Summer

I love Las Paletas. If you live in Nashville, you know what I'm talking about. Last year for a work gathering, they brought in Las Paletas as one of the food items. It had the hugest line. We showed up today 5 minutes before opening. Young Man did the standard young child press-face-and-hands-on-window-looking-in and wondered when we get to go inside. He got distracted by the gravel area and when I said "they're opening the door," he darted inside with this other young girl about his age.

He opted for strawberry blackberry. He was down with the flavor, yo.

B.K. / A.K.

Long lines at the airport. Wait time in the doctor's office. El or bus ride into work. Before Knitting - I used to read 1-2 books a month. Sometimes it was mindless, fast-paced, formulaic fiction. Sometimes it was more intellectual. The last book I read until recently was Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves.



Upon the recommendation of a friend, I started reading again. My friend actually took the time to think about what I might enjoy and procured it for me. At the time, I did feel a sense of obligation to read it, but not in bad way, of course. That book was 1984 and I am all the better for reading it. It would seem a lot of today's references relate to 1984, such as the term "Big Brother."

And since then, I've engaged myself in other titles. Even with the mindless reading, it does require the brain to work in a different way than other activities that one might spend time participating in. Before Knitting - it was just books. And then came Knitting - the period where it was just knitting, and only knitting. After Knitting - the phase where I can find a good balance between the two.

Yes, that is some recent knitting in the photo. More on that a bit later.

The Long and the Short of It

Once upon a time, there was a girl with super long hair.



Then one day, this girl was watching one of her favorite TV shows and noticed the main character chopped off her long locks in favor of a graduated bob.



Girl wondered if her face was suitable for a shorter style. Girl texted her hairstylist of 5 years: "Would Kate Walsh's bob work on me?" Super Boy Wonder Hairstylist replied: "Definitely."

A few weeks later, Super Boy Wonder Hairstylist called in a panic. "Betty, do you still want to do the bob? I would cut your hair for free. I need to videotape it for an audition." (For Bravo TV's Shear Genius reality competition!) Girl decided she would do it. Girl was nervous when she arrived at the salon for the audition haircut. Girl was very attached to her long hair and worried that she might hate it and cry, and that would certainly not be good for an audition tape.



Girl smiled at her shorter hair in the mirror after cutting and before the blow out. She already knew she loved. All smiles.



Guess I need to update my cartoon picture to reflect my sleeker, shorter hair.

Real Snow

I may have snarked before about "snow" in Tennessee. It does snow here in Nashville, but it's usually only an inch or two, and the ground is usually warm that it melts almost immediately. Nothing like what I am used to in Chicago. And certainly nothing like where Young Man and I just got home from.



We traveled to Whistler, BC, two hours north of Vancouver, site of 2010 Winter Olympics. And the special occasion was my brother's wedding. I consider Young Man a seasoned pro at traveling. His passport is well stamped. He's been all over the world - Taiwan, Indonesia, Canada - and all over the United States. It shouldn't surprise anyone how completely laid back he is about traveling such long distances. Even when tired and hungry, he can be reasoned with: "when we get off the plane, we'll find you something to eat."



There isn't too much to do for smaller children if they don't want to hit the slopes. There is 3 year old ski school but Young Man wasn't interested. We were able to at least watch the skiers and riders by riding the gondola up the mountain. The Whistler/Blackcomb Peak 2 Peak gondola that connects the peaks of the two mountains. Truly awesome.



My niece, my Sister's baby girl, is the cutest niece ever. She is so happy and very photogenic. I think I got really lucky in the lighting. It was slightly overcast but still bright, and the gondola is surrounded by windows all around.



It it pretty rare to have my immediate family all together - Mom, Dad, Brother and Sister. Some of my first cousins made the journey to British Columbia as well. Sometimes I feel so isolated here in Nashville. It was great to be surrounded by family for a celebratory occasion.

Creative Mind at Work

Young Man had some arts and crafts homework this weekend. The focus at school this week are the letters P and C. He was instructed to decorate cardboard letters at will. I did help with certain parts, such as the snowflake-esque cutouts, but otherwise, Young Man did his own thing. He wouldn't let me touch his letters!

Phuture Photog

It was a warm and sunny day. Young Man chose to go to Dragon Park over the zoo. Young Man grabbed his Mom's DSLR and ran around taking photos. This is no small feat.

1. Canon Rebel XTi is heavy and bulky for 3-1/2 year old.
   
2. No large preview pane. You have to look through the smaller viewfinder.
   
3. You have to obviously aim properly and click.

I think the results are pretty good.

Me on the swing.



Ignore my slouchy posture. I was ducking down because I could tell the lens was not at the proper height.



Good aim! I did not crop these.





Look at someone's trash on the ground.



Seems like someone needs an upgrade from the kiddie camera he received over a year ago.

Zeitgeist

Back at the beginning of 2008, I had made an observation. Being green was becoming so commonplace. Every store I knew had "buy these reusable bags for $1 and be eco-conscious" bags. It was starting to disgust me in that it seemed the idea of being less wasteful was trendy. I put myself in the proverbial corporations' shoes and thought, well, if they didn't do what everyone else is doing, they would look like they don't care. Okay, I can buy that.

Still, I was annoyed with the pervasive trendiness of it all, that I had a thought that I would revert back to extreme wastefulness and consumerism. Stuff, stuff, and more stuff. I was going to make my dent into landfills. I did, of course, grow up in the days of Material Girl.

But then I thought about why I needed to be so counterculture. Just because it's popular and trendy, doesn't make it wrong. I generally tend to be against the grain. If it's the in thing, it's generally not my thang. Vox populi says this is IT. And I end up being against IT.



But is that always true? Sheepishly, I admit, not always. I think about a time where I really wanted something, but my anti-popularity self said it's a highly desirable brand so I must not get it. Angel meet Devil. Angel is the voice of reason and says it's nice looking, made well, is not splashed with company's logo, and will look great with everything you already own. I still carry that Coach bag to this day.

Sometimes my anti-ness can be detrimental.

I think back to the beginning of 2008 and it's been 8-9 months since my observation at the beginning of the year. Maybe the trendiness isn't bad after all. Seems like people are making long-term changes that are permanent and impactful and that just become part of normal daily operations of life. This would be akin to someone losing a lot of weight, breaking out of the cycle of yo-yo gains and losses, and making exercise and nutritional changes for long-term health and well-being.

By the way, I am down to just one bag of actual trash per week. And it's actually about 1/2 bag. Mostly food stuffs, coffee grains, etc. That does make me smile.

“What I say today everybody will say tomorrow, though they will not remember who put it into their heads. Indeed they will be right for I never remember who puts things into my head : it is the Zeitgeist.” - George Bernard Shaw