My friend Bonnie decided on her birthday this year that she would take a picture every day of something that made her happy, to remind herself in the midst of a difficult time to Find the Happy. She decided to create a Flickr group so her friends could share the happy too.

Finding a bit of Happy each day.

The rules:

1. Find some Happy and photograph it each day. You could choose to do it less often if that works better for your life but my theory is that the more often you look for the Happy, the more the Happy helps.
2. Do it for a year. Or less. Or more. Or as needed.
3. No Unhappy allowed. That also includes self-abuse if you miss a day or lots of days. Hippie voice: Go with the flow, man. Everything is as it should be.
4. Rules are for breaking. Except Number 3, it’s best not to upset Hippie Voice.

My heart has been heavy lately, thinking about Samantha. So I’m reminding myself of some happy things.

I don’t know about you, but homemade black-and-white cookies make me very happy.

So does the cool way the sun was reflecting off this dotty coffee mug. Like little bubbles of sunlight!

I happened to glance at Annalie’s calendar a day or two before Troy’s birthday and was tickled to realize that she had drawn a miniature portrait of our family on that date, complete with him in a party hat.

I love it when I get a teeny painting of a harried-looking coffee-drinking cat in the mail. Thanks, Brenda!

French toast with powdered sugar on a sunshiny dottery plate.

Keeping a baby alive and homeschooling a 7-year-old are both time-consuming pursuits (duh), but while I barely have time to shower and I don’t seem to have time for housework, I manage to cook dinner almost every night and write emails and blog posts (sort of) and I’ve been crocheting a lot. So I guess it’s true that you do make time for what you love. And crocheting makes me happy.

I’m sure that in a year or so I’ll be hearing many cries of “Mo-ooom, make her stop touching my stuff!” So I try extra hard to enjoy the sweet moments like this, when it’s clear how much Annalie loves her little sister.

On one of Troy’s Navy deployments years ago, he happened to go to a wine festival in Cyprus, and he brought back two of these little glasses. They’re the perfect size for a shot of juice or taking a packet of Emergen-C, and it makes me smile each time I use one. It’s such a random thing to have in my cupboard, small wineglasses from a Cypriot wine festival, yet there they are.

I went to high school and college with Rainbow Rowell. (I know, awesome name!) She wasn’t someone I hung out with, but we knew each other. We had mutual friends, and when we went to the same university we occasionally ate lunch together. I’ve been reading Rainbow’s writing for two decades now, mostly in newspaper-column or blog-post form, but now I’ve read something way more exciting: Rainbow’s very first novel, a romantic comedy called Attachments. The night I started reading it, I actually got out of bed at 3:30am, feeling compelled to send Rainbow a message to let her know I was loving her book and was genuninely happy for and proud of her. (I’ll be interviewing Rainbow soon and doing a giveaway of her book in a blog post, so stay tuned for that!)

The sun was shining into Annalie’s room just right one afternoon so that her bright fuchsia sheets were reflecting a pink glow onto everything else in the room. A few days later, Annalie picked this bouquet of wildflowers, leaves of grass, and a wild strawberry from our yard for me and arranged them in an old vanilla bottle.

The first Saturday that Sonja was here, Karyl & her girls came up to spend the day with us, which was super fun. We started with brunch—aebleskiver and home-fried potatoes and bacon and fruit—which made me very happy because I love brunch. Also, I made the aebleskiver with almond milk and coconut oil and maple syrup (in place of cow’s milk and butter and granulated sugar) so Sonja could eat them, and they were totally as delicious as usual. It was a Very Happy Thing indeed: brunch everyone could eat!

Sonja-safe brownies, made with coconut oil instead of butter and honey instead of sugar. And they tasted good! Yay! I had fun meeting the challenge of cooking without ingredients I usually rely on while Sonja was here.

I love it when naps end like this, with Elliora waking up in the Ergo and smiling when she sees me.

If I have to put up with hot and humid summer weather, at least I get to eat perfectly summery meals like this: grilled mini burgers, strawberries, and marinated cucumber salad. Yum.

After seeing Lauren’s Doctor Who necklace on Flickr, I stalked this Etsy shop until she listed more so I could buy one for myself. I like how the high-top sneaker is a reference to the Chucks habitually worn by both the Tenth Doctor and Chuck Bartowski.

We often make popcorn with the very air-popper that I used when I was a kid, and eat it out of the exact stainless-steel bowl I used to eat popcorn from. (My mom was getting rid of the air popper and asked if I wanted it; I basically swiped the bowl because I loved it so much. Both these things are 30+ years old.)

Trader Joe’s dark chocolate bar with caramel bar and black sea salt. Enough said.

We live near a good bakery and stop there on a regular basis for treats. Every time, Annalie carefully surveys the variety of lovely, fancy cookies and pastries…and then requests a plain butter cookie. I love that.

I believe we’ve mentioned before that our neighbors across the street actually own a bounce house? They put it up for birthdays and parties and random weekends just for fun. And they are happy to share it with the neighborhood kids.

Rain always makes me happy.

Neon aquamarine polish, and bare feet outside, and green grass, and bits of sidewalk chalk. Basically, summer’s here!

A couple of months ago, a lovely woman named Suzann emailed me to ask if she could have permission to use a photo of mine on her website. She’s working on a book called The Little House Literary Companion, and as part of the preparation for that book she has a website up with a short survey for fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books.

I’ve loved the Little House books for as long as I can remember and am honored that my humble, grainy, quickly-snapped self-portrait of me and Annalie reading is the photo Suzann wanted to use. You can see my photo and quickly take the survey (it took me all of three minutes) here: Laura Voices.

OMG. Rich and utterly delicious. Make it. That is all.

This is a photo from six weeks ago. We made this again recently and it reminded me I wanted to blog the link and never did. I really need to get a sideblog like Brenda’s for stuff like this.

You know one of the things I love most about having another baby?

Another chance to capture fun expressions like these with a camera.

SRS ELLIORA IS SRS.
*srsface*

(I completely stole that last caption from a comment the brilliant and lovely Bex made on the Flickr page.)

Last spring when Brenda and Bug were here helping us unpack, Brenda thought Annalie’s room needed a painting as a focal point. We bought a big canvas and some acrylic paint so we could create one, but we were busy unpacking and sightseeing, and we never got to the painting before Brenda and Bug had to go back home.

I planned to get the canvas and paint out at some point and help Annalie get her masterpiece on, but never quite got around to it. And when we knew Brenda and Bug were coming back to visit us this fall, I decided to just wait till then.

Today Brenda ordered me and Troy to go on a movie date while she broke out the canvas and cardboard and paints and had a little artists’ workshop on our deck with Annalie and Bug.

When we bought the canvas and paints originally, Brenda and I talked about Annalie maybe painting a scene with flowers or butterflies or something cute and girly. I assume Brenda gave Annalie some suggestions and pointers, but Annalie has always known her own mind when it comes to her art.

She painted her canvas sky blue, with a big yellow and orange sun surrounded by puffy white clouds. As a finishing touch, she painted in a little airplane flying through the sky off to one side.

Is that not an awesome painting!? I love it because it’s so interesting and different from your average 6-year-old girl’s art: not a single flower or heart or kitten in sight. Brenda said the painting was all Annalie and I believe her. I’m continually impressed with what my kid draws and paints. I don’t think it’s only because I’m her mom, either. I’m fascinated with how easily she can put on paper the pictures she sees in her head. She just seems to be a natural artist and takes joy in creating. I hope she always does.

All photos in this post taken by Brenda Ponnay. Thanks again, B!

This morning we woke up and everything was yellow outside. It rained yesterday all day, so many of the yellow leaves on the maple trees around our yard had fallen. There was a yellow blanket of leaves covering the ground, our deck, everything!

Brenda, having spent most of her life in Southern California, has been amazed at the fall color around here. She’s been going a little nuts taking photos but that’s okay with me because I’m not really in much of a picture-taking mode recently. I’ll just steal all her gorgeous shots. (All the photos in this post were taken by Brenda Ponnay unless they’re labeled otherwise.)

Brenda keeps apologizing for going on and on about how beautiful the leaves are, but I don’t mind a bit. Fall has always been my favorite season, so I completely understand. And I am selfishly glad that I not only got to introduce her to the wonder of winter turning to spring last March when they were here, but a beautiful, colorful fall as well.

Photo on left taken by me.

Of course, the adults aren’t the only ones enjoying the leaves. The kids have been enjoying playing outside in the crisp fall weather every day. On the day it rained, that only added to the fun of exploring the backyard which had been turned into a leafy wonderland.

We’ve collected leaves a couple of times already to press and preserve them by ironing them between waxed paper. Brenda and Bug have made cards to send home to friends and family. Annalie just hangs the leaf collages in the window for light to shine through.

Photo taken by Annalie, age 6.5

We had a little bit of sickness in the house earlier this week, which was no fun, but everyone was quickly over it and we’re all feeling back to normal.

Brenda thinks the baby will be born any minute now, and as much as I’d love that to happen, I suspect we’ll be waiting another week or two. This baby just seems to have a totally different personality from Annalie, who has been full of energy and ready to rush out and greet life since her birth, so it makes sense she was early. This baby has seemed a bit mellower all along. I will not be surprised if she hangs out a while longer. (Though this is one time I will not mind a BIT being proven wrong.)

Which is okay, because we have a ton of stuff we’d like to get done before she comes. In fact, I should go get busy on some of that. Catch you later!

Some photos taken in my backyard, some taken on way down to visit friends in Southern Maryland. The fall colors around here seem to have peaked about a week ago. I hope at least some of the color is still around for Brenda and Bug to see in person next week!

Passing through my kitchen this afternoon, I noticed that the shadow of the window looked lovely, especially with the heart Annalie colored for me up in the window. Please don’t look too closely at the floor; it’s been a while since I mopped.

Here is the heart casting its shadow in the photo above. I think it’s nice how the light shining through the heart reveals its true colors. That sounds all deep and stuff, right? It’s also literally what is happening.

A while back Annalie spent a long time coloring and cutting out this heart for me. Then she added dots, and got a bit upset because the purple and blue dots looked black when combined with the red marker. I consoled her and told her I loved the heart anyway. She asked if we could hang it in the kitchen window. I got her some tape and helped her hang it just where she wanted it. When we stepped back, we noticed that the sunlight streaming through the paper brightened the colors considerably, revealing the blueness and purpleness of the dots. And we all lived happily ever after.

When I took my 7 Days photo, I was in the kitchen because Annalie and I were making cookies. Annalie did this sheet by herself and was quite amused at the smiley face she made with the balls of dough. I admit it, I laughed.

I’ve been meaning to make smitten kitchen’s crispy salted oatmeal white-chocolate cookies again for weeks now, because they’re delicious. What with one thing and another, I kept putting it off. Finally today I made them, and you know, I think this is the best batch I’ve ever made. They were perfect. The best part is the little bit of sea salt you sprinkle on them before baking. (This shot is also a 7 Days reject. You can sort of see me reflected in the foil on the bottom part of the pan.)

For Annalie’s self-portrait, she took a picture of herself taking a bite out of one of the cookies we baked. Sweet.

It’s that time again…time for 7 Days, the best self-portrait group around, full of the nicest, funniest, most creative people. So you’ll be seeing pictures of me and Annalie every day for a week, since I coaxed her into playing along this time too.

Bug lost a shoe at the beach the other day. We had walked a couple of blocks uphill away from the beach by the time we realized it was missing (she was sitting in the jog stroller), so I waited with the kids while Brenda went back down to look for the shoe. Annalie and Bug were having a fantastic talk about their wishes, mainly involving wanting the world to be made of delicious foods, so I scrambled for my camera and took a couple of short videos. They’re upside-down because I was trying not to interrupt the flow of their hilarious conversation.

Sadly, I missed taping the part where Bug was wishing the whole world were made of candy. Annalie informed her that if the world were made of candy, then she’d have to go to the dentist a lot. “Why?” Bug wanted to know.

“Because if you ate all that candy, then you’d get lots of cavities,” Annalie informed her.

Bug thought about that for a minute. “But I wouldn’t eat a LOT of candy every day, I would just eat ONE piece.”

“Then you should just wish for one special piece of candy every day,” Annalie advised her. “That way you’d enjoy it more.”

“Yeah,” Bug immediately agreed. “You’re right. I would just wish for one special piece every day.”

*Pah is Bug’s word for pacifier. She has pretty much stopped using pahs, but she remembers them fondly.

Once upon a time, way back in March, the lovely Claire asked me if I would be willing to face a crocheting challenge for her. She wanted seven crocheted balls, in varying shades of red; and one ball crocheted out of jute twine, representing the city of Dundee, Scotland, where she lived. (Dundee is famous for, among other things, its jute mills.) I assured her that I loved a challenge! I could do it!

Yeah, did you notice the part where she asked me in March, the month during which we were moving into a new house and hosting a variety of houseguests at the same time? That was also the month during which I unknowingly became pregnant and started requiring 14 hours of sleep per day and not wanting to drink coffee. I was also working on a million other crochet projects at the same time. I got the red balls done by mid-April, and then…just…came to a stand-still. I looked around locally for the jute, but couldn’t find what I needed. I ended up having to order it online, then went out of town, blah dee blah, etc. FINALLY I finished all seven of the red balls and the jute ball. I emailed Claire to tell her it was done! I had completed her order!

Naturally, Claire (who was extremely gracious about my slowness throughout the spring and summer) and her husband were about to move away from Dundee. She assured me that the balls would be a lovely memento of their time there, and that she still wanted them. That was when I realized I’d forgotten that one of the red balls was supposed to be striped in the six other shades of red.

Sigh.

I scrounged around through my yarn bins and found most of the red yarns I’d used originally, and made an eighth ball, red and stripey. And now, finally, five months later, THE ORDER IS COMPLETE.

Claire, the red and jute crocheted balls are in my Etsy shop, waiting for you! I have no idea why this order took me so long, other than the obvious reasons of (1) moving cross-country, (2) being pregnant, and (3) not finding jute locally. Those things should have made this order take two months, maybe, but not five. Thank you again for your kindness and understanding.

(I saw we take my banner’s advice and just blame it on the baby. She won’t mind.)

I painted this mug way back in April, when I was in Omaha and I went painting with Katrina and Kassie. This mug is notable because it’s the first time I tried painting in script rather than printing. It turned out better than I thought it would. The quote is from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. It’s one of my favorite lines from a good play that was made into one of my favorite movies. That line has always struck me as a sweet and hilarious sentiment at the same time. I found myself thinking, Someone should put that on a mug! So I did. And then I put that mug in my Etsy shop.

I was trying to branch out from my typical brightly-colored dottery when I chose these colors. It turned out to be one of my favorite things I’ve ever painted. I love this color combination, so cheerful and summery with the sky blue and lilac and violet and apple green! And a little bit of gray for summer storm clouds. Perfect. It’s in my shop too, if you like it.

This is the red-white-and-blue plate I painted as an example when I taught that dottery class in June. I used a speckled paint for the white dots, so it has tiny bits of blue, red, and yellow paint in it that help the white dots stand out a bit more. I also used a larger paintbrush than I normally do, so it looks a bit different from most of my dotty plates. I really like it! If you like it and want one, I can paint another one for you—just ask.

A couple of months ago, I painted this green dotty mini bowl for no one in particular. (I don’t think I ever blogged this…it’s been a while since I’ve blogged any pottery-painting.) Brenda saw it on Flickr and asked if I could set it aside for her to buy. Instead, I set it aside to give to her for her birthday. Then I forgot to put it in her birthday care package. So now it’s going to be her thank-you-for-letting-us-come-visit-you-in-California gift.

Sonja saw the first green dotty mini bowl on Flickr too, but Brenda had already claimed it. She proclaimed her love for it, and asked if I could paint her another one. Alas, this is not exactly the first bowl’s twin; it’s slightly larger and has a couple of different shades of green in it, since I painted this one at a different studio. But I think it’s just as adorable in its own way. So this bowl is going to be Sonja’s thank-you-for-letting-us-come-visit-you-in-California gift.

Last Christmas, Melissa saw the star ornament that I painted (the one that now lives in Bex’s cubicle at work year-round), and said if I ever came across another star ornament, she’d love it if I’d paint her one. Unfortunately my pottery studio in San Diego had already run out of stars, and I’d never run across any more. Then when I painted with Anna at the beach, they had star magnets. I threw caution to the wind and painted one for Mel in bright colors, adding the word ‘hope’ just because it seemed like the right word to use. Mel might have thought she was going to buy this magnet from me, but I decided I just wanted to send it to her as a gift. Because isn’t hope always a gift, really? Mel, it’s already on its way to you!

Here’s the dotty ‘be happy’ mug I painted in Omaha last month, thinking of citrus fruits when I chose the colors. Not sure what I’ll do with it. Anyone out there want it? Let me know, I’ll throw it in my Etsy shop for you. (Gently! I will gently throw it since, as Sonja pointed out to me, it’s breakable.)

Finally, here’s something I’m really proud of. I’m kind of throwing caution to the wind posting it now, because a blog reader asked me to paint this as a birthday gift for her mom. She assured me her mom doesn’t read my blog, so it’s most likely okay to post photos here, but I’m not going to mention who commissioned it just in case.

I wasn’t sure how this one would turn out, because I rarely paint with the “right” end of the paintbrush. In my head, the dotty center looked good, and the shades of orange and golden yellow I chose for the sunflower’s petals were just right, and the true blue color I chose for the outside of the bowl and the dotty pattern inside complemented the colors of the sunflower perfectly…in my head. But once it was painted and I was waiting for it to be fired I got nervous. What if I was wrong about the colors? What if the petals were totally brushy and amateurish? What if I was too freeform on the blue dotty pattern and it looked like crap!?

But when I saw the fired bowl, I breathed a sigh of relief because I loved it. I hope my reader’s mom loves it too! And I hope I remember this lesson and branch out of my painting comfort zone a little more often because sometimes the end results are worth the nail-biting.