Because so many things. Are happening. Right now. Oh my.

I keep thinking/hoping/wishing that I’ll wake up one morning with more time, but instead, I woke up one morningcame back from my trip to California to find that T had taken out a wall in our living room. Yeah. So. That goal of painting a corner of our house aquamarine that I made for my 35/35 list? Check. Flexibility as a personality trait? Check.

I’ll totally post pictures just as soon as there is some semblance of semblance. My entire house has a new wide-open floor plan. Removing the wall caused all sorts of re-painting to take place. The dining room is a different color. So is the living room. The kitchen remains, for now, the same. That it will persist that way is doubtful.

I love my new job. It excites me. It uses all the parts of my brain: strategic, creative, emotional, practical. It challenges me in all the right ways. And the days pass in a blink. I watch the light move across the sky from my office window; head out for a run at lunch, and then drive home, eat dinner, put the kids to bed, and hit my thesis. Or at least, intend to.

And oh, hey! I have two birthday boys next week. When did that happen?

Exhibit A & B:

They are pretty much the coolest. They’re funny and full-tilt and totally, completely different. I intend to write each of them a love letter, or at the very least, share snippets of their Birthday Interviews that I always conduct. Of note: Bean is almost as good as me at snowboarding now. I can still beat him down the mountain, but I have a sneaky suspicion it’s just because I’m heavier. The kid was born to ride. He has a sort of effortless grace that I can’t help but be a little bit jealous of.

This past weekend we also put Sprout on a board for the first time, and wouldn’t you know, he didn’t fall at all. He had crazy balance. Rode perpendicular to the slope, laughing his head off. The only problem: He had no clue how to stop.

“When you tell him how to stop Mommy,” Bean told me while riding the lift, “He doesn’t believe you because it just looks like magic.”

“Is that how you felt when you started?” I asked him.

“Yeah, but then my body learned the magic.”

Exactly.

Somehow, the days fly by. I do as much as the hours allow, and am learning to let the rest go. I’ve started running again and it is definitely a key sanity and wellbeing. Today I hit my 3mi/25minute goal. Another thing on my 35/35 list. I think I may need to revise that one.

Did you see how I tossed that link to twitter in there? Yeah, I’m on twitter a lot, and it’s one of my very favorite places to share, and find insight and be inspired. It’s also a place where I’ve been sharing little in the moment updates, at the speed of life as it’s happening right now. Won’t you join me?

What a blur, this new year has been! Full of the most exciting things: a trip to Boston with just T last weekend, the start of the snowboarding season, a new job that has the very best job description I could imagine, and a trip to California to see my best friend before she has her baby!

I loved reading your responses to my PART 1 post on CREATIVE PROCESS. It’s such a wild ride, to be in the thick of creating, and it made me so satisfied to read about how the process is the same across all mediums.

This week I’m resolved to write here daily. To just show up with a few photographs and some notes. I’ve been recording glimmers in my notebook lately: snippets of conversations overheard, or details observed, and I think I’ll share a few of those here too.

Coming up this week I’ll share PART 2 of the CREATIVE PROCESS, a post about that job that I so casually mentioned (though inside I’m still doing a giddy happy dance about it) and some news about this here blog. Cool news. Exciting news. Stay tuned.

* * *

What is in store for your week?

I’d love to know the following:
1. An album you’re loving listening to…
2. A magazine that strikes your fancy…
3. A cold-weather beauty secret you rely on…
4. And a fav food that is getting you through these mid January days.

xoxo!
Christina

Here are a couple Instagram snapshots from the week. Since my semester ended on Fiday, I’ve been soaking up time with my boys. Doing silly, delightful things like making marshmallows from scratch + lovely salt dough ornaments + playing with catch with the dog + reading stories to the boys.

Tonight night we are having a solstice gathering at our house. Potluck + lots of good friends + a big bonfire. I’m hoping to take a few pictures to share. I’m so looking forward to it, in spite that currently my house looks entirely less than presentable and I have yet to make anything other than said marshmallows (which are entirely questionable) to offer my guests. Sigh. Somehow it will all likely come together.

What are you doing for solstice?

{PS: thanks to everyone who supported Bethany! She is a light + an inspiration.}

And I tossed in a little creative challenge just for the fun of it. I’d love to hear what you discover.

To look up from work and see how the world has changed; how the light has moved across the room, or walk the woods and find the shadows falling differently there.

To see with my painter’s eye, the way there is more yellow now, more cobalt in the shadows.

The dog keeps helping me to remember the rhythm of the day. The morning sun, the late twilight gold, the long shadows.

What are you up to this week? Say hello!