how adorable is this? i happened upon this hmong children’s outfit on etsy. it’s handcrafted by a shop located in thailand. isn’t it unbearably sweet?
(via AsiaMade2Order on Etsy)
products i love: hmong children’s clothes
Author: Gina @ Oaxacaborn
Gina Munsey is a Mexico-born, Eastern Europe-raised missionary kid who ended up being a Californian by way of Florida outside of Nashville, Tennessee. She lives her days full of coffee and adventures while her 12-year-old learns Mandarin Chinese and Greek, her 3-year-old uses all the markers, and her artist-husband creates worlds from pixels and light. A blogger since the turn of the century (ouch!) she's an editor, co-op teacher, and writer who has only completed four chapters of her languishing manuscript. You can find Gina right here at oaxacaborn.com, or in the middle of [home]school surrounded by stacks and stacks of books.
hey! mr. tambourine man, play a song for me.
some babies listen to lullabies. but this afternoon, little aveline fell fast asleep listening to —
“Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands…
Let me forget about today until tomorrow
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to.”
WRITING & WORDS :: i love you so much it hurts: a letter to aveline
my precious, precious girl,
i love you so much it hurts. you’re sleeping now, in the next room, and every once in a while i run back into the room just to look at you. that hasn’t gotten old yet, and here you are 10 weeks old this wednesday. you changed everything when you were born, lovie, and i wouldn’t have it any other way.
you’re pure joy. i love the way you smile so widely your eyes are nearly closed. i love how you look so intently at daddy when he’s talking to you, and love how you imitate the sounds with your tiny little painted-on cherub lips. you bring us so much happiness, baby girl. we prayed for you, love, we definitely did. and God answered our prayers and gave you to us. you’re our aveline alenka, our radiant, full-of-light, wished for and longed for child. that’s what your name means, you know.
you are a beautiful miracle. i can’t believe how fast you’re growing. it seems like just yesterday you were impossibly tiny, your hands hidden in the sleeves of the newborn shirts and your waist too tiny for newborn pants. and now here you are, reaching for the ruffled hem of your sundress and putting it in your mouth.
speaking of the sun — you’re not so much a fan of that, yet. you scrunch up your face and arch your back when the sun hits your little face. but the wind, oh, you are mama’s girl for sure in the wind. you happily let it wash over you, looking out into the world with those gorgeous eyes of yours.
and now, baby, your tiny cries from the next room are calling to me. i’m coming to get you, baby. coming to hold you, and change your diaper, and feed you, and love you always&forever.
always&forever, baby. always&forever.
love,
your mama.
Guest Post: Join Me in Turning Every Light ON for Earth Hour 2011
My brother Andy recently posted this as a note on his Facebook account. With his permission, I’m re-posting it here.
Today Earth Hour happens. At 8:30PM we’re expected to turn our lights off for an hour. Join me in turning every light in the house on for an hour.
I do this to protest the increasing trend of meaningless social causes.
You want to make a difference? Turn the lights off every day for an hour. Turn your air conditioner up a little or don’t turn it on right away at 5PM when you get home. These things will save you money, and that’s actually meaningful. Educate yourself on energy source options. Attend public planning meetings for local and regional utilities. Consider upgrading your furnace or hot water heater a little sooner than you need to. Turn your lights off and go for an hour walk because it’s good for your health. Turn off your lights and go check the air pressure in your car tires. Still want to feel like you did something socially meaningful? Turn the lights off and call your grandmother, she won’t mind if you chat in the dark. Go down to the local VFW and shoot the bull with a veteran. Smile at the checkout girl when she hands you your receipt; if said checkout girl is at the VFW, tip her. If she’s good looking, make her day easier by making yourself not memorable; nobody likes a creep.
Wearing a certain color on a certain day isn’t going to save the koala habitat, not pumping gas for a day isn’t going to break the structure of the oil economy, and turning your lights off for an hour isn’t going to save the world. Participating in things like this does more harm than good. People get the warm fuzzies, think they did something, and never get around to doing actual good or making a real change.
pretty little dresses from modcloth — inspired by lottie loves
each friday, lottie of the vintage fashion blog lottie loves posts about pretty dresses. it’s all part of a campaign she’s started called think frock, it’s friday! in order to encourage women to wear dresses at least once a week. dresses are so inherently feminine by their very nature, and i think it’s wonderful that she is inspiring women to wear dresses. here are a few little things i spied over at modcloth.com today. aren’t they pretty?
Shown:
1-Cable Car Tour Dress
2-Now Boarding Dress
3- Soda Fountain Dress in Ginger
4- Terrarium Workshop Dress
all in an afternoon lunch
mmm, lunch. a latte with water-processed decaf mocca-java, organic soy milk and deliciously caramel-like coconut palm sugar. organic tofu scrambled with dill and onion, then tossed with quinoa and a splash of olive oil. juicy pieces of navel orange mixed with half an avocado and sprinkled with a little sea salt. wide-eyed baby staring out from her cozy little nest. delicious!
airing my [clean] laundry
i’m folding clean laundry. it looks like something pink exploded all over my house. it looks like at least seventeen girls live here. this isn’t nearly the half of it. my poor husband. this place is overflowing with aveline’s and my clothes — stuck in limbo somewhere between washed and folded and to-be-tried-on and to-be-given-away and to-be-stored. there are the boxes of my own clothes that i’ve begun to unpack, then quickly abandoned upon the discovery that nothing fits. there are the piles of aveline’s clothes that she’s outgrown and not-quite-grown-into. there is the ever-growing laundry basket, since aveline makes certain that she and i change clothes at least twice a day. and then there’s the diaper laundry. oh, and i guess josiah needs clean clothes occasionally, too ;-) did i mention i’m thankful for indoor laundry facilities?
here’s looking at you, kid.
i couldn’t resist sharing this photo of aveline in all her two-month-old cuteness. i just love this little girl to pieces!
The Oaxacaborn Blog 