getting ready

I go back and forth between thinking what I am going to do is HUGE and thinking it is no big deal. Regardless of my current mood, tomorrow I will be running my very first EVER half-marathon. I am excited and nervous. My clothes are laid out and I am about to pin my bib on the tank top I'll be wearing tomorrow. Who knew I'd love running this much...not THIS girl, that's for sure!

jonah michael

I cannot believe it. Somehow in the midst of everyday life my sister Val became a mother and I in turn became an aunt. I'm not quite sure how it happened. Not the baby making part, the mystery and wonder and semi-freakiness of bringing a new life into the world.

There we all were at the hospital for 32 hours [yes, THIRTY-TWO HOURS]. Waiting for an update, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. Doing something almost constantly, cards, speed scrabble, bad TV, reading, eating, talking, just to keep busy, to fill the space as we waited.

And then he arrived.

And everything stopped.

We hovered outside the delivery room waiting for the telltale wail, and as we heard it we heard my beautiful sister Val cry, "My baby! My sweetheart."



Jonah Michael
7lbs 11ozs
19in
3:24P 20 June 2009

present

I am a BIG fan of The Avett Brothers.

DUH.

Maybe you haven't taken time to watch those videos I posted. Maybe you think I'm weird for getting all crazy about a band. Maybe you're just busy.

Make space. Make time. Find five minutes and listen to the first single from their new album, both called I and Love and You. You can download it for free, so do it.

flattered

I don't know about you, but I have bloggers that I LOVE reading. I love the ways their minds work. Sometimes because they are so different from mine that I sit puzzling over what it is they've just said. Sometimes because they express themselves in ways I GET instantaneously. They are thought provoking, irreverent, beautiful, and a multitude of other adjectives. So when one of these bloggers decides to respond to a comment I've made on their blog [like Glenna C. did about the Viper Pilot socks] I get a little giddy. And when Pacing The Panic Room [a.k.a. Ryan, do yourself a favor and READ him] decides to mosey over my way and check out my ramblings, even comment on a few of them, I get all happy.

Because mostly I just write because I love to write and because I love words and expressing myself with them. And I write because I have loved ones who don't live a close as my heart wishes they would. So it's like bonus points when people I read decide to read me.

possibly?

It is possible that I am going to be an auntie VERY soon. Valerie and Jeremy are at the hospital right now to check out some "leaking" that's been going on since yesterday. This is perhaps, the much less dramatized version often depicted by Hollywood, her water breaking.

There are no contractions, so it is also possible that they will send her home and tell her to sit on a towel.

I'll be honest, I'm crossing my fingers for contractions.

home

I have this new home, a new house, a place into which I have recently moved.

There are still boxes to be unpacked, nooks, crannies, corners and closets to be organised.

But I have a place to lay my head, an address that doesn't include a PO Box.

I am finding all these things I love about simply coming home, merely spending time in that place.

Having a place to call home is effecting every area of my life in surprising and wonderful ways.

Welcome home.

recognition

You know when everything just sort of fits together, even if just for a few moments? You look up and notice how everything has settled in just the right arrangement.. All the background noises, sights and sounds compliment each other and you, and this contentment washes over you. It happens at the most random of times. Today, with my office an unbelievable mess of cups, dishes, binders and paper, and a sky full of clouds, I breathed in and as I exhaled I felt that contentment settle in.

It is not about how long the contentment stays, it is about recognizing it while it is here.

i won

With every additional mile I am surprised by the excuses I seem to come up with for stopping.

With every additional mile I am encouraged by my ability to discount those excuses.

With every additional mile I am amazed by my body's ability to keep going.

With every additional mile I am delighted that my legs keep going, even though they've not yet covered this distance in a single run.

On Saturday another battle of wills took place. I challenged my stack of excuses to a nine mile run.

I won.

wod.fam.choc.sod.

My cousin Lizzy is...


amazing.

She is my cousin. She is my sister. She is my best friend.

She makes me laugh harder than anyone I know. She inspires me in more ways than I can express. She reminds me of the Truth when I struggle to see through the lies.

Liz, you have been there for EVERYTHING. For smiling belly buttons and deadly Now & Laters. For Rice Chex with whipped cream and moving away from my dad. For Team Mega Death [we're hardcore] road trips up the PCH to all the happy and sad tears shed over the last 18 months, and all the other ones for that matter.

Thank you for being there for EVERYTHING.

Thank you for being my cousinsisterbestfriend.

Thank you for your tenacious, wise spirit.

Thank you for telling the truth even when it is hard.

Thank you for every single bit of who you are.

I love you and I am so glad you were born 26 years ago today.

the avetts are here to stay

If you've been around me this past week here is what you know:

I AM [even more] OBSESSED WITH THE AVETT BROTHERS.

I have, with the exception of time spent running*, listened almost solely to their albums since last Friday. And I wish I could concisely explain why this obsession has taken root so deeply. Since I doubt my ability to do that I will simply share these:

Cigarettes & Whiskey**


The Ballad of Love and Hate


Murder in the City


Gimmeakiss***


*I am in the process of compiling an Avett Brothers running mix.
**Cover
***I wasn't there for Gimmeakiss, but there aren't any good videos of their faster stuff from the first night.