Schoolhouse Love

It feels good to do good. The schoolhouse family has a lot figured out - such an honor to play a small part in it all. It's so much bigger than lights. 

Carpe Diem! Big Picture Calendar

If you know me at all, you know I adore planning my entire year on one page. I have made my own such planner for years...I even remember doing it in high school...

It brings me so much joy to share that I will no longer be making my own.

Schoolhouse has partnered with Egg Press (who is awesome and conveniently located one floor below my office in the Schoolhouse HQ) to introduce - The Big Picture Calendar. 

Go buy one.

Carpe diem sweet friends, carpe diem!

 PS - they come in this great tube packaging and make a fab gift...

Make Every Table The Kids Table

Field Trip

I joined P and her buds for a field trip to the theatre. P and I almost buxed the whole thing...

but we made it, and had a blast!

Brothers

Life gets so busy. We gotta remember to make time for the important stuff. Like this. Time with family is always delicious. Even more so at a restaurant like bang bang. Yum. 

Remember The Last

Today we moved out of the Mountain House. We have made so many memories here through the years. I cannot count how many times we carried sleeping babies turned little children up this ladder to their loft on Friday nights. Always worth the Friday rally to wake up here on snowy Saturdays. We spent two memorable christmas' here, celebrated a few anniversaries here. We hosted a few fun fondue fetes and lots of unplanned cocoa and sledding parties. Today as I snapped these photos I begged the kids to remember it all - I know I will. Oddly, we hope never to return...because we hope hope hope our new chalet will be ready by the time next season rolls around - fingers crossed. When the new digs are complete, we will just be down the road from this place, so we'll get to smile and wave as we pass her. Her sweet simplicity was such a refreshing reminder that less is more...a theme we hope to remember as we build the new place.

Sweet Memories

KK love is flowing in. This page is full of great memories. Thank you to anyone who contributed.

Rules of Friendship

A few rules of friendship that I believe to be true.

1. Make some fabulous friends
2. Enjoy every second you get to spend with them
3. If they die - find a worthy way to honor their legacy

I'm feeling good about #1 and #2.

As we near the two year anniversary of the day KK passed, I have finally found a way to accomplish #3.

Field of Dreams

I think we have proven to ourselves that we love government camp. We have rented for the ski season for at least 4 years, not counting the 3 that we were in Europe skiing our hearts out.

Per our new years theme, we decided the time was now. And we bought a lot.

Today we built a snowman on the lot...soon we'll build a chalet of our own! We are excited. Be sure to swing by for a cocoa next year at this time...

PS - our kids ride the lift without us these days. eeeeek, this is new territory.

And PS again - check out how high the plow pile is these days! Taller than the rooflines!

The Time Is Now

Over the holidays, we always take time to think about the past year and plan the new year - like most people.

This year, this graph is motivating us.

It is motivating us to keep in shape, to spend time with the kids, and to optimize the "sweet spot", indicated by the circle - which we optimistically estimate to be another decade or so...

My own mom defies the graph, because she is off the charts.

Onward

Well, I quit my job, today is my last day. As I mentioned, we were going through some big changes, and after a lot of thought (including a thinking trip to Prague), I decided to trust my gut, which told me it was time for me to move on.

What's next? No idea, but I have a calm confidence that it will be something great. I look forward to investing some time and heart into a discovery process to learn about myself, my goals, my values and my options (those that exist and those that I should create).

My biggest concern with this transition is that my newly available time and mindspace will get filled with junk instead of good stuff. I am on high alert to nip that in the bud. I want to protect this new capacity and allocate it in meaningful ways as best I can. An exciting challenge. In the spirit of this challenge I popped by the Stadelijk to zoom through their "What Design Can Do" exhibit and as expected got some inspiration.

Other sources for relevant inspiration include these 4 books that I recently finished.

And what better time to dive into my painting pursuits. Slowly making progress on this thing...

Quitting is a scary thing. It feels brave actually. I had great options and reasons to stay, but my heart was not in it. I feel a little lost (I mean, check out my reading list above...clearly I feel a little lost), a little uncertain, but a lot optimistic.  And PS - I have an unemployed summer in Europe ahead of me, which I have done once before in the summer of 2000, and I know that it is a good gig. 

Now is the point when you tell me how awesome this is going to turn out. How much you believe in my future. Insert here your wise career advice. Summer reading recommendations are also welcome. 

What a Week

I was feeling tired yesterday - mentally and physically.

Tired is not my norm, but I realized that in one week's time, in addition to my usual work schedule and kid schedule (swim lessons, homework, football practice, etc. etc.) I had:

• Traveled to, toured, and ran a half marathon in Berlin
• Traveled back to Amsterdam on a 5 am train after a long night of flight delays in Berlin and Frankfurt (photo above was snapped on the 5am train)
• Stayed out late catching a world class European football match
• Experienced an amazing Matisse Exhibit (I dream of the piece above)
• Packed the team for a ski weekend
• Woke up at 4:30am so that we could travel to, tour and have brunch in Innsbruck 
• Drove up to Pitzal, an Austrian Glacier 
• Skied all weekend

Above, a chandelier at the Ritz in Berlin.  Below, a selfie in the hallway at the Ritz in Berlin. Don't I look good at the Ritz in Belin? Did I mention we stayed at the Ritz in Berlin?

I am optimistic that life just gets better and better. But when I look at the list above I wonder, how could it? When I am old and truly tired, I hope I have access to this blog and I read this post and I remember what it was like to live a week like last week filled with my family, friends and experiences. It was awesome. Feeling grateful. And tired. 

PS - how scary are these signs?

TaHome.

First I was in the USA.  Then (after a quick high five as I returned to Amsterdam and he left Amsterdam) he was in the USA.  Nearly 2 weeks passed.  But today, my man came back and we all feel whole again!

So fab to have him HOME!  The kids were at school when he returned...so he and I biked in the rain to the most fab brunch spot in the city, Bakers and Roasters.  

As for his trip to the USA,  which I am assured included some work, it looks like he had a blast.  Bikes, buddies, brothers, big sis, father, god-father, birthday celebrations, new babies...the lake.  My man loves Tahoe and Tahoe loves him.  

FB Camp

W had an absolute blast at his football camp (even if he had to wear the wrong brand all week).  We were so proud of him and it is so much fun to see him love this (and every) sport like he does.

The real players were onsite most of the week as well...with their fancy cars...we were loving this camo mercedes SUV...

One Year Ago Today...

One year ago today we were being celebrated in the most fabulous of ways...with a special send off party in PDX.  We miss every face in this photo!!!