two years ago today

I wiped away tears and believed in my country again.

"Peace, Love, Barack," own design/illustration, 2007

win-win winter

Over winter break I took "my family" (a group of siblings I tutor and with whom I've grown especially close) sledding. It was the first time they'd ever been, and it was magic. (It also might explain why the youngest didn't wear any socks. Can you imagine?! When I found out, I gave him handwarmers to stuff inside his boots, and I traded him his puny cotton stretch gloves for my big snowboarding mittens. Since his feet were already freezing, I figured his hands didn't have to.)

After a couple hours on the hill we drove back to my house, where the kids wrapped themselves in blankets and curled up against the heater to watch Monsters, Inc. All three seemed so satisfied and happy. Plus, I got to feel like the favorite aunt for an afternoon, the one who puts extra whipped cream and sprinkles in your cocoa and digs up cool socks for you to wear. (Yep, I did both of those things. And yes, they did think it was cool.) Win-win, right?

new shoes

Boots, Kickers Iklace in "Leather"



Last week I finally embraced my inner hipster and ordered the shoes I've been craving since August. It took me a while to get comfortable with the idea of myself as a chukka-wearing kind of person. But let's face it, I love these shoes.


Kickers was one of my go-to brands when I lived in Germany - they're so well made and super comfortable, even when you're traipsing all over the place for hours. (Speaking of, did I ever tell you about that time when Andy and I were stuck on a hill for HOURS, lost and hiking in circles? No?! Well, it sucked. Majorly. HOWEVER - I was wearing Kickers sandals at the time, which means it sucked exponentially less than it might have if my feet had been hurting more.)

Anyway, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to listen to some Mumford and Sons while I research pre-ordering my new iPhone. (Because, clearly, these shoes have set me on the path to full-fledged hipsterdom. Next thing you know, I'll be wearing flannels and Ray Bans. Or are hipsters already over that? What's the post-hipster version of a flannel? Something involving a heritage brand, I'm sure. Oy, at least my feet are comfortable.)

you come too

Photo by Vivian Maier, via John Maloof

Understand, I'll slip quietly

Away from the noisy crowd

When I see the pale

Stars rising, blooming over the oaks

I'll pursue solitary pathways

Through the pale twilit meadows

With only this one dream:

You come too.

From "First Poems" by Rainer Maria Rilke