Happy 4th of July!

(photo from National Geographic archive, not mine)

There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening
That is translated through you into action,
And because there is only one of you in all time,
This expression is unique.
If you block it,
It will never exist through any other medium
And be lost.
The world will never have it.
It is not your business to determine how good it is,
Nor how valuable it is,
Nor how it compares with other expressions.
It is your business to keep it yours, clearly and directly,
To keep the channel open.
You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work.
You have to keep open and aware
Directly to the urges that motivate you.
Keep the channel open.
No artist is pleased.
There is no satisfaction whatever at any time.
There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction,
A blessed unrest that keeps us marching
And makes us more alive than others.
– Martha Graham from a letter to Agnes de Mille –

There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening
That is translated through you into action,
And because there is only one of you in all time,
This expression is unique.
If you block it,
It will never exist through any other medium
And be lost.
The world will never have it.
It is not your business to determine how good it is,
Nor how valuable it is,
Nor how it compares with other expressions.
It is your business to keep it yours, clearly and directly,
To keep the channel open.
You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work.
You have to keep open and aware
Directly to the urges that motivate you.
Keep the channel open.
No artist is pleased.
There is no satisfaction whatever at any time.
There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction,
A blessed unrest that keeps us marching
And makes us more alive than others.
– Martha Graham from a letter to Agnes de Mille –

Savanna Commons is an “unmatched recreational facility offering fun activities for every member of the family.” I have a bone to pick with them.

Dear Savanna Commons,

Please stop calling my cell phone. I do not like it when I get a call in the middle of the afternoon about a guest that needs to be let into your facility. I am in California. You are in Florida. I can’t open your gate.

I like it less when I get the calls around 5:30 am. Yes, I am awake… technically. But I cannot have any human interaction at this hour. It all comes out in grumpy speak. With that said, it should be fairly obvious that I like the calls at 3 am even less. A lot less. I can’t be held responsible for the things that come out of my mouth at 3 am. Yes, I understand that I do not have to answer my phone at this hour, but in my sleepy brain I figure a call at that hour must be important and so rather than putting on my glasses and checking the caller id, I answer. I beg of you … stop calling!

I would also like to thank the lovely management person that I spoke with. Your suggestion that I “get over it and just not answer” was helpful. Really, it did a lot of aleviate my rage. Thank you. Thank you also for the run around you gave me when I asked how I can get my personal cell phone number off whatever list it is on. And being disconnected in the end? That was awesome.

Seriously though… I will kick you in the baby maker.

Love, Vanessa

PS, this also goes for the friends and family of Angela, the person who had my cell phone number before me. Please give your aunt, grandmother, mother-in-law to be, doctor, dentist, Solvang shoe store, coworkers, and gentlemen friends your new number. As much as I have enjoyed the crazy messages I occasionly get for you, it’s been 2 years. Enough is enough.

HAPPY BiRTHDAY CHELSEA

Here’s to another year of Chelsea! She’s an amazing friend whom I just think the world of. She’s super talented, super funny, an amazing mom to the cutest girl ever and one of the strongest people I know.

♥ ♥ ♥

She’s the kind of person that will forgive you for accidently taking her car keys home even when she spent many hours searching at work to find them. (I still don’t know why your keys were in my pocket… I think I was framed.)

She’s the kind of friend that will show up at your apt with a flower almost as soon as you’ve hung up the phone with her after a complete freak out moment. (Do you remember this? When I lived at Crestwood… I don’t remember why I was freaking out but I remember the flower!)

She’s the kind of person who will take you to get your Patriarchal blessing so you won’t have to go alone and will wait in the car the whole time like it’s no big deal.

She’s the kind of person who will not clobber you with a cookie tray when you are obsessing over making cookies for a boy… even when you take to standing on a chair to keep the precious cookie dough out of her hands.

She’s the kind of person who can quote Jack Handey like nobody’s business.

She’s the kind of person who can still crack you up even when she’s not feeling so hot by letting you push her around in a shopping cart with a bucket over her head.

She’s the kind of person who has amazingly great taste in everything!

She’s the kind of person who will come spend the day with you after you’ve been in a car accident, even with her newborn baby.

She’s the kind of person who will make a pumpkin snot pie.

She’s the kind of person who sends the funniest cards and letters.

She’s the kind of person who will still be friends with you even if you do move every year.

She’s the kind of person who was an answer to a prayer when I first moved to Utah and needed a friend who was good and kind and fun and an example of the kind of person I wanted to be. I couldn’t have asked for better!

♥ ♥ ♥

To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
-Emmerson

HAPPY BiRTHDAY CHELSEA

Here’s to another year of Chelsea! She’s an amazing friend whom I just think the world of. She’s super talented, super funny, an amazing mom to the cutest girl ever and one of the strongest people I know.

♥ ♥ ♥

She’s the kind of person that will forgive you for accidently taking her car keys home even when she spent many hours searching at work to find them. (I still don’t know why your keys were in my pocket… I think I was framed.)

She’s the kind of friend that will show up at your apt with a flower almost as soon as you’ve hung up the phone with her after a complete freak out moment. (Do you remember this? When I lived at Crestwood… I don’t remember why I was freaking out but I remember the flower!)

She’s the kind of person who will take you to get your Patriarchal blessing so you won’t have to go alone and will wait in the car the whole time like it’s no big deal.

She’s the kind of person who will not clobber you with a cookie tray when you are obsessing over making cookies for a boy… even when you take to standing on a chair to keep the precious cookie dough out of her hands.

She’s the kind of person who can quote Jack Handey like nobody’s business.

She’s the kind of person who can still crack you up even when she’s not feeling so hot by letting you push her around in a shopping cart with a bucket over her head.

She’s the kind of person who has amazingly great taste in everything!

She’s the kind of person who will come spend the day with you after you’ve been in a car accident, even with her newborn baby.

She’s the kind of person who will make a pumpkin snot pie.

She’s the kind of person who sends the funniest cards and letters.

She’s the kind of person who will still be friends with you even if you do move every year.

She’s the kind of person who was an answer to a prayer when I first moved to Utah and needed a friend who was good and kind and fun and an example of the kind of person I wanted to be. I couldn’t have asked for better!

♥ ♥ ♥

To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
-Emmerson

HAPPY BiRTHDAY CHELSEA

Here’s to another year of Chelsea! She’s an amazing friend whom I just think the world of. She’s super talented, super funny, an amazing mom to the cutest girl ever and one of the strongest people I know.

♥ ♥ ♥

She’s the kind of person that will forgive you for accidently taking her car keys home even when she spent many hours searching at work to find them. (I still don’t know why your keys were in my pocket… I think I was framed.)

She’s the kind of friend that will show up at your apt with a flower almost as soon as you’ve hung up the phone with her after a complete freak out moment. (Do you remember this? When I lived at Crestwood… I don’t remember why I was freaking out but I remember the flower!)

She’s the kind of person who will take you to get your Patriarchal blessing so you won’t have to go alone and will wait in the car the whole time like it’s no big deal.

She’s the kind of person who will not clobber you with a cookie tray when you are obsessing over making cookies for a boy… even when you take to standing on a chair to keep the precious cookie dough out of her hands.

She’s the kind of person who can quote Jack Handey like nobody’s business.

She’s the kind of person who can still crack you up even when she’s not feeling so hot by letting you push her around in a shopping cart with a bucket over her head.

She’s the kind of person who has amazingly great taste in everything!

She’s the kind of person who will come spend the day with you after you’ve been in a car accident, even with her newborn baby.

She’s the kind of person who will make a pumpkin snot pie.

She’s the kind of person who sends the funniest cards and letters.

She’s the kind of person who will still be friends with you even if you do move every year.

She’s the kind of person who was an answer to a prayer when I first moved to Utah and needed a friend who was good and kind and fun and an example of the kind of person I wanted to be. I couldn’t have asked for better!

♥ ♥ ♥

To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
-Emmerson

Tiffany, me, and Billie

Thank to Tracy for the picture. I will just start off by saying how much I like this picture and not worry about how vain that sounds. But you have to understand that I rarely like pictures of me. I mostly look like a crazy monkey lady. But Tracy must have a magical camera that has a “non-monkey” setting. I wish she was in the picture too though.

Tiffany, me, and Billie

Thank to Tracy for the picture. I will just start off by saying how much I like this picture and not worry about how vain that sounds. But you have to understand that I rarely like pictures of me. I mostly look like a crazy monkey lady. But Tracy must have a magical camera that has a “non-monkey” setting. I wish she was in the picture too though.

On Friday Harlow and I will have been together for 4 weeks. We are very happy. It’s so nice coming home to someone who’s always happy to see you. I mean, my grandmother is always happy to see me too (I think) but she doesn’t come charging at me the second I walk in the door and jump up in my lap like Harlow does. Harlow. I love her name. I love her face. I love her cute little butt (except when that cute little butt forgets to tell me when it’s time to go outside). She’s almost completely house broken. She’s actually pretty good but I think there are just so many doors leading outside that it throws her off and so she just goes. But I always forgive her immediately. She’s also developed the habit of begging for ice. Well not really begging… she waits very patiently whenever you open the freezer for an ice cube to fall. And oddly enough, one almost always does. She wiggles with excitment from head to toe and then bounces on it. She’ll pick it up and carry it around an stand protectively over it if you get too close. You can almost see the disappointment and confusion in her face when it’s finally gone. She also loves apple slices. Don’t worry, I feed her regular puppy food and I don’t let her beg for table scraps. But a little treat now and then never hurts.

In other news I love reading my horoscope from the Santa Barbara Independent. Here’s mine for the week:

While driving in suburbia, I saw a sign in the yard of a home whose grounds were being renovated. It was an ad for the landscaping company that was doing the work. “Mesmerize visitors with your garden,” it read. Judging from your astrological omens, Taurus, I think you’re in an excellent position to do just that. It’s your turn to enthrall and enchant people with your metaphorical “garden,” whether that’s a mean you cook, an outing you plan, a set of songs you sing, a report you prepare or any other fine demonstration of your beauty and talents.”