teez

Posted in doula work by ElaineMarie

starting up your own doula business is anything but lucrative. since i’m broke, i’m going for broke and putting a little project of mine out there into the universe and webiverse. I designed a few t-shirts that i think are pretty simple and cute. I designed them with a Columbus business called Skreened {yay local business!}. if you’re looking for a conversation starter or a way to proudly display your doula status then maybe check them out and get one or two or five. smiley wink wink. i of course get a little kick back. linkage is over there on the side or you can find them here.

stay tuned for more designs and sales updates soon. My first two purchases pictured below: doula tank photo doulatank_zpsad1bfa00.jpg

29Jan2013

coconuts

Posted in yum yum eat good by ElaineMarie

i know coconut is controversial, but i love it. it’s my favorite part of the bulk grocery section. i’m dreaming up some coconut flake pancakes. yuuuuuuuuuum.

28Jan2013

party

Posted in familyness, Kiddie Hangouts, love and happiness by ElaineMarie

yesterday was a reminder of how lucky we are to have such great friends and family. a small group helped us celebrate darla’s birthday. a large group helped us celebrate from afar by sending messages and well wishes, gifts & cards. thanks to you all.

here’s just a bit of our donut + coffee + cupcake decorating party. it took hardly any time to set up, even less to clean up and we listened to the first lady of country while we tore down. i’m never doing another veggie tray again. it’s coffee and donut birthday parties from here on out. until darla’s old enough to roller skate, that is. then….ohhhh then…let’s just say there will be some roller rink parties in our future.

26Jan2013

my life as a 3-year-old

Posted in kiddie-do, parenting apparently? by ElaineMarie

i’ve been looking forward to this exercise all week. darla’s predictions for her 5th year of life are making me a little apprehensive:

My life as a 3-year-old

photo 9F2D3126-059A-4087-8166-E60A8EF651BB-3098-000002886F66F472.jpg

“a rollercoaster.” i concur.

My life as a 4-year-old

“i will be a monster, a rollercoaster and i will put a picture in a frame.”

great.

25Jan2013

senses

Posted in let me let me update ya, Run Da House, yum yum eat good by ElaineMarie

playing along again with Mary Catherine’s photo exercise. my senses were very pleased this week. i have doubles of a couple categories:

^^^touch^^^

1} that weird way plastic gloves feel really good and really gross at the same time. and the correlating feeling of accomplishment when the dishes are done and the stink sink has been scrubbed. 2} the feeling of laying down in bed for the night and just staring up at the ceiling. ahhhh.

^^^taste^^^

1} thursday was darla’s turn to bring snack at school. we made something especially scrumptious since it was her birthday treat. my trick is: if you like your cookies to be a little moist and soft in the center always bake them in a muffin pan. they turn out thick and moist. ughhh, just typed the word moist twice. a third time! dislike! dislike! 2} my daughter has a more refined taste palette than i. this is her portobello, spinach and goat cheese omelette – on a plate that i made in 1988 as the plate specifically states. i have to admit, the leftovers she didn’t finish were delicious.

^^^sight^^^

the sight of darla reading poetry books on a sunny afternoon. so she told me they were spell books but whatever. in a way, she’s right. bewitch her with your words, mr. whitman.

^^^sound^^^

1} hubster’s music collection. if you’re a regular reader you know we’ve been having lots of dance parties lately thanks to a mirror ball addition to our living room. it’s hard for me to determine if i like the daytime, sunlit parties or the nighttime, disco shine parties better. eff it. they’re both my favorite. 2} our new organ. darla has been happily playing away daily on the newest furniture addition to our already crowded house. i have to admit that i wasn’t too happy when this showed up – since i wasn’t consulted – but i had to let it go and accept that everything can’t be my way. darla loves it and that’s all that matters. besides, i wouldn’t want to deny the world it’s next papa garth because of my silly ideas of room flow.

^^^smell^^^

the smell of the cookies baking was a savior. see, i’ve been making a lot of meals with various beans and legumes lately and this house has been in need of some aromatherapy, if you catch my drift. pun! flatulence pun!

that’s all i got. thanks for checking in to see how my senses did this week. and now for a special announcement: i’m sending you lots of positive energy for a fulfilling and restful weekend. be excellent. all of you.

24Jan2013

baby shower

Posted in familyness, love and happiness by ElaineMarie

and the nostalgia keeps rolling out. today i’m filing through pics from our baby shower, back before we knew she was a darla and we called her Sprout. it was a very happy, wonderful evening and i’m missing every single person who was there RIGHT THIS MOMENT.

friends, do you remember this night? i still crack up looking through these belly art pics. i forgot that the more people drank the more “drag queen” my belly baby became. i’m ok with it. i think these belly drawings helped ensure darla was born a girl. or maybe we all just knew. or maybe all my girlfriends, myself included, were really hoping we’d have a little girl. also, i’m just now remembering someone drew cat whiskers on her. this explains why darla pretends to be a cat ALL THE TIME. this belly art magic is powerful stuff.

just wanted to say, thank you again to everyone for being there for us 4 years ago!

now can some of you start having babies so i can be there and draw on your belly?

22Jan2013

pregnauguration

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

i meant to share yesterday when this was more culturally relevant but i’m slow. you will have to accept it at a less culturally relevant level.

i am pictured above with 2 of my favorite people in the world. the one standing next to me is my cosmic cousin friend. the one in my belly is my baby girl. i was a weepy mess yesterday watching the inauguration footage, thinking about hauling my pregnant self down to the mall to watch president obama sworn in the first time. i can’t believe it was 4 years ago…AND i still can’t believe i braved that choas a week before she was born. i will forever be thankful to those friends that helped me accomplish such a feat. i will also forever be thankful to those friends who got me into a pizza joint immediately following. momma was hungry!

i know this trip down memory lane will occur for me with each inauguration. it’s part of the reason i was set on braving the elements and the crowds 4 hence. i wanted to be a part of something historical for my own selfish reasons and for darla. and don’t think i wasn’t secretly trying to will myself into labor because then darla could have been a historical birth. like a woodstock baby! only colder temps and a smaller population of people in attendance on drugs.

at any rate, i just wanted to reminisce. there’s going to be a lot of that in the next few days to come.

thanks for taking this trip with me.

19Jan2013

senses

Posted in i dig music, let me let me update ya, Run Da House, yum yum eat good, zero waste home by ElaineMarie

i am playing along with the weekly senses photo feature from Mary Catherine’s blog this week.

i am a dreamer. i think big and dream bigger. the problem with this is that i find myself not being satisfied in whatever moment i’m in. i’m living in the future or the past too much. i feel that focusing on this photo exercise put some perspective in my day: if i’m experiencing something nice pertaining to all 5 of my senses in one day then i’m doing alright. i have it pretty good no matter what my ambitions are telling me. I was able to find all these little gratitudes in a span of about 60 minutes:

^^^smell^^^

i’ve been making more of an effort to thoroughly use our fruits and veggies before tossing in the compost. the smell of grapefruit after scrubbing the sink with the leftover peel and the smell of fresh veggie stock helped me connect to our blessings in the nourishment department. (yeah, the pot boiled over. so much for the morning stove wipedown.)

^^^taste^^^

darla and i have a little ritual of scooping out the cream from the top of our freshly opened milk jugs. we get them every other week so it’s a treat to each have a spoonful once in a while. the taste of this week’s spoonful helped me connect to this small part of our life that i hope darla will remember when she is older. just she and her mama sharing fresh cream and feeling it’s a treat every single time.

^^^touch^^^

a touch of warmth is back in the sunshine. so that means it is real sunshine now. the kind that you can feel warm your skin. you can see my pasty white skin drinking in the vitamin d. the feeling of warmth connected me to the promise of springtime and brighter days to come.

^^^sight^^^

the fiendish look of accomplishment my girl makes when she’s sneaked a treat. it’s impossible for me to be irked by her cookiesnatching ways. the sight of this smile makes me grateful time and again.

^^^sounds^^^

this one was a given. mike won tickets to Father John Misty & The Walkmen this week. it has been quite a drought since my last concert so i was feeling very thankful to get back to some live music. also, i am grateful to have a husband that has calling in to radio stations to win tickets down to a science. i missed most of father john misty due to a birthworkers meeting but made it just in time for 2 of my favorite songs so it was ok. have a listen to my fave above.

that’s all friends. hope you continue to have a grand weekend!!!! xoxoxoxo

16Jan2013

life (dot) next

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

guess what, friends…sharing time!

hmmm, well let’s start with what has been on my mind pretty much 24/7 since we had that nice little warm-up that snapped us back into cold weather: upcoming Life(dot)next retreat in Palm Springs in 15 days!

i can feel the sunbeams upon my face already. and i just received a nice little packing list today:

did you see what was on that? swimsuit, flip-flops, sunglasses…i might not return. it’s going to be really, really hard to come home to grey…..ugh scarlet and grey. sorry osu fans. just had to put it out there that i think the school’s colors are derived from all the slit wrists the grey winter ohio skies provoke.

but my wrists are going to see sunny skies in 15 days!!!

but i’ll progess with this post because this retreat is not death(dot)next…it’s LIFE(dot)next.

Life(dot)next is the creative baby birthed by my friend Meg Buzzi. I credit her retreats for the following: the majority of my personal and professional growth in the last two years, the inspiration to start this blog, quite a few hangovers, the evaporation of excuses surrounding my hesitance to start birthwork, an empty jar of pickles by my face in the morning, some of my best all-time karaoke performances, and a slew of new, inspiring, kick-ass ladyfriends. {they’re all really pretty and ride unicorns too!} i don’t want to get ahead of myself but i’m pretty sure we’re going to discover the cure for cancer at this next one…or just give palm springs some of the best karaoke they’ve ever seen.

either way, i’m stoked.

i hope to come back with more inspiring, words o’ wisdom bullshit that will make you first want to throw up, then go and conquer your world.

in all seriousness, i think these retreats have accelerated all attendees on their life path. the retreats are just that right mix of strength and vulnerability that spark long-lasting change. well…there’s something about them because a lot of us keep coming back. Or, it might just be the copious amounts of boxed wine and signature cocktails. at any rate, i hope to bring more friends and readers to the life(dot)next table.

do you know any lady-loving organizations? or organizations that believe in empowering humans to make healthy strides and impacting changes in their lives? life(dot)next would be a great avenue for sponsorship. send some sponsorship support and ensure the occurrence of a future retreat. this one’s all full up, lass.

16Jan2013

believe

Posted in doula work by ElaineMarie

for that magic that happens when we believe in ourselves.

my wish for our birth culture is not for every woman to have a natural birth, or a painless birth. my wish is that we will be able to reinstate a belief in our bodies.

“your body is not a lemon.” – ina may gaskin