Listen

This is so awesome. Please take a moment to read:

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that 1,100 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace, and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping, and continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.
The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.
In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.
Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

22

The baby sister we prayed for is 22 today.

Here are some of the reasons I am proud of you.

You are a faithful and loyal friend.

You have shared your friends with us.

You do not judge.

You love everybody.

You have a huge heart.

You are a talented artist.

You make everybody feel like they matter.

Your faith in God is authentic.

You are a wonderful sister.

You are a fantastic Auntie.

You have the gift of forgiveness.

You are honest.

You have persevered through college (my dream - not yours)

You are an old soul.

You have always been honest when you have made a mistake.

You have always made family your priority.

You are a blessing and gift to our family.

Happy Birthday beautiful Annie.

Valentine Day

Good grief!

Sometimes I think I missed half the "girly" genes. I am not dying to hold every single baby I see (unlike all the other girls I know) and I am also not that into valentines day.

That said - What I do love are family traditions. And our valentine tradition for years and years was a candlelight dinner with our little valentines and heart shaped pizza (made by my valentine)  Randy worked last night and that left me in charge of the pizza. I did not make it heart shaped (not my talent) and Abe was super sad. He had already told me it did not feel like valentines day to him at all.

Apparently - valentines day to a 11 year old boy is bringing home a shoebox filled with CANDY. Now that is love.

What I do love a lot is decorating my house. And what a more fun holiday than one filled with lots of red, pink and hearts.

 The cutest tea towel EVER. (in my opinion) I am sad to put it away.

 My favorite candy. These are Brachs red cinnamon hearts. Hard to find. I can only find them at Target.

 Randy has my missing "girly" genes. He always gives me a Rose AND he loves babies. All babies.

Our little candle lit pizza party. My treat was a glass of wine with dinner. Randy's was coffee and Abe had ginger ale. I did get my boys their favorite - Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

 (I should have ironed that tablecloth)

If you are a true romantic and celebrated all day long or if you are like me and are kinda glad it's all over - I hope your day was full of love. (and hopefully every day from here on out) 

xo

breaking up is hard to do

My friends and I were talking about facebook last night. It seems that a couple of us have been "deleted" from "friends" accounts. With friends like that who needs enemies - right?

Actually, I was deleted and my friend was blocked. Which is worse?

Why do we care?

I wonder if facebook doesn't really bring out the 8th grade girl in us. UGH.  So not worth it at this point in my life. 

"So long and farewell." I say. "Don't let the door hit you on the way out."

Moving on....

Taking my favorite little man to have staples removed from his head tomorrow. He is more than excited to have them out. He is NOT more than excited that I offered to pay HIM our copay if he let me do it at home. He freaked out just a little when I suggested that while holding my stapler remover and chasing him around the living room.

It was my baby girls due date today. From this day forward until her actual blessed arrival on February 19 - ten days.

I get to see her in two! Yippee!!

little things

I ran to one of my favorite thrift stores this afternoon and I'm glad I did!