a battle i'm winning

while she looks unsure about it, i'm trying to convince my daughter that bows are awesome, bows are her friend, she should be glad she has enough hair to wear bows without bands, bows make an otherwise gender neutral outfit very girly and we like girly around here ... i think i'm getting through to her.
exhibit a.


exhibit b.


i can't believe i'm leaving this munchkin for 6 days starting tomorrow. argh.

but, i'll have some distractions :: miss lissa's getting married. hizzah! and i get to hang out with one of my favorite college friends kassey in new york city {she just may be both my most fab-fabulous & my most globetrottingest friend} AND, to top it off i get to spend a day with the chicken and his family!

what a way to avoid what will be the inevitable sadness
erin

bragging rights

{{taken by auntie holly this weekend}}

she's dang cute.

i want to eat her face.

don't you?

erin

seinlanguage

my baby's doing signs y'all. here they are in order of acquisition:

hello: waving like a royal - hand up, wrist a turnin' {just started to say HI}

goodbye: same as hello only with scrunched up nose and laughing eyes

fish: make a pa-pa sound {this is the most consistent sign} taught by grandma in hawaii - used for actual fish and goldfish crackers

you're-talking-on-the-phone sign: head cocked to one side, hand up to the ear, babbling.

duck: just the word. duc-duc-duc. often while grabbing her feet - she has yellow jams with ducks on the feet.

milk: i wanted to pick a different sign, but "milking a cow" just came naturally. you should know that she now makes this sign when she catches a glance of me in my all together. thanks kid. i know. i make milk.

blue berries: imagine you're making the 'b' sound, only remove the sound and just do the action with your lips. today she was insistent that what she was eating was NOT blue berries, that she wanted blue berries, and that grapes were just not cutting it.

she also dances. claps for music she likes. gives kisses on demand. and just acquired the emerging skill of standing no-hands.

i cannot believe she is this grown-up. i feel her moving further into herself and farther away from me. it's a joy and a sadness.

sorry no pics. in the move i haven't had time to upload. promise they are coming soon and very soon.

erin

annie to her friends

i've been reading anne lamott's book grace (eventually) thoughts on faith and i love it. i think miss lamott is genius {a word i use far too frequently to refer to everything from the salsa bar at maui tacos to the way my bro uses 'zor' to finish off words (btw, try this it's awesomezor) - however she deserves the praise i give her}. i love that she's intense about almost everything. love that she is self-deprecating in a way that always points back to the goodness and faithfulness of god. i love that she sometimes reminds me of the best parts of my dad & adore her openness while fervently disliking ALL things bush administration. and, i nonetheless (or nonethemore) get to sit at her feet and listen to her life. at this juncture i would say that she is my very favorite author {sorry c.s. lewis and j.k. rowling, but a non-brit with a sorry lack of an initialed moniker has taken your place}.


this portion of her book spoke to me this week which has been a different kind of week for me...

all i knew was that help is always on the way, a hundred percent of the time. Rumi said, "someone fills the cup in front of us." i know that when i call out, god will be near, and hear, and help eventually, although it is hard to envision this at the moment ... god always hears our cries, and helps, and it's always a surprise to see what form god will take on earth: the the old joke, a man whose plane crashed in the tundra bitterly tells a bartender that god forsook him - that he waited in vain for divine intervention & would have died in the snow ... if it hadn't been for some f---ing eskimos's who came by

to the tundra!
e

squawk squawk squawk

this is my brother. his name is mikey {{ but he'd rather go by 'mike' or 'dj mikezor' }}

he's a baller


he just graduated from high school and most recently fulfilled the requirements to become an eagle scout.


he's been a part of bsa since he was six.

my bro thinks he's pretty bad ass. and, he's right.
he also happens to be a pretty decent young man.



i love my little brother. very much.

we {{his family }}are very very proud of him.

b and i got to attend his eagle scout court of honor on our first weekend back in california.



scout master fog was in attendance.
{{high fives all around }}



little known fact: i was a girl scout until junior high when it became tragically uncool. so, {{ with great haste }} i quit. cross stitching, camping, roasting smores & sewing quilts was not considered hip {{glad these things have made a resurgence in my life... well, except camping }}i'm so glad my little bro stuck it out and stayed committed. i hope that he can continue to pick the unpopular thing when he knows it's the right thing. i am glad my daughter gets to grow up with such an uncle.



a excerpt from b's section "the voice of the eagle" read aloud while perched above the congregation
{{wink }}

And now, that you are standing at the summit of the trail, in the glory of sunshine and wind and cloud at the threshold of your goal, we applaud you and welcome you, for you have done your climbing in a true Scout-like manner.

here's to melodramatic rights of passage,
erin