Minkgirl Muses

2010-09-21T22:37:00.000-07:00

@font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Gratitude Project Day 18 – Food Today was my actual birthday. I am now 40. Phew. The thing I look forward to most on

2010-09-20T22:23:00.000-07:00

Gratitude ProjectDay 17 – Labor My sister just sent me an exciting email. Her friend J is in the early stages of labor with her first child. My sister was about to head to J’s house to offer some help, and she wanted ideas (from a veteran of 2 labors) for how to be of use and comfort to her friend. It’s a mystical coincidence, because tonight is the night before my birthday – the night of

2010-09-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

@font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Gratitude Project Day 16 – Worship I was raised as a Presbyterian. Most Sunday mornings of my childhood were spent in

2010-09-16T21:32:00.000-07:00

@font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Gratitude Project Day 15 – Off the Hook So, this blog project isn’t working out quite the way I had imagined it would.

2010-08-26T11:27:00.000-07:00

Gratitude ProjectDay 14 – FatherI am grateful for my Father – Dad – Daddio as I playfully call him. He was a warm, loving, and protective presence in my early childhood years – playing guitar lullabies to help me sleep, hiking with me and my mother in the Blue Ridge mountains, listening with bright eyes and encouraging words to all my stories and needs. One of my earliest memories is the warmth

2010-08-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

Gratitude ProjectDay 13 – LuckI’m grateful for good luck. I’ve always been mildly superstitious/spiritual, but only in an optimistic sense. In other words, I look for good omens but ignore the bad ones! And there are always lots of ways one can view one’s luck as good – in fact, good luck is really just another name for the expression of gratitude.But I am also aware of luck as a cosmic force

2010-08-24T08:40:00.000-07:00

I live in San Francisco, where we take coffee seriously. Granted, not as seriously as Seattle, where the ability to make a foam florette seems a requisite for citizenship. But still, pretty seriously. We have Pete’s, and 4 Barrel, and Blue Bottle, and (my personal favorite) Martha Bros., all of which roast their

2010-08-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

Gratitude ProjectDay 6 – Mr. Wilke Classes at my college start next week, and this week is all about preparing the syllabi: choosing readings, brainstorming assignments, crafting the class by class plan. Whenever I do this kind of work, the teachers who have made the biggest impact on me seem to be sitting on my shoulder like angels. They nod approvingly when I

2010-08-17T21:39:00.000-07:00

Gratitude ProjectDay 5 – Shoes I really like shoes. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I have a fetish, but it is definitely a passion. Lately, I’m into red shoes, with tooled leather. There is something about a pair of beautiful shoes, that makes me want to take the long road.

2010-08-16T21:27:00.000-07:00

Gratitude ProjectDay 4 – SchoolToday was my son’s first day of first grade in a new school. We were all nervous and excited. But right away he saw a girl he knew. And the teacher turned out to be lovely – gentle and kind, but firm – a 1,000% improvement over his Kindergarten teacher. The school is public, but run by the teachers. The overall vibe is a happy and relaxed one – like everyone

2010-08-15T20:58:00.000-07:00

Gratitude ProjectDay 3 - Trees One of my earliest childhood memories is of traipsing around the Audubon Society preserve in eastern Pennsylvania with my mother. She was a botanist and knew the Latin name for every flower. We hunted together for crocuses, jack-in-the-pulpits, wild iris and wild lilies. I loved following the familiar trails of the preserve, which were marked with blue blazes,

2010-08-14T21:08:00.000-07:00

Gratitude ProjectDay 2 - Lip BalmEveryone has their desert island list. We all watched Lost and cringed or cheered when they went postal over - peanut butter - dental floss - Ayn Rand novels. For me, it's lip balm. The. One. Thing. I cannot live without.

2010-08-13T22:05:00.000-07:00

The Gratitude ProjectI turn 40 years old in 40 days. I've always been a sucker for symbolic numbers. And I'm feeling inspired by my friend B, who in the months before she turned 40 sent 40 letters of thanks to people who had influenced her life - I was lucky enough to receive one! I thought about repeating her project, but I've never been a great letter-writer. Something about extra steps of

2010-06-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

PLAN Q