Making it Wishful

My birthday is this Sunday.  I really wish I could get as excited as I did when I was a little girl, but I fear that is just part of growing up.  It's not that I dread getting older or anything weird like that.  It's just that I used to get butterflies in my stomach for days before my birthday - it was dang exciting!  And now, no butterflies.

Ah well. C'est la vie.  I always feel like I should be smoking a cigarette and wearing red stripes when I say that.

So, how about a little birthday wish list?  Joe and I agreed no presents this year as we went on an awesome vacation to Hawaii earlier this summer.  But what else is a wish list for if not a little wishful thinking?

photo from here

Fuji Instax Camera - looks amazingly fun

I have a major craft crush on Amy Butler

For obvious reasons, I will be needing a rotary cutter and cutting board (see Amy Butler above)

This is the most perfect dress ever.  Agree?

A gift card to IKEA would be amazing.  I wish their logo didn't look so tacky on my blog, but I really could use some bookshelves.

And this book would be a two-fold gift.  It would help me decide where to position the new bookshelves, and then it would be placed upon said shelves.

And that, dear readers, is my birthday wish.  Ah, I do love a good list.

Oh, and let me leave a gracious thank you to my lovely in-laws who already gave the gift of love - in the form of a rug for our once bare living room.  Ellie loves it, I love it, Joe will learn to love it.  And we all love you.

The Ordinary Day

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are... Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect Tomorrow.  One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in my pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.

- Mary Jean Iron 

No great thoughts today - just this quote that I'm trying my hardest to live by.  I am always guilty of looking for the "rare and perfect Tomorrow."  I often find myself bored, discontent, feeling glum - whatever you call it - with my daily routine.  These words are a sobering reminder for me to appreciate what I have and to cherish every day.  There are extraordinary days every now and then - but the normal, uneventful passing of time is what really makes up the substance of life.  It's up to me to decide what I make of it.

I love busts - they just look so academic.  

High - Low

When I was in high school we had a neighbor-lady who let my younger sister attend her in-home preschool for a couple hours each day.  Upon return, my sister taught us something that she had learned called "sharing your high/low."  Now, my family never stuck with traditions for very long - but for a time every night at dinner we would go around the table and each person would tell the best and worst parts of their day.

If nothing else it was a good way to start conversation: "Man, and I thought my day was bad.  Yours really sucked."  These were our early attempts at empathy.

Well, I'd like to revive the tradition on this little blog.  So here goes:

The best part of my day was meeting a new friend at the park

The worst part of my day was giving Ellie the titty-twister from Hell.

it was really awful

you know those pacifier clips (so the baby doesn't lose the binky)?

i thought i was clipping it to her shirt

i thought there was just a gather of fabric

turns out that was her teeny tiny baby breast

she screamed

i freaked out

she cried

i cried

and now i think she's all better, but i'm scared to ask

i just don't want to bring it up

So that's a pretty good sampling of my day.  And since I mentioned Ellie - how about a bunch of photos from happier days - her first boat ride out to Staten Island.

She was very excited.  So excited, in fact, that she started to shriek.

You can see her shrieking face just above.

Then she closes her eyes because she startles herself with her own noise.

Below is the face she usually wears - feels like she's always questioning me about something.

And she has discovered her tongue.  I'm talking hours of entertainment here.

P.S.  Can anyone think of a better way of saying "high-low?"  It just feels so pessimistic to end on the low note, but "low-high" just doesn't have the same ring.  Would it ring better if I changed the the spelling to "lo-hi?"  Or should I just call it the bi-polar recap and be done with it?

Taking suggestions from the peanut gallery.

By way of introduction...

My name is Whitney Hardie - full time wife and mother, part time photographer.  Wannabe writer, decorater, singer, awesome crafter.  Lover of the internet and its many treasures.  Latter-day Saint (faithful, active - whatever you call it), though often irreverent.  Survivor of "colorful" family background, perpetuator of the crazy gene.  Guilty of cracking myself up.  Absolutely no grasp of grammatical rules - obviously.

That feels a bit like a personal ad, but I always struggle with introductions.

We (myself, Joe and baby Eleanor) have moved to Manhattan.  This is a blog about our adventures in New York City.  It's a blog about what we do to "make it" here.  How we make it our home, how we make our dreams come true, how we make it fun and interesting, and totally worth the insane amount of rent we are paying.

And let's be honest, it's about whatever mundane thing I want to write about - because it's mine.

This is my blog.
Visitors Welcome.