Snow!

Although we definitely didn't get as much as Washington D.C., we did get about a foot of snow here in Staten Island yesterday. My son wanted to shovel the snow from the moment he woke up, so after a quick breakfast, we headed out.

At that point, the snow still wasn't that bad. We had maybe 2 inches or so, and we shoveled our sidewalk as well as our neighbors' on either side. (Mainly because I couldn't get my son to go back into the house.) Then, it started snowing more, and more, and it never really stopped until almost midnight. Thankfully, my husband came home early, so I didn't have to go back out there again, but he had to shovel 3 times during the evening hours!

But we're actually lucky compared to our neighbors across the street. We live on a narrow one way street, so when the plow comes through, they always push the snow to the opposite side of the street. I swear, their snow piles are always twice as tall as ours! You don't really think about things like that when you are buying a house, but it does make a HUGE difference!

By the way, the footprints in the photo are mine, not my son's. That's right, I have hearts on the bottom of my boots! I'm only 4'10", so I wear size 2 shoes. I try to find as "adult-looking" shoes as possible, but sometimes, my footprints give away my secret :)

Oh well. At least I got to take an appropriate picture for Valentine's week!

E x h a u s t e d !

So, vacations are supposed to be nice and relaxing, right? Well, not when you travel with a 3-year-old boy!

My husband recently won a free trip to Las Vegas, so we thought maybe it'll be a nice break from the snow. We flew back from Las Vegas on Tuesday morning at 7:30 AM (Great idea Hubby!), and let me tell you, I'm STILL exhausted!

Las Vegas is tiring enough when you are by yourself. There's a lot of walking from one place to another, and all that noise, smoke, and flashing lights can sap the energy right out of you.

But I also had to share my bed with my son, which meant getting kicked in the head, back, and chest all night long. Then, on top of that, he never adjusted to the time difference, so we were up at the crack of dawn.



I could go on about having to carry around a mountain of extra stuff, but let's just move on to the good. I'm not a gambler, so the highlight of the trip for me was going to Red Rock Canyon. It was just Gorgeous! There's a 13 mile loop that you can drive through, and the scenery changed every minute! One minute the mountains were red, then yellow the next, and then striped after that. There was even a little snow on the ground, which is very rare in Nevada.

My son enjoyed going to the Children's Museum, and he also loved the dolphins at the Mirage. By the way, have you ever seen a dolphin from the front? They look pretty funny don't they? Like a funky starfish! :)

Toddler's Understanding of Existence

This morning, as we were eating breakfast, my son and I were playing footsie. Or more accurately, he was kicking my thigh. I asked him if he could see his feet, and he replied "No" because he was sitting on his high chair with a tray. He tried pointing his toes, but still, his legs weren't long enough to see his feet beyond the large tray.

Suddenly, he got a very concerned look on his face and said, "Mommy, something's wrong! My feet. I can't see!" Apparently, this was the first time he thought really hard about what happens to the parts of the body that he cannot look at directly.

I assured him that I could see his feet and that everything was OK, but he still seemed worried. So I asked him if he can wiggle his toes, and told him that even when he can't see his feet, he can feel them. Reassured that his feet are still attached to him, my son went back to eating.

But this got me, in turn, thinking about what a strange world we live in, and also about other things that my son cannot see. Like angels. And God. If you can't see God, how do you know if He exists or not?

I hope that by the time my son is old enough to ask that question, I'll know how to answer him. In the mean time, I'm thankful that he exists. Every inch of him.

Spoon Monument

Spoon Monument
Originally uploaded by SonoSono Studio

My photo for week 3 of the 52 week challenge.

I took a picture of a spoon in a coffee mug. It kind of reminded me of the Washington Monument in DC, so I'm calling it Spoon Monument.

The spoon is actually from my paternal grandparents' house, both of whom passed away when I was still very young. That means the spoon is at least 30 years old, probably much older.

I guess it's kind of appropriate that I made a "monument" out of it!

Tunnel Vision

This past weekend, we ended up making an impromptu trip to Ikea. We found a lovely duvet cover for $15, plus a set of bed sheets for $6! So now, it feels like I got a brand new bed for just $21 total. :) Pretty good deal, huh?

We also bought a cloth tunnel for my son, since he loves crawling through them like all other children. Initially, I pictured my son and my dog racing through it, but once we brought it home, I found it was so much more than just a tunnel!

First of all, it's a great exercise machine. My son often requests that I crawl through with him, but since it's made for a child, I have to slither rather than crawl. This works out muscles in places you didn't know existed.

Once you go in there though, you kind of understand why kids love tunnels. It shuts out all the clutter in the room, so it feels calming and relaxing. I think it'll be a great place to meditate when you are feeling a bit overwhelmed. In fact, the first time I put my dog in the tunnel, she curled up in there rather than walk through it.

Of course, as you can see in the above photo, it also turned into a black hole that sucked in all the toys my son can get his hands on! Thankfully, he helped me clean up afterward, and he hasn't done it since. The funny thing is, the room looked much cleaner when all the toys were stuffed in there because, once again, you couldn't see the clutter! So now, I'm thinking that this might be a great trick to use when I need to "clean up" in a hurry!

Blueberries

Blueberries
Originally uploaded by SonoSono Studio

Now that I've joined Flickr, I'm hooked! :) I even decided to give myself a bit of a challenge, and joined a group called 52.2010. We're supposed to share 1 photo a week, which is much more do-able than 365!

So here's my entry for Week 2. My son is in love with blueberries right now, and will eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if I let him.

Flickr

Paper Whites
Originally uploaded by SonoSono Studio

I've been thinking about it for a long time, but I finally opened up a Flickr account! Now, I'll get to share not only my newest jewelry, but also some pieces that I made a long time ago, and not available for sale.

Plus you'll be seeing some photographs of Japan and Tucson that I've taken over the years! They've been sleeping in my super old computer, so it's about time they saw the (virtual) light of the day!

First up, though, is the newest photo of my Paper Whites. I planted them just before Christmas, and they are starting to bloom already!

You can view my Flickr account here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonosonostudio/