La Jolla Beach

A few more pictures from San Diego. I'm enjoying them even more now that we're back to the daily grind. Four more months till summer and counting.

San Diego weekend

We took the kids to San Diego last weekend. La Jolla was so beautiful. It's too late to write much tonight so I'll just post a few pictures.

Who I love...

I saw this quote the other day and it rang true to me. It's all about perspective isn't it?

Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.

Louis De Bernieres

“…We see a haystack by Monet, an iris by Van Gogh, or an asparagus spear by Manet and marvel at their presence and spirit and think that these works were about haystacks, irises, and asparagus. Not at all! Monet, Van Gogh, Manet employed haystacks, irises, asparagus to speak of the symphonies of light, the glory of God’s creations, the life force residing in all forms. We care about those paintings more than we care about stacks of hay, flowers, and vegetables because we care more about light, God and life than we do about any of their particular manifestations. Meaning, not beauty, is what we are after. Big, deep, wide meaning.”

Peter London, from the book No More Secondhand Art

mug shots at the park

First he steals his sister's hat and absolutely refuses to return it. Then I find him later with this suspicious looking item in his mouth. He kept it in exactly that position for a good 20 minutes. (in case you're wondering, it's a sand covered carrot stick).

A Weekend Away

We took the kids to Solvang for the weekend. It was soooo nice to get away!! My favorite parts were:

• window shopping in the early morning hours before the crowds started.
• Piling onto one bed to watch The Polar Express together.
• Eating Dutch pancakes and fresh squeezed orange juice at this little restaurant called Paula's.
• Watching the local churches perform a living nativity
• Just being together with the little punks and my awesome husband.

There's something about getting out of town, even if it's just for one night, that recharges a person. I gotta remember this and do it more often.

Decorating for Christmas