renewal

Posted in advantageous adventures, kiddie-do, let me let me update ya, Momma Needs a minute... by ElaineMarie

i haven’t been posting lately, but guess what folks – i just renewed the domain name for momjeanz so i’m recommitting myself to the project.

i know. i’ve just given your lives new meaning.

in true elaine fashion, this is about me not you. self-centered, as always.

we’ve been going through some things lately and i’ve found it difficult to muster the energy to do the blog and to feel authentic about what i’m putting out there. i say this because when i look back at the blog it makes it seem like life is so happy and carefree when in reality it’s been a bit rougher than that.

but then i remembered that these rough parts have always been here. as long as this blog has been around they’ve been here. and maybe that’s why i started doing it in the first place – to remind myself of the good parts of the day, of the bright spots.

these are my bright spots. with a few pity parties and emotional outbursts sprinkled here and there. but mostly these are the good moments when i look back and am filled with such gratefulness for all of life’s spots, dark and bright.

and i want to continue to share my brightest spot:

well, order a stickygram of that and slap it on my fridge. if that isn’t a summary of my child in one frame then i don’t know what is. if i could conjure one image of her as a 3-year-old it would be this. leaping. LEAPING. she’s forever leaping. fearlessly. in a way that puts anxiety straight into my heart while at the same time comforting me and saying “that one, she gonna be ok. she gonna take on de world.” (for some reason this voice is that of sebastian the crab.)

this year has been about us taking the leap from baby to big kid. and she is ready for all the big kid challenges. she basically wants me to hand her a stack o’papes and a cap and let her raise herself on the street. i’m almost tempted to because i love (LOVE) the movie newsies so much. alas, she is a girl and not a young christian bale so i’ve decided to keep her and raise her myself.

why?

because it’s so much fun. everything turns into an adventure. trips to the nursery and apple orchard turn into teachable adventures. and also, there’s the snacks. obviously. when you’re raising a child there’s an endless stream of snacks and i, for one, benefit from that. so does my gym.

anyway, a few more snaps from our nursery/orchard visit with a girl who wants to be dorothy:

20Aug2012

msg week

Posted in advantageous adventures, let me let me update ya by ElaineMarie

here’s our week from my iphone:

we found walking sticks and were proud of it. we said hi to our sycamores.

we had lazy picnics in the park

and kicked our shoes off for a bit. we let our bodies become grounded again.

we hung our new nature prayer flags and added darla’s new books from maine into heavy reading rotation.

we rode ruju to the audubon center to continue the bird learnin.’

we dressed up like our forest friends,

and came to an understanding that darla has no chance of normalcy under her current parental guidance.

“the older i get the more i am into taxidermy.”

we gathered blossoms and walked trails,

and spied on the pond creatures.

did you know ohio has white sand beaches? oh. no. that’s just a volleyball court. my bad.

we tried out the thursday food truck festival at columbus commons and enjoyed the commons activities.

we took in a game at huntington park.

i was sure to wear my protective head gear since our seats were pretty close.

but really the most important development of the week was my complete surrender to my msg addiction. i think i’m on my second bag of rold gold cheese twists for the week. my body is NOT happy with me.

I’m incredibly thankful for all these moments the universe has bestowed on us this week. Goodness is abundant.

ps. if anyone is interested in obtaining maine themed books you can find them here: One Morning in Maine, Blueberries for Sal, The Little Fisherman, About Birds: A Guide for Children

15Aug2012

maine two

Posted in advantageous adventures, Momma Needs a minute..., Travels by ElaineMarie

and now for the more relaxing portion of our vacay:

this was the part i needed: these morning views, long walks and talks with cousinfriends, explorations in the woods, naps, family meals, cool night breezes, anne morrow lindbergh. we don’t take relaxation vacations enough. our travels always seem to be packed around some central activity, i.e. music festival, and i’ve been reminded that we need to slow it down every once in a while. at least i do. i would love a long weekend in the woods. or a few do-nothing days by the sea. it seemed to be good for darla, too. i forget that she gets shuffled around to lots of daily activities and maybe she just needs some time to be fluid.

thank you for being good to me for so many years, maine. we hope to visit you again in the near future.

13Aug2012

maine one

Posted in advantageous adventures, Travels by ElaineMarie

what do i want to share about our weekend in maine? well, i have two main MAINE points:

1. my family is awesome.

2. GO TO PORTLAND. IT IS COOL.

that is all.

in all seriousness, i’ve rewritten this post numerous times. i have been having trouble figuring out what i want to say. i want to say that the weekend was wonderous and beautiful. i want to say it was a blast because my family is comprised of all-around stellar human beings. i want to say the trip was filled with lots of exciting new experiences for darla and i felt very lucky, once again, to be able to witness her intake of all the newness. i want to say that one very special person was missed through it all.

most of all i want to say thank you. thank you to my family, my parents, my husband, my daughter and the universe for allowing me to be a part of last weekend. the whole experience was exactly what i needed. it was where i needed to be when i needed to be.

thank you.

and once again, congratulations to erin & dave bartoletti. may you find happiness in all your years to come!

ps. and thank you to yeasayer for being in portland while i was. BONUS!

20Jul2012

how do you say that?

Posted in advantageous adventures, i dig music, Travels by ElaineMarie

people of forecastle, you need to know something: it’s pronounced “folksoul” not fore-castle. it’s tricky but you gotta get it corrected by next year.

it’s on the website, but no one reads that i guess.

anyway…here’s how the jam went down:

just another weekend that went by too quickly. forecastle really stole my heart. the setting was beautiful and things were FUNKY. in a good way. i’m using that as a good word in this scenario. just the right amount of quirky was applied to the whole entire place. my favorite set was deer tick. beach house sounded pretty good and my favorite new discovery of the weekend was JEFF the brotherhood.

but the whole dang festival really that would have meant nothing without our friends. these reunion weekends serve as reminders that we’ve met some pretty amazing people along the way. no matter if we see them everyday, once a season or once a year our friends leave me humbled.

i’m lucky to share such good times with you, friends. i love you all dearly. even down to the littlest one of ya!

speaking of the little ones, i’ve gotta give props to them too. they did pretty ok. i hope darla will appreciate this music festival weekends when she’s older and not resent us for schlepping her to all these different destinations. she’ll probably rebel in some weird and strange way when she’s older. and that’ll be ok. until then we’re going to fest it up.

folk soul

this is a picture, albeit a not very clear one, of darla last year at pitchfork. she was running wild during tv on the radio getting as messy as could be with a yellow bandana tied around her cape-style.

i don’t know if it gets any better than that. i really don’t. it’s one of my favorite memories of her life thus far. i’m happy we’ve been able to provide her with such carefree moments.

we’re heading to forecastle this year instead of pitchfork. it’s a foray into new territory. i’m a little apprehensive that it won’t be able to compare with our previous experiences.

there’s only one way to find out!

we’ll miss chicago this year, maybe next year we’ll return. but we’ll be surrounded by our friends and good tunes in louisville so i’m sure the weekend will be tops.

at the very least it will be fun taking in a new festival. Pics and updates will be shared along the way. With that, I bid you adieu.

Louisville or bust.

treehousez

mike’s parents took us to cheekwood botanical gardens this afternoon to romp around their literary treehouses exhibit.

they were extraordinary and worth braving the 100 degree weather to explore.

tree houses are the coolest! i was always envious of my peers who had treehouses growing up for i was sure there was some kind of enchanted happenings going on to which i wasn’t privy. i wish we could build some kind of magical structure for darla in the backyard. i guess you never know what will happen in the future. for now we’ve gotten our fix at cheekwood.

6Jul2012

slow southern style

Posted in advantageous adventures, love and happiness, Travels by ElaineMarie

we woke up in franklin, tennessee this morning.

i wish i could blame portals or teleportation, however, the truth is we made the drive down yesterday.

my man knows me and suggested the franklin mercantile for breakfast. it’s one of my all time favorite munching spots.

see how adorbs the place is. how could i not love it? plus the food is pretty stellar. please take note of my fruit tea pictured above. it seems to be a combination of a peach juice & iced tea. i will be attempting a recipe when i get home and let you know on here if i succeed. if i fail, well, i’ll never mention it again and this post will fall away into obscurity. easy enough.

we spent the sweltering afternoon escaping the heat – 102 or 103 i think – at a screening of The Wizard of Oz at the franklin theater. i loved seeing it on the big screen. i catch more hilariously brilliant writing and dialogue every time i see it. the theater was beautiful AND i was able to get a yazoo hefeweizen and popcorn for $7. win win win.

i think i like this slow southern style. it serves us well during these hotsie totsie summer days. that and fruit tea.

5Jul2012

Doo Dah

Posted in advantageous adventures by ElaineMarie

columbus always makes me proud to live here at the doo dah parade. it’s a celebration of weird. it’s a celebration of quirky. it’s a celebration of the rights we have here in america that make it such a great country: freedom of speech and personal expression.

it’s also just a fun freak show.

waiting for the show to start

parade-side feast

ruju & cordelia had front row seats. biking to doo dah is the way to go.

this little guy was feeling independent

PARADE!

nothing cools you off like being fanned with a giant mouth

we spent the remainder of the day cooling off indoors and rounding it out by attending a yummy cookout at mike’s brothers’ house. fireworks from the drive-way. woop woop.