Oh Beauty, where art Thou?

I find myself starving with an appetite for culture and beauty. My fantasies currently include: attending a symphony performance and letting all the exquisite sound wash over me;
sitting with friends in a cozy coffee shop;
playing in good sessions again;
strolling around Hawaii;
spending time in a gallery absorbing visual art;
eating some culinary masterpiece;
spending time with people that intrigue, enjoy and inspire me;
seeing and spending time in new parts of the world, esp. China and Japan. I'm so craving the East and its accoutrements of late.

I miss the excellence of fine art, the pristine execution and the enlivening of different sights/sounds/tastes... the exotic and engaging. I remember sitting halfway back in the violin section in the storm segment of Beethoven's 6th, sweating like crazy, cause Beethoven made you sweat, thinking your arms would fall off in their olympic expenditure of skill and energy. Hearing it all around you, the depth of the cellos and brass, the richness and volume, the sweetness of the violins.

I want to dance, crochet, paint, play... to engage in that inarticulable whirlwind of creativity that comes from the very Divine Spirit and lets you touch the eternal for a moment and suspend time in that internal place of wonder, rapture and awe.
How I miss it, how I need it.

now I really want some coffee. MMmm.. the deflated flavour content of decaf... how disenchanting... oh well. It's for a good cause.

Of course, my world is not devoid of beauty by any means. I captured this particular one this morning while she was still in the Land of Nod. So lovely is she, and full of such joy.

Appendation

OKAY, ok... enough people have commented on my faulty reporting, I have to make amends.

The foot-in-belly pic is apparently old. My dad and I were both duped, who knows, maybe that chic's mom was too... anyway, my current understanding is that it has been circulating on the net for years in the Land of Forwards, and is more than likely retouched, it is certainly no one I or my dad know. We were the suckers. Apparently even posters have been made of it. I was out of the loop.

Just so everyone is happy and knows the truth. I wasn't intentionally misleading anyone. I was just telling what I was told. But anywho! Can't believe all you hear, obviously. Now everyone is well informed, myself most especially. Thank you to all who helped set me on the straight path.

Happy Birthday to me!

Yesterday that is. It turned out to be better than expected, which is always refreshing, no?
The main point of turnaround was that at the last second, Chris switched his days off and ended up staying home with me all day! Weehoo! A treat. SOO much better than sitting around with no Bear (one of his nicknames) and pouting.

Then there was another thing that made it a delight:

the cake.

oh my dear gracious the cake....
*sigh* how can I do it justice with words? I can't. It was a beautiful thing. They bought it for me at a nice price from a local bakery, and wow... a layer of chocolate cake, topped by rich chocolate frosty mousse stuff, then an inch thick home made real whipped cream layer, and the whole thing was covered in a mocha glaze with white chocolate shavings to decorate and delight. Chocolate is my friend. It was rich enough to get lost in its glory, and the notion of the existance of a malignant presence of something called "sugar" does not enter one's mind at all... but not so rich that you are going, "ok... ugh.. that was a bit much, I think my teeth are itching. I think I'll be sick if I finish my piece."
It was nothing like that. I had no problem finishing my rather large piece, and didn't even feel overloaded afterwards. See? All the pleasure and no pain... Here's to you, Cake, and your Baker.
Chris gave me a gift certificate to the Health Food store (haha) to get myself some all-natural, paraben and metal free makeup - yeah! Shawn and his new wife (my new sister-in-law as of Dec 23) Denise gave me a coupon for one night of babysitting- rock on! and 3 pomegranates that I love. Francis and Mary gave me money for a haircut I got this morning and a bag of assorted fresh fruit. Yumola! Very fun. And we got to eat supper with Francis and Mary so that I didn't have to cook. What's better than all that? I dunno.

Here's a cool quote I'll leave with you in the place of any further foolishness from me.
"Most men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most pick themselves up and continue as if nothing happened." Winston Churchill

trip me out

So here is a pic, and let me make sure it is clear for everyone,

THIS IS NOT A PICTURE OF ME OR MY BELLY

nor is it retouched at all...

This belly belongs to the daughter of one of my dad's coworkers. And I just thought this picture was way too remarkable not to share. She is due in a couple weeks. The baby's name is Aiden Christopher.

Nutty, eh? You can even count the toes! For those who haven't been pregnant, this captures some things we feel when we are! Trippy, ain't it?

Camels sound like they are in pain.

If I was able to blog at 2am from my bed,
A) Chris would be really unhappy
B) I would do a lot more blogging.

Cause my mind is racing at that time a lot. Oh well. During the day I'm on duty-mode, and when I have time to blog, I'm usually so relieved to just sit down or something simple, drink the tea that has gotten cold waiting for me to sit, I can't think of anything to say at that point. I know, society suffers greatly from this unefficient pattern. I'll have my people work on it.

So I never really updated how the whole acupuncture thing is going. I have had 3 treatments to date. I'm finding it remarkable! After the 1st treatment, I had about 30 seconds the next day where my hand felt better. After the 2nd treatment I had 5 minutes that day where my hand was like 85% better, then intermittently the following day, and sporatically throughout the following week to a lesser degree. After the 3rd treatment, my pinkie has felt better almost constantly, with some general lessening esp. in mornings, when I'm rested etc. So overall, wow! It IS doing something! a positive something, and so soon!!! I sure didn't expect to see anything at ALL that soon. Improvement is supposed to come incrementally. Longer, better, till eventually, it comes and stays.

For those who don't know/remember, the deal I'm talking about in my arm is like this. My right arm feels like I laid on it or something and it fell asleep and has had no change since December 2005. Pins and needles sensation with disturbance in sensory, some mild numbness.
Nothing terrible really, by any stretch, but am seeking treatment because I also believe something small out of alignment is both indicative of a larger systemic problem often and can cause any number of other problems from its continued state of wrongness.

A cool quote I heard on the weekend : Humility is the guard at the door of the heart. If he is off-duty, the enemy can gain entrance.

How am I personally? Kinda weird. Ya ya, what's new. But emotionally, wow. Wonky. I wish I knew how much was a direct result of wonky hormones and what is legitimate. But wacky emotions. Happy with my super duper punkin, who by the way has returned to being my super obedient, happy-go-lucky buddy. She is truly the dearest pleasure and treasure with whom to spend my days. Part of my emotional drama comes from the fact that I was mostly an only child (only had a half-brother 16 years older than me), and I don't understand the emotional dynamic of multiple kids. For me, the love was ALL mine. If someone else had been there, they would have been intruding on MY emotional attention. That makes me sound pretty bratty eh? Oh well. Maybe I was. You'll have to ask my mom. Anyway, I'm nervous about how that will work, divying up my time and emotions so that no one feels neglected or replaced etc. Kinda nerve wrecking for me though. I am open to advice and/or commentary on that subject.
That's enough for now.
Later Taters!

Consider it shaken.

Oh Faithful One. I love You Lord.
He didn't die for nothing. He will come.
Thank You, infinitely, for Your infinite mercy, on a people so undeserving, so wretched.
Have mercy on our hard hearts again.

Thank You God.

shake off the dust

Somebody! Shake it up!
I have been in this nasty spiritual malaise that is both annoying and scary. Can't like it.
I don't want to be defeatist. I want to be a visionary. I want to bring hope where it is a commodity.
I don't want to lose purpose in comfort.
I don't want to be lukewarm.
Stir it up in our hearts, God: a passion for Your Name.
I know there is more than this. Oh breath of God, breathe on us!

A Survey on Naming

A Survey:

When naming children, what do you think about giving them obscure ethnic names? A name that people are guaranteed to misspell and mispronounce all their lives, like Daithi. It is Irish for David. It is pronounced "DAH-hee".

Doesn't look like that, eh? I know. Not that that name in particular is on our list, but when I'm mulling, I'm just wondering what people think about that. Do you think it is a curse to the poor kid, to always have to be correcting people, or responding to "uuuh.... Day thee? ? Da-eye-the? Is Daythee here??" when roll is called or it is his turn at the doctor's office, etc. Or is it interesting, meaningful? I was able to talk to one lady with a 'different' name who said, no, the burden wasn't too much, she was so glad she didn't have a common name. But that is just one opinion. I'm looking for more.