Thoughts On A Rainy Wednesday Morning

I've been letting go of those emails as well - much more fulfilling than you would expect!

I LOVE purple!!! :) thanks for the info on the sweater...i gotta go check it out!

Thanks for the reminder to clear the clutter ... I just unsubscribed from a bunch of unneeded emails - and that will be several less delete clicks each day!
I agree- I'm liking some of the purples in style right now, especially plum. Still think it's the HARDEST color to scrap though!

Ali, I must say that you look great (even from the nose down!) and that I am in total agreement over how hard it is for me to let purple into my color arsenal. I don't know why that is but I don't own a lick of it. I hope that Simon's conference went well and I own "Writing Motherhood" which gives excellent ideas about writing from right in the midst of our lives. I also recommend anything by Natalie Goldberg, she has such a way with words. And I congratulate you on finally feeling like yourself again post babies. I don't think that we ever really feel the "same" again but we find that we grow and expand and our hearts double over with love. I also try to take time to do the little things that I enjoyed pre-motherhood; taking a little drive by myself and singing at the top of my lungs, an hour at the coffee shop, listening to a cd I used to play on repeat. We may not ever be the same but those little ways we used to nurture ourselves still have a certain magic to them. Thank you always for sharing!

Hey Ali - I had a little girl about the same time you had Anna, and I hear you about just starting to feel more like myself. It has been whirlwhind with my 9 year old and a new baby, but we are making it! I'm happy that I can just get my jeans on too : )

The book sounds like a good one.
And I'm a purple fan so you are in good company! :-)

I had a pants outfit made for my son's wedding and just happened to choose purple for the pants. When shopping for the shoes, bag, etc. I was amazed at how many pairs of purple shoes came up in the searches! When I got to the wedding, the bride's two grandmothers were dressed in shades of purple and a lot of the guests had on purple. And no, purple was not one of the wedding colors! LOL! We all laughed and decided that great minds all thought alike. But I can assure those of you that decide to go purple this fall that you will have no trouble finding shoes to go with whatever style of clothing you will need them for!

I completely agree that it takes months to get over being pregnant, adjusting to breastfeeding/weaning, and finally getting enough sleep. It wasn't necessarily that I felt badly for months, but it was an exhilarating feeling knowing that I felt normal again.
Jennie

Hi Ali,
Love your blog, thanks for so much info!
I wasn't sure, but I got this email today from Avery. I though it was pretty neat, as I scrap w/ 3 ring binders and sew my page protectors as well. Here is the web site: http://www.zazzle.com/custom/binders
You can make your own decorated binders. I had never seen anything like it. Have a great night!

I think the purple looks nice on you but I couldn't take my eyes off your new lens and camera. Would you mind sharing what you upgraded to? :)
mel

Dear Ali,
This is Anastasia from Russia. Wrote you numerous letters and I wonder if you got any.
Looking forward to your reply!
Kindest regards)))

Hi Ali, I love the color purple and it is supposed to be the new in color for this season. I am planning on designing some jewelry for spring with light purple. I hope I can find something to wear with it, as I do not have any purple in my wardrobe. By the way I love your sweater. Do you have any tips for a new blogger as I created my first blog site today? Denise

Bonjour... Wonder if I will ever feel like myself again. It is almost one year (in 3 days) that I had my sweet baby boy, and I just can't find myself. I love having him, but I always feel so worried (Am I doing it right? Should I let him cry? Not? How is he doing at the day care...) or so guilty (He has a cold? I did not dress him properly. He cries at night? I certainly did something wrong....). Am I this tired, stressed out, guilty woman I see in the mirror? I hope not, but I am so lost sometimes.

Lots of good tidbits from you today Ali. I'm not a purple fan. Indigo, I say is ok. ;) Both my daughters adore it - it's just not for me. Now orange...

Ali, your hair looks lovely in the top photo.

Okay, I want a do-over. I was awake thinking of this at 3:30 this morning. 2 thoughts. One--my son and I were watching Spongebob the other day and it was the one where Spongebob and Patrick are watching over Sandy's pets while she's gone. They are having so much fun playing with her pet worm (Wormy!) and are freaked out the next time when they come back and find wormy gone and in it's place is a butterfly. They're wondering where their own pal is--did it fly away? Was it consumed by this new creature? Well, of course, we know it became the butterfly. My son asked me at the time if Wormy knew it was now a butterfly or did it still think it was the "worm"? I didn't think much about it at the time but that was a pretty insightful question, don't you think? So, I was thinking about your posting and then about the whole worm/butterfly thing and realized the connection. As we become mothers, we go through our own chrysalis of sorts. We become hybrids of who we were and what we are and what we want to be. Remember when you began digital scrapbooking? How awkward it feels to learn over again something you've done a tried-and-true way? Even though digital offers many great new ways you're also doing traditional scrapbooking as well. You've combined the best of both worlds. So, think of yourself as a hybrid. It's the trendy thing now. Oh, and I have embraced purple as my signature color too.

Ali-I was struck by your rings in your photo. I don't think I have ever heard you speak of them, what did you have on? You have done a good job trying to describe feelings of motherhood or maybe it's just feelings of life as you ride along.

Ali I was sent this link to Martha Stewart and thought of you! Its 51 pics of carved pumpkins! LOL Enjoy and good luck getting all your pumpkins carved this year!
http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/pumpkins

You are so beautiful! Just thought I'd let you know!

ali.
i just discovered the colour purple, too.
after years of not liking it.
silly me.

getting into old jeans is always the sign of a good day!

Hey that was nice - thank you.

Hi Sue - I wear two rings - both gold. One is my wedding ring and the other is a band of plumerias that my parents got for me, my sister, and my sister in law last Christmas (I wear it on my middle finger on my right hand and I love it). I don't wear much jewelry but these are two that I always wear.

I LOVE pumpkins - thanks for the link.

Karen - this comment is amazing. AMAZING. I love the image of the butterfly in conjunction with the worm + the question.