I will die of the cuteness

hippie dog, Sausalito, Canon Digital Rebel

OMG.

Cute Overload is OUT OF CONTROL this week.

The fish?
The puppy?
The hilarious text for "Eets my time"
Oh, and then there's the panda.

This is definitely the best site on the internet.

complaints into requests

Me, Dreaming of earrings made of fruit, wearing a Pyrex Necklace, Canon Digital Rebel

I heard the best advice yesterday.
Turn complaints into requests!

Did y'all get that?

Turn complaints into requests!

For example: When your dear roommate/partner/husband doesn't clean the dishes for the gazillionth time and you want to rip his hair out, try a request instead! It's so tempting to grumble to ourselves or call our friends and complain. Or, we think we are making a request when we complain to him that he never washes the dishes. But we are not. We are just complaining.

Make a request instead!

Try this:
"Honey/sugar lump/muffinhead? I'd like to make request. Can you wash the dishes before you leave the house in the morning? It would help me SO much."

"You will? Thank you."

See? Easy as pie.

Where in your life are you complaining? Look to see if there is an uncommunicated request hiding out in there...

p.s. The example above is purely fictional. My husband is damn good at doing those dishes!

leaf on an easy chair

leaf on a discarded easy chair, San Francisco, Canon Digital Rebel

"The moment one gives close attention to anything,
even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome,
indescribably magnificent world in itself."
-Henry Miller

Wow

green bananas, Maui, Canon Digital Rebel

Wow wow wow. Photos I wish I'd taken. {via Bldg blog}

More wow in pictures.

Wow in technology. The prettiest cell phone I ever did see. {via Wundertuete}

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

Self-portrait in green glass ball, Hana, Canon Digital Rebel

When I was a kid, I remember sitting outside my parent's bedroom listening through the door with my breath held and hand cupped to my ear. I had an instinct for those moments when they might talk about me, when they were going to smile with each other and say how amazing I was or smart or how much they loved me.

I already knew they loved me (and they often told me) but there was something like proof in this illicit act, something so comforting, knowing that in their private moments they liked me as much as I hoped.

When I think of Valentine's Day, I think of that desire to know we are loved. I hope you feel deeply loved this week, by your friends, your family, and most of all yourself.

P.S. I have been out of town and just arrived home last night. I was sad to miss the great San Francisco pillow fight yesterday! See slideshow and fall in love with my city.

choices

red ginger, Canon Digital Rebel

I recently got a sweet note from a talented photographer and mother of 3 who is creating a new business and having some anxiety about where it is going. She asked me, "Are there days that you want to quit and become a greeter at walmart?" which made me laugh. I just reread what I wrote to her today and thought I would share it with you:

I certainly don't always feel "together" either, I just keep going, keep showing up, and continue to remind myself that I am choosing this, and I could choose something else at any point.

Keep making choices that feel alive, juicy, and your heart's desire. Keep making choices that honor your values. They don't have to look any particular way.

It's comforting to me to remember that there are a lot of ways to get where we want to go. There are not necessarily bad or wrong choices, but moments where we make new ones. We really are moving forward even when we feel like we are being set back.

Trusting (and even honoring) things that came before affirms that the steps we take now are important and real. We can trust what's happening now by trusting what came before.

The Path of Least Resistance

view of Lanai from Big Beach, Kihei, Canon Digital Rebel

I have been thinking about this phrase a lot lately.
How do we know when we've chosen the path of least resistance?
And why are we often attracted to the path that is most challenging?

For a while now, I have been calling it the "easy" path, or asking myself "what's the easy way?" but I think we (culturally) have a bias against things we call easy. We think they are inauthentic or somehow not as meaningful.

Take my jewelry business for instance. Over five years ago, I was working hard on my painting career. I wanted to be a famous painter! and I painted my heart out, made slides of my work, did the gallery hustle, and was constantly disappointed and rejected. Even when there were victories and my work was selling in galleries, I was emotionally attached to my pieces and felt strange about selling them for dollars. The thrill of selling work would be quickly replaced by the disappointment of the piece being gone and the prospect of courting new clients.

It all felt so hard.

When I started making necklaces it was originally just for me. I had been looking for a vintage necklace that was chunky and funky and looked like something my mom would have worn (with knee high go-go boots) in the 60's. Nothing I found in thrift stores was quite what I had in mind, so I made the necklace myself using vintage beads.

Friends started requesting them. Then friends of friends. Then strangers began stopping me on the street asking where they could get a necklace like mine. I started carrying inventory with me and selling them off my neck. It was so much fun! I wasn't attached, I shared them freely and I could make them over and over again and never get bored. My love of color that guided my painting also guided me here.

It was easy! And when I say easy I don't mean without challenges, I mean, with ease, full of ease, easy like Sunday morning. I didn't know creativity could be that way. I didn't know it could be fun, and simple and flow so well.

It was the path of least resistance.

I thought for a long time that to be a "real" artist, I had to be a painter. I resisted the identity of jewelry artist because I had some bias about it. Luckily, my resistance didn't last too long.

Something I have learned over and over again is that for me, the right path is actually full of ease. There is a flow to it, a grace, and it doesn't feel so complicated. My mom told me once, after a terrible breakup, "Honey, when you find the right person it won't feel this complicated. You'll just know it's right. There will be challenges, but it won't be this dramatic."

Can you think back to a time when things were flowing? When things were full of ease and grace?

Looking back at the last couple of years of my life, there are things that have been very challenging and honestly, I haven't known what the easy path was. Frankly, none of it has felt easy. But I'm starting to see that the path I have been resisting the most has become, in the end, the path of least resistance.

Where have you been stubborn and unwilling to go? Where are things flowing and where are they not? What is your path of least resistance?

Valentine's Day

My most current newsletter in case you're not on my list!

10 Things I Love About You
One of my favorite gifts for any occasion has always been "10 Things I Love About You." This is the one where you write down 10 things you most love about your friend, sweetheart, mom, teacher, etc. and present it to them in a pretty package. It is guaranteed to make anyone swoon.

You know what else makes the ladies swoon? You guessed it, superhero jewels!

FREE Gift with all Gift Certificates!
Get a Gift Certificate and let your superhero choose exactly what she'd like! Better yet, if you order a gift certificate of $38 or more, a very special Valentine's Day gift will be yours! Red foil heart earrings.... {I won't tell if you decide to keep them)

Order Soon!
Okay, so I have another motive in encouraging gift certificates this year. I will be out of town after February 8th. Please order gift certificates this year or order jewelry by Februray 5th so I can get them out on time.

Crush Contest Archive
A couple of years ago, we held a crush story contest over here at superhero. I couldn't resist sharing the winning stories with you again.

Happy Valentine's Day!
May you be surrounded by love however you celebrate,
Andrea

*Some hilarious and racy mad libs to get you in the Valentinesy mood.
....
And a little love poem from my friend Maya:

dancing
You, with the dark hat on, the coat, the collar turned up,
trying to blend in like nobody's business, like background noise,
like an act of disappearance, like who could possibly be watching -
that quiet spill you took on the ice that turned your ankle,
and that move you made just afterward, the silent recoil,
the anywhere-but-here wince that gave you just enough
to stand back up and leave the rink alone and vow not to return -
let me tell you something.

I love how you fell, untidy and artless and so far from perfect, your body
one long misbehaviour. Even from this distance, you were dancing.

tagged

self portrait at a black sand beach, Hana, Maui, Canon Digital Rebel

Okay, so I've been tagged by Mighty Girl and I just can't resist her.

Four jobs I've had:
Designer for author and artist SARK
The Pink Man for the San Francisco Chronicle (required a huge rubber costume like at Disneyland)
Sold bait and tackle at the pier on Seacliff Beach (I would sometimes give completely made-up advice about how the salmon were running)
Clothing salesperson (perfected the art of telling a stranger their ass looks great in their jeans)

Four Movies I can watch over and over:
Amelie
Bring it On
Monsters Inc.
Oprah's 20th Anniversary Collection (although I'd probably dissolve into a puddle of tears if I watched it too many times)

Four Places I've Lived:
Venice, Italy
Oaxaca, Mexico
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
New Orleans, LA

Four TV shows I love:
Oprah
The Daily Show
Lost
Law and Order

Four places I've vacationed:
Thailand
Virgin Gorda
Honduras
Mexico

Four of my favorite dishes:
Panna cotta
Fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil sandwich pressed at an outdoor cafe in Italy
Diner salad with ranch dressing
Broccoli and cheese sauce

Four sites I visit daily:
Jen Gray
Google
Dooce
Chromasia

Four places I would rather be right now:
Curled up in bed.
Snorkeling in Virgin Gorda.
Walking on the cobblestones in Venice.
At a Lionel Richie concert.

Four bloggers I'm tagging:
Jen-photo girl
Keri-collagey girl
Christine-swirly girl
Denise-bohemian girl