A New Backpack - Done

Hello Friends,

A backpack became a comfort object during high school. It was a barrier between me and all of the chaos life swirls around you when you are in the throws of becoming an adult. I have never been fond of purses and diaper bags, so I use a backpack instead, even as an adult caregiver of young children. Recently I went on a search to find a bag that would work just right to hold the kid stuff and the grown up stuff I needed to carry with me on everyday outings. I am much more interested in function than form, but I still have aesthetic desires that need to be met.

What needed to fit in this new backpack? A couple diapers, change of clothes for each kid, my inhaler, wallet, cell phone, bus pass, library card, pens, extra hankies, snack, and my tiny companion Mr. Mikey. When I don't have kid stuff, I also need it to hold a computer.

After drawing up what I thought I needed, I started and ended my search at REI. The backpack I found was not designed specifically for any of my intended uses, but it is compact, comfortable, and useful.

This purchase also satisfied one of my year-long list goals. Hurray!

See the New Backpack 

Much love,

Nicole

Year-Long Lists

Hello Friends,

Each year around her birthday, Monica makes a list of things to do before her next birthday. The number of things to do is determined by her new current age. I picked up this habit last year, but instead of my birthday, I use the start of the new school year which always feels like our New Year. I have found that it helps focus me I what I really want to accomplish. Some things change throughout the year and I remain flexible to the whims of life. As I turned 30 in June, this is my current list:

30 Things Before Fall of 31^st Year

1. Create a t-shirt design
2. Create family postcard #2
3. Try paddle boarding
4. Visit petroglyphs or another MN destination
5. Go on a trip
6. Learn a song on something I can sing with
7. Learn a song on the harmonica
8. Create a backpack plan
9. Submit filet crochet, papercut, or seed art to the State Fair
10. Update artist website
11. Fill a bare book
12. Try a new art medium
13. Do something with memorabilia bucket
14. Create or attend an illustration class and create 6 print-ready pages
15. Go dancing or throw a dance party 6 times
16. Draw 6 people, well
17. Read books, stories, or essays
18. Go climbing and/or swimming
19. Create surprises for Monica
20. Eat at 6 new restaurants and/or food trucks
21. Try 6 new recipes
22. Watch 6 new foreign films
23. Scan photographs to fill album 12 times
24. Practice steps
25. Do one nice thing for myself each month
26. Conduct second graphic novel book club
27. Complete Spanish levels 1 and 2 on computer
28. Floss twice each week
29. Stretch and exercise twice each week
30. Continue blog (starting with this post)

Much love,

Nicole

Family Postcard #1

Hello Friends,

As secular folks, we have struggled to think of a good way to share family photos and information with our friends and family. Many folks do this with a card at the end of the calendar year. We have coworkers who choose a silly week, such as National Library Week, and send it out then. After much thought, we have compromised on a family postcard during the summer, which is essentially our New Year. Below is the front photo collage and the information we printed at home and slipped into the envelope.

This year has once again been filled with amazing adventures:

Nicole resigned from her position as behavior support from Bancroft Elementary and has taken on several art residencies, professional organizing, and substitute teaching. Monica recently finished her fourth year as a teacher's aide at Bancroft and loves working with 2^nd and 3^rd grade classes.

Together there has been:

A trip to WI, camping in Afton, a plethora of niece and nephew fun, lots of biking, three deaths within our families, many house guests, gardening, a Camp Quest Summit in Dallas, lots of homemade food adventures, making things, dancing, and too many visits to the library and farmers' market to count.

Some of our favorites this year:

Museums - M.I.A., Weisman, Franconia, Arboretum

Movies - Song of the Sea, Where Do We Go Now?, Begin Again, Lunch Box, Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Interstellar, Shock Doctrine

Books - Hug Me, It's All Too Much, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, 100 Demons

Much love,

Nicole and Monica