The STUFF Sisters

Instagram #2

I wrote recently that I am pretty smitten with Instagram. Here is my second Instagram photo blog. These images are from our summer vacation to the beach in Florida. Sorry it took a while. My life kind of ran amok recently.

Vacation Epiphany

It has taken entirely too long to pinpoint why I love vacations near the ocean. I am 47 years old and have loved the water my whole life. I have reverence for the power of large bodies of water but no fear of them. I love swimming and can find great solace floating on water or diving under and holding my breath. Oceans. Pools. Lakes. Streams. Waterhoses. Doesn’t matter. Water makes me happy and makes me want to be a part of it. (Except bathtubs. I’ve never enjoyed them in the least, and it’s probably just about the temperature. But I digress.)

goodbye beach — Yep. The requisite sunset photo.

I love water-based vacations because, if I plan my day well, I can wake up and go directly to my swim suit from my pajamas, and then, at the end of a water logged day, I can move gracefully back to my pajamas or another form of lounge wear that doesn’t involve any form of undergarments. Right there. The pinpoint. After 47 years.

I have never had to suffer under the daily strain of panty hose. I have never lived in an era where girdles were de rigueur. But I am fed up and done with bras and most forms of underpants. Unfortunately, they are a necessity at my age, and I do miss my “commando” days. I am, however, tired of being confined, and, for two weeks a year, I make sure “foundations” have no part of my life.

grasses & sky — Dramatic sky before sunset.

I am the queen of fashioning a cover-up for trips to the grocery store and casual restaurants. That’s what scarves, old cotton skirts, and T-shirts are for. This last vacation was on a beach, and trips away from the house had me sporting my favorite oxford cloth button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled way up over my strapless swimsuit with its attached skirt. That’s the whole outfit. (OK. The suit has one detachable strap, but I despise tan lines, so I save the strap for special occations. Like boutique shopping, because that demands a level of stylishness, for heaven’s sake.)

almost evening — The view from my towel on day one. Possibly my favorite shot this year.

By the time I get to vacation each year, I have tired of feeling cooped up and locked down. And vacations, if done right, are about feeling exactly opposite. And, for two weeks, I am free as a bird and loving every minute of it.

p.s. These photos were taken on Anna Maria Island over the past two weeks. A trip off island to the fishing village of Cortez warranted the oxford cloth coverup and swimsuit strap you see here.

coverup & suit — My son, me, and the stylish swimsuit strap under oxford cloth.

Pursuing Good Stuff

Yep. It’s what I do. I truly pursue good stuff every day. On our recent trip to Colorado, I used one of our little buttons to remind me of what is fun and makes my life a bit more exciting.

And I also use these opportunities to brush up on my skills in the photographic arts with my Canon PowerShot SD1300 IS. I’m all over that sweet action.

This thistle and aster combination was lovely at breakfast. And tiny.

The rest stops in Kansas leave much to be desired. However, when you gotta go….

Right outside our room the day after the region’s first rain in a long time. This was one of many mushrooms that popped up and wilted by day’s end.

My son helped with the art direction on this shot. He was in charge of placement.

I loved the button against the texture of the bedspread in our room. Yes, we actually needed a bespread at night in Colorado!

I love to drive, and my husband caught this shot. I love how the turquoise in the necklace makes the pin seem bluer.

I’m a driving machine. The steering wheel was my friend for 11 hours over and 11 hours back.

Pursuing good stuff can take it out of me. But these three put it right back!

p.s. If you want to see last year’s Pursue Good Stuff pin on the road – once with Casey and once with me – click here and here.

Betterment

Below you will find evidence that I have an amazingly smart, witty and loving family. It is also evidence that they are crazy.

Below you will find evidence that I have an amazingly smart and witty family. It is also evidence that they are crazy. Warning: You may not want to be drinking hot coffee when you get to the end.

Cast of Characters:

Cathryn Simmons – my mother – who co-owns a local soap company.

Sloane Simmons – my sister – and co-owner of STUFF (with me).

Lori Buntin – artist at STUFF and co-owner of the soap company.

Harl Van Deursen – my brother in-law – Sloane’s husband and our tech guru at STUFF.

Dakota Van Deursen – my nephew – Sloane’s and Harl’s son.

Me.

I am sure this all for the betterment of my life.

They Should Have a Sign for That

I am beginning to almost embarrass my family with the camera I carry in my purse. I whip it out for the semi-serious family shots, but mostly I’m trying to capture things to not forget. The color of something. The mood of a moment. Whatever catches my eye.

In the past two weeks, I have had to take shots of signage I think is so ridiculously obvious. But it does make me pause to wonder what the impetus was to have the sign made in the first place. Something had to have gone horribly wrong to warrant a specialty sign.

Like this one at on the wall at the parking lot at the orthodontist:

Duh.

Or this one that just plain cracked me up:

With so many non-working buttons to chose from, it would be hard to choose without the written help.

Pure silliness.

Writing Lessons

Last night I started a journey towards improving my writing. I recently joined a small band of women who will meet weekly and work on each other’s projects of the pen.

This morning, my son – who knew I left the family circle last night to retreat to my office to start my 5 pages that are due this Friday – asked how it went. I told him I was pleased with the piece I had started but that, so far, I was falling one page short of the the 5 page minimum. I am too old to play the “adjust the margins” game or to pretend I didn’t hear the “please use 1.5 spacing” and resort to double spacing. Clearly, I have more to do before deadline.

Upon hearing this news – being short a few hundred words – this was my son’s advice, and I quote: “Mom, just go back and start adding in the descriptive words. Like the ‘deep brown walls’, not just ‘walls’. That will help.”

After all these years of letting loose with this blog and scribbling in many journals the ideas for my “Great American Novel”, I was finally taking the jump towards opening myself up to the power of other women writers from my own community. This was going to be challenging and thrilling and difficult. I was ready.

I obviously could have just turned to the 15 year old and my thesaurus. And saved myself the extra work.

Silly me.

Turning Blue

Today I exhaled. It took a trip to Houston – and good news – to realize that I had been holding my breath for a year. And I had been turning blue.

Today I exhaled.

It took a trip to Houston – and the receipt of good news – to realize that I had been holding my breath for a year. And I had been turning blue.

Today we found out that my Dad finally has his lymphoma on the run. It’s not gone, and he’s not in remission. But it is being shown the door.

group[ shot — Yesterday in Houston. My step-mother Vickie, Casey and my Dad.

This past year I have been breathing, just not deeply. I had been taking shallow breaths and waiting for the good to arrive. I had been hoping that my life wouldn’t experience great loss. I had been holding my breath while moving forward and all the time wondering why I was winded. Why climbing the stairs was such a strain.

from the shuttle — M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston

Because when you are hoping beyond hope and wishing beyond the stars, you really don’t have time to take a deep breath.

But today I did. I reached the bottom of my lungs, held it there to feel the burn, and then let it all out.

Not My First Rodeo

Last week I went to my niece’s art fair at her school. It is for the students in grades K thru 8, and it encompasses all pieces from their year in art class.

Last week I went to my niece’s art fair at her school. It is for the students in grades K thru 8, and it encompasses all pieces from their year in art class. I went to this show for nine years when my son was at the same school, and it is my favorite event. Children pull their parents – tugging really – to their artwork. God help the parent that has more than one child, because they risk bone dislocation.

This year, this piece was my favorite in the entire show:

The colors weren’t captured well in the softly lit gymnasium. It was captivating and is the work of a 4th grader. I don’t know what the process was, but it struck a chord. And what’s not to love when mounted to colored construction paper?

This was my niece’s favorite in the entire show. Clarification: her favorite that wasn’t of her own hand.

Her favorite of her pieces is here:

She called me out on the fact that my favorite wasn’t one that she had labored over. I talked myself deftly out of that by letting her know I had to take her pieces out of the running in able to even be able to vote at all. I didn’t go into the ethical practices of jurying an art show – something I use in my work on occasion.

Not my first rodeo.

Lilypads

Our mother has a gentle, giant dog named Lily. She sent me this photo recently with the title “Lilypads”. This is what my daughter was spending her time with Nana doing, “decorating” Lily.

Lily is such a good sport. I love my family.

Change of Plans

I have never really liked the “when life hands you lemons, make lemonade” saying. It has always bugged me, and it doesn’t sit right.

I have never really liked the “when life hands you lemons, make lemonade” saying. It has always bugged me, and it doesn’t sit right. I like a good motivational saying – my Pinterest board “Sayin’ Something” is full of them. But that one, not so much.

When life, parades, business and commitments stepped in a few weeks ago and blew the plans my family and my sister’s family had made for Spring Break, we didn’t pout; we just changed our plans. Well, the youngest among us cried her eyes out, but the rest of us remained relatively calm. We were to have skied in Steamboat, but, instead, we took a road trip to Dallas. See? Nothing like lemonade.

richard serra — My view from inside the huge Richard Serra piece at the Nasher Sculpture Center.

nasher sculpture park — Great art placement at the Nasher Sculpture Center.

harl — My favorite shot of my husband at the Nasher Sculpture Center.

And it was fantastic! What a great American city. The night before we were to leave, I typed my new favorite combination into Google “boutique hotel in (choose city name)” and happened upon the Belmont Hotel. Just over the Trinity River from downtown Dallas, and the view from most rooms was unstoppable; the view at night from the pool was a picture postcard.

We did our part as tourists – and those who like to spend money with locally owned businesses – and stayed in a locally owned hotel, ate meals in 4 locally owned restaurants, and, visited two tourist destinations located downtown. The Dallas World Aquarium and The Nasher Sculpture Center have found happy homes in urban settings.

Everything about the Hotel Belmont was understated and well appointed. Even the courtyard.

mother & daughter — My sister and her daughter takin' in the views of Dallas from the second floor.

rooftop at belmont — Too good a shot to pass up.

We left much to go back and see, but that has been the way we’ve traveled with our son. You must always leave one thing undone in a destination so that you always have a reason to go back.

sloane & harl — Lookin' pretty good after 8 hours in the car!

The Dallas World Aquarium was nice. The best part was when my husband decided to call it a terrarium after we had walked through the three floors of animals, spiders, and cougars, and finally made it to the lower level…where the aquarium part was. The whole building was packed to the gills with humans – never the best way to view nature – so we paced ourselves and took it all in. However, there really wasn’t enough sea life to put aquarium in the name.

I live with a funny man, and every time I think of the aquarium/terrarium comment I smile.

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