Happy New Year

Usually, the end of a year leaves me feeling a bit melancholy ... but this year, I am feeling light, bright, and full of optimism. What a wonderful state of being. Wishing you and everyone all good things for the year ahead.

blocks available here

Ghosts of Grey Gardens

I watched the Independent Lens last night about Grey Gardens. It is a behind the scenes look at the making of both the documentary and the musical. Not surprisingly, it was amazing. If you have the opportunity to see it, do.

Independent Lens - Grey Gardens

Grey Gardens 2007 Tony Performance

PS : Christine Ebersol is a goddess.

Fun at the expense of others

20 years ago I was still living at home with my mom, in a cute little apartment near the city center. Mom spent years traveling the globe, and as such, had many friends from around the world. They would always come to visit us whenever they found themselves in our area. Dining out was one of our greatest pleasures, and we loved sharing the great restaurants of our city with them. Invariably, on the drive home with our visitors, we would take the same route. Mom would be making casual conversation with whomever, and every single time, as we passed a compound of buildings mom would say ...." blah blah blah, oh, and right there is where Kelley goes to school, blah blah blah" ... the person she was speaking to would turn to look at "my school", and they would see this :

Then, things would get really quiet in the car, as they tried to figure out if she was joking or not ... which now that I think about it, is kind of insulting. I still drive by that place several times a week, and I giggle to myself every time I do.

Anyway, that was my mom. She was awesome like that.

Just in case you were wondering ...

Yes, people do make sweaters for chickens.

found here.

Hope you're having the merriest Christmas ever !

Worlds colliding ... brain exploding

When I was growing up in the 1980s, music was a huge escape for me. Video games had not yet taken over the world. There was nothing particularly interesting on TV ... except for MTV. Oh, the music videos from that era were amazing. Everything was new and exciting. Two of my favorite groups from that era were Bananarama (girl power!) and Wham! (the exclamation point is part of the name thankyouverymuch ). Well, my world will never be the same after today, because today I learned that Karen Woodward (of Bananarama) and Andrew Ridgley (of Wham!) are married ! Why is this so exciting ? I have no idea - it just is ...

Karen in the middle

Andrew on the right ( AS IF YOU DIDN'T KNOW )

Look at how cute they are ...

Wham! Rap

Bananarama - Cruel Summer

Suburban shenanigans

Early into our marriage, my husband and I built a cute house, in a cuute neighborhood, in a cuuute suburb of Houston ... we loved our house, but I just never felt comfortable up there. It was all a little too ... clean ... in every way, it was scrubbed clean. In the pre-dawn hours, small armies of dark green golf carts would swarm the area. Their drivers rid the streets of any and all litter before the sun could rise and shine down upon it. It freaked me out. It was kind of exhausting being accosted by all of that perfection, all of the time. I couldn't shake the feeling that I so did not belong in this place.

Then one balmy Christmas eve, a glimmer of hope arrived right in my own little neighborhood. Right at my own front door in fact. It was a sign that perhaps ... just perhaps, there were others like me in this perfectly clean place. My husband and I were returning home from a night out. We rounded the corner into our neighborhood, and I immediately noticed that something was amiss.

Someone had taken every single lighted reindeer, in every single yard ... and had moved them into *ahem* compromising positions *ahem* . I fell asleep with a smile on my face, wondering if the dark green golf carts would be able to fix the situation before the sun came up.

PS : Another time, husband went out to retrieve the morning paper. He came back in with a strange look on his face. Someone had moved everything from our porch, and put it onto our driveway. They didn't steal anything. They didn't deface anything. They just moved all of the chairs, plant stands, tables, etc ... and carefully placed them in exactly the same configuration in the middle of our driveway. We still crack up about that one. I miss those guys.

Sunday Funnies

via Cute Overload

I should probably see someone about this

I love symmetry. Does that make me a boring girl? I feel so safe and happy whenever I'm around it. I'm convinced it played a part in our choosing this house. Center door. Two windows on each side. Roof peak right smack dab in the middle. Two lantern lights. Two pots on the stoop. Two rows of hedges. Two corner flower beds ... heaven.

I also love symmetry in numbers. I addressed Christmas cards yesterday, and one of the zip codes was 21212 ... it's perfectly and technically symmetrical, my heart jumped when I wrote it, and I was secretly jealous that they got to have that number.

PS : It has always tickled me that my name is 6 letters long, and can be divided in between the two middle Ls ( Kelley ) ... Before I married, both my first and last names had 6 letters ... it was very exciting .

Obsession du Jour

Well thanks a lot Nesting blog, now you have me daydreaming again ... Imagining life not in our cute and cozy 1920 craftsman, but in this beautiful, airy, and open abode. I love big living spaces and small bedrooms, and this house suits me just fine.

Oh yes, and THEY HAVE CHICKENS ... shall I remind you of how I feel about THAT ?!

Dear Blog,

I'm so sorry for neglecting you lately. This week has been a pretty big deal in our little family. It's been full of evaluations, and observations, and class visits. We have been working (for a long time) toward getting our little one into a certain school, that is just tailor made to fit her specific needs. This is the week we find out if they feel she is right for them. Stressful. We are feeling confident, but I won't be breathing until Friday afternoon. So there you have it blog. That's why I've been ignoring you. Hope we can get together soon. Maybe this weekend?

Love, Kelley

*UPDATE*

Well, we aren't going to find out if we are in until next week, but the outlook is bright. We had a nice chat with the director of admissions that left us feeling  very positive. Crossing fingers!

Schoolhouse watercolor found here

Christmas lights, seven ways

A search for "Christmas" on Flickr brings beautiful images from around the world.

This first one is my absolute favorite. Is he waiting for someone? Is that a tower? Are those mountains? Is that the ocean? 

 Finland:

 Raleigh:

Chicago :

There was no location listed for this one, but it looks a lot like the dome from Galeries Lafayette in Paris.

Virginia :

Christmas in the wilderness :

Take 3

I have been on a quest for the perfect apron for ages. Not too long. Not too stiff. Not too serious, but not corny either. Well, I must have racked up some good karma this week, because my search is now over.

I'll take all three please. Wrap 'em up.

from Home a la mode

Obsession du Jour

It kind of breaks my heart that I don't have a laundry room. I have to haul clothes to and from the garage ... and while that's not really a big deal in the grand scheme of life ... if I did have a proper laundry room, I could have beautiful things like this :

An elevated wire laundry basket. Just looking at her makes me feel happy. Sigh. I love her.

Found at Home a la mode via Design Mom

What happened today

Millie, our cat who suddenly and mysteriously went blind this past year, stumbled upon a pen that had fallen on the floor. She swatted at it, and it rolled a few inches. She crouched down and pounced on it. She swatted it again, harder this time, and it flew across the kitchen. My sweet blind kitty remembered how to play.

It's a bird ... it's a vane ...

I've always had a special place in my heart for weathervanes (or weather vanes if you prefer, my online dictionary says they're both correct). They just make me think of wide open spaces and old farms ... cows named Killer and pygmy goats too. Well, my heart skipped a beat when I saw this one with a heron on it. I've never seen one like it ... and it would be right at home on top of our little old garage ... right honey ?

A heron weathervane would be particularly appropriate in this neighborhood, because we have a large heron population. Yes, right here, smack dab in the middle of one of the largest metro areas in the country. They love to nest in our giant oak trees, and our nearby bayous provide plenty of food. I spot at least one wading in the water nearly every time I cross the bridge to come home. My little one and I walked right by one once. It was just standing in the street, near a curb. We said hello, it looked us up and down, and we bid it adieu. We felt very blessed to have that experience with such a beautiful creature.

Heron weathervane at Installations Antiques (alas, I can't find it on the web site anymore)

Obsession du Jour

Ellis Marsalis & Harry Connick Jr. - Caravan

Making Memories

We took Evangeline to her first Nutcracker ballet on Saturday. She felt quite fancy in the dress her Granny & Granddad gave her. It was a perfect afternoon. We had seats in the founder's boxes, and they were amazing ! We shared our box with another mom and her three year old little girl. She & our little one had lots of fun together during the down times. Here's how it went :

We had a quick run up and down the driveway to burn off all of that excess energy.

Beautiful downtown Houston .

The Wortham Center

Anticipation !

I remember that ferris wheel !

The view from our box was fabulous

 We loved the Houston Ballet Orchestra 

Evangeline & her new friend Kennedy, waiting to meet the ballerinas!

Of course, when we did meet the ballerinas, Evangeline froze up & this is as close as she would get! Here she is meeting Clara (who was the best Clara I've ever seen).

The back of the Sugar Plum Princess

The Snow Queen

It was a magical time that we hope to recreate every year. Our new family tradition.