Someone else is busy drawing.

Drawing maps that is.  At 5, did you even know that Azerbaijan and Macedonia existed?  This is one of the reasons that I love Montessori.  These kids are wee birds and they are learning that there is a world outside of the United States and outside of themselves.  The other day I was talking to a friend about a designer in Sweden, and G informed us that he knows where that country is in Europe. I should probably study this my own bad self.

Dough...again.

This was a long weekend, as G and I were both sick with this nippy cough. What better way to wrap it up...but by making cookies. A few weeks back I hurt myself with these cookie cutters from Williams-Sonoma. Yes, I did spend $19 on cookie cutters. So very wrong. I have a love for words. And a love of cookies, for that matter. There are three shapes, star, heart and scalloped rectangle, that allow for a custom phrase to be stamped into the surface of the dough. Justified them by committing to use them for G's school birthday party treats. Cheaper than ordering the mini cupcakes from Sweet Mandy B's. I will still miss them.

Tricks that I had heard about but never utilized until tonight:

• Roll cookie dough out onto parchment paper - really minimized flour use
• Use silicone rolling pin - once again, less flour, more "feel" for the dough

G used his mini silicone rolling pin and one of my rolling mats to make "tacos" after he had stamped out a reasonable amount of the cut out cookies. Visible to the left of the baked heart cookies. I have to go finish the uncolored dough batch. The paste food coloring is a bit much. It looks identical to the Play Doh from earlier in the week.

Cranberry scones.

So what does this say about me as a parent? Last night, when it was about 7 degrees out, I needed to make a late evening run to the grocery to buy rosemary. G had no interest in going out, as he was busily working on his latest Lego set up. I actually bribed my child to go to the store by telling him I would make him cranberry lemon scones in the morning. Showed him a picture as evidence. He went to get his coat. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Will he grow up to appreciate good food, or will he start to believe that anything is worth doing for a buttery treat?

Start here.

So what is a map? An object that can help you get to where you are going. You can closely follow the lines to get from A to B, or you can view the roads and junctures as a guide. While you are looking around, your life is moving forward.

As an artist and designer, my life has been about creating objects that are meaningful and useful to others. As a mother, a large part of my life has been about pointing out objects along the way and opening up the discussion as to their meaning and value. It starts with the little things - a red door, a bendy straw, the shape of a tree. How do these observations move forward? I try to use these moments to inspire the next question, the next idea, the next step on the journey.

Look around. Draw the dots. Build your life.


Okay. So we start with a bundle of magnificence. Or more accurately, a cone of magnificence. Our first outing to the winter season farmer's market, and who knew what was under that tent. A cone of newspaper around a cone of waxed paper filled with cinnamon sugar dusted WARM doughnuts. Delectable. My small friend generously offered me the last one. Granted he knew that I would say no thanks.
As the treats diminished in number he told me "I can't even stop to take a break." Sometimes it is best to absorb the moment without stopping.