I didn’t always love where I live. Crazy, I know. Sandy beaches, blue skies, palm trees…totally blows, eh?
I used to crave for something different. The mountains of Colorado. The culture of Boston. The crazy fun of Chicago. The cool hippy vibe of places like Austin or Ashville.
I am learning though, as I grow, to look for the beauty of where I am. It might not be what I expected, but it’s where I landed, and I can rock it out. (Theme of the year, anyone?)

My dad always says to be a thermostat and not a thermometer. Thermometers only measure the temperatures around them. Thermostats change them.

So, while I used to think this town could be a little hoity-toity, a little frowning on public breastfeeding, a little I-can’t-believe-you-sit-in-lawnchairs-in-your-driveway-and-watch-your-kid-run-barefoot-for-two-hours, I own it now. I love where I live for its beauty, its sunshine, its four-minute-drive-to-the-beach. And the stuff I don’t so much like? I’ll change.

We live in a beautiful city. It’s small enough to bump into neighbors in the produce aisle at the grocery store and yet big enough to offer cheap t-shirts with Naples slapped across palm tree decals. Our skies are blue, our air is kissed with sea salt, and our highway medians are peppered with palm trees. This past year, I’ve met so many wonderful people in this town–people who dig public breastfeeding. People who join us in the driveway while we, together, watch our barefoot kids trace bodies with sidewalk chalk and stain the cement with melted chocolate from the ice cream sandwiches they’ve failed to finish.

I’ve completely fallen in love with where I live this year. And I own it.

Yesterday, we spent the day at the beach with friends.

And as I sat and watched kids dodge white-capped waves and Lainey change into the fourth bathing suit of the day, I thought once again how the grass may be greener on the other side but our skies are still bluer.

My friend Julie whose twins, Cash & Rocco, are only a week older than Nella.

The babies enjoyed intertwining their feet in a make-shift rattan chair playpen.

…and while I did my share of lovin’ my beach babies and catching up on some reading…

…I forgot to apply sunblock to my shins. And now they are burnt. And I learned my lesson.

And because I love, love, love my new retro suit and I found a cool boutique in Oregon that specializes in retro swimwear just like it (can’t wait to get this one) along with Portland swimwear, I’ll share a little discount. Pamela, who designs the Popina line herself, has offered to give a 15% discount to all readers. Type in the coupon code “kelle” at check-out.

Watch out, Esther Williams.

Sunny days to come. I love where I am right now.

(and thanks to the comment suggesting the Sim Redmund Band!)

Sometimes I imagine I am wearing magic boots.
And I imagine that when I put them on, they give me powers.
Special powers.
Like when I wear my boots, I can change the world.
I can keep my house clean.
I can love my girls up real, real good.
I can understand some of the mysteries of the world and find peace with that which I don’t understand.
I can dance like Madonna in this video.
And it’s funny. Because, on days when the world seems to be twirling out of control and I can’t keep up, I just picture my magic boots. I envision slipping my feet into their comfortable grip…and I walk. In my magic boots. And somehow, some way, my imaginary world seeps into my real world.

I like my magic boots.

I’ve been wearing them lately, and while my world is changing and growing and things are far from the comfortable stagnancy they were a year ago, I realize that there is so much good happening in our lives. And we are learning and stretching and growing and finding beauty in ways I didn’t know we could.

We’ve been enjoying family the past few days, and Lainey has been thrilled to have found someone who appreciates the mischief of stealing make-up as much as she does. She and her cuz had a full blown makeover session the other night in the comfort of the kitchen floor.

…and I love how, while she’s applying lipstick to someone else, she can’t help but reveal her own little make-up application face.

In two days, we celebrated a half birthday, an almost birthday and a real birthday. After our “Hapy Half Birthday” song and a tealight candle on some marmalade toast the other morning, we had to sing a “Happy Almost-Birthday to Lainey” song (with another tealight candle on some marmalade toast)…

…but my favorite was our real Happy Birthday song because my beautiful cousin is soon to be thirty and having her and her sweet family here with us was more of a gift to me…and it’s not even my birthday.

When I was in the hospital with Nella and I began to try and sort out what life would be like, I remember telling myself that we will go to Isle of Capri again. We will take our family and our new baby someday soon to our happy place and all would be okay…and I strangely found comfort in dreaming of us all together on a Sunday afternoon…chasing my two girls through the salty craters of low tide, smiling…away from the rest of the world of stereotypes and pain and limitations.

A few weeks after, we debuted our new family on that familiar shoreline, but it wasn’t what I thought it would be. I was still hurting, I didn’t want to talk about anything, and I had a pit in my stomach from Brett getting ready to head back up to Chicago the following day. And I remember feeling so disappointed that our return to our sweet little isle wasn’t what I thought it would be. It wasn’t healing or redemptive in any way.

I wanted a do-over.

And I got it.
Last night.

Oh, it was beautiful. And shared with family.

I found healing in our huddle of beach chairs as we sat and watched the sunset, recalling many of our memories of this place we call home. Like when I’d slam my lesson plan book shut on a Thursday afternoon just a few short years ago and hustle out of my classroom to meet Brett at Naples Bay where we’d hop on jet skis and skid across the canal channels to land right here under this same sky, these same stars. Like when Lainey zig-zagged the wheels of her walker along the wood-planked floors in the tiki bar and diners smiled and cooed as her sweaty little face found comfort in the afternoon sun. Like when the boys would steal the kayaks and go exploring, coming back with pails of little crabs that were set free to scurry back to their homes. This is such a happy place, full of so many memories for us and last night, I was redeemed as I shared the new sister with our friends and told her story…and we leaped over salty craters with cousins and watched the sun set slowly behind the blanket of trees and seas.

There are still so many uncolored pages here on our happy isle. What memories my girls will make here…what colors they will choose…outside the lines, of course. Completely and beautifully…abstract.

We stayed late, the pink-hued sky replaced with a tapestry of crystal stars, the tiki bar lit up like an enchanted cottage, the dock lights reflecting magical glows that danced with the subtle waves of the tide in rhythm to the guitar tunes that trickled from the bar…

…and the perfect place to celebrate half birthdays, almost birthday, and real birthdays…all in one.

The sweet, salty, sea-kissed taste of redemption.
It’s delicious.

I will announce the winner of the lively place contest next post. I had over 300 entries, and that’s a lot to look at…but beautiful, insightful, inspiring. So, thank you.

And I forgot to add…the Rosie interview was beautiful. She was kind and intently listened, and we were so honored to be a part of her show. It’s been a beautiful thing to see awareness grow…to see attention brought to beauty, to differences, and to the incredible world of families who welcome any kind of child…regardless of how many chromosomes they have. Rosie has done a great job of representing…and we thank her for that!

Happy Hump-day! ~k

I want to be forever young.

i knew it was going to be a good weekend yesterday morning. just had a feeling as my girl awakened in our barely-lit room, smiled and said…good morning, mama. she says it every morning…all sweet and sugary, and i’ve realized it’s her way of getting on our good side so we won’t tell her to go back to sleep. it so works.
the air smelled like an early michigan spring day…with the week’s earlier cold front barely lingering with sweet humidity-free breezes but this week’s sunshine still optimistically trickling in.

we did our whole coffee/linger/long shower saturday morning thing…and it was beautiful.

she sings in the shower now. made up words that come out this sweet toddler morning melody…like maaa-laaaa-ohhhh…beeeee. i have some precious video footage of it still to upload…someday.

and today? oh, today was splendid.
we left the house early to kidnap papa because that’s what we do when he’s down here. he has no choice as we usually ambush him with an early phone call that just says something like, ‘we’re on our way to come get you…’ and we hang up before he tells us of any possible plans. i think he likes it though.

we whizzed through dunkin donuts drive-thru first for a decaf…and powdered munchkins for the girl…and good weekend continues with an overly smiley employee who, at 8:15 on a sunday morning, finds the energy to tell me my headband is pretty. she smiles and playfully assures me i’ll wake up soon when she catches me yawn. her smile is genuine and i think i want to be her friend.

we drive past the back of a house i’ve never noticed before on immokalee. there’s a beautiful wooden deck sprawled over what appears to be a glorified ditch… and on that deck, an older man in a sweater sitting in a chair enjoying a cup of coffee and a paper. i bet he saved up forever for that deck. and i’ll bet he doesn’t know it’s a ditch. i bet, to him…it’s an ocean view.

we pick up papa and head out, listening to christmas music along the way, to the grand opening weekend of naples’ new botanical gardens which ends up being one of the best decisions ever in the history of mankind.

it. was. beautiful.

we walked along lake paths, chased butterflies, laid in rare southern soft grass, and took in the beauty of a sunday morning spent quietly among a trillion colors of our fabulous little florida.

lainey spent over an hour in the amazing children’s garden where she settled into a small cottage just her size…sweeping the porch and filling watering cans to take care of ‘her’ window boxes.

we breathed in the blessed perfume of basil in the herb gardens, made some butterfly antenna and promised our girl that butterflies indeed, do not bite. she didn’t believe us.

if you live in the naples area, i cannot urge you enough to come visit this place (i say ‘come’ as if it’s ours…and thanks to papa, we’re now family members, so we’ll be there lots). there are acres and acres of magnificence. i think my favorite garden was this little fenced in place just swamped with creativity…plants growing out of old tennis shoes and roller skates, tea cups full of bird seed…and these lovely purses blooming some beauty…

hello, little heaven.

yes, our morning was simply fabulous.

and pregnant shadows make me smile.

and happy day continued at home with an afternoon in the sprinkler…

and her release of some faces she never lets us get on camera…although we see them all the time. i felt like i had captured bigfoot and was half-afraid my images would strangely disappear if i didn’t immediately upload them after.

…and my most favorite face ever she makes from time to time. always makes me laugh.

and she works it because she knows it’s my favorite one.

we love happy weekends.

…and know there are many more to come.

lainey is sound asleep and little sister is auditioning for lord of the dance in there…or somethin’ like it. wow.

i. am. …happy.