I took a silly facebook quiz today and while I place no real stock in things like this I'd like to believe that this has me pretty much pegged - even the "bad" stuff...

It was titled "What Color is Your Energy?"

Purple

Idealistic and full of spiritual power, you have one of the strongest and most influential energies. With a strong intuitive and psychic ability (though you may not know it), you have an effortless influence over those around you without them - and most likely you - even noticing. Every little change about you, be it emotionally or atmospherically will affect those around or closest to you. Few notice it - when people do start to notice, however, it makes them feel unsettled and unsure of you, so make sure to be careful with just how many things you change!

You have a very protective nature and often put others before you without thinking twice. Sometimes however you’ll find yourself questioning your actions and will try to change it - don’t. Not only are you selfless (to an extent), you’re most likely to be extremely empathic - maybe one of your friends is feeling low and they haven’t mentioned it? Doesn’t matter - something inside of you will click and tell you that something isn’t right. No matter what emotion they’re feeling, chances are you’ll feel it too and be able to carefully slip it out of them as to what’s going on.

You’re also creative to the extreme; often you let yourself escape reality and create new thoughts, worlds and ideals for you to live by and start to hate what’s real and long for what you created yourself. You’re a very passionate person who loves to feel inspired but when deprived of the things you love, you become difficult to handle, depressive and often self-abusive. Remember: you’re full of intensity, and although a lot of the time it’s something that people gravitate towards, it can also push people away and make them not want to get any closer. Take care to limit how extreme your feelings and actions are, otherwise you may end up feeling quite alone.

Positive Qualities: Intuitive; empathic; open-minded; creative; somewhat selfless; compelling; mystifying; impulsive.

Negative Qualities: Tend to go to extremes; unbalanced; difficult; secretive; you can be quite manipulative though not always with cruel intentions; impulsive (not always a good thing!).

I freaking love elephants

Earlier this evening I was watching some Planet Earth while munching on some dinner. Wendy (who had finished her dinner and was mooching off of me) was also mildly engaged in the pretty birds and fish and mammals - but her attention was equally divided between the TV animals and our three cats, whom she kept trying (unsuccessfully) to hug.
At one point in the movie the narrator was teaching us all about elephants and their long trek for fresh water in the drought season. I was rapt. I ADORE elephants. I think I may have been one in a past a life. They are such incredible creatures and one of my animal sisters who I truly try to emulate. This fascination began early on when I first saw Dumbo (laugh if you will but that freaking movie STILL makes me cry...) and fuel was added to the flames when I watched a documentary about elephant graveyards a few years later. All in all I'm pretty much in love with elephants. Anyway, back to the story -
So the narrator is going on about how as they are traveling they get caught up in dust storms and families can sometimes get separated, especially young ones becasue they become temporarily blinded by the dust. As I'm watching, the camera focuses on one lone baby elephant who wandered away from the rest during one of the aforementioned dust storms. He was industriuosly following his mother's footprints in an attempt to rejoing the group, BUT he was going the wrong direction.
My heart broke. I started weeping uncontrollably for this baby elephant lost and alone in the world. Wendy stopped trying to bag a cat, turned to me and stared at my tear-stained face. I tried to calm down and smile, as past experience has taught me that Wendy becomes DEEPLY troubled by my tears. Then all of a sudden my 19-month old baby girl wrapped her arms around my neck, squeezed her little cheek next to mine and said, "It's OK, mama."
I love elephants, and I LOVE my daughter. She is a good, good soul.

What I know

Ok, so I don't really know anything about politics. I don't know which guys are for or against which issues. I don't know who had an affair on his wife or who is a secret member of what shocking religious group or underground organization. I don't know what church group is protesting what, or why. I don't know which restaurants serve only earth-friendly organic food. I don't know which businesses are green and cruelty-free. I don't know who has it right, and who has it wrong, or even what the criteria are for making that decision in the first place.
Here's what I know:
I know everyone everywhere deserves a second chance because people are always making mistakes, and everyone needs more opportunities to get better.
I know that it is possible to learn from your mistakes and grow becasue of our bad choices.
I know that hurting others is never the best way to solve the times when we don't see eye to eye - issues may be worth fighting for but I'm pretty sure there's a point where you have to step back and realize that we were all created to be different...and that maybe the one who did the creating had a very good reason for that.
I know that every time I eat any type of meal I am grateful for the bounty of the earth that sustains me and which allows me to keep caring for my family and doing work I love.
I know that I could always be doing better, be doing more, but having good intentions, the willingness to help, and a positive outlook can be powerful in and of itself.
I know that I am open to learning more everyday, and I hope I will never disregard wisdom or enlightenment from any source.
I know I love deep and true, and that as long as I open my eyes tomorrow I have another chance. And another. And another.

Top Ten Favorite Things About Today

10. Had chocolate malts for dinner (not JUST chocolate malts of course)

9. Wore my awesome new beatles tee shirt today - it looks like this:


8. Bought a kitchen scale today so I could make a super yummy vegetable soup for dinner later this week.

7. Used the magic of spring cleaning to attack Wendy's room and the front closet (will do more tomorrow)

6. Donated a hefty portion of Wendy's outgrown clothes to friend who has friend who is about to have baby and can't afford much for her. (Did you follow that convoluted sentence?)

5. Downloaded a bunch of new music onto my MP3 player (all by myself!)

4. Started re-reading one of my favorite books (this may not sound like much to you, but I ADORE reading comfortable, familiar stories over & over again - even more so now that Wendy is in my life and uninterrupted reading time is really hard to come by)

3. Made plans with Jenny to go to the beach tomorrow afternoon. (first beach trip now that the weather is turning warmer - yay!)

2. Enjoyed Wendy's THREE HOUR NAP (yes, you read that right...)

1. Found time to post another blog - even if it is a kind of mindless one.

With warm hugs; thanks for listening...

Picture this...

This evening Wendy's dad went to his weekly guy's-night-out shindig, leaving us two gals at home alone with each other. Close your eyes, if you will, and imagine the following:
First we tried to watch movies together, but I just wasn't feeling The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland and she's not so much for 80's flicks like Dream a Little Dream so we moved on to the next event: bubble-blowing.
Wendy had gotten a plastic bubble-maker in the shape of a butterfly from Nana for Easter so we took it out onto the front porch (her without her pants on because it was hot, me with mine on because they lock you up for that sort of thing at my age) and commenced the bubbling. She was utterly delighted, and was squealing with unconstrained joy until the bubble fluid ran out - then it was back to the drawing board...
She played a couple rounds of her current favorite game "Shoes Off, Shoes On" but it was obvious that just wasn't satisfying her. She was bored. She was restless. It was time for some drastic measures on my part.
So I grabbed a book light, flicked it on, and showed her how to wave it around. While she was getting the hang of that I killed the lights and cranked the music. We spent the rest of the evening dancing around like dervishes with fairy lights to Jason Mraz music (On Love, In Sadness was a particularly big hit with her) and then she went to bed and I came in here to share it all with you.
Goodnight. Sleep loose.

Letting Go

Letting go is NOT easy for me. I have a hard time trusting others the way I trust myself. All others. Yeah, that's right, including you!
I don't mean to be that way, but somehow I am. I try to take little steps to improve upon this disadvantage within myself, and I took a great big one this year with the spring Drama Club production.
I had already decided the show would be the Moliere comedy Tartuffe, but suddenly one morning I woke up and thought, "I should pick a student director this time around!" So I did.
It was hard, and scary, and stressful. I often expected him to know things that he didn't (and couldn't, given his level of maturity and inexperience) and then I got frustrated - more with myself for not having been a better teacher to him, or for expecting too much from the poor kid and stressing HIM out (he was a novice first-timer after all) or for even having the effing idea in the first place.
But we made it through alive - all of us - and I think it was quite delightful in the end. It felt good to have shared one of my most rewarding experiences with someone else who revels in the joy and thrill that comes with creation. It's a precedence I may well decide to continue with...
... or maybe I'll return to where I am comfortable, being in full control of my shows, but either way I learned things - about myself, about how to do it better, and about the satisfaction that comes with a good solid collaboration.
So in that spirit please enjoy these photos from my latest show:










P.S. Please don't judge me based on the photo quality - I'm a phenomenal director, but a pretty pathetic photographer...

Wendy's dinner

Wendy is a fan of eating - always has been. I used to have to nurse her for hours at a time. Seriously, hours. She effortlessly made the switch from a liquid diet to solids. It was all good to her - as long as she has something to put in her tummy. I am deeply relieved that she is not a picky eater. She eats things you don't really expect 17 month-olds to eat. Things like lima beans, and vegetarian sausage. So for your entertainment, a photo-illustrated blog of Wendy eating dinner (you'll have to excuse the blurriness - that kid moves like lightning when there's food at stake):


As you can see - on tonight' s menu we have pineapple, which Wendy loves and refers to as "APP!" We had "APPS!" for dessert tonight after carrots, lima beans, and ravioli.


This is her charming "mouth-full-of-food" face, one of my personal favorites.


Wendy doesn't like the flash on the camera - it makes her squinch up her eyes all funny...and totally ruins her entire dining experience....of course, she could just be making me a lovely diaper surprise, those two faces are remarkably similar...

Now, on to some serious eating...

Listen here, Mama, time to get that flashy camera out of my face I'm trying to eat my dinner!

...as soon as I get it unstuck from between my teeth...

I'm just going to ignore you and hope that you go away and leave me in peace to finish my meal.

I tell you - that little girl makes my world go round.
Good night - sleep sweet.