getting ready

tonight, grammy brought us dinner. thank you! and the kids think it is funny that the "grammy's" are on. they don't get it...and they certainly thought Pink's outfit was "inappropriate." yes, my kids are watching tv on sunday night at 8:30....all you waldorf parents. guess i cannot blog and get away with anything anymore!

the art above is my first draft of a painting i plan on doing this month. the church, St. Marks, next to the kids school hosted a masquerade ball this past friday and the tables had beautiful peacock feathers shooting into the heights of the old gorgeous church. then jamie gave me a card to wish me luck and inspire me on this journey...peacock feathers were on the card. and also, on our way home friday night...we stopped by the century ballroom (the place that hosts the beyonce class for next month) so i could show dina...and there was a masquerade ball going on. so many connections. if you are looking for them!

i am picking up a hand carved mahogany easel tomorrow from craigslist. and i didn't know how i was going to be able to buy paints. but pete, my teenage neighbor (an Oliver...they rock!) gave me all these paints and a few canvases. thanks pete!!!!!!! everything comes together when you go toward your life's mission. trust in the process.

xoxoxmelissa

Here We Go.....

Painting.. Let me start by saying I am not sure I have ever really created or finished anything creative so this is all new to me. Painting is the first on our list and other than the gross watercolors that my kids have I have no paint options. I decided to take my little artist Madeline and we went to the craft store.

Look at all the options. I was overwhelmed, the store was packed, and the aisles are so small ( why would a store make an aisle that a cart does not fit down...). Madeline thought I should get all the pink paints and I considered that for a moment but decided on another plan. I looked at all kinds of kits and training videos but decided to go simple at first. This is what I got... I decided the more simple the better. I got a set of watercolor paints, acrylic paints, paper, brushes, and two canvas. I am just going to go for it and see what happens. I also have been looking around for a local class and have sent out a few emails and a few friends have offered books to read. These things will be really helpful! If anyone has painting hints or suggestions PLEASE send them my way! I will break open my new purchases tomorrow after work and the gym! xxoo-Dina

about last night

ok, i think i'll stop soon with the eighties media references. but why?

so, last night was really fun...with a few spurts of cranky from me. i was just being a little whiny at times...body image issues and not getting what i want issues. i feel like a teenager. perhaps, hence, the eighties constantly coming up. lord please, by the time i am 40 could i please just learn how to handle these two issues with grace.

Kathy Griffin was really funny, i didn't think i would like her as much as i did.her bits about her drunk mom were hilarious. and after seeing her, i don't feel like i watch too much tv. maybe not enough! http://www.kathygriffin.net/tour.php is the link to see if she is coming to a city near you. she is also in seattle again tonight if you are local.

Tango is the restaurant we dined at before the show...and where we did our big list reveal. the food was SOOOOO good. so, let me say that I tend to get crappy service, bad seating, and always feel like i could have picked a place that has better food or better atmosphere. Tango was not like that at all for me. our server was really sweet, authentically. and like i said the food was really good. it is a tapas place, so we each picked 2 dishes. Dina picked the Croquetas de Papas (Crispy horseradish-potato croquettes, smoked tomato jam, Cotija cheese) and Queso Fundido (Baked Mahon cheese with herbs, smoked sausage, apples, crostini---quite possibly our favorite dish of the night!) i picked Green Beans & Harissa (Pan roasted green beans and tomatoes, pinenuts, harissa) and Carnitas del Puerco (Chili and cinnamon spiced pork, salsa verde, tortillas---also a top runner for fave of the night for me.) we are still talking about how good it was. i also had a drink named the Empress....tequila & ginger...mmmmm. and i love the name. reminds me of the tarot deck. the empress in tarot (according to Angeles Arrien in the Tarot Handbook...great book to go with the toth deck) so, the Empress comes to you when there is movement toward balancing emotions, a time to nurture the self...and is a highly creative time. perfect. and i didn't even order it, i asked for the bartender's favorite tequila drink. we recommend you check out tango sometime. http://www.tangorestaurant.com/index.php

ok...finally the list! i love love love it. we picked some similar themes.

so first is painting. this is one that i actually had on my list, but it got cut. i am envisioning doing both oil painting and watercolor. we start the painting on monday!! i will need to re-up my supplies...i haven't really painted since i was pregnant with lily in 1999. so, i bet the ole paints are a bit dry. i wonder what time of day is going to be best, most creative. maybe I'll do the morning pages (writing 3 pages of stream of consciousness first thing in the morning to get all that crap out of your hear so creativity can flow from the source directly, instead of meandering through all that crap) and then paint, or paint at night after the kids are in bed. take a break from my dear tv. we'll see.

well, more on the other list items later. but let's just say...i cannot get the single ladies song out of my head...and i may start watching the video every day, just to get ready!

peace, melissa

The List!

Hello!

Sorry for the late list post it was a late night. Melissa and I had a great time last night. We went to dinner, a great comedy show to see Kathy Griffin, and back to the house to hang out. It was a great night! So...Here it is!

February- Painting (Dina's List)

March- Learning the "Single Ladies Dance"- Yes that is right...from the Beyonce video. There is a class in Seattle and we are going to learn :) (Melissa's List)

April-Yoga (Dina's List)

May- Growing our own food garden (Melissa's List)

June-Dressmaking- Make something that we will wear (Melissa's List)

July- Writing ( Melissa's List)

August- Reading music-playing a song on an instrument (Dina's List)

September- Eating and Learning about a Vegan Diet (Dina's List)

October- Salsa Dancing (Dina's List)

November-Scrapbooking (Dina's List)

December-Drumming (Melissa's List)

January- Meditation Shambhala Training (Melissa's List)

So Painting starts on Monday! Tell us what you think....

Dina xxoo

who are you? (think Breakfast Club)

i LOVED that movie growing up. that was from the scene where the nerd is trying to write his essay and he has his pen in his mouth and is clicking it with his lips. my friend Brandi and i could recite every single line from that movie. we were dedicated to the breakfast club. we practiced it. daily. too bad i am not picking that as my passion. but i guess i have already done that, and it didn't stick. i grew out of it, i suppose.

so, this post is not really meant to be about great eighties movies. it is to give a little background to that question that Brian was asking himself. i think you all should know that one of the things about this list making...is that dina and i are so different.

i have traveled the country hitchhiking and spare-changing when i had to back in my twenties. i have a degree in herbal medicine...not very common, also not very lucrative. my husband is a musician that paints houses to pay the bills. i have three kids, who attend a local waldorf school in seattle. we live in an apartment building in the city. i have studied astrology and have gone to appointments where someone talk to my spirit guides. (and admittedly, i am a bit skeptical, but go cause i think if it is true, i want to know what they have to say!) i grew up in a very small town in ohio, steel mills supported most families, and in the late early eighties everyone lost their jobs and the people and economy were depressed. i was born in california and as i grew up landlocked, but along the ohio river, i longed to be back west...near the pacific. and so here i am. close. not quite as sunny, but beautiful.

dina (my interpretation...please feel free to correct me, dina) grew up outside DC and when i met her i knew her to be from a very wealthy area. her family had a live-in nanny person, and i thought...wow! these people are loaded! after college (we all went to WVU...go Mountaineers!) she moved around a bit...WV, MD CA, VA...and now lives here in issaquah, WA. the thing about dina is that she always has stayed on track. always with a goal in hand, dedicated, determined...and she got everything she set out for. a successful career in speech pathology. a loving husband (also successful!), two sweet daughters and a big, cute dog. i am truly amazed at the follow through. i can lack that, or maybe i just do it differently. dina lives in the suburbs in a nice house with a big yard. and i don't think she would be caught dead talking to her spirit guides :) ok, maybe if she were dead...she could. but that's just my opinion cause i think that maybe there is life after death.

anyway...my point is...i just wanted you all to get a glimpse of where we come from, as we are choosing our lists. they could be worlds apart, or we could be surprised to find we have more in common than we think. i mean, actually...i have been getting a lot closer to dina lately, and we do have more in common that i used to think. we have known each other for, what...like 12 years? and really just in the last handful of months have we become a lot closer. i am looking forward to learning more about each other through this process, and bonding. i grew up with a brother...and i love you so much, Ian...but i did always wonder what it would be like to have a sister. here's my chance to find out!

thanks dina...for doing this with me! love you!

xoxoxmelissa

oh...and one last thing. it is so beautiful here. we walked to school today, through volunteer park...and it was just so nice. the air was mile and clear enough to see the space needle and the sound, the olympic mountains were covered by clouds, but you know they are out there, behind it all. i didn't want to walk cause i woke up late and had to make the kids lunches and didn't think there would be time. and then as we were leaving the koi ponds, i turned and thanks the kids for "making" me walk...it just felt so good to be outside this morning. now, should something on my list make it so that i am forced to be outside more? maybe :)

24 Hours To Go!

List Day tomorrow! I am so ready to get started. I hope you are all thinking about what would be on your list! Time for bed.... xxoo-Dina

narrowing down

well, now i have too many. it is hard to decide which ones will make it on the list. and interesting why those will be there, and other will be "out!" (spoken like Heidi Klum) xoxomelissa

what i know for sure

...is that there is one thing on my list.

others are flowing, but not set in stone.

i also think i picked the restaurant.

any last suggestions...walking distance to the Paramount?

good drinks, good food...great lighting. always important.

xoxomelissa

i'm not thanking no one

psyche!

of course, Dina has a point. other people are going to be picking up some of the slack i will leave behind. i do intend on keeping up with the way things are, but maybe just not adding extra things as i go along this path. i'll still be auction volunteer coordinator at the kids school, i'll keep being class parent this year...but i will not take on any new responsibility this coming year. i actually like the idea of that. i love to do a lot for everyone, i love to take care of people, i love to help out with everything...and i have come to

a place where i feel the need to go within. give to myself. as exhausting a

s this endeavour may sound at times, there is a simplicity that it inherently holds. one thing. every month. i am already exhausted. this is a search to fill me up with reserves, the kind of reserves that come from the source, the ever giving fire that brings creativity to everyone if we tap into it. tappa tappa tappa (sorry, a favorite simpsons quote) i wish i had tappa tappa tappa. well, now i do. thanks jamie...thanks lily, levi and tallulah...thanks everyone that supports me by listening to all m

y processing of life at work and at school...thanks mom...thanks Olivers...thanks dina. ok, now i feel like i am standing on stage at the flipping oscars or something, and i feel a little ridiculous.

ps. my list is starting to take shape....

xoxomelissa

(photos are of Grammy and the kids...and then jamie on guitar)

Thank You!

A big thank you to these people for supporting me during this process of figuring out more about who I am. I really do think if I find something that I love to do outside of family it will make me a better wife and mother. I was working on my list last night and feeling some guilt about adding more to my schedule and maybe spending less time at home..why as moms do we always have the guilt factor? I just keep reminding myself that when I am happy and feeling joy my kids seem happier and that is always my goal. So a big THANK YOU to Ian, Madeline, and Hazel, and all of you who are reading along with us. Your comments and support makes this experience more than we could have asked for. (oh, and Ian why is it that you won't become a "follower" of our blog?) 2 days till LIST day...so excited. So I guess February 1st will be passion #1. It will be great fun to spend an evening out with one of my favorite people! Happy Wednesday! XXOO Dina

allergies

damn allergies. hopefully this passion will help me not be so susceptible to these allergies. oh right, maybe all that wheat and dairy i had the other day. right. so, today was a crappy day. another call from school about the boy, fight with the husband, no available cardio machine at the gym. feels weird to complain on here. but this is life...sometimes it is crappy. i am not one to not be real about things. but the real reason for me complaining about having a crappy day is that i wonder if once i have this creative outlet that brings me joy...i wonder if having that will help me not be so bothered by the crappy parts of life. cause they aren't going anywhere. people are going to be mean sometimes. kids are going to not listen and get in trouble at school...at least mine will! Sometimes you look around and your life doesn't look anything like you thought it would. i am presently watching Breakfast at Tiffany's. some guy did this history of the movie before it started. i had no idea that Holly Golightly was a prositute in Capote's novel. all these years of thinking i knew her...and i never actually read the book to know more. (and i get that some of you probably deduced that from the movie alone...sadly, i admit, i did not have that keen observation) so, not an intended analogy, but that is what i am going for. ha. not being a prostitute, don't get nervous, Dina! i just mean that even if i pick something that i have done before, maybe in the past I didn't learn interesting details, or go deeper into the meaning and background. that is my plan. to learn more about each part of the list, mine and hers. aw...isn't Audrey Hepburn so beautiful as Holly? onto the movie...enjoying my free time while it lasts! good night...melissa

Worried!

So...many people know that this is my favorite place and I am a bit worried I will not have time to go while I am discovering my passion! Oh who am I kidding..I will make the time. My list is at 4 and I feeling good about it! Just got home from the gym and time fore bed. Good Night xxoo-Dina

strike one

one of my ideas was shot down today. turns out you need basic health insurance to participate. and i don't have that. bummer. i do think i have two others that happen to share a theme. and in that, i am learning more about myself just by making the list. today i heard from a friend that a good exercise to discover your hidden, biggest dreams for yourself is to write for 5 minutes...pen not leaving the paper...about what your dreams are for yourself. then wait five minutes and do it again. and then maybe repeat, i can't remember because i think my youngest child had begun to demand my attention. she said that by doing so, you can uncover what you keep from yourself because your everyday mind just cannot let you even think you might be capable of certain things. i mean, really, what if we let ourselves dream as big as we want? like anything is possible. maybe i'll try that. xoxomelissa

Good Morning!

Good Monday Morning! It is going to be a crazy week and the thought of adding something additional into my schedule is making me a little "crazy"! I am totally committed but nervous at the same time. So..I see my partner is having some trouble with her list! I have 3 definite and the rest well that is still a work in progress. Looking forward to Friday! Have a great day! xxoo Dina

morning update

no new ideas in my dreams. just lots of jaw clenching. onto Monday... xoxomelissa

working on the list

...and nothing else apparently! funny i cannot seem to come up with a lot of ideas, i have really good reasons why everything won't work. but i can think and think. and not make dinner. and not put my kids to bed. ok, i did make dinner...an impromptu pasta alfredo with spinach. i know it has a fancier name, but i can't think of it. it was so good. even though i am not supposed to be eating wheat or dairy. ugh. but seriously delicious.

youngest to bed. middle one next. then the oldest...she never wants to go to bed. and all the while so distracted by thinking on this list. should i put something even if i am sorta afraid of it? should i put something even though i may have tried it before but never gave it my all? should i put something even if it might be dangerous? should i put something even if it might be boring? lots of questions tonight. maybe i should ask my dreams to give me an answer.

"dear subconscious....what might i love to do?"

xoxomelissa

Dina's First Post

Hello, So...who's idea was this? It sounded so fun but I will admit I am a little nervous. The last few months have been well..interesting and I have been working on figuring out who I am and what makes me happy. I feel blessed to have a wonderful family and a job that I love but....I think something is missing. The other night I was watching my brother-in-law (James)play music and he just looked so happy like he would not want to be any other place in the world and I thought I need something like that...something that no matter how tired I am, how much work I need to do, how dirty my house is, how much I want to go to the gym, how much I want to play on facebook, or how much I want to go to bed..I can't because I WANT to do "it". The problem is what is the "it". I really don't think I ever had an "it" so where do you find it? That is where Melissa comes in. The brilliant idea... We will each come up with 6 things that we would like to try for a month. The trick is that we have to complete both lists and no saying no to any of the ideas. We will devote 1 month to each and really engage in the activity and give it our all. Wow...now I think coming up with the list will be the easy part. We will tell each other our lists on Friday night when we have a girls night out! We have both agreed to blog about the experience. I know what most of our family and friends will think. Two women with jobs, kids, husbands...no way or "good luck with that" but we are going to do it! Now off to work on my list! Dina

Melissa's first post

hello.

so, today i am just getting used to the whole blog site thing. i am not all that computer literate, but can sorta figure stuff out along the way. i am getting excited to make my list of 6 things to try. oddly, i don't have a flow of ideas coming to me. i feel like i haven't totally opened myself up to it. i mean, in life already...at the age of 37...i have come across plenty of things that i thought were going to be "it" for me. i get very into whatever the newest thing is and then the excitement fades. not that i am regretting learning astrology, herbal medicine, becoming a doula, living on the road...it is just that i wonder where this journey will take me. to dedicate a month to something is different than these past interests. i would maybe study once a week, if i was lucky. this will be everyday...or at least that is my intention. my oldest daughter says..."you're not really going to do this, you know." and part of me wonders if she is right. do i have it in me to keep up with this. i think it will be good for me in so many ways. it will give me focus. right now i have a ton of things i "should" be doing. this will distill all my many desires into one thing, for that month.

now onto starting my list. and what will Dina pick? we are so different. we will be exposed to such different things by agreeing to not say no to the others list. we are going out to dinner this coming friday...and there we will reveal our picks. the plan is to bring them on little strips of paper and put them in a hat or something and pick them out one by one...thereby randomly deciding the order. oh, i get to pick the restaurant too. any suggestions?

can't wait....

melissa