Me in my Topo Ranch sweatshirt, Manzanita, ORCanon Digital Rebel XSi
Random good things:
My Topo Ranch Duster that I have barely taken off since I purchased it three months ago. Even Ben has taken to unzipping and demanding, “Take it off!” but I refuse.
Birthday breakfast with Brigette at Rick and Ann’s.
Birthday lunch with Maggie at Boulette’s Larder.
Birthday dinner with Matt at Chez Panisse. I could have eaten vats of their little gems lettuce and green goddess dressing.
My fantastic coach, Laura Neff. (tell her I sent you… she is amazing)
This video (even just sixty seconds will do) will change your whole day.
The Kirtsy book just came out! (several of my photographs are a part of it)
Seeing Ben’s favorite band Octopretzel perform live.
Dinner at Dona Tomas with Amy Krouse Rosenthal and her husband.
The Power of Now
A rainbow outside the library:



Ben’s collection of Schleich animals



Seeing sunset out on the pier at the Berkeley Marina:



A random chair on a porch that caught my eye:



And a conversation with Ben the other day:
Ben: (whining and dragging his feet behind me as we walk home from school) I’m roaring and crying.
Me: You’re what?
Ben: Roaring and crying.
Me: I know just how you feel. I roar and cry all the time.
Ben: I’m sad.
Me: What are you sad about?
Ben: I don’t know.
Me: Why don’t you just roar and cry then?
Ben: Okay.
Omg, I just spit out my drink watching that video! 🙂
I don’t think I’ve ever commented here. Huge fan of yours. Funny thing though – one of the singers of Octopretzel is my best friend’s sister.
Love that chair, love the conversation with Ben, and love love love your sweatshirt (even before I noticed you were saying how much you love it). 🙂
you know you would love the podcast that oprah did with tolle on the spirit channel. you can download them on itunes or her website. they actually did a webcast class about A New Earth and i loved it and listen to it every once in a while to brush up on staying present.
Ben is THE AWESOME.
that podcast is exactly why I gave
the book a second chance!
🙂
I totally agree…. it’s really amazing.
It’s not just the duster. You are totally cute.
xo
Your post today offers a little more confirmation that we are all connected : )
I too, just picked The Power of Now again, after itunes randomly played Tolle’s A New Earth audio book while I was painting away in my studio the other day… just what I needed to hear *
and I love “roaring and crying” …
tell Ben he said it perfectly …
I’ve been “roaring and crying” a little lately myself.
you are special.
xo
amy
Great post!
Always good to catch up on your lovely and loved life!
Happy Birthday 🙂
(And, oh yes, here’s to roaring and crying!)
The fact that you asked, “Why don’t you just roar and cry then?” was really beautiful because it showed a huge amount of compassion and understanding. 🙂
oh yes. a lot of roaring and crying around here. it’s good to see your face! and i love that sweatshirt, too!
ooh I love that picture of the chair!
And my friend was just enthusing about mondo beyondo today on the phone.
I am totally going to use “roaring and crying” as an anchor for myself from now on! It’s so easy to stuff all those important raging-around emotions that can fester and get *so* toxic over time, and Ben is so lucky to have a momma who encourages his full expression. Thank you for all your links, Andrea, and for sharing all you do!
xo,
Laura
I wish my mama told me to go ahead and roar and cry. Might have been a few less dollars spent on therapy.
over and over again children astound me
none of us older & ‘wiser’ ones can see the world the way a child can.
what a pity!!!
So many great things in this post, but that video… MAN!… tea shot out my nose with that one. Damn did that make my week (and made it in to many a friends’ email).
Thanks a bunch!
we could all do with a little more roaring and crying, i think. clever ben.
yup, still love that duster. i showed that photo to my sister so she could see that it is totally different from pjs. 😉
i love the North Berkeley library. i miss it terribly. great magazines and DVDs and the children’s area is great too!
when i looked at your previous post too i thought…what they have cartfulls of apples now too? dude, they didn’t have those two years ago when i was going there two or three times a week!
love the roaring and crying conversation…!!
i love the North Berkeley library. i miss it terribly. great magazines and DVDs and the children’s area is great too!
when i looked at your previous post too i thought…what they have cartfulls of apples now too? dude, they didn’t have those two years ago when i was going there two or three times a week!
love the roaring and crying conversation…!!
OMG! Nearly peed my pants on that video!!
My son has been growling and crying lately, and also can’t put a name on what’ making him sad. But the other night he said, “I growl because I need you to keep me safe”. Ahhhh the mind of a two year old is amazing!!