SouleMama

bed of leaves

a date with my girl

ingredients for a perfect date: cookies from a favorite bakery, a 'new' old favorite bunny book, a sunset walk by the ocean, and of course - my favorite girl.

Oh, I love date night.

Calvin Blogs :: Super Rack

I thought about making my own superhero. Super Rack. Super Rack is a good kind of superhero. He can fly. He can climb up buildings and trees. He can swim underwater for a really long time. He is very very very very powerful. He helps people. That's how I thought about making Super Rack.

Before we made the costume, I  made this poster with all the clothes of Super Rack that I needed to make. I changed them a lot, like at first I thought Super Rack was wearing a red shirt and pants. But then I thought it should be black. And the belt in the picture is brown, but I made a red one. The poster helped me make the costume.

When I was making the mask I did not know yet about Super Rack and who he would really be. I thought I wanted him to wear a mask, but I didn't want to wear a headband AND the mask. So I'll save the mask for another time. Maybe another halloween.

I got some of the costume from my dress up - like the cape that mama made a long time ago. And the pants I sewed to be wetsuit pants in the summertime. I went to Salvation Army with Papa to get the black shirt. And I made the belt and the headband on the sewing machine.

This is Super Rack in his full costume. And today is Halloween! Happy Halloween!

a fiddling report

The amount of time spent practicing for fiddle lessons has turned out to be equal to the amount of time spent preparing the 'coolest fiddling outfit ever' for each lesson. Ah, but yes. All is as it should be.

many little things

So many things to tell you about, and so many places to send you in this little weekend post! Grab some tea, my friends, this might be one of my long ones.

First up, we've been very busy celebrating. As of this weekend, my two feet are now firmly planted in my thirties. Yup, 31 it is. It's been a weekend full of soaking up and savoring favorite things - my four favorite people, extended family, good food, good wine, a perfect day at the beach, casting on a new knitting project, ice cream, and a fresh pile of Netflix. And today brings a grand flea market expedition with my dearest girlfriends. Clearly, all the birthday essentials are covered. There's much to be grateful for in all of that, and much more celebrating ahead still as the littlest of the birthday girls pictured above turns two (two?!) in just a couple of days!

And now on to some fun news bits that just happen to be coinciding with birthday weekend. First up, new digs for me! www.amandablakesoule.com is a project I've been working on this summer - or rather, it's a project Kevin and Dave from Portland's iKnow have been working on with vague and often bizarre direction from me ("Make it look pretty!"). Right. But they did, and they rock. The website is up and live, and will serve as a place to hold more book details as well as news and events about what's coming up for me so that this little blog can chug along as it always has. There's a preview of the book there too  - with the Table of Contents and a chapter excerpt to give you a little taste of what you can expect inside!

Also this weekend, you can find an audio interview I did with Jennifer of CraftSanity - it's Episode #60. You can listen to it in your browser, or you can download it for an ITunes listen - super easy. If you haven't yet heard CraftSanity, be sure to give a browse around her archives for some truly inspiring stories - her podcast is one of my favorite studio sounds, and I'm honored to have been interviewed. And be warned - it's 1 hour and 19 minutes (and full of my nervous laughter and ramblings), but I hope - a fun conversation to listen in on when you have the time. Thanks so much, Jennifer!

Phew. I've got a few more days of gorging on the likes above and celebrating before I'll be back here again. Have some cake for us this weekend, will you? Or maybe just the ice cream...or some Green & Blacks (which I was happily showered with for my birthday - bring on the shrinking clothes!). Oh, heck, just indulge in our honor however you like best, will you? I'd really, really like that. 

thank you...

Thank you. Your words have meant so very much to me, and to all of us. I've sat down many times to read the emails and comments about Luka, and they've not only brought (welcome) tears, but comfort, smiles, and a bit of joy as well. I thank you for that.

Things are still moving slowly around here, but I'll be back in the swing of blogging this week. Routine is good. And, of course, there's comfort to be found in using one's hands, isn't there? I've got lots to show from that.

I hope the rest of your weekend is lovely, and I'll see you back here tomorrow...

sweet luka

Thank you so very much for your prayers, positive thoughts, energy and words of concern and kindness today. Really, it has meant so much. And I know that it helped us find her.

We did find Luka earlier this morning, and it was immediately clear to us that she had gone into the woods for the very last time, just like her pal Mow did before her. I'm so grateful that we found her, had a chance to say goodbye to her and to hold her in her final moments of life. I'm so incredibly grateful for that. There's so much to say about Luka, but my heart already feels like it's crumbling into little bits, and I just can't imagine ever finding the words. Luka had the gentlest spirit I've ever known - with endless love to give - she taught me so very much about that, as special dogs have a way of doing. I will always feel blessed for that April day nine years ago when she and I 'accidentally' and awkwardly stumbled into each others lives, and for each and every day that we've all shared together since. Oh, how we will miss her.

hoping

Hello friends,

If you're the praying/hoping/wishing/light-sending kind, could I ask you to hold our sweet Luka in your thoughts today? I would be so grateful for that. She's been missing since early Tuesday morning, and we're all very heartbroken with sadness and worry for her. She's been sick, and wandered off into the woods...we're fearing the worst, hoping for the best, and doing all we can to find her and stay positive in the meantime.

I'll write when I have news to share.

xo,
Amanda

7 things

Me, 1978 or so.

So whaddya say? 7 Random things? Heck, why not. (Thanks for the tags, sweet readers)

1. My first car was a blue 1983 Volkswagon Vanagon (it was my parents before mine). In college my boyfriend had a (orange!) 1976 Westfalia. Yes, we had matching vans - except that they were VW vans of course, and so only one of them ever worked at a time. I loved mine soooo much, even though it got me pulled over more times than I can recount, and put me on the side of the road, broken down with nearly every trip. But that's forgiven because, really, some of the best times were had broken down on the side of the road anyway. The kids and I saw a super modified VW westfalia recently that had a VW Bug 'top' sodered onto the top of the van - like a big bubble. Does that make sense? And does anyone around here know anything about it? It was so fabulous (the boys haven't stopped talking about it), and it made me highly nostalgic for my first car (how fun would it be to convert one of those to biodiesel with the kids in a few years?!). Okay, moving on...this could take forever. Am I really only on #1?

2. My Portland Public Library fines right now are $66.98. I'm terrible at returning library books, but console myself by thinking this is how I support my Public Library. Hmn - I know, bad. (Oh, and speaking of the Portland Public Library - if you're local, don't forget to vote today!)

3. I'm three credits short of my bachelors degree in Women's Studies. I marched, and then never finished my Senior Independent Study. Usually, this doesn't stress me out (I loved college. I learned a ton about a lot of things. Do I really need a piece of paper to tell me that?), but sometimes...I pick up the local college catalog and contemplate finishing.

4. A few months back, we cancelled cable and moved the TV into a closet. A little surprisingly, it's hardly been mentioned since. Until I was in the grocery store checkout line last week and saw something about a thirtysomething reunion, and I got all twitchy and was ready to reinstate cable RIGHT THEN. I bought the magazine (um, People) only to find out that it isn't really happening (but they got me to buy the magazine - tricky them!). I LOVED that show, even though I was all of 14 when it was in it's prime.

5. I have a bad habit of listening to a favorite album so much that I can't ever listen to it again. Recently kicked out for overconsumption: Tori Amos' American Doll Posse, Tom Waits' Orphans, and Belle and Sebastian's The Life Pursuit. All very good albums that I sadly cannot listen to EVER AGAIN. Currently, I'm trying to save Jeff Tweedy's Sunken Treasure before it's too late (which means just one listen a day. ONE.)

6. I haven't knit a stitch in months. Which is a bummer especially considering the project I started for a pregnant friend nine months ago is now due. Solution? Drag the TV out of the closet and rent some DVD's - first up Volver (I love Almovodar's films, but I'm very,very behind on movie watching - can't wait to see this one), and then Miss Potter (out next week!). That ought to get me through a baby sweater.

7. While I was writing this post, Typepad ate my post for the very first time. It reminded me that I need to back up asap - gotta get that Year 2 Blurb book going.

Did you really just read all of that? You're so nice.

just because

Because we were at my alma mater and that always freaks me out (who wants to go back to High School, I ask?).
Because my kids linger in public bathrooms and it grosses me out (to cries of, 'but you tell us we have to wash our hands!').
Because I was bored and antsy and full of coffee (so I got the camera out).
And yes, okay, because my studio is not quite done yet, and I've got nothing else to show you. That too.

Just because... this is what you get today: an almost-family portrait in a high school bathroom mirror.

Carry on.