Monday, 7 AM.

As I am sifting through the ream of paper that comes home from school each week to determine which field trips/parties/contests assemblies/a-thons need forms/volunteers/permission slips and/or a check written immediately if not sooner, and which are already late, my 7-year-old says:

Mama, what's sex?

And as I'm wondering, Should I have seen this coming? and How did I not see this coming? and Where is my coffee? and preparing to say something along the lines of Well, it's like an extra-special hug between consenting adults now eat your toast, he says:

You know, where you have to fill in either M or F. What is that?

New sneaks.

Peanut butter and banana for breakfast, new sneakers and a morning spent making handprint art in kindergarten - I feel like a little kid.

Dinner with a-holes.

Back from LA, where I met some delightful beings, received a fistful of orders and was summarily dismissed by a minor celebrity. Also, I received my all-time favorite text from my handsome husband, which read "Dinner with a-holes." The a-holes he's referring to are, of course, our glorious children, with whom dinner is not always a glorious experience.

Ready or not.

I'm off to LA tomorrow at the crack of dawn with everything and my faithful sidekick, Julie. Thank goodness for Julie. (Goodness had nothing to do with it.) Back next week.

Good Morning, Sunshine!

Today will be a beautiful and productive day!

This past week I heard my son's teacher tell her kindergarten class that we revere Martin Luther King because he "used his words." Way to make it relevant, Mrs. Woods!

Pity party.

My handsome husband is in London and I have the flu and a busted washing machine. Fortunately I did not go to the laundromat today with neither cash nor soap. Who would do that? Also, lucky for me: My kids are very concerned for my well-being. They can't stop asking me how I'm feeling and offering to get me something to drink. Also, they never fight, and they do their homework and the dishes without being asked.

Friday, I'm in love....

Actually, I'm in like. I'm running low on the scent I've been wearing for the last whatever, ten years or so, and I was thinking that it might be time for a change. I really like this one, but you know. Change.

I bought the travel size, because that seemed like a low level of commitment.

A belligerent refusal to look on the bright side....

This is not that, but I heard Sarah Vowell say it yesterday, so I had to steal it. Obviously. I leave for LA in one short week and I'm thinking about my booth. I've been thinking about it for a long time, but now I'm thinking about it more, um.... strenuously. I would like it to look like all these pictures and I have about 30 minutes to pull it together, so I think I'll just bring everything and then wing it. Honestly, I've never felt less prepared. Probably not a belligerent refusal, but a terrified reluctance to look on the bright side....

photos from all over - I've been collecting them for some time and didn't keep track. Definitely Lambert and design*sponge and knack.

Now I have to go break up a fight and gently encourage some people to get dressed for school.

More indigo.

More indigo, with rescued denim and vintage cotton and sashiko-inspired stitches - stuffed with cedar chips, they smell so wintery and cozy....

Speaking of conspiracy theories....

Have you seen The State Within? So good. Did you see that the Katie Holmes Kennedy thingy got cancelled? Is it a conspiracy? Or was it just so so so SO bad?

Last night I dreamed about spending the day with my grandpa, which was awesome in so many ways, but particularly sweet because he passed away about 10 years ago. Unfortunately I spent most of his visit on the phone trying to arrange the details of this or that activity instead of sitting on the couch next to him asking questions, or sitting on the couch next to him Not asking questions, which might have been even better now that I think of it.

I've said here before that I don't believe in the interpretation of dreams - and got in trouble for it - so I think I should qualify that. I do think that a dream about wasting a day with my grandfather means something about being uncomfortable with my current work/life balance. I don't believe that dreams contain predictive symbols that one could check off from a menu of standardized predictive symbols - that if you dream about owls, you'll go back to school, etc.... do you see what I mean?

I believe in accidents and coincidence, but that we can make the most of them if we choose.

I do not generally believe in conspiracy theories.

I believe in the triumph of the human spirit and that if you sit down and talk with people you think you don't like, you're likely to find common ground.

I believe that something I just said will get me in trouble - probably the conspiracy theory bit.

Someone once told me that everyone in your dreams is you. What do you think about that?

This photo of my grandparents is from 1942, or thereabout. Aren't they beautiful?

Now hear this....

So. My whole family has deserted me so that I can get some work done.

And lo, my blog has music! Because that's not a massive waste of time! Surely not!

Paris-shmaris.

My handsome husband is going to France for ten days and I am totally not jealous. Not a bit. In fact, Croque Monsieur for everyone! I'm sleeping diagonally and we'll probably be late to school every day. So there. (Pretty picture from apfelstrudel.)

Two firsts.

1. This was the first morning I have heard: "Just one more minute, Mama." while I was trying to roust my children from bed.

2. Today was the first day having a helper in the studio. Fingers crossed and it's about time and all that - so far, Awesome! More about that later, when I can uncross my fingers and introduce her....

photo by Kelli Nastasi.

Winter sun.

Indigo.

Like the new bag? I'm kind of in love with it. It's just like the Waste-Not Tote, but in a glorious indigo hemp with used denim and vintage and japanese inspired prints.....

Omygoodness.

Whenever I say, "Omygoodness!" in front of my father-in-law, he says, "My dear, 'Goodness' had nothing to do with it." It always makes me laugh.

I am working my tail off getting ready for a wholesale show and filling a ginormous order at the same time. Because, of course. One day, no one loves me. The next day, all hell breaks loose. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever get to a place where I'm not in emergency mode 95 percent of the time, but that doesn't seem to be my lot in life.

And apparently, goodness had nothing to do with it.

Jump in.

This year I resolve to jump in. To be brave and be kind. And to be outdoors more.

How about you?

amazing photo by Alicia Bock.