my dear ramona bean,
be kind and clear and honest in your communications. respect others’ opinions. respect your own: mean what you say and say what you mean. i have certainly said this before.
listen well and thoughtfully.
communication is not just speaking and listening. it is using your whole body and all of your senses and gifts and blessings. it can be something you do by yourself in quiet moments. and something you communicate to the whole world when you create something and share it with others.
i believe you can most effectively communicate when you explore and research the world around you; when you open yourself up to learning new things and meeting new people. touch, taste, smell, see, feel, speak, listen, dance, learn, teach. communicate.
i love you. love, mama
read other letters to ramona bean over here, here, here, here, and here.
this post is done in collaboration with sakura bloom. the sling i am wearing is the simple linen in wheat. the beautiful photos are by tessa richardson and were taken at my favorite denver store, ironwood.
i’m blaming my broken promises to you (that i would be back for more blogging) on shoddy internet (comcast has since fixed it and with, surprisingly, amazing customer service) and a broken camera battery charger (one can only post so many instagram photos).
my new charger arrives tomorrow. and now i’ve had too many whisky and gingers to compose a proper post of whatever photos i may have lingering on my external.
so i leave you with this: jonathan power mentioned in the pages of the highly-esteemed (at least in my amateur opinion) pages of design sponge. check it out!
jp was invited to see the fray play at red rocks on the friday of my birthday week. so of course we decided to make a big night of it. we got a babysitter for ramona, went to a fancy dinner at linger, and braved the rain and cold to the outdoor ampitheater. it was my first time at red rocks and jp’s first time there to see music performed. i’m glad lashley told me to pack a hat and mittens along with my rain jacket, otherwise i would have been miserable (and someone mentioned i shouldn’t even think of wearing my stilettos to a concert there: thank you!). i didn’t know at all what to expect and me, being the diva i can be, was expecting the friends & family section to maybe be, um, covered? but it wasn’t but we were bundled up and it was so so worth it. have you been to red rocks?! it is amazing and gorgeous and one of the best musical experiences despite any crappy weather.
i listened to how to save a life pretty much on repeat my junior year of college (along with james blunt’s back to bedlam and great lake swimmers’ self-titled [it was a very depressing year]) and so, though i’m not on the up and up with all the fray’s newer songs, it was really fun hearing the ones i know and love. they’re great performers and even did a mini concert on top of the sound stage (we were at the bottom of the sound stage to the side) where they played the three best songs of the night: be still (on their new album, scars and stories), how to save a life, and a cover of my favorite yeah yeah yeahs song, maps. yes, i have embedded them all here bc they are worth listening to, especially the first and last ones.
(in the background, if you watch this maps video, you will hear the sweet but very drunk los angelan next to me who throughout the night and especially during this song kept exclaiming “my mind is blown! my mind is being BLOWN!” sheesh.)
guys, i haven’t been to a concert in so long and it is still quite rare that i get to spend alone time w my main main. this was one special night! i even got my dancing moves on a little bit. afterward, we headed over to williams & graham for the after-party. i, of course, felt really cool and honored that we were invited to attend this event but, trust me, it’s not as cool when you have a baby waiting at home. the important people had just started arriving when we had to duck out to relieve our sitters of their charge and us of worsening hangovers in the morning. which means we pretty much hung out with each other until we had to go home. which was pretty sweet actually.
and actually, it wasn’t hangovers we had the next morning since we didn’t even drink that much. it was: we-are-too-old-for-staying-up-this-late hangovers. 1:30, y’all. i was in bed at 1:30. living. it. up. the following is the screen shot i took at the bar after jp and i gave each other high fives for living on the edge and staying out so late.
first ones to arrive. first ones to leave. classy. happy birthday to me! thanks for the sexy night out, jp. i love you.
my crazy little ramona,
for photos for this shoot, and for mothers day, i had intended on taking you to the woods. i had wanted to take you to the mountains and show you how your papa and i explore. but, alas, the days got away from us as they are wont to do and i was forced to explore other options. and, as i resigned myself to this adventure–thinking what sort of exploring is done in the urban jungle we tread miles in every day?–i was surprised to realize that, yes, in fact there is always much exploring to be done wherever you are at. wherever anyone is at.
explore (and love) where you live. introduce yourself to your neighbors. invite them over for bbqs. play outside with the other kids. frequent and support the local shops. walk the blocks. find new parks. travel by bike trails and follow the river to new places. be an advocate for your community. live where you can do these sorts of things.
explore communication. explore your expression. explore your creative outlets. talk to lots of different people. learn languages. learn music, even if you never learn to play. read books and blogs and magazines and news sources. learn the latest technology but don’t always rely on it. write letters. say what you mean. do not mince your words. always be kind in your speech. never sell yourself out. mean what you say. stay true to your art.
explore food. try everything at least once. don’t be afraid of the weird stuff. find what you like. know what you love.
explore simplicity. live deeply, live fully. you need not a ton of money or resources to do so. in fact, that may hinder you. explore what it means and looks like to live simply. simplicity, in its many forms, opens up a world full of small joys. and you will be richer for it.
explore tradition. respect what others do in their cultures and in their religions and in their families. create your own traditions and rites and rituals, especially when you grow up and have your own family. you don’t ever have to do something just because that’s how it’s “always been done” but understand that how it’s “always been done” is really important to some people.
explore your style. never let anyone tell you how you should look, act, or feel. that is up to you.
explore your fears. i, my dear, am afraid of vomit. and then i had a baby. and i learned i had to get over that. and i did. i am also afraid of small talk. but i have learned that it serves me well in social networking situations, which i find myself in a lot with your papa’s line of work. whaddya know? now i have met some great friends whose friendship started off with some awful sort of small talk where we both had to get over the mostly-ever-present hump of talking about uninteresting things to get to know someone. and long ago i had a great big fear of not being loved. but then i met your papa and allowed him to show me what being loved looked and felt like. and here we all are now. i have not a clue what your fears will be but i urge you to not let them make you feel small.
love, mama.
read other letters to ramona bean over here, here, here, and here.
this post is done in collaboration with sakura bloom. the sling i am wearing is the simple linen in wheat. the beautiful photos are by JP (taken on his trusty iPhone) and were taken out and about in the lower highland of denver.
the hand-painted infiniti scarf i am wearing is a rory brinker, a new company getting started by a dear friend of mine. the tagline for rory brinker is “wear love around” and i am proud to be wearing this scarf around the places that i love. you can also check out more photos of rory brinker scarves on their facebook page.
i love birthdays. i love celebrating mine and celebrating the birthdays of those close to me.
i also love tokens of love: both giving and receiving them. so in honor of my birthday, (which was yesterday but i’ve been living it up all weekend and plan to live it up right up until mother’s day), i’m giving away one DIY breakable geode from ironwood. the website tells you absolutely nothing about the store but i’ve mentioned its magical powers before. basically it’s filled with whimsy and love and magic potions (geodes and succulents and local art and vintage goods and textiles and everything i love about knick knacks and life). and if you’ve never cracked open a geode, well, i’m trying to help you out with that.
bc everyone needs a little magic in their mailbox on their birthday — a little lovely trinket to find a special home on their windowsill or bookshelf 😉 and i’d love to pass it on.
please leave a comment below saying what tradition you love celebrating on your birthday (or for others!). this is open until friday morning, 8:00 MST, at which time i’ll pick a winner and announce it!
(p.s. the photo above was taken from the ironwood facebook page. this is not a breakitopenyourself geode but that would be really sweet if it was.)
welcome
