Willy Wonka Jr

My thirteen year old son has been staying after school for months now, joining the cast and crew of his middle school musical, Willy Wonka Jr. in their rehearsals.  He will play Grandpa Joe, who accompanies Charlie through his adventures, and has had to memorize a lot of lines and song lyrics.  I have heard him singing around the house, and have seen a few practice snippets, and I cannot wait to attend opening night!  We would love for you to come and support him and see this delightful musical.  It runs from April 26 through the 28th, and plays at 7pm (with a matinee on Saturday) at Robbinsdale Middle School.

I am so proud of Deven, and all our talented and smart kids.  What a joy it is to see your child work hard to  develop his or her talents and watch them grow!  I'm very blessed :)

Happy New Year

The first post in a brand new year.  I saw in the month of November that blogging for me can be a catalyst for lifestyle changes.  If I'm going to write in a public forum about goals, I hold myself more accountable and seem to accomplish more.  (The influence you have, dear reader!)

Which phenomenon may come in handy as I write after having done some introspection about the last year(s), and what worked well, and what needs to be stripped out to free me up for more of the good stuff.  Isn't it interesting the power a blank slate can give for refreshing intentions and bringing action into line with those?  I'm really not one for resolutions.  But I love a fresh start and the feeling of a new beginning.  So much so that I am working on cultivating that feeling with each new day.  Wisdom dictates that really each new breath is that, when you are truly in the moment.  I am not sure why this takes effort to be aware of for me, and yet it does.

At any rate, I'm happy for January, happy for 2012, and uppermost in my mind now is being more present as mom, wife and homemaker, daughter, sister, friend.  I am setting the intention to consistently find the joy that exists in homely tasks, to consistently find the happy comfort that exists in routine.  Perhaps the goal is to be consistent on a basic level in many areas, and learn to enjoy it. Tantamount to that will be continuing to explore creative expression in henna and my business, which is the yin to that yang.  The craving for variety and spontaneity must be met, and my pitifully weak consistent routine muscle must be built up.

This is my intention for the year:  live in the moment, become consistent in routine and enjoy it, be creative...  and at all times send love out and let it in.

Happy new year to you!  And may your (and my) intentions for this year of life be.

Sharing the song that's stuck in my head...

Clara came home from school one day with a new song that her teacher had shared with the class.  I'm not a soccer fan particularly, so don't connect the music with excitement from watching the World Cup play out.  But nevertheless, this song makes me feel so happy!  Clara brought up this video to introduce the song to us when she got home that day, and now it's one of the songs we sing together on a regular basis.

I'm sharing with it you here to spread the joy.  Warning:  It will get stuck in your head!