So my mom is here for a visit, which is just delightful, although she's been sick, which is not. It's forced us to sit and rest though, and I think that's been good for everybody.

Cal finished up his sailing camp on Friday, and I'll tell you more about that later this week. Neel and I went down to the Nauticus where the camp was held and got to watch the kids in an epic water battle, which was great fun. Cal wore is Tennessee Vols shirt in honor of my mom's arrival, but he was totally soaked by the end of the day and had to change!

We really followed my mom's lead on Saturday and took it super-easy. Ferocious thunderstorms and pounding rain all afternoon helped. Mom and Cal watched movies and I (inspired by Christine) cleaned off my desktop. I have some new projects in the works and I have to figure out a way to make space for them and fit everything in before my head explodes. Seriously. That desktop clean off is counting as my drawer clean out for like the next week, I feel so good about what I got accomplished. It felt great to trash some of the the things that had been weighing on my karma for a few years now. Old projects that will never again see the light of day! I feel brighter already! Now I just have to remember where I organized everything and we'll be good to go.

Let's face it. Sunday was pretty lazy too!

I made lemonade. We sliced peaches. A batch to eat and a batch for pie.

I've been looking around and doing research for a place for me and Neel start to meet with a personal trainer. We did this together many years ago when he was in graduate school and really loved it, and we want to get back to it as a way to do something both together and for ourselves. I don't really want to talk about this much, but I'm feeling quite desperate to be stronger and more fit. I've found lots of options here in town, but couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger and contact one. Nothing felt right. Yesterday, in the midst of checking out some options for renting canoes, Neel discovered that our local university (literally four blocks from our house) has phenomenal facilities, much less expensive than any gym, they offer classes and personal training, and now we're all signed up. Also, we can rent canoes too! It felt like a bit of a breakthrough.

Because it's summer (even though it feels, quite gloriously like mid-fall), we cooked out for dinner, and afterwards everyone felt the need to get out of the house. (Hopefully Ama is on the mend.) We grabbed gelato at Strawberry Fields (Local folks, if you haven't been here, it's a MUST TRY in Ghent. The gelato is divine!) and headed to one of my favorite spots in town, East Beach. You may remember when my friend Jean and I hit the Homearama here last fall. We skipped the houses and headed straight for the still-warm sand. Managed to catch it right at sunset. Not a bad way to end the weekend.

Not bad at all.

1. I think Callum has had a fun week learning to sail at Sail Nauticus this week. Surrounded by water the way we are here, it just makes sense that he get some chops in a sailboat, and this program, run by our friend Bill, seemed like the perfect opportunity. It's half a day in the boat and a half doing other programs. Let's face it. Cal would prefer to spend all day in the boat. This afternoon, we'll head down to watch our kid on the water, and I can't wait. Show of hands for who thinks he'll ask for a sailboat for his birthday? ;)

2. I think I had a most moving conversation about my blog from an unexpected source this week. One of my freelance clients has been reading and picked up the phone a few days ago to chat about Still+Life. She said just the kindest, most heartfelt, specific things about this space. Really touching on the things that I wanted to convey here. I can't tell you what it means to know that what I'm trying to get across is coming across. I thing we get caught up in the day-to-dayness of blogging, and let's face it, we can get bogged down by it too. But to learn from a new(ish) reader that you've been hitting all the notes that you want to hit? Well, that's a pretty nice feeling. Our phone call is still resonating with me, Val. Thank you for that. And now I'm ready to make some changes!

3. I think , speaking of blogging, that I had just such a wonderful time with my class this summer. In some ways it was a hard slog, being that it was our first go with this thing, but I had the most amazing group of students, and I learned so much. Branching out into RSS and SEO, and business blogs and editorial calendars; it was all so fun. Best part was making new friends and getting such good feedback about how to make things even better for next time. We're pushing it from four weeks to six in the fall and I can't wait.

4. I think we've watched Moonrise Kingdom at least fifteen times since I brought it home last weekend. Have you seen it? It's pretty spectacular. Callum LOVES. IT. Our photography group discussed it because the cinematography is so stunning, but the story is sweet and funny too. Highly recommended. My mom is coming for a visit (a day late because she's been sick), and I have a feeling she'll be watching it too.

5. I think I need a new sleeping situation. I'm waking up with an achy back and hips in the mornings. It's been going on for awhile now. So much that I noticed when it did and didn't happen when we were in London and Paris. I'm a devoted side sleeper, and I'm a bit worried that this might be my problem. I've tried the last two nights to stay on my back (it's HARD!), and things have been a bit better, but not perfect. Neel thinks I need a body pillow to snuggle (as opposed to a Neel to snuggle, especially in the summer when it's so hot). Do you have any suggestions besides morphine? Perhaps a strong cocktail and a hope for a good weekend. Love you guys.

weekend recap, august 5

five things, august 2