good at sharing him.) The wanting of things didn't get in the way of living our real lives; it was just a game of choosing and figuring out what we liked. We knew we couldn't have everything in there but we knew what we'd choose if we were given a choice of wigs, that's for sure.

* * *

Recently it has come to my attention that I have been treating my forays into blogland like a catalog of regrets and longing, thinking wistfully that I would love to have everyone else's life but my own

{oh! I wish I had...

a newborn baby with sweet eyelashes...

a fabulous closet of shoes...

a big happy brood of six children...

a marathon-running body...

a fixer-upper cottage in France...

a career as an actress on Broadway...

a flair for dressing with just the right knack...

exquisite phototaking talents...

a bestselling novel...

a husband who works from home...

big jolly dinners with extended family who live nearby...

an obsession with cleanliness (or at least a very clean house)...

such a hilarious way of writing about life...

etcetera...}

When I should be treating these views as a fascinating museum of lives and a chance to celebrate differentness and sameness, to say "good for her" and "well done" and "I feel for you."

{Okay, with the secret hope that you have dustbunnies sometimes, too}

I like my life. I do.

It's constructed out of a series of choices and silly luck (both good and bad) and trade-offs.

Yours is too. I like that about all of us.

I'm just relearning that lesson about shutting the book, walking away, and living my own life.

{And cheering you on while you live yours.}

High {in}fidelity

I must admit: I've been cheating on you, blog.

I've been tweeting.
I know, I know. I'm sorry!
It's not you, it's me. (And now the not-following-the-crowd-silly-snob in me insists on noting that I've been on Twitter for over a year, long before all of these recent press flurries about it. There, n-f-t-c-s-s Annie, are you happy?)

It's been difficult to write blog entries lately, for a variety of reasons, but somehow the little twitter tweets with their 140 character limit have been a welcome recipient of my spare thoughts (and much less time consuming!).

We just keep getting shorter and pithier, don't we? First letters, then phone calls, then emails, then blogs, then facebook, then twitter. With some texting thrown in there somewhere. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about this progression (regression?) but I do know I've become a convert to this newest thing. I like knowing what others are up to. It satisfies the curious-about-life-and-others me. Plus you get information lightning fast.

Anyway, here are some pretty mundane descriptions of what I've been up to lately:

2. On the bright side=my migraine last night made me go to bed at 7:30 and now I feel pretty great.about 4 hours ago from TwitterGadget
3. listening to Sam practice the piano. It takes much longer to convince him to practice than it does for him to actually do it.about 21 hours ago from TwitterGadget
4. I'm so glad I didn't buy an iphone on Saturday...I want the new one on June 19! http://www.apple.com/iphone/5:36 PM Jun 8th from TwitterGadget
5. Just made all of the phone calls on my list (dr., dentist, plumber, eye dr., you name it I called them). Now I deserve a reward, right?3:44 PM Jun 8th from TwitterGadget
6. gym-->working at home-->listening to Little Joy-->walk dog-->lunch at neighborhood shop.11:33 AM Jun 8th from TwitterGadget
7. Dessert for dinner: what's not to like about angel food cake, lemon curd, strawberries and whipped cream?5:39 PM Jun 7th from TwitterGadget
8. already looking forward to my Sunday nap.7:16 AM Jun 7th from TwitterGadget
9. I'm pretty sure the lecture I just gave my daughter about not procrastinating was really aimed at myself.5:46 PM Jun 6th from TwitterGadget
10. this might be iphone day...3:16 PM Jun 6th from TwitterGadget
11. fresh mozzarella and tomato salad = lunch bliss1:53 PM Jun 5th from TwitterGadget
12. @bridgetrawlins congrats to him! that's huge.5:19 PM Jun 4th from TwitterGadget in reply to bridgetrawlins
13. Reading parts of Obama's speech to my kids and chatting about it. I love that we can have these conversations (@ ages 10, 13, 15).5:19 PM Jun 4th from TwitterGadget
14. Now there's a bad day at work for someone:http://bit.ly/J48MQ9:19 PM Jun 2nd from web
15. Stooping to McDonalds for dinner tonight. My apologies, Supersize Me book.6:43 PM Jun 1st from web
16. Off to meet my friend Jess at the lovely Nashoba Brooks Bakery. Nice way to welcome the weekend, even if it *is* raining.9:51 AM May 29th from web
17. taking Louie to the vet this morning. I'm not a fan of the "bringing a sample" part.7:44 AM May 29th from web
18. watching the national spelling bee with my kids. Cause we're cool like that.8:03 PM May 28th from web
19. Up way too early this morning. If you can't sleep at 4:30 a.m. does it still count as insomnia?7:32 AM May 27th from web
20. You know what's a good sound? Listening to your kids doing the dishes in the next room, dancing/singing to the TingTings & Paul Oakenfold7:56 PM May 26th from web
    
    

So do you twitter? 

If yes--> I'd love to follow you...just leave your [twitter]name in the comments. 

If you don't but are intrigued---> give it a shot!

If you don't and are repelled by the idea-->Just forget I said anything at all.  And sorry!--I'm sure my boring list of tweets did nothing to entice you.)

It really is a small world...

me, Greg, and Matt making jello on a pretend stove

Once upon a time I lived next to a boy named Greg (no, not that Greg, another one...my life is replete with Gregs) and his two sisters and parents.  Except he always wrote his name Gerg so that's what my family called him.  He and his older sisters, along with my brother Matt, were my favorite people.  We lived in two houses down a dirt lane in a small university town in Utah.  We played in the snow, did lemonade stands, played "it's not nice to fool with Mother Nature" with blankets in the wind, went fishing, and all those other childhood things.  I have a blurry picture of all of us hanging, cocoons in blankets, from my mom's rotating clothesline--a very downscale version of an amusement park ride: 

------------------------------->

Fast forward...oh, 30-something years.

I'm sitting with Gabi having lunch while our kids play on the playground. (She was visiting New England and we arranged to get together. I can't believe I didn't ever blog about that; it was a highpoint of my April.)

Gabi mentions it reminds her of a time she met another one of her blogging friends last year.

G: Do you ever read RochelleT's blog?

A: Hmmm. Yeah. I used to...but I lost the link and it's been a while.  I like her!

G: I met up with her at a park in Logan last summer when I was visiting Utah. She's not from there and she lives in Texas but her husband grew up in Logan. Aren't you from Logan?

A:  Yeah.  I wonder who her husband is (idly thinking there's no way I know him).

G: I can't remember his name but her last name is ...T@11m@dge

A: You're kidding!  Is his name Greg?

G: Yes!

A: I do know him! Gerg! He was one of my favorite childhood friends!

Isn't life grand?

(Hi Greg and Rochelle!)

somebody stop me!

Hi, my name is Annie and I am a blog addict. It seems I just can't stop adding new ones.

After admiring so many others' I gave in and started a catalog of my favorite home-related photos, ideas, recipes, and quotes. It's really just a digital place for me to put all those things that I used to tear out of magazines + put into files + then forget. The tumblr platform doesn't even accept comments but feel free to visit if you'd like to see the clips.  Or not.  It's called Gather.  And it's all about hygge and you know how I like my hygge.

You're probably wondering "what's next? a blog documenting Annie's breathing patterns? a catalog of her grocery receipts? her ideas for sculpting with dryer lint?" and to that I say, Maybe.  I don't rule these things out.  (I really am considering one more: a child development-dedicated site. What? I can stop anytime I want.  Really.)

* * * *

Meanwhile, I'm heading off to meet a lovely friend for lunch. {Actually Chrissi was my sister's friend growing up (and Matt's, too)} We caught up with each other again when we lived near each other in DC a few years ago and now she and her family are in Connecticut at Yale for a year.  She's an amazing photographer (see below); if you live in the area & are looking for someone to take some great photos, send her a note.  And her husband's a psychiatrist in the military so--who knows?--maybe they'll be headed close to you next.

Out in a field of snow with a balloon

This is me.  {Not really, but figuratively...}

I'm fine {see? I have a balloon}

but am doing a bit of wandering

from project to project

trying to figure things out

and get things done.*

More soon.

Wish you were here.

*Including (are you really interested? you have a list like this, too, I'll bet): doing a young women program (slideshow, talk) last week speaking in church this week teaching my class  reading and preparing lectures for my class Greg's birthday tomorrow taking a class on teaching enjoying the snow with the kids getting a little exercise running a household writing a qualifying paper yes, going on Facebook (friend me!) oh, the laundry too many orthodonist/dentist/doctor appointments to name thinking about writing but not writing because I want to do it well and keep procrastinating fretting and stewing doing January clean-out (half-hearted) trying to cook good meals corralling my crazy fanciful ideas or setting them free...

photo via booooom