Song:  I'm free, by The Soup Dragons -- as suggested by Denise, in the comments below!

We met our friends Joanna, Peter and their daughter Charlie soon after Marcus, Alex and I moved to Trinidad, back in 2005. Joanna's company was in the process of transferring their family from their homeland of Australia to Trinidad, and while doing her research, Jo stumbled upon an earlier incarnation of Chookooloonks. She e-mailed me and told me that her family would be in town for their house hunting trip, and Alex (then 1) and I met them for breakfast, to tell them all about Trinidad.

We ended up being neighbours for 2 years, until we moved back to Houston, and Jo and her family moved on to Hong Kong, and eventually returning to Australia. They're currently on holiday, and were sweet enough to squeeze some time in Houston with us along the way. And although Charlie and Alex hadn't seen each other for almost half their lives (Charlie is 2 years older than Alex), they totally picked up right where they left off.

Alex and Charlie, at our home on June 2, 2009. Photographed with Nikon D300, 24-85mm lens.

Next on the agenda: a traditional American Independence Day. Or as traditional as this multinational household can make it, anyway.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

(By the way, my friend Brené Brown is hosting a giveaway of some of my notecards on her TGIF post at her blog, Ordinary Courage -- be sure to check it out and leave a comment for a chance to win!)

Song: Why can't we be friends by War

"Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love."

-- Mother Theresa

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Updated to share with you another lovely little quote that I just found over at Sarah Brown's blog:

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

-- Plato

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Happy Love Thursday, everyone. Please leave your stories or your images to links and words of love in the comments, below.

And may your day be filled with love and joy.

Song: What is love? by Deee-Lite

Several years ago, my parents lived in Stavanger, Norway.  I remember once when my parents were in town visiting, my mother told me about this lovely Norwegian custom:

She said that in Norway, when you stop by someone's house, they often light a candle, in welcome.

How great is that?

Since then, I try to remember to do that when a friend drops by.  It's such a kind little gesture.

Song: Hello, it's me by Groove Theory

Marcus and I have been very busy getting our house in order before some dear friends arrive from Australia tomorrow to spend a few days with us.  Bless them.  They're arriving from Sydney, where it's winter, to Houston, where it's over 100 degrees.  We're going to have so much fun with them, assuming they don't melt.

Immediately after they leave, our little family is headed to New York City for a quick vacation and a wedding (Alex is going to be a flower girl at this wedding.  She's been practicing.)  New York should be fun:  Marcus, while well-traveled, has never been to NYC, and Alex has been enthralled with the idea of New York ever since a couple of years ago when I brought home a pencil for her from a NYC work trip, the top of which had a miniature Empire State Building with a miniature King Kong clinging on for dear life.  This fascination with New York was only intensified this weekend when I downloaded The Wiz for her to watch.  I fear she now believes that New York is a city where giant monkeys and talented dancing scarecrows roam the streets.

The New York trip is the first of several trips I have slated coming up:  after New York, I head to Chicago for BlogHer '09 (will I see you there?), where I'm looking forward to participating in the Community Keynote.  Then after Chicago, there are a few other cities I'm planning on visiting, both for speaking opportunities and book photo ops -- assuming that I can pull them all off.  More as plans become more concrete.

I'm already starting to feel just a bit overwhelmed with all this upcoming travel, for a variety of reasons, but if I can manage to take all of these trips, it's going to be very exciting, as well.  So to get in into travel mode (which for me, takes a certain focused mindset), I thought perhaps I'd do a quick poll:

What's your favourite place you've ever visited, and what did you love to do there?

Song:  Run-around by Blues Traveler

These days, the dragonflies are out in force, and I've been dying to get a good photograph of one.  Of course, they're zippy little buggers, so it can be really hard to capture a good image.

This weekend, however, Marcus found one that was resting on a branch in our garden -- and seemed rather unpreturbed by our presence near him.  So I ran inside and grabbed my camera, and shot a ton of images.  Photo geek that I am, it was one of the highlights of my weekend.

In completely unrelated news, it's been a while since I shared a good video with you, so I thought I'd share one that's been on my mind lately.  It's courtesy of the very cool blog, Zen Habits -- and it's one to watch if you've ever needed to do or start something, and keep coming up with great excuses not to.  It seems like the beginning of the week is the perfect time to share it with you.

Enjoy.

Song:  Word up as performed by Willis.  I love this version of this song.  I couldn't find an album by Willis that's still in production, but the song is included on this groovy compilation album. 

After extensive observation -- watching him play, eat, bark, chew various items of footware (including my very favourite shoes -  you know the ones? the olive green pumps that gave great toe cleavage? not that I'm bitter) -- we have come to the conclusion that Rufus is not the labradoodle we were led to believe he might be.

Instead -- and I think this evidenced by that eminent veterinary scientist, Dr. Google -- we are now of the belief that Rufus might actually be ...

... a schnoodle.

Photographed with Nikon D300, 35mm lens.

Further evidence here.  And here.  And especially here.

All I need is to find a photograph of one with an olive green Bandolino pump hanging out of his mouth, and I think my case will have been made.

Not that I'm bitter.

*not actually based on anything in fact.

Song: Shake your body down to the ground by The Jacksons, featuring Michael Jackson.  My first concert ever in life was at age 11, and it was to see the Jacksons, at the Arena Theatre in Houston.  We sat close enough to the stage that Michael actually reached out and touched my hand (!!), and The Jacksons sang this song for about 15 to 20 minutes straight.  To this day, I cannot hear this song without throwing my hands in the air, getting up, and shakin' what my momma gave me.  For those of you who are so inclined, and in honour of his music, I invite you all to turn it up with me at some point during the day and do the same.

Rest in peace, Michael.  For all your weirdness, the truth is that music, of all kinds, in all genres, is all the better because of you.

I've been taken lately with how much I love being home with Marcus and Alex (and yes, even Rufus).  We are very lucky, and I know this; and there is a lot of unabashed love in this house right now.  I do not take this for granted, either - in this day and age, it seems to me when you experience true love of any sort, you should hang onto it like Grim Death.  Every night, I say a silent prayer of thanks, and fervently hope our family never, ever outgrows this.

I suspect that each of you have love in your lives as well -- whether or not it's love of a partner, a parent, a sibling, a child or a good friend.  Please take time to celebrate this love today with a simple gesture -- either with a hug, or a thoughtful e-mail, or whatever.  And I fervently hope for you that your relationships never, ever outgrow it.

Happy Love Thursday, friends.  Please leave your stories or links to your words or images of love in the comments below.

Song:  Love Shack, by the B-52's

Today was a really long day, and I admit it:  I'm really tapped.  So for all my lovely plans to write a long post tonight, I'm afraid I don't have it in me.  So instead, first I thought I'd first show you a couple additional photographs that I took of a bouquet I bought myself yesterday ...

... and secondly, I wanted to ask you a simple two-part question that a friend asked me about a year ago, and I surprised myself by how much I enjoyed thinking about the answer.  I thought perhaps you'd enjoy thinking about it as well:

a)  Who is the person, living or dead, you admire most?

b)  Why?

I can't wait to read what you have to say.

Song:  Come as you are, as performed by Laura Love

So, today, as I was catching up on some blog reading, I came across this post by Lilla Rogers Studio, an agency that represents artists and illustrators all over the world. The post was about artist Jillian Phillips, and Lilla asked a question and answered it as follows:

Do you know why Jillian gets so much work?
1. She knows how to inspire herself creatively.
2. She regularly creates tons and tons of work of a high quality.
3. Her work is joyful.
4. She knows the market and what categories sell.
5. She’s a pleasure to work with.
6. Her work is innovative.
7. She knows the market but pushes it further.
8. Her design and color is/are impeccable.

She sounds like a rock star, doesn't she?  Wouldn't it be amazing to have someone describe you the way Lilla described Jillian?

I think I'm going to print this list out, and keep it somewhere I can see it.  Because it seems to me that mastering the first 7 items of this list (since #8 seems most specifically related to art and illustration) might quite possibly be the key to success, no matter what line of work you're in.

Song:  Good foot by Justin Timberlake & Timbaland