first, let me thank everyone who entered. some of you wrote me revealing and personal email messages about why you wanted this and frankly, i wish i had the time and resources to give you each a photo session. because i think that every woman should be able to see what’s beautiful about themselves and i truly think that i can help to do this, i am offering the following for the month of may: a half-price photo session especially tailored to the needs of women. it will include up to two hours of shooting time and one 8″x12″ fine-art print, any additional prints that you wish to order will be offered to you at a discount as well. please contact me directly for additional details. i hope some of you will pull the trigger on this and take advantage of the promotion. it’s can be a truly empowering experience to see a beautiful photograph of yourself.

now, for the winners: tara and harlene. their names were chosen completely at random. but if you believe in any sort of fate or life-circles or other such stuff, maybe it wasn’t so random. tara and i have been connected virtually for quite some time. we are friends who have never met. we know people in common in the non-virtual world and there’s no question that when we (finally) meet face to face it’ll be easy. and harlene? well that’s a long and lovely story. harlene and i have known each other for 30 years (yes, harlene, i did the math) but haven’t seen each other for close to 15. ladies, i can’t wait to get you behind my lens. call me?

I’m a little ashamed to admit that thankfulness isn’t routinely part of my daily consciousness. While I have a general understanding of how much we have, somehow I manage to go about my daily life always wanting more. Unable to appreciate the simple luxury of a down comforter on a cold night I am still grouchy that our windows leak and we can’t afford to fix them. Instead of appreciating my closet full of sweaters I must have that one in the Anthropologie store window.

Last Thanksgiving as we sat around our overflowing table I distinctly remember thinking how thankful I was that my husband had a job. I also remember feeling a twinge of guilt at not being more grateful, in that moment, for my kids’ health and my family and all of the other most basic things I was blessed with. I wrote about feeling disappointed that I wasn’t doing a better job teaching my children that every day was an opportunity to be thankful for our bounty—that it took a holiday for us to celebrate our good fortune. This fundamental part of mothering has gotten even more challenging in recent months and somehow Thanksgiving takes on an even more heightened meaning for me. This year, with what feels like less to be thankful for, it seems even more important to take stock of what really matters.

Just a note before my list: please don’t read this as me disregarding the importance of job security. What we are going through—what hundreds of thousands of Americans are going through—is scary, frustrating, emotional and depressing. By focusing my energy on what we still have, please know that I’m not trying to remove any significance from that.

I am thankful for:

1. Sunrises. Every day we get another chance.

2. New friends. I love that my life keeps moving forward and I have room in my heart to make them. And that they’ll have me.

3. Old freinds. It’s comforting to be ‘known’.

4. My parents.

5. My community. I love living in a place where that word means something.

6. COBRA. (I’m being realistic. And yes, it’s very expensive. But at least we still have health insurance.)

7. My extended family. I’m really lucky in this department. Really.

8. Antidepressants. (If you had diabetes you’d take your insulin, right?)

9. Emotion. I’m thankful for the very thing that makes me feel scared and depressed and angry. Because it also means I can feel wonder and elation and delight. And I do. Every day. Even in the midst of this tough time.

10. Freedom. Cliché? Maybe. No doubt our system is imperfect. (I’ll spare you my politics here.) But the bottom line is that I grew up taking my freedom for granted and—without being so bold as to think I can speak for my entire generation—I think many of my peers did as well. We get angry and entitled when things don’t go our way but I’m certain that many of (most of?) the alternatives are worse. I value my freedom and today I’ll give thanks for it.

Thank you to all of you who entered the photo giveaway. Each of your thoughtful comments made me smile and for that I am also very grateful.

The print goes to:

JenB who said: ‘Happy Anniversary and congratulations on getting back to your photography roots. The photo in this post is amazing; makes me want to spread out on a blanket with my dogs and read a book.’

Congratulations Jen! Will you email me your address so I can send you your print?

After college I printed business cards that said: Amy Drucker – Photographer, got a job as an apprentice to a photographer and soaked in as much as I could. Aside from the time when I overexposed a roll of his film, what may have soaked in most deeply, however, was the time I visited his ‘apartment’. It was a fourth-floor walk-up in the East Village in New York City. (At the time, the East Village wasn’t cool yet.) The apartment was—maybe—three-hundred square feet with the bathtub in the kitchen and the kitchen in the middle of the apartment. There was one window which looked out over an air-shaft that was an arm’s reach from the building next door and only a few feet above the vent from the kitchen of the Indian restaurant downstairs.

I left there that day traumatized. Was this how I was going to spend my future if I followed my bliss? I had spent the last two years studying lighting and composition. I (thought I) knew everything about dodging and burning and specialized printing techniques.

I was an artist. Wasn’t I?

And then it hit me.

It didn’t matter.

I had to consider what I valued. If I wanted a house in the suburbs with a backyard and a picket fence—that probably wasn’t going to jive with the whole ‘wearing-black-never-compromising-your-vision-staying-true-to-the-art-thing’. Kids? A family? A golden retriever? Maybe I needed to reconsider my career choice. So I went back to school. Got a more ‘marketable skill’ so to speak. And designed graphics and printed materials and eventually websites and blogs. While living in the suburbs and making babies. So far there haven’t been any picket fences and we went Labrador over Golden but, whatever. Photography stayed mine—not work. No clients to answer to. No deadlines. No pressure.

Over the last two years though, my web-design business has taken on an undeniable niche designing portfolios and blogs for photographers and artists. And the more of them I designed, the more I became convinced that I needed to revisit my roots. Technological changes and market trends have created a business model that makes it so artists can sell their work without (necessarily) having an agent. Photographers don’t (necessarily) have to show at galleries to be respected and commercial work isn’t the only way to earn a living.

So here I am. Amy Drucker – Photographer.

In celebration of this, combined with my third blogging anniversary—which happens this month—I’d like to give away a print of the photo in this post. If you’d like to be entered to win the giveaway just leave a comment here. If you wish to be entered twice, click here to ‘like’ the Facebook page for my new business! (Don’t forget to mention that you did so in the comments.)

ETA – I’ll draw a winner on Wednesday November 24th at 8pm Eastern time Thursday November 25 early in the morning. Sorry to be late on this!

Just because she lives less than a mile from me or because I have issues about going to the post office at holiday time or because she has three of the most adorable and precocious little girls ever doesn’t mean that I would do something like that. I used the random number generator and Alexis‘ number just came up. Promise.

Thank you to everyone who wrote about their favorite childhood books. I was reminded of times I hadn’t thought of in decades and sweet memories of reading with my mother and I got some great ideas of books for my boys. It was suggested to me that I compile a list of the books that people wrote about (there were quite a few that came up over and over) and I plan to do just that—after the holiday madness subsides.

Hanukkah starts this coming Friday night and Niall and I took a break from the preparations this past weekend for dinner out in New York City with friends. It was snowing and The City was lit up for the holidays. We took the train in and watched the snow fall out the windows.

Not bad for date night.

If you read any blogs written by someone who quilts, chances are you’ve come across the Blogger’s Quilt Festival at Parkcitygirl.

The festival is the brainchild of Amy (whom I’m happy to call a friend) and was lots of fun last spring when she first held it. Amy asked me to design a logo and offered me a sponsor spot in return. Needing, as I do, a deadline to work off, I jumped at the chance to to the job and used her date as the ‘launch day’ for my new venture. All the sponsors are offering prizes and here are the details on mine:

To celebrate the launch of patchwo4k Folio, I am offering a complete blog make over to include a custom header, 5 sidebar title buttons, custom background, coordinated fonts and colors, custom favicon and ‘email me’ button. I will work with your current platform (i.e. Blogger, Typepad, WordPress or other) and restrictions may apply depending upon your plan level and options available with your service. If you don’t have a blog but wish to enter the drawing I will get you set up on Blogger’s free platform and include all of the above. In order to enter, all you have to do is click the graphic above and enter your name at Amy’s site.

Lest we not forget the concept behind the festival—my entry for this round:

The Roundabout Quilt. I really didn’t have much choice—I love this quilt.

Now, what are you waiting for? Head over to Parkcitygirl and link up!

I’m truly sorry I can’t send each of you a copy of this wonderful book. If you are so inclined I recommend stopping by your local bookseller or library and getting one for yourself.

The winner is:

Anna of Helylle. Anna, please send me your address and I’ll mail your package off to you straight away.

Today I am

feeling: excited for my friends

eating: junk food (please don’t judge me)

experiencing: stress related to mothering a child with special needs

loving: watching my baby tuck in his babies with scraps from my fabric stash

planning: a few projects designed to infuse color into my home

waiting: for more light

grateful: for my husband’s companionship.

Thank you for visiting.

For any of you who listen to NPR’s Morning Edition you have probably heard some of the moving stories recorded as part of the StoryCorps project. Last week I had the pleasure of attending a lunch where Dave Isay, StoryCorps Founder, was the guest speaker. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the project, I recommend you check it out. The idea is pretty simple and comes from of the time-honored tradition of oral storytelling. Their website says that their “mission is to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening”.

During the presentation Mr. Isay played recordings of a few of the thousands of interviews recorded since The Project’s inception. We heard a ten year old girl interview her lesbian mother and ask questions about love. He played the interview of a husband and wife and listened to the story of their first date fifty years earlier. We listened to a young woman interview her Mexican-immigrant mother and reminisce about what it was like as a child in pajamas going with her mother to the night job she had cleaning office buildings. She thanked her mother for the inspiration and example she provided by attending college while working full-time and raising two jobs. And we heard a woman recount the last half-hour of her husband’s life which was spent on the phone with her from an upper floor of the World Trade Center. Two weeks ago, that woman died in the plane crash near Buffalo.

The simplicity of the concept is striking: listen and honor. Mr. Isay spoke of listening as a way to learn from those around us. “It celebrates our shared humanity. It tells people that their lives matter and they won’t be forgotten. Through StoryCorps, we hope to create a kinder, more thoughtful and compassionate nation.”

The idea reminds me a little of what us bloggers do by sharing bits and pieces of our lives on our blogs, and how comments by readers can be such a strong affirmation.

The Project has released a book filled with transcripts of hundreds of interviews of regular people. It’s a powerful read and I’ve got a copy up for grabs.

Leave me a comment and I’ll enter your name in the drawing. If you feel like it, tell me about someone who you’d like to interview and why.

Dear Molly,

I hope you enjoy your new scarf. I really loved knitting it and if I had known it was going to such a fine home when I started it, perhaps I wouldn’t have dragged my feet for two years about finishing it. It’s my wish that when you wear it you feel connected to all of the honest, creative, interesting women we have forged relationships with through blogging about our lives. And as my grandmother used to say “wear it in good health”.

Love,
Amy

Last night Niall and I took Jake to see Joe Jackson at the Tarrytown Music Hall. We figured, aspiring pianist and all, that it was an experience worth staying up late for. (Poor planning on my part considering it was the night after the election and he was already pretty tired from that late night.) If you ever have the chance to see a show at this theater I highly recommend that you do. It’s a funky building originally built in 1885 with renovations that span a few different architectural styles. At one point Niall disappeared and I spotted him on one of the balconies craning his neck to see some detailing over the stage. I think he enjoyed the building more than the concert.

Jake really liked the opening act. Her name is Thea Gilmore and she has a beautiful rich voice which reminded me of kind of a combination of Joni Mitchell and Shawn Colvin. Much to my surprise, he was completely engaged by her. I thought that her folksy acoustic set would have bored him (rock star that he is) but I was wrong. I think her accessibility spoke to him and he was drawn into the music. On the other hand, Joe Jackson didn’t inspire him at all. (Remember here, he was exhausted by the time Mr. Jackson began his performance.) But with the piano keys facing away from the audience and each song more epic in it’s length than the one before it, Jake just wasn’t caught up in it.

I had a rush of emotion during the experience that made it hard for me to keep from constantly kissing the top of his Darth Hoodie head (thanks for the perfect name for his constant hooded-sweatshirt coolness, Erika). But I restrained myself in favor of not mortifying him in public. It was just so overwhelming to experience live music and such extraordinary talent through his amazing eyes and ears. He kept saying things like “did you hear that D-chord riff?” and “it’s cool how the bass plays one note off from the downbeat on the whoziwhatsit”. Okay, so I’m paraphrasing and I have no idea what he was hearing but watching him experience music on a level that I can’t begin to understand was moving and I plan on doing it with him again as soon as I can.

On to what you’re really here for. The one-hundredth post giveaway! When I went back through said posts I discovered that the few I had saved and never posted were counted among the ninety-nine I mentioned yesterday, which means that I am only actually at ninety-six today. But who cares.

Remember that entrelac scarf that took me two years to finish?

And how I mentioned that the colors no longer suited me? Well, it seems an awful shame to let the thing sit in the closet now that it’s finally finished. Dont’ya think? So, I’m giving it away. Here’s the scoop. Just leave me a comment on this post and I’ll do the random number thing one week from today. If you care to share the details of the longest or most drawn-out craft project you’ve ever actually finished, please do so. If not, just say hi and that you’d like in.

I think I’ll wax poetic about my first one hundred posts some other time as the last few late nights have sapped my creative energy and I’m going to take a nap while the baby sleeps.

Laura from eat! craft! live! Congratulations Laura, you are now the proud owner of some yummy yellow yarn. (Niall picked your name out of a hat.)

It feels good to reduce my stash and send the yarn to someone who will give it a good home. I’ll have to do more of these.

I’m off for a few days to walk barefoot in the sand and splash salt water on my face. Drop in next week to see photos of one of my favorite August pastimes: The Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Fair.

Enjoy your last days of summer!