the awesome list

not soon after i posted the post about not posting owen and i decided we needed to go buy seeds and grow things which got me thinking, of course, about the "awesome" (owen is obsessed with all echoes of awesomeness thanks to our dear friend po of kungfu panda) things about being home--otherwise we'd all become permanent expats, no?

so here it is, my impromptu top 10 or so things i love about home:

1. the weather. i mean, really, i can't complain. it is quite lovely having 73 degree weather all week.

2. our garden. it may be 6x9 feet of concrete walled off by 4 ft stucco ledges but my roses are spectacular and bursting in coral and crimson; the bees and hummingburds are dancing among lavender and sage. sierra suns on his patio chair and owen makes chalk drawings of the planets. and those seeds we went looking for? owen just planted 8 little terra cotta pots of snapdragons, butterfly wildflowers and snow-in-the-summer blossoms (he wasn't interested in the easy growing sunflowers or basil. it's our own little suburban jungle oasis.

3. cooking with owen. on friday we made hummus. last week we made sugar cookies. tonight pizza. i love that he drags his chair into the kitchen and measures, sifts, tastes and delights in it all.

4. trader joe's. for lunch we ate left over israeli couscous i tossed with some dried blueberries, walnuts, and mangoes all courtesy of our good friend joe. it was delish and so was the fresh tahini, cannelini beans, garbanzo beans we used to make said hummus. joe just makes it easy, affordable and yes, exciting to eat health-ily and creative-ly.

5. inspirational friends. this segues from the trader joe's--i love new joe finds in other people's fridges. last week we visited my dear friend and mentor ivonne in redlands and discovered fresh tahini and greek feta in a tin (and then promptly added those items to our tj list--steal this from my fridge: their frozen mangoes are super sweet and half the price of the fresh and make great mini-popsicles or can be defrosted and tossed in anything or eaten plain!). but i am thankful for my friends that are a complex vintage of poetry and strength.

5. my family. we're just soooo spoiled. nana and papa are a daily blessing; lily is absolute sunshine and sal and jennifer are beautiful parents; and i'm doubly spoiled by having ridiculously wonderful in-laws!

6. my students. they're my anchor and remind me why i keep going back to school!

8. my iphone. ok, that's really ridiculous but i do love it.

9. online shopping. number 8 just dropped this list to a new low, but we over here in the states have no idea how good we have it--free ship, coupon codes and everything from organic tee shirts to custom engraved bangles.

10. making coffee. this is my favorite thing to do, of course, when michael is home; rather, my favorite thing for michael to do. this goes along with the garden and the weather and how i love to spend my morning.

10. sierradog. yup. even sierradog. you know, he just had his 9th birthday--i only knew because the vet sent him a card (not even our vet, but the overpriced "animal clinic" up the street we visited for an emergency) and i thought, wow. nine years. he's a stubborn oversized lapdog but he's a damn good dog who takes a lot of rough love.

11. my son. i don't need to be home to appreciate owen, but he's nothing short of amazing. really. and it's not because he reads better than most 10 year olds or wants to count to 1500 by 2s or wonders if pluto is a planet but because he makes it all poetry and beauty. because when ivonne took us to prospect park he pointed to the giant eucalyptus trees and asked her "do you see the letter a?" and continued all the way through z pointing out how the branches and boughs curved and danced together in cursive. because he wakes up in the morning and says "mom, i love you forever" and wraps his little toes around my hair (yes, he jumps in my bed around 3 and sleeps perpindicular until his feet are on my pillow). because he's an awesome coffee date and because his singing in the car makes our morning commute an adventure. because he knows how to give butterfly kisses and thinks pollen on bees knees is magic.

hmmm. funny enough, i feel better. good, actually and i think i loosed some words i'd been carrying around--maybe that's what was giving me a headache... and check out that ticker, in just a few days my other favorite (michael, of course) will be here to indulge in all of this with me!