My lola is awesome

I hadn't been to my lola's house since the holidays so my visit this weekend was super duper. She's so funny!!! My fave moments:

• She refused to let me cut the mangos because she didn't want me to hurt my fingers. Then I asked her about her hands. She looks them over, fingers spread. Pause.... CLAPS her hands and says, "I'm EXPERT!!"
  
  
• Like a little kid modeling their new shoes, she came shuffling out of the kitchen waving around a water pitcher, "Look look! Babbot (my aunt) gave this to me in the mail. It's my new pitcher!! She said that I have to throw away the others but NO! She thinks she's smart but I'm smarter." Aaaand walks away.
  
  
• A relative recently passed away and my aunt jokingly asked my lola if her ghost had visited her. My lola scoffed and said, Ghosts... I'm not afraid of them. They're afraid of ME!!
  
  
• I was getting ready for bed & asked her for toothpaste. After spending much time clarifying that I was asking for toothpaste and not toothpicks, she shuffles over to her "office" and takes out a bright, floral lunch bag. And then takes out a GIANT box of toothpaste. I'm thinking, oh ok new box of toothpaste. Nope. It's very much used. Hahaha. So I ask her why she has essentially two containers for her toothpaste and her simple reply: so I don't lose it. I don't get it, but I think it's wonderful that she keeps her toothpaste in a lunch bag and not anywhere near the bathroom. 
  
  
• Best random outburst ever.... "I'm SHRINKING!!!" 

cutting the cake on her 87th birthday :)

My Amazing Weekend...

at my lola's house & our family's restaurant in the province :)

organic produce freshly picked from our garden

delicious green mango (it's mango season YAY!!) & chili sauce

freshly picked squash flowers for our pizzas

a little bottled goodness to take home

omg look at that two-week old FACE!!

I feel rejuvenated and alive again, ready to start working. 

There's nothing a little family time can't heal.

Progress Report #2: lil eles FINISHED!

soft & squishy very petit elefants

for the newborns lily & henry :)

Progress Report #1: not-so-lil eles

as requested by tri :)

Progress Report #1: lil eles

for two lil babies. 

ps, rayon = squishiest elefant EVER!!

Mr. Beagle's Grand Day Out

oh mr. beagle you can't go out looking like that!

that's better!

do you spy an adventure in the distance?

just follow your nose,

jump leaps & bounds

and slide down down down

into colors bright

greens & greenery

but don't get too comfortable!

hungry mouths are out today too! uh oh!

(aaaand that's all i got for the story haha)

Tree a Day #14: OM

I've been having so many good talks with friends...!! This time it's Biggers. I told him about the heaviness I'd been feeling from living abroad & being without my friends. Friends bring out different parts of you, and to be without those people... well, you find yourself being just you, as in your core you, plain & simple. While it's good to be yourself, it's exhausting, tiring, and frightening. KB likened to sleep. You need sleep to take a break from living (and I also think of that episode of Star Trek where the crew goes crazy because they can't have REM sleep). I miss my friends to take a break from being me. But at the same time, it's making me face a lot of issues and confront who I am. Anyway, at the end of all this talk of feelings, heaviness and changes, KB said:

I don't imagine that we'll be having the same conversations a few months down the road. Because I believe you'll  soften & lighten the heaviness plaguing you right now. But if we are having the same or a similar conversation it's ok.

Gah. "It's ok." Just hearing that, being reminded of that... I felt so much better. I feel like we often put too much pressure on ourselves to be a certain way, by a certain time. When I work, I like having deadlines because I mold my schedule around meeting them. But I guess you can't approach life like that. You work toward deadlines. You live in the present.