where whimsy reigns

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[wherewhimsyreigns]

Shouldn’t 4th Grade be Fun? Elementary-school stress wasn’t even on my radar… until my kid entered elementary school. Here’s a great read on the academic stress ruining education for too many children - way too young. 

[wherewhimsyreigns]

Here’s a beautiful post about communicating with kids. Good tips in general - but especially in having conversations with wee ones (via Moving Beyond the Monosyllabic: Nine Pointers on How to Open a Richer Conversation with Your Family | On Being)

[wherewhimsyreigns]

A Promise for Emily

Here’s a speech I wrote for my niece’s recent konfirmasjon. Beautiful day. Inspiring girl.

I promise you are never alone. 

Wherever you go, Love is already there. Find it. Your one and only job in this life, no matter what else it is you are tasked with, is to find Love.

Start with the easy places. Like friendship and fun and beauty. Art and nature. Love is in wonder and adventure and discovery. Projects and plans that fall right into place. That’s Love. The perfect idea that comes out of thin air at exactly the right time - that’s Love.

Love is in waking up every morning for 20 years and talking to your sister. No matter where you are. Or where she is.

Love is in difficult places, too. Like sadness and loneliness and frustration. Love is there. Love is that little tug in your heart that gives you courage and inspiration. Love is what shows you how to move forward. Listen for it.

Love is with all the things you think you want but don’t get. Your frenemies. The job you might not get. The party you weren’t invited to. All that rejection is Love pointing you in a new direction. Be grateful through those disappointments; you’re about to discover that Love has something even better in store for you.

Love turns your hurt into compassion. Love turns your biggest mistakes into groundwork for grace. Love turns your darkness into poetry. And once it’s done that, you’ll see there’s nothing left to fear.

Life isn’t meant to be easy. But it is wonderful. It is filled with joy and creativity and spontaneity, and great big moments drawn with teeny tiny details. All of those details are brighter and fuller when you see they’re filled with Love.  

I tell my girls all the time that our hearts are connected by a string. And nothing can ever break this string, no matter what we do or where we go or how far away we are from each other. This string keeps us together. This string, of course, is Love. It connects us to you too. We are Love’s gift to each other.

So, you see, you can never be alone. Go into the world with confidence and excitement. You have all of us with you. You have yourself. You have all the marvelous people who haven’t even come into your life yet.

You have Love.

Love is already with you, helping you to discover it — every step of the way.

[wherewhimsyreigns]

Delivered this precious hedgehog to someone who ordered it as a baby gift. What fun!

[wherewhimsyreigns]

I haven’t made pretend food before for the wee ones, so this was very exciting for us:

Udon & dumplings for the 5-yr-old - her favorites!!! No-sew noodles with seaweed: cut up scraps of cotton batting, and cut up little pieces of green wood-grain fabric. Recycled bowl from (instant) Annie’s Soup. Dumplings took 5 minutes on the sewing machine: little circles of battingc sewn into half-moons, filled with more fabric scrap. Perfect addition to her kitchen!

[wherewhimsyreigns]

Stocking up at the boutique!

[wherewhimsyreigns]

venturing into pet mats. for your pup, ferret, guinea pig, bunny, cat, rat, pig, or any other furry friend you cuddle up to.

[wherewhimsyreigns]

Finished these up after a loooong snow week. @hawthornethreads #farfaraway

[nymag]

Beloved New York Times media reporter David Carr died suddenly on Thursday night, leaving friends, readers, and colleagues reeling from the unimaginable loss. Known for his blunt humor and generous spirit, Carr was one of journalism’s sharpest media critics. As his friend and former colleague Brian Stelter put it, "He was the best and most important media reporter of our time and he was explaining this revolution that’s happening to the world around us." Here, some wit and wisdom from his writings and interviews.

On truth:

"Keep in mind that when public figures get in trouble for something they said, it is usually not because they misspoke, but because they accidentally told the truth." — "The Puppetry of Quotation Approval"

On love:

"If marriage is about deciding to love on a daily basis, I have woken up to a no-brainer every day since."

On the best journalism advice he could give:

"Keep typing until it turns into writing." — 2013 Reddit AMA

On hard work:

"No one is going to give a damn about your résumé; they want to see what you have made with your own little fingers." — The Night of the Gun

On New York:

"The trick of enjoying New York is not to be so busy grinding your way to the center of the earth that you fail to notice the sparkle of the place, a scale and a kind of wonder that puts all human endeavors in their proper place." — The Night of the Gun

On impostor syndrome:

"I now inhabit a life I don’t deserve, but we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn’t end any time soon." — The Night of the Gun

More

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cutest tutorial ever. would make the sweetest little quiet book.

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fairies, bunnies, unicorns & giraffes. Blankets underway....

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[wherewhimsyreigns]

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[wherewhimsyreigns]

starting a new group of blankets - polka dots and elephants!