Saturday, March 21, 2009

Laundry



A confession: I actually like doing laundry.

I know, it's not normal for anyone to enjoy doing laundry, but I really do. I find it soothing and routine and lovely...unless I'm fighting some dreadful stain. Then all my rapture goes right out the window and I'm just like the rest of you normal people.

This picture makes me long for my own place to do laundry. A spot full of natural light and pretty things - where wicker baskets look beautiful against clean white shelves and there are soft rugs for bare feet.

See, I'm in the tiny apartment stage of life, and while I love our cozy little place, it does not have a washer/drier. Now I'm not sure if you've quite made the jump yet to what that means, so allow me to throw out the ugly word so you don't have to - laundromat.

Just this morning Twin and I were talking about how scarce socks and underwear are becoming, but neither of us really wanted to suggest doing anything about this problem. Once you actually commit to needing to do laundry, there's really no backing down, and then you have to face the process of doing laundry at the laundromat.

Oh you didn't know it was a process? First you have to gather everything in your house that needs washed, and try to stuff it all into your laundry basket. Strangely enough, when you avoid doing laundry for long periods of time, you end up with LOTS of things to wash. (rocket science, I know.) Then you have to coax the super-full baskets down the steep, narrow stairs and into the car - and hope that there is no strong wind to blow all of your clothing into the neighbors yard. I do keep meaning to go introduce myself, but that just doesn't seem like the best approach. Next, you go to the atm to withdraw your life savings in cash, because no one has that many quarters just hanging around the house.

When you finally get to the laundromat, you have wrestle your things inside and stake your claim. Now, this is a very important part of the process because if you choose poorly, you are likely to (a) end up with small children running over your toes each time they scream by in pursuit of their sibling, or (b) end up next to the hungover looking college boy who is more interested in your underwear then his own clothing. Twin and I usually divide and conquer at this point, despite the fact that there is strength in numbers. I claim our machines and spread out as quickly as possible, while she goes to convert our hard earned cash into a dumptruck load of quarters.

To be fair, the actual washing and drying part of the process are fairly easy. (Back to why I like laundry so much in the first place.) And if the machines don't unfairly gobble up the quarters, it is usually smooth and uneventful.  Long, but uneventful.  The folding part is a little less fun, mainly since folding one's entire wardrobe is a bit daunting.  

Finally, you complete the process by loading back into the car, back up the stairs, and back into the house.  By this point in the game, you are sweating from all the lugging and hauling, and could care less if you have clean clothes, let alone if they are put away in their proper places.  

So to bring this back to my original point - I want a laundry spot like this one.  

But until then, I will dream of serenity and laundry bliss, and keep my love for laundry on the back burner.  Or more appropriately, in the bottom of my ever growing basket of dirty clothes, not to be seen until the dreaded laundry day.  

Friday, March 20, 2009

Happy Spring!


Today marks the first day of spring, and I'm welcoming it with open arms!  

It's time to put winter to bed and say goodbye to the snow and cold - spring is here!

(photo via Pioneer Woman)

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Alternative Motivational Posters



These popped up onto my radar a while ago, and I have been admiring them ever since.

The one above is actually on the board next to my desk at work - something about the colors and patterns make me so happy.




I think they feel so fresh and young - and much more inspirational to me than those posters you see in every corporate office in America.

Definitely take a peek at their website if you like these, as they have a few other designs there worth looking at.




I am me and like Mom

Our fridge is covered with photos, cartoons, random greeting cards, fortune cookie wisdom, and TONS of magnetic poetry. The majority of our magnetic poetry is from the Shakespeare version, and is full of funny and truly poetic words like thee and thine.

Ever since high school, when I found this particular set and installed it in my locker, it has been a source of amusement for many of my friends. (I actually used come back to my locker and find new phrases from my friends who had broken in to compose their silly lofty thoughts.) Even now when our friends come over for dinner, they have a great time playing with all the itty bitty words on the fridge.

My favorite phrase, however has been in a corner of the fridge for a long while now, and came from a tiny set of magnetic poetry included in a sample mailing of a some beauty product. (I still don't know why on earth they thought sending me magnets would be a good marketing idea, but that's their problem not mine.)

It says: "I am me and like Mom"

I know so many of us grow up taking mental notes of the things we want to avoid imitating in our parents - a personality trait, a habit, some phrase or gesture, etc. That is, after all, the natural way we learn and grow. I think the counterpart to that is equally important though - those things we should learn and adopt from our parents.

I think that this little phrase captures both sides of the coin. I am me - my own unique person with my own sets of likes/dislikes, personality traits, habits, and decisions. And yet I am like Mom - in so many ways I imitate and copy the woman who I have admired and learned from for all these years.

Who knew that a little magnetic poetry could be so good?

Monday, March 16, 2009

Sweet Summertime





Do you have one of these places?  

That spot where you go when you close your eyes and shut out the world around you?

This is definitely one of mine - Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor.  I've been there so many times, and somehow it's brand new and wonderful to me every time.  Brand new, and yet so familiar and comfortable - like an old friend.

Here I have memories of hiking with cousins from "away" (this is Maine speak for any non-mainers among us) until our faces were sunburned and our feet tired from jumping on the rocks.  Here I have memories of day trips with Mom, Dad & Sister - usually involving sandwiches and an ice cream cone.  Here I have memories of numerous weekend camping trips with Grammy & Grampy M. - always involving a stop for popovers at the Jordan Pond House.

And here, I always feel small.  Next the the great rocks, tall trees, miles of trails, and the ocean, I feel so tiny.  And I always wonder how God, in His magnitude and greatness, can care so deeply for me - tiny little me.  And here, I always praise Him - the creative genius who made all of this, and who created my heart to sing whenever I drive onto this island and see the glory around me.  

And today, on a grey chilly Monday, I am going to just close my eyes, and remember the feeling of sun on my face, salt spray on my bare arms, and the peace that always comes from drinking in the beauty around me.  

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Something to look forward to...


I just bought tickets yesterday to this show, and I already can't wait!  

And the best part?  It will be a family affair - Mom, Dad & Sister will be going too!  

109 days and counting :)

Saturday, March 14, 2009

I carry your heart with me


i carry your heart with me (i carry it in

my heart) i am never without it (anywhere

i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done

by only me is your doing, my darling)

i fear

no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want

no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)

and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you


here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows

higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart


i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart) 


ee cummings



Ever since seeing In Her Shoes, this is exactly how I feel about Sister.  Exactly.

Moo



Don't you want to kiss those sweet faces?  

I know I do...

(photo via pioneer woman)

Why blog?

It's not because I have oodles of free time.  Or great profound thoughts that you have to read.  Or beautiful photos that must be seen.  Or an exciting life that you just have to hear about...

(so if you're looking for any of those things, keep on looking, my friend)

It's because I'm inspired daily by really small things - almost insignificant things, really.  (a really blue sky, a small child waving at me in traffic, a piece of artwork, the way a couple on the street looked at their new baby)  I think these should be given more space in my head, so I'll try to capture them in some fleeting way here, and hopefully can look back at them later, and maybe remember the inspiration I drew from the the first time around.  

And if anyone else gets anything else out of them, more power to you.

Plus, I just got this new toy.  


Pretty, no?  

It's just dying to be used for fabulous things, and since I don't have any glamorous trips or thrilling ventures planned, I'd better make it feel important by using it on a daily basis.  So buckle up, you're going to have to bear through my learning and experimenting period.  And I do apologize in advance.  But, based on my perfectionist tendencies, either the photos will improve or I'll stop posting them, so either way you win.  :)

So here we go - I'm officially no longer just a blog lurker - I'm a blogger!