Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Little Things That Make Me Smile

"Don't you just love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address..."
--Tom Hanks in the movie You've Got Mail
I know I've used this before in a previous post, but it's honestly one of my favorite quotes of all time. And it's getting to be that time of year. Not fall yet, unfortunately, but since it's almost August, the stores are packed to overflowing with school supplies. As a kid, one of my favorite things in life was shopping for each year's supplies. I loved choosing a fun tissue box, a new pencil case sporting whatever I was obsessing over that year, and I still remember every trapper keeper I ever had. What's better than fresh pencils and crayons? Now that Jake is starting Kindergarten, once again I get to relive fun things through my kids. A few weeks ago he picked out a Batman backpack, and last week we got everything else on his supply list. I can't believe he's old enough that his existence now requires a batch of #2 pencils! So this is a fun new phase we're entering, but something I've been doing in August for years now is restocking our own personal house stash of crayons. You know how it goes...after a while you have a plastic shoebox size container of all broken crayon bits and pieces, complete with stray papers that have been ripped off the crayons along the way. Well, every August I stock up on 10 cent boxes of brand new Roseart crayons to last us another year. And hey, if you're feeling crazy, go for the 22 cent Crayolas!!

Friday, July 18, 2008

Reasons I Haven't Been Blogging Lately...

--3 week vacation to PA and Boston

--Picnics at the park

--Painting projects around the house

--Lots of kiddie pool time in the backyard

--Pool and ice coffee time at friends' houses

--Christmas shopping (that's right...have you seen the clearance toys out there? June and July are goldmines!!)

--Spending time with Mark before he started his summer job

--Painting polka dots on Rory's toenails

--Fun crafty projects with the kids

--Guitar Hero with Mark and quality Wii sports time with the kids

--Saturday morning farmer's market

--Library reading club

--Dinners with friends

--Quality time with ice cream cones

--Grilling outside instead of cooking inside

--Summer movies at ornate old theatres, in the park, and at the dollar theatre

I have to say, for someone who claims to "hate summer," I sure have been enjoying myself!

Sunday, July 06, 2008

"Though inland far we be
our souls have sight of that immortal sea..."
--William Wordsworth
"Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us
think things we like to think."
--Robert Henri
"Those who live by the sea can hardly form a single thought
of which the sea would not be a part."
--Hermann Broch
"A person should go out on the water on a fine day to a small distance from a beautiful coast, if he would see nature really smile..."
--Augustus William Hare
"There is indeed, perhaps, no better way to hold communion with the sea than sitting in the sun on the veranda of a fisherman's cafe."
--Joseph W. Beach
I am very happy here in Columbus. I've fallen in love with the city itself, but I do have one complaint--it's inland. This has been a problem for me and probably always will be, no matter how at home I am here. I once read that if you're born near the ocean, your connection to water never goes away. I find this to be irrefutable...