five senses friday

see

• sweet brand new person: ms. bianca!
• I spy color everywhere in preparation for color week (see wednesday's post and join us).
• hello andrew mccarthy on this week's gossip girl (still the most handsome of the brat pack).

smell

• grills cranking up all over the hood.
• the garden bursting with peonies and herbs.

taste

• a chocolate cupcake with a glass of ice cold milk.
• chicken grilled on the fire with chimichurri.

feel

• that perfect moment when I turn off the light, plump my pillow and sink into sleep.

hear

• myself developing more of a potty mouth than normal and need to check it.
• loving the accents on the #1 ladies detective agency.
  

on time and peonies

peonies seem to be everyone's favorite. they have all the characteristics of a flamboyant friend who visits once a year (bigger than life, brightly-colored, gone while we're still enjoying their company). we always anticipate the visit and delight in every single knock-your-socks-off second of it.

this year, they seem to have arrived early. I can relate and appreciate; I too am an early girl. ken and I we're just having a discussion the other day about telling time and analog clocks (we have the strangest discussions sitting outside at night!). it was part of a larger discussion about the digital generation (our students) and what we feel they are gaining and losing. anyhoo, I vividly recalled the moment as a child that I "got" the clock and learned to tell time. it was the very first sensation I had of control. I now had a tool that would help me have some control over my own life. I had the power to organize some chaos. that's huge. ever since then, I have been a time and schedule fanatic. I am almost always early and chronic lateness is one of my pet peeves.

what about you? is the clock your friend or foe?

I hope you have peonies exploding around you too.

{p.s. look closely at the flower, it has a friend holding on under the petal.}

mosaic monday

now this I believe in: what goes around comes around.

lately I am drawn to shapes of circles, dots and swirls (see last five posts). maybe subconsciously I am seeking to become less linear. who knows? what I do know is that sweet circles make me happy and I hope they make you happy too.

see here to give credit to our flickr friends.

saturday morning memories

tanked up on sugar and mesmerized by this. {freaky!}

it's a wonder I made it to adolescence.

happy weekend sugarpuffs!

five senses friday

see

• the sun finally peeking out after a week of rain. hi there, stranger!
• I am all about dots lately...could it be I'm moving on from stripes?

smell

• laundry's done.
• this is amazing. today is the last of the sample and I am sad.

taste

• my new favorite lunch combo: roasted artichoke soup with salad of microgreens and sweet balsamic.

feel

• clean virginia air filling my lungs.
• those tiny deep muscles I forgot about that only yoga can find.

hear

• steady beat of raindrops on my plastic umbrella, punctuated by booming thunder and the crack of lightening.
• this is what I'll be listening to all weekend. discovered here.

i haiku u

(cue spotlight.)

on grey rainy days
my polka dot umbrella
makes smiles like sunshine

ta-DAH!!!

(cue curtain.)

{thank you, thank you, thank you for your sweet support yesterday. I felt it and it feels good.}

I don't get it

{danbo image from djcopeman}

I do my best to stay positive in this space, but sometimes I have to let loose and vent. minor irritations can become pervasive with me and I can't focus on the sweet. and sometimes, I just need to be contrary. here is a list of things I don't really care for that others can't seem to get enough of:

1. rachel ray.
2. and all associated colliquialisms ("evoo", "yummo", "rach"). there is enough time to say the entire word correctly.
3. telephones.
4. brown rice. it tastes like dirt to me.
5. twitter. I was first made aware of this scary thing the day after seeing r.e.m. last summer. I went on the band website and the twitter stream from the night before was still up. I perused the tweets posted during the concert: "it's hot." "stipe just did the robot." really? were you not at the same concert I was? you were able to incessantly make mundane comments during that experience? wow. plus, being "followed" is strange to me and really no one needs to know when I'm going to step in the shower. and I tend to resist most bandwagons.
6. the danbo obsession on flickr. although he has been up there staring at me as I write this post and I guess he is kind of sweet with his square head and all.

I feel better now. thanks and feel free to convince me otherwise.

mosaic monday

I ♥ gelato for its brilliant colors and creamy sweetness. and that it's "cheaper than heroin". my favorite's pistachio. what's yours?

{love on flickr here}

p.s. bottom right corner: on the mad hunt for that fabric!

an offering

and a wish for open eyes and an open heart to see and feel a month of sweetness.

{did I mention that my gardenias are huge this year?}

more and more and on and on

is it just me or does it seem there is an extraordinary explosion of blossom this year? everywhere I look, some benign bush or stick of a tree has flourished in technicolor over night. and nature has her timing spot on too: once one flowery confection is reaching the end of its color cycle, it's neighbor takes the spotlight. it is the show of a lifetime. and it is spectacularly sweet.

I hope you have amazing plans this weekend. I'm going to two picnics today; one real and one imaginary {wink}. see you back here later.