Kelle, Author at Enjoying the Small Things

Weekend

July 7, 2012 By Kelle

They shovel sand and shell bits side by side, quietly concentrating on leveling their own space. They mind their own jobs, seemingly unaware of each other’s presence yet I know they are very much aware that they are not alone.

Both blond. One wispy with bangs, one neatly combed and parted.
Their differences and their sameness are exhaled in equal breaths tonight, and I am comfortable with that. How little or how much they talk, how steady or uncertain they walk, how closely their actions parallel their peers, how each of their imaginary futures looms in my mind–thoughts all present but stationed to the back stage because what dances in the center, under the lights, in front of the crowd, is good. It’s what’s happening right now.

Right now, a five year old yells from her bedroom and tells me she can do her own pig tails. I run to inspect and there she is, her chocolate eyes smiling with pride as she turns her head from side to side, flaunting a perfect pig tail secured with a triple wound rubber band on each side. “Wow,” we all say.

Right now, I hear tiny bare feet slapping on the tile–a pattern I know well. Slap, slap, slap–a series of them that echo down the hallway as Nella runs with a mission to find a lost bottle. “Baba, where are you?” she clearly articulates and, while she’s simply repeating what Brett just said, we turn and acknowledge her perfect full sentence with a proud glance to each other.

One turns the pages of favorite books and makes up stories that begin with “One time” and end with “…and then they all had a party.” The other reaches up to grab my hand, pulling it to lead me to the stereo where she points and asks for music–for dancing. One loves “peanut butter sandwiches with just jelly” and one loves apples, sliced and peeled. They both love the pool and long baths and pulling everything out of my purse. One sleeps deeply, still and quiet all night. One flips and turns and cries when her legs get stuck in the crib rails. Both want breakfast within thirty seconds of waking up.

My girls who are different and the same both continually make me feel proud and capable and excited for tomorrow.

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Last night, Nella played with this baby doll on the beach for forty minutes. She talked to her, patted her, nursed her, turned sand strainers into blankets, walked her, kissed her and demonstrated all the best mama qualities. I finally captured a full care session on video. It makes me cry.

Song: Beach Baby by Bon Iver

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Friday Photo Dump:

Friday Phone Dump photos are taken on the Instagram iPhone app (free) and dropped into a 12×12 collage using a photo editing software (Photoshop Elements works). I am @etst (enjoying the small things) on Instagram if you care to follow the feed.

And your #enjoyingthesmallthings photos. (If you use Instagram and have a photo that makes you happy, share it by using the hashtag #enjoyingthesmallthings. Yours may be chosen to be shared in a Friday post.)

Happy Weekend.

July 4

July 5, 2012 By Kelle

It was a unanimous decision to skip the July 4th parade this year, purely based on evidence that the girls don’t exactly love it at this stage in their lives. That evidence includes, among cheerful flag waving and candy catching, past years’ less favorable memories of sweaty foreheads, crying, hours of hands cupped over ears, pleas of “When will this be over?” and the clincher, Lainey’s straightforward request Tuesday night of “Please, can we not go to the parade tomorrow?” Which is just funny, I guess.

So we traded out some festive traditions and landed at my dad’s house where we spent the afternoon in the pool and later back at home. As the sun slowly descended, the neighborhood fireworks commenced, beginning slowly like the first kernels to burst in a bag of popcorn, but soon exploding to a steady staccato rhthym. Silhouettes of boys on bikes could be seen pedaling quickly past our street as throngs of young teenagers scouted out the best show. Somewhere in the middle, we scored with a collection of driveway fountains and sparklers for the girls.

The pinnacle of summer, our fourth was spent well. Paradeless yet redeemed by summer staples–fresh tomatoes, ripe watermelon, baked beans, glass bottle Cokes, pool jumps, new bubbles, sparklers and finally slipping into bed where we fell asleep to the distant rumble of firework encores.

Our Fourth in Photos:

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We are welcoming back Tea Collection as an Enjoying the Small Things sponsor this month. Whether you’re looking for summer basics or comfortable styles to stock up for back-to-school, Tea Collection offers quality clothing inspired by a fusion of worldwide cultures. I love that all our Tea pieces wash well and come out of the dryer wrinkle free. While they are stylish, Lainey still insists on storing her Tea clothes in her “comfy drawer.” It’s win/win.

Nella’s Dyed Dots Knot Dress–super soft and currently on sale

Check out their summer sale and new pieces from their Nordic-inspired fall preview.

Some of my favorite Tea pieces:

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A photography/inspiration interview over at I Heart Faces, if you’re interested. I’m excited to meet several of you at their conference in Dallas this October!

Creating Change

July 2, 2012 By Kelle

The day did not get a rolling start this morning. Rather it sort of stumbled and stopped–over a too-early wake-up time, over another cup of coffee that failed to do its job, over the obvious need for naps that literally whined its alarm at ten o’clock. Work is hard on these days; writing is nearly impossible. Perhaps in response to my own edginess and frustration, my brain fires survival commands and the result is a scattered mess of thoughts which can’t be compiled into anything sensible. But I won’t go down without a fight. I refuse to condemn a perfectly good Monday as “one of those days” before noon. Hell, before five.

I don’t think being happy and the number of good days we have is so much governed by genetic predisposition as it is creativity–developing new possibilities and alternatives to deal with real problems. And really, creativity in its artistic form–painting, decorating, writing, singing, sculpting–it’s all the same. We create something good when there’s a need. When there’s a blank canvas or maybe just an ugly one that needs repainting.

I repainted my ugly canvas this morning, rifling through nearby resources like digging through a junk drawer for spare paint brushes. You use what you have, and I had a stroller and a beautiful, albeit hot, day. We walked a different path, peeling sweaty clothes from our bodies and slowly reversing the day’s tone with each step. Two blocks in, Nella fell asleep which eased me into finding time for some work, and another change–hauling my laptop out onto a blanket in the woods–accomplished more than my coffee did this morning.

I don’t push creativity on my kids because I want them to be interesting or have something great to tell people at a party someday. When I gush with pride after Lainey paints something spectacular or chooses an imaginative ensemble to wear, it isn’t because I think it makes her stand out as unique and awesome (even though it does).

I celebrate creativity and applaud imagination in my children mostly because the ability to create something new–to dream up a different way of doing something–means they are more guaranteed to find happiness in life.

The more they create and practice building something from nothing or changing not-so-great into fabulous, the more likely they are to use creative strategies to develop solutions to challenges in their life. They will find joy, and they’ll do it with words and colors and paintbrushes and voices and journals and music.

By example, I will model to my girls…If what you seek doesn’t exist, create it. In art. In life.

This Weekend, in Art:

A Room Makeover.
The eating area in our home has always held so much potential. Natural light pours in generously from a great bay window, and the room is joined to the kitchen by a counter bar. It’s a happy place, but the elements of the room–a high table that cut the window view, drab beige paint, a clutter-collecting soffit and a black linens hutch that was given to us–never added up to give the room what it deserved. That is until I put our table up for sale and found a smaller quaint farmhouse table on Craigslist for a steal. That was last week. And, if you give a mouse a cookie, she’s not going to stop. I started the Deibeigify House Project, painting our dining room an airy pale blue (Behr Pensive Sky) and following with removing all clutter. The true transformation came with an easy furniture transformation. In two hours, our black table linens hutch turned in to a great piece of furniture that gives the room a colorful pop.

It cost me all of three cans of spray paint (Rustoleum, Color: eden) and new hardware (50% off at Hobby Lobby right now).

For those on Instagram who had questions, how I did it:

Finally, I installed a couple shelves between the kitchen and dining area to highlight some of my favorite antique shop finds.

Rhino Head (his name is Al) is from Z Gallerie

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This Weekend, in Life:

Celebrating Brett’s Birthday

Sunday afternooon swim

Celebrating our sixth anniversary last night

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Last Week’s Friday Photo Dump:

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A special offer for readers today: Joyfolie Shoes offers beautiful, unique shoes for little girls (and now women too!).

I’m in love with Nella’s little yellow beauties.

I remember when Joyfolie was just starting out–a small collection of amazing homemade shoes. Word traveled quickly. A look at their site, and you’ll see why. Use code KH30 for 30% off your order (excludes styles marked NEW).

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Sunny Monday to you!