sLOVEnka: July 2011

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Tomáš and I have taken another marital plunge, buying artwork together. Maybe it doesn't sound like much of a plunge to you, but given the vast differences of opinion and taste that we seem to have for...well...just about everything, I really never thought I'd see the day. Or at least I thought I'd see the day after a lot of discussion, disagreement, agreement to disagree and compromise on one or both of our parts. Enter our amazingly talented friend Eva, who posted these pieces up on Facebook and made easy work of our decision. We both loved them immediately. She doesn't know I'm writing this and will probably be greatly embarrassed, but I don't care. She has such a gift for not only drawing animals realistically, but capturing their essence in a profoundly poetic and unique way. I am also the proud owner of another piece of her's, and as soon as we find a capable person with a drill (walls here are concrete) we will finally hang them.

Sometimes I delay blogging because I have so much I want to share that I feel overwhelmed to try and capture all of it or do it justice. Sometimes I delay life for the same reason. What I mean is I always find myself wanting to do something better or bigger than time or energy or resources allows for, so instead I do nothing at all. So here you have a quick-ish post; better than nothing.
Last week was my birthday and earlier in the week a package arrived from my mom. It was a combo package for my birthday, gifts for Lily and some thank yous for friends and family from when my mom was here. I read the birthday card first, which set the tone for the whole box. I cried the entire way through. It was one of those mother/daughter cards about fleeting moments and dancing through life and I just bawled. Mother/daughter has new meaning for me this birthday. And my mom has a knack for finding the perfect card anyway. Not to mention the perfect gift(s). Growing up, my family set the gift-giving bar pretty high. My whole entire family, both immediate and extended has this knack. (Ok, I'll say that with the proviso of family with whom I regularly exchanged gifts; read my mom's side of the family). Trudging to the point. They were all so good, in fact, I unbelievably didn't know bad gift givers existed until one friend told me the story of his getting a Ken doll on his 16th birthday from his mom and one Christmas (of many) of receiving such gems as a giant M&Ms mug and some book about the bloody Nez Perce trail. But back to the box. First off, my mom sent me an Audrey Hepburn movie I'd never seen before, then she sent me a shirt and a sundress that I adore. Couldn't have picked out better ones myself. Then for Lily, aka Monkey, she sent the cutest monkey bibs you've ever seen, two board books, which I was thrilled about because it's very important to me that Lily have lots of books and even if I could find board books in English over here they would cost one million dollars. Yes, one million (688,777 Euros). On top of that she sent some oh-so-soft cotton pants (which she needed) and a onesie and two hats that will knock you over with cuteness. But the icing on the cake, the thing that actually made me cry, was the stuffed animal she sent her. It's just so my mom.
So, that was that. And then on the actual day of my birthday I was feeling pretty blue, just missing family and the birthdays I used to have. I always had amazing birthdays because they were in late June and always involved parks or picnics or water of some sort and frisbees or greenball and people I love. Everything I love about summer. So I was feeling pretty sorry for myself, if I'm perfectly honest with you, and Tomáš came home with a pretty bouquet of orange Gerberas and a card. I smiled and thanked him and waited to open the card. Then when I did, it read ''I hope you like the bike you pick,'' or something like that and again I just burst into tears. I have wanted a bike ever since I had to leave mine back in Missoula. No, wanted doesn't really cover it. I have dreamed of having a bike. First I dreamed of having my bike here. It is a fantastic bike, but even more than that is the sentimental value it holds because it was bought with money donated by all my friends, collected by her after my previous bike had been stolen during the Western Montana Fair. He and she even looked into UPS-ing it to me, only to discover that that would cost more than its own plane ticket. So here I sat. And sat. And sat. I love bikeriding. It was my only form of transportation for much of my adult life, and to me it just screams summer and freedom, and I have missed it. There are villages all over the stinkin' place here, perfect distances for a nice little ride and I can't wait to discover them. My boy also has the knack. Then I made waffles with fresh raspberries and real whipped cream with Viennese coffee as well as fresh ginger gingerale with lime. Happy birthday to me.
And lastly, last Saturday we celebrated with Tomáš' family. It was a pretty typical little get-together, except for one thing, my cupcakes turned out. For whatever reason I just cannot seem to ever get it together on party day when it comes to baking. And I'm a decent baker. I guess it's the pressure. But I turned out these tasty little beauties and forgot to take a picture when there were two plates of them, so here are three. Lemon with cream cheese frosting and raspberries. Oh! Speaking of raspberries, have I mentioned they are my favorite thing on this earth? This year I've been in absolute heaven because it was a good raspberry year and Tomáš' mom has brought me not one, not two, not three, but four BIG cartons of them. So, I think it's safe to say it's been a pretty good birthday.
*Since I wrote this post Tomáš' mom brought me another flat of raspberries and I got my bike! I found a used one online that I just had a good feeling about, so Tomáš went and got it today and it turns out the owner also owns the bike shop in our town. He had put new brakes and spokes and some other things on it and it has had a fresh tune-up. We took it out for a test run this afternoon and I felt amazing. I am so happy to once again be a velocipedestrian. Also, this ''quick-ish post'' turned into a many-hours-in-the-making post. Oh well.