love aint pretty

My little brother, Ryan, called me up to tell me a funny story.

He was standing at a urinal at a doctor’s office, you know, doing his business when he heard a female voice behind him.

He froze, mid-stream, in a panic that he was in the wrong restroom. But then he realized he was, in fact, standing at a urinal and he was where he should be. He turned around just in time to see a father usher his daughter into one of the stalls.

The daughter, it seems, was ill. She didn’t quite make it to the toilet before she unloaded the contents of her stomach onto the floor.

Ryan went to the sink to wash his hands and listened to the father console his daughter as she continued to throw up.  Just as he was walking out of the restroom, my brother heard the father slip on the slimy floor and fall.  Evidently he brought his daughter down with him and she let out a howl.

Ryan paused, conflicted.  My brother is a certifiable germaphobe. But he is also a true humanitarian. He had to go back and see if they needed help.

He found them both still on the floor of the bathroom stall.  He put on his most helpful face and said, “Hey Dude. You need help?”

“Naw.” The man replied. “I got it.”

And then the daughter barfed again in her father’s lap.

Having done his civic duty, my brother made a b-line for the door.

My brother isn’t married yet. He loves to laugh at people blundering down this road we all call parenthood.  I can see the humor in it too. The whole thing really is ridiculous and quite absurd.  You gotta laugh or you will cry.

But I see more to my brother’s story than just humor.

Here’s the thing. Love at it’s grandest, aint pretty.  True love means that your happiness and well-being are contingent on another individuals well-being and happiness.  And this translates into loving through sickness and strife and rebellion and all sorts of ugliness.

True love might land you in a public restroom with your sick child and a whole lot of barf. Or worse.

But for those of us who have lived through these kinds of events, we know that it is worth it.  Because although it might sound cliché and even trite, love conquers all.

I really hope my brother does get married and have kids. He’s a good guy and he deserves such happiness. And I hope that when he is dealing with all the revolting mess that children bring, he is still laughing.

Because I will be.

journey

Well we're off.

Tomorrow we will hop on a plane and take the kids to play in the snow. 

And when I say "hop on a plane", what I really mean is pack for hours, drag crying children out of bed early in the morning, schelp ourselves to the airport, disrobe the children and ourselves to go through security, eat a fattening meal and wrestle the babies for two hours to keep them quiet on the flight.

I pray one of them doesn't poop during the flight. Been there. Done that. Don't want to do it again.

My friend Wendy Whitacre is a photographer who just started a world tour. Yesterday, on her flight to Costa Rica, a woman gave birth. In the airplane. No kidding.

Now if I could just get something like that to happen, and divert the attention from my noisy kids, I'd be golden.

But you know, it's all good. I've been beaten down learned enough to know that family vacations are important. Are they miserable? Yes. But important.

Au revoir my lovelies. I see you on the other side of hell.

smell this

Nolan

I recently heard a talk from an author who had written a book on how to be happy.  She said that using your sense of smell more often can make you happier. Then she proceeded to pass around little vials of perfumes that smelled like happy places. You know, like the beach or the garden.

I've been thinking about this idea. Sugar Daddy smells everything. And I mean everything.

Give him an orange- sniff then peel.
Give him a new book- sniff then read.
Give him a sharpie- sniff, sniff, sniff then write.
Give him a kid with a poopy diaper- yep. Sniff then change.

He literally smells anything you hand him. But the strange thing is that I rarely sniff anything and yet my sense of smell is way better than his. And I can't say he's a happier person than me. We are pretty much even in that department.

One thing that really interests me is what scents other people love.  The Sugar Daddy loves the faint scent of skunk. No, I'm not kidding.  He also likes pipe tobacco, cut grass and rubber sporting equipment.

Some of my favorite smells are freshly sharpened pencils, wet cement, tomato plant leafs, limes, baby lotion and towels from my grandmother's cupboard.

Here's what I don't like, no, not one bit: two poopy diapers, of varying crap smell, first thing each morning. The inhumanity! Also, I can't tolerate cold bath water smell, moldy laundry and seaweed on the beach.

When I think about the smells like like, they are all linked to memories. So I guess maybe this author maybe onto something. If I smell the things I like more often, then do I relive happy memories more often and thus become a happier person?

Meh. I don't know. I'm not totally buying it. But I'm going to try it anyway.

Today I'm smelling stuff.

I think I should also mention that this author of happiness also said that if you are tired during the day the only thing you have to do to regain your energy is to stand up, and hop up and down three times.

This was the point in which I quit giving any credence to what she had to say.

Hop up and down. Please. I need a big hit of caffeine, a bite of chocolate and a babysitter.

an important public service announcement

Just a reminder.

That's all.

love tokens

What tiny treasures rattle around in the bottom of your jewelry box? In your travels, have you ever picked up a shell, a cool pop top, a postage stamp, a skipping stone? Do you keep your children's teeth as they fall out?

I find that for most of my life I have been a bit of a squirrel. I gather and stash all sorts of tiny things. To me, they are like the crumbs of bread that Hanzel and Gretel dropped to find their way back home. My little treasures lead me mentally back through the years, back to my childhood.

Some of my most treasured possessions would be worthless to anyone else. I have a small crumpled paper with the name “Ben” and a phone number scribbled on it. It was the first thing he ever gave me. I have a stone he found in the forest. It is shaped like a heart and I was delighted when he left it on my pillow. I have a tiny withered daisy that my son gave me one afternoon. I have a small wooden spoon my best friend carved.

They are just things. But every so often I hold them in my hands and I feel loved.

Someday, I will write down what each love token means to me, where I got it and who gave it to me. And in the mean time, I will continue to keep and treasure and hopefully give a few love tokens in return.

alt design summit

I know I haven't said much about ALT Design Summit. I guess I was so inspired by what I learned there that I have been too busy creating and doing.

But I do want to say that if you are on the fence about going next year you should know it's a no brainer. Just go. Save your pennies. It will pay off.

Here is a short by my very favorite film makers, Tiger in a Jar. I've loved them for a long time now and believe me, if I had known that they were actually at ALT, I would have made a huge fool of myself gushing all over them.

Lucky for them, I had no idea.

the farfar project: part deux

First off, I'd really like to say thank you for all your kind comments regarding The Farfar Project. I have had such a great response, and it has made the whole process even that much more enjoyable.

I have fallen in love with these men. I have been thinking that maybe for my next project, I will write down the stories I have created for each of them. But I'm not sure. They are near and dear to me. And a little bit silly.

I am currently working on having the portraits made into cards, prints and calendars. The calendar won't be available until next January.

If you are interested in buying a set of cards (12) or individual prints, please contact me, (secondsisterjewelry@yahoo.com) and I'll put you on the list for when they become available. Now, without much ado, I give you part deux...

K. G. Persson- Worker (Occupation Unknown)

Karl August Andersson- Carpenter

Ollas Per Persson- Yeoman

Olof Nilsson- Master Painter

Wilhelm Magnusson- Worker (Occupation Unknown)

G. V. Gustafsson- Crofter

inked

Every once in a while I get a wild hair and I want to get tattoo.  I think most artists are intrigued by the idea of permanent art on the body. 

And then we go to Disneyland. And let me just tell ya, there are some really bad looking tattoos out there. In fact, if you want to see a lot of tattoos, Disneyland is the place to go.  People tend to display them there more than other places, like say, the grocery store or church.

The thing is, I hardly ever see tattoos that aren't a little blurry. I know there are some crisp tatts out there, especially if they are new. But you rarely see them.  And this deters me.

But I'm still fascinated by them. I love to look at them on Pintrest.  I recently found this site called Tattly. They make temporary tattoos of famous artist's work. I love this idea.

I thought for Valentine's it would be fun to turn some of my own artwork into tatts. I have a special love for vintage tattoo style so I stuck with that look.

You can buy these illustrations as a digital stamp set for $5, or you can download the full color images here and use them for free.

You can buy temporary tattoo paper that works with your ink jet printer.

Her tattoo says "Sweetheart". This is meant to be a joke. If you know anything about The Bird, you know that her tatt should probably read "Hell Raiser".

Temporary tatts are a lot of fun. Kids love them. Some adults, myself included, love them.  I'm using them for The Boy's classroom valentines.

I drew strongman arms and printed them out on card stock. I used an X-Acto knife to cut slits in the hand for the sucker. I attached the temporary tattoos on the shoulder.  You can download these Valentines here.  I left the banner blank so you can write in your child's name.

Send me pics if you do this project! I'd love to see them!

sometimes, paying more pays off

You know how sometimes in life you buy something and you have it for years and you love it and you think to yourself, man, that was so worth the money!

I love that. Don't you?

I've been thinking for a long time that I should write a post about some of my most favorite purchases ever. But I worried that it might be boring. But then today I was thinking, wouldn't it be nice to buy more great things? Wouldn't it be nice to know what gems other people have found?

So I'm sharing. I did not get paid by these companies to blog about their products. On the contrary, I paid full price for most these items and they weren't cheap.  The good stuff hardly ever is.

1. Smartwool Socks.  These socks will run you $12-25 a pair, but they are worth every penny. I have never gotten a blister while running in Smartwool and my feet are never cold. They last a long time.

2. Amazon Prime. Amazon has a service you can buy for $79 and all items marked prime on their site ship to you free two-day mail. It's kind of hard to fork over eighty bucks up front, but for me, it's paid for itself a hundred times over. I buy almost everything through Amazon. You can even get diapers.

3. Thule Cargo Box. I love, love, love, not having our luggage in the car when we go on road trips.  It makes the travel so much easier.  We can fit so much more into the cargo box than we can in the back of the car.

4. Victorinox Swiss Army Watch.  I got my watch for Christmas when I was first married. I wore that watch for fifteen years. The Sugar Daddy bought me a new watch a few years back that I also love, but I will always pull out my Victorinox when I am doing something active. It works as well as the day I got it. It's design is timeless.

5. Frye Harness Boots.  I was lucky enough to buy my boots on sale and I got a good deal, but even if I hadn't, I would consider them worth the price. They are super durable and comfortable. I wear them a lot every winter and quite frankly, they make me feel like a bad ass.

So, what I really want to know is what your all time favorite purchases are. I'm on the hunt for fabulous finds.

Help a sister out. Leave a comment and share.

you're welcome

If you follow this blog you know that I also blog for Paper Coterie. Not only do I love their products, I love the people who run the company.

They are on a mission to help people preserve their memories. I believe in this mission. I have adopted it into my own life.

I have a special gift for my readers. If you use the code SECONDSISTER you will get a $30 credit at the Paper Coterie site.  This is enough to create many of their projects!

The code is valid for 2 weeks and expires at midnight MST on February 7. It can be used by all readers/followers.

Here's the specs:

*Valid for $30 off your purchase
*Standard shipping rates apply
*No minimum purchase
*Does not apply to gift cards
*Valid through 2/7/12
*Not limited to one time use

P.S. You're welcome. You are gunna love Paper Coterie!