Archive for December, 2007

New Year

I’ve been feeling detached from my blog and writing lately, not really having anything to say, and if I do, not wanting to put forth the effort to put it into words that mean anything.

So when, in my daily blog meanderings, I ran across this post from Bella, I knew that in my present state of writer’s block I couldn’t say anything about the coming New Year better than she had. Thank you, Bella, for sharing your beautiful thoughts and words with us again.

January is named after the Roman god Janus. He was the god of gates, of doorways and entrances, beginnings and endings tied together. In most depictions of him, he is double faced, looking both backwards and forwards, as if to remember and reach out simultaneously. He reminds me of the goddess Hecate, she who stands at the crossroads. He brings the clarity of vision, the loss of leaving something behind which has already passed us by and the hope of what is yet to come.

I breathe out, only to once again breath in. I feel a pause, that moment in-between, as the foot leaves the ground, right before it steps down once again. Then I enter. I step inside. I cross through. It has been a hard year. It has been the best year ever. And now, here we go.

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A Very Southern California Christmas

This morning, after Hawk and I opened presents (new hat! new purse!), we decided to hop in the convertible and go for a drive up the coast. It is an absolutely beautiful day here, breezy and mild, not a cloud in the sky.

First, we drove up over Malibu Canyon.

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Christmas Pacific

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Me

Then we hit PCH and stopped at the Chart House for lunch. On the menu? Mimosas and crab legs. Aww yea.

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A happy man.

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I am intent on my crab.

It was so much fun. We were having such a good time together, and lunch was delicious. At one point I turned to Hawk and said “I’m having one of those rare moments where I am perfectly happy”.

After lunch we took a walk down on the beach.

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Me writing Hawk a message in the sand.

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MHC *hearts* DCHC

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Me blowing Hawk a kiss. Mwah!

I wish everyone a sunshine-y, sandy-footed, love-filled Christmas Day.

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Fugly Angel Says…

Merry Christmas!

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(this angel is an example of “When White Elephant Gift Exchanges Go Bad”)

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Release

A couple months ago, Hawk and I commissioned a very talented friend of ours, Katrina Bea, to create a piece for the space above our bed. Her work is stunning - raw and emotional, delicate, yet strong and evocative. The only suggestions or requests we gave her were that we would like an animal and maybe a tree.

This week, she delivered our painting, which she titled ‘Release’:

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(click to enlarge)

We were both absolutely speechless. It is so perfect, so exactly what we had in mind. It is so powerful, so provocative, and it became even more so once she started telling us about it.

The woman in the painting is in a state of release, with her head and her abdomen unattached from the rest of her. Katrina is a dear friend of ours and knows what I’ve been going through in terms of my fertility and anxiety, and this was her way of depicting my desire to ‘let go’ of both my emotional and physical troubles.

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The hawk (obviously symbolizing Hawk) above her is cradling her in his wings, protecting her.

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There are flower blossoms all over her, because she herself, as Katrina put it, is “blossoming”.

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The snake is a powerful symbol of male fertility and is wound around her.

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I knew that whatever Katrina made us would be beautiful, but I had no idea it would be so meaningful, so poignant. This painting embodies so perfectly the journey that Hawk and I are on together, I can hardly wrap my mind around it. We are so lucky to have such a talented and dear friend. We will both treasure this painting for the rest of our lives.

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Magic Kingdom

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On the Matterhorn

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The Alice in Wonderland ride.

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Ooh! Trippy flowers!

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Hawk and Mr. Toad.

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In line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

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New Orleans Square

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Inside the Indiana Jones ride.

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There was this guy standing in line in front of us for Indiana Jones with a Yoda backpack. The best part? No kids. Just a middle aged guy with his wife, rocking the Yoda backpack.

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Inside the Disneyland Fire Department on Main Street.

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More firetruck.

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More firetruck.

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Me on the fire pole. Too bad this turned out blurry, because it’s rad.

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The Uva Bar, where we went and had a couple cocktails before our dinner at the Blue Bayou restaurant.

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New Orleans Square after dark.

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Sleeping Beauty’s castle, decorated with icicle lights.

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Main Street, U.S.A.

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Me in front of It’s a Small World.

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The It’s a Small World clock.

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Weekend

Ah, what a lovely break from blogging after the ridiculousness that was NaBloPoMo. I’ve been scolding myself in my head (”You know, self, you should really post something.”) but I ignored myself like a petulant teenager and here I am ten days later.

We had a great weekend. Super productive and very fun. I painted the room that used to be my office and is now going to be our guest room/reading room/my meditation space (and someday will be a baby’s room). It’s a very pretty pale yellow, a color called “Honey Bear”. I thought that was cute.

And! We bought art! We went to an art gallery in Silverlake on Saturday night because our very talented friend Christine had five pieces in a show there. While we were there, I spotted a painting that I absolutely loved by an artist named Elana Kundell. I was begging Hawk to let me buy it and he kept saying no, and after pouting for a while I told him I was going to buy it anyway (I just got my settlement money from my car accident back in May). He glared at me and I said “You were going to surprise me with it for Christmas, weren’t you?” “Yep. You ruined it.” I may have ruined the surprise, but we came home with the painting anyway and it is beautiful. It will go perfectly our newly painted guest room.

Then we went to dinner at Chichen Itza near downtown. It’s Mexican food from the Yucatan region and boy howdy is it tasty. I had the Huevos Motelanos, which is fried eggs over a crispy corn tortilla topped with black beans, cheddar cheese, green peas, tomato sauce and fried plantains. YUMMY. I had Mexican Hot Chocolate for dessert. Perfect.

Sunday we went to a Christmas tree farm and cut down our Christmas tree for the first time. It was really fun! I cut it down with a bow saw. ‘Cause I’m badass like that. You can tell which way the wind blows in that tree farm, because it’s a little lopsided, but very pretty and it smells lovely. We had a bit of a hard time getting it in our tree stand because the trunk is pretty small, but in the end we triumphed. We decorated it last night, and this morning, all the ornaments from the bottom two feet of the tree were scattered across the floor, courtesy of Jethro and Millie. I found Mother Goose under our TV stand. Luckily we had foreseen this and only put unbreakable ornaments that low down. All the shiny glass ornaments are at the top.

Tomorrow we are playing hooky and going to Disneyland. Life is good.

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