five (really) good things

1. Another Chickadee Road Chat! Join Kelly and me for brunch/lunch on Tuesday, July 30 at 9AM PST/12PM EST for a chat all about finding your kindreds. (Actually I'm calling it "finding (and keeping) your kindreds" when I think about it because when you find those special people who feel like home, you will continually uncover new things about yourself that will push you to know you have to work a bit to stay connected in this crazy, awesome world. Yes.) On Tuesday, just join us right here over on Spreecast.

2. I read through Donald Miler's A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: How I Learned to Live a Better Story in about two days. As in I read through naptimes and until midnight. I saw him speak at WDS and I kind of swooned. (Not really kidding.) His blend of honesty + storytelling + self-deprecating humor had me actually looking to see if he was wearing a ring. (He's engaged. And I'm, you know, married.) As a dear friend said to me, "As if a ring is the biggest obstacle between you." Ha! That still makes me laugh out loud. But seriously, I was deeply moved by his talk and by this book. I hope you will read it because I'd actually love to chat with a few people about the concepts in it - identifying what makes a good story and then deciding to live a better story. I could go on and on. Find out more about him here.

3. And here is something kind of awesome: Earlier this week, I mentioned that maybe I could paint as my practice during the Chickadee Road :: Studio Sessions this August and a few days later, here I am joining in with Pixie Campbell's Visual Quest class. I can't wait! 

4. Love Viv's "Dear 35" post and this idea of writing a letter to yourself right around your birthday to thank the year you're leaving. A new session of Viv's Be Your Own Beloved self-portrait ecourse begins next week. Check it out here. (Highly recommend.)

5. And since I seem to be in a confessional sort of mood as I write this in the middle of the night (see #2), I might as well share that I'm slowly but surely becoming obsessed with unicorns. Never was much of a unicorn, rainbows, my little pony kind of girl. Was more into pretending pretty much all the time that I was Laura Ingalls and lived on the prairie.

(As in I pretended that for a LONG time and still miss the mid- to late-80s long soft buttons up the front denim skirt with layered "petticoat" my mom found for me. That I wore. A lot. To school. After school. You get the point.)

Anyway, I'm kind of blaming this new love for unicorns on Kelly. And this. So Wednesday evening, we might have found ourselves in Barnes and Noble buying a couple of these (and by a couple I mean two that had totally different box designs but then when I got in the car and realized that the unicorn inside was a "surprise" and not the one shown on the front of the box, my husband might have had to go back inside Barnes and Noble to buy a few more...for me...while my three year old and I waited in the car...said three year old in the backseat content with her new BOOK...me needing just "the right" small plastic unicorn figurine). 

Anyway, an idea for a fun project appeared in the wind, so watch for these little guys to appear here and there (probably mostly here). And they are available at Barnes and Noble stores (near the board games section), but not in their online store. And doing this middle of the night post might have led me to seeing that they are a bit like Beanie Babies circa 1996 where the "hard to find ones" are "worth" a lot and all I can say is let that one go right now honey and just buy the "blind" box for $6 something at Barnes and Noble and love what you get. Or just get this because dude she is CUTE!

Oh and a post about unicorns would not be complete without this. (Obviously.)

Have a beautiful weekend over in your corner. I'm writing a post about envy that I hope to share over the weekend or Monday...because WOW what a topic that is.

Blessings,
Liz 

it tastes like...adventure

You find yourself on Pinterest a lot these days (4 million followers will do that to a girl). You keep seeing inspiration for caprese salad, a favorite you make from time to time. You've even seen roasted caprese stacks. Yesterday, in the middle of all of it, when you notice you still have a whole lot of basil from one of those "live" basil plants hanging out by the kitchen windowsill, you think that maybe it is time to make something new in the kitchen.

You ask your husband to get some ingredients at the store: little mozzarella balls, little tomatoes, and penne, and armed with this Pinterest inspiration, you are just going to wing it.

Your little family is out on a walk, which means you still have some time alone. Alone. In the kitchen. A few suggestions, add a glass of wine (or cider if that's all you have) and turn up a playlist involving The Beatles and maybe even some Jim Croce and Michael Franti, and just for a minute you might even think you are living a past life where you didn't spend half the day neck-deep in potty training.

So you'll preheat the oven to 350 and slice the tomatoes with the insides facing up and drizzle them with olive oil and Fini balsamic and salt and pepper and even a little sugar (inspired by this recipe). You'll pop them in the oven just as The Beatles finish up "Come Together" and you find yourself with the arms of a three year old wrapped around your legs.

"Are you making dinner Mama Kitty? For me?"

And the past life fades away as you answer, "For us. Yes." 

A dance party begins as you watch them kind of work together clearing a space on the table so you can actually eat there instead of on the couch. There are moments of yelling and moments of giggling and you focus back in.

The tomatoes are doing their thing (for about 12-18, longer if the tomatoes are large) and the pasta water is beginning to boil. You slice the little balls of mozzarella in half, knowing you will use more than you really need because too much mozzarella feels like something you all need.

Pasta goes in. Penne takes a while and you forget how long and the instructions in Italian are nice and romantic but help you not at all. So you just keep winging it. Then you wash the basil and slice it with kitchen shears and admire how kind of gorgeous it is as the smell swirls around you.

You turn the oven off after about 12 minutes knowing it would be easy to forget the little tomatoes are in there because you are needed in the bathroom. Two to three minutes later you pull them back out of the oven and put the slices of mozzarella on top of several. Then pop them back in the oven for 4-6 minutes.

Somewhere in there you tried the pasta and it tasted like a twig, so you went with 5 more minutes.

Then it all comes together. Pasta goes in the bowl, tomatoes + mozzarella piled on top, basil on top next. Stir. Add a bit more olive oil and balsamic to taste.

But of course you remember where you are and put plain pasta + plain cheese + edemame aside for the three year old. Later, she will stir them together so her pasta looks like yours. And although you will try to get her to eat that green stuff that looks like lettuce, you will just be really happy that she gobbles up her own concoction.

You will try though and it will go like this.

"You should try this basil."

"Why?"

"Because basil tastes like adventure."

"Like adventure (said as abebenture)?"

"Yes. It tastes like an afternoon spent wandering in a small town in Italy when you meet someone who takes you back to her home for a huge afternoon meal on a little porch with a large table full of cousins and sisters and brothers and a Grandpa who makes you laugh. And the Grandma will bring out pasta that smells so good you cry. And there will be basil picked that afternoon and mozzarella from a farm down the street. And it will taste like nothing you've every experienced and you will know your life will never be the same."

(Between you and me that is some kind of crazy mashed up scene from Letters for Juliet meets Eat Pray Love meets that movie about the wine with Keanu Reeves that might be called A Walk in the Clouds meets some sort of dream I have about being brave enough to just go to Italy and wander and meet people so that I can host a retreat there soon.)

She will smile at you.

And she won't try one bite.

About five minutes later she says, "Mama Kitty, does basil taste like a dream?"

"Yes, honey. Yes, it does."

it tastes like adventure caprese pasta inspired by Pinterest

Wing it. Do whatever tastes good. Have fun. Check out Pinterest. But if these photos look like your kind of thing, here's a place to begin:

• Two pints of cherry tomatoes (we used yellow and red, some were oval so I sliced them the long way so they would lay flat)
• One container of small round mozzarella balls (you certainly don't need to use them all, but you could)
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 tsp if sugar (optional)
• Heavy drizzlings of olive oil + balsamic
• Basil (about one cup)
• Penne pasta (we used about 12 oz)

1. Heat oven to 350.

2. Slice tomatoes and then drizzle olive oil and balsamic to taste + sprinkle salt and pepper to taste + sugar if using.

3. Cook for 12-15 minutes (this will vary depending on your tomato size). Watch for the tomatoes to begin to blister.

4. While tomatoes cook, put pasta water on to boil. Salt it if you want. Put pasta in when water boils. (Follow directions for cooking pasta that should be on the package. Or wing it if they are in Italian.

5. Slice mozzarella balls in half (eat one or two because you know you want to).

6. Wash and slice basil into strips.

7. When timer goes off, take tomatoes out of oven (you could turn oven off at this point) and balance mozzarella slices on as many tomatoes as you have cheese. Put back in for 3-6 minutes (watch them as you want them to just be melting but not browning).

8. When pasta + tomatoes and cheese are done, put them in a big bowl together. Add basil. Stir.

9. Add more olive oil and balsamic to taste.

10. Make up a story about how basil tastes. That will be the best part. Well, right after the eating part.

Makes about three adult servings + one three year old sized serving if it's your main meal and you are the Lamoreux family.

If you need things to be more precise, here are a whole bunch of caprese pasta recipes to peruse.

***

Over here in my corner, I'm trying to "use Pinterest for good." I really see it as a community of people trying to see the beauty and possibility in their lives. I'm adding a few new features here on my blog inspired by or directly about Pinterest as a way to invite others to look for this beauty within a social media community. I look forward to seeing how it all unfolds. Connect with me on Pinterest here. 

could i really paint?

Over here I'm sifting through ideas for my own creative practice to play with during the Chickadee Road :: Studio Sessions. As I mentioned in our Chickadee Road Chat last week, it seems like I'm not really in a place to do the same practice at the same time every day. It is summer and Ellie and Jon are home every single day, so I'm squeezing in bits of creative play here and there, and often in my moments alone I'm either working or trying to rest a bit. 

This is why I'm so excited about the Studio Sessions. I want to be surrounded with kindred spirits who are finding their way to make room for creative play even when the day is full, even when it seems hard. I want to practice what I know and gently push myself to make time for what I know I need.

And I keep coming back to a strong desire to paint more. 

The truth is I always want to paint but there are so many reasons I don't...I'm not very good. I don't know how. I really can only paint when Kelly is here. It makes too much of a mess. I have too much work to do and not enough time to get the supplies out. And how the list goes on.

I'm pretty good at excuses. (Can you relate?)

But still, I keep coming back to this question: Could I really paint?

We're heading to my mom's for a few days soon and I'm thinking about taking my watercolors + Moleskine and just playing. Just putting color to the page and seeing what happens. Watercolors are so easy to travel with, and Kelly's taught me some pretty fun techniques at the retreats this year. Why not?

And then just maybe I will be in a bit of a groove and can continue to play in August. Or maybe I'll decide that I want to try something else.

This is the fun thing about creative practices: You get to create your own adventure.

If you've been longing to play, just PLAY, in your corner of the world - from art journaling to cooking to taking a photo walk each day - consider coming along with Kelly and me for the August Studio Sessions. We are going to have so much fun!

An incredible group of women is already gathering and we'd love to have you come along. 

because poetry should be read aloud

I've recorded a poem for you today.

Because sometimes there are just words you need to hear...words you think someone else might need too.

Because sometimes you need to hear these words aloud so you can write them on your heart...so you can feel less alone.

The poem is called "Flotsam."

It's written by me and you can find it in the poetry collection Five Days in April in my shop.

Just click "Flotsam" below to listen to this short poem.

Blessings,

Liz

flotsam

love this: ellie's current favorites

Ellie was looking over my shoulder and saw this post and said, "Mama, why is your purse in that photo?" I explained I was sharing some of my favorite things I like to wear, and she (no kidding) said, "Can I share my favorite things too?"

So here we go, a few of Ellie current favorite things (and note she has explained that all of these will be going in the suitcase when we go to visit Grandma Fina).

1. Hanna Andersson's Ruffle and Twirl Skirt. Ellie says, "I like all the skirts in the world. And I like this one because I like to wear it with my Mickey shirt." (The aforementioned Mickey shirt would be on this list if I could find it online. We have three and she's been wearing them for almost two years. You've probably seen them on Instagram. She is a bit obsessed with the mouse.)

2. White eyelet tank top from Target that Ellie explains is something "I like to wear to bed like a night shirt."

3. I found this adorable elephant purse at the T-Spot in Manzanita (love that store); you can also find it online here. Ellie says, "I like to take it on BIG trips with me like when I get to the date with the green circle when I wake up really early, I'm going to take my elephant purse with me on the plane." Phew! (The date with the green circle means the day we're going to Grandma Fina's that is circled in green on the calendar in her room.) 

4. Tiny Tom's are an everyday favorite. She actually has a pair with butterflies that I couldn't find online, so we went to the site and she picked these out as a possible "second favorite." We learned at Nordstrom that most kids need half a size down because the canvas stretches. This has been true for EJ.

5. Threadless tees make us all happy in this house. And what's not to love about a self-portrait? As Ellie says, "I like wearing it so much!"

6. Zutano tights are our favorite favorites! Because Ellie loves wearing skirts almost everyday, these are a must on cooler days to keep her legs warm. And all these stripes and polka dots are just happy. Ellie says, "I like to wear them to school. They're cool!"

This kid cracks me up. I'm thinking Ellie's favorites might be a new feature around here. Thinking we'll share her favorite books next! 

one of those dreams do come true moments

photo of Darren Rowse from the official WDS photos by Joshua Seaman

When I went to WDS earlier this month, I didn't expect to have a "dreams come true" moment. Actually, I thought I would have a good time because I loved listening to the speakers last year and I thought they would be inspiring again, but I had already decided I probably wouldn't want to go back again because, wow, 3000 people was going to feel like a lot, probably too much.

It is so good to be wrong sometimes.

Instead, this group of almost 3000 people felt like one of the most open-hearted, real, delightful, truly amazing group of people I've ever been around.

And I'm not kidding.

Now on to the dream part.

Darren Rowse was the second speaker on Saturday. Wisdom + vulnerability + real stories of when things weren't going so great and how that brought him to this place of living his dreams were just the right blend of, well, awesome that I needed to hear.

The topic of living your dreams can run the risk of being "cheesy" (even though I believe cheesy is often an access point to vulnerability). Too much about "living your dreams" can just not apply to your audience because sometimes stories of dreams coming true are filled with "luck" and "the people you know" instead of actual examples of working hard and staying open even when it seems impossible and so on.

Darren's talk had me laughing and tearing up and feeling my heart crack open even more when it comes to a few big dreams I've been holding close and talking around for a long time. And when he asked us to turn to the person next to us and share a dream we have, I turned to Lori and these words tumbled out, "I want to give speeches in front of audiences of 3000 people." And quietly, to myself, I added, "I want to remind them that they aren't alone as they find their way."

I remember Lori said something like, "I really believe you are on your way to living that dream Liz." 

Then Claire Bowditch came on stage and sang, "Amazing Life," and I couldn't stop the tears (guessing I wasn't alone.)

About 30 minutes later, we were back in our seats after a break when Chris shared we would be seeing the trailers for the two movies that would play during breakout sessions at WDS.

My body stilled completely for a second as I processed this. The Indie Kindred trailer would be playing. On the huge screen. In front of 3000 people. Right now.

As in I was about to tell 3000 people that they will feel less alone when they open themselves up and tell their stories.

Somehow I had missed this on the schedule.

so that's my little family on the big screen at WDS. yep.

And there I was alongside the other amazing women in the film...walking with my family to our favorite bakery...sharing my secret dream of having t-shirts with "poet" on them so we can recognize one another...and talking about the magic that happens when you share your story through your art, your music, your words...how that will help you feel less alone.

Yes.

So that was something. 

Dream come true. Check.

But here's the best part of the story. As I was tearing up and having this moment, my husband was sending me two texts.

The edited version reads like this:

Transitions are ******* hard today.

But she's using the big potty again.

Because this is what life is: beautiful and real. There is the beauty and the shit. There are big dreams coming true alongside real lives being lived. We are all human doing our human thing. We are all finding our way. 

Yes.

So big dreams are coming true over here. Ellie is learning and using the big potty. I am continuing to find different ways to tell my story and create space for others to do the same. And really, we are all finding our way together.

Gosh I love this life.

***

Director of Indie Kindred and my dear friend Jen is currently on the road in an awesome blend of beauty and real as she takes her two girls with her on a trip to show the film in cities around the US. Check here to see if there is a showing near you. 

And WDS really was that great. As in I'm already signed up to go again next year. There are lots of other stories from attendees that can you read here. Next wave of signups will be this fall. You should come.

five (really) good things

 

1. She did it! Ellie went down the big slide at the zoo yesterday. She's been wanting to do it all summer and tries each time we go. It has been incredible to watch her. She started earlier this summer by climbing the steps first with one of us, then alone, and then she would stand at the top and watch the other kids push past her. She came close twice but decided she wasn't ready. We've had a lot of conversations about what it means to be brave, how you can do things even when you are a little afraid, and how it is okay to wait until you are ready too. She seems to really be excited about the idea that you can be brave and still be a little afraid at the same time. (YES!)

Yesterday, she decided she was ready so we took a special trip to the zoo. When we got to the slide, she climbed right up the steps, sat right down, and away she went. It was awesome!

2. The recording of our Chickadee Chat is available for viewing right here! LOVED circling in this new way and am so thankful to those of you who gathered with Kelly and me last evening. More chats to come! 

3. Speaking of chats, I keep meaning to tell you that I had the incredible experience of being part of one of Alana Sheeren's Transformation Talks a few weeks ago. Alana creates a beautiful space for people to share about the ways life has cracked them open and how they've filled the cracks. We talked about how my creative practices helped me during times of grief. Honestly, this feels like one of the most important conversations I've had about the work I put in the world and how this work is really how I live my life. (Thank you Alana.) You can watch the video or download the audio here.  

4. And last month I spent the day with Pace and Kyeli in their new home in Portland! Oh these two are so delightful. I was an in-person guest on their Wild Crazy Meaningful Life podcast and we talked all about "Living an Instagrammed Life." I blogged about this idea here (and have a few more posts in the works about this topic) and it was great to continue this conversation with Pace and Kyeli.

5. Shop news: My Etsy shop Soul Mantras and Other Stories now has a Facebook page! I'll be sharing a few fun things over there including FB only discount codes and other good things.

I've just added this new turquoise feather love necklace to the So I Fly Collection. My hope is that it will remind you that you can look up at the sky above you and make the choice to fly even on the days when you aren't sure of the next step. Yes. (Turquoise always reminds me of my grandmother. After she died we realized she was wearing shades of turquoise in almost every photo taken of her during the last 20 years of her life. Gosh I miss her.)

And how about over in your corner. What are five really good things in your world? I'd love to know.

Blessings,
Liz 

capturing this moment: around here

One of my favorite prompts is to gather photos that simply represent what we've been up to "around here" in the everyday moments. Taking the time to sift through Instagram photos and the photos I've taken with my "big camera" helps me to slow down and really see what is happening in the in-between spaces. 

Here's what I found when I looked through photos of the everyday moments from the last few weeks...

creative play (and ever-present patience)

storytelling (complete with hand motions these days)

sorting (and a mama's ability to somehow keep finding things to do)

cuddling under quilts (movie nights and naps)

throwing rocks (and lots of reminders about throwing away from living things)

listening to stories (and talking through the intense moments when needed)

pausing in the quiet (and choosing to really listen)

meals together (simple go-to favorites)

Here's what I know: It isn't about the "quality" of the photo. It isn't about capturing every moment. It isn't about getting photos "as good" as someone you admire on Instagram. It's about living.

It's about noticing the simple moments that make up your world. It's about having the camera nearby to capture what you're drawn to. It's about getting in the photo. It's about having a way to remember the moments she finally put down the paintbrush and let herself begin to paint with just her fingers. It's about reminding yourself that you did really have dinner at the table sometimes. 

It's about noticing the everyday moments of what life looks like around here.

Take some time to capture this moment through your lens today. See if you can find your senses, laughter, what it means to gather, stillness, or even just your favorite shade of blue.

***

You can find more about this prompt and other juicy being present and self-portrait prompts in my book Inner Excavation: Explore Your Self Through Photography, Poetry, and Mixed Media. I'm delighted to share that I'm selling copies again, this time at a special discounted price of $18. Read more about the book and order it from me right here. (I'll even sign it for you and include one of my poem note postcards.)