Caleb, Canon Digital Rebel

It’s official! I’m Auntie Andrea now.

Happy birthday little Caleb. And a huge congratulations to my sweet sister and brother-in-law.

baby feet, Canon Digital Rebel

Kim’s belly & Liam, Canon Digital Rebel

Waiting for both my sister and my dear friend Kim to have their babies this week. Every time the phone rings I get a little butterfly in my stomach.

(I love that both Kim and Liam’s bellies are showing in this photo.)

“Making the decision to have a child – it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body.”
– Elizabeth Stone

Andrea & Matt, Santa Barbara, May 25th 2003, Photo by Rikka Zimmerman

It’s our 2nd wedding anniversary today.

I am the luckiest girl around.

“He loved her for almost everything she was & she decided that was enough to let him stay for a very long time.”
– Brian Andreas

wildflowers, Canon Digital Rebel

We just got back from Big Sur. The beauty there is so big and so wild and grand, it’s hard to hold. I kept closing my eyes and then opening them again, trying to really take it in. The wildflowers were in bloom, the sun was shining and the air was so clean and fragrant. Coming from the city, it was a euphoric transition.

I have a game called Intuitive Solutions (a game that I highly recommend buying) and as a part of my daily meditation, I’ve been drawing cards from it. Before I left town I got a card about pleasure which really resonated for me. How is it that we forget about pleasure? (SARK actually wrote a a wonderful book on pleasure called Eat Mangoes Naked because so many of us forget about it.)

The weekend was all about the pleasure of nature, of hiking until you are sweaty and out of breath, hiking until you are up so high on the mountain that when you look back at the view, it seems you can see every ocean. The pleasure of the soft colors of sunset, the purple of the sand, and the fierceness of the waves. The joy of friendship and the simplicity of storytelling, sipping scotch and playing Boggle into the wee hours of the night. The joy of sitting in a cabin with no phone or radio, no tv or clocks and being woken up by the gobble of wild turkeys just outside.

The pleasure of seeing your partner with fresh eyes, {vacation eyes} and remembering why you love them so much.

The exquisite pleasure of an orange, shared between four in the car, after several hours of hiking in the sun. The pleasure of a tired body after a day of play, of sore thighs and a tinge of sunburn.

On our hike, Deb showed me a patch of grasses that were all dusty and grey sitting in the middle of the trail. She said that the rodents clean out their home each year and put all of the things they’ve collected outside again. I forgot that the impulse for spring cleaning is an instinct shared by all animals and decided to take the rodent’s lead.

The first thing I did when we got home was go straight up to my room and empty the contents of my dresser. I ended up filling five bags full of clothing I hadn’t worn in a year or more and now have drawers that actually close effortlessly. I stepped into the bathroom and found Matt with the clippers in hand, shaving his head and letting go of 8 inches or more of locks that he had been collecting for the last couple of years.

I think we both feel lighter, like we let go of something symbolically, like there is more space for new pleasures and joys to come in.

What can you let go of this spring?

The Weepies in my kitchen, Polaroid SX-70

We’re off for a long weekend with friends. A cabin in the woods near the ocean no less! Matt and I are also celebrating our 2 year wedding anniversary!

Some excellent artists to visit while we’re away:
– Camille Engman rocks. Be sure to visit her blog as well.
– Beautiful illustrated journals by Henrik Drescher. I like that I can see my last name in his.
– Rena Tom is a jewelry designer who recently moved from SF to Brooklyn. She makes beautiful things. I only wish I knew her when she lived here!
– Just bought Gayla’s new book You Grow Girl. Very excited to learn to garden. I have never grown anything in my entire life and grew up in a plantless house. Can you believe it? I didn’t know you could grow food in your backyard until recently.
– My favorite site for baby gifts is Black Wagon. How can you resist an ACDC onesie?
– Alison Bank’s photos make me happy. She will inspire you.
– I just discovered that the talented woman who photographed my wedding {Rikka Zimmerman} is also a country singer! You can see her new site here and hear her clips on Itunes.
– I just got Ali Edward’s book, A Designer’s Eye for Scrapbooking and want to immediately gather all of my old photos and make them into beautiful stories. Ali and Carrie Colbert have given me a whole new idea of what scrapbooking is. This ain’t your grandmother’s scrapbook ladies!

……….

And I know I posted this quote recently, but I need to drill it into my head. I think if we could all really get this, our lives would transform.

“The lesson which life repeats and constantly enforces is “look under foot.” You are always nearer the divine and the true sources of your power than you think. The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are. Do not despise your own place and hour. Every place is under the stars, every place is the center of the world.”
– John Burroughs