Lilly is 5!

So this will get by as being about my goals on a loophole.  Goal #18- Take Lilly for a special outing.  I haven't done that yet, but I plan to. So on this special day I just want to talk a little bit about what makes the Lilster so cool.  For example, one time when Lil was really little and I was giving her a bath I got her diaper off and she started running away totally naked.  She got about 3 little strides then turned around and coyly laughed at her own joke.  Then she came back over tucked her little head on my shoulder and let me put her in the tub.  I knew right then and there that I had never loved anyone as much as I love Lilly*.  I love that she thinks she's the funniest person she knows.  I love that she has a sweet little encouraging heart under all that sass.  And I love that it's never occurred to her to stifle that strong little personality. And today is Lilly Grace Tolerico's 5th birthday!

*(It should be noted that I now have 3 other little loves of my life, Lauren, Cooper, and Chelsea; but today is not their birthday)

A few of my favorite pictures of the Pink Tyrant...

 Looking at New York city from the ferry.  She called it New Yowak Cithy, and she loved it there.  I told you she was cool.

 Not one to mind when the camera or the attention of everyone in the room is on her.  

She's adorable.  And apparently wears a lot of pink (it is one of her 5 favorite colors- she may not yet be super clear about what favorite means).

And since favorite isn't limited to one, here are a few of my favorite things about her:

She thinks that her mom and dad know everything, and that she has a lot to teach the rest of us.  So one time when I was holding her brother (very carefully I might add) she told me "Tor, you have to be careful with babies.  You can't squeeze so hard like that."  And one time she was hiking with my dad and he said he wanted to pray with her.  So he started, "Dear Lord, " and Lil said, "Dodo, stop!  I'm not the Lord."

There is not a time when I more proud of anyone than when Lil screams Taylor Swift in the back seat of my car into her sparkly microphone.  She knows every word of every song and sings them as if she, too, believes that the boy across the street should love her and not the "cheerleadow." And as if she has any idea what it's like to be "laughing on a park bench thinking to myself 'hey isn't this eeeeaassyyy!"

She is beautiful, she is freakishly smart, and she is going to be a force for this world to reckon with.  Happy Birthday, Lilly T, I love you like crazy.

Nice to see you, Spring

This is what it looks like out my window today...

And breezy and sunny!  Maybe this seems normal, but it snowed here last week.


So I have been inspired to especially focus on the plants that I'm trying to revive/keep alive.  My friend Ashley's little brother Sean used to tell Ashley that he was giving his plants a little fresh air.  Made extra precious by the fact that at the time he was a senior at the Air Force Academy.  So in Sean's honor I gave my plants a little fresh air yesterday.  This is how happy they looked...

A few thoughts on each of these plants that I love, and really very much hope not to kill.

The one with the beautiful white flowers is my attempt at goal #31- Keep a flowering plant alive through its season.  When my friends Nicole and Brian were here (Nicole is the one who introduced me to the goals list!) a few weeks ago we had to go to Home Depot because they love that place.  And apparently Nicole is not allowed to buy any more plants, but I am.  And I fell in love; right there in the annuals aisle at the HD.  You can tell because I felt sentimental about the moment that the plant became mine in the self check aisle and took this picture:

Didn't it look so young there?  And Nicole and Brian get to be its Godparents.  

And the best part about the story of this plant is this:  I don't know anything about plants BUT.  3 days after I adopted this one, I left it outside to get some sun and apparently it turned windy that day.  Also apparently, I hadn't watered it enough so when I got home it looked really sad and droopy.  But by the time I went back out to bring it inside and lament about how terrible I am at keeping plants alive I noticed this:

Someone had put chop sticks and twist ties in my plant to keep it standing up!  Then I found out it was my neighbor Cliff, who I loved already, but who has now cemented himself as tied for best neighbor of my life.  He told me the next day, "now I don't know much about plants, but I know when one's dying.  And I knew we only had one shot at this."  (Thanks for the "we", Cliff)  So now this little lady is alive and kicking and even has some beatuiful new buds.  I really can't get over how beautiful they are.

These two I got at Ikea, one in New York and one in Arizona with my mom.  The little cactus is a hearty one, doesn't complain much even when I gave him no soil and no light for a long time and even when, one time, I left him in Seattle for 4 months. His single act of rebellion is refusing to grow anything but sideways.  But that's alright-gives him character.  The bulbous one is really cute and grows pretty easily and even has those little new sprouts, which are encouraging to me.

And the last one is a heartwrenching (to some) story of redemption...

When I lived in New York I worked in the SoHo neighborhood where there is a beautifully crafted store called Dean & Deluca.  In between client appointments I used to go there for breakfast or lunch and grab a honeycrisp apple and then walk it over to the cheese counter where the expert of the day would pair it for me.  Every counter at Dean & Deluca is its own department and people work specifically in the department in which they are experts.  It's really a treat to get to have someone who is passionate about your lunch help you choose it.  I always tried to spend as much time as I could in that store, so I would walk around and sample the lotions that I could never afford, dream about having a kitchen that contained all the utensils and spices they offered, and imagine that I could cook meals with such ingredients as lavender infused salt or foie gras.  But since I can't, I would stick with spending $9 on the best apple and cheese lunch money could buy.  

When I first went into Dean & Deluca I noticed this plant, though.  At one point the whole thing had upturned petals and was a beautiful rich green.  The first time I saw it it was on a cake platter in the middle of the bakery section.  The next time on top of the seafood counter, and once resting atop a Dean & Deluca mug in the coffee section.  I think someone in charge of decoration had as much love for this little guy as I did.  So when it was time for me to move away from New York and say goodbye to my favorite little grocery store, I decided I was going to buy that cactus to take with me.  Dean & Deluca is no 5 & Dime, so it was going to be a bit of an investment, and, in fact, when I asked a man in the produce department (where it was currently located nestled among the artichokes-clever) how much it cost, he told me $60.  I think he saw the disappointment in my little eyes and then said "wait, no that one is smaller, so it's only $45."  It was not smaller.  It was the biggest one in the store.  I loved that man.  Then he called someone else over and they looked at it and realized that one of the bottom leaves? petals? had a knick in it, so the other guy said "and it's damaged.  So you can have it for $35."  New Yorkers aren't mean unless you stop short in the sidewalk.  They're actually usually heartachingly nice exactly when you don't expect it.  So I walked out of there with my cactus friend.

When I got home I figured he'd want a fancy place to perch, he'd become accustomed to a certain lifestyle, so I found an old raised silver candy dish that my grandmother, Amma, had given me.  It was understatedly adorned, and I thought it was particularly beautiful because Amma loved candy with all her heart.  So this was to be Buddy's new home (I named him Buddy because I was so enamored with him that when I would walk into my apartment I was so excited to see him that I would say "Hey Buddy!")  THEN.  I left New York and moved to Denver.  I carried him on the plane in a little Bergdorf Goodman bag, just his style, and took him with me to Seattle where I was going to pick up my car.  When I was leaving Seattle I couldn't find him.  I was forced to leave without him.  My friend Kaela took care of him for 4 months! until I got back to Seattle, and she put him in a nice sunny spot, perched on his candy dish, but he still looked really sad.  That's when all of his leaves? turned themselves down and lost their joie de vivre, and also their color.  

So I have set out to bring him back to life.  Goal #62- Bring Buddy back to life.  So far, so good, he has some color back and he's turning himself upwards.  The most exciting thing is that little cluster of whole new cactus that's coming out from the side.  I'm excited to see what that grows into. 

On a funny side note, I started this post yesterday, when my window did look like that.  Now, because I live in the most ridiculous state in the union, my window looks like this:

Happy Spring everyone!