n o d d y b o o m

yet more hair links + a gluten-free challenge :::

gosh.  the hair obsession continues.  just found another great hair tutorial at ::a beautiful mess:: for a messy top knot.  it makes me want to trim long bangs.  and here's another one for braiding a reverse crown.  cute!

:::

so, i've decided to do a 'gluten-free' diet challenge for next week, monday thru friday.  we are not gluten free in this house, but i do notice that we tend to mix up our grains a bit more and eat more nourishing foods when we don't have wheat to fall back on. it takes a little more planning but i'm game.  anyone else want to play along?  maybe i'll do a photo post at the end of next week with all the meal alternatives we come up with + talk about how easy or hard it was.  

a friend recommended i read "wheat belly", all about the benefits of eliminating wheat from your diet.  i'm sort of afraid, knowing it might prompt me to move in that direction and i happen to love baking, mostly with wheat.  but there are a ton of no-wheat baking alternatives out there these days + i have multiple foodie friends who have eliminated wheat from their diet who seem to be flourishing so...

:::

happy friday!

my fascination with braids continues + a water challenge :::

oh my goodness, more braids.  i love the internet.  i know what i'm doing this weekend.

1) marley, post cornrows; 1) succulent recovering from being nibbled by our cockatiels.

:::

in other news, my husband and i attempted a water challenge this week.  the challenge was to drink only water for 5 days.  eat normally, just replace sodas, juices, teas, coffee, alcohol, etc. with water.  

i failed.

a friend brought over a bottle of wine, and he has very good taste in wine, so...

plus i drank yerbe mate twice.  at least twice.  

but.  i did drink more water than usual (challenge ends tomorrow night, btw, haha.  love that i'm blogging about this now as if it's already over).  i also noticed that i was hungrier than usual, so i stuck more closely with the eat-five-small-meals-a-day rule. Rather than filling in with mugs of coffee or tea, i'd grab handfuls of nuts and raisons, apples with almond butter, things like that and water, of course.  

i think i'm going to try again soon.  anyone else up for the challenge?

:::

a collection of favorite hair tutorials + other things high on our list these days :::

hello there.

we have had a restful spring break and now everyone is being hurled back into their routines, most of them against their will.  oh for a lake and a hammock and a beckoning rowboat and the stillness of a sleepy dawn.

///

things high on our list these days:

the lightening thief series

the hardy boys

watership down and really the whole inspiring story behind it of richard adams

uni jetstream pens

(the benefits of) drinking (more) water

3d viewmasters

a wild search for the ultimate waffle recipe (haven't tried these yet)

///

lately we are experimenting with hair-dos.  this is rather big for us, because normally we are a no-fuss kind of family in the hair department + walk around with big tufts of hair sticking out in odd directions, as though the birds had their way making nests while we slept.

i'm in awe of the amount of hair tutorials that are out there and how accessible that makes things like braids.  things like sideways french braids and cornrows + fishtail braids.  braids i never knew how to do before.  i'm even starting to collect photos of hair-styles that i find beautiful on pinterest.  

why so keen on hair?

for one thing, it proffers me the occasional cherished moment with my now tween daughter who is otherwise preoccupied these days, nose in a book, surrounded by friends.  she sat for over an hour while i attempted cornrows.  she sat with me.

some of my favorite hair tutorials i've found around the internet lately:

messy side ponytail

messy french bun

three twisted buns

braided updo

messy bun #2

fishtail braid

side french braid updo

how to braid cornrows

 

et voila.  momentary hair bliss.

39 things to be grateful for (on my 39th birthday) :::

today i am 39 and i thought i would put together a small gratitude list to mark the day:

 

1.    i am grateful for the love of my children + husband + family.

2.    i am in love with that amazing paper gnome hat griffin drew for me on a piece of cardboard.

3.    i am glad i have yoga in my life.

4.    i am grateful that i live in a neighborhood filled with trees.  i am grateful for trees and i am grateful that i am grateful for trees and that i stop and watch and notice.

5.    i am happy to be finding time to re-discover watercolor paint and to be taking it outside and especially to watch the kids lost in their own watercolor world, while the breeze licks their hair and moves the trees about in a sort of wonderful dance.

6.    i am glad the state park hasn't closed down.  yet.

7.    i am grateful for mexican food.

8.    i am grateful my kids tell jokes at the dinner table, and especially that they're usually the same jokes every night, told as if for the first time.

9.    i am grateful for things that make your cheeks rosy and your eyes all lit up and sparkly.  

10.   i am happy i know how to sew and knit and pray and sit quietly.  i am happy my kids are learning how to do so.

11.  i am grateful for music.

12.   i am grateful for the story of kuma kuma, the little creature who lives in the woods very far away who makes clouds in his coffee with cream and sits quietly every night watching for the exact moment the sky becomes completely dark.

13.  i am so glad to be letting go and getting rid of needless things and realizing that i don't need them and that it's just "stuff" and that there are much more important things in life.

14.  i am grateful that i get to go to squam this year and play at art for a few days with like-minded friends and especially this friend.

15.  i am grateful that i always have room in my life for new friends + i am grateful for the friends i have had for years who know me and love me just as i am + i love them.

16.  i am beyond grateful that my mother has a nose for smoke and smelled an electrical fire that was burning in the walls of her bedroom before it got out of hand and called the fire department who couldn't find the fire for hours but finally did and had to break through the walls to find it, but they found it and put it out and everyone is okay.   thank god (i literally just found this out).

17.  i am grateful for firefighters!

18.  i am grateful that my children still believe in fairies.

19.  i love long, long walks, even when it's raining.  especially when it's raining.  as long as i don't get too cold and there's a chance of a warm fire somewhere at the end or a snuggle under a cozy quilt.

20.  i am grateful for quilts.

21.  i am happy there are sometimes movies that are particularly inspiring (like "the king's speech") and happy when i get the opportunity to see them.

22.  i am grateful for my love of books and that i never get tired of books and that my kids love books + libraries + small, unique bookstores and that we all love reading together, especially at night or on rainy days, all snuggled into a pile.  i love that. 

23.  i love that we have so many talented storytellers in the world.  thank you, storytellers.

24.  i am grateful that on saturdays we celebrate + play games and that it connects us in a different way than other things do.

25.  i am grateful for the smell of freshly baked bread.

26.  i look forward to the long road trips we take up north to visit the places my husband grew up and stand beneath the same redwood trees we visit every year and gaze with awe.

27.  i am grateful for hot chocolate + microbreweries + double cream cheese.  and the brownies my sister made for me on friday.

28.  i am grateful for spring camping and watching the kids hunt for frogs at night in the little creek with their headlamps on while we play boggle by the light of the fire and several candles.

29.  i am grateful for petticoats + lace slips

30.  + crowns.

31.  i am glad i know how to see things differently, when i need to.

32.  i am happy for all the things in my life that are helping me to stay present a lot more than i used to.

33.  i am grateful for foot-rubs + grateful that my kids love foot-rubs and that they'll lie still for a few minutes and let me put lavender oil on them sometimes before they go to bed.

34.  i am glad there are cameras in the world, all kinds of cameras, + grateful for photos of all shapes and forms + grateful for the people who take pictures and share them + grateful that i get to as well.

35.  i am grateful for refrigeration + dishwashers + washing machines, when i have access to them.

36.  i am glad that i have been waking up earlier and watching the moon slowly sink and the sun blink its eyes open, lighting up the sky.

37.  i am grateful for that tall, lazy palm tree that i can see from my bathroom window.

38.  i am so grateful we found waldorf education + so glad for all the friends i have made there + for all we have learned through waldorf education, as a family + grateful that it exists in the world to help other people learn and grow.  

39.  i am grateful there is so much creativity in the world.

+

i am grateful that i am grateful.

 

happy sunday! :::