Table runners & academic detritus

Giving a big party on Sunday for my dearest friend and her finance and decided the buffet table needed a runner that brought in a bit of blue to complement the white + red of the party:

I pieced together several dishtowels that I found last week. Since the towels are not exactly the same size, the overall effect is a bit wonky but will be fine with serving dishes atop it. And then I decided to make two more to run between the three 8-foot dining tables I’m renting so they look more like one long table. The guest of honor asked me if that’s what table runners are for — to join tables together. And you know, I realized I have no idea what table runners are for. Do you?

In somewhat related news, I’ve been tending to the garden. Well just a bit … I don’t want to ruin the “shabby garden” look I’ve been cultivating, but I decided the piles of leaves could go (LOL!). And mixed in with the leaves were bits and pieces of discarded papers that have floated over from the high school. Here was the best find:

Clearly, someone had issues with Grapes of Wrath. I think I’ll turn these pages into a collage.

Sparkly solution #23

Aren’t magazines fabulous? They lure you with their glossy covers and promises of inspiration and entertainment. Until, that is, you get too busy to read them and they sit in stacks gathering dust. I don’t know about you but I start to resent them when I have too many. And yet, I worry that if I put a half read issue in the recycling bin that I will miss something Very Important. Life Changing probably. So they stay and more dust gathers until, in a fit of pique, they all go.

Obviously, one way to remedy this situation is to subscribe to fewer magazines. And resist the urge to buy off the newsstand. But I’ve discovered an even better solution — get magazines in a language you can’t read. Seriously.

It’s the sparkly solution that saves so much time you quickly put an end to the dust-collecting stack.

Here’s how it works … say you have a French magazine like these:

The photographs are gorgeous, the paper glossy and thick. Very satisfying.

As you flip through the pages, you’re drawn in. You go to read about what you’re seeing. Then you think to yourself, “oh yeah, I can’t read French” and you move on to the next picture. You’re done with that magazine speedy quick. You pull the pages you love and stow them in your clipping system, and out goes the magazine to be recycled into a new form. Voila!

Now I’m not suggesting you trade all your magazines for ones you can’t read but throw a few in the mix and discover how freeing a foreign language can be.

Summer lovin

It’s been many years since “summer” has felt like “summer.” Really, once you’re done with college, work goes all year round. People used to ask me, “how’s your summer?” And I’d be stumped. Um, just like the rest of the year. Busy with work … same old, same old.

But now! Now, I have a grade-schooler. And summer is summer again. I might not have those long lazy days of reading stacks of library books but things do feel lighter. Easier. Here’s what I love most …

:: Trading PTA for camp (less work for me, more fun for K)

:: No lunches or snacks to make (again, that snappy camp routine)

:: Quiet streets

:: Swimming before dinner at the local pool

:: Fewer slices of the pie (could work/life balance be within my grasp?)

:: More time to eat pie

:: Warm nights, fresh fruit, big salads and popscicles

:: Long weekends at Grandma and Grandpa’s (also known as Mr. Fancypants)

:: Flip flops and floaty skirts

:: Dressing the house in its summer finery

:: Time to explore

What do you love most about summertime?

180 days …

… of Kindergarten later and the 06/07 school year has come to a close. We went from this:

to a much taller, incredibly confident girl who often sounds more like she’s 26 than 6. A true and true tomboy who’s best buds are boys but will still hang with the girls. A whiz at the monkey bars and thinking up stories, she’s beginning to read and write with confidence. Novels and essays are around the corner, I have no doubt.

I am so proud of this girl. She rocks my world. Even when she brings a beach full of sand home in her pockets!

And, truth be told, I’m so relieved that my year of room parent duty is over. Even though I made so many great friends and love K’s teacher to death, it was, really, just one too many pieces of an already crowded pie. Summer is here! And while my work continues, everything feels just a bit slower.  More time for planning big parties.  Crafting.  Eating berries. And, ahem, blogging!

Wall art

If I’d blinked I would have missed it. The wall. Saturated in color, old iron made new. Right in the middle of a jam-packed urban shopping center. Maybe it was the juxtaposition that made it so startling … and beautiful. Looking at the wall felt like a found poem. Bits and pieces of things mixed together to tell a new story. I’m glad I didn’t blink.