... but I'm feeling pretty lucky.

We're back from Austin.  It was such a whirlwind trip:  I flew up to Austin on Friday morning, in time to do my SXSW panel on Friday afternoon...

... which, if I do say so myself, went well -- but with a title like "8 Ways to Deal With Bastards," and  co-panelists like Bryan Mason, Jason Shellen and LoriMcLeese, I wasn't particularly worried.  Seriously, these are some pretty impressive folks, the kind who make you realize you're learning a lot just being in their airspace.  But more importantly, the funny, man -- they know how to bring the funny.  It was a such good time.

So after the panel and spending some time in the city, Laura Mayes and I went back to the airport to pick up Laurie Smithwick and head to Laura's new home in the country for the night.  This place was breathtaking:  I woke up to blue skies and walls that were completely golden from the rising sun, and then an hour later I was sipping coffee with Laura and Laurie on a bona fide country house verandah.  So beautiful.

The lovely Laurie.

Then it was back into the city for some more SXSW-ing, then Marcus and Alex, who drove in from Houston, picked me up downtown, and we drove out to our favourite cabins ... but I'm getting ahead of myself.  After all, I need to save some photos for a later post!

The upshot is, however, that we had an amazing weekend, mostly because the weekend was just lazy.  We did whatever we wanted, which, while it included a very Austin-esque party held at a cowboy boot store in town, also meant lots and lots of watching DVDs from bed.  And naps.  An obscene number of naps.

So anyway, now we're back in Houston.  And while I feel like there's a ton of stuff that I need to get done this week after all this wonton loafing, I'm illogically feeling pretty good about doing it all, and I'm feeling really happy about life in general.  Lucky, even.

And on that note, Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone.

Song:  I wanna be a cowboy, by Boys Don't Cry.  As Laura was driving me back into town from her house, we stopped at the one stop light in her tiny country town, and this song came on the radio.  Of course.

There are two activities in the world which history tells me not only can I not do them, but I'm so bad at them, it's like I'm the antichrist of their performance. 

The first is gambling.  Not only is my ability to lose money legendary, if I'm in a casino and I simply walk by a blackjack table, everyone seated around the table starts to lose money as well.  I'm like a Gambling Dementor. 

Luckily, I don't have any interest in gambling whatsoever, so, you know, no harm, no foul.

The second thing I'm horrible at, however, is growing anything that photosynthesizes in order to live.  I can almost sense plants beginning to wilt when I come anywhere in their vicinity.  I have committed more herbicide than I care to admit; and despite my friend Gayla insisting that I just need to keep trying, that all gardeners kill plants, but that it's okay because that's how I'll learn, I had generally given up ever attempting to grow anything green.  I felt it was only fair to the plant kingdom.

I felt this way, that is, until I came up with my life list.

Number 64 on my life list is my goal to grow a flower from a seed -- and now that you know my proclivity for plant death, you can see why putting it on my list was a serious challenge (possibly equal to Number 87, "take a trapeze lesson").  Nonetheless, a couple of weeks ago, on February 28th (a perfectly beautiful spring-like day, which might have caused the following mental aberration), I got in my car and drove to a local nursery.

Once there, I met a cheery fellow named Ivan.  "How can I help you?" he said with an exuberant smile.

"Ivan, honey, I'm about to give you the weirdest request you've had all day."

"Sock it to me."

"I recently wrote down my life list -- things I want to do in my lifetime -- and one of them is to grow a flower from a seed."

"Easy."

"You would think so.  Thing is?  I kill things.  You need to give me seeds that cannot be killed."

Ivan was undeterred.  He sped me around the nursery, piling stuff in my arms like little seed-grow-container-thingies, one-gallon-transplant-the seedlings-into-bigger-container-thingies, bags of turbo-charged-soil-of-awesomeness and of course, seeds.  Overwhelmed, I paid for the items and came home. 

"What did you buy?" Gayla tweeted.

"Umm.... looks like zinnias and foxgloves," I tweeted back.  Not that I would know a zinnia or a foxglove if it got in bed with me.

"Hmm," was her response.  "I don't know much about growing foxgloves from seeds, but I'm confident you'll do well with the zinnias."

It's like she's daring me to kill them.

Anyway, with Marcus' guidance (he's English, and I'm convinced his people can grow anything), I planted the seeds.  I watered.  I crooned sweet nothings into their little seedy ears.  And then, 6 days later ...

March 6. 

... I couldn't believe it.  Seedlings!

Now, to be honest, I wasn't planning on sharing the progress of these plants with you until I actually had a bloom, but I'm so excited about the fact that a green thing grew (I'm equally confident that I may not actually be able to keep this up), I thought I'd share the progress with you now.  This week, we moved the seedlings into larger pots, so it's entirely possible that this action alone might be the cause of their impending demise, but in the meantime, behold the green things in their tiny little glory:

March 10.

Transplanted (also March 10).

Isn't this one cute?  I may call him "George."

Obviously, more photographs of progress (if any) will follow.

So with that, I'm off to Austin for SXSW.  In addition, Marcus, Alex and I are going to take a little concentrated family time, so I'm going to try to unplug until Wednesday of next week.  In the meantime, friends, have a great weekend, and see you soon.

(Seriously!  I grew these!  Unbelievable!)

Song:  Will it grow by Jakob Dylan

You might remember that around this time last year, we took Alex to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo to see the Jonas Brothers for her birthday.

Dear God in heaven, this past weekend we did it again.

You have to understand:  we didn't intend to do it again.  But there was a certain confluence of circumstances -- a promise of a Disneyworld trip that fell through, tickets to the concert that were made available to us at a ridiculously low price -- that made it plum near impossible for us not to take her to the concert.  And when she found out that Demi Lovato was the opening act, that did it: she flat out lost her mind.

Photo by Marcus.

Photo by Marcus.

I have to admit, sitting in that darkened arena watching her enthralled and excited with the performance was pretty awesome.  I mean, really, don't we parents live for the happiness and elation of our kids?

Just please, Lord, don't let me ever have to do this again.

Ever.

(Happy Love Thursday, everyone.)

Song:  My favorite things, as performed by Pomplamoose.  My heavens, I love this duo.

If Javascript is disabled browser, to place orders please visit the page where I sell my photos, powered by Fotomoto.

I think they're just beautiful.

Song:  Beautiful by Christina Aguilera

I've got some travel coming up (for starters, SXSW, and then a few days off with Marcus and Alex), and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by the work I need to do before I leave.  So today, a quick post, in an attempt to take a moment to breathe:  the following are 8 Things Which I Find Unspeakably Pretty:

1. The surface of an egg.

2.  Hibiscus flowers (particularly the deep red ones that I'd sometimes see in Trinidad)

3.  Light passing through clear, cube-shaped ice cubes on a hot day.

4.  Water lapping over rocks on the seashore.

5.  The tops of newborn heads.

6.  The surface of an original painting.  Not the image of the painting itself, but the texture of paint on a canvas.

7.  The surface of nutmeg.

8.  Light passing through a moonstone.

There.  Now, back to work.

* * * * * * *

Thanks to everyone who participated in yesterday's giveaway!  According to Random.org, the winner of Brené's DVD is Donna, who said, "I feel most authentic when I post a picture and tell a story about it on my website/blog. My spirit comes out... like it comes straight from my heart."  Congrats, Donna -- I'll contact you via email to get your snail mail address.

 Song:  Boa Sorte by Vanessa de Mata, featuring Ben Harper

Over the past two years, I've spent a weekend away on the Oregon coast with 13 pretty extraordinary women.  The first year, in 2008, I only knew two of them -- and one of the ones I didn't know was Brené Brown.  When I found out she was coming, I did a bit of research on her: I learned she was a professor at the University of Houston, and a renowned researcher on the provocative subject of shame.  I also discovered she was the creative mind behind the wildly inspiring blog, Ordinary Courage. 

She was, I therefore presumed, way out of my league.

Still, for some reason that year I was feeling rather bold, so I thought I'd go ahead and email her and see if she would like to meet for coffee in advance of our upcoming trip to the coast.  She politely agreed, but then because of an unforeseen circumstance, she had to cancel.  No matter, I thought to myself.  After all, she's way out of my league anyway, right?

However, by odd coincidence, on the evening of the afternoon we were supposed to meet, Marcus and I had date night.  As we were enjoying our drinks and tapas at a small Spanish restaurant, I looked over and saw Brené.

"Marcus," I said.  "I think that's Brené Brown, the woman who's going to be in Oregon with me, the woman I was supposed to have coffee with today.  I think I'm going to go say hi."

I walked over to her table, where she was sitting with her husband and family, and attempting to have a peaceful dinner.  I tapped her on her shoulder.

"Excuse me," I said, "are you Brené Brown?"

"Yes!" she said, immediately standing to her feet with her dazzling smile. 

"I'm Karen Walrond," I said.  Her face didn't register any recognition.  "From, um, Chookooloonks?" I continued, hesitantly.  "We're, um, going to be in Oregon together?"

"OH MY GOD!" she immediately exclaimed, grabbing me by both of my shoulders and pulling me into an unexpectedly tight hug.  "OH MY GOD.  It's so nice to meet you!  Except, of course, I was planning on losing 10 pounds before seeing you in person!"

It was at this moment that I knew -- I was certain -- that Brené was absolutely My Kinda People.

Since that night, Brené has become one of my most treasured friends.  If you've read her book I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn't), you know she's a gifted academic; however, in real life and in fact, she's an amazing, down-to-earth, kind and generous soul as well.  For this reason, I'm thrilled to share with you a little more about her, via my modified Proust Questionnaire.  Enjoy (and then read further for a fantastic giveaway):

* * * * * * *

1. What is your idea of perfect happiness? No question -- being at home with my family.  The perfect moment:  I'm cooking with the back door open, and I can hear the kids and my husband Steve playing and laughing.  I'm piddling around and listening to good music.

2. What is your greatest fear? (a) Loss and grief.  (b) Rodents.  (c) Sharks.

3. Which living person do you most admire? I try not to admire people I don't know.  It's too easy to fantasize.  Of the people I know, I admire my parents the most.

4. What trait do you most deplore in yourself? Ironically, I don't like how hard I can be on myself.  I guess you could say that I deplore self-deploring.  I'm working hard to give it up.

5. What trait do you most deplore in others? Sneakiness and passive-aggressive behavior.  I like my crazy right up front.

6. What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Snarkiness and disrespectful irreverence are not "traditional" virtues, but they are certainly popular in today's culture.  People who don't know me are often surprised, but I'm pretty old-school.  I'm a first-born rule-follower.  Manners matter.

7. What or who is the greatest love of your life? No question -- Steve.  We met when he was 17 and I was 21.  It was literally love at first sight.  We were lifeguards and coached a swim team together.  That was 23 years ago.  He's legal now.

8. Which talent would you most like to have? Sing and play the guitar -- like Maria in The Sound of Music.

9. What is your current state of mind? Contemplative, spiritual and grateful.

10. What do you consider your greatest achievement? My marriage.  It's incredibly hard work. 

11. What is your most treasured possession? My family photographs and my wedding rings.  One of the rings belonged to my grandmother, and the other belonged to my great aunt.

12. What is your superpower? My superpower is probably connected to my work.  I think it's observing human behavior and seeing, then naming, the subtle connections that help us make meaning of our thoughts, behaviors and feelings.

13. What is your motto? It changes depending on my mood and what's going on in my life.  Lately it's been "progress, not perfection."  A few weeks ago, it was more along the lines of "easy does it, Tiger."

14. What do you most value in your friends? Authenticity, compassion, trust and humor.

15. Which word or phrase do you most overuse?  "Shut up!" and "Dude!"  I'm 44.  It's kinda ridiculous.

16. What is your greatest extravagance? Face products.

17. What is the quality you most like in a woman? Authenticity, compassion, trust and humor.

18. What is the quality you most like in a man? Authenticity, compassion, trust, humor and cowboy boots.

19. On what occasion do you feel the most authentic?  Honestly, the older I get, the less I consider authenticity an option.  I work hard to feel authentic everywhere I go.  Having said that, I don't like big groups or small talk.  I'm the most comfortable when I'm with family and friends.

* * * * * * *

She's lovely, isn't she?  And that's not all: Brené has recently released her brand new DVD, The Hustle for Worthiness, her recent 50-minute lecture on love and belonging -- and she's kindly allowing me to give one away here on Chookooloonks.  Simply leave a comment below, with your answer to the following question:

On what occasion do you feel the most authentic?

and I'll pick one commenter at random to win Brené's DVD.  I'll keep comments open until midnight Monday night/Tuesday morning.

Can't wait to read your responses!

Song:  American pie by Don McLean.  Because as I sat in the audience before Brené began her talk at the taping of The Hustle for Worthiness, this was playing on the sound system, and the entire audience was singing along.

I admit it:  I'm a woman possessed with this life list thing.  Every day I'm thinking about how I can do something on the list.  I think I'm feeling pretty passionate about this for a few reasons:

1.  I put it out there that I was going to do this.  I feel somewhat obligated.

2.  There are so many items on the list, I want to make a dent.  I mean, seriously:  taste 700 blends of tea?  Photograph 1000 faces?  What was I thinking?

3.  It's just so damned fun.

Anyway, I thought that going forward, I would reserve Fridays for my day of giving you updates on the life list.  Not every Friday, you understand -- I'm pretty sure my passion around this will wane somewhat -- but I figure that I need to make sure that the life list doesn't take over every day of Chookooloonks, you know?

Okay.  So here are a couple of things I've done so far:

1.  A few days ago I was in a local Target store, and I overheard two employees speaking in Spanish.  I speak some Spanish -- I used to be fluent -- but as I listened to them talking, I realized that while I know how to say "you are pretty," in Spanish, I didn't exactly know how to say "you are beautiful," to imply not just physical beauty, but also spiritual or soulful beauty, as well.  Luckily for me, one of the employees was working the cash register when I was checking out. 

"Excuse me," I said in Spanish.  "I speak some Spanish, but I was trying to remember -- how do you say 'you are beautiful,' but to mean inner beauty?"

"Inner beauty?" she asked me, somewhat confused.

"Yes, inner beauty."  I thought for a minute.  "Like, not just physically, but also your soul."

"Ahh," she said, understanding.  "Eres linda."

Awesome.  So now I can say "you are beautiful" in Spanish.  As it happens, Spanish is the fourth language I've learned to say this:  you can hear the others by scrolling down on this page.

2.  Yesterday I went to my favourite coffee house to meet my friend, Imelda, for lunch.  I specifically got there early to do a bit of work beforehand, but also I was hoping that Amanda, one of the baristas who works there (and who has a great face) would let me take a photograph of her for Number 16 on my life list, "photograph 1000 faces."  She did.

Isn't her face awesome?  She officially makes number 17 of the faces I've photographed.  You can see the rest of them here.

3.  While I was there, I decided I needed to try a second tea (number 56 on the list).  So I did:

This tea was White Nectar Osmanthus Spring by Numi.  It's a white tea (I only recently learned that there was such a thing as white tea), and the note I made in my journal while I was sipping it was that it's "light, simple and the kind of tea that would make you feel better if you had an upset stomach on a sunny, lazy day."  

I'm sure that somewhere a bona fide tea critic is reading that last sentence and cringing wildly.

But wait!  I have additional stuff to cringe over!

4.  When I returned home, I decided to practice juggling (number 54 on the list).  I've been practicing pretty much every day since I started this life list, but it dawned on me yesterday that if I just show you the final result of my juggling, some people might think, "Wait just a doggone minute -- she probably always could juggle, and just said that she didn't know how."   So I thought I'd film myself so you could see that this isn't the case.  When you watch the following, keep in mind (a) this is pretty much after a solid week of practice, and (b) my goal is to juggle for 60 uninterrupted seconds.  I think it's obvious I still have quite a bit of work to do:

Yeah.

On that crazy note, have a great weekend, everyone.

Song:  Bad body double by Imogen Heap

"Love has no limits.  Love never ends.  Love is reborn and reborn and reborn."

~  Thich Nhat Hanh

Song: Relator by Scarlett Johannson & Pete Yorn.  I love it when I discover an actor can sing.  Hat tip to Aaron Says Jenny Says.

Yesterday evening, I decided to take some photographs of Alex, since it was the last day Alex would be 5 years old.  While I was shooting, I asked her what she hoped she would do when she was six. 

"I want to learn to juggle."

"I want to learn to tie my own shoelace."

"I want to learn how to hang upside down from a tree.  Also, I want to learn how to do a perfect cartwheel."

Looks like 6 is going to be a great year.

(Happy Birthday, little one.)

Song: Dance me if you can by the Cheetah Girls (I let Alex pick the song of the day.  It was the least I could do.)

Yesterday morning, I went to my local cafe to have a cup of tea.*  Even though I had a ton of work to do, I took The Happiness Project with me (a book I mentioned a few days ago).   I haven't gotten very far yet, but there were two passages in the early parts of the book that really stuck with me.

The first was when the author, Gretchen Rubin, discusses her state of mind when she decided to embark on her Happiness Project: 

"The words of the writer Colette had haunted me for years: 'What a wonderful life I've had!  I only wish I'd realized it sooner.'  I didn't want to look back, at the end of my life or after some great catastrophe, and think, 'How happy I used to be then, if only I'd realized it.'"

The second passage related to her ultimate reason for starting her Happiness Project:

"And -- though I didn't recognize this immediately -- I started my happiness project because I wanted to prepare.  I was a very fortunate person, but the wheel could turn ... One of my goals for the happiness project was to prepare for adversity -- to develop the self-discipline and the mental habits to deal with a bad thing when it happens."

 I love the ideas presented here:  (a) that there's something to be said about actively and intentionally working towards happiness, and (b) that happiness is a goal worth working for, no matter how happy you might currently be.  I think so often we sort of wait around for our luck to change, for happiness to just sort of happen to us.  I love the idea that you can go out and Make Good.  Make Happy.

In a lot of ways, that's what the life list I think is going to become for me -- a way to actively Make Happy as I go through my life.  What do you think -- does the concept of actively seeking and creating happy ring true for you?  Also and related, if you can think of a time when you consciously and intentionally made some happy in your life, I'd love to hear about it.

* In furtherance of number 56 from my life list, yesterday morning's tea was number 1:  Jardin Bleu by Dammann Freres.  Verdict:  it tastes like a good, black tea; but, oh my word, the aroma.  Inhaling this tea was like standing in the middle of an expansive, fragrant garden.  Just heavenly.

Song: Peace, love & happiness by G. Love & Special Sauce