Just a little gift I picked up for Sarah Palin

I saw this at a garage sale over the weekend and immediately thought of the great need it could fill for Ms. Palin, who is stomping through the east coast on her Freedom to Speak Publicly About Incorrect American History Tour. As soon as I dig up her P.O. box number, I am totally shipping this 1987 gem her way. No need for a formal thank you card, Sarah! Your Fourth of July press stops should speak thanks enough.

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Looking for love: in the morning

This one small thing -- choosing to seek out love instead of focus on pain or the past or change -- has shifted something deep within me. It's not always easy.  I get overwhelmed by the three-page to-do list that sits hauntingly next to my laptop. I turn "shoulds" into "needs". I get caught up. But a long time ago, I asked the universe to show me signs, small as they may be, of the greater good, of the hope, of the love that lasts well beyond all of that.

You know what? The universe listens.

Several months ago, it responded in my salad. This week, in my breakfast.I could look past it, but that's not the way I want to live. I want to see every little bit of love there is. And in this case, I tasted it.

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My favorite part of New York (this time)

I've only been to New York five  or six times, each time for business (and despite the sheer amount of mojito coursing through the veins at BlogHer, I shall still count it as business...minty lubricated business). This time, with flight delays and rushing to get in and out, I was only in the city a total of 14 hours. And that included five for sleeping, one for walking, and nearly two in a cab.

Even in that whirlwind, there was a pause that has not yet left me, even days later. It was this statue, that seemed to float rather than to be planted in the center of Madison Square Park. I paused to take it all in, to try to inhale the serenity set across this woman's face, the lovely fullness of her lips, head held high, braid loosely hanging at her neck. People sat on park benches, leaned forward across the gate outside of the statue, seemingly in as much awe as I was. Perhaps they see it every day or at least more regularly. But I imagine the same swell of calm I did seeing it for the first time.

I got back to my own city and read that this beauty was a combination of the Greek goddess Echo and a small child with a sweet braid that the artist, Jaume Plensa from Spain, knows. Installed only a few weeks before I breezed through NYC, it will be there through August 14 (what are the chances "Echo" gets a spot on my little balcony after that?). I hope you get to see yourself. If not, I hope you find a bit of this dreaminess wherever you find yourself this summer.

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