Gratitude

As I was reading in bed tonight, I came across this Sufi poem by Shabistiri: 

To enter this garden,

see with your heart's eyes and

gaze gently on these blossoms. 

All your doubts will fade away. 

Don't look for mistakes: 

The roses may turn into thorns. 

Ingratitude reveals ignorance,

and the friends of truth are truly thankful.

It was a good reminder for me of why I started this blog and why it was initially important for me to post something every day - not to explain my comings and goings, but to be explicitly and consciously grateful at least once every day. It was worth crawling out of bed to post this. 

SO. Today I am grateful for many things, but I am most grateful for the tough love of my sister and for enjoying the Union Terrace's live music and fireworks after dusk on a breezy summer night with a few friends. 

Local Color

There is a family-owned strawberry patch a few miles out of town in the bucolic Wisconsin countryside. I've never been (because I've always been out of town in the summer) and asked my friend Alexa to join me with her kids. We had such a great time - it was so beautiful, the strawberries were so delicious (Normandie could not stop eating them!), and the family could not have been sweeter. It was Liam's idea to take a picture making funny faces when we had picked our fill of berries.

 

I've been enjoying lots of Madison's local gems lately that truly come alive in the summer. I sat on the Terrace last week listening to music with my friends while the sun set behind the lake, strolled through the farmers' market on the Square and wandered up and down State Street listening to live music. The best band I've ever heard there was playing this weekend - I heard them on my way to the wedding and took their card, then saw them again on the way to work Sunday afternoon. I invited them up to the restaurant for a free dessert and had a great chat with them when they arrived. They're from North Carolina and were fantastic (their name is Speedsquare) and so grateful for the dessert: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOgEB3KEdMk

(that street in Sedona looks awfully familiar, doesn't it? :)

Cuzfest, Here We Come!

I've been having fun with JibJab (and procrastinating dissertation preparation). There weren't enough video options to fit in everyone without subscribing, so I just grabbed the first pictures I could find of the minis, cousins, and the grands. It all started when I realized they had a breakdancing video... Nicholas has been wanting to learn how to "hip hop dance" and I cracked up when I saw the finished product: 

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/rjiDrMaLJaG6SpzS

Then I found a great picture of my sister that I thought would make for a good river dance. 

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/vgn2six53jx5AueP

Grandma and Grandpa are quite flexible for their age, so this seemed appropriate. 

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/2pVk2FeyojAaR71z

And this is the grand finale. Oh, Robert's dance face. 

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/cQYnfTt9XyVOOMJj

6.22.2009: Random Thoughts

A few pics from the last few weeks... 

It has been spring-snowing (aka cottonwood shedding) and there have been drifts blowing all through our courtyard and parking lot. I admit to sticking in my hands and tossing big blustery puffs in the air a few times. Can't help myself.

I've been meeting with my UW-L students this week and last. They have been long days, but ultimately very pleasant, especially the day Jane and I spent at a coffeeshop in Janesville with this charming deck that made me feel like I was in the mountains.

I saw this sign at the grocery store yesterday and couldn't stop laughing. I have a weird habit of pronouncing the words on signs in the voices I think correspond with the font. This is clearly meant to be said in a loud Broadway-style voice complete with jazz hands. Yes, I actually said it that way. Out loud. At the grocery store. The elderly produce man laughed.

 

6.20.2009: Weddings!

Wedding in Madison...

I celebrated with Sarah and Taylor, my friends from the restaurant world, last night at a lovely reception at the Overture Center. It was unseasonably hot and humid on the rooftop of the art museum for their ceremony, but me and my "fake" date Dave survived (Dave and Heather are good friends of mine who just got engaged - Heather has moved to Seattle with Dave to follow shortly and, since I am once again date-less, he graciously agreed to be my escort). Women may have to shave their legs and buy tampons and put on makeup, etc. etc. etc., but we don't have to wear suits outside in the summer. I think we win.

Wedding in Chattanooga...

And a few weeks ago, my best friend Kate and I met up in Atlanta for the wedding weekend of our good friend Amy. It was a fantastic trip kicked off by renting a car at Enterprise a few days after someone had driven through their plate glass windows. "We had to run for our lives," drawled the desk clerk. Apparently, a mom had screaming kids in the back and floored it instead of hitting the brakes. She totaled a car in the parking lot, totaled the car they were in, crashed through two plate glass windows, rubber-burned tire tracks on the carpet and crashed through two offices in the back. No one was hurt, but the family did want to rent another car. Needless to say, they were denied. We managed to get to Chattanooga and back without a scratch. I had never been to Tennessee before and was really impressed with the charm and friendliness of Chattnooga (perhaps a future Cuzfest locale?).

It was a gorgeous day on top of Lookout Mountain. The ceremony was in the yard of Ben's parents' neighbors and my friend Amy could not have looked cuter if she tried. Check out those emerald green peep-toed pumps! 

The reception was at "Fairyland" country club in this old castle-like building hanging off the

 side of the mountain. We could see seven states from the pool deck... or at least we could before the party started. Then it got dark and there was an open bar, so no one was seeing much of anything after awhile. They had an amazing band and tons of fun friends from all over the country. It was the most fun reception I've been to in a long time (probably since Kate's wedding this past December in DC, actually... see pics below - another great band, another beautiful location in the heart of DC, more great people. I have really lucked out with amazing friends marrying wonderful people ... and throwing great parties). 

We spent the next day lounging around on the rooftop's pool and doing the New York Times crossword. It was a perfectly lovely weekend, but it was very hard to come home. There is at least one more wedding this fall for a friend from high school and then I think the baby showers will pick up speed. 

Wedding in DC...

Kate and Brian were high school friends who met up again after they had moved to Colorado a few years ago. He couldn't love her more if he tried and they are two of the happiest people I know. Their wedding was at Brian's high school's church in downtown DC and the reception was at a hotel near the Mall with a fantastic Irish pub where we all went every night before bed. I love Kate's family and have known her for years since our first summer at Choate. It was absolutely beautiful and so fun to celebrate with such fantastic people. 

The church where they were married - so beautiful!

The row houses where I stayed with my friends from Choate who got married a couple of years ago, are lawyers in DC, and are now expecting a little girl.

Me and Mitch, the nephew of the 

groom who became the best man when Brian's 

brother got sick. His toast brought the house down - one of the best I've ever heard.

The morning after the wedding a bunch of Kate and Brian's friends snuck away with the happy couple and had breakfast before taking a walk on the Mall and visiting the Native American museum. Everything was within walking distance, including the gorgeous church where they were married.