Mood-lifters

Unexpected show of affection.
A handful of roasted almonds.
Chloe, always.
And –

A new favorite pastime

of mine is picking boogers from Chloe's nose. I always feel this victorious surge when I snag a super long and stringy one that had all but blocked her nostril airway.

Also in line with that is unearthing tiny clusters of lint between her rosebud toes.

Lillian Hellman

Old paint on canvas, as it ages, sometimes becomes transparent. When that happens it is possible, in some pictures, to see the original lines. A tree will show through a woman's dress, a child makes way for a dog, a large boat is no longer on an open sea.

That is called pentimento
because the painter "repented," changed his mind.

Perhaps it would be as well to say that the old conception, replaced by a later choice, is a way of seeing and then seeing again.

I guess

I can't be what I want to be (I want to be everything to you)
but I guess
I can certainly try.

On the margins

of my class notes:

-It must suck to have an alarmingly large head.

-I'd share my frozen grapes.

-A thick farmer's neck yet tender ample lips.

-Uh, I'm not exactly dressed for standing on the moon, which, as I understand, is super cold?

-Soon it will be scarf weather! And I'll be able to wear my moccasins.

-But why does she have to drool when she sleeps?

-NEED TO EAT MEAT!!

-But when I said thank you, he leaned his face in and I kissed his cheek I think, but then no it was his mouth and he said, "Did you know that's the first kiss you've given me?"

-Anna's forehead wrinkles look like arrow heads.
Tanya's forehead wrinkles look like a stack of pancakes.

-Sell moments.

-It better be worth it.

Best way to wear a scarf

I really enjoy catching sight of someone wearing a scarf like this, looped not only around the neck but the hair as well. I don't know why, perhaps because the person was in a rush so she didn't bother pulling her hair out from underneath. The same goes when someone's wearing a hoodie or a jacket, and half her hair is out of sight from the neckline down. Buried, so cozy.

Constraint story

"Rebecca, can you please stop rehearsing?" Mrs. Black poured some cereal for her daughter. She noticed that the milk was expired but she wasn't one to waste.
"And Rebecca, you've got to wash your greasy hair. I can' smell your scalp all the way here."

Rebecca nodded, then suddenly began convulsing. Her arms went rigid and she gripped onto the edges of the table. She was having some kind of seizure.
"Rebecca?"
The milk had poisoned her daughter! Mrs.Black yanked open a drawer and pulled out a defibrillator. She placed it on Rebecca's chest. The giant lightbulb overhead cast a harsh neon glow on her daughter's face, which was quickly turning the color of red pulp.
"Rebecca!"
Mrs. Black grabbed the nearest object, a graphing calculator on the kitchen table, and whacked her daughter's chest.

"Breathe, baby, breathe! Oh I'll never give you grief about your voice again. I'll help you become a celebrity, I promise!"
Rebecca coughed and sat up weakly.
"Really? You'll help me become famous? Even if that means quitting your job?"
"Yes. I've always wanted to be an artist myself. A dancer. A ballerina. But I guess if I help you become a singer then I'll be living my dream too."
And so it was on that fateful Friday that a decision was made. A month later, Rebecca Black's song, titled "Friday," went viral.

----

I laugh every time I read this awful story. The constraints were: write it under 3 minutes, and include the following...
Rebecca Black, defibrillator, graphing calculator, expired milk, lightbulb, ballerina.

Hey we weren't ready

Something bigger was obviously going on when this photo was taken.

What, wait how

I now seem to enjoy my coffee -- no longer black -- but with a bit of skim milk. And, when Drew handed me several packs of 3-in-1 coffee with pre-mixed powdered milk and sugar, I stored them in the cupboard expecting only to serve them to guests. But somehow I've taken to indulging in a cup myself every morning.
After nearly four years of drinking exclusively black coffee, this is a significant change and I'm not yet sure how to regard it. Do I sound rather dramatic? I mean to be. I guess I've always counted on myself to be a lifelong black coffee drinker... it was a sort of constant in my life, in the same vein as my penchant for grandma clip on earrings and elephants.

Looks like things are shifting, people.

Communication

Our Anniversary

A little look back:

Here is P. in her white dress, pinned in the back to exact tailored perfection by her Bear.

We've traveled to many places together, and it's sure to say that beaches happen to be a fave. We've been on quite a few, from Bali to the Dominican Republic to Cape May...

where we played in the water and had our feet tickled by the waves

And again on the black sands in Soori.

Speaking of feet, here's that one morning when I woke up and found us both with our right foot propped up, totally identical. We fell asleep like that. :)

Love that we're always game for dressing up for a fun time out. Here's you in your pilot Halloween costume...

and as a handsome fellow from the 20s.

From before we even started dating, I already thought of you as my handsome man. Mine...

the one who has made me pancakes for dinner and brunch, each time producing a flufflier stack...

the one who cooks yummy food and who is now teaching me how to cook too, encouraging me every time...

the one who surprised me with daisies, who is still surprising me with little things, catching me off guard here and there with a retort, an expression, a sound, a scare...

You are the one I share this little family with. Here I am with daddy Bear and junior Bear.

No words describe the joy I feel when I see you with our litto pipsqueak. How loving you are, how wonderful and patient and mischievous.

From the first time you listened to her inside my belly, and talked to her in your deep voice, and felt her kicks and hiccups...

to the moment you held her for the first time, you have shown the purest love.

She feels it, and so do I.

Today I think of how a girl who loves cupcakes

ended up with a boy who loves french toast

and how we'll hold each other through all the other 24ths to come.

To my very own, one and only dearest Bear:
it's the 24th today and
Every
Day
i love you More than ever.

GQ profile on Michelle Williams

On Heath: Do you think there was a part of you that imagined the two of you would somehow end up together?

Immediately, I wish that I hadn’t. The look on her face—a kind of juddering visceral alarm at what has been said…I don’t wish to see that look many more times in my life. “That would make me way too sad to answer,” she says quickly, and I hurriedly begin another question, about something completely different, hoping that if I say it fast enough these new words will chase the old words away from where they are hanging in the air between us, and maybe she will let me pretend that it was something I never said.

“No, no,” she says, and I can see the tears forming, and I think she means that she doesn’t want to answer any more questions about anything. I mutter some kind of apology under my breath.

But, even now, I’m wrong about everything. Mostly she is just trying to stop my new question. She has something to tell me.

“No,” she says. “I said it would make me too sad to answer but it’s also…”—and she nods even as her voice breaks once more with tears—”…one of my favorite things to imagine.” And through the tears, a beaming, almost beatific smile stretches room-wide across her face. “It’s actually one of my favorite places to visit.”


Read the whole article here

I'm a tan bebe

Chloe at week 6

Color

eat.sleep.wear

She is a small woman

"Just yesterday, it seems to him, she stopped being pretty. With the addition of two short wrinkles at the corners, her mouth has become greedy; and her hair has thinned, so he keeps thinking of her skull under it. These tiny advances into age have occurred imperceptibly, so it seems just possible that tomorrow they'll be gone and she'll be his girl again."

-John Updike (Rabbit, Run)

Locking underwear

Advertisement for locking underwear, Korea. 

Maybe Drew and I will try it out and let the rest of the couples out there know how it is... Just kidding.

Crafting with Cat Hair

Too bad Christmas is over. This would've been a stellar Secret Santa present.

"Are your favorite sweaters covered with cat hair? Are there fur balls piled up in every corner of your home? Do you love to make quirky and one-of-a-kind crafting projects? If so, it's time to throw away your lint roller and curl up with your kitty! Crafting with Cat Hair shows readers how to transform stray clumps of fur into soft and adorable handicrafts. From kitty tote bags and finger puppets to fluffy cat toys, picture frames, and more, these projects are cat-friendly, eco-friendly, and require no special equipment or training. You can make most of these projects in under an hour-with a little help, of course, from your feline friends!"

Faust

"As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live."

-Goethe

We're getting a toaster

Aside from coasters, toasters are my favorite things. Here's a couple of super rad toasters that Drew found.

It must be tough

being a baby. All you want to do is suck on your little pacifier but it keeps falling out and there's nothing you can do about it."

-Drew

Chloe's one month

"Our little girl's one month old already. Soon she's going to be 18. She'll be like, 'Dad I have a boyfriend.'"

"I have a feeling she'll say that before she's 18."

"Noooo she won't."

Discipline

"Discipline is placed first  
 for without it, the other gifts, however great, will never realize 
 their highest possibilities.
 A leader is able to lead others because he has conquered
 himself."
-Sanders