NYC, Baby!

Have I mentioned lately that I (heart) New York City??? Well not recently enough. This video reminds me just why I love it so, so, so much. I can't stop watching it. Certain parts make me laugh out loud. It fills up my heart and makes me happy. Hope you enjoy it too! Doesn't it make you want to be there?

People are just so cool sometimes. I especially love the blue umbrella part, the Buzz Lightyear moment, the woman in the floppy black hat (I crack up every time ~ she's fabulous!), and how NYC makes people want to break out in song on the street. I've even done it myself once or twice. (Smile)

And how can you not love Improv Everywhere?

{found on Color Me Katie!}

PS ~ Speaking of New York City, has anyone seen "The Lottery", the education documentary? I finally got to watch it in full today and let's just say that it tug at my heartstrings. I thought it was quite powerful and definitely worth a watch.

PPS ~ Happy Halloween to everyone!!!

Fall Garden Update

These days, with a young infant in tow, I don't get to garden nearly as much as I would like. Okay, it's barely ever. However, with the help of the hubbie and Sophie, I've managed to get some Fall veggies planted......(yay!)....

~ My favorite veggie....leeks....we planted a LOT of them....it's the first time....high hopes these do well....I'm already dreaming of all the leek soup I'll be eating!!!

~ Remember my favorite gardening quote? Well, my garden doesn't see my shadow much at all. So, as you can imagine, my cabbage and brussel sprout plants have been totally ravaged by loopers. Here is the damage....criky. I really hate those damn things. I handpick my loopers so they've been having a field day in my absence. Last week I cleared them all out and I left the plants in to see if they're able to recover at all....

~ My marigold plants have exploded lately and they are really gorgeous!

~ I planted some random Asian Greens plant and it's thriving. I have no idea what this plant is called nor do I know what to do with it.....but I'm in love with the chartreuse tinted stems....

(*** Random Fact: I learned of the color Chartreuse because I worked at Benetton in high school....they used that name for everything!)

~ Spring and Fall are my favorite seasons and only more so because it's lettuce season. How gorgeous is this? And it tastes DIVINE too!

~ Look how colorful my first bed is.....it's so lovely!

~ The hardest part of Fall planting is having to pull out Summer crops that are still producing. This year I did some research on how to save the bulk of my tomato plants. I read about storing them in a newpaper-lined cardboard box. Guess what? IT'S WORKING! We have hundreds of tomatoes ripening in the garage and just look at all the beautiful colors....

I've also planted radishes, onion sets (white, yellow & red), Swiss chard, and some other Mustard Greens. Let's see how this goes.....

A Simple Saturday Morning

My favorite kind....

~ Baby Clara playing in her chair. She gets more and more interesting very day. She's learned how to pull the handle on the middle toy to make the music play. And she's learned how to pull down on the monkey legs to make him vibrate. This chair can keep her occupied for up to 1/2 an hour sometimes.... (I think sticking out her tongue helps her concentrate!)

~ Oh Hubbell. He loves to roll around in the grass when he goes out in the mornings. I have no way to stop this nor would I want to considering how much he loves it. But it's not my favorite thing. He has to dry off in the garage until I have time to go out and clean him up. Doesn't matter though....no matter what I do, he still smells like wet dog after.... Still, somehow he manages to look totally irresistible!

~ A sweet little Sophie in her jammies watching Pocoyo.

~ Waffles with this on top..... (makes me long for Vermont actually....and Woodstock Inn)

~ Allowing Daddy to sleep in since he took night duty to allow me some sleep.... (our village is almost nonexistent so this is how we cope ~ it's the best we can do!)...

~ The view outside when I stand at my kitchen sink.... (the leaves on the ground are all yellow in reality and the geraniums are vividly red ~ don't know why this photo makes everything look so drab ~ or could it be my rose-colored glasses?)

These are days....

What I Will Miss

I was recently thinking of this post and this one. These are two posts that I revisit often. I'm so thankful I wrote them back then because they already remind me of little things that I would've otherwise forgotten. Tonight, as I was rocking Clara before bedtime, Sophie ran into the room to show me a snack she was eating. It was a cucumber (Sophie's favorite). There's really nothing spectacular about this situation......EXCEPT for the way Sophie pronounces cucumber. Whereas the proper way to pronounce it is "cue-cum-ber", Sophie still says, "coo-cum-ber". It melts my heart. She's just so big lately ~ there are very few "baby remnants" left. So I thought to myself that I should make a new list of things I will miss. Because GOD KNOWS I will....time passes so quickly....

~ The way Soph pronounces cucumber (see above). It won't be long before she corrects herself. This is one of the last remaining mispronunciations.....(sniffle)....

~ Sophie still loves very innocent TV shows and movies. Unlike most friends her age, she still adores Curious George and is often disappointed if she wakes up too late to see it. She often requests Caillou and Kipper and Pingu as well.

~ Giggle fits. Certain things, often silly, silly things, will make Sophie dissolve into a fit of giggles. Think zerberts or massive, rapid kisses on her face/neck. It's precious beyond belief. But we all know that one day in the not distant future she will think she's too cool for such things.

~ Sophie is about to read. She can recognize words on the page now by sounding out the letters. It is TOO exciting. At the same time, this might mean that she will want to read on her own soon. I remember that I did as a child. And I will always miss reading aloud to her when the time comes. It has always been one of my most favorite parts of the day!

~ She is still not ashamed to break out into song and/or dance at any time in any place.

~ Sophie LOVES singing show tunes in the car with me. (PUH-LEASE, I hope this never changes......)

~ She doesn't have one bad thing to say about anyone.

~ When Sophie is at her swimming lessons, she has a constant smile plastered to her face. She surfaces with a smile. I hope little things like this always make her so happy.

~ Sophie's dream is to have a farm with loads of animals when she gets big. But the best part is that she says I can come and live there with her. Yes, Sophie, you really said that!!!! Many times....

A Little About Me....from A to Z

I saw this A to Z questionnaire on "My Best Friend Jules" and wanted to join in:

A: Age - 38

B: Bed Size - Queen, soon to be King

C: Chore That You Hate - Easy Question....ironing. Without a close second.

D: Dogs - Two lovely beasts....Kenzie (almost 12 years old) & Hubbell (10 years old)

E: Essential Start to Your Day - Chai Tea Latte

F: Favorite Color - Any Shade of Blue & Seafoam Green

G: Gold or Silver - Silver

H:Height - 5 feet, 6 inches tall

I: Instruments You Play - Unfortunately, none. I do dream about playing the drums though.

J:Job Title - Currently working on a gig where I would be the Director of Marketing & Business Development
K: Kids - Two divine little girls....Sophie (5) & Clara (2 months)

L:Live - The Queen City, Charlotte, North Carolina

M: Mother's Name - Regina, which means "Queen"

N:Nicknames - Double A, Cool Breeze, Audie

O: Overnight Hospital Stays - Three. Birth of both girls. One overnight stay with Sophie when she had an infection (by far the scariest of the three!)

P:Pet Peeves - Do I only get to pick one? I don't like when people call my name, I answer back and then they don't respond. Drives me mad. Litterbugs. Mean people. Folks who don't recycle. Smoking.

Q:Quote from a Movie - My favorite line is from Shawshank Redemption ~ Andy Dufresne - who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side. I use that one often in my life. And I like a bunch from Raising Arizona ("Hi, I want me a baby." or "Son, you have a panty on your head."). I love "You Can't Handle the Truth". There are so, so many!

R:Right or Left Handed - Right

S:Siblings - A Lil' Bro, Christopher.

T:Time You Wake Up -When my girls wake me

U:Undies -Um, yes????

V:Vegetable You Hate - I don't hate any of them. But I'm not fond of broccoli.

W:What Makes You Run Late - Everything. I'm a procrastinator.

X:X-Rays You've Had -Too many to remember.

Y:Yummy Food That You Make - I don't like to cook at all. I'm stumped as to how to answer this one.....

Z:Zoo Animal -I love them all. Just wish they weren't in a zoo. But the apes are my favorite ~ I could literally sit and watch them all day long....I know, I've done it before.

Anyone else want to join?

Sometimes I sits and thinks.....

.....and sometimes I just sits.

A Lot Can Happen in Five Months

This is me sitting on the porch at Lawton Stables in Sea Pines, Hilton Head. Sophie took this photo of me during our Mother-Daughter trip in April. I was six months pregnant with Clara.

The photos below are of me and Clara sitting in the same rocking chair only one week ago. It's amazing how much life can change, how much better it can get in only five months time.

I love my delicious little strawberry!

Nature Found: Hilton Head

A live sand dollar. In a tide pool. Dusk. Folly Field Beach.

A shy crab. See the little claws tucked in there? Folly Field Beach.

A massive cloud that shielded the sun on our dolphin watching tour.

A gorgeous butterfly. Lawton Stables. Sea Pines.

Majestic flower. Lawton Stables. Sea Pines.

Divine blooms. On Marriott Barony Beach property. Port Royal.

Wild mushrooms. Port Royal.

Massive mushroom. Port Royal.

What We Leave Behind

As I'm hoping is clear on this blog, I am aiming to live a much simpler life. I spend a good deal of time reading on voluntary simplicity and I follow some blogs of others taking a similar path. Lately there seems to be a lot of focus about how our "stuff" doesn't define us. It doesn't fill us up inside or make us happy. When we take leave of this world, will others remember us by what we owned? Not likely. All this talk has me thinking a lot about how I would want to be remembered. While looking back through photos of past vacations, I came across this image. Me...kayaking on a beach vacation. Likely on the lookout for dolphins. Enjoying the serenity of the lapping water and the barely audible fiddling of crabs on the banks. Gazing at the sea birds as they float by. Being calmed by the lull of my kayak as it bobs about in the water. It's in moments like these that I feel most at peace. When the worries of the world are washed away. I am me. Still a mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend. But closest to myself. This is how I would want to be remembered. At peace and close to nature.

This makes me curious. How would you want to be remembered?

Happy 200th!!!!

Today I am celebrating my 200th post on this blog. For the most part, I have no idea who reads LSP. I have a few stalwart family members and a couple of friends who seem to read it religiously. A shout-out to those lovely folks ~ you know who you are. I so appreciate those who mention posts to me, ask questions about something I've written or leave a comment. Even more so, it makes me feel good when people say how much they enjoy reading the blog or tell me how something I've written touches them. At the end of the day though, I created this blog for me. It's my journal, a little creative outlet, a love letter to my girls. A place to document the goings-on in my life. It brings me a lot of pleasure and I miss it when I'm unable to write. SO, Happy 200th Post to my blog. May there be many more.....

After only a few days....

.....I am already missing the beach....

You won't find me laying in the sun on the sand or swimming in the ocean. I'm just not a beach person. But I do love wading through the tide pool at low tide looking for signs of nature and special treasures (more to come on this). I was particularly mesmerized by the indentation a starfish left behind......so lovely.