a mama's heart

I read this amazing story almost two years ago and was touched by Kelle's raw, honest voice and the beautiful photographs of this life-changing moment. Her experience is all about grief and families and numbness and mostly love and facing a new, different kind of life than the one she imagined; it is a story of true human experience.  Kelle's story broke my heart in all the right ways, if that makes any sense. It opened my eyes and heart to the strength of women and mothers everywhere, and it showed me how truly beautiful people are made.

This morning I was happy to read her post about little Nella's second birthday and about the people they are today. I needed to be reminded that chaos, fear, uncertainty, and pain are only temporary, fleeting states of being, and that love, courage, families, and truth stay always, sustaining us while we learn to change and accept a bigger and more meaningful version of ourselves.

Kelle also shared this quote that made my heart catch in my throat:

"Awareness born of love is the only force that can bring healing and renewal. Out of our love for another person, we become more willing to let our old identities wither and fall away, and enter a dark night of the soul, so that we may stand naked once more in the presence of the great mystery that lies at the core of our being. This is how love ripens us -by warming us from within, inspiring us to break out of our shell, and lighting our way through the dark passage to new birth."

-John Welwood

Thank you for all of your kind comments and messages during the past few weeks. I can't express to you how important it is to feel connected and supported and heard while sorting out and moving forward with our "new normal". Thank you for allowing me to feel all of those things. XO

move, eat, learn

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.


"3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38,000 miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras, and almost a terabyte of footage...all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning, and food into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling films. "


This series of sweet videos made my morning. I love when creative people make such beautiful things. You can find the other two videos here; I think they'll make you want to shake things up a bit (and maybe regret the leftover grilled cheese sandwich crusts you ate for lunch!).

writing sheds and cabin dreams

I recently stumbled upon this interesting article about famous writers' small writing sheds and backyard cottages. The one pictured above is Roald Dahl's writing hut, the Gipsy House (the yellow door!). I've always been fascinated by the objects creative people choose to surround themselves with in their most intimate spaces: loose papers tacked to walls, photos of family members, plenty of light, magazine cuttings, comfortable chairs, and bits of nature tucked here and there.

I thought Dahl was fantastically particular about his surroundings:

"The whole of the inside was organised as a place for writing: so the old wing-back chair had part of the back burrowed out to make it more comfortable; he had a sleeping bag that he put his legs in when it was cold and a footstool to rest them on; he had a very characteristic Roald arrangement for a writing table with a bar across the arms of the chair and a cardboard tube that altered the angle of the board on which he wrote. As he didn't want to move from his chair everything was within reach. He wrote on yellow legal paper with his favourite kind of pencils; he started off with a handful of them ready sharpened..." - from The Guardian

 

I think my favorite is Dylan Thomas' "wordsplashed hut", which was actually a boat house located on a cliff in Laugharne. The walls were covered in lists of rhyming words and alliterations, and magazine clippings of Walt Whitman, W.H. Auden, and William Blake.

I think I'm particularly drawn to these spaces because all I want to do this summer is find a little cabin in the woods somewhere and hide out for a few weeks (or months, if we could swing it). I just want to wander around in the woods for a while, go fishing, swim in a lake, maybe write a bit, and definitely read late into the night. It just sounds nice to get away, hang out together, and be as far away from Wonder Pets and the Fart Piano app (ugh. i can't tell you how much I dislike both of these things, or how much my kids love them) as humanly possible.

What about you? Any big plans or dreams for the summer? Maybe a spare cabin I can borrow for all of August? Yes?

while i was away...

I did a bit of special + secret (shhhh!) birthday sewing.

Including this tiny little quilt that has forever changed how I think about quilting.
 

image

I bought this album and think I definitely get a better cardio workout from my cleaning the living room/dance party routine than I ever did from the boring hours I logged on the treadmill.

"Rumor has it, ooooh,
 Rumor has it, ooooh,
 Rumor has it, ooooh..."

Don't worry, I totally rock it. Just ask Graham. :)

I've been collaborating with some of my favorite women on this exciting project. I'll dedicate an entire post on International Women's Day, periods, service, sisterhood, and just how awesome I think women are (Superheroes, I'm telling you. Superheroes.), but for now just check out the website and pencil in this amazing opportunity on your calendars.

image from mnmlist via stephmodo

I've been thinking A LOT about this. And this. I think "Fall in love with less" is my new mantra.

I spruced up my entryway and took a super crooked picture of it. You're welcome.

I watched this documentary and dedicated an entire day to cooking French food in honor of this hilarious, heartbreaking, and surprisingly gripping film about French pastry chefs. I cried and cheered and was totally engrossed for the entire two hours. If you are super nerdy like me, please watch this film and then come to my house and we'll make gougères together and discuss men who cry over pastries.

Sounds thrilling, right?

Right.

how are you, dear friends? well, i hope. i'm happy to be back here, filling this space with my random thoughts and interests, though i did enjoy my little break from the interwebs. have a wonderful day, okay? XO

anna lappé: yoga, food, and activism

image via green spaces

Earlier today, as I was thumbing through my March issue of Yoga Journal I came across a beautiful and powerful essay by Anna Lappé and was incredibly moved by her words, specifically this excerpt:

"Like yoga, activism is a practice.  There are days when you stare setback in the eye. Yesterday you held Handstand; today your legs feel like lead. On those days, I remind myself that sometimes what feels like a setback is really preparation for a big leap forward.  And that progress isn't a neat linear path.


"As we align our daily choices with our environmental values, we shift our sense of self.  The German physicist Hans-Peter Dürr said that once we understand ecology, we see 'there are no parts; there are only participants.' While our efforts may vary in size and strategy, they're all about shifting our mindset to see ourselves as active participants in shaping the future of food. When we do this, we see our food differently."

And now I've spent the entire evening finding out all there is to know about Anna Lappé; from her books, to her roots (her mother is Frances Lappé, author of Diet For a Small Planet), and even her wonderful blog, which is full of great articles and thought-provoking videos, including this one I found particularly sweet entitled Nourish Means... where you will see many familiar faces (Jamie Oliver, Alice Waters, and Michael Pollan, just to name a few).



Isn't that beautiful?  I think everything I truly believe about wholeness, awareness, and community is summarized perfectly in this short clip.

"What nourish means to me, in the really grand sense of the word, is attending to one another in a way that encourages one another to live well."

persistence

This video by Ira Glass on persistence + creative work is incredibly honest, funny, and refreshing. I often think that talent and skill come naturally to most people, and take for granted the amount of time and work goes into a successful, creative life.

"...most everybody I know who does interesting, creative work, they went through a phase of years where they had really good taste and they could tell what they were making wasn't as good as they wanted it to be."

"It takes a while ...you just have to fight your way through that. You will be fierce, you will be a warrior, and you will make things that aren't as good as you know in your heart that you want them to be, and you'll just make one after another."

It's awesome, and kind of reminds me of Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hour theory, where he claims that the key to success in any field is a matter of practicing a specific task for 10,000 (!!!) hours. The difference between the good and the great isn't necessarily skill, talent, or opportunity - just persistence and a whole lot of work.

video via nicole's making it lovely.

thoughts on prettiness

I've been thinking a lot about this post from A Dress a Day, specifically this quote:

"You Don't Have to Be Pretty. You don't owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don't owe it to your mother, you don't owe it to your children, you don't owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked "female". "

Now, I love pretty. I love patterned tights + twirly dresses, shimmery lipgloss + shiny of all kinds, and I especially love anything with flowers printed all over. Anything. But, do you want to know what really stops me in my tracks? Women who feel comfortable + confident in their own skin. Women who create their own brand of strength, originality, kindness, humor, intelligence, and quirkiness and totally own it. Women who make 'pretty' too small a word for who + what they authentically are, deep down. 


Renata is my muse for ageless beauty + becoming a woman of substance - isn't she stunning?

image via the sartorialist.

do what you love

Have you seen this new series by Ryan of Pacing The Panic Room? I love everything this guy does - his creativity, drive, and vision blow me away, this project is no exception.

Here is what he says about the series:

"I will be profiling women from all over who have found a way to Do What They Love. I drew from the one thing that has inspired me the most,  finding people that are living their lives on their own terms and truly doing what they love for a living, from artists, to teachers, to candlestick makers, anything that keeps a big smile on the face."

You can check out more of the awesome series here.

mindful eating in the 21st century

I spent Saturday night watching + listening to this incredibly intelligent and powerful interview with Dan Barber of Blue Hill restaurants + Stone Barns. He speaks passionately about food, especially the farm-to-table movement he stands so firmly behind, and adds his voice to the chorus of those who believe the healthiest and most honest way of growing + producing food is also the most sustainable and delicious.

If you are interested in watching the interview (which I highly recommend!), you can right here. The video is a little over an hour, so you may want to plan ahead a bit.





I love being a part of this conversation, and spend a lot of time talking + reading about (+ making!) food. One of my dreams is to someday own a beautiful piece of land, learn mad organic gardening + farming skills, and cook simple meals for the people I love most...so basically everything Dan Barber does every single day.  I think he's a superhero.

What are your thoughts on food? Do you spend your summer + fall Saturdays at a local farmer's market? Do you grow your own food?

all images from the blue hill website. are you interested in reading more about food? Here are a few of my favorite reads + documentaries that are all about honest food + sustainable farming:  

Books 

Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life    

Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto    

Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food    

Jamie Oliver's Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life   

Documentaries (Both can be found on Netflix)    

Food Inc. I think every single person in the United States should watch this documentary, it is life changing.    

No Impact Man

"remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something, and has lost something."

Emily from Sissy Jupe (a must read, by the way), shared this awesome link with me yesterday. Are you familiar with StoryCorps? It is an independent non-profit that travels around the US interviewing ordinary people and collecting the stories of their lives.

I love stuff like this. It single-handedly guts me + has me cheering in my living room; cheering for people who stick it out and love each other well, cheering for moms who are open and honest with their children, and cheering for the people who had the vision to record and share these stories, stories that hopefully remind us of the invisible threads that bind us together in a society so defined by its divisions.

"By listening closely to one another, we can help illuminate the true character of this nation reminding us all just how precious each day can be and how truly great is it to be alive."

Dave Isay,
Founder, StoryCorps

Hooray for ordinary people and the courageous, triumphant, and extraordinary lives they lead.

the quote in my title is from H. Jackson Brown, Jr. you can listen to more stories from the StoryCorps project here on their website, or catch the weekly broadcasts on npr's morning edition. also worth checking out is one of my favorite books, I Thought My Father Was God: And Other True Tales from NPR's National Story Project. i picked up this book  last summer and it had me either in stitches or tears for an entire week, excellent read if you feel up for the emotional instability :)