My New Favorite Place

They even have Jarritos... wow.

A Feather in his Cap

I have a favorite memory.  You may too.  Most people do.

My favorite memory is of sitting on my Grandpa Swanson's lap while he would sit in his easy chair.  He always wore a feather in his hat and I loved taking them out and sticking them in my hair.  That was always a happy place for me to be, sitting on his lap and visiting.

A few weeks ago during a skype conversation with my parents, Gig looked just like Grandpa Swanson.  He was wearing a different type of cap and the feather was a little bigger than I remember, but it reminded me of my favorite memory.

The Biggest Project Yet

A few years ago, while in University, my mum made me a prayer shawl to wear when: I was having a hard time, having a good time, praying, watching a movie or missing home.  Basically, I could wear it whenever I wanted to, as long as I remembered that there were people praying for me that loved me.

Recently, I made a prayer shawl for my friend Kate.  It's my biggest knitting project yet and it was a lot of fun!

Tinsel

Everyone knows what tinsel is, right?  According to my Mac's dictionary, tinsel is "a form of decoration consisting of thin strips of shiny metal foil; showy or superficial attractiveness or glamour."  That's deep.

But have you ever seen any tinsel like this?

Someone please tell me how this is showy!

Ha! (she says in disbelief)

I think it's beautiful:

Tricks of the Trade

I have realized that teaching the girls is an everyday occurrence.  Yes, art is my subject with Yaya, but there are a variety of other things I can be teaching her and Norah at all times.  That's why something entitled "Tricks of the Trade" has entered our lives.

Every woman knows that being a woman is a trade, a profession of sorts.  You may be a teacher, but you were a woman first.  And as every woman grows up, it is the job of older and well-seasoned women to teach them the tricks of the trade.

Tricks of the Trade:

1. If you spill yoghurt on your shirt, use your spoon to lift it off of your shirt and then eat it.  This should be done before you ever think about reaching for your napkin.

2. If you don't have a hair band for your hair and yet need to put it up, use a pencil.

3. Some things have shells or protective casings around them.  If you pick up something of this nature, like a banana, orange, or hard-boiled egg, and then decide a few seconds later that you don't want it- you can put it back.  But if something does not have a protective casing around it, like an olive, than you must eat it or you will suffer penalties and stares from those you are with when you try to put it back.

Those are the three tricks of the trade we have discussed and reviewed several times over the past few weeks.  And it's working:  Yaya asked me today if I would help her put a pencil in her hair.  Of course, I got distracted and forgot, but the point is: she asked!  She has a deeper understanding of what it is to be a woman.

This morning I also revised the second trick of the trade with an addendum:

2. If you don't have a hair band for your hair and yet need to put it up, use a pencil or the combination of a plastic drinking cup and a clothespin.

Happy Trekkie Tuesday!

A Pig Nurse

The other day Aliza was nursing her pig, Wilbur, back to health.  I think his fever may have been induced by the extra bright light next to his sick bed.  But what do I know?...  I'm not a doctor.

Some people apparently have

something to say.

And I guess they find ways to say what they feel.

Maybe they need to start something more constructive, like a blog...

In the Spirit of the Tutu

When I was a little girl, I liked to play dress up.  I would go over to my friend Jordan's house and sneak into her dress-up box, which I envied more than I like to admit.  We would put on dresses, shirts, pants and boas.  But the thing most prized in that box was Jordan's pink ballerina outfit, complete with tutu.

Whenever I was away from Jordan's I would try my hand at dress-up, but I could never quite master it without those quality costumes.  Oh man, I wish I had a picture to show you...  The only outfit I could come up with was a full-length cat costume my mother made, spiced up with a pink tutu over it.  On a good day, I would also hold a wand.  I must have been a magic ballerina kitty.  You'll be happy to know that I'm allergic to cats and have been for the extent of my life, so none of this quite makes sense looking back on it.

But even after my failed attempts, I think about the spirit of the tutu often.  And can see that the girls I am blessed to walk alongside here every day are also spirited tutu-wearers.  More passionate than I ever was.

Pop Art

"Grocery Shoppers"

After J-Town came into the world, two super heros emerged from some kind of rubble somewhere to help the cause of the villa mates.

The cause: Tummies: We need food to eat and the fridge needs to be well stocked.

Because we are super heros sometimes we go incognito to the grocery store to keep our identity a secret:

I can't reveal the identity behind this zucchini or my own identity.

Oh, wait... did I say "my" identity.... I was talking about my friend.

It's Art Time

We haven't had as many art times as it would take to fill the MoMA in New York City or the Louvre in Paris, but we still have heart.  And besides that Aliza's collection is growing.

A Blue Seal

Princess Yaya

A card to go down in history

From my parents to celebrate Valentine's Day 2011:

"Daughter- You sure have grown up!"

"You almost never pull your dress up over your head in public anymore."

Being around two little girls all the time, I now understand how great of an accomplishment and milestone this is.  I can't wait to give Norah a Valentine's Day card like this in the future. ;)

A Smile

This picture brought a smile to my face today while thinking about the past 5 1/2 months:

Taken by Gloria :)

In the Fridge

I opened the fridge the other day and look what I found...

We always name our eggs.  After all, it's very important for every egg to have an identity.  But thanks to Kate Wright, let's take a closer look:

Do you see what I see?

Dancing Shoes

I may have not been very straight forward about this... but J-Town, Aliza and Norah are not the only kids in Dubai.  They aren't the only talented kids here either.  I know, it's a big day and big news.

For instance, our friend Kalea loves to dance...

And Aliza and I were privileged to sit in on one of her great performances.

Beautiful ballet Kalea!  Beautiful!

Carrefour on a Friday

When you move to a different country things are different.  That's obvious.  But with every new culture comes new tests.  I've been subjected to a few tests, but none compared to going to Carrefour on a Friday afternoon.... accompanied by two small fries.  Carrefour is a grocery store and I had to make a special Friday trip a few weeks ago because I was making something for a party.

You can see the massive amount of people behind the cart housing the girls.  All I can say, still after a few weeks have passed, is... "Wow."

All to their credit: the girls did an amazing job being in such a crowded, over-busy place before even getting to eat lunch that day.  They are the real troopers!

Gloria later explained to me that we all go through these tests and soon there will be new people around that I can do the same thing to.

In her words, it would be "luring an unassuming victim into something that is seemingly harmless and ordinary only to discover that it takes special skills to navigate the C4 on Friday."  I like those words, it's the way I felt... except I wasn't lured, I went willingly.  What was I thinking?

Do I now have the special skills?

YES

Will I ever willingly put myself in that situation again?

NO

Our First Airplane: The Stingray

Does anyone recognize this face?....

It's the face of a flying machine.  A Captain's face.

There is a captain inside each one of us and you'll be happy to know that Yaya discovered hers today.

Because of this beauty:

The Stingray

Courtesy of the Gonyea-Alexanders!

Here she is flying:

The plane must have been really flying because I could never get a real picture of it in the air.

But look how Yaya has her arm extended...  She's a real Captain of the Air now.

"Where's J-Town...

in all this hub-bub?" you ask.

Patiently...  Patiently...  Patiently...  Waiting and watching us.

How "Yaya" Sees "Shoes on Wrong"

This must be how Yaya sees her sister, who I like to call Shoes on Wrong...  After all, she's the one who took the pictures.

I've made a conclusion after seeing these.  I need to spend most of my time on my knees scooting around, so that I can get a daily taste of their perspective.

Ice Skating

After our outing at the park, the girls and I usually head to the mall to do some banking and some drinking of coffee.  I'm really the only one who enjoys the actual drinking of the coffee, but they really like the snacks.  

Last week, after resting at Starbucks we had to run a few errands in the mall.  I was pushing Norah in the stroller and Yaya was ice skating through the mall in front of us...

I have the proof:

The picture above shows a highly technical double camel lux jump slide.

I will say, Yaya made quite a few peoples' days as she was ice skating through the mall.  You can't see the faces of the people in this picture, but I could and it was priceless.  They were looking at her as if she were an angel.

This one is really blurry, but you can tell how fast she was ice skating.

Encouragement to Artists of the Wool

Knitting and Crocheting have become one of my favorite past times over the last few years.  But as an encouragement to others who would say, "I want to learn something new, but I get discouraged when my skills don't improve quickly," I would like to show you the truth:

I once felt the same way...

During a recent skype conversation my father commented on the harsh cold that Connecticut has been experiencing this winter, but added that he had the perfect thing to fight the cold.  Then he held this up:

My first crocheted scarf:

Now, if you're somewhat like me and like to give people the benefit of the doubt... let me point out something.

The scarf does not taper towards the top of this picture because it is further in the background.  It's not moving towards the vanishing point of this picture at all, it's being held straight up...

Notice the image below:

That is the middle of the scarf, but don't worry... It gets bigger again towards the other end.

Dad, thanks for being so gracious and continuing to wear this scarf with pride.

I love you!

Over-abundance

Sometimes I wonder if I should post something more than once a day because I have an over-abundance of subject matter to talk about.  Just this morning something priceless happened.  Imagine with me:

Scene:  I was sitting in my room, playing worship songs on the guitar.

Action:  All of sudden I hear a knock on my door and respond, "Come in."  Aliza enters.

Priceless happening: I finish the song I'm singing as Aliza listens and then she asks me if she can play my guitar and sing.  She says, "What do you want me to sing?"  I tell her the beginning of the verse of a song and she responds, "A different way?"  Meaning: Do you want me to maybe get part of what you just said into a song that I make up on the spot.  "Yes!"  I say.

Here are some of the things she sang to me:

I gave her the words "We are hungry"
She sang:

We are hungry, we need food to eat.
The curtains do not need food.
We are thirsty, God gave us a drink.
When the storm came we were in the boat,
We dropped him in the water.

I'm not sure who "him" is in that verse...

Next verse:

Lord I want more of you,
We are special.
We are the Lord's special.
You are the glasses that came for the sin in our heart.

That last line is very deep: glasses help us see things and give sharpness to the blurriness in our lives.

Final verse:

We hope Baby Judson gets bigger with you.
It's a different job to watch our children.
We are the girls, we are listening about the thing.
We are the family of the cross,
You gave us everything You mind about.
You gave us the chore and the truth from You.

See what I'm talking about: an over-abundance.

Self-Portrait

I could have stopped with yesterday's post, but there are a few more pictures that really made me laugh when I discovered the 150 pictures Yaya took with my camera.  If you can't treasure pictures, why have a camera, right?  Yaya gets that.  She must treasure the pictures she takes.

Here is a series I like to call Self-Portrait:

I call this Dragon Face

Very deep, can you tell what it is?