turn on your bright lights.

park.

henry and i met mike in the park for lunch. henry's first playground experience!

attn: suzy.

Hey Suzy Stel.! Look what came in the mail today. Your favorite!

babel.

i take my coffee black, but every once in awhile i add cream and sugar for that extra zing. this morning was a cream and sugar morning; made complete by one of my favorite cups i picked up while studying in chamonix, france. i was up extra late last night watching the film 'babel'. i found it nearly impossible to sleep afterwards. something about the film gave me strong feelings of deja vu; perhaps because it seemed to be a sort of reminiscent blend of past loves: one of my favorite films of all time- 'the sheltering sky' (directed by bertolucci, but based on the amazing novel by paul bowles); and the short story 'hills like white elephants' (hemingway). not to mention my past interest in afrique du nord, the cities and remote desert villages alike. this film made me feel glad that i never did move to casablanca, as i had once planned. interesting how the characters who were the most innocent suffered the greatest loss. the greatest message of the film is the importance of being decent...we need more decency in this world. (note to self: when travelling by bus, always take the aisle seat; and, must one day visit tokyo)

flowers and art.

this weekend i assisted a local floral designer with her installation at the chrysler museum of art's 'flowers and art' show. The show allows floral designers to choose a work of art from the museums permanent collection and interperet the piece with their own floral design. i absolutely love this concept because it combines a few of my most favorite things- art/flowers/museum. the show is a bi-annual event, and i can't wait to participate with my own design in a couple of years.

pump up the jams.

my birthday/party week ended with a fun night complete with karaoke at cruzer's /aka the seamen's club (as it was called for years before we started having dj parties/shows there). we had alot of good times there; and it made me feel really nostalgic to see that the same old dusty silk flowers that were there years ago were still decorating the back of the ladies toilet. thanks for a good time, friends. our night was cold as ice. vanilla ice, ice, baby.

thirty.

whomever did this- needs to fess up. haha, very funny.

snakes!

last night was more good fun at the boot. mike's band 'snakes!' played with 'the big sleep', a new york band. a good time was had by all. party week is coming along nicely! (thanks to beth for graciously babysitting on a school night)

monkey love.

henry had his 6-7 month checkup today with dr. z. he weighed in at 17.8 lbs, and is now 27.5 inches tall. unbelievable how fast my little monkey is growing!

dream home, my ass.

i'm actually glad i didn't win the hgtv dream home this year. somebody vomited plaid all over the place. more like 'nightmare home' giveaway. hmph.

vacation.

party week has officially begun. mike is on vacation this week, which means that i am too. a fun week of family time began last night at an art opening, followed by drinks at the boot. this week i am celebrating three decades of life, as friday is my thirtieth birthday.

thurday, aka "day of The Office".

the weather is just too beautiful to be inside blogging. so i bid you adieu; and until tomorrow, perhaps. i tried to leave you with some images of tree branches all full of leaf buds, but freakin' blogger won't let me. crap.

my beloved hugo.

mini-mike d.

everyday henry morphs into a miniature version of his daddy. looks AND personality. what have i done?!

bird for t-bird.

a porcelain bird i'm working on for twittering bird. hugo is standing guard.

marching in.

apparently warmer weather is around the bend. the old oak tree outside our bedroom window is beginning to show it. the past two years i've been planting bulbs in rings around the trunk (just began humming super furry animals..."rings around the world")... anyhow- there are loads of crocuses blooming, and little miniature irises scattered about in between. on the way are gorgeous parrot tulips and scads of daffodils and other narcissi. spring is my favorite season. ...can't believe i'm turning thirty in a couple of weeks.

weeble wobble.

This morning Henry sat up unassisted. I still had to sit him up- but instead of rolling to the side or slumping forward, he was able to balance. amazing! Next he'll be pestering me for a twenty. We were sitting in a patch of sun this morning reading a book and Henry tipped his head back and smiled up at me. sigh... it just melts my heart. I feel so amazingly lucky that I am able to stay home with Henry and have moments like that. Unrushed, unhurried; quiet, calm, lovely. I miss so so much being around other adults, or at least other people that can speak beyond a syllable and sit up on their own without tipping over.... and that paycheck that enabled me to shop according to my daily whims... but that head tipped back and that smile: makes it all worth it, tenfold. Here are some pictures of him weebling, wobbling, and trying to crawl (creeping is what I call it).

perfect weekend.

painting, and where the sidewalk ends...

arsenal of fun.

each day i am being able to add in new toys to henry's collection of things he can actually play with. it is amazing how you can almost track his development day to day; how he can do something new at the beginning part of the week that he couldn't do last week, and by friday he has mastered it- i.e. moving smaller and smaller objects from hand to hand, grasping for things that are out of his reach... hand/eye coordination stuff. also, i am really trying to get him to associate words with objects. instead of just going to the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea, i'll say "henry, mommy is going to the kitchen now to get my cup and make some tea." talking in the third person rocks. henry is also really enjoying music these days. last night we were watching a documentary about the making of the dark side of the moon, and he was very taken by it. we listened to radiohead today and he seemed mesmerized- he really seemed to be concentrating on the different sounds. he makes singing sounds- he'll gurgle different vowel sounds loudly and then shreak all crazy-like and then laugh at himself, because he is so proud of the sounds he's making. mommy is proud, too- can't you tell? sorry, guys. hearing this stuff is probably like being forced to look at your neighbors photos of their annual trip to disney world..... but this is just so exciting to me! can't help it. also, even though he doesn't have much say in the matter, henry seems to enjoy the things we enjoy. mike and i are praying that he is creative and into art and music as much as we are, if not more. you never know- he could go all alex p. keaton on us... but let's hope not.

muppets take belvedere.

mike and i found this muppets site, and henry seems to think it is very cool. one of the features is a sound studio wherein you can use a virtual mixer to create euro-trashy sounding house beats and mix in soundbites from various muppets. my favorite muppet is animal. i'll never forget going to see the muppets take manhattan in the movie theater when i was a kid, and how enamored i was with the synchronized swimming scene with miss piggy. ahhh- i love all of these 'kid things'.