on my bedside table right now: The Hurt Locker, Un homme et une femme, Sideways, Persepolis, Chariots of Fire, Buena Vista Social Club, Coffee and Cigarettes.

watching with my boys: The Phantom Menace

when they are old enough: movies directed by Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, John Cassavetes and Charlie Chaplin, some Woody Allen and musicals from the early 50s. also, Hotel Rwanda and An Unconvenient Truth.

revisiting old favorites: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, My Blueberry Nights, Little Odessa, The Usual Suspects, Stand by Me.

inspiring me: the 90s, always.

we are now wrapping two months of sports camp, library books and strolling to the local candy store every day for strawberry and vanilla ice cream. and though I feel a bit guilty at times that we did not offer our boys a variety of new experiences (and travel as much as most families do here during summer), I am thankful that we've learned to appreciate those simple moments together.

Advice

7 days after we've returned from our trip I've still got sand in my shoes. and as I race through the demands and commitments of daily life and contemplate to-do lists piling up on my desk again, this makes me smile with delightful, unbridled giddiness.

I'm also most excited today to announce the launch of the Wandering necklace, a collaboration with Bel Kai designs for the Shutter Sisters Capture Collection. please visit Shutter Sisters to read more about it, and enter a giveaway to win your own necklace.

watching the sun set over the ocean with my boys in Normandy last week. I see now what they give them, and I know what they give me. those brief, ordinary moments. a place to return to in times of doubt, sadness or adversity. to feel safe, and complete. to feel loved.

Persona (a Flickr set by Jason Travis)

I have transferred my new business from the kitchen table to a real desk at my husband's office with a whiteboard and a chair that spins.

rode a bike for the first time in years and loved it, even if my butt says otherwise.

spiraled in panic.

leaned on friends.

watched more episodes of Law & Order than I'd like to admit.

barely picked up the camera.

spent some time at the beach with my boys (more on that later).

learned hard, yet valuable lessons in surrender and faith.

we are so good at this

Will: "Mom, what's belly dancing?"

me: "hmm... well, it's when you dance like this..."

Sean: "so, it's like hula-hooping using an invisible hoop."

lilyblue

while location scouting with the boys on Ile Saint-Louis yesterday.

Paris (a Flickr set by Irene Suchocki)