going to south africa

you know you're going someplace cool when you take more drugs than sunblock.
south africa has been on my bucket list forever.
we leave today and get there who knows when.
we're all a bit under the weather but my guess is the minute that sunshine hits us we'll be feeling great.
i've decided to leave my computer at home so i can really disconnect and relax.
that also means i won't be blogging for the two weeks i am away.
see you in january.

damn, it's cold.

i need to see images like this.
ones that help me channel warmth, sunshine, happiness.
because now, when i step outside, it just totally sucks.

and everyone's a blogger...

blogging...it sounds a lot better than housewife.

some things never change...

i was standing in line waiting to use the bathroom at exercise the other day
and i overheard a conversation between two girls.
i've been out of the dating world for a long time
but based on this conversation
doesn't seem like much has changed.

ugh...it's winter.

i hate the cold.
and man, oh man is it cold here.
december is usually mild.
not now.
now it's brutal.
as i'm walking down the street in my fur hooded, down jacket i think to myself..
i'm not really cold. it's all in your mind. just smile and act like you don't care..then you won't be cold.
that bullshit mind game is usually good for two blocks.
then some wind comes whipping around and i'm thinking...
how bad can florida be?
what's worse than being perpetually cold for a good 3-4 months is 3pm.
3 pm is when it gets dark.
i could get into bed, turn off the lights and call it a day.
that's how dark it is.
all this is beyond depressing.
i hope to perk up by the weekend.
i may have to double up on my vitamin D.

it's always like this.
just when you think everything is working
it isn't.
wouldn't it be nice to always feel like you feel when you're in one of these exercise classes
where the teacher assures you if you could only breathe
it's all possible.
for that 45 minutes you feel like it's all good.
and then...

we're all a little guilty of this...

i am the first to admit that i have done a bit of regifting in my day.
you get a clunker....you pass it on.
it's sort of like the ultimate in recycling.
i stopped regifting when i received something and tried to return it for store credit.
the clerk looked at me and could barely contain himself.
he said they hadn't carried this particular item in years and therefore could not give me a credit.
it was pretty humiliating.

i woke up this morning feeling like i had swallowed a bowling ball.
the latkas were delish last night but i'm not sure how many more i can realistically consume.
of course i ate way more than i should...but don't ya have to???
of course we lit the candles last night and exchanged gifts.
honestly, i never know what to get the girls.
at this point all they really need is a good sat tutor and about ten more hours in everyday to get everything done--
neither of which can be wrapped and placed on the mantle.

happy hanukah....

gotta love a holiday where you get to eat fried potatoes and jelly donuts.
and where you and your 16-year-old girls get gifts like sexy lingerie---thanks sister!
christmas may be flashier and with better songs...
but hanukah goes eight days!

just add milk...

we did an insane amount of baking for thanksgiving.
chocolate chip cookies, chocolate biscotti, pistachio cookies and pie.
this chocolate cake that my daughter zoe and i made seemed to be a big hit.
we got the recipe out of this month's issue of food&wine.
the cake is really moist and not too sweet but the frosting is really what makes it great.
this was a really fun one to bake.
now, i just need to figure out how to make the 0-calorie version of this thing.

i've hit the wall...

it's official...i can't eat another thing.
it's been a total food fest since wednesday.
and of course thursday, thanksgiving, was out of control.
i was so happy when my daughter nixed chinese food tonight for a salad with grilled chicken.
tomorrow night...air and water.

girls rule...

Go For Everything from /DEPARTMENT on Vimeo.

maybe because i have two teenage girls.
maybe because i'm a girl.
maybe because girls are just super cool.
but i really like this.

family, etc...

my family is coming in for the holidays...nice.
i sincerely appreciate the effort...traveling now really is so unpleasant.
lucky for sam and zoe, they will have all of their grandparents at our thanksgiving table.
as well as aunts, uncle larry and cousins. lots of cousins.
i didn't grow-up with a lot of family around so i'm not really good at this stuff.
i always get a little crazy and tend to roll my eyes a lot.
my sister-in-law recently reminded me that i also don't like people in the kitchen...true.
hopefully this year i will be more mature than in years past (but probably not).
i guess there's always a glass of wine. or two.

happy thanksgiving...

life is just soooo busy...

there just aren't enough hours in the day.
so frustrating.

i should be cooking and/or baking...

i just watched one of my daughters and her friends go to the opening of harry potter.
so cute.
they got really into it.
hopefully i'll post some pics tomorrow.
thanksgiving is around the corner.
omg.

happy thanksgiving...

yikes, thanksgiving is around the corner.
lucky me to be in the grocery store as they were making way for all the birds.
my vegetarian days are long gone but i have to say this is still hard for me.

falling for fall.

i'm not really a nature-y kind of person but leaves that turn orange and yellow are just cool.
i love fall.

it's finally here...

i have to come out of blog exile for this...

anita hill has nothing to apologize for and neither do the bizillions of other women brave enough to come forward to report sexual harasment.

what's next?

this is a card i'd like to send to my insurance company...

i won't bore you with the details..because everyone's got their idiotic insurance tale.
bottom line: i called my insurance company to find out if something was covered.
they said yes.
i went ahead and got the services only to find out that of the $275. charged by my doctor, aetna (oops!) only covers $43.
that's not covered, that's a joke.
clearly, we need health care reform.
i don't know if obama's plan is the answer but certainly it's better than nothing.
i think.

first day of school...

ever since the girls started going to school i have taken a photo of them off to the first day.
here they are off to 11th grade.
thank goodness for all the photos i have of them off to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th grade, etc. otherwise it would be hard to believe that these two little girls are in the final stretch of high school.

i don't know why i stopped blogging but i'm glad i did...

for a long time i blogged everyday.
and then one day i didn't feel like it anymore.
so i didn't---which is what's really nice about blogging.
you can just quit.
or not.
i read a post today that really articulated what i have been thinking.
sometimes when you hit 'publish post' you really wonder..why.
why do i do this?
why do i care?
what am i getting out of this?
initially the blog was all about my cards.
i posted a new card everyday for at least a year or so.
but then it evolved or devolved
into a warm-up.
i generally post in the morning, as i've finished the paper and coffee.
thinking about the blog, what i'm going to write, what pictures i am going to post is just another way for me to organize my thoughts for the day.
sometimes i post a new card.
sometimes i post a picture of my kids (tomorrow's blog).
sometimes i just mumble.
that's it.

sam and zoe...

morning walk

i love my morning walks with Lola.
it such a great time of day with a lot of built-in peace.
we generally go out pretty early, so the day is just settling in.
i never know what i am going to see.
but nature never disappoints.
i'm really not an outdoorsy type but sometimes i look at a flower and...
it just makes me happy.

know anyone to send this card to?

i am certainly not nominating myself for this.
but i do know a lot of people i'd like to send this card to.
a vast majority of those deserving of employee of the month
aren't employees.
yet they work their asses off every minute of every month.

Oldest Camper Show

Sammy is in that highly coveted position at camp: oldest camper.
with that status comes all kinds of benefits: air conditioned bunks complete with living room, kitchen, phone and tv.
it's pretty sweet and a nice way to bond one last time with the 18 other girls you've known for every summer since third grade.
i never loved camp. neither did jimmy or our other daughter zoe.
but sammy does.
she has really thrived up there in lenox, massachusetts.
i think she's free there in a way she can't be at home.
over the years she's been in a bizillion musicals and ballets and modern dance shows.
and the few times i've gotten to see her perform i've always been amazed at how brave she is.
however big or small the part, she gets up on stage and goes for it.
that's camp.
last night's show came on the heels of visiting day.
i always assumed that the camp was in morning once all the parents left.
last night proved otherwise.
the entire camp seemed lighter and happier than they had seemed all day.
there was definitely a sense of 'thank god the parents are gone...now we can get back to having fun.'
and they did.
at 8pm sharp the entire camp filled the jessup theatre and all at once began chanting.. OCS, OCS, OCS.
it was great.

off to visiting day at sammy's camp...

our daughter sammy has gone to a performing arts camp for the past eight summers.
as you can imagine there are few shrinking violets there.
all the campers are so full of life and really passionate about what they do.
it's always a pleasure to be part of this community.
really looking forward to it.

the dreaded mirror

i heard this in spin class this morning and thought it was profound.
nothing good ever comes from looking in the mirror.
so, walk away.
stop caring.
stop buying into everything you've been told since day one.
i wish i was this self-actualized.
maybe one day.
doubtful.

ragging type

last night's type class was really interesting.
we are still working on our book jackets.
i won't bore you with my design and where it stands.
suffice to say i have a lot of work to do.
we got into a discussion about ragging type and i decided to try it out with my card today.
(i think) ragged type is when it is not aligned. it just sort of hangs out there.
it's a lot of fun to work with...at least it was this morning.
i can't imagine having to rag an entire paragraph. oy.

content, content, content

i was at a dinner party the other night and the man sitting next to me wanted me to tell him about my cards.
so i read him the line from this one and he very politely smiled and asked me to pass the bread.
he didn't get it.
and why would he?
he doesn't blog.
but anyone who tries to post regularly knows that every conversation,
every funny story
every detail of your day to day existence is your next post.

everyone's everywhere...

for the last couple of years i've noticed a fairly big shift in my life.
while everyone around me seems to be in constant motion
i seem to be the one that isn't.
i'm the one in the family that sorta doesn't move.
i'm the one that's home,
in just about every sense of the word.
this summer is no different.
my husband has been traveling frequently for work.
sammy is away at sleep away camp for seven weeks.
and zoe has been in and out all summer.
i'm not sure when i became the one to hold down the fort.
but i feel like it's a pretty important thing to do.
at least for now.

homework....

so this was my homework for tonight's type design class:
redesign a book cover.
i chose the bluest eye, by toni morrison.
it's about a black girl's quest for blue eyes.
that's why my cover is entirely black.
with the exception of the book's title which i placed where someone's eyes would normally be.

next week's assignment:
design the sleeve and spine.

while this is a fun assignment i wonder if book covers will soon be a lost art with kindles and ipads.

happy independence day...

25 years ago i was traveling in singapore.
i walked into a restaurant, ordered lunch and sat down at an empty table.
as i looked around the restaurant i noticed i was the only woman eating alone.
when the waiter delivered my food he asked me where my husband was.
this was the first time i ever remember feeling american.
happy july 4th.

happy july!

both girls are away now.
sam is at a performing arts camp and zoe is at tennis camp.
it's funny because for the first time either one of them can be reached at their summer programs.
in years passed there were phone times...one day a week, for 10 minutes at a time when we could talk.
no longer.
now, if i want to talk to them, i just pick up the phone and dial.
they are both reachable, whenever.
but i'm finding that i'm not calling them too much and they're not calling me too much.
i think that's good.
it's nice to disconnect for a while.
that's the whole point of going away for the summer.
last night, i was bbm-ing with zoe and i was asking her some mundane question.
suddenly she was tired and had to go.
can't say i blame her.

carbo-loading...

this is what sixteen-year-olds eat before they play five days of tennis.
i, too, partook in this dinner although i am not planning on playing tennis, ever.
yesterday zoe and i were in providence, rhode island.
she's there for a tennis program.
we had a free night before the program started, so we went to el forno for dinner.
rightly so, she was carbo loading. and some.
i, on the other hand, well i'm not sure what i was doing....but i enjoyed every garlic-y bite.

sammy's at camp and it's time to start writing letters again...

this whole card business started when the girls went off to camp.
i found myself leaving card shops totally frustrated with the selection.
no, i didn't want to send my kids fart jokes or elaborate notes in sand or checklists where i could just check-off missing you.
so, i started making my own cards.
the pressure is really on to come up with some good cards.
this is sammy's last year at camp.
here's card number four.
(1,2,3 were ones i already posted)
it comes out of so many conversations i've had with the girls.
just be yourself.
be true to what you want and think.
but when you're 16 you don't always know who you are.
and what you want.
and what exactly to think.
time to pull out the parenting manual.

entourage

i was so tired last night.
but there i was at 10:30, bucket of popcorn and diet cherry soda in front of the tv.
it was the season premiere of entourage.
i just love this show.
even when it's only mediocre as it was last night.
the show's just great and i don't even know why.
i think the show mainly appeals to guys in their 20's and 30's.
not sure.
but the show's great.
i can hardly wait till next week.
and btw, i know necessarily is missing a few letters.
the word is too long and it was about time someone shortened it.

homework..

it's been crazy around here.
between packing my daughter off for camp and dealing with a clothes dryer on the brink of death just as were trying to get everything washed and in the trunks, i haven't really gotten anything too creative done today.
so, i'm going to post my homework from last night's type class.
the assignment: redesign a poster for a broadway show.
i chose to tackle the american idiot poster because i had just seen the show last week with sammy.
the poster above is fairly rough but i think you get the idea.
what did i learn in last night's class...
the color green is a big no no...only artists like it...real people don't.
never use more than three typefaces...it confuses people.
the objective of good type design is to surprise people.
but not too much.
for example, you'd never want to use 'the finger' in lieu of the letter 'i'.

one thing i know for sure...

not to get too oprah-y, but this is one of those things i know for sure.
and if i could impart anything on my 16-year-old daughters, this is what it would be.
you win by trying your hardest.
you win putting it all out there.
you win by taking a risk.
you always win when you learn something.

type design class..

i think i mentioned a couple blog posts ago that i was taking a type design class this summer.
i think i was pretty excited at one point, too.
that was before all the homework and deadlines.
jeez, school's a lot of f-ing work.

the first assignment was to choose a word and illustrate it through type.

hopefully dad's got a good sense of humor...

i was really moved by nicholas kristof's editorial in today's new york times.
so, no snazzy shirts for dad this year.
no more amazon gift cards.
this year, dad's getting a homemade card and a contribution to one of the worthy causes kristof talks about in his column.
i'm sort of leaning towards a contribution to one of the landmime sniffing rats but i want to discuss with my daughters first.

more father's day....

this sunday we will celebrate the guy around here that can do the nyt's crossword, solve 10th grade geometry mysteries, open jars of pickles and root for his beloved boston sports teams all at the same time. of course the girls in the house plan on taking charge of the food since we sorta like our meat cooked:)

father's day

it's friday, it's summer, it's all good..

in our house, summer vacation has officially begun.
yesterday was the last day of school for my 16-year-olds.
one is off to vietnam and the other is just off....
even i feel carefree knowing that school is done and i no longer have to be the nagging mom.
tgis!

enough....

i can't read the headlines anymore.
it's just too awful.
we can't figure out this oil spill?
really?
ugh.
really makes you lose faith.

summer greeting cards...keep it (very) light...

it's summer.
anything goes so long as it bright and graphic.
at least that's what i think,