> > belle and sebastian <
hearing live music is pretty much my favorite thing to do. it beats tubing down the river and drinking beer on a patio at sunset. it trumps surfing, running in the rain, and eating half a pan of brownies with ice cream. hearing, seeing, feeling live music can make me cry and laugh and sing at the top of my lungs. it makes me dance. i love art that makes me dance.
and man, i love me some belle and sebastian. i've been smitten since i heard the first strains of the state i am in on tigermilk. i hadn't seen belle and sebastian in 11 years until last night at the moody theater and it just kinda felt like coming home. i'm still dancing this morning.
these are a few of my favorites that they played last night. turn it up, y'all...
> > cinco anos <
i married ian ingram in sayulita, mexico 5 years ago today. i am still stunned that i get to be his wife.
ian and i contemplated marriage for years before taking the leap. i am forever happy that we leapt. because writing our vows altered us. it forced us to search our hearts for the meaning of marriage. it required us to explore and share with each other our ideas and expectations of love. creating our vows allowed us to consider what we wanted to promise and what we believed we really could promise. here is what we came up with.
Wedding Vows
-I promise to move creatively through stillness and change with love as the constant.
-I promise to honor the evolution of that love.
-I promise to honor your individuality, to cherish your dreams, and to help you follow them, knowing that your self-exploration is key to our love. I know the same is true for myself.
-I promise to indulge in and share with you life’s rapturous wonders.
-I promise to walk through fears together.
-I promise to accept and love your family as my own.
-I promise to be humbled by our divinity and to find the poetry in our humanity.
-I promise to love you forever and to allow that love to illuminate the potential to love all the world, all life.
i LOVE ian ingram.
> > ladies weekend 2013 <
This weekend, a big group of my ladies got the hell outta town to float on the river and drink some beer, to play games, to laugh with each other and cry for each other, to share our time and ourselves. We’ve been doing this annually for the last few years and the group fluctuates – each woman makes it when her life allows it. The weekend together always teaches me new things, reminds me of others, and more deeply ingrains in me the value of friendship.
I grew up with many of these ladies. I hope I get to grow old with all of them.
> > 36 <
my birthday was awesome. i woke up and got my face painted, went paddle boarding on ladybird lake, had lunch with ian at black sheep lodge, got a foot massage, met the fam at whole foods and walked to waterloo records where we saw/listened/danced to shinyribs. capped off the day with amigos at swift's attic and the elephant room. it was a lovely austin day.
me, too
as one could tell if they were to peruse this blog, the majority of pictures i have of myself are from this angle, this distance. i know this is the case for many a mama.
if i've got a picture of me these days, i can pretty much bet that it is taken by me at arm's length. i've become the chronicler of this family's life and though i feel sort of silly taking pictures of myself, i want it on record that "hey, i was there, too! 'member?"
taking the photos, telling the stories already helps me better remember the days gone by. i'm really grateful for that.